Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Summary

The present protocol combines functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and video-based observationto measure interpersonal synchronization in quartets during a collaborative drawing task.

Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive method particularly suitable for measuring cerebral cortex activation in multiple subjects, which is relevant for studying group interpersonal interactions in ecological settings. Although many fNIRS systems technically offer the possibility to monitor more than two individuals simultaneously, establishing easy-to-implement setup procedures and reliable paradigms to track hemodynamic and behavioral responses in group interaction is still required. The present protocol combines fNIRS and video-based observation to measure interpersonal synchronization in quartets during a cooperative task.This protocol provides practical recommendations for data acquisition and paradigm design, as well as guiding principles for an illustrative data analysis example. The procedure is designed to assess differences in brain and behavior interpersonal responses between social and non-social conditions inspired by a well-known ice-breaker activity, the Collaborative Face Drawing Task. The described procedures can guide future studies to adapt group naturalistic social interaction activities to the fNIRS environment.

Introduction

Interpersonal interaction behavior is an important component of the process of connecting and creating empathic bonds. Previous research indicates that this behavior can be expressed in the occurrence of synchronicity, when biological and behavioral signals align during social contact. Evidence shows that synchronicity can occur between people interacting for the first time^1,2,3. Most studies on social interactions and their underlying neural mechanisms use a single person or second person approach^2,4<....

Protocol

The methodology was approved by the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (HIAE) Ethics Committee and is based on a procedure for collecting neural data (fNIRS), as well as gaze behavior data, with young adults during a collaborative drawing experience. All collected data were managed on the Redcap platform (see Table of Materials). The project was audited by the Scientific Integrity Committee of the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (HIAE). Young adults, 18-30 years old, were selected as subjects for the present study. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

1. Preparation for the study

Results

The protocol was applied to a quartet composed of young women (24-27 years old), all of them students on postgraduate programs (Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, Brasil), with master's or doctorate level education. All participants were right-handed, and only one reported having previous drawing experience. No participants had a reported history of neurological disorders.

For the scales and psychological test results, two participants (2 and 4) showed high scores for anxiety (17 a.......

Discussion

This study aimed to create a protocol using hyperscanning on four brains concurrently under naturalistic conditions. The experimental paradigm used different drawing tasks and the correlation of multiple outcome measures, drawing metrics, behaviors, and brain signals. The critical steps within this protocol are the consideration of the challenges arising from its high complexity and the maintenance of its ecological and naturalistic conditions.

Video observation was key to this study. It .......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
2 NIRSport	NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany	Nirsport 88	The equipment belong to InCe ( Instituto do Cérebro - Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein). two continuous-wave systems (NIRSport8x8, NIRx Medical Technologies, Glen Head, NY, USA) with eight LED illumination sources emitting two wavelengths of near-infrared light (760 and 850 nm) and eight optical detectors each. 7.91 Hz. Data were acquired with the NIRStar software version 15.2  (NIRx Medical Technologies, Glen Head, New York) at a sampling rate of 3.472222.
4 fNIRS caps	NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany		The blackcaps used in the recordings had a configuration based on the international 10-20
Câmera 360° - Kodak Pix Pro SP360	Kodak		Kodak PixPro: https://kodakpixpro.com/cameras/360-vr/sp360
Cameras de suporte - Iphone 8	Apple	Iphone 8	Supporting Camera
fOLD toolbox (fNIRS Optodes’ Location Decider)	Zimeo Morais, G.A., Balardin, J.B. & Sato, J.R. fNIRS Optodes’ Location Decider (fOLD): a toolbox for probe arrangement guided by brain regions-of-interest. Scientific Reports. 8, 3341 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21716-z	Version 2.2 (https://github.com/nirx/fOLD-public)	Optodes placement was guided by the fOLD toolbox (fNIRS Optodes’ Location Decider, which allows placement of sources and detectors in the international 10–10 system to maximally cover anatomical regions of interest according to several parcellation atlases. The ICBM 152 head model  parcellation was used to generate the montage, which was designed to provide coverage of the most anterior portion of the bilateral prefrontal cortex
Notebook Microsoft Surface	Microsoft		Notebook receiver of the fNIRS signals
R platform for statistical computing	https://www.r-project.org	R version 4.2.0	R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS
REDCap	REDCap is supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NCATS UL1 TR000445)		REDCap is a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases.
software Mangold Interact	Mangold International GmbH, Ed.	interact 5.0	Mangold: https://www.mangold-international.com/en/products/software/behavior-research-with-mangold-interact.html. Allows analysis of videos for behavioral outcomes and of autonomic monitoring for emotionally driven physiological changes (may require additional software, such as DataView). Allow the use of different camera types simultaneously and hundreds of variations of coding methods.
software NIRSite	NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany	NIRSite 2.0	For creating the montage and help optode placement and location in the blackcaps.
software nirsLAB-2014	NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany	nirsLAB 2014	fNIRS Data Processing
software NIRStar	NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany	version 15.2	for fNIRS data aquisition: NIRStar software version 15.2  at a sampling rate of 3.472222
software NIRStim	NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany		For creation and organization of paradigm blocks