A recent study published in Personality and Individual Differences explored the factors influencing people’s willingness to adopt cyborg technologies. The researchers found that younger individuals and those with a future-oriented or present-oriented mindset are more likely to embrace cyborg products. Additionally, women showed lower levels of intention to use these technologies compared to men. The findings shed light on the demographic and psychological factors that could shape the future landscape of human-machine integration.
The rapid advancement of disruptive technologies like cyborgs and artificial intelligence tools is poised to transform various aspects of society. However, the authors of the new research noted that as these technologies integrate more deeply into daily life, a digital divide is emerging between those who embrace technological innovations and those who resist them. This divide could exacerbate social inequalities.
Cyborg technologies, which merge human and machine capabilities, include medical implants, hormone-releasing devices, and wearable technology that monitors vital signs. Understanding the demographic and psychological factors influencing the adoption of these technologies can help mitigate their disruptive impact and foster more inclusive technological integration.
“Disruptive technologies such as cyborgs and AI-Tools keep changing our lives drastically today and in the near future,” said study author Patrick Reichel, a junior professor at FOM Stuttgart and CEO of Die TRAININGSWERKSTATT GmbH. “It will impact society on a whole new level I think it is very important being up to date with such topics.”
The study involved 586 participants from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, ranging in age from 18 to 77 years. The participants, who were randomly selected through an online survey, included an equal proportion of men and women.
To gauge cyborg use intention, the researchers developed the Cyborg Use Intention Scale (CUIS). This scale included items such as “Exoskeleton attached to the body as support during physical activity,” rated on an 8-point Likert scale from “is ruled out for me” to “is definitely for me.” The CUIS was structured to capture two dimensions of cyborg use: intention to use cyborg prosthetics and intention to use cyborg body products.
In addition to measuring cyborg use intentions, the study also assessed participants’ temporal focus. Temporal focus refers to how often individuals think about the past, present, or future. This was measured using a scale adapted from previous research, featuring items like “I think about things from my past,” with responses ranging from “never” to “constantly.”
To control for potential confounding factors, the researchers collected data on participants’ existing use of cyborg and wearable technologies, as well as any physical or mental limitations that might influence their responses.
Reichel and his colleagues found that younger participants exhibited a higher intention to use cyborg products compared to their older counterparts. This trend is consistent with previous research indicating that younger individuals are generally more open to adopting new technologies.
Temporal focus was also a significant predictor of cyborg use intention. Both present and future focus were positively associated with a greater willingness to adopt cyborg technologies. Individuals who frequently think about the present or the future are more likely to appreciate the potential benefits of these innovations.
Gender differences were also observed. The researchers found that women reported lower levels of intention to use cyborg products than men. This gender disparity was partly explained by differences in temporal focus, with men showing a higher present focus.
The findings indicate that “time orientation (thinking about past, present and future) impacts the way we approach life, new technologies, embrace change and influences our attitude and behavioural intention to use disruptive and innovative technologies now and in the future,” Reichel told PsyPost.
Future research could also explore other factors that influence cyborg technology adoption, such as cultural differences, ethical considerations, and the role of trust in technology. Understanding these factors could help design interventions to increase acceptance of cyborg technologies and reduce social inequalities.
Regarding the long-term aim of this line of research, Reichel explained that he hopes to “increase knowledge about psychological determinants in the context of human-machine hybridization.”
The study, “Embracing the enhanced self now and in the future: The impact of temporal focus, age, and sex on cyborg products use intention,” was authored by Patrick Reichel, Carmen T. Bassler, and Matthias Spörrle.
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Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:21:17 +0000
TITLE:
Research Update: 20 June 2024
DESCRIPTION:
The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, and useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include: ● Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy vs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain in Older Veterans: A Randomized Clinical Trial. ● Updated Estimate of the Number of Extreme Risk Protection Orders Needed to Prevent 1 Suicide. ● Management of Depression in Adults: A Review.
Language and music are universal aspects of human culture, yet they manifest in highly diverse forms across different societies. A recent study published in Science Advances aimed to understand the shared features and distinct differences between speech and song across cultures. The findings revealed significant cross-cultural regularities in the acoustic features of songs.
The motivation behind this study stemmed from a longstanding curiosity about the evolutionary functions of language and music. Both forms of vocal communication use rhythm and pitch, leading researchers to speculate on their possible coevolution. Despite these speculations, there has been a lack of empirical data to determine what similarities and differences exist between music and language on a global scale.
Previous studies have explored neural mechanisms and identified some universal features within music and language, but comparative analyses of their acoustic attributes, especially across diverse cultures, have been limited. The new study aimed to fill that gap by examining the acoustic features of speech and song from various cultural contexts to identify potential universal patterns and unique distinctions.
To achieve this, a diverse team of 75 researchers, representing speakers of 55 languages from across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific, was assembled. These researchers included experts in ethnomusicology, music psychology, linguistics, and evolutionary biology. Each participant recorded themselves performing four types of vocalizations: singing a traditional song, reciting the song’s lyrics, describing the song verbally, and performing the song instrumentally.
One of the most striking results was the consistent use of higher pitches in songs compared to speech. This pattern was observed across all cultures studied, suggesting that higher pitch is a defining characteristic of musical vocalization universally.
Additionally, songs were found to have a slower temporal rate than speech. This slower pace may facilitate synchronization and social bonding, which are essential functions of music in many cultural contexts.
Another significant finding was the greater pitch stability observed in songs compared to speech. Stable pitches are a hallmark of music, and this consistency likely aids in harmonization and the creation of melodious sequences.
Interestingly, while both speech and song displayed similar timbral brightness, indicating shared vocal mechanisms, there was no significant difference in pitch interval size between the two forms of vocalization. This similarity suggests that both speech and song use pitch in comparable ways, despite their different communicative purposes.
However, the study’s initial hypothesis that pitch declination would show a significant difference between speech and song was not supported. This feature, which measures the change in pitch over time, did not vary significantly across the vocalizations, indicating that both forms might use pitch declination in similar ways, contrary to what was previously thought.
The study provides “strong evidence for cross-cultural regularities,” according to senior author Patrick Savage, the Director of the CompMusic Lab at the University of Auckland.
The similarities in timbral brightness and pitch interval size suggest underlying constraints on vocalization that apply broadly to both speech and music. On the other hand, the differences in pitch height, temporal rate, and pitch stability highlight the unique characteristics of musical vocalization, which may have evolved to fulfill specific social and communicative functions distinct from those of speech.
Savage suggested that songs are more predictably regular than speech because they serve to facilitate social bonding. This regularity in rhythm and pitch likely helps individuals harmonize and connect with one another. “Slow, regular, predictable melodies make it easier for us to sing together in large groups,” he explained. “We’re trying to shed light on the cultural and biological evolution of two systems that make us human: music and language.”
In addition to their original recordings, the researchers analyzed an alternative dataset consisting of 418 previously published recordings of adult-directed songs and speech. These recordings were collected from 209 individuals who spoke 16 different languages. This additional dataset provided a valuable opportunity to validate the study’s findings and explore whether the observed patterns held true across an even broader range of languages and cultural contexts.
The analysis of the alternative dataset confirmed many of the key findings from the original recordings. Similar to the primary dataset, songs in this collection generally used higher pitches, were slower, and exhibited more stable pitches than speech. These consistent results across two independent datasets reinforce the conclusion that these acoustic features are robust indicators of the differences between song and speech globally.
The study, “Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report,” was authored by Yuto Ozaki, Adam Tierney, Peter Q. Pfordresher, John M. McBride, Emmanouil Benetos, Polina Proutskova, Gakuto Chiba, Fang Liu, Nori Jacoby, Suzanne C. Purdy, Patricia Opondo, W. Tecumseh Fitch, Shantala Hegde, Martín Rocamora, Rob Thorne, Florence Nweke, Dhwani P. Sadaphal, Parimal M. Sadaphal, Shafagh Hadavi, Shinya Fujii, Sangbuem Choo, Marin Naruse, Utae Ehara, Latyr Sy, Mark Lenini Parselelo, Manuel Anglada-Tort, Niels Chr. Hansen, Felix Haiduk, Ulvhild Færøvik, Violeta Magalhães, Wojciech Krzyżanowski, Olena Shcherbakova, Diana Hereld, Brenda Suyanne Barbosa, Marco Antonio Correa Varella, Mark van Tongeren, Polina Dessiatnitchenko, Su Zar Zar, Iyadh El Kahla, Olcay Muslu, Jakelin Troy, Teona Lomsadze, Dilyana Kurdova, Cristiano Tsope, Daniel Fredriksson, Aleksandar Arabadjiev, Jehoshaphat Philip Sarbah, Adwoa Arhine, Tadhg Ó Meachair, Javier Silva-Zurita, Ignacio Soto-Silva, Neddiel Elcie Muñoz Millalonco, Rytis Ambrazevičius, Psyche Loui, Andrea Ravignani, Yannick Jadoul, Pauline Larrouy-Maestri, Camila Bruder, Tutushamum Puri Teyxokawa, Urise Kuikuro, Rogerdison Natsitsabui, Nerea Bello Sagarzazu, Limor Raviv, Minyu Zeng, Shahaboddin Dabaghi Varnosfaderani, Juan Sebastián Gómez-Cañón, Kayla Kolff, Christina Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden, Meyha Chhatwal, Ryan Mark David, I. Putu Gede Setiawan, Great Lekakul, Vanessa Nina Borsan, Nozuko Nguqu, and Patrick E. Savage.
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DATE: June 20, 2024 at 10:02AM
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A recent study found that overweight school-age children experience more distress due to teasing from their peers, particularly those with low social status within their groups. The research was published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
Social status among children refers to their level of acceptance and popularity within their peer groups. This status is influenced by social skills, behavior, and physical characteristics. A child’s social status significantly impacts their self-esteem and peer relationships. High social status often leads to positive experiences and social support, while low social status can result in exclusion, bullying, and emotional difficulties.
Research indicates that athletic children often enjoy higher social status. Conversely, being overweight can negatively impact a child’s social standing. Children with low social status are more susceptible to teasing by their peers. When the teasing focuses on being overweight, these children are more likely to engage in emotional eating or exhibit disordered eating behaviors.
