Self-referential processing in our brain--a meta-analysis of imaging studies on the self

Bridging the gap of brain and experience - Converging Neurophenomenology with Spatiotemporal Neuroscience

Neuroscience faces the challenge of connecting brain and mind, with the mind manifesting in first-person experience while the brain's neural activity can only be investigated in third-person perspective. To connect neural and mental states, Neurophenomenology provides a methodological toolkit for systematically linking first-person subjective experience with third-person objective observations of the brain's neural activity. However, beyond providing a systematic methodological strategy ('disciplined circularity'), it leaves open how neural activity and subjective experience are related among themselves, independent of our methodological strategy. The recently introduced Spatiotemporal Neuroscience suggests that neural activity and subjective experience share a commonly underlying feature as their "common currency", notably analogous spatiotemporal dynamics. Can Spatiotemporal Neuroscience inform Neurophenomenology to allow for a deeper and more substantiative connection of first-person experience and third-person neural activity? The goal of our paper is to show how Spatiotemporal Neuroscience and Neurophenomenology can be converged and integrated with each other to gain better understanding of the brain-mind connection. We describe their convergence on theoretical grounds which, subsequently, is illustrated by empirical examples like self, meditation, and depression. In conclusion, we propose that the integration of Neurophenomenology and Spatiotemporal Neuroscience can provide complementary insights, enrich both fields, allows for deeper understanding of brain-mind connection, and opens the door for developing novel methodological approaches in their empirical investigation.

Modulating positive self-referential processing by 40 Hz tACS in individuals with subthreshold depression: A double-blind, sham-controlled study

BACKGROUND

A positive self-evaluation is essential to mental well-being. Despite of its importance, little is known how to modulate or enhance positive self-evaluation. Gamma-frequency (40 Hz) transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has been shown to promote emotion regulation and memory, which may foster positive self-evaluations. Here, we investigated whether 40 Hz tACS over the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a key brain region implicating self-referential processing, could enhance positive self-evaluation among individuals exhibiting subthreshold depression. We hypothesized that the 40 Hz stimulation would enhance self-evaluation.

METHODS

Participants with subthreshold depression were screened using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Revised-10 item (CES-D-10). In a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled, between-subjects experiment, sixty participants were randomly assigned to two groups: in the active stimulation group, 31 participants received 20-min session of 40 Hz tACS over the mPFC via high-density tACS. In the sham group, 29 participants received the sham stimulation over the same region. Before and after the tACS, participants completed the Self-Referential Encoding Task (SRET), which they endorsed and recalled positive and negative personality traits.

RESULTS

We found a significant interaction among stimulation group, depressive symptoms, trait valence (positive or negative). Among participants who received the 40 Hz stimulation, higher levels of baseline depressive symptoms were associated with increased endorsement/recall of positive personality traits compared to the sham group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

40 Hz gamma tACS over the mPFC enhanced positive self-referential processing among individuals with subthreshold depression, an effect particularly evident among those with higher depressive symptoms. This effect highlights the potential therapeutic benefits of gamma-frequency stimulation in promoting positive self-evaluation among individuals with depression.

Meditation in the third-person perspective modulates minimal self and heartbeat-evoked potentials: Meditation and minimal self

Experienced meditation practitioners often report altered states of their sense of self, including decentering and distancing the self from the body and one's current concerns. Altered states of the sense of self, such as disembodiment and distancing of the self from the body, have also been induced experimentally using virtual reality (VR) and linked neurally to heartbeat-evoked potentials (HEPs). Whereas studies investigated the related neural correlates of such decentering during meditation, none experimentally modulated the sense of self during meditation practice using VR nor determined the potentially associated behavioral changes of the sense of self. Here we determined HEPs and behavioral measures in 23 participants who performed a guided meditation in VR, either from a third-person (3PP) or first-person perspective (1PP) to modulate the sense of self. In the 3PP-vs-1PP meditation condition, we report immediate effects including stronger sensations of detachment and disconnection, reduced salience of the perceived body boundary, and reduced self-identification with the body. HEP analysis revealed a more negative HEP amplitude in the 3PP condition, associated with activation of the posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex. Leveraging a new VR-supported meditation platform and methods, these data link the sense of self in meditation practice to the neuroscience of the bodily self, based on short-term subjective, behavioral, and neural changes. The study provides a foundation for future research on whether manipulating the minimal self in VR can aid in cultivating self-transcendent experiences reported by experienced meditators and whether integrating this manipulation facilitates the cultivation of long-term changes.

