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Thebrain not syncing5/27/2023 Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record both members’ neural activity in the left prefrontal (lPFC) and right temporal-parietal junction (rTPJ) regions during the task. In this study, two groups of same-sex dyads with similar individual creativity collaborated to complete the Product Improvement Task (creative condition) and the Item Purchase Plan Task (control condition), respectively. However, the interpersonal neural mechanism of group creation during natural communication remains unclear. Group creation is the process by which group members collaborate to produce novel and useful ideas or products, including ideas generation and evaluation. The observed differences in these indicators of network-level functionality of the brain can help explain the underlying processes involved in aMCI and AD. Significant differences were observed in the percent phase locking value, theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling, and amplitude coherence between the groups, and classifiers were developed to differentiate the three groups based on these parameters. We conducted a pilot study based on EEG data recorded during an olfactory task from a group of elderly participants consisting of healthy individuals and patients of aMCI and AD to assess the value of different indicators of network-level phase and amplitude synchronization in differentiating the three groups. Our study proposes network-level neural synchronization parameters as topographical markers for diagnosing aMCI and AD. Standard methods of diagnosing MCI and AD employ structural (imaging), behavioral (cognitive tests), and genetic or molecular (blood or CSF tests) techniques. Early detection of MCI allows for potential treatments to prevent or decelerate the process of developing dementia. While some aMCI patients may stay in this condition for years, others might develop dementia associated with AD. Amnestic MCI (aMCI) is considered as the preliminary stage of dementia which may progress to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is known as an early stage of cognitive decline. These findings underscore the importance of conducting social neuroscience research in ecological settings to enrich our understanding of how (multi-brain) neural correlates of social traits such as mindful awareness manifest during social interaction, while raising critical practical considerations regarding the viability of commercially available EEG systems. While we did not replicate prior laboratory-based findings linking trait mindfulness to individual brain responses (N = 379 individuals), self-reported mindful awareness did predict dyadic inter-brain synchrony, in theta (~5–8 Hz) and beta frequencies (~26-27 Hz N = 62 dyads). We used the Muse headset, a portable electroencephalogram (EEG) device often used to support mindfulness meditation, to record brain activity from dyads as they engaged in naturalistic face-to-face interactions in a museum setting. In this study, we investigate neural correlates of trait mindful awareness during naturalistic dyadic interactions, using both intra-brain and inter-brain measures. However, neurobiological evidence pertaining to the prosocial benefits of mindfulness in social settings is sparse. Mindfulness emphasizes cultivating awareness of our immediate experience and has been associated with compassion, empathy, and various other prosocial traits. In recent years, the possible benefits of mindfulness meditation have sparked much public and academic interest. If this proposal is on the right track, our understanding of human consciousness would be profoundly transformed, and we propose a method to test this proposal experimentally. We therefore revisit the recent controversy over the possibility of extended consciousness and argue that evidence of inter-brain synchronization in the fastest frequency bands overcomes the hitherto most convincing sceptical position. These findings challenge the standard view of human consciousness as essentially first-person singular and private. Moreover, this inter-brain synchronization has been associated with subjective reports of social connectedness, engagement, and cooperativeness, as well as experiences of social cohesion and ‘self-other merging’. Intriguingly, a growing number of studies in social cognitive neuroscience reveal that phase synchronization similarly appears across brains during meaningful social interaction. Large-scale synchronization of neural activity has also been proposed as the neural basis of consciousness. The association between neural oscillations and functional integration is widely recognized in the study of human cognition.
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