Background/Objectives: Art-based interventions have been shown to enhance communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet their impact on prefrontal hemodynamics remains unclear. Methods: This study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine hemoglobin oxygenation (HbO) changes in the prefrontal cortex of school-age children with ASD, providing empirical support for its therapeutic efficacy. Sixty age-matched children participated in a 9-week art therapy program, including twenty ASD children and forty typically developing peers. Assessments included self-portrait drawing (SPD), the Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS), and the General Quality of Life Inventory (GQOL-74). In addition, we performed fNIRS measurements in the ASD participants and observed changes in prefrontal HbO at rest and while drawing. Results: The drawing intervention significantly enhanced drawing ability, emotional expression, and cognitive skills, with the intervention group outperforming the controls. ASD participants exhibited distinct prefrontal connectivity patterns with visual, motor, and language-related regions, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, frontal eye field, and Broca’s area. Task-based painting interventions indirectly influenced the frontal lobe’s hemodynamic characteristics, indicating drawing intervention as an effective intervention for ASD.

With the increasing attention paid to user oriented design and services, the term Co-design, a form of user participatory design, is increasingly mentioned. Previous studies have shown that Co-design could better satisfy user needs in process and results, but there are few studies that have been empirically validated through neuroscience methods. Therefore, this study used fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to measure the brain blood oxygen data (HbO2 & Hb) of both "designer" and "user" participants from design and non-design majors during Traditional and Co-design tasks. The IBS (inter-brain synchronization) between participants were calculated using wavelet coherence packet in Matlab. Research has found Significant activation of DLPFC (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and BROCA (pas triangularis Broca's area) was observed in both tasks, with more significant activation observed in Co-design tasks, and IBS activation was significantly positively correlated with needs satisfaction rate. The results showed that Co-design could better activate DLPFC and BROCA brain regions compared to Traditional design, which further supports previous research and expands the possibility of collaborative task paradigms. The increase in Co-design IBS compared to Traditional design also represents better collaborative performance, and could provide empirical evidence for participatory design based on neuroimaging.

With the increasing attention paid to user-oriented design and services, the term co-design, a form of user-participatory design, is increasingly mentioned. Previous studies have shown that co-design could better satisfy user needs in process and results, but there are few studies that have been empirically validated through neuroscience methods. Therefore, this study used fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to measure the brain blood oxygen data (HbO₂ & Hb) of both “designer” and “user” participants from design and non-design majors during traditional and co-design tasks. The IBS (inter-brain synchronization) between participants was calculated using a wavelet coherence package in Matlab. Research has found significant consistency of DLPFC (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and BROCA (pars triangularis Broca’s area) was observed in both tasks, with more significance observed in co-design tasks, and IBS activation was significantly positively correlated with need satisfaction rate. The results showed that co-design could better activate DLPFC and BROCA brain regions compared to traditional design, which further supports previous research and expands the possibility of collaborative task paradigms. The increase in co-design IBS compared to traditional design also represents better collaborative performance, and could provide empirical evidence for participatory design based on neuroimaging.