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Objectives Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) lacks dynamic monitoring biomarkers for neuropsychiatric complications. This study aims to break through the technical barriers of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in SLE brain function detection through method innovation, providing data for establishing biomarkers of cognitive impairment in SLE patients.Methods This study combined the education-adapted verbal fluency task paradigm with 37-channel fNIRS technology, and adopted the spatiotemporal optimized fNIRS paradigm (task paradigm: VFT, 60-second task period/10-second dynamic baseline correction) to obtain dynamic data on the concentration changes of oxy-Hb/HbO and deoxy-Hb/HbR in the prefrontal cortex. Statistical analysis was conducted on the activation effects of each channel in the prefrontal cortex.Results The oxygenated hemoglobin concentration in 12 channels (CH13-15, 18, 21-25, 27, 28, 35) of the SLE group was significantly lower than that of the healthy control group (p < 0.05), and these channels were mainly located in the BA9 and 46 regions (i.e., the dorsal prefrontal area) (q < 0.05). The SLE with depression group and the SLE without depression group had statistically significant HbO concentrations in 14 channels (CH6, 9, 10, 13-15, 18, 24-28, 34, 36) compared to the control group (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in HbO concentration between the SLE with depression group and the SLE without depression group; compared with the SLE without anxiety group, the SLE with anxiety group showed more severe reduction in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration in 8 channels (CH6, 10, 13, 17, 18, 24, 25, 26) (p < 0.05), and these channels were spatially concentrated in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral frontal pole regions.Conclusions The disordered hemoglobin oxygenation oscillations in the frontal lobe are a dynamic biomarker for emotional disorders in SLE. The quantitative mapping of spatial gradients of these oscillations quantifies the severity of emotional symptoms, providing a bedside-implementable neuroimaging assessment tool for NPSLE.