Abstract
Neurophysiological evidence shows that interpersonal action coordination is accompanied by interbrain synchronization (IBS). However, the functional significance of this association remains unclear. Using two experimental designs, we explored whether IBS is amenable to neurofeedback (NFB). Feedback was provided either as two balls approaching each other (so-called ball design), or as two pendula, each reflecting the oscillatory activity of one of the two participants (so-called pendulum design). The NFB was provided at delta (i.e., 2.5 Hz) and theta (i.e., 5Hz) electroencephalography frequencies, and manipulated by enhanced and inverse feedback. We showed that the participants were able to increase IBS by using NFB, especially when it was fed back at the theta frequency. Apart from intra- and interbrain coupling, other oscillatory activities (e.g., power spectral density, peak amplitude, and peak frequency) also changed during the task compared with the rest. Moreover, all the measures showed specific correlations with the subjective postsurvey item scores, reflecting subjective feeling and appraisal. We conclude that the use of IBS for NFB might help in specifying the contribution of IBS to interpersonal action coordination and in providing important information about the neural mechanisms of social interaction and the causal dimension of IBS.
Highlights
Social interactions are an essential part of human life
The threshold level was calculated depending on the absolute phase difference: L1; L2; L3; L4; and L5
Contrary to the ball task with negative learning in the inverse condition, we observed in the pendulum task a negative feedback that frustrated the participants through an apparent inefficiency to control the pendula or to improve their performance
Summary
Social interactions are an essential part of human life. Coordinated behavior between two social agents is thought to reflect basic needs and dispositions.[1,2] Recently, it has been associated with and linked to oscillatory couplings between brains.[3,4] investigating both general brain activity within brains and interbrain coupling has become a topic of research in hyperscanning studies, where two or more participants are recorded simultaneously
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