The acquired dyad inclination and decreased interpersonal brain communication in the pursuit of collective benefit

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 297; p. 120700
• Main Authors: Li, Shuyi, Yu, Linwei, Gan, Xiaorong, Hou, Yingying, Pan, Yafeng, Luo, Yi, Hu, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 15.08.2024; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Brain research; Collective benefit; Communication; Computational model; Computational neuroscience; Decision making; Experiments; Hypotheses; Interpersonal brain synchronization; Learning; Perceptual task; Social learning theory; Synchronization; Social learning theory; Collective benefit; Computational model; Interpersonal brain synchronization; Perceptual task
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120700

•Participant dyads conducted a collective perceptual task.•Participants with similar abilities in a dyad achieved more collective benefit.•Dyads inclined the higher-able participant's decision as the collective one.•There were enhanced IBS at frontopolar, premotor areas, supramarginal gyri, etc.•As the dyad's inclination increased, the IBS might decrease, and potentially leading to an improved collective benefit. People perform better collectively than individually, a phenomenon known as the collective benefit. To pursue the benefit, they may learn from previous behaviors, come to know whose initial opinion should be valued, and develop the inclination to take it as the collective one. Such learning may affect interpersonal brain communication. To test these hypotheses, this study recruited participant dyads to conduct a perceptual task on which they made individual decisions first and then the collective one. The enhanced interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) between participants was explored when individual decisions were in disagreement vs. agreement. Computational modeling revealed that participant dyads developed the dyad inclination of taking the higher-able participants', not the lower-able ones' decisions as their collective ones. Brain analyses unveiled the enhanced IBS at frontopolar areas, premotor areas, supramarginal gyri, and right temporal-parietal junctions. The premotor IBS correlated negatively with dyad inclination and collective benefit in the absence of correction. The Granger causality analyses further supported the negative relation of dyad inclination with inter-brain communication. This study highlights that dyads learn to weigh individuals' decisions, resulting in dyad inclinations, and explores associated inter-brain communication, offering insights into the dynamics of collective decision-making.