Synchronised interactions with a peer observer increase self-monitoring during response inhibition: An fNIRS study

Abstract

It is well established that observation by an audience can improve performance on various cognitive tasks. More recently, it has come to light that developing motor synchrony with a peer (through interventions such as the mirror game) can also yield collaborative, cognitive, and social benefits. The combined and relative advantages offered by audience and synchronisation effects are not yet understood. It is important to address this gap to determine whether synchronising activities might amplify the positive effects of an audience. In this pre-registered study, we investigate the extent to which response inhibition may be improved when observed by a synchronised peer. We compare behavioural and cortical (functional near-infrared spectroscopy; fNIRS) measures of inhibition between synchronised and non-synchronised dyads and find that the presence of a synchronised peer-audience introduces a speed-accuracy trade-off. This co-occurs with cortical activation in bilateral inferior frontal and middle prefrontal cortices, which are implicated in monitoring and maintenance of social alignment. Our findings have the potential to inform the rehabilitation of inhibition and social skills in clinical settings.

Inhibiting responses under the watch of a recently synchronized peer increases self-monitoring: evidence from functional near-infrared spectroscopy

“…The data and all code used to run experiment, as well as the preregistration and parameters for the cleaning and analysis of the data described in this study are available at [ 141 ].…”

Mobile fNIRS for exploring inter-brain synchrony across generations and time

“…The unpredictable nature of spontaneous interaction is also a relevant consideration. For some designs, a trained researcher who adheres to a strict script can curate a specific social context with high consistency across participants (e.g., Lu and Hao, 2019 ; Moffat et al, 2022 ). The two-brain approach can enable researchers to record brain activity from each dyad member involved in an interaction to illuminate shared and individual-specific neural activity underpinning the interaction (e.g., Dumas et al, 2011 ; Dikker et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2021 ).…”

Aesthetic evaluation of body movements shaped by embodiment and arts experience: Insights from behaviour and fNIRS

“…A possible explanation for this discrepancy is that our ability measure, i.e., ratings between 1 and 10 by two experienced dancers, may not have been sufficiently sensitive. Future research could implement a more sensitive measure, such as a computer-vision approach, which assesses pose similarity over time 29,30 .…”

“…Future studies stand to benefit from implementing more objective measures of performance. For example, OpenPose 38 or other pose-detection software could be used to assess the similarity between participants' and original dancer's body positions over time 29 , which would yield more sensitive and objective measure of performance. Further, pose detection software could be used to obtain an objective measure of complexity, such as entropy 10,39,40 from each movement sequence, as complexity is known to influence aesthetic judgements.…”