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Dyad sex composition effect on inter-brain synchronization in face-to-face cooperation

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Abstract

Human cooperation behavior based on reciprocal altruism has been a hallmark of ancient and modern societies. Prior studies have indicated that inter-brain synchronization (IBS) between partners could exist during cooperation. However, how the sex composition of dyads influences the neural synchronization is still poorly understood. Here, we adopted functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) based hyperscanning and a task of building blocks to investigate the sex composition effect on IBS in face-to-face cooperation in a natural situation, by evaluating brain-to-brain interactions of forty-five same-sex and mixed-sex dyads. Results showed significantly stronger inter-brain synchronization in Brodmann area 10 (BA10) in cooperation. In addition, variance analysis indicated that only male-male dyads showed increased inter-brain synchronization in left inferior frontal region (i.e., BA10) specific to cooperation. More importantly, the inter-brain synchronization in male-male dyads was significantly greater than that in male-female and female-female dyads. These findings provide support for the impact of sex composition on social cooperation in a naturalistic interactive setting and extend our knowledge on the neural basis of face-to-face cooperation.

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Acknowledgments

QH was supported by research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31972906), Open Research Fund of the Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KLMH2019K05), and the High-end Foreign Expert Introduction Program (G20190022029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Yuhua Li, Rui Chen, Tingyong Feng & Qinghua He

  2. Information Systems and Decision Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA

    Ofir Turel

  3. Brain and Creativity Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Ofir Turel

  4. Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing, China

    Tingyong Feng & Qinghua He

  5. National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Chao-Zhe Zhu

  6. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Qinghua He

  7. Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Chongqing, China

    Qinghua He

  8. Institute of Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Qinghua He

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  1. Yuhua Li
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Contributions

YL collected and analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. RC participated in the data collection and the revision of the manuscript. OT participated in the revision of the manuscript and provided language help. TF participated in the design of the study. CZ participated in the revision of the manuscript. QH participated in the design of the study, the interpretation of the data and the revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Qinghua He.

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Li, Y., Chen, R., Turel, O. et al. Dyad sex composition effect on inter-brain synchronization in face-to-face cooperation. Brain Imaging and Behavior 15, 1667–1675 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00361-z

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