Investigating Neural Synchrony in Mother-Infant Interactions with fNIRS Hyperscanning

• Grant number: 25/24298-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: April 01, 2026
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Physiological Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Alexandra Caldas Osório
• Grantee: Maria Juliana Gutiérrez Camperos
• Supervisor: Rickson Coelho Mesquita
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Birmingham, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 25/11329-0 - Mother-infant brain synchrony: Development of a hyperscanning protocol for analysis of synchronous patterns of mother-infant brain activity with fNIRS, BP.MS

Abstract

Early social interactions between infants and caregivers play a fundamental role in shaping emotional regulation and attachment bonding. Among these interactions, affective touch facilitates physiological and neural synchrony between mothers and infants, supporting the development of socioemotional skills from the first months of life. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this process, as well as the analytical methods best suited to capture them, remain underexplored. This study aims to advance the methodological framework of hyperscanning research by comparing two analytical approaches-General Linear Model (GLM) and Intersubject Correlation (ISC) analysis-applied to functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) data acquired from mother-infant dyads during affective touch and face-to-face interaction. Mother-infant dyads (infants aged six months) will participate in a four-condition experimental design manipulating the presence or absence of touch and visual engagement. Neural synchrony will be quantified across homologous cortical regions under each condition using both analytical frameworks. By contrasting the sensitivity and robustness of GLM and ISC, this project seeks to determine which approach more accurately captures the shared neural dynamics of early social bonding. We hypothesize that affective touch will enhance neural synchrony between mothers and infants, and that ISC analysis will demonstrate greater sensitivity in detecting this inter-brain coupling compared to GLM, reflecting its ability to capture spontaneous and temporally dynamic processes inherent to social interaction. The research is expected to contribute to the standardization and reproducibility of fNIRS hyperscanning analyses, while offering new insights into how affective touch supports the development of interpersonal attunement in early life. (AU)