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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Individual and Social Behaviors
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1476535

Gender differences in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) changes during drawing interactions in romantic couples: An fNIRS study

Provisionally accepted
Xinxin Huang Xinxin Huang *Yantong Chen Yantong Chen *Limin Bai Limin Bai *Hongsen Cui Hongsen Cui *Lishen Wang Lishen Wang *
  • Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Interpersonal interaction is essential to romantic couples. Understanding how gender impacts an individual's brain activities during intimate interaction is crucial. The present study examined gender differences in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) changes during real-time drawing interactions between members of romantic couples using non-invasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We analyzed the oxy-Hb concentrations of romantic couples engaged in interactive (i.e., chase and escape) and non-interactive (i.e., individual) drawing sessions. Our findings indicated that males (vs. females) exhibited more pronounced oxy-Hb concentrations in Broca's area, motor area, sensorimotor cortex, and temporal lobe areas than women in an interactive drawing task, suggesting a heightened goaloriented engagement in social interaction. Significant positive correlations were found between oxy-Hb volumes of the temporal area and the Quality of Relationship Index (QRI), underscoring the impact of interpersonal dynamics on brain function during interactive tasks. This study deepens the understanding of gender differences in neural mechanisms in social interaction tasks and provides important insights for intimacy research.

    Keywords: male-female couples1, fNIRS2, oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) 3, Real-time4, drawing interactions5

    Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 26 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Huang, Chen, Bai, Cui and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xinxin Huang, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, China
    Yantong Chen, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, China
    Limin Bai, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, China
    Hongsen Cui, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, China
    Lishen Wang, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.