Neural Substrate of Group Mental Health: Insights from Multi-Brain Reference Frame in Functional Neuroimaging

Abstract

Contemporary mental health practice primarily centers around the neurobiological and psychological processes at the individual level. However, a more careful consideration of interpersonal and other group-level attributes (e.g., interpersonal relationship, mutual trust/hostility, interdependence, and cooperation) and a better grasp of their pathology can add a crucial dimension to our understanding of mental health problems. A few recent studies have delved into the interpersonal behavioral processes in the context of different psychiatric abnormalities. Neuroimaging can supplement these approaches by providing insight into the neurobiology of interpersonal functioning. Keeping this view in mind, we discuss a recently developed approach in functional neuroimaging that calls for a shift from a focus on neural information contained within brain space to a multi-brain framework exploring degree of similarity/dissimilarity of neural signals between multiple interacting brains. We hypothesize novel applications of quantitative neuroimaging markers like inter-subject correlation that might be able to evaluate the role of interpersonal attributes affecting an individual or a group. Empirical evidences of the usage of these markers in understanding the neurobiology of social interactions are provided to argue for their application in future mental health research.

Altered effective connectivity in sensorimotor cortices is a signature of severity and clinical course in depression

“…There is a growing recognition that the depression is associated with dysfunction of distributed brain networks rather than of individual brain regions ( 44 , 45 ). Four networks have been the focus of most of the published research in this area: the affective network (AN), reward network (RN), DMN, and CCN.…”

Altered effective connectivity in sensorimotor cortices: a novel signature of severity and clinical course in depression

“…There is a growing recognition that the depression is associated with dysfunction of distributed brain networks rather than of individual brain regions [33, 34]. Four networks have been the focus of most of the published research in this area: the affective network (AN), the reward network (RN), the default mode network (DMN), and the cognitive control network (CCN).…”

Biocultural aspects of mental distress: Expanding the biomedical model towards an integrative biopsychosocial understanding of disorder

“…A more contemporary view does not necessarily view the functional correlations between brain activity and task performance from a fixed point of view, but rather that these brain processes are dynamic and involve functional connectivity (Rogers et al, 2007). In particular, contemporary functional neuroanatomy has focused on processes that reflect the engagement of dynamic networks both in "resting states" and during cognitive challenges (Broyd et al, 2009;Deco et al, 2011;Ray et al, 2017;Rogers et al, 2007).…”