The study, led by Bobby K. Cheon and his colleagues, aimed to explore the relationships between a child’s social status, teasing experiences, body weight (measured by body mass index and fat mass index), and eating when not hungry. They hypothesized that the link between low social status, body weight, and eating when not hungry would be stronger in children who experience frequent teasing.
Participants were drawn from an ongoing longitudinal study initiated in 2015 by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study involved 115 children aged 8 to 17 from the Washington D.C. area, with data collected annually over six years. Of these participants, 28% were overweight or obese.
Children completed assessments on their perceived social and socioeconomic status (using the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status – Youth Version), distress from teasing (using the Perception of Teasing Scale), and eating in the absence of hunger (using the 14-item Eating in the Absence of Hunger Questionnaire for Children). Parents also assessed their children’s tendency to eat when not hungry. Additionally, researchers gathered data to calculate body mass index and fat mass index.
The results revealed no significant differences in social or socioeconomic status between children who reported distress from teasing and those who did not. However, children who experienced more teasing distress tended to have higher body mass index (BMI), indicating a higher weight relative to their height. This link was particularly evident in children with low social status who experienced teasing distress.
Children with lower social status were also more likely to eat when not hungry, but this tendency was again only significant in those who experienced teasing distress.
“This analysis found a statistical interaction between SSS [subjective social status] and children’s experience of teasing distress on body composition and EAH [eating in the absence of hunger]. Low SSS was associated with greater BMI [body mass index], FMI [fat mass index], and EAH due to negative affect only when participants experienced teasing distress. Exposure to teasing distress was also independently associated with higher BMI, FMI, EAH due to negative affect, and EAH total score,” the study authors concluded.
This study highlights the complex interplay between teasing and social status in influencing eating behaviors among children. However, it is important to consider the study’s limitations, including the relatively small sample size and the inability to draw definitive cause-and-effect conclusions from the data.
The paper, “Lower subjective social status is associated with increased adiposity and self-reported eating in the absence of hunger due to negative affect among children reporting teasing distress,” was authored by Bobby K. Cheon, Meegan R. Smith, Julia M.P. Bittner, Lucy K. Loch, Hannah E. Haynes, Bess F. Bloomer, Jennifer A. Te-Vazquez, Andrea I. Bowling, Sheila M. Brady, Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, Kong Y. Chen, and Jack A. Yanovski.
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In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, researchers have uncovered connections between the psychoactive effects of classical psychedelics and brain activity patterns that resemble those seen during sleep. The findings suggest that psychedelic substances induce a unique state that integrates waking behaviors with sleep-like brain waves.
Classical psychedelics, including compounds like 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), are known to induce profound changes in perception, emotion, cognition, and movement. These substances, structurally similar to serotonin, have been the subject of interest due to their potential therapeutic effects and their ability to produce states similar to dreaming. However, the exact brain mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown.
“As a sleep and memory researcher, I’ve been interested in psychedelic states as waking proxies of dreaming,” said study author Sidarta Ribeiro, a full professor of neuroscience at the Brain Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, an associate researcher of the Center for Strategic Studies of Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), and author of The Oracle of Night.
“We have previously found that psychedelics can induce neuroplasticity akin to that induced by sleep. This prompted our interest in assessing neural markers of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep after the administration of 5-MeO-DMT, a potent classical psychedelic substance.”
Slow-wave sleep (SWS) is a deep stage of sleep characterized by slow, high-amplitude brain waves called delta waves. It is crucial for physical restoration, memory consolidation, and overall brain health. Rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, on the other hand, is marked by low-amplitude, mixed-frequency brain activity, similar to an awake state, and is named for the quick, random movements of the eyes. REM sleep is essential for processing emotions, learning, and memory, and is when most dreaming occurs.
The researchers conducted their study using 17 adult male rats. These animals were housed under controlled conditions and subjected to a series of experimental sessions. The focus was on the acute effects of 5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic compound, on brain activity.
To investigate this, the team used electrodes to record brain activity from two key areas: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the hippocampus (HP). These regions are crucial for cognition and navigation, respectively. The electrodes were carefully implanted in the rats’ brains, allowing for detailed monitoring of electrical activity.
The experimental design involved administering different doses of 5-MeO-DMT or saline (as a control) to the rats and then recording their brain activity and behaviors. The recordings were made while the rats moved freely in an arena, which provided a naturalistic setting for observing the effects of the drug.
Rats exhibited a range of altered behaviors after receiving 5-MeO-DMT. These included uncoordinated movements, periods of stillness, and stereotyped behaviors like head twitching.
The researchers found that 5-MeO-DMT induced noticeable changes in brain wave patterns, particularly in the hippocampus. Theta waves, which dominate during active behavior and REM sleep, showed a significant decrease in power after drug administration. This was not solely due to changes in the rats’ movement speeds, suggesting a direct effect of the drug on brain activity.
The researchers also found changes in gamma waves, which are associated with higher brain functions like attention and memory. Both slow and mid-gamma oscillations were affected, with a dose-dependent reduction in their power and modulation by theta waves. This indicates that 5-MeO-DMT alters the complex interplay between different brain rhythms.
Using a technique called state mapping, which plots brain activity patterns, the researchers observed that 5-MeO-DMT induced transitions between waking-like and sleep-like states. Even though the rats were awake and moving, their brain activity resembled that of sleep states, particularly slow-wave sleep (SWS) and REM sleep. This suggests that the drug creates a hybrid state combining elements of both wakefulness and sleep.
“We were quite surprised by the fact that the transition probabilities across states as defined by the brainwaves, i.e., the chance of going from one state to the other were not significantly changed after 5-MeO-DMT administration, despite the fact that the animals were very obviously awake, moving around and performing stereotyped behaviors,” Ribeiro told PsyPost.
“The take home message of our study is that rats will be overtly awake after the administration of 5-MeO-DMT, and yet their brainwaves will show the continuation of the sleep-wake cycle. We suspect that this could be the basis for the existence of psychedelic sub-states in which rats (and presumably humans) are more extroverted (waking-like) or introverted (sleep-like). Furthermore, these introverted states may come in two flavors, one more slumberish (SWS-like) and another more oneiric (REM-like).”
The findings provide new insights into the complex effects of psychedelics on the brain. Rats have a brain structure that, while simpler, shares many functional similarities with the human brain. These similarities allow researchers to draw parallels between rat and human brain function and make inferences about how psychedelics might affect human brains.
However, findings in rats may not fully translate to humans due to species-specific differences in metabolism, receptor distribution, and overall physiology. “Rats are not humans, so we cannot assess their subjective experience directly,” Ribeiro noted. He plans to “follow-up these results in human subjects, and then explore in detail the features of each of these three psychedelic substates (waking-like, SWS-like and REM-like).”
“It is time for psychedelics to be fully legalized and freely investigated,” Ribeiro added.
The study, “5‑MeO‑DMT induces sleep‑like LFP spectral signatures in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of awake rats,” was authored by Annie C. Souza, Bryan C. Souza, Arthur França, Marzieh Moradi, Nicholy C. Souza, Katarina E. Leão, Adriano B. L. Tort, Richardson N. Leão, Vítor Lopes-dos-Santos, and Sidarta Ribeiro.
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A recent study published in Nutritional Neuroscience has shed light on the potential connection between diet quality and mental health. The study found that individuals with high adherence to a Mediterranean diet had altered brain chemistry and structure compared to those with low adherence, hinting at beneficial changes.
The researchers aimed to address a significant gap in understanding how diet influences mental health. While preclinical studies have established a link between dietary patterns and brain chemistry, these findings need to be confirmed in human studies.
Common mental disorders affect millions worldwide and pose substantial social, economic, and health burdens. Symptoms such as low mood, worry, and rumination exacerbate these issues, making it crucial to explore non-pharmacological approaches, like diet, that could help manage these conditions. The researchers hypothesized that diet quality would be associated with levels of key neurotransmitters and brain structure, which in turn could influence mental health outcomes.
“The mechanisms of action associating diet with common mental disorders are largely identified in preclinical studies but need to be fully confirmed and elucidated in human studies. We wanted to fill this gap by conducting this research,” explained study author Piril Hepsomali, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Reading.
The researchers recruited 164 participants from the Universities of Roehampton and Royal Holloway, as well as the general public in London and surrounding areas. Participants were screened using the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), a tool designed to assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet, which is known for its high quality and health benefits. Based on their MEDAS scores, 38 participants were selected and divided into two groups: those with high adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MEDAS score > 8) and those with low adherence (MEDAS score < 6).
All participants completed a series of questionnaires to assess demographic variables, dietary habits, and mental health symptoms. These included the MEDAS, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), and the EPIC Norfolk Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). These tools provided a comprehensive picture of each participant’s diet quality, mental health status, and habitual food intake.
The core of the study involved brain imaging. The researchers used a 3 Tesla Siemens Magnetom scanner to acquire structural MRI images and 1H-MRS to measure neurotransmitter levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This region of the brain is critical for affective disorders, making it a focal point for this study. The 1H-MRS technique allowed the researchers to quantify levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate, key neurotransmitters involved in brain excitability and inhibition.
The researchers found that participants with higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet showed higher levels of GABA and lower levels of glutamate in the mPFC compared to those with lower adherence. This finding is crucial because GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that helps to reduce neuronal excitability, whereas glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that, in excess, can lead to neuronal damage. The balance between these neurotransmitters is essential for maintaining mental health, and an imbalance is often implicated in conditions like anxiety and depression.
In terms of brain structure, Hepsomali and her colleagues found that individuals with higher diet quality had greater gray matter volume in the right precentral gyrus, a region involved in motor control and cognitive functions. This result is consistent with previous research suggesting that better diet quality is associated with larger brain volumes, particularly in regions important for cognitive and emotional regulation.
Interestingly, the researchers did not find direct associations between diet quality and measures of depression, anxiety, or stress. However, they did observe that higher rumination scores were linked to reduced gray matter volume in the right precentral gyrus and increased glutamate levels in the mPFC. Rumination, characterized by repetitive and persistent negative thinking, is a significant cognitive symptom in many mental health disorders.
The findings provide evidence that a person’s diet “might be associated with alterations in their brain chemistry and structure, and these alterations might contribute to how good or bad they feel,” Hepsomali told PsyPost.
