Naoi Nozomi, Minagawa Yasuyo, Yamamoto Jun-Ichi, Kojima Shozo
Department of Psychology and Linguistics, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan.
Front Med Technol. 2022 Jun 15;4:821248. doi: 10.3389/fmedt.2022.821248. eCollection 2022.
The present study examined cerebral hemodynamic responses and functional connectivity during joint attention either initiated by infants (Initiating Joint Attention, IJA condition) or by their partner (Responding to Joint Attention, RJA condition). To capture responses to natural social cues in infants aged 7-12 months using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we employed an interactive-live paradigm for IJA and RJA. During the measurement, an adult sat facing an infant, and objects, such as small stuffed animals, paired with sound toys were presented to the right or left side of the screen. In the RJA condition, the adult gazed at the infants' eyes and then to the objects to encourage the infants to follow the adult's gaze. On the other hand, in the IJA condition, the adult followed the infant's gaze as it shifted to the presented object. Our results indicate that the concentration of oxy-Hb in the bilateral ventral prefrontal region had significantly decreased, then followed by an increase in the right dorsal prefrontal region in the RJA. In addition, a selective activation in the bilateral dorsal prefrontal region was seen in the IJA condition. Moreover, the infants exhibited increased functional connectivity especially within the right ventral prefrontal region during RJA condition when compared with IJA conditions. These findings suggest that RJA and IJA recruit specific brain networks localized in the prefrontal cortex of infants.
本研究考察了婴儿发起（发起共同注意，IJA 条件）或其伙伴发起（回应共同注意，RJA 条件）共同注意时的脑血流动力学反应和功能连接。为了使用功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）捕捉 7 - 12 个月婴儿对自然社交线索的反应，我们针对 IJA 和 RJA 采用了互动直播范式。测量过程中，一名成年人面对婴儿就坐，屏幕右侧或左侧会呈现诸如小毛绒动物等与发声玩具配对的物品。在 RJA 条件下，成年人注视婴儿的眼睛，然后看向物品，以鼓励婴儿跟随成年人的目光。另一方面，在 IJA 条件下，成年人会跟随婴儿转移到所呈现物品上的目光。我们的结果表明，在 RJA 中，双侧腹侧前额叶区域的氧合血红蛋白浓度显著下降，随后右侧背侧前额叶区域增加。此外，在 IJA 条件下可见双侧背侧前额叶区域的选择性激活。而且，与 IJA 条件相比，婴儿在 RJA 条件下表现出功能连接增加，尤其是在右侧腹侧前额叶区域内。这些发现表明，RJA 和 IJA 会激活婴儿前额叶皮质中特定的脑网络。