Loss aversion and evidence accumulation in short-video addiction: A behavioral and neuroimaging investigation

Excessive use of short-video platforms not only impairs decision-making processes but also predisposes individuals to addictive behaviors. This study investigated the relationship between short-video addiction (SVA) symptoms and loss aversion (LA), delving into the underlying computational and neural mechanisms using the drift diffusion model (DDM) and the inter-subject representational similarity analysis (IS-RSA). Behavioral analyses revealed a significant negative correlation between SVA symptoms and the LA coefficient (lnλ). Additionally, the DDM-based drift rate (v) was found to mediate this relationship. Neuroimaging analyses further indicated that SVA symptoms were negatively associated with gain-related activity in the right precuneus, while positively correlating with loss-related activity in the right cerebellum and left postcentral gyrus. Notably, precuneus activation during gain processing mediated the relationship between SVA symptoms and both lnλ and drift rate. IS-RSA revealed that inter-subject variations in SVA symptoms were significantly associated with distinct activation patterns related to gain processing in the frontoparietal network (e.g., frontal pole, inferior frontal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus) and motor network (e.g., precentral), as well as loss-related activation patterns in the motor networks (e.g., postcentral and pre-supplementary motor area). Similar patterns emerged when examining simultaneous gain and loss-related activation patterns. Mediation analyses further demonstrated that functional activation patterns in the motor network mediated the relationships between inter-subject variations in SVA symptoms and both loss-aversion and psychological processing patterns (e.g., decision threshold, drift rate, and non-decision time). These findings provide novel insights into the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the influence of SVA symptoms on loss aversion, and suggest the critical roles of evidence accumulation speed and specific brain activation patterns-particularly within the cognitive control and motor network-in shaping decision-making biases associated with addiction.

The self-awareness brain network: Construction, characterization, and alterations in schizophrenia and major depressive disorder

Self-awareness (SA) research is crucial for understanding cognition, social behavior, mental health, and education, but SA's underlying network architecture, particularly connectivity patterns, remains largely uncharted. We integrated meta-analytic findings with connectivity-behavior correlation analyses to systematically identify SA-related regions and connections in healthy adults. Edge-weighted networks capturing public, private, and composite SA dimensions were established, where weights represented correlation strengths between tractography-derived structural connectivities and SA levels quantified through behavioral assessments. Then, multilevel SA networks were extracted across a spectrum of correlation thresholds. Robust full-threshold analyses revealed their hierarchical continuum encompassing distinct lateralization patterns, topological transitions, and characteristic hourglass-like architectures. Pathological analysis demonstrated SA connectivity disruptions in schizophrenia (SZ) and major depressive disorder (MDD): approximately 40 % of SA-related connectivities were altered in SZ and 20 % in MDD, with 90 % of MDD alterations overlapping with SZ. While disease-specific and shared alterations were also observed in network-level topological properties, the core SA connectivity framework remained preserved in both disorders. Collectively, these findings significantly advanced our understanding of SA's neurobiological substrates and their pathological deviations.

Self-disorders in schizophrenia - and ERP study of pre-reflective and reflective self-experience

BACKGROUND & HYPOTHESIS

Self-disorders (SDs) reflect abnormalities in the basic, or pre-reflective, self and are frequently present in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). Despite their significance, the neural correlates of these abnormalities remain underexplored. This study investigates event-related potential (ERP) correlates of SDs using a cognitive task, hypothesizing that patients with SDs would show alterations in pre-reflective and reflective self-processing. We also hypothesized that the severity of SDs, measured by the Examination of Anomalous Self Experience (EASE), would correlate with ERP changes related to the pre-reflective self and that these alterations would involve cortical midline structures (CMS).

