Reduced interpersonal neural synchronization in right inferior frontal gyrus during social interaction in participants with clinical high risk of psychosis: An fNIRS-based hyperscanning study

  • Yanyan Wei
  • , Jieqiong Liu
  • , Tingyu Zhang
  • , Wenjun Su
  • , Xiaochen Tang
  • , Yingying Tang
  • , Lihua Xu
  • , Zhenying Qian
  • , Tianhong Zhang*
  • , Xianchun Li*
  • , Jijun Wang
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Clinical high risk (CHR) of psychosis is characterized by cognitive impairment in social interaction. However, research investigating the neurobiological underpinnings of social interactions and interpersonal relationships in CHR participants is sparse. Methods: 21 CHR and 54 healthy controls (HCs) participated in the study. Dyads were formed between one CHR, one sex-matched HC, and two sex-matched HCs comprising 19 CHR-HC dyads and 19 HC-HC dyads. The concentration changes of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin were examined during a two-block button-press “cooperation” and “competition” task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy(fNIRS) hyperscanning technology. CHR diagnosis and psychopathological assessments were performed by Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) and Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS). Neural synchronizations were compared between CHR-HC dyads and HC-HC dyads. Correlation analyses were performed to identify the relationship between neural synchronization, clinical syndrome and cognition. Results: During the cooperation, but not the competition task, the CHR-HC dyads showed reduced inter-brain neural synchronization (INS) in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) compared to the HC-HC dyads. INS also showed a positive correlation with the average cooperation rate. Moreover, the reduced INS in the CHR-HC group was significantly correlated with symptoms score of suspiciousness/persecutory ideas and movement disorders. Conclusions: The decreased INS in right IFG during cooperation could account for CHR's cognitive impairment of social interaction. Our findings provide evidence that inter-brain neural synchronization potentially represents a biomarker of social interaction deficits of CHR.

Original languageEnglish
Article number110634
JournalProgress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
Volume120
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Jan 2023

Keywords

  • Clinical high risk of psychosis
  • Cooperation
  • Functional near-infrared spectroscopy
  • Hyperscanning
  • Inter-brain neural synchronization

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