Nat Neurosci . . . The Ma Luna team revealed the mechanism of neurosynchronization between the brain in intergroup conflicts.

Responsibility group is the basic social unit of human survival and reproduction.throughout human history, the survival and development of a group depends on the coordination of members' behavior within the group and the cooperative cooperation in decision-making. However, the cognitive process and neural mechanism behind this synergy are still unclear.on April 27, 2020, Ma Zhenna research group of IDG / McGovern Institute of brain sciences, State Key Laboratory of cognitive neuroscience and learning, Beijing Normal University, published a research paper online in nature neuroscience, explaining the mechanism.in this study, we used the experimental paradigm of multi round multi person real-time inter group interaction and hyperscanning technology of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to reveal that intra group synchronization is the key neural mechanism of inter group interaction and collaboration.in this study, the researchers used an inter group "attack defense" competitive game with multiple rounds, real interaction and real-time feedback.each round of the game involves six participants, three in the attack group and three in the defensive group.in the experiment, neural activities in the right dorsolateral prefrontal lobe (rdlpfc, the brain area closely related to impulse suppression and strategic decision-making) and the temporoparietal joint area (RTPJ, the brain area closely related to processing other people's intentions and theory of mind) were recorded simultaneously by two similar fNIRS Shimadzu instruments (Fig. 1).Fig. 1 the distribution of fnris optical pole in functional near infrared spectral imaging.studies have found that, at the behavioral level, cohesion within groups makes individuals more willing to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of group interests, enhances their love for their own groups, and has stronger internal external group bias.at the neural level, researchers focused on the intensity of individual neural activity, brain functional connectivity, and the within group neural synchronization among group members.the researchers found that at the level of individual neural activity, intra group cohesion reduced the intensity of neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe of group members (Fig. 2a), and enhanced the functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal lobe and the temporoparietal junction (Fig. 2B, FIG, c) It is suggested that group cohesion can promote group members to understand and cooperate with other members more actively in decision-making.Fig. 2 the effect of group internal cohesion on DLPFC activity and dlpfc-tpj brain functional connectivity.at the level of intergerebral synchrony among group members (Fig. 3), the researchers found that group cohesion enhanced the within group neural activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction (TMJ) in group members, especially in the aggressive group In addition, the neural synchronization of the members in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex can positively predict the impulsive risk-taking behavior of the group in the inter group interaction.Fig. 3 Calculation of neural synchrony and its role in inter group interaction.this study revealed that the within group synchronized reduction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is the neural mechanism behind the group cooperative behavior.in addition, the results also suggest that the regulation of group cohesion and the direct regulation of the brain synchronization characteristics of the members of the group may be effective means to intervene in the group interaction mode.Yang Jiaxin, a doctoral student in the research group of Ma Huana, State Key Laboratory of cognitive neuroscience and learning, Beijing Normal University, is the first author of the article, and Professor Ma is the independent corresponding author. Ma's graduate students Zhang Hejing, Ni Jun and Professor Carsten de dreu of Leiden University also made important contributions to this research. original link: plate maker: Ke