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Selective Medial Prefrontal Cortex Responses During Live Mutual Gaze Interactions in Human Infants: An fNIRS Study

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Abstract

To investigate the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in processing multimodal communicative ostensive signals in infants, we measured cerebral hemodynamic responses by using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during the social interactive play “peek-a-boo”, in which both visual (direct gaze) and auditory (infant-directed speech) stimuli were presented. The infants (mean age, around 7 months) sat on their mother’s lap, equipped with an NIRS head cap, and looked at a partner’s face during “peek-a-boo”. An eye-tracking system simultaneously monitored the infants’ visual fixation patterns. The results indicate that, when the partner presented a direct gaze, rather than an averted gaze, toward an infant during social play, the infant fixated on the partner’s eye region for a longer duration. Furthermore, hemodynamic activity increased more prominently dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in response to social play with a partner’s direct gaze compared to an averted gaze. In contrast, hemodynamic activity increased in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-lPFC) regardless of a partner’s eye gaze direction. These results indicate that a partner’s direct gaze shifts an infant’s attention to the partner’s eyes for interactive communication, and specifically activates the mPFC. The differences in hemodynamic responses between the mPFC and R-lPFC suggest functional differentiation within the PFC, and a specific role of the mPFC in the perception of face-to-face communication, especially in mutual gaze, which is essential for social interaction.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ms. Natsuko Sakai for special assistance in the “peek-a-boo” task. This research was supported in part by the JSPS Asian Core Program, the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (25290005), and the MEXT, Japan. Mr. Akihiro Ishikawa is an employee of the company, which made the NIRS apparatus used in the present study. The other authors of this article have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurophysiotherapy, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan

    Susumu Urakawa, Kouichi Takamoto & Taketoshi Ono

  2. Department of System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan

    Susumu Urakawa & Hisao Nishijo

  3. Research & Development Medical Systems Division, Shimadzu Corporation, Nishinokyoukuwabaracho 1, Nakagyouku, Kyoto, Japan

    Akihiro Ishikawa

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  1. Susumu Urakawa
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  5. Hisao Nishijo
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Correspondence to Hisao Nishijo.

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Urakawa, S., Takamoto, K., Ishikawa, A. et al. Selective Medial Prefrontal Cortex Responses During Live Mutual Gaze Interactions in Human Infants: An fNIRS Study. Brain Topogr 28, 691–701 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-014-0414-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-014-0414-2

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