Interpersonal Neural Synchrony and Mental Disorders: Unlocking Potential Pathways for Clinical Interventions

Abstract

The current review provides an overview of various techniques for manipulating interpersonal neural synchrony. It presents a 'second-person' neuroscience approach as a potential clinical tool for treating certain mental disorders characterized by social interaction challenges, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attachment Disorder, and Social Anxiety Disorder.

Effects of Home-Based EEG Neurofeedback Training as a Non-Pharmacological Intervention for Parkinson’s Disease

“…For instance, home-based neurofeedback training can target cognitive symptoms in neurodegenerative disorders 44 or mental diseases 45,46 or aim to facilitate movement in other rehabilitation contexts (e.g., recovery from stroke) 47 . Recent technical advances in mobile EEG 48 and optical neuroimaging methods such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) 49,50 further expand the exciting prospects of mobile, ambulatory, home-based and even dyadic 51 neurofeedback applications.…”

From Lab to Life: Challenges and Perspectives of fNIRS for Hemodynamic Neurofeedback in Real-World Environments

“…Hemodynamic hyperfeedback. In hyperscanning, multiple individuals are measured simultaneously which can offer interesting insights into phenomena such as inter-brain synchrony [179]. An important aspect of inter-brain synchronization is that brain activity of two or more people become synchronized during interaction, which is considered crucial for various cooperative behaviors or effective communication.…”

“…Hyperscanning neurofeedback (coined 'hyperfeedback'), provides feedback based on a common target parameter resulting from the brain activity of all involved individuals and thus requires the cooperation of these subjects to regulate this parameter together. This could in turn lead to an increase in empathy or social belonging [179]. Although this field is still in its infancy, several studies on EEG hyperfeedback have already been conducted [180][181][182][183][184].…”

“…Although this field is still in its infancy, several studies on EEG hyperfeedback have already been conducted [180][181][182][183][184]. However, research on hemodynamic hyperfeedback is still limited [179,185,186]. Given that social interactions likely work best in face-to-face, realworld environments, the potential using fNIRS in this context is particularly promising.…”

“…Given that social interactions likely work best in face-to-face, realworld environments, the potential using fNIRS in this context is particularly promising. This application represents an interesting direction for future research, but more and sufficiently large studies are needed in the future to determine its effectiveness [179].…”