However, he cautioned that “this is a preliminary study, with a small sample size, so our results would benefit from replication in a larger sample. Also, this is a cross-sectional study, we could not determine cause and effect relationships. In other words, we cannot say that unhealthy diets cause alterations in the brain. It may be the case that individuals with poor mental health status, choose poor quality diets, because of these neural alterations. So further longitudinal studies are needed.”
“We would like to replicate our preliminary findings in a bigger sample, ideally while utilizing other biomarkers and assess whether adherence to healthy and/or low GLU and/or high GABA diets and/or certain nutrients may alter brain chemistry and structure and improve common mental disorder symptoms,” Hepsomali added.
The study, “Adherence to unhealthy diets is associated with altered frontal gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate concentrations and grey matter volume: preliminary findings,” was authored by Piril Hepsomali, Adele Costabile, Marieke Schoemaker, Florencia Imakulata, and Paul Allen.
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A recent study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience provides new insights into how 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy or molly, affects the brain’s processing of emotional stimuli. Researchers found that MDMA significantly altered the brain’s response to emotional faces, shedding light on the drug’s unique impact on social and emotional processing.
MDMA is known for its recreational use due to its euphoric and empathogenic effects. It is also under investigation as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when combined with psychotherapy. Despite its widespread use and therapeutic potential, the specific neural and behavioral effects of MDMA are not fully understood.
The researchers designed a double-blind study to investigate how MDMA and methamphetamine affect the brain’s response to emotional stimuli. The study involved 25 healthy adults, aged 18 to 35, who had previously used MDMA.
The participants attended three separate sessions, each spaced at least four days apart, where they received either MDMA (100 mg), methamphetamine (20 mg), or a placebo in random order. This approach ensured that neither the participants nor the researchers knew which substance was administered at each session, minimizing bias.
Before each session, participants were screened for recent drug or alcohol use, and women were tested for pregnancy. During each session, the participants took the assigned substance and, after allowing time for the drug to take effect, they were fitted with electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes to measure brain activity.
The participants then engaged in an emotional oddball task, which involved identifying human faces showing different emotions (happy, angry, neutral) interspersed with frequent cartoon faces. The EEG recorded the participants’ brain responses to these stimuli, focusing on specific event-related potentials (ERPs), which are brain responses to specific sensory, cognitive, or motor events.
The researchers found that both MDMA and methamphetamine increased participants’ subjective feelings of the drug’s effects. Participants reported higher levels of feeling the drug, liking its effects, and wanting more of the drug when they took MDMA or methamphetamine compared to the placebo. Notably, MDMA also increased feelings of friendliness, aligning with its reputation for enhancing social and emotional experiences.
In terms of brain activity, MDMA had a unique effect on the N170 ERP component, which is associated with the early processing of facial features. The N170 amplitude increased significantly in response to happy and angry faces when participants took MDMA, but not in response to neutral faces. This suggests that MDMA specifically enhances the brain’s response to emotionally salient stimuli. In contrast, methamphetamine did not affect the N170 amplitude, indicating that MDMA has a distinct impact on emotional face processing that is not shared by other stimulants.
The researchers also examined the P300 and mismatch negativity (MMN) components, which are related to attention allocation and responses to novel stimuli, respectively. Neither MDMA nor methamphetamine significantly affected these ERP components. This finding indicates that MDMA’s influence is more specific to the early visual processing of emotional stimuli rather than broader cognitive or novelty responses.
“The present findings have implications for MDMA-assisted therapy,” the researchers explained. “The increased neural response to the sensory component of viewing faces could contribute to the therapeutic alliance between patients and their therapists. By increasing attention to facial emotional cues, the drug may increase interpersonal connection in the therapeutic environment.
“MDMA may also facilitate the identification and processing of emotions, allowing patients to build trust, and engage more deeply with their emotional experiences. Further studies of this kind are needed to understand the brain mechanisms underlying the behavioural effects of MDMA and other pro-social drugs.”
The study highlights MDMA’s unique ability to enhance the brain’s early processing of emotional stimuli, distinguishing it from other stimulants like methamphetamine. But there are some caveats. The sample was homogeneous, consisting of healthy young adults with prior MDMA use, which may not generalize to other populations.
Future research should include more diverse populations, varied doses, and extended washout periods. Additionally, using more complex social and emotional tasks could provide a deeper understanding of MDMA’s effects on social behavior and cognition. Investigating long-term users of MDMA and comparing their neural responses to those of non-users could also yield valuable insights.
The study, “The 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine enhances early visual processing for salient socio-emotional stimuli,” was authored by Connor J. Haggarty, Anya K. Bershad, Mahesh K. Kumar, Royce Lee, and Harriet de Wit.
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A new study published in Psychological Medicine explores the relationship between brain reward sensitivity and the influence of delinquent peers on adolescents with disruptive behavior disorder. The research highlights how interactions between brain function and environmental factors may contribute to the severity of disruptive behaviors in adolescents.
Adolescents diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) exhibit a range of challenging behaviors including increased aggression, emotional instability, and risky decision-making. These behaviors have significant impacts on society, contributing to public health costs and affecting the individuals themselves, their victims, and their communities.
Despite the known issues associated with DBD, the underlying mechanisms that drive these behaviors are not fully understood. This gap in knowledge hampers the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies.
One prominent environmental factor linked to DBD is exposure to delinquent peers. Adolescents who associate with peers engaging in antisocial behavior are at higher risk of committing crimes and developing antisocial personality disorders later in life.
Previous studies suggest that the relationship between delinquent peer affiliation (DPA) and disruptive behavior could be due to two main processes: socialization effects, where delinquent peers influence the individual’s behavior, and selection effects, where individuals with a predisposition for disruptive behavior are more likely to choose delinquent peers. This study aims to examine these processes in greater detail by considering how the brain’s reward system may influence susceptibility to peer effects.
The study used data collected from a sample of adolescents with a history of disruptive behavior. Participants were originally part of a cohort of first-time offenders recruited in the Netherlands. For the current study, the researchers selected a subsample of these adolescents, focusing on those with a range of antisocial behaviors. The final sample included 126 adolescents, with the majority being male and around the age of 17.
The study measured the participants’ affiliation with delinquent peers using a self-report questionnaire that assessed both the level of peer delinquency and the degree of peer affiliation. The questionnaire provided a composite score indicating the extent of each participant’s association with delinquent peers.
To examine brain function, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants engaged in a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. This task involves participants responding to visual cues that signal the potential to win or lose money. The task is designed to activate the brain’s reward regions, particularly the ventral striatum (VS), amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which are known to be involved in reward processing.
The researchers analyzed changes in brain activity during the anticipation and outcome phases of the MID task. They then conducted multiple regression analyses to explore the interaction between delinquent peer affiliation, reward sensitivity (as measured by brain activity), and the severity of disruptive behavior symptoms.
The study found a significant positive correlation between delinquent peer affiliation and the severity of disruptive behavior disorder symptoms. However, there was no direct correlation between reward-related neural activity and either peer affiliation or disruptive behavior on its own.
Importantly, the researchers identified a significant interaction effect between peer affiliation and reward sensitivity in the ventral striatum during the outcome phase of the reward task. Adolescents who exhibited higher neural responsiveness to rewards in the ventral striatum showed a stronger association between delinquent peer affiliation and disruptive behavior symptoms. This suggests that adolescents with heightened reward sensitivity are more influenced by their delinquent peers in terms of developing disruptive behaviors.
The study also found that this interaction effect was more pronounced in younger adolescents and in males, indicating age and sex differences in how delinquent peer influences interact with brain function to affect behavior.
While the findings provide valuable insights, the study has several limitations. The sample was predominantly male, which limits the generalizability of the results to females. Another limitation is the cross-sectional design, which precludes conclusions about causality. Longitudinal studies tracking changes in brain function and behavior over time would be valuable in establishing causal relationships and understanding the developmental trajectory of these interactions.
The study, “The association between delinquent peer affiliation and disruptive behavior interacts with functional brain correlates of reward sensitivity: a biosocial interaction study in adolescent delinquents,” was authored by Jorim J. Tielbeek, Maarten van der Hooft, Moran D. Cohn, Peter M van de Ven, Tinca JC Polderman, Dick J Veltman, Danielle Posthuma, Carlo Schuengel, Lieke van Domburgh, and Arne Popma.
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People generally overestimated how intensely they would feel in the wake of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, according to new research published in the journal Cognition and Emotion. However, Donald Trump supporters with particularly strong negative beliefs about Joe Biden experienced more intense emotions than they had anticipated.
The United States has experienced growing hostility and polarization around political elections over the past decade. Researchers have noted that many voters perceive the election of the opposing candidate as a direct threat to themselves and the groups they care about.
In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, for instance, nearly 90% of both Trump and Biden supporters believed that the other candidate’s election would cause lasting harm to society. The new study aimed to understand the relationship between voters’ beliefs about the candidates and their anticipated and actual emotional responses to the election outcomes.
“We became interested in presidential elections in the United States because of the increasing amount of emotion expressed by voters around the outcome of these elections,” said study author Heather C. Lench, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Texas A& M University. “The news is filled with people who are angry, proud, sad, overjoyed, and afraid at election outcomes. We know emotions have a powerful influence on how people think and behave, and we were curious at what the effects might be with elections and voting.”
The researchers recruited undergraduate students from two large universities in California and Texas to participate in the study. The final sample comprised 477 participants, with 396 identifying as Biden supporters and 84 as Trump supporters.
The study utilized a longitudinal design with two online surveys: one conducted before the election and the other shortly after the election results were announced. The first survey, administered between 12 days to one day before the election, asked participants to forecast how frequently they would feel happiness, anger, and fear if either Trump or Biden won. These emotional forecasts were rated on a nine-point scale ranging from “not at all” to “constantly.” Participants also rated the extent to which they believed each candidate would either save or destroy American society on a seven-point scale.
The second survey was conducted four days after the election results were announced. Participants were asked to report how frequently they felt happiness, anger, and fear about the election outcome on that particular day, again using a nine-point scale. Additionally, they indicated how often they thought about the election result. The researchers used these responses to compare the forecasted emotions with the actual experienced emotions.
One of the primary findings was that stronger beliefs about the candidates were associated with more intense forecasts of emotion following the election. Participants who believed their preferred candidate would save society predicted higher levels of happiness if their candidate won, while those who believed the opposing candidate would destroy society forecasted greater anger and fear if that candidate won.
