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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1514682

Not on the same wavelength? How autistic traits influence cooperation: Evidence from fNIRS hyperscanning

Provisionally accepted
Li Kaiyun Li Kaiyun *Du Bang Du Bang Guan Xue Guan Xue Chen Liu Chen Liu Wang Mingxue Wang Mingxue Jia Fanlu Jia Fanlu *Jiang Xiaoqing Jiang Xiaoqing
  • School of Education and Psychology, University of Jinan, Jinan, China

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

    Background: Individuals with high autistic traits exhibit characteristics like those of individuals with autism, including impairments in sociability and communication skills. Whether individuals with high autistic traits exhibit less cooperation remains debated. Methods: This study employed the prisoner's dilemma game (PDG) to measure cooperation in 56 dyads, including 27 with high-low (HL) autistic traits and 29 with low-low (LL) autistic traits, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning technique. Cognitive and emotional empathy were also measured. Results: Individuals with high autistic traits had a lower unilateral cooperation rate than did those with low autistic traits; The HL autistic dyads exhibited a lower mutual cooperation rate and reduced interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) in the right inferior parietal lobule (r-IPL) and right temporoparietal junction (r-TPJ) compared with the LL autistic dyads; Individuals with high autistic traits had significantly lower cognitive empathy scores than did those with low autistic traits, and the cognitive empathy scores had a marginally significant positive correlation with the unilateral cooperation rate and a marginally significant negative correlation with the activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (r-IFG); Emotional empathy scores did not significantly differ between the high and low autistic groups, and there was a significant positive correlation between emotional empathy scores and the activation of the r-IFG in individuals with high autistic traits. Conclusion: This study revealed abnormal cooperation in individuals with high autistic traits from unilateral and mutual behavior neural perspectives, potentially linked to a disability of cognitive empathy.

    Keywords: autistic traits, cooperation, Empathy, Interpersonal brain synchronization, fNIRS

    Received: 21 Oct 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kaiyun, Bang, Xue, Liu, Mingxue, Fanlu and Xiaoqing. 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:
    Li Kaiyun, School of Education and Psychology, University of Jinan, Jinan, China
    Jia Fanlu, School of Education and Psychology, University of Jinan, Jinan, China

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