Frontal lobe brain activities during cooperation task: A fNIRS-based hyperscanning study

Abstract

To maintain good interpersonal relationships, cooperativeness to think about others from the viewpoint of counterparties is important. In this research, brain functions were measured and analyzed by hyperscanning using fNIRS for multiple people during cooperative work. The performed task is synchronous tapping task. The correlation coefficient of cerebral blood flow change between the pairs was used as an index to evaluate temporal synchronization of brain activity. As a result, the correlation during the synchronization task of the region containing dlPFC and mPFC was higher than at rest. These areas are reported to be related to the assumption and understanding of the state of the partner's mind. Thus, these results suggest that the brain activities of these areas are synchronized during cooperation.