Wearable Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Monitoring of Prefrontal Activation and Connectivity During...

This study investigated the cortical activation patterns and functional connectivity underlying human decision-making by comparing two distinct purchasing orientations: other-oriented consumption (OOC) and self-oriented consumption (SOC), using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a wearable neuroimaging modality. The results revealed significant temporal concentration differences in ∆HbO under the OOC condition in Ch06 (p < 0.05). The 15 fNIRS channels were mapped to seven anatomically defined regions of interest (ROIs) to better capture regional activation patterns and functional network properties. While global network metrics showed no significant differences, seed-based connectivity analysis revealed that the OOC condition elicited significantly stronger functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (ROI4) and the left lower PFC (ROI6, p < 0.05, d = 0.45). In summary, while the overall network efficiency remained stable across conditions, our findings highlight a spatially specific enhancement in functional connectivity centered on the PFC, indicating an increased cognitive load from engaging in complex social cognitive processes. These findings advance the understanding of neural correlates underlying human decision-making and demonstrate the utility of wearable monitoring using fNIRS for capturing cognitive state differences in human-centered decision contexts.