STUDY DESIGN

Thirty-five individuals with SSDs and sixty-two healthy controls completed a verbal trait-judgment task during EEG recording that required pre-reflective and reflective self-referencing. We compared ERP responses between groups and conditions and examined correlations between EASE scores and EEG maps. Post-hoc source localization identified brain regions corresponding to pre-reflective self-processing.

STUDY RESULTS

Results revealed significant ERP differences for the pre-reflective self at 300 ms post-stimulus, while reflective self differences occurred earlier. EASE scores correlated with EEG maps associated with pre-reflective self-processing. Source estimation indicated increased activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), Broca's area, sensorimotor cortex, and temporal regions in patients with SSDs during pre-reflective self-processing.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide neuroimaging evidence of alterations in both pre-reflective and reflective self-experience in individuals with SDs. The correlates of pre-reflective self-experience were linked to the severity of SDs and involved brain regions overlapping with cortical midline structures, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).

Reducing racial ingroup biases in empathy and altruistic decision-making by shifting racial identification

Findings of racial ingroup biases in empathy and social behaviors require understanding of relevant psychological and brain mechanisms. Using self-report, behavioral, and neuroimaging measures, we tested the hypothesis that racial identification provides a cognitive basis for racial ingroup biases in empathy and altruistic decision-making. We showed that a mask training procedure using other-race facial disguises altered self-face perception and promoted identification with the other race. Shift in racial identification modulated the medial prefrontal activity, increased electrophysiological responses to pain expressions of other-race faces, enhanced the right premotor/frontal/insular activities in response to perceived painful stimulation to other-race individuals, and decreased own-race favoritism in altruistic decision-making. Furthermore, the medial prefrontal activity related to the shift in racial identification predicted greater neural responses to other-race pain after the training procedure. Our findings highlight the shift of racial identification as a psychological basis for reducing racial ingroup biases in social emotions and behaviors.

The influence of empathic concern on evaluative processing in self and charity outcomes

Empathy plays a crucial role in determining how one understands others' emotional experiences and behavioral decisions. This study aimed to explore whether empathic concern affects the processing of self-related and charity-related outcome evaluations. In this study, participants performed gambling tasks for themselves and low- and high-empathy charities. The behavioral results showed that low-empathy charities had a significantly higher risk rate than the self, whereas there was no significant difference between low-and high-empathy charities. The event-related potential (ERP) results showed that the P300 valence difference (d-P300) of the self was significantly higher for high-empathy charitable activities than for low-empathy charitable activities, and the d-P300 of high-empathy charitable activities was significantly higher than that of low-empathy charitable activities. The P300 valence differences primarily originated from activation difference in the posterior mid-cingulate cortex (pMCC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The time-frequency analysis showed that positive outcomes induced greater β2 event-related desynchronization (ERD) amplitudes for high-empathy charitable activities compared to negative outcomes. These findings suggest that empathic concern increased the distinction between good and bad outcomes for charities and promoted greater cognitive effort allocation toward prosocial rewards. The d-P300 is closely linked to activations in the pMCC and mPFC.

The relationship between core self-evaluation and cognitive failure in Chinese adolescents: the sequential mediating role of alexithymia and depression

BACKGROUND

The difficulties that cognitive failure can pose for individuals in the conduct of their everyday life have been documented in many studies. However, there is still limited understanding of the factors that influence cognitive failure and the mediating processes involved. This study uses cognitive resource theory to develop a chain mediation model in order to explore the relationship between core self-evaluation (CSE), alexithymia, depression, and cognitive failure.

METHODS

Chinese middle school students (aged 14-18 years, 15.39 ± 0.58) were recruited as participants, and a total of 1,400 participants completed the Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES), Cognitive Failures Scale (CFS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and Depression Self-Rating Scale (SDS). SPSS 27.0 was used for common method bias testing, descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and sequence mediation analysis.

RESULTS

Core self-evaluation (r = -0.52), alexithymia (r = 0.65), and depression (r = 0.57) were significantly correlated with cognitive failure, and core self-evaluation could significantly negatively predict cognitive failure (β = -0.06, p < 0.05). Alexithymia and depression played a partial mediating role between core self-evaluation and cognitive failure (CI = [-0.43, -0.33], effect = -0.38), specifically including three pathways: firstly, the independent mediating role of alexithymia (CI = [-0.28, -0.20], effect = -0.24); secondly, the independent mediating role of depression (CI = [-0.14, -0.07], effect = -0.10); thirdly, the sequential mediating role of alexithymia and depression (CI = [-0.05, -0.02], effect = -0.04).

