title: Measuring speaker-listener neural coupling with functional near infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: The present study investigates brain-to-brain coupling, defined as inter-subject correlations in the hemodynamic response, during natural verbal communication. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record brain activity of 3 speakers telling stories and 15 listeners comprehending audio recordings of these stories. Listeners' brain activity was significantly correlated with speakers' with a delay. This between-brain correlation disappeared when verbal communication failed. We further compared the fNIRS and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) recordings of listeners comprehending the same story and found a significant relationship between the fNIRS oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration changes and the fMRI BOLD in brain areas associated with speech comprehension. This correlation between fNIRS and fMRI was only present when data from the same story were compared between the two modalities and vanished when data from different stories were compared; this cross-modality consistency further highlights the reliability of the spatiotemporal brain activation pattern as a measure of story comprehension. Our findings suggest that fNIRS can be used for investigating brain-to-brain coupling during verbal communication in natural settings.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Science &Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Yichuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Elise A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Piazza
authors.affiliation: Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Erez
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Simony
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Science &Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.|Nutrition Sciences Department, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University, Philadelphia PA, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Shewokis
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Science &Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Onaral
authors.affiliation: Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.|Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hasson
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Science &Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.|Department of Family and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.|Division of General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ayaz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*