Abstract
The gift exchange represents a moment that characterizes interpersonal interactions. In particular, research in psychological and neuroscientific fields aimed to observe the social function of gift exchange. Specifically, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of prosocial behavior, experienced during gift exchange, on individuals’ cognitive performance and brain activity. To this aim, behavioral performance and neural activity of 15 dyads of participants, with a consolidated friendship, were collected during the execution of an attentional cooperative task before or after a gift exchange. Individuals’ brain activity was recorded through the use of Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in hyperscanning. Results showed an increase of perceived cooperation and cognitive performance, in terms of accuracy (ACC), after gift exchange. The increase of interpersonal tuning and cooperation was also shown by neural activity with an increase of oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) intra-brain and inter-brain connectivity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) following the gift exchange. Moreover, from ConIndex analysis emerged an increase of inter-brain connectivity compared to intra-brain in DLPFC area. The present study, therefore, highlights how prosocial behavior can have positive effects on cognitive performance improvement and interpersonal relationships and neural coordination strengthen, increasing intra and inter-brain connectivity mechanisms.
Highlights
The gift exchange represents a moment that characterizes interpersonal interactions
The gift assumes a social function3, constituting experiences connoted by a plurality of emotions8,11,12 such as joy and gratitude, which facilitate the construction of reciprocal relationships13–15 and the implementation of prosocial behaviors both in donors and receivers16–19
A portion of prefrontal cortex, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), appears to be implicated in interpersonal exchange mechanisms41,42 in action planning and cooperation43–45. In light of this evidence, in order to investigate the influence of neural synchronization mechanisms on cognitive performance and cooperation levels after a gift exchange, we have implemented an experimental paradigm in which coupled participants were asked to exchange a gift during the performance of a cognitive task under
Summary
The gift exchange represents a moment that characterizes interpersonal interactions. In particular, research in psychological and neuroscientific fields aimed to observe the social function of gift exchange. The present study, highlights how prosocial behavior can have positive effects on cognitive performance improvement and interpersonal relationships and neural coordination strengthen, increasing intra and inter-brain connectivity mechanisms. The exchanging of gifts, which are defined as goods or services voluntarily provided to another person or group, has long been considered an activity that strengthens individuals’ social interactions and cooperative bonds10 In this sense, the gift assumes a social function, constituting experiences connoted by a plurality of emotions such as joy and gratitude, which facilitate the construction of reciprocal relationships and the implementation of prosocial behaviors both in donors and receivers. As shown by different studies, fNIRS has contributed to the investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying various social relationship processes
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