CONCLUSION

Core self-evaluation was significantly negatively correlated with cognitive failure. Alexithymia and depression played a partial mediating role between core self-evaluation and cognitive failure. The results indicate that raising core self-evaluation, addressing depression, and reducing alexithymia are crucial for reducing cognitive failure issues among adolescents. Therefore, schools and families can take some measures to provide more positive support for teenagers, help them form positive self-awareness, and reduce the occurrence of negative emotions and cognitive errors.

How interoceptive sensibility moderates decision-making: an fMRI study of neuroforecasting mobile games engagement

Neuroscientists in decision science have advanced an affect-integration-motivation (AIM) framework, demonstrating that neural activity associated with positive affect or value integration can predict individual and aggregate choice. Given that individuals with higher interoceptive sensibility (IS) have tendency to engage their bodily sensations and thus exhibit a more coherent pattern between their neural, affective, and behavioral measures, we investigated how IS may interact with the affective/integrative components for predicting individual and aggregate choice. Thus, we 1) explored neural underpinnings of individual choice, affective ratings, aggregate outcomes, 2) examined how the above-mentioned measures predict individual and aggregate choices on mobile games, and 3) tested the moderation effect of IS by comparing the differences in how these measures perform in prediction models between subgroups of IS. Neuroimaging results showed that individual choice associated with NAcc activity, aggregate download rate tracked by regions in salience network, and revenue additionally tracked by regions in motor tendency and attention regulation. Affective ratings and AIns activity predicted individual download choice; mPFC activity forecasted aggregate download rate, and positive arousal forecasted aggregate revenue. As hypothesized, the high IS group displayed coherent correlations between affective ratings, individual choice, and neural measures. More importantly, at the aggregate level, mPFC activity (integrative component), forecasted aggregate download rate above and beyond ratings and individual choice in the high IS group, with this prediction significantly stronger compared with the low IS group. These findings extend the AIM framework by shedding light on the influence of interoceptive sensibility on the neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying human decision-making.

Resolving heterogeneity of early-onset major depressive disorder through individual differential structural covariance network analysis

BACKGROUND

Early-onset major depressive disorder (EO-MDD) is characterized by its significant heterogeneity, hindering progress in research. Traditional case-control studies, like group-level structural covariance network, struggle to capture individual heterogeneity among EO-MDD patients.

METHODS

In this study, T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging was obtained from 185 participants, including 103 EO-MDD patients and 82 healthy controls. A subject-level individual differential structural covariance network (IDSCN) was constructed for each patient based on the concept of normative model. Semi-supervised clustering algorithms were then employed to classify EO-MDD subtypes, followed by validation analyses to assess clustering stability.

RESULTS

Our study identified two neuroanatomical subtypes. The low-covariance subtype is characterized by significant neural maturation gaps across the whole brain and more pronounced anxiety somatization symptoms. Conversely, the high-covariance subtype demonstrates simultaneous mature of brain structures.

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide valuable insights into the neuroanatomical heterogeneity of EO-MDD patients, highlighting the importance of considering individual symptom profiles in subtype classification. These findings have substantial clinical implications for personalized treatment and precision medicine, offering more effective treatment choices and accurate diagnoses.

Dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions differentially impact social influence and temporal discounting