Voting behavior was also influenced by these emotional forecasts. The researchers found that Biden supporters were more likely to vote than Trump supporters, a difference largely accounted for by their predictions of lower happiness and higher anger if Trump won the election. This suggests that negative emotions, particularly anger, played a significant role in motivating voter turnout. This aligns with previous research indicating that anger can be a powerful motivator of political action.
“The findings showed that people were motivated to vote when they had strong views of the political candidate of their opposition party,” Lench told PsyPost. “We don’t know yet if this is unique to the particular candidates. People should be aware of how political campaigns that use emotional tactics to portray the ‘other’ candidate could affect them.”
After the election, the researchers found a general tendency among participants to overestimate the intensity of their emotional responses. This overestimation was especially pronounced among Trump supporters, who felt less anger than they had anticipated following Biden’s victory.
However, for participants with stronger beliefs about the candidates, the pattern changed. Those with strong beliefs that Biden would save or Trump would destroy society thought more frequently about the election outcome and experienced even more intense emotions than they had forecasted. This suggests that strong beliefs can amplify the emotional impact of political events, making the actual emotional experience more intense than anticipated.
“We were initially surprised that supporters of Donald Trump were less angry after the election than they thought they would be, given the media attention to protests and expressed anger afterward,” Lench explained. “This made us look deeper into the findings, and this pattern was different for people who held strong beliefs about the candidates. Those with strong beliefs were even angrier than they thought they would be after the election.”
But the study, like all research, has limitations to consider. First, the sample consisted of college students, who may have different political and social concerns compared to the general population. Additionally, the study’s focus on a single political event during a period of heightened polarization also limits the generalizability of the findings. Future research should explore similar relationships in different contexts and time periods to better understand the dynamics between beliefs, emotions, and voting behavior.
“This was a single election with a particular context, and it also used self-reported emotions,” Lench noted. “It is possible the findings are unique to this specific election or the specific candidates. It’s also possible that people misreport or misremember their emotions. We’re excited to see what happens in the next election, as the candidates of the two major parties will be the same as in past election cycles.”
The study, “Voter emotional responses and voting behaviour in the 2020 US presidential election,” was authored by Heather C. Lench, Leslie Fernandez, Noah Reed, Emily Raibley, Linda J. Levine, and Kiki Salsedo.
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A recent study published in Death Studies found that individuals with an anxious attachment style experienced more severe grief after the loss of a companion animal compared to those with an avoidant attachment style, who experienced less grief. This research sheds light on how attachment styles can influence the grieving process for pet owners.
Grieving the loss of a loved one is a profound and often overwhelming experience. People typically report feelings of shock, numbness, disbelief, anger, guilt, loneliness, rumination, anxiety, and depression during this time. Fortunately, for most individuals in peaceful, modern societies, the loss of a close loved one is relatively rare.
However, many people form strong emotional bonds with their pets or companion animals. Unlike human lifespans, the lifespans of most companion animals are much shorter, meaning that pet owners often face the death of their pets multiple times in their own lives. While many will grieve the loss of their animal companions, the intensity of this grief can vary significantly from person to person.
Study author Amy D. Lykins and her colleagues wanted to assess how the attachment style of an individual modified the experience of grief after the death of a companion animal. They hypothesized that grief would lessen over time and that individuals with anxious or avoidant attachment styles would experience more severe grief.
“I’ve loved animals as long as I can remember and I’ve always cared for one or more companion animals. Of course, human lifespans are generally longer than those of our most common companion animals, so you are faced with their deaths with some frequency,” explained Lykins, an associate professor in clinical psychology at the University of New England.
“I lost a beloved companion animal in really tragic circumstances in 2014 and was really affected by it. As a clinical psychologist, I then got interested in what factors predict those long-lasting mental health impacts following companion animal death.
“In 2020, I had a student (Nick Gotsis) who was willing to work on this research with me, and after reviewing the literature, we decided to look at attachment patterns and how people continue to engage with their relationships with their animals post-death (i.e., continuing bonds). We also wanted to expand the literature to investigate animals other than cats and dogs, which is what most of the research had investigated thus far.”
Attachment styles refer to patterns of how individuals form emotional bonds and interact in relationships, influenced by early interactions with caregivers. Avoidant attachment is characterized by a tendency to distance oneself from others and suppress emotions to avoid dependency. Anxious attachment involves a strong desire for closeness and constant reassurance, often leading to fear of abandonment and high levels of anxiety in relationships.
The study involved 432 adults who had lost a companion animal in the past three years. Among the participants, 87% were women, with an average age of 42 years. Sixty percent were in committed romantic relationships. Half of the companion animals were dogs, and 27% were cats. Additionally, 66% of the participants reported that the death of their companion animal was sudden and unexpected.
Participants completed assessments of their attachment to the pet using the Pet Attachment Questionnaire, their continuing bonds with the pet using the Continuing Bonds Inventory, and the severity of their grief using the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire.
The results showed that individuals who still felt a strong bond with their deceased pet tended to experience more severe grief. Conversely, those who had lost their pet a longer time ago reported less severe grief. Individuals with an anxious attachment to their pet experienced more severe grief.
“We should recognize that many people feel deeply for the animals they care for, and that losing them can be extremely painful; this is often even more the case for people who have anxious attachment patterns to their animals,” Lykins told PsyPost. “Grief following companion animal loss often falls under the umbrella of ‘disenfranchised grief,’ where the loss doesn’t easily fit into society’s general attitude to what ‘should’ cause grief and therefore isn’t understood or accepted as valid. The exclusion of animal loss to DSM-5-TR’s new diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder should be reassessed.”
“Furthermore, our results suggest that people on the frontline of supporting people who lose a pet (e.g., veterinary staff, mental health professionals) could consider assessing people’s attachment patterns to their animals to ascertain who may be at higher risk of prolonged or severe grief and provide supports to these individuals early.”
Contrary to the researchers’ hypothesis, individuals with an avoidant attachment style reported less severe grief.
“We found the results for attachment avoidance interesting, given some previous research has shown grief severity and attachment avoidance to be positively correlated,” Lykins said. “I think that our results suggest that the negative relationship between these two variables is not likely to indicate delayed grief (as has been suggested by some researchers) given our time since death variable provided a larger span of time than many previous studies and we broke this down into months rather than years, so the variable was more specific.”
The study sheds light on the links between attachment style with a pet and the severity of grief after the pet’s death. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. The participants were predominantly women, and the recruitment method may have favored individuals experiencing higher levels of grief and stronger bonds with their pets. Therefore, the results might differ in studies involving men or individuals less enthusiastic about animals.
“It would be interesting to investigate these relationships among a more diverse sample of genders,” Lykins noted. “Our study is also cross-sectional, so we can’t say anything about X causing Y. It would be good to do longitudinal research on this topic.”
“It would be interesting to see how companion animal attachment relates to animal welfare,” she added. “For instance, do people with anxious attachment make different end-of-life decisions that could potentially prolong suffering rather than electing to euthanize their animals? Or are there other differences in how people interact with their animals while alive that could have repercussions for welfare that are influenced by attachment patterns?”
The paper, “Attachment styles, continuing bonds, and grief following companion animal death,” was authored by Amy D. Lykins, Paul D. McGreevy, Bindi Bennett, Nicola K. Paul, and Nick Gotsis.
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DATE: June 19, 2024 at 08:02AM
SOURCE: Psychiatric Times
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Transitioning to university is a significant life change for many students. New research, published in Social and Personality Psychology Compass, reveals that engaging in everyday acts of kindness can boost psychological well-being during this challenging period.
The transition to university can be stressful for many students. With around five million students beginning post-secondary education each year in North America, understanding how to support their well-being is essential. Previous research has shown that self-focused strategies like sleep, nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness can be beneficial. However, focusing too much on oneself can sometimes lead to rumination and negatively impact mental health.
Given this potential downside of self-focused care, the researchers aimed to investigate whether outward-focused strategies, specifically acts of kindness towards others, could provide a psychological boost. Prior studies have suggested that prosocial behavior can increase happiness and well-being, but it was unclear whether these benefits would hold during stressful life transitions.
“I started research in this area because I’m deeply interested in how people weather life transitions,” said study author Tiara Cash, a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University and founder of Crowned Vitta LLC.
“Life transitions can be an exciting but hard time for people. Big life changes are common, people move or start new jobs often. I was interested in how the life transition of beginning university might impact first year students’ well-being, and whether people who helped others during this pivotal time experience better well-being.”
The study followed 193 first-year university students over six weeks, during their first semester. These students were recruited through the Psychology Department’s participant pool in exchange for course credit. Each week, students completed surveys that assessed their well-being and documented their engagement in various daily tasks, particularly focusing on prosocial behaviors.
The researchers used a detailed checklist of 47 common prosocial actions, such as sharing notes with a classmate or holding the door open for someone. Participants reported which actions they performed each week and how many times. Well-being was measured using several validated scales, including those assessing happiness, flourishing, thriving, resilience, optimism, anxiety, and loneliness. By repeatedly surveying the same students, the researchers were able to analyze within-person variations in prosocial behavior and well-being over time.
The results of the study revealed that new students consistently engaged in prosocial behaviors throughout their first semester. On average, participants reported engaging in approximately seven different types of prosocial acts each week.
The researchers found the students reported greater happiness, thriving, flourishing, resilience, and optimism, as well as lower levels of anxiety and loneliness during weeks when they performed more acts of kindness. These findings were consistent across various measures of well-being, suggesting a robust association between prosocial behavior and psychological well-being.
“We measured personal well-being in seven different ways in our study, and I was surprised to see people reported feeling more positive on all of them in the weeks that they did more kind acts,” Cash told PsyPost.
The positive effects were observed regardless of whether the prosocial acts involved social interaction or were more solitary in nature, indicating that both types of kindness can enhance well-being.
“Helping others may be an effective, yet overlooked way to support your well-being when going through challenging times, like a life transition,” Cash said. “In retrospect, this may not be surprising. Humans are a super-social species, so being in community and helping those in your community can be one way to feel connected and find greater happiness!”
While the study provides compelling evidence linking prosocial behavior to improved well-being, it has some limitations. First, the correlational nature of the data means causality cannot be definitively established.
