Aberrant multi-brain neurodynamics drive atypical social cooperation and competition in heroin use disorder: An fNIRS-based hyperscanning study

Although social deterioration in drug addiction has been widely acknowledged clinically, little is known about altered social interactive patterns and their intra- and inter-brain neural underpinnings. The in-depth investigation into the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying how individuals with heroin use disorder (HUD) engage in cooperation and competition—two fundamental forms of social interaction—is crucial for comprehensively characterizing atypical social interaction in HUD. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning to explore the cooperative and competitive patterns in individuals with HUD during a real-time interactive task. Compared to healthy control dyads, HUD dyads exhibited a higher error rate under both cooperative and competitive conditions. HUD participants showed reduced inter-brain synchronization (IBS) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and right temporoparietal junction (r-TPJ), as well as decreased PFC activation during cooperation compared to healthy controls. In contrast, both IBS and PFC activity were higher during competition than during cooperation. Critically, IBS in the r-TPJ mediated the relationship between heroin craving and cooperative performance, suggesting a potential target for neurofeedback interventions. These findings reveal impaired cooperative abilities and heightened competitive tendencies in HUD, offering translational insights for the development of targeted interventions.