Applications of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Fatigue, Sleep Deprivation, and Social Cognition

Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an optical diffusion technique that allows the non-invasive imaging of cortical activity. During the last two decades, rapid technical and methodological advances have made fNIRS a powerful tool to investigate the cerebral correlates of human performance and cognitive functions, including fatigue, sleep deprivation and social cognition. Despite intrinsic limitations such as restricted brain depth and spatial resolution, its applicability, low cost, ecological validity, and tolerance to movements make fNIRS advantageous for scientific research and clinical applications. It can be viewed as a valid and promising brain imaging approach to investigate applied societal problems (e.g., safety, children development, sport science) and complement other neuroimaging techniques. The intrinsic power of fNIRS measurements for the study of social cognition is magnified when applied to the hyperscanning paradigm (i.e., measuring activity in two or more brains simultaneously). Besides consolidating existing findings, future fNIRS research should focus on methodological advances (e.g., artefacts correction, connectivity approaches) and standardization of analysis pipelines, and expand currently used paradigms in more naturalistic but controlled settings.

Investigating Language and Domain-General Processing in Neurotypicals and Individuals With Aphasia — A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Pilot Study

“…Some experts in the field suggest reporting concentration changes in both chromophores (Pinti et al, 2019). Other researchers propose using HbO given its higher signalto-noise ratio relative to HbR (Hoshi et al, 2001;Strangman et al, 2002;Pan et al, 2019). Finally, other experts suggest using HbR as it is less susceptible to system-level changes in physiology (e.g., blood pressure, respiration, blood flow; Wobst et al, 2001;Obrig and Villringer, 2003;Kirilina et al, 2012;Tachtsidis and Scholkmann, 2016;Zhang et al, 2017;Descorbeth et al, 2020;Dravida et al, 2020) than HbO.…”

Two-Person Approaches to Studying Social Interaction in Psychiatry: Uses and Clinical Relevance

“…To study the behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying social interactions, two-person approaches call for highly ecologically valid experimental paradigms. At the methodological level, compared to fMRI and EEG data, fNIRS data offer the advantage of capturing brain activity in realistic social situations while being less affected by motor artifacts (97). Some video-based techniques or peripheral devices restrain participants even less (e.g., motion energy analysis, actigraphy).…”

Design and validation of a mechanically flexible and ultra-lightweight high-density diffuse optical tomography system for functional neuroimaging of newborns

“…Because fNIRS measurements are obtained by simply applying sources and detectors of NIR light to the scalp, the technique allows functional neuroimaging of the human cortex to be cheap, accessible, easy to use, and available at the bedside or in almost any other environment. Due to these advantages, fNIRS technologies have been successfully applied across multiple neuroscience domains (including studies of social cognition, autism, sleep, multi-person interaction, and language development) [1][2][3][4][5] and in the clinic (e.g., in the study of epilepsy, stroke, and traumatic brain injury). [6][7][8] While fNIRS technologies have been widely used in adults, these technologies also have a close and long-term association with studies of the infant and neonatal brain.…”