PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Czeszumski, Artur
AU  - Liang, Sophie Hsin-Yi
AU  - Dikker, Suzanne
AU  - König, Peter
AU  - Lee, Chin-Pang
AU  - Koole, Sander L.
AU  - Kelsen, Brent
TI  - Cooperative behavior evokes inter-brain synchrony in the prefrontal and temporoparietal cortex: A systematic review and meta-analysis of fNIRS hyperscanning studies
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0268-21.2022
DP  - 2022 Mar 31
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0268-21.2022
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2022/03/31/ENEURO.0268-21.2022.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2022/03/31/ENEURO.0268-21.2022.full
AB  - Single-brain neuroimaging studies have shown that human cooperation is associated with neural activity in frontal and temporoparietal regions. However, it remains unclear whether single-brain studies are informative about cooperation in real life, where people interact dynamically. Such dynamic interactions have become the focus of inter-brain studies. An advantageous technique in this regard is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) because it is less susceptible to movement artifacts than more conventional techniques like EEG or fMRI. We conducted a systematic review and the first quantitative meta-analysis of fNIRS hyperscanning of cooperation, based on thirteen studies with 890 human participants. Overall, the meta-analysis revealed evidence of statistically significant inter-brain synchrony while people were cooperating, with large overall effect sizes in both frontal and temporoparietal areas. All thirteen studies observed significant inter-brain synchrony in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), suggesting that this region is particularly relevant for cooperative behavior. The consistency in these findings is unlikely to be due to task-related activations, given that the relevant studies used diverse cooperation tasks. Together, the present findings support the importance of inter-brain synchronization of frontal and temporoparietal regions in interpersonal cooperation. Moreover, the present article highlights the usefulness of meta-analyses as a tool for discerning patterns in inter-brain dynamics.Significance StatementWe present systematic review and the first quantitative meta-analysis of fNIRS hyperscanning of cooperation, based on thirteen studies with 890 participants. All thirteen studies observed significant inter-brain synchrony in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), suggesting that this region is particularly relevant for cooperative behavior. The present findings support the importance of inter-brain synchronization of frontal and temporoparietal regions in interpersonal cooperation.