Capturing Human Interaction in the Virtual Age: A Perspective on the Future of fNIRS Hyperscanning

Abstract

Advances in video conferencing capabilities combined with dramatic socio-dynamic shifts brought about by COVID-19, have redefined the ways in which humans interact in modern society. From business meetings to medical exams, or from classroom instruction to yoga class, virtual interfacing has permeated nearly every aspect of our daily lives. A seemingly endless stream of technological advances combined with our newfound reliance on virtual interfacing makes it likely that humans will continue to use this modern form of social interaction into the future. However, emergent evidence suggests that virtual interfacing may not be equivalent to face-to-face interactions. Ultimately, too little is currently understood about the mechanisms that underlie human interactions over the virtual divide, including how these mechanisms differ from traditional face-to-face interaction. Here, we propose functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning-simultaneous measurement of two or more brains-as an optimal approach to quantify potential neurocognitive differences between virtual and in-person interactions. We argue that increased focus on this understudied domain will help elucidate the reasons why virtual conferencing doesn't always stack up to in-person meetings and will also serve to spur new technologies designed to improve the virtual interaction experience. On the basis of existing fNIRS hyperscanning literature, we highlight the current gaps in research regarding virtual interactions. Furthermore, we provide insight into current hurdles regarding fNIRS hyperscanning hardware and methodology that should be addressed in order to shed light on this newly critical element of everyday life.

Shedding light on neuroscience: Two decades of functional near‐infrared spectroscopy applications and advances from a bibliometric perspective

“…However, clustering co‐occurrences of words and how they relate provided the possibility to predict the newest tendencies and the future of fNIRS. For example, in the last year, authors dedicated their attention to cognitive functions and motor impairment, 56,58,122,123 development and language, 124–127 social and emotional engagement, 128–130 BCI systems, 63,64 and rehabilitation 131 …”

“…For example, in the last year, authors dedicated their attention to cognitive functions and motor impairment, 56,58,122,123 development and language, [124][125][126][127] social and emotional engagement, [128][129][130] BCI systems, 63,64 and rehabilitation. 131 This study has several limitations.…”

Virtual (Zoom) Interactions Alter Behavioral Cooperation, Neural Activation, and Dyadic Neural Coherence

“…For example, researchers have assessed the occurrence of IBC during unstructured collaborative conversation tasks focused on joint problem-solving 54 , creative-innovation 55 or socio-emotional experiences during psychological counseling 56 . As highlighted in recent literature reviews 23,32,33,57 , analytic approaches have most commonly utilized task-averaging to assess mean levels of IBC at the region specific level. We refer to these analytical approaches as “averaged” in this paper.…”

“…Neuroimaging-based measures of cognitive effort may advance our understanding of the mechanistic effects of video conferencing technology on social interaction. Specifically, we propose that functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a potentially informative tool to investigate neural and inter-brain differences between virtual and in-person interactions in a naturalistic setting 23 .…”

Dyadic Sex Composition and Task Classification Using fNIRS Hyperscanning Data

“…Researchers have extended fNIRS measurements from single brain to hyperscanning applications to investigate shared brain functions related to social interactions in a laboratory [10], [11] and increasingly naturalistic settings [12]- [14]. We refer the reader to Balters et al [15] for a more comprehensive introduction to fNIRS hyperscanning. Results from fNIRS hyperscanning studies have shown increased inter-brain coherence to be related to enhanced levels of interaction between team members [10], [12]- [14], [16].…”