Mingming Zhang

Social interaction impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been widely attributed to deficits in empathy, including both cognitive and affective components. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In the current study, we used functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning to simultaneously measure brain activities in children with ASD or typical development (TD) and their mothers while they co‐viewed the animated film Partly Cloudy. Results revealed that compared to TD children, children with ASD exhibited significantly reduced interpersonal neural synchronization (INS), that is, desynchronization, in the frontopolar area and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during scenes involving theory of mind (ToM) and pain‐related events. Notably, TD children showed enhanced INS in the right DLPFC, with significant group differences. Moreover, the right DLPFC INS negatively correlated with ASD symptom severity and mediated the relationship between group and symptom severity. Inter‐brain functional connectivity analysis revealed that, during empathy‐related events, children's frontopolar area/right DLPFC and maternal brain regions were reduced in ASD but enhanced in TD dyads, with significant group‐level contrasts. Finally, using support vector machine (SVM) classification, we found that INS features in the right DLPFC during empathy scenes could accurately distinguish between ASD and TD children. This study offers novel insights into the neural basis of empathy deficits in ASD by examining mother–child INS in a naturalistic setting. These findings provide preliminary insights into the neural mechanisms of INS in ASD and may inform future research on parent–child neural synchrony and its potential relevance for intervention strategies.

Background: Individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often exhibit progressive deficits in bimanual coordination and fine motor dexterity. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these motor impairments remain poorly understood.Aim: This cross‐sectional study employed functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine cortical hemodynamic responses during fine motor tasks in MCI.Methods: Thirty individuals with MCI and 40 age‐, sex‐, and education‐matched healthy controls (HCs) performed the Nine‐Hole Peg Test (NHPT) while fNIRS monitored oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HbR) responses in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), sensorimotor cortex (SMC), and visual cortex (VC).Results: Compared to HCs, individuals with MCI exhibited significantly impaired NHPT performance, accompanied by reduced HbO responses in the right PFC and SMC during task performance. Furthermore, stepwise discriminant analysis identified a combination of right SMC HbO levels and NHPT scores as a significant predictor for distinguishing MCI from HCs, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 80.8%.Conclusions: These findings provide novel evidence linking aberrant cortical hypoactivation in the motor and executive control regions to fine motor impairments in individuals with MCI, suggesting disrupted motor‐cognitive integration in early cognitive decline. The integration of fNIRS‐derived hemodynamic responses with functional motor assessments offers a promising non‐invasive approach for MCI detection and personalized rehabilitation.Trial Registration: This study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Registration No. ChiCTR2400082429) on March 28, 2024

Social learning, a critical mechanism for human adaptation to complex societal environments, hinges not only on learners’ cognitive and emotional processes but also on modes and contexts of social interaction. However, the exact mechanisms by which these factors impact social learning, and how gender differences modulate this process, remain unclear. This study employed a dual-player version of the Iowa Gambling Task, where participants alternated selecting decks under cooperative or competitive conditions. Neural signals from the right prefrontal cortex and right temporoparietal junction were captured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy equipment. Results indicated more safe decks but less frequent switching between decks in the cooperative than the competitive context. Participants reported more positive learning experiences in cooperation condition. We found higher intra-brain activation during observation than during direct reaction. Additionally, as an observer, the loss of a competitor triggered greater activation. Stage changes were observed in intra-brain activation and inter-brain synchronization (IBS), revealing gender differences in the stage effect on activation, and opposite effects on time-aligned and time-lagged IBS. Furthermore, gender-specific trends emerged, with males exhibiting higher IBS in competition and females showing higher IBS in cooperation. This study reveals dynamic neuroadaptive reconfigurations in cross-brain connectivity throughout the learning trajectory.

Previous studies have insufficiently explored the influence of task and interpersonal interdependence on synchronous cooperation behavior. To address this gap, this study utilized fNIRS hyperscanning technique to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms within both friend and stranger dyads engaging in various levels of interdependent cooperation tasks. Our findings revealed that high interdependent cooperation task can improve the behavioral performance of both friend and stranger dyads, enhancing the intra-brain functional connectivity (FC) of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC.R) and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG.R) in stranger dyads, as well as the inter-brain synchrony (IBS) of SMG.R. Additionally, high interdependent interpersonal relationship can strengthen the intra-brain FC of DLPFC.R and SMG.R, as well as the IBS of SMG.R, during low interdependent cooperation task. These insights underscore the critical importance of both task and interpersonal interdependences in shaping cooperative behavior and neural synchrony.

Mutual prediction is crucial for understanding the mediation of bodily actions in social interactions. Despite this importance, limited studies have investigated neurobehavioral patterns under the mutual prediction hypothesis in natural competitive scenarios. To address this gap, our study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning to examine the dynamics of real-time rock-paper-scissors games using a computerized paradigm with 54 participants. Firstly, our results revealed activations in the right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral frontopolar cortex, each displaying distinct temporal profiles indicative of diverse cognitive processes during the task. Subsequently, a task-related increase in inter-brain synchrony was explicitly identified in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which supported the mutual prediction hypothesis across the two brains. Moreover, our investigation uncovered a close association between the coherence value in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the dynamic predictive performances of dyads using inter-subject representational similarity analysis. Finally, heightened inter-brain synchrony values were observed in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex before a draw compared to a no-draw scenario in the second block, suggesting that cross-brain signal patterns could be reflected in behavioral responses during competition. In summary, these findings provided initial support for expanding the understanding of cognitive processes underpinning natural competitive engagements.