“We did not intervene to shape or alter behavior,” Cash noted. “As a result, we cannot say that prosocial acts cause higher well-being during life transitions. However, I am currently collecting data for a study that answers this exact question! And, the fact that the study was done over multiple weeks with consistent findings, this is a great first start to understanding how prosociality and well-being are connected during difficult times.”
The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence suggesting that helping others can be a powerful strategy for enhancing personal happiness and resilience, especially during times of change and uncertainty.
“I would love for this research to be implemented in higher education and other institutions where people commonly face life transitions, such as addiction recovery, prenatal classes, and retirement communities,” Cash added. “By providing people with a chance to help others as they move to a new life stage, they may find greater well-being and community.”
The study, “Everyday acts of kindness predict greater well-being during the transition to university,” was authored by Tiara A. Cash, Lara B. Aknin, and Yuthika U. Girme.
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Imagine a future where the smell of menthol could alleviate some of the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. This might sound like science fiction, but innovative new research is making it a potential reality.
Scientists have discovered that when mice with Alzheimer’s inhaled menthol, their cognitive abilities improved. This unexpected finding highlights a potential new avenue for treating this debilitating condition.
Alzheimer’s disease is a serious neurodegenerative disorder that gets worse over time. It is characterised by changes in the brain that result in loss of neurons and connections.
It affects everyone differently, but the most common symptoms include a gradual decline in memory, thinking and social skills, and frequent mood changes. This can affect a person’s ability to learn new things, carry out daily tasks, recognise family and friends and, eventually, live independently.
Recent figures show that 55 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. With the populations of many countries ageing rapidly, this number is only expected to rise.
There are 10 million new cases of Alzheimer’s and dementia each year – a new case every 3.2 seconds. This has led experts to estimate that over 150 million people will have the disease by 2050. At any rate, Alzheimer’s is one of the biggest challenges facing public health in the 21st century.
Fortunately, scientists are now working on so-called “disease-modifying” drugs that can slow or potentially cure Alzheimer’s. Most current treatments just manage symptoms.
Of mice and menthol
In the new study mentioned above, researchers set out to examine the interactions between the olfactory, immune and central nervous systems. In their previous study they found that repeated exposure to menthol enhanced the immune response in mice. Here, the team focused on whether it could improve their cognitive abilities as well.
During this study, mice that were genetically modified to exhibit Alzheimer’s were repeatedly exposed to menthol for six months. The researchers analysed their immune response and cognitive capacity and compared them with healthy mice. Surprisingly, mice with Alzheimer’s showed a significant improvement following short exposures to the minty-smelling substance.
Specifically, menthol helped to regulate the immune system, prevent cognitive deterioration, and improved memory and learning capabilities.
Researchers found that it lowered levels of interleukin-1 beta, a protein linked to memory problems in Alzheimer’s disease. This protein, or “cytokine” causes inflammation in the brain, which can harm cognitive function. Lowering interleukin-1 beta can help reduce this inflammation and prevent further cognitive decline.
Menthol was also found to mimic the effects of artificially reducing T-regulatory cells – immune cells that help control inflammation and keep the immune system balanced. This finding suggests a possible treatment pathway for conditions like Alzheimer’s and highlights the potential for particular smells to be used as therapies.
Previous research has established links between smells and our immune and nervous systems, and we already know that smells can influence our cognition. For example, by triggering emotions and memories.
In addition, it is now known that certain diseases related to the central nervous system – for example, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia – sometimes come with a loss of smell. While the complexities of these relationships remain unclear, this new research adds some promising data that will help us better understand them.
These results are based on initial observations of lab mice and so can’t be generalised to human Alzheimer’s patients. Not only are our brains wired differently from mice, but it is not clear how our olfactory systems or perception of odours may differ. However, until the effects of menthol are studied using a human sample, this is a crucial first step towards developing a greater understanding of how to treat the disease.
Further research is needed to investigate the link between Alzheimer’s and smell, and this could lead to some interesting techniques. For example, using smell training as a treatment for managing, or even delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s.
For now, though, this piece of research provides us with some interesting findings concerning the relationship between the immune system and brain function, and hope for those affected by this disease.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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In a new study published in the journal People and Nature, researchers from Bangor University and Technion Israel Institute of Technology have demonstrated that simply observing natural elements during urban walks can significantly benefit mental health. The research shows that city dwellers who pay visual attention to greenery rather than human-made structures tend to experience reduced anxiety and enhanced feelings of restoration.
Urbanization has brought about numerous advantages, such as economic growth and innovation. However, city living is often associated with chronic stress and mental fatigue, leading to conditions like depression and anxiety. Previous research has consistently highlighted the positive effects of interacting with nature, including improved mood, stress reduction, and cognitive benefits.
Despite these findings, the specific aspects of nature that contribute to these mental health benefits remained unclear. The new study aimed to fill that gap by investigating how visual attention to green elements during urban walks influences psychological well-being.
Over nine months, the researchers recruited 117 adult participants without neurological or psychiatric disorders. The participants were divided into three groups: the green group, the grey group, and the mixed group. Each group was assigned a specific focus during a 45-minute walk around the Technion campus in Haifa, Israel.
Each group followed the same route but made stops at different points, depending on their assigned focus. The green group stopped at locations with natural elements like trees and grass, the grey group stopped at spots dominated by human-made structures like buildings and roads, and the mixed group stopped at points with both natural and human-made elements. At each stopping point, participants were instructed to focus their gaze on the specified elements.
To monitor the participants’ visual attention, they were equipped with Tobii Pro 2 eye-tracking glasses. These glasses used infrared cameras to track eye movements, allowing the researchers to see exactly what the participants were looking at during their walk. Before starting the walk, participants completed surveys to assess their levels of anxiety, positive and negative emotions, and cognitive function. The researchers also measured the perceived restorativeness of the walk afterward.
Participants in the green group, who focused on greenery, experienced a significant reduction in anxiety levels after the walk. This group also reported higher levels of perceived restorativeness compared to the grey group, who focused on human-made structures. Interestingly, the mixed group also showed increased perceived restorativeness, although to a lesser extent than the green group.
In terms of emotional impact, both the green and mixed groups reported a decrease in negative affect, which includes feelings of distress and irritation, after the walk. Additionally, the green group showed a marginal increase in positive affect, indicating feelings of enthusiasm and alertness. However, there were no significant changes in cognitive performance across the groups, suggesting that the visual focus on natural elements did not influence cognitive recovery in the context of this study.
The eye-tracking data provided further insights. Participants who spent more time looking at green elements like trees, bushes, and lawns showed a greater reduction in anxiety and higher perceived restorativeness. This suggests that specific natural elements may offer more mental health benefits than others. The study also highlighted the importance of visual engagement with nature, as simply being in a natural environment was not enough; actively focusing on green elements was key to experiencing the benefits.
“This finding implies that a subtle shift in attention towards nature can substantially improve daily well-being in urban areas. Such insights are vital for urban planning, suggesting the creation of spaces that offer not just access to natural elements, but also promote engagement with nature, potentially influencing well-being and pro-conservation behaviours,” the researchers concluded.
“Understanding which natural elements confer these benefits is key to transforming cities into healthier habitats for humans and wildlife alike. Our research highlights the importance of further exploring both visual and other sensory interactions with nature in urban contexts, underscoring their significance in enhancing mental health and well-being. We also demonstrate for the first time the potential benefits of using mobile eye-tracking technology in outdoor urban environments to explore how visual intake of nature elements influences well-being, though challenges persist to effectively utilize this technology outdoors.”
The study, “The nature gaze: Eye-tracking experiment reveals well-being benefits derived from directing visual attention towards elements of nature,” was authored by Whitney Fleming, Brian Rizowy, and Assaf Shwartz.
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A new study published in the journal Cognition and Emotion has explored the impact of nonverbal displays of pride on judgments of victory in boxing matches. Researchers found that while skill takes precedence when one fighter clearly outmatches the other, displays of pride can sway perceptions of victory in evenly matched fights.
The study sought to determine whether people rely more on nonverbal cues or observed competence when forming judgments about success. To investigate this, the researchers recruited 214 participants from a university campus and public locations in Metro Vancouver, Canada.
Participants viewed 30-second video clips of professional boxing matches between Apochi versus Glanton and Taylor versus Ramirez, selected for the fighters’ similar physical appearances and the presence of nonverbal pride displays at the end of the matches.
Each participant watched two sets of videos: one with evenly matched fighters and another where one fighter had an advantage. In the advantage scenario, the more skilled fighter displayed a neutral posture, while the less-skilled fighter exhibited a pride display. The researchers used screenshots of these postures, labeling the fighters as “Fighter A” and “Fighter B” to avoid bias.
Participants were asked to judge who won the fight and to answer questions related to social influence, such as which fighter they would choose to train with or follow on social media. They also rated the skill of each fighter using a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
In scenarios where two fighters were evenly matched, the study found a notable bias towards the pride-displaying fighter. Approximately 60% of participants judged the pride-displaying fighter as the winner, despite the lack of a clear performance difference between the fighters.
This suggests that nonverbal displays of pride, characterized by raised arms, an erect posture, chest expansion, a raised chin, and a slight smile, can effectively convey an image of success and influence judgments in the absence of other distinguishing factors.
However, the influence of nonverbal pride displays diminished significantly when one fighter shows superior skill. In these uneven matches, participants overwhelmingly judged the more skilled fighter as the winner, with 61% favoring the skilled fighter over the pride-displaying one. This shift indicates that observed competence and skill take precedence over nonverbal cues when there is a clear difference in performance.
Beyond judgments of victory, the study also examined the impact of pride displays on social influence, asking participants which fighter they would prefer to train with, follow on social media, or learn about a product they were selling. In evenly matched fights, pride displays did not significantly impact these social influence measures. However, in uneven matches, the more skilled fighter was consistently favored across these measures.
For instance, 60% of participants chose the more skilled fighter as a preferred trainer, indicating that observed competence significantly enhances social influence. This finding suggests that while pride displays can create an impression of success, tangible skills are more influential in decisions related to social influence.
In summary, while pride displays can sway perceptions in evenly matched fights, observed skill ultimately prevails when one fighter has a clear advantage. These findings underscore the importance of competence in competitive settings and suggest that while nonverbal cues can be influential, they are not a substitute for demonstrated ability.
