Interoceptive Attentiveness Induces Significantly More PFC Activation during a Synchronized Linguistic Task Compared to a Motor Task as Revealed by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Currently, there is little understanding of how interoceptive attentiveness (IA) affects brain responses during synchronized cognitive or motor tasks. This pilot study explored the effect of explicit IA manipulation on hemodynamic correlates of simple cognitive tasks implying linguistic or motor synchronization. Eighteen healthy participants completed two linguistic and motor synchronization tasks during explicit IA and control conditions while oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin variations were recorded by functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). The findings suggested that the brain regions associated with sustained attention, such as the right prefrontal cortex (PFC), were more involved when an explicit focus on the breath was induced during the cognitive linguistic task requiring synchronization with a partner, as indicated by increased O2Hb. Interestingly, this effect was not significant for the motor task. In conclusion, for the first time, this pilot research found increased activity in neuroanatomical regions that promote sustained attention, attention reorientation, and synchronization when a joint task is carried out and the person is focusing on their physiological body reactions. Moreover, the results suggested that the benefits of conscious concentration on physiological interoceptive correlates while executing a task demanding synchronization, particularly verbal alignment, may be related to the right PFC.

Inter-Brain Hemodynamic Coherence Applied to Interoceptive Attentiveness in Hyperscanning: Why Social Framing Matters

“…In the second fNIRS study, hemispheric lateralization was reported with an increase in O2Hb in the right PFC when intentional attention toward breathing was induced during a cognitive synchronization task, namely a linguistic task [12]. According to previous studies, the right PFC appears to support the execution of IA tasks [6,23,24] and sustained and goal-directed attention [18].…”

“…Previously, single-brain studies were carried out to investigate the neural correlates of IA manipulation (operationalized as focused on breathing) on the inter-personal synchronization necessary for performing joint tasks [12][13][14][15]. In two recent studies, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record the oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) changes during joint tasks involving motor and cognitive synchronization, while the participants were required to concentrate on their breathing to better understand the hemodynamic correlates of IA manipulation in interpersonal synchronization [12,14].…”

“…Previously, single-brain studies were carried out to investigate the neural correlates of IA manipulation (operationalized as focused on breathing) on the inter-personal synchronization necessary for performing joint tasks [12][13][14][15]. In two recent studies, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record the oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) changes during joint tasks involving motor and cognitive synchronization, while the participants were required to concentrate on their breathing to better understand the hemodynamic correlates of IA manipulation in interpersonal synchronization [12,14]. In the first study, the induction of explicit focus on breathing during a socially framed motor task requiring synchronization increased the responsiveness of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is involved in sustained attention, reorientation of attention, social responsiveness, and synchronization.…”

EEG brain oscillations are modulated by interoception in response to a synchronized motor vs. cognitive task

“…Specifically, the participants had to synchronize their finger movements with the experimenter sitting in front of them. The total duration of the task was of 3 mins (for the full description of the tasks; see Balconi and Angioletti, 2022).…”

“…It is interesting to note that this evidence was significantly observed for the cognitive (i.e., linguistic) task, and not for the motor task. If taking into account the direct correlation between interoceptive correlates (and the focus placed on controlling them) and motor performance, as well as the neuroanatomic closeness between the interoceptive and the motor region, this finding appeared paradoxical (Balconi and Angioletti, 2022). Furthermore, this pilot study considered a limited sample size, and the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technique was not applied to the somatosensory cortical regions or the rest of the brain, but simply over the PFC (Balconi and Molteni, 2016).…”