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has long been associated with economic and social decision-making in neuroimaging studies. Several debates question whether different ventral mPFC (vmPFC) and dorsal mPFC (dmPFC) regions have specific functions or whether there is a gradient supporting social and nonsocial cognition. Here, we tested an unusually large sample of rare participants with focal damage to the mPFC (N = 33), individuals with lesions elsewhere (N = 17), and healthy controls (N = 71) (total N = 121). Participants completed a temporal discounting task to estimate their baseline discounting preferences before learning the preferences of two other people, one who was more temporally impulsive and one more patient. We used Bayesian computational models to estimate baseline discounting and susceptibility to social influence after learning others' economic preferences. mPFC damage increased susceptibility to impulsive social influence compared to healthy controls and increased overall susceptibility to social influence compared to those with lesions elsewhere. Importantly, voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) of computational parameters showed that this heightened susceptibility to social influence was attributed specifically to damage to the dmPFC (area 9; permutation-based threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE) p < 0.025). In contrast, lesions in the vmPFC (areas 13 and 25) and ventral striatum were associated with a preference for seeking more immediate rewards (permutation-based TFCE p < 0.05). We show that the dmPFC is causally implicated in susceptibility to social influence, with distinct ventral portions of mPFC involved in temporal discounting. These findings provide causal evidence for sub-regions of the mPFC underpinning fundamental social and cognitive processes.

Reimagining neuroscientific and andragogical principles for dementia care education

This article aims to explore the integration of Louis Cozolino's (2013) andragogical strategies with the tenets of person-centered dementia care practices to enhance dementia care education. The article examines the multiple dimensions of learning in adulthood, highlighting the role of neural plasticity and lifelong brain adaptation in shaping learning and experiential strategies. This in-depth evaluation underscores the significance of tailoring andragogical approaches to the needs of adult learners, who, in this context, are care providers for persons with dementia. This is done through proper understanding of the neurobiological realities and the unique learning needs of adults. Such tailored approaches can be aligned with the brain's adaptive nature by recognizing the intricate interplay of cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions. Highlighting the need for including lessons on the person-centered approach in dementia care education, the paper argues that adult learners - who are essentially part of the dementia care workforce - first need to learn, appreciate, and embrace the approach before applying it in their caregiving practices. This article presents an overarching argument that integration of Cozolino's principles of adult learning with tenets of person-centered dementia care could provide a robust framework for dementia care education.

A longitudinal neuroimaging study of adolescent girls' mentalizing and perspective-taking tendencies

Research in developmental psychology suggests that self-concept formation and mentalizing capacities, along with their neural foundations, show significant developmental change during adolescence. Perspective-taking tendencies are also believed to increase in adolescence, supporting the refinement of prosocial behavior and the demands of increasingly complex social relationships. To explore the development of, and relationship between, these processes in adolescence, early adolescent girls (N = 172) completed a measure of perspective-taking tendencies and a self-evaluation fMRI task at two waves, approximately 18 months apart (mean ages = 11.62 and 13.20, respectively). In line with our hypothesis, perspective-taking tendencies were positively associated with age. Greater perspective-taking tendencies were also associated with a more prosocial, and less antisocial, self-concept. In addition, dmPFC activity increased with age, but this did not survive correction for multiple comparisons across all mentalizing regions. Post hoc analyses also showed that an increase in perspective-taking tendencies across waves was significantly associated with activity in parts of the precuneus at wave 2. Finally, while we did not observe cross-variable coupling, our Bivariate Latent Change Score model showed that lower perspective-taking tendencies at wave 1 were associated with greater latent change in this variable (and the same was true for mean activity in mentalizing brain regions).

Intrinsic brain mapping of cognitive abilities: A multiple-dataset study on intelligence and its components

This study investigates how functional brain network features contribute to general intelligence and its cognitive components by analyzing three independent cohorts of healthy participants. Cognitive scores were derived from 1) the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV), 2) the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RPM), and 3) the NIH and Penn cognitive batteries from the Human Connectome Project. Factor analysis on the NIH and Penn cognitive batteries yielded latent variables that closely resembled the content of the WAIS-IV indices and RPM. We employed graph theory and a multi-resolution network analysis by varying the modularity parameter (γ) to investigate hierarchical brain-behavior relationships across different scales of brain organization. Brain-behavior associations were quantified using multi-level robust regression analyses to accommodate variability and confounds at the subject-level, node-level, and resolution-level. Our findings reveal consistent brain-behavior relationships across the datasets. Nodal efficiency in fronto-parietal sensorimotor regions consistently played a pivotal role in fluid reasoning, whereas efficiency in visual networks was linked to executive functions and memory. A broad, low-resolution 'task-positive' network emerged as predictive of full-scale IQ scores, indicating a hierarchical brain-behavior coding. Conversely, increased cross-network connections involving default mode and subcortical-limbic networks were associated with reductions in both general and specific cognitive performance. These outcomes highlight the relevance of network efficiency and integration, as well as of the hierarchical organization in supporting specific aspects of intelligence, while recognizing the inherent complexity of these relationships. Our multi-resolution network approach offers new insights into the interplay between multilayer network properties and the structure of cognitive abilities, advancing the understanding of the neural substrates of the intelligence construct.