“The present research contributes to a growing body of work demonstrating that nonverbal pride influences perceptions, but it also points to important limitations,” the researchers concluded. “Although nonverbal pride affects judgements of victory in evenly matched fights when one fighter demonstrates superior skill, the more skilled fighter is judged as winning over the less-skilled proud fighter. The more skilled boxers (rather than prouder ones) also had more social influence.”
The study, “The effects of nonverbal pride and skill on judgements of victory and social influence: a boxing study,” was authored by Jason P. Martens and Lucy Doytchinova.
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DATE: June 18, 2024 at 03:25PM
SOURCE: Psychiatric Times
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Lumateperone 42 mg as an adjunctive therapy for the treatment of major depressive disorder achieved statistically significant and clinically meaningful results in both the primary and the key secondary endpoints, according to new research. https://t.co/rWCONxsZEL
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Recent research published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders suggests a connection between the use of TikTok, a popular video-based social media platform, and eating disorder symptoms. The study found that users who actively engage with content related to appearance and eating are more likely to exhibit symptoms of eating disorders, potentially due to the nature of the platform’s content recommendation algorithms.
Social media platforms, particularly those that are photo-based, have been consistently linked to symptoms of eating disorders. These symptoms are often attributed to the exposure to idealized body images and the ensuing comparisons users make between themselves and others.
However, most previous studies have not taken into account the dynamic and user-responsive nature of modern social media environments, particularly those driven by machine-learning algorithms. TikTok, known for its engaging short videos and personalized content suggestions, has become increasingly popular among youth. Researchers aimed to investigate whether the way TikTok’s algorithm suggests content could contribute to the development or exacerbation of eating disorder symptoms.
The researchers recruited 230 participants from the University of Western Australia, ensuring all had been using TikTok for at least four weeks. The sample consisted predominantly of women (179), with a smaller number of men (45), non-binary individuals (3), and participants who preferred not to disclose their gender (3). Participants were asked to complete several questionnaires and report their TikTok activity.
Eating Disorder Symptoms: The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire assessed participants’ eating disorder symptoms over the past 28 days, focusing on dietary restraint, eating concerns, weight concerns, and shape concerns. Higher scores indicated more severe symptoms.
Upwards Social Media Appearance Comparisons: This was measured using an adapted version of the Upward Appearance Comparison Scale, which assessed how often participants compared themselves to others on social media who they perceived to look better.
TikTok Activity: Participants accessed their TikTok data to report their screen time and details of their last 20 recommended videos. They noted whether these videos contained themes related to appearance and eating, had hashtags indicating such themes, or featured bodies perceived to be attractive. They also recorded any active engagement with these videos, such as liking, commenting, or sharing.
The researchers used statistical models to test the relationships between engagement with appearance/eating-related content, the proportion of such content in recommendations, upwards appearance comparisons, and eating disorder symptoms. They employed a serial mediation model to explore these connections.
The study found that higher engagement with appearance and eating-related content on TikTok was associated with higher proportions of similar content being recommended. This, in turn, was linked to greater frequency of upwards social media appearance comparisons, which were associated with more severe eating disorder symptoms. Specifically, the results showed significant indirect effects when the content was tagged with appearance/eating-related hashtags or featured bodies perceived as attractive by the user.
However, not all forms of content engagement showed these effects. For example, general screen time and engagement with recommended content that did not have these specific themes were not associated with eating disorder symptoms or appearance comparisons. This suggests that it is the nature of the content, rather than overall usage, that is critical in these associations.
While the findings provide valuable insights, the study has several limitations. First, it focused solely on active engagement with TikTok content and did not consider other factors, such as video watch time, that also influence the platform’s recommendations.
Additionally, the study’s cross-sectional design means it cannot establish causality or the directionality of the observed relationships. Future research should use experimental and longitudinal designs to explore these associations over time and determine whether engagement with specific types of content leads to increased eating disorder symptoms or vice versa.
“In conclusion, these findings make an important and novel contribution to the extant empirical work documenting the relationships between social media use and [eating disorder] symptoms. Findings provide preliminary support for the ways in which users’ engagement with TikTok content is related to [eating disorder] symptoms. Future work in this area is warranted, and social media platforms should be urged to create policies and practices that protect youth from these risks,” the researchers wrote.
The study, “Association between engagement with appearance and eating related TikTok content and eating disorder symptoms via recommended content and appearance comparisons,” was authored by Laura Dondzilo, Rachel F. Rodgers, and Fanny Alexandra Dietel.
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DATE: June 18, 2024 at 12:25PM
SOURCE: Psychiatric Times
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Actual article link at end of text block below.
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According to new research, antipsychotic monotherapy is not associated with a lower risk of hospitalization for severe physical health problems compared with polypharmacy when high total dosage is assessed. https://t.co/72YSn28EHO
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Articles can be found at https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/news
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Women tend to consider taller men with broader shoulders more attractive, masculine, dominant, and higher in fighting ability, according to recent research published in Evolutionary Psychological Science. However, these preferences are not uniform; they are influenced by women’s perceptions of their own mate value.
Previous research has suggested that physical traits like height and body masculinity are important indicators of a man’s genetic quality and resource acquisition potential, both of which are critical factors in mate selection. However, the researchers wanted to examine how these preferences might change under different ecological conditions and how individual differences, such as sociosexuality (interest in short-term mating) and mate value (self-perceived attractiveness), might influence these preferences.
“We were following up on a previous study by Pazhoohi et al. (2023), where we found that the interacting effects of shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR) and height affected women’s ratings of men for perceived attractiveness, masculinity, dominance, and fighting ability. Here, we ran an experiment to see if these perceptions were amplified based off cues of ecological harshness (e.g., safety, violence, resource scarcity),” said study author Ray Garza, an assistant professor of psychology at Texas A& M International University.
For their study, the researchers recruited 247 self-identified heterosexual women with an average age of 24.46 years from a predominantly Hispanic serving institution. The participants were shown a series of images depicting men with varying heights and SHRs. The heights ranged from 160 cm to 190 cm, and the SHRs were categorized as small (1.1), intermediate (1.2), and large (1.3). Each male image was positioned next to a 172 cm tall female figure, anchoring the height comparison.
To assess the impact of ecological conditions, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: safe, resource scarce, or violent. These conditions were presented through reading prompts and slideshows designed to evoke feelings of stability, economic uncertainty, or violence. After viewing the images, participants rated each man on attractiveness, masculinity, dominance, and fighting ability using a seven-point scale.
Women rated men as more attractive, masculine, dominant, and higher in fighting ability as the men’s height and SHR increased. The interaction between height and SHR was particularly noteworthy; taller men with larger SHRs received the highest ratings across all categories.
Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, ecological priming (conditions simulating resource scarcity, violence, or safety) did not significantly alter women’s ratings of men’s physical traits. This was surprising given that previous research suggested environmental factors could influence mate preferences, potentially prioritizing traits that signal the ability to provide resources or protection in harsh conditions. The study’s findings imply that preferences for height and SHR may be robust and consistent across different ecological scenarios.
“It was predicted that ecological harshness cues would amplify women’s perceptions of men, but we did not see those effects,” Garza told PsyPost. “Although women did perceive our manipulation as being effective, it did not affect the way they rated men. This may suggest that taller men with larger shoulder-to-hip ratios are preferred across all contexts due to their perceptions of being highly attractive and formidable, which are traits that some women prefer in men.”
Women’s sociosexual orientation also did not significantly influence their ratings of men’s attractiveness, masculinity, dominance, or fighting ability. This suggests that a woman’s interest in short-term versus long-term mating may not play a major role in how she perceives these physical traits.
However, women who rated themselves as more attractive tended to give higher ratings to taller men. This suggests that women with higher self-esteem or confidence in their attractiveness set higher standards for their potential partners, particularly valuing height.
The findings provide evidence “that shoulder-to-hip ratio and height are morphological traits that women consider important in men,” Garza said. “However, women’s self-perceived mate value amplifies those preferences for taller men. It is suggested that women with higher mate value are better able to compete with other women to access men that display ideal traits.”
One major limitation was the reliance on ecological priming through visual presentations and reading prompts, which may not fully capture the complexity of long-term exposure to harsh or safe environments. “Although effective for causing temporary states of uncertainty, it could be that other cues of harshness or lifetime exposure of harshness cues could affect ratings differently,” Garza noted.
The researchers also noted the importance of considering socioeconomic status and perceived resource availability in future studies. Understanding how women’s own economic stability influences their preferences for physical traits in men could offer deeper insights into the interplay between ecological conditions and mate selection.
“One long-term goal is to investigate some of the proximate mechanisms involved in mate choice, such as examining attentional processing in evaluating men,” Garza said. “For instance, do women visually evaluate men differently across conditions of ecological harshness cues? Do women with higher-mate value demonstrate increase levels of attention to formidable men? These are some long-term avenues of research that we will evaluate further.”
The study, “Examining Ecological Harshness, Sociosexuality, and Mate Value in Women’s Preferences for Men’s Height and Shoulder‑to‑Hip Ratio,” was authored by Ray Garza, Regina Gonzalez Elizondo, and Farid Pazhoohi.
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Recent research from the Netherlands reveals that individuals working in two-member teams tend to report greater cognitive interpersonal trust in their human teammates compared to AI agents. However, in three-member teams, the perceived trustworthiness of human and AI members was found to be similar. This study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, provides new insights into team dynamics involving AI.
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are computer systems designed to perform tasks traditionally requiring human intelligence, such as understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, and making decisions. These systems employ various techniques, including machine learning, where algorithms improve their performance by learning from data, and deep learning, which uses neural networks with multiple layers. These technologies allow AI to process vast amounts of information quickly and accurately, making AI useful in numerous applications.
The recent years saw great advances in the development of AI. Large language models, Ais that can use natural human language, became practical and publicly available, initiating a profound transformation of ways how humans work and how many activities are conducted. With further development of AI and transformation of the human society that ensues, it is likely that even more effective AI agents will be developed and applied in various fields of activity that used to be exclusively human in the past.
AI agents are software entities that autonomously perform tasks or make decisions based on predefined rules, learned patterns, or real-time data. These agents can operate independently or collaborate with humans and other agents to achieve specific goals. Examples include virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, autonomous vehicles, and recommendation systems used by streaming services and online retailers. Future advancements may see AI agents becoming more capable, human-like, and better adapted for seamless interactions with people.
