Shared intentionality modulates interpersonal neural synchronization at the establishment of communication system.

Whether and how shared intentionality (SI) influences the establishment of a novel interpersonal communication system is poorly understood. To investigate this issue, we designed a coordinating symbolic communication game (CSCG) and applied behavioral, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning, and hyper-transcranial alternating current stimulation (hyper-tACS) methods. Here we show that SI is a strong contributor to communicative accuracy. Moreover, SI, communicative accuracy, and interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) are higher when dyads successfully establish a novel communication system. Furthermore, the SI influences communicative accuracy by increasing INS. Additionally, using time series and long short-term memory neural network analyses, we find that the INS can predict communicative accuracy at the early formation stage of the communication system. Importantly, the INS partially mediates the relationship between the SI and the communicative accuracy only at the formation stage of the communication system. In contrast, when the communication system is established, SI and INS no longer contribute to communicative accuracy. Finally, the hyper-tACS experiment confirms that INS has a causal effect on communicative accuracy. These findings suggest a behavioral and neural mechanism, subserved by the SI and INS, that underlies the establishment of a novel interpersonal communication system.

Verbal information exchange enhances collective performance through increasing group identification.

Information exchange is a key factor in the attainment of collective outcomes and the navigation of social life. In the current study, we investigated whether and how information exchange enhanced collective performance by combining behavioral and neuroimaging approaches from the perspective of multiparticipant neuroscience. To evaluate collective performance, we measured the collaborative problem-solving abilities of triads working on a murder mystery case. We first found that verbal information exchange significantly enhanced collective performance compared to nonverbal exchange. Moreover, both group sharing and group discussion positively contributed to this effect, with group discussion being more essential. Importantly, group identification mediated the positive effect of verbal information exchange on collective performance. This mediation was supported by higher interactive frequency and enhanced within-group neural synchronization (GNS) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Taken together, we provided a multiparticipant theoretical model to explain how verbal information exchange enhanced collective performance. Our findings deepen the insight into the workings of group decision-making.

The single- and dual-brain mechanisms underlying the adviser's confidence expression strategy switching during influence management.

Effective influence management during advice-giving requires individuals to express confidence in the advice properly and switch timely between the 'competitive' strategy and the 'defensive' strategy. However, how advisers switch between these two strategies, and whether and why there exist individual differences during this process remain elusive. We used an advice-giving game that manipulated incentive contexts (Incentivized/Non-Incentivized) to induce the adviser's confidence expression strategy switching and measured the brain activities of adviser and advisee concurrently using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Behaviorally, we observed individual differences in strategy switching. Some advisers applied the 'defensive' strategy when incentivized and the 'competitive' strategy when not incentivized, while others applied the 'competitive' strategy when incentivized and the 'defensive' strategy when not incentivized. This effect was mediated by the adviser's perceived stress in each condition and was reflected by the frequencies of advice-taking in the advisees. Neurally, brain activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) supported strategy switching, as well as interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) that supported influence management. This two-in-one process, i.e., confidence expression strategy switching and the corresponding influence management, was linked and modulated by the strength of DLPFC-TPJ functional connectivity in the adviser. We further developed a descriptive model that contributed to understanding the adviser's strategy switching during influence management.

Neural mechanisms of the mood effects on third-party responses to injustice after unfair experiences.

Behavioral decision theory argues that humans can adjust their third-party responses (e.g., punishment and compensation) to injustice by integrating unfair experiences. Typically, the mood plays an important role in such a decision-making process. However, the underlying neurocognitive bases remain largely unclear. We first employ a modified third-party justice game in which an allocator split an amount of money between oneself and a receiver. The participants can reapportion the money as observers by choosing from the following three costly options: compensate the receiver, accept the current allocation, or punish the allocator. Then, a second-party pseudo interaction is conducted where participants receive more (i.e., advantageous unfair experience) or less (i.e., disadvantageous unfair experience) than others. Finally, participants perform the third-party justice game again after unfair experiences. Here, we use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure participants' brain activities during third-party responses to injustice. We find participants compensate more to the receiver after advantageous unfair experience, which involved enhanced positive emotion, weakened sense of unfairness, and is linked with increased activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC). In contrast, participants punish more on the allocator after disadvantageous unfair experience, which might primarily stem from their negative emotional responses, strong sense of unfairness, and is associated with significantly decreased activity in the rDLPFC. Our results suggest that third-party compensation and punishment involved differential psychological and neural bases. Our findings highlight the crucial roles of second-party unfair experiences and the corresponding mood responses in third-party responses to unfairness, and unravel the intermediate neural architecture.

Sharing Happy Stories Increases Interpersonal Closeness: Interpersonal Brain Synchronization as a Neural Indicator.

Our lives revolve around sharing emotional stories (i.e., happy and sad stories) with other people. Such emotional communication enhances the similarity of story comprehension and neural across speaker-listener pairs. The theory of Emotions as Social Information Model (EASI) suggests that such emotional communication may influence interpersonal closeness. However, few studies have examined speaker-listener interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) during emotional communication and whether it is associated with meaningful aspects of the speaker-listener interpersonal relationship. Here, one speaker watched emotional videos and communicated the content of the videos to 32 people as listeners (happy/sad/neutral group). Both speaker and listeners' neural activities were recorded using EEG. After listening, we assessed the interpersonal closeness between the speaker and listeners. Compared with the sad group, sharing happy stories showed a better recall quality and a higher rating of interpersonal closeness. The happy group showed higher IBS in the frontal cortex and left temporoparietal cortex than the sad group. The relationship between frontal IBS and interpersonal closeness was moderated by sharing happy/sad stories. Exploratory analysis using support vector regression (SVR) showed that the IBS could also predict the ratings of interpersonal closeness. These results suggest that frontal IBS could serve as an indicator of whether sharing emotional stories facilitate interpersonal closeness. These findings improve our understanding of emotional communication among individuals that guides behaviors during interpersonal interactions.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Resilience Scale (RS-14): Preliminary results.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, resilience has received extensive attention in psychology. The 14-Item Resilience Scale (RS-14) has been developed as a newer and shorter version of the resilience scale and has been applied in Western countries. In Eastern cultures, however, and particularly among Chinese populations, its factor structure remains unverified. The purpose of this study is to realize the first evaluation of the psychometric characteristics of the Chinese version of the RS-14 in young adults from Mainland China. METHODS: The resilience scale, Connor-Davidson resilience scale, general health questionnaire 12, perceived stress scale 14, general self-efficacy scale and meaning in life questionnaire were used to investigate 1010 undergraduates (321 male college students, 689 female college students, aged 17-25 years; mean age = 20.27; SD = 1.572). We evaluated the item quality, latent structure, reliability, criterion validity and differential item functioning on the gender variable. RESULTS: Through the analysis methods of exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic, the original single-factor model has been proven to be applicable within the Chinese population. Both an adequate construct validity and an excellent degree of reliability were reflected in the data. In addition, test-retest evinced good stability. The current study interrogates associations with external criteria, as well as providing evidence in support of the RS-14. CONCLUSION: To sum up, this study showed that the RS-14 is a reliable assessment for measuring resilience in China, and provides an alternative to the original scale.