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A06: Decoding dynamic reciprocal neural mechanism underlying reactive aggression: Insights from fMRI and fNIRS hyperscanning

The project employs fMRI and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning techniques to explore how brain-to-brain synchrony and dynamic processes within peer dyads facilitate or inhibit aggressive behavior under diverse levels of provocation in adolescent patients and controls. In two fully interactive tasks, we will probe aggressive behavior towards a task partner, and quantify the building of interpersonal trust/distrust applying a social interaction and economic exchange paradigm. These paradigms will be employed within dyads in fMRI hyperscanning settings and extended by group-based fNIRS methods in triads to study effects of peers, social exclusion, and coalitions on aggressive behavior in semi-naturalistic interactions. Between-brain neural synchrony will be computed and related to everyday social experiences and individual predispositions to identify markers for the prediction of aggressive behavior.

Contributors


Kerstin Konrad

Kerstin Konrad is affiliated with the RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich, where she specializes in developmental psychology and neuroscience. Her research primarily focuses on the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying attention and executive functions in children and adolescents.

Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg

Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg is a distinguished psychiatrist and neuroscientist based in Germany, renowned for his groundbreaking research on the neurobiological underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. He serves as the Director of the Central Institute of Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim and is a professor at the University of Heidelberg.

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