Study authors Eleni Georganta and Anna-Sophie Ulfert wanted to explore how trustworthy humans would find AI agents employed as members of their team in an organizational setting to be. They noted that trust is essential for the work of any team, and that humans might find it harder to evaluate the trustworthiness of AI team members because typical resources for evaluating trust, such as shared experiences and familiarity are limited for AI agents.
The researchers conducted two experiments. In both, team members collaborated on an online task. The studies examined how having an AI versus a human teammate impacted perceived trustworthiness, similarity, and interpersonal trust within the team.
The first study involved 494 participants from a German university, with an average age of 24 years, and 48% were female. Participants were asked to imagine working for a smartphone company to convince the CEO to finance a new fitness app. One team member acted as a designer, and the other as a software developer. In one group, participants were told their teammate was a human, while in the other group, the teammate was presented as an AI. Participants in the role of the software developer received training to communicate like an AI.
The team meetings were divided into three sessions. After each session, participants assessed their teammate’s perceived trustworthiness (e.g., “My team member shows a great deal of integrity”), perceived similarity (e.g., “My team member and I are similar in terms of our outlook, perspective, and values”), and cognitive and affective interpersonal trust (e.g., “I can freely share my ideas, feelings, and hopes with my team member”).
The second study followed a similar design but included a third team member assigned the role of a marketing expert. This study involved 318 participants from a Dutch university and the same German university, excluding those who participated in the first study.
Results from the first study indicated that designers identified slightly less with their team when their teammate was an AI. However, there were no differences in objective team performance. Participants in the role of the software developer reported higher perceived trustworthiness, similarity, and interpersonal trust when their teammate was human.
In the second study, there were no differences in performance or trust indicators between teams with an AI member and those with all human members.
The study sheds light on the differences in perceptions of AI agents and humans in work settings. However, it should be noted that the scale and duration of interactions between participants in these experiments were limited to the task at hand, and severely constrained. This is quite different from how team members in most real-world situations interact and develop relations of trust.
The paper, “Would you trust an AI team member? Team trust in human–AI teams,” was authored by Eleni Georganta and Anna-Sophie Ulfert.
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Recent research published in the journal Neurology suggests that people who consume more ultra-processed foods may indeed face higher risks of cognitive impairment and stroke compared to those who eat fewer processed foods. The findings shed light on the relationship between diet and brain health.
Ultra-processed foods are characterized by their extensive industrial processing and often contain ingredients not commonly used in home cooking, such as artificial additives, preservatives, and emulsifiers. Examples of ultra-processed foods include soft drinks, chips, cookies, instant noodles, packaged snacks, processed meats like hot dogs and sausages, sugary breakfast cereals, and pre-packaged frozen meals.
Previous research has linked these foods to various health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome. However, the specific effects of ultra-processed foods on brain health and stroke risk have not been as thoroughly explored. Understanding these effects could inform dietary recommendations and public health policies aimed at reducing the prevalence of these conditions.
“There is substantial evidence to show that consumption of certain types of food is healthy and associated with better brain health outcomes. These include green, leafy vegetables, fruits, nuts and minimizing red meat,” said study author W. Taylor Kimberly, chief of the Division of Neurocritical Care at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
“However, there has been less known about how processing of food types is associated with brain health. Emerging evidence suggests that highly processed foods, generated in industrialized settings, is associated with metabolic, cardiovascular health outcomes. In our study, we were interested in the study the relationship between ultra-processed food intake and risk of stroke and cognitive impairment, while also taking into account the type of food intake.”
The researchers utilized data from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) project, a large, ongoing study that examines stroke risk factors in a diverse cohort of Black and White adults aged 45 years or older in the United States. Participants were enrolled between 2003 and 2007, and those included in the analysis had no history of stroke or cognitive impairment at the study’s onset.
Participants provided detailed information about their diet using a Food Frequency Questionnaire, which categorized their food intake according to the NOVA classification system. This system divides foods into four categories based on the level of processing: unprocessed or minimally processed foods (NOVA1), processed culinary ingredients (NOVA2), processed foods (NOVA3), and ultra-processed foods (NOVA4).
To assess cognitive impairment, participants underwent memory and fluency tests, including Word List Learning, Delayed Recall, Animal Fluency, and Letter F Fluency. A participant was considered cognitively impaired if their scores were significantly lower than predicted based on a normative sample. Stroke incidents were tracked through self-reports and confirmed by reviewing medical records and neuroimaging.
The researchers also collected data on various demographic, clinical, and lifestyle factors, including age, sex, race, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, physical activity, body mass index, alcohol use, and depressive symptoms. These factors were included in the analysis to control for potential confounding variables.
The study found that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods was significantly associated with an increased risk of both stroke and cognitive impairment. Specifically, each 10% increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet was linked to a 10% increase in the risk of stroke and a 16% increase in the risk of cognitive impairment. These associations remained significant even after adjusting for various demographic and clinical factors, as well as overall dietary patterns.
Interestingly, the study also found that greater adherence to healthier dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean, DASH, and MIND diets, was associated with a reduced risk of stroke and cognitive impairment. These diets emphasize the consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and lean proteins while limiting the intake of processed and sugary foods.
The researchers noted that the adverse effects of ultra-processed foods on brain health were independent of these healthier dietary patterns. In other words, even among individuals who generally followed a healthy diet, higher consumption of ultra-processed foods still posed a significant risk.
“When thinking about brain health outcomes such as stroke and cognitive impairment, it’s important to think about what you eat and also how that food is prepared,” Kimberly told PsyPost.
While the findings of this study are compelling, there are several limitations to consider. First, the study relied on self-reported dietary data, which can be subject to inaccuracies and biases. Participants may underreport or overreport their intake of certain foods, leading to potential measurement errors.
Additionally, the observational nature of the study means that it cannot establish causality. While the study found strong associations between ultra-processed food consumption and brain health outcomes, it cannot definitively prove that ultra-processed foods cause these adverse effects.
Another important direction for future research is to investigate the potential impact of ultra-processed foods on the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome is a diverse community of trillions of microorganisms living in the digestive tract that play a crucial role in digestion, immune function, and overall health.
“We’re interested in understanding how food intake impacts our gut microbiome, and in turn, how that may impact brain health,” Kimberly said.
The study, “Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adverse Brain Health Outcomes,” was authored by Varun M. Bhave, Carol R. Oladele, Zsuzsanna Ament, Naruchorn Kijpaisalratana, Alana C. Jones, Catharine A. Couch, Amit Patki, Ana-Lucia Garcia Guarniz, Aleena Bennett, Michael Crowe, Marguerite R. Irvin, and W. Taylor Kimberly.
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How do we decide when to stick to a goal or when to abandon it for a potentially better option? Recent research published in Nature Human Behaviour has shed light on this dilemma. The study reveals that a brain region known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a pivotal role in our tendency to remain committed to our goals.
One key motivation for the study was to bridge the gap between behavioral economics, which provides numerous examples of overcommitment, and neuroscience, which can offer insights into the brain regions and processes involved. Previous research has shown that people often stick with their chosen goals due to emotional and cognitive biases, but the specific brain mechanisms driving this behavior were not well understood. The researchers hypothesized that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) might play a central role in mediating goal commitment by influencing attention and decision-making processes.
“Economists and psychologists are often interested in describing the ways that humans are ‘irrational.’ An example of this is the ‘sunk cost bias,’ which happens when people are too unwilling to give up on a goal even when it’s failing. We were interested in investigating how these tendencies relate to processes in the brain that could actually help us function in the real world,” explained study author Eleanor Holton, a PhD student at the University of Oxford.
To explore this, the researchers utilized a two-pronged approach: functional MRI (fMRI) and studies involving patients with brain lesions. They recruited 30 participants for the fMRI study and 26 patients for the lesion study.
In the fMRI study, participants engaged in a task designed to mimic real-life decision-making scenarios. They were asked to fill virtual nets with seafood, with each net representing a goal. Participants could choose from three types of seafood (crab, octopus, and fish), each associated with different quantities displayed as bars on the screen. The challenge was to decide whether to continue adding to the current net or switch to a different one, knowing that switching would mean losing all accumulated progress in the current net.
The task was conducted in multiple phases. Initially, participants were trained outside the scanner, followed by a main session inside the fMRI scanner where they performed 300 decision trials. Afterward, they completed 100 additional trials outside the scanner with an added spatial attention task. This spatial task required participants to remember the locations of the seafood items, further examining their attention allocation.
The experimental setup ensured that the values of the seafood offers varied gradually, with occasional large shifts to simulate real-world fluctuations in goal attractiveness. This setup allowed the researchers to model different decision strategies and compare participants’ behavior against an optimal decision-making model.
Analysis of the fMRI data revealed that the vmPFC played a crucial role in tracking goal progress and guiding commitment. Activity in the vmPFC was observed both during decision-making and between decisions, suggesting that it helps maintain focus on the current goal. This was further supported by the spatial attention task results, where participants showed better memory for locations associated with their current goal compared to alternative goals.
Interestingly, the study found that participants tended to overcommit to their goals. Even when an optimal model suggested switching, participants persisted more than necessary. This bias towards persistence was linked to increased goal-oriented attention, indicating that as people progress towards a goal, their focus intensifies on completing it, making them less sensitive to attractive alternatives.
To test the causality of the vmPFC’s role in goal commitment, the researchers turned to the lesion study. Patients with damage to the vmPFC showed significantly lower persistence biases compared to other patients and healthy controls. These patients were less likely to stick to a failing goal, suggesting that the vmPFC is crucial for the observed persistence bias in healthy individuals.
“We find that particular areas of the brain are necessary for people to show sunk cost biases, which is the tendency to keep persisting with a goal even when it would be better to abandon it,” Holton told PsyPost. “Patients with damage to this brain area are more flexible about switching to better goals, but were also less focussed on the goals they selected. Although patients with brain damage did better than healthy people in this particular study, in the real world, sunk cost biases are likely to be helpful in keeping us focused on the goals we set.”
Despite these valuable insights, the study had its limitations. The sample size, particularly in the lesion study, was relatively small, which might limit the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, while the tasks were designed to simulate real-life decision-making, they were still controlled laboratory tasks.
