Mechanisms of Interpersonal Social Communication: Dual-Brain fNIRS Investigation

 描述(申请人提供)：社会互动和交流是人类的基本功能，在不同文化和其他哺乳动物物种中都是保守的。然而，人们对驱动这些行为的潜在神经动力学知之甚少。使用功能磁共振成像和正电子发射计算机断层扫描研究口语的神经基础的传统功能成像研究通常局限于对单个受试者和非交互范例的研究。因此，专门用于人际交流的神经机制的问题仍然没有得到充分的研究。这项研究的动机假设是，两个人之间的人际对话涉及一种神经复合体，这种复合体超越了布罗卡和韦尼克领域的功能专门化，被称为规范语言系统，并作为一种范式来研究实时范式中的社会行为。具体地说，我们假设，专门用于多智能体人际沟通的神经复合体包括利用有意义的视觉和听觉输入线索(接收)在伙伴之间共享的同步信息(传输)，并整合指导说话者之间话轮转换行为(调节)的功能。近红外光谱(NIRS)提供了一种利用吸收光谱获取血氧水平依赖(BOLD)信号的非侵入性成像技术，适用于通过使用位于头部表面的便携式和可穿戴的光管来研究行为受试者对的脑功能。我们建议使用fNIR和相互作用的受试者对比较独白、对话和同时背诵条件下的神经反应，以及系统限制视觉和听觉输入的面对面和遮挡条件。计算方法将基于小波分析确定的两个相互作用的大脑同源区域之间的一致性测量，以此作为神经对社会参与的反应和相关潜在神经回路的证据。我们预计，对话任务将比独白任务更多地激活规范语言系统，以及更多接收面部信息并与调节和控制功能相关的社交大脑系统。例如，这些区域可能分别包括梭形回(面部信息的解读)和背侧外侧前额叶皮质(神经事件的调控)。这些发现将为人类交流的“收发机模型”提供基础，包括“传送器”(言语产生)、“接收器”(视觉和听觉输入)和“调节器”(对话中话轮转换的控制)的神经基础。这项提议的目的是提供一个基础，使对社会健康个体在社会行为和人际交流过程中的大脑间同步性的扩展研究能够在随后的研究中应用于社会障碍。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social interaction and communication are fundamental human functions and are conserved across cultures and other mammalian species. Yet little is known about the underlying neural dynamics that drive these behaviors. Conventional functional imaging studies using fMRI and PET that investigate the neural underpinnings of spoken language have generally been limited to investigations of single subjects and non-interactive paradigms. Thus, questions of the neural mechanisms specialized for interpersonal exchanges remain understudied. The motivating hypothesis for this investigation is that interpersonal dialogue between two individuals engages a neural complex that extends beyond the functional specializations of Broca's and Wernicke's Areas known as the canonical language system and serves as a paradigm to investigate social behavior in real-time paradigms. Specifically, we hypothesize that a neural complex specialized for multi-agent interpersonal communication incorporates synchronizing information shared between the partners (transmission), using meaningful visual and auditory input cues (reception), and integrates functions that guide turn-taking behavior (regulation) between speakers. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) provides a non- invasive imaging technique that acquires the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signals using absorbance spectra, and is suitable for the study of brain function in pairs of behaving subjects which is enabled by the use of portable and wearable optodes located on the surface of the head. We propose to use fNIRS and interacting pairs of subjects to compare neural responses during monologue, dialogue, and simultaneous recitation conditions, as well as face-to-face and occluded conditions that systematically limit visual and auditory input. Computational approaches will be based on coherence measures determined by wavelet analyses between homologous regions of the two interacting brains as evidence for the neural response to social engagement and of the associated underlying neural circuitry. We anticipate that dialogue tasks will activate the canonical language system more than monologue tasks, as well as additional social brain systems that receive facial information and are associated with regulatory and control functions. For example, these areas may include fusiform gyrus (interpretation of facial information) and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (regulation and control of neural events) respectively. Findings will provide the basis for a "transceiver model" of human communication including the neural underpinnings of a "transmitter" (speech production), a "receiver" (visual and auditory input), and a "regulator" (control of turn-taking in a conversation). The aims of this proposal are intended to provide a foundation that enables extended studies of inter-brain synchronization during social behavior and interpersonal communication in socially-healthy individuals that can be applied to social disorders in subsequent studies.