Revealing the Neurobiology Underlying Interpersonal Neural Synchronization with Multimodal Data Fusion

• Published in: bioRxiv
• Main Authors: Lotter, Leon D, Kohl, Simon H, Gerloff, Christian, Bell, Laura, Niephaus, Alexandra, Kruppa, Jana A, Dukart, Juergen, Schulte-Rüther, Martin, Reindl, Vanessa, Konrad, Kerstin
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: Cold Spring Harbor Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 16.08.2022; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Edition: 1.4
• Subjects: Brain mapping; Cortex (somatosensory); Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Gene expression; Infrared spectroscopy; Nervous system; Neurobiology; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neuroimaging; Neuroscience; Neurosciences; Neurotransmission; Prefrontal cortex; Synchronization; γ-Aminobutyric acid
• ISSN: 2692-8205; 2692-8205
• DOI: 10.1101/2022.07.26.501562

Humans synchronize with one another to foster successful interactions. Here, we use a multimodal data fusion approach with the aim of elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms by which interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) occurs. Our meta-analysis of 22 functional magnetic resonance imaging and 69 near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning experiments (740 and 3,721 subjects) revealed robust brain-regional correlates of INS in the right temporoparietal junction and left ventral prefrontal cortex. Integrating this meta-analytic information with public databases, biobehavioral and brain-functional association analyses suggested that INS involves sensory-integrative hubs with functional connections to mentalizing and attention networks. On the molecular and genetic levels, we found INS to be associated with GABAergic neurotransmission and layer IV/V neuronal circuits, protracted developmental gene expression patterns, and disorders of neurodevelopment. Although limited by the indirect nature of phenotypic-molecular association analyses, our findings generate new testable hypotheses on the neurobiological basis of INS. Competing Interest Statement Simon H. Kohl is an employee of MEDIACC GmbH, Berlin, an independent clinical research organization, and received payments to consult with Mendi Innovations AB, Stockholm. Laura Bell receives commissions for fNIRS visualizations. The remaining authors declare no conflicts of interest. Footnotes * Minor layout and spelling corrections, code removed as supplementary file. * https://github.com/LeonDLotter/MAsync * https://leondlotter.github.io/MAsync/citenet * https://leondlotter.github.io/MAsync/MAsync_analyses.html