The study opens several avenues for future research. One direction could involve exploring how individual differences in vmPFC activity influence decision-making in various contexts, such as financial investments or personal relationships. Additionally, investigating how other brain regions interact with the vmPFC during goal pursuit could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the neural basis of decision-making.
“While our work gives us some good evidence of how the brain might be able to strike the balance between persisting and abandoning goals, it will be equally important to establish any clinical relevance for psychiatric conditions such as ADHD, where people are often more likely to ‘give up’ on a current goal or OCD, where patients can be over-persistent,” Holton noted.
The study, “Goal commitment is supported by vmPFC through selective attention,” was authored by Eleanor Holton, Jan Grohn, Harry Ward, Sanjay G. Manohar, Jill X. O’Reilly, and Nils Kolling.
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What role does the neurotransmitter serotonin play in fertility? A recent study by scientists from Nagoya University in Japan has uncovered a link between serotonin neurons, glucose availability, and reproductive health. Their findings suggest that serotonin neurons in the brain play a significant role in maintaining reproductive functions by sensing glucose levels and enhancing the release of reproductive hormones. The research was published in Scientific Reports.
Depression is linked to dysfunction in central serotonergic neurons and is known to correlate with both reproductive and metabolic disorders. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors, common treatments for depression, highlight the importance of serotonergic signaling in these processes.
However, the specific role of serotonergic neurons in coordinating reproduction and glucose metabolism remained unclear. The researchers aimed to uncover how serotonergic neurons in the brain might sense glucose levels and regulate reproductive functions. Understanding this connection could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches to treat reproductive disorders in patients with depression.
To investigate this, the researchers employed both female rats and goats, focusing on the dorsal raphe nucleus and the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, areas rich in serotonergic neurons and key regulators of reproductive hormones. They used a combination of genetic, pharmacological, and physiological techniques to unravel the connections between these neurons, glucose sensing, and reproductive hormone release.
In rats, the team used Kiss1-tdTomato heterozygous rats, which have a gene marker that allows for the identification of kisspeptin neurons, crucial for regulating reproduction. They conducted RNA sequencing to identify the types of serotonin receptors present in these neurons. The analysis revealed that the serotonin-2C receptor (5HT2CR), an excitatory receptor, was significantly expressed in the arcuate nucleus’ kisspeptin neurons.
One of the primary discoveries is the significant expression of the serotonin-2C receptor (5HT2CR) in kisspeptin neurons within the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Kisspeptin neurons are crucial regulators of reproduction, responsible for generating pulses of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which in turn stimulates the release of luteinizing hormone (LH) necessary for reproductive processes.
The RNA sequencing and double in situ hybridization techniques used in this study confirmed that nearly half of the kisspeptin neurons expressed 5HT2CR. This finding suggests that these neurons are direct targets for serotonergic signaling, linking serotonin levels to reproductive function.
In further experiments, the researchers demonstrated that enhancing serotonergic activity in the mediobasal hypothalamus with fluoxetine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, could counteract the suppression of LH pulses induced by a glucoprivic state (low glucose availability) in female rats.
Normally, conditions of low glucose, induced experimentally by the administration of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG), suppress the release of LH, thereby inhibiting reproductive functions. However, fluoxetine administration restored LH pulse frequency, indicating that increased serotonin levels can mitigate the adverse effects of low glucose on reproductive hormone release.
The researchers also showed that direct glucose infusion into the dorsal raphe nucleus increased serotonin release in the mediobasal hypothalamus. This intervention also restored the frequency of LH pulses suppressed by 2DG-induced glucoprivation. These results suggest that serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe can sense glucose levels and adjust reproductive hormone release accordingly, highlighting the dual role of these neurons in managing both glucose metabolism and reproductive function.
To validate these findings in another mammalian model, the researchers conducted electrophysiological recordings in goats. They discovered that central administration of serotonin or a 5HT2CR agonist stimulated the activity of the GnRH pulse generator, leading to increased LH release. Conversely, when a 5HT2CR antagonist was administered, it blocked the serotonin-induced stimulation of GnRH pulses, further confirming the pivotal role of the serotonin-2C receptor in this regulatory process.
The findings underscore the importance of serotonergic signaling in the brain’s ability to integrate information about glucose availability and modulate reproductive functions. The study provides evidence that serotonergic neurons, through their ability to sense glucose and interact with kisspeptin neurons via 5HT2CR, play a crucial role in maintaining reproductive health, particularly in the face of metabolic challenges.
Animal models, such as the female rats and goats used in this study, provide valuable insights into biological processes that are often difficult to study directly in humans. Rats and goats, while different from humans, share fundamental aspects of their endocrine and nervous systems. The findings in these animals can thus provide a basis for understanding similar processes in humans.
But human physiology, behavior, and disease pathology are influenced by a myriad of genetic, environmental, and social factors that are not fully replicated in animal models. For example, while rats and goats can provide insights into basic physiological processes, they do not capture the full complexity of human reproductive and metabolic disorders, which can be affected by a wide range of factors including diet, lifestyle, and psychological stressors.
While animal models are crucial for initial discoveries, further research involving human subjects is necessary to validate and translate these findings into clinical practice.
The study, “Raphe glucose-sensing serotonergic neurons stimulate KNDy neurons to enhance LH pulses via 5HT2CR: rat and goat studies,” was authored by Sho Nakamura, Takuya Sasaki, Yoshihisa Uenoyama, Naoko Inoue, Marina Nakanishi, Koki Yamada, Ai Morishima, Reika Suzumura, Yuri Kitagawa, Yasuhiro Morita, Satoshi Ohkura, and Hiroko Tsukamura.
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A recent study published in the journal Radiology provides new insights into the potential benefits of low-level light therapy for individuals who have suffered significant brain injuries. The research found that patients receiving low-level light therapy showed greater changes in brain connectivity during their recovery compared to those who did not receive the treatment.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major global health issue, often resulting in long-term disability or death. Traditional treatments for TBI focus on pharmacological interventions, but there is growing interest in non-drug therapies. One such promising approach is low-level light therapy, also known as photobiomodulation. This therapy involves delivering near-infrared light to the brain through the scalp or nasal passages.
Previous studies have suggested that low-level light therapy can reduce cell death, inflammation, and other harmful processes in the brain. However, most of these studies have been small and lacked robust controls. This new study aimed to explore how low-level light therapy affects brain function in the early stages of recovery from moderate TBI.
For their new study, the researchers conducted a double-blinded, sham-controlled trial, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew who received the actual treatment and who received a placebo. The study involved 68 patients with moderate TBI, defined by specific scores on the Glasgow Coma Scale and the presence of abnormalities on head CT scans.
These patients were recruited from Massachusetts General Hospital between November 2015 and July 2019. They were randomly assigned to either the low-level light therapy group or the sham treatment group, which received a similar procedure without the active light therapy.
Participants in the low-level light therapy group wore a helmet that emitted near-infrared light. “The skull is quite transparent to near-infrared light,” explained study co-lead author Rajiv Gupta from the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Once you put the helmet on, your whole brain is bathing in this light.”
This treatment was given within 72 hours of their injury and repeated twice more over the next few days. Each session lasted about 20 minutes. The sham group underwent the same procedures, but their helmets did not emit light.
Both groups underwent a series of functional MRI (fMRI) scans to assess changes in brain connectivity. These scans were done at three time points: within the first week after injury (acute phase), 2-3 weeks later (subacute phase), and three months after the injury (late-subacute phase). A control group of 23 healthy individuals also underwent fMRI scanning, though only once, as their brain connectivity was not expected to change significantly over time.
The study found that low-level light therapy was associated with greater changes in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between certain pairs of brain regions compared to the sham treatment. RSFC refers to the synchronization of brain activity between different regions while a person is at rest, which can provide insights into the brain’s functional networks.
From the acute phase to the subacute phase, seven pairs of brain regions showed greater increases in connectivity in the low-level light therapy group compared to the sham group. These regions included areas involved in sensory processing, motor control, and cognitive functions. Additionally, the low-level light therapy group demonstrated increased connectivity between the left temporal pole and various regions in the opposite hemisphere, such as the temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes.
Interestingly, while the low-level light therapy group showed increased connectivity, the sham group experienced decreased connectivity between certain brain regions during the same period. However, from the subacute to late-subacute phases, both groups exhibited increases in connectivity, suggesting a natural healing process occurring in both sets of patients.
“There was increased connectivity in those receiving light treatment, primarily within the first two weeks,” said study coauthor Nathaniel Mercaldo, a statistician with Massachusetts General Hospital. “We were unable to detect differences in connectivity between the two treatment groups long term, so although the treatment appears to increase the brain connectivity initially, its long-term effects are still to be determined.”
Despite its promising findings, the study has several limitations. Firstly, it was originally designed to assess structural connectivity, with functional connectivity as a secondary outcome. This means the sample size and study design may not have been optimal for detecting all relevant differences in brain function.
Secondly, the high attrition rate — where many participants dropped out before completing all follow-up visits — could have affected the results. Reasons for dropping out included physical conditions, scheduling conflicts, and loss of interest.
Another limitation is that the study used only self-reported measures of symptoms, which may not fully capture the clinical impact of low-level light therapy. Future research should include more comprehensive clinical assessments and consider factors such as hair characteristics, age, handedness, and substance use, which could influence the effects of light therapy.
The study provides preliminary evidence that low-level light therapy can enhance brain connectivity in the early stages of recovery from moderate traumatic brain injury. The findings suggest that low-level light therapy may support the brain’s natural healing processes by promoting functional connections between key regions. However, the clinical significance of these changes remains unclear, and further research with larger samples and longer follow-up periods is needed to establish the therapeutic potential of low-level light therapy.
“There is still a lot of work to be done to understand the exact physiological mechanism behind these effects,” said study coauthor Suk-tak Chan, a biomedical engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The study, “Effects of Low-Level Light Therapy on Resting-State Connectivity Following Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: Secondary Analyses of a Double-blinded Placebo-controlled Study,” was authored by Suk-tak Chan, Nathaniel Mercaldo, Maria G. Figueiro Longo, Jonathan Welt, Arman Avesta, Jarone Lee, Michael H. Lev, Eva-Maria Ratai, Michael R. Wenke, Blair A. Parry, Lynn Drake, Richard R. Anderson, Terry Rauch, Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, Kenneth K. Kwong, Michael Hamblin, Benjamin J. Vakoc, and Rajiv Gupta.
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