Cortical activity and functional hyperconnectivity by simultaneous EEG recordings from interacting couples of professional pilots

Abstract

Controlling an aircraft during a flight is a compelling condition, which requires a strict and well coded interaction between the crew. The interaction level between the Captain and the First Officer changes during the flight, ranging from a maximum (during takeoff and landing, as well as in case of a failure of the instrumentation or other emergency situations) to a minimum during quiet mid-flight. In this study, our aim is to investigate the neural correlates of different kinds and levels of interaction between couples of professional crew members by means of the innovative technique called brain hyperscanning, i.e. the simultaneous recording of the hemodynamic or neuroelectrical activity of different human subjects involved in interaction tasks. This approach allows the observation and modeling of the neural signature specifically dependent on the interaction between subjects, and, even more interestingly, of the functional links existing between the brain activities of the subjects interacting together. In this EEG hyperscanning study, different phases of a flight were reproduced in a professional flight simulator, which allowed, on one side, to reproduce the ecological setting of a real flight, and, on the other, to keep under control the different levels of interaction induced in the crew by means of systematic and simulated failures of the aircraft instrumentation. Results of the procedure of linear inverse estimation, together with functional hyperconnectivity estimated by means of Partial Directed Coherence, showed a dense network of connections between the activity in the two brains in the takeoff and landing phases, when the cooperation between the crew is maximal, while conversely no significant links were shown during the phases in which the activity of the two pilots was independent.

On the interpretation of synchronization in EEG hyperscanning studies: a cautionary note

“…Since then, there have been 30 more EEG publications that meet the definition of hyperscanning coming from more than 20 independent studies have claimed increased neural coupling between people engaged in social interaction (Babiloni et al, 2006, 2007a,b, 2011, 2012; Flexer and Makeig, 2007; Tognoli et al, 2007, 2011a,b; Chung et al, 2008; Tognoli, 2008; Yun et al, 2008; Astolfi et al, 2009, 2010a,b,c, 2011a,b, 2012; Lindenberger et al, 2009; Dumas et al, 2010, 2012a,b; Fallani et al, 2010; Dodel et al, 2011; Lachat et al, 2012; Naeem et al, 2012a,b; Sanger et al, 2012, 2013; Yun et al, 2012; Kawasaki et al, 2013). The methods used to establish neural coupling between people have been very consistent and nearly all studies have used one of three methods: (i) covariance in amplitude or power, (ii) Partial Directed Coherence (PDC); (Baccala and Sameshima, 2001), and (iii) phase synchrony, mostly the Phase-Locking Value (PLV) (Lachaux et al, 1999) or a variant thereof.…”

“…The second most commonly used method has been that of PDC which was the approach used in the very first EEG hyperscanning study (Babiloni et al, 2006) and has been used in at least nine further studies since (Babiloni et al, 2007a,b; Astolfi et al, 2010a,b,c, 2011a,b, 2012; Fallani et al, 2010). PDC is based on multivariate autoregressive modeling and Granger Causality and is designed to be able to show the direction of flow of information (linear) between two systems (Baccala and Sameshima, 2001).…”

A New Perspective for the Training Assessment: Machine Learning-Based Neurometric for Augmented User's Evaluation

“…Therefore, by the only task performance it would not be possible to obtain information in terms of cognitive activations and to assert possible differences between the subjects. Furthermore, an objective training assessment could provide useful data for the selection of the personnel or teams both in standard and extreme working contexts (Astolfi et al, 2012; Toppi et al, 2016). …”

“…For example, during the training courses, it could be possible to obtain a series of measures of the operator's performance by using simulators (Cronin et al, 2006). These could be used as part of an ongoing certification process to ensure that operators will be able to maintain their knowledge and skills, identify areas of weakness, and promptly react in order to avoid possible risks (Astolfi et al, 2012; Broach, 2013). Nevertheless, although the results in terms of performance should be the same, the cognitive demand for the same operator could be not.…”

On the Same Wavelength: Exploring Team Neurosynchrony in Undergraduate Dyads Solving a Cyberlearning Problem With Collaborative Scripts

“…For example, Dumas et al () employed a dual‐EEG setup and phase‐locking value (PLV), the absolute value of the sum of the phase differences of electrodes at a particular time and frequency across a number of epochs, as an across‐brain phase synchrony index and revealed a two‐brain synchronizing network in the parietal alpha band, which correlated with behavioral interactional synchrony during an imitation of hand movements task. The alpha‐band across‐brain synchrony also occurred based on a partial directed coherence multivariate spectral measure of across‐brain connectivity when two pilots in a dual‐EEG setup coordinated with each other during simulating takeoff and landing (Astolfi et al, ). Across‐brain synchrony was not observed for theta (4–7 Hz), beta (14–30 Hz), or gamma (30–50 Hz) bands.…”