Mother-infant brain synchrony: Development of a hyperscanning protocol for analysis of synchronous patterns of mother-infant brain activity with fNIRS

• Grant number: 25/11329-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Physiological Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Alexandra Caldas Osório
• Grantee: Maria Juliana Gutiérrez Camperos
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/06693-4 - The importance of social touch for infant social-emotional development: integrating neuroimaging, psychophysiological, endocrine, and behavioral evidence, AP.JP2

Abstract

Interpersonal processes assume a central role in the areas of Social and Affective Neuroscience. When they interact, humans tend to synchronize not only their behavior but also their physiological neural activity (Balbiloni & Astolfi, 2014). Several studies suggest that this interpersonal synchrony favors emotional exchanges and social compensation between people, strengthening their bond (Koole & Tschaler, 2016). Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques allow measuring the neural activity of two individuals interacting simultaneously in protocols known in the literature as hyperscanning. Specifically, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has attracted considerable interest in developing hyperscanning protocols due to its portability, versatility, and low cost. However, despite its increasing use in adults (Baker et al., 2016; Cui, Bryant, & Reiss, 2012; Nozawa et al., 2016), few studies with fNIRS in the hyperscanning format were conducted in children and even fewer with infants. Although relevant and pioneering, most previous work investigating the parent-child neural attunement several years after the social-affective bond between them was established. The importance of maternal touch and mother-infant interaction to form the affective bond between thhem remains understudied using neuroimaging studies with fNIRS. At the same time, the establishment of analysis protocols in fNIRS hyperscanning experiments is still in its inception. The main goal of this project is to develop an infant-caregiver experimental hyperscanning protocol using fNIRS and develop methodologies for synchronous data analysis.