参与式社会互动中脑间同步的自我-他人重叠机制

The self-other overlap mechanism in interpersonal-brain synchronization:A perspective from second-person neuroscience

脑间同步是指在群体互动中,个体之间大脑活动的一致性变化,它反映真实互动中的人际联结.随着超扫描技术的发展,研究者提倡采用参与式范式来探究脑间同步的机制.根据相互预测理论,脑间同步的关键在于个体对他人的准确预测.这一过程与个体将他人纳入自我表征的程度,即自我-他人重叠程度有关.但目前关于自我-他人重叠在脑间同步中的作用研究相对较少.因此,本文梳理近几年采用参与式范式的脑间同步研究,在相互预测理论的基础上,提出自我-他人重叠可能是脑间同步的潜在机制.个体通过将他人纳入自我表征,能够促进对他人的准确预测,从而使个体间形成脑间同步.在这一过程中,内侧前额叶皮层可能是关键的神经基础.本文为深入理解群体思想情绪的传递过程提供启示,强调脑间同步与自我-他人重叠的联系以及内侧前额叶皮层在其中的作用.未来研究可以通过计算建模等方法进一步探索脑间同步的潜在机制,并关注特殊群体中异于常态的同步现象与自我-他人重叠的关联.

Inter-brain synchronization(IBS)is a phenomenon in which individuals’neural activities tend to synchronize because of mutual influence during social interactions.This cross-species phenomenon is an inherent characteristic of mammals,including humans,and is closely linked to information transmission within groups.Research on attachment theory has shown that individuals display varying degrees of synchronization when interacting with companions at different levels of interpersonal closeness.Consequently,researchers have posited that the significance of IBS lies in the connections built between individuals.With advancements in hyper-scanning technology,researchers have increasingly advocated for the use of second-person neuroscience to explore IBS.Researchers have reached a consensus on the underlying mechanisms of IBS,attributing its foundation to shared representations.Building upon this,mutual prediction theory has been proposed,positing that IBS arises from individuals successfully predicting the behavior of their peers.This process is associated with the degree to which others are incorporated into one’s self-representation(i.e.,self-other overlap).However,limited research has focused on the relationship between IBS and self-other overlap.Thus,this study reviews recent second-person neuroscience research and suggests that self-other overlap serves as a latent mechanism for IBS.By incorporating others into their self-representation,individuals can enhance their accuracy in predicting other’s minds and behaviors,leading to the formation of IBS.Furthermore,the medial prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in this process.By elucidating the self-other overlap mechanism underlying IBS,this study’s findings contribute to the current understanding of how group thoughts and emotions are transmitted,providing new insights for diagnosing and treating specific groups.Future research can explore the self-other overlap mechanism of IBS through approaches such as computational modeling,focusing on how self-other overlap influences the transmission of group emotions and corrects external group biases.