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Exploring inter-brain coherence between fathers and infants during maternal storytelling: an fNIRS hyperscanning study
  • Xin Zhou,
  • Xuancu Hong,
  • Patrick C.M. Wong
Xin Zhou
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Xuancu Hong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages
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Patrick C.M. Wong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages
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Abstract

The current study examined the inter-brain coherence (IBC) between 34 dyads of fathers and infants 7-9 months of age using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We specifically focused on father-infant IBC to broaden the empirical base beyond the mother-infant connections, as the former has received limited attention. There were three conditions: a baseline condition, and two task conditions when the infant and the adult participant jointly listened to maternal storytelling in Cantonese in infant-directed speech (IDS) and adult-directed speech (ADS). Father-infant IBC was compared with stranger-infant IBC in the same experimental settings. Our results found that father-infant IBC was greater in the baseline and ADS conditions but not in the IDS condition, compared to stranger-infant IBC. Further, stranger-infant dyads showed greater IBC in the IDS condition than in the ADS condition, with no significance in father-infant IBC between the two speech conditions. These results identified different IBC mechanisms between the two dyads. The IBC pattern in stranger-infant dyads is driven by neural entrainment to mothers’ speech, whereas father-infant IBC is more resistant to mothers’ behaviors in the co-presence of both parents.
28 Feb 2024Submitted to Infant and Child Development: prenatal, childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood
29 Mar 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
23 Jul 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
12 Aug 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Major
22 Aug 20241st Revision Received
22 Aug 2024Submission Checks Completed
22 Aug 2024Assigned to Editor
03 Sep 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned