Abstract

Gestural communication characterizes daily individuals’ interactions in order to share information and to modify others’ behavior. Social neuroscience has investigated the neural bases which support recognizing of different gestures. The present research, through the use of the hyperscanning approach, that allows the simultaneously recording of the activity of two or more individuals involved in a joint action, aims to investigate the neural bases of gestural communication. Moreover, by using hyperscanning paradigm we explore the inter-brain connectivity between two inter-agents, the one who performed the gesture (encoder) and the one who received it (decoder), with functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) during the reproduction of affective, social and informative gestures with positive and negative valence. Result showed an increase in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (O2Hb) and inter-brain connectivity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for affective gestures, in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) for social gestures and the frontal eye fields (FEF) for informative gestures, for both encoder and decoder. Furthermore, it emerged that positive gestures activate more the left DLPFC, with an increase in inter-brain connectivity in DLPFC and SFG. The present study revealed the relevant function of the type and valence of gestures in affecting intra- and inter-brain connectivity.

摘要

手势交流是个人日常互动的特征，目的是分享信息和改变他人的行为。社会神经科学已经研究了支持识别不同手势的神经基础。本研究通过使用超扫描方法，允许同时记录参与联合行动的两个或更多个人的活动，旨在研究手势交流的神经基础。此外，通过使用超扫描范式，我们探索了两个代理之间的脑间连接，一个是执行手势的一个（编码器），另一个是接收它的（解码器），在复制过程中使用功能性近红外光谱（fNIRS）具有积极和消极效价的情感、社交和信息手势。结果显示，背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC) 的含氧血红蛋白浓度 (O2Hb) 和大脑间连通性在情感手势、额上回 (SFG) 中的社交手势和额叶眼区 (FEF) 中的信息手势增加，用于编码器和解码器。此外，随着 DLPFC 和 SFG 的大脑间连接性增加，积极的手势会更多地激活左侧 DLPFC。本研究揭示了手势的类型和效价在影响大脑内和大脑间连接方面的相关功能。对于编码器和解码器。此外，随着 DLPFC 和 SFG 的大脑间连接性增加，积极的手势会更多地激活左侧 DLPFC。本研究揭示了手势的类型和效价在影响大脑内和大脑间连接方面的相关功能。对于编码器和解码器。此外，随着 DLPFC 和 SFG 的大脑间连接性增加，积极的手势会更多地激活左侧 DLPFC。本研究揭示了手势的类型和效价在影响大脑内和大脑间连接方面的相关功能。