The functional connectivity between the right rostral anterior cingulate cortex and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex underlies the association between future self-continuity and self-control

Future self-continuity refers to the perceived degree of similarity between one's present self and future self. Self-control refers to the ability to regulate and control inappropriate behaviors, enabling individuals to suppress immediate reactions that are inconsistent with long-term goals. Previous studies demonstrated a positive correlation between future self-continuity and self-control, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. To address this question, we integrated behavioral assessments with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and mediation modeling to investigate this relationship. Behavioral results confirmed a positive correlation between the two variables. Furthermore, neuroimaging results revealed that right rostral anterior cingulate cortex (R-rACC) to right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-dlPFC) functional connectivity correlated with future self-continuity and mediated its relationship with self-control. These findings suggest that the functional connectivity between the R-rACC and the R-dlPFC may constitute the neural basis of the relationship between future self-continuity and self-control while offering a mechanistic framework to advance understanding of their interrelationship.

Differential Functional Connectivity of Frontolimbic Circuit During Symptom Provocation in Distinct Symptom Profiles of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Connectivité fonctionnelle différentielle du circuit frontolimbique durant la provocation de symptômes dans des profils symptomatiques distincts du trouble obsessionnel-compulsif

BackgroundEmotional processing deficits and frontolimbic dysfunction have been observed in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with inconsistent evidence possibly due to symptom heterogeneity. We compared the functional activation and connectivity patterns of the frontolimbic structures during symptom provocation between patients with distinct symptom profiles of OCD.MethodsThirty-seven symptomatic OCD subjects were recruited and categorized based on predominant symptom profiles to contamination/washing symptom group (OCD-C, n = 19) and taboo thoughts group (OCD-T, n = 18), along with 17 healthy controls (HCs). All subjects were evaluated with comprehensive clinical assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging while appraising personalized disorder-specific stimuli with contrasting neutral stimuli as part of an individualized symptom provocation task. Region of interest analyses and task-dependent seed-to-voxel connectivity of the frontolimbic circuit were compared between the groups, with correction employed for multiple comparisons.ResultsOCD-C subjects had decreased task-dependent mean activation of the left amygdala (adjusted mean difference = 13.48, p= 0.03) and right hippocampus (adjusted mean difference = 13.48, p = 0.04) compared to HC. Task-modulated functional connectivity analyses revealed that OCD-C had decreased connectivity of the right hippocampus with bilateral supplementary motor cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus (T = -5.11, p = 0.04); right insula with left cerebellum (T = -5.47, p = 0.02); and left insula with inferior temporal gyrus (T = -6.27, p = 0.03) than HC. OCD-T subjects had greater connectivity of right insula with left cerebellum (T = 6.64, p < 0.001) than OCD-C and increased connectivity of medial frontal cortex with right lateral occipital cortex (T = 5.08, p < 0.001) than HC.ConclusionsContamination-related symptoms were associated with decreased activation and connectivity of amygdala and hippocampus during symptom provocation, while the taboo thoughts were associated with increased connectivity of the insular cortex and medial frontal cortex. These findings suggest that distinct neurobiological markers may underlie the clinical heterogeneity of OCD.

Vaping and Smoking Cue Reactivity in Young Adult Nonsmoking Electronic Cigarette Users: A Functional Neuroimaging Study

INTRODUCTION

The rapid growth in the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among nonsmoking young adults is concerning, as it raises the potential for chronic vaping and nicotine addiction. A key characteristic of drug addiction is the elevated neural response to conditioned drug-related cues (i.e., cue reactivity). Generalized reactivity to both vaping and smoking cues may signify an increased risk for smoking initiation in nonsmoking vapers. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain responses to vaping and smoking cues in young adult nonsmoking vapers.

METHODS

Sixty-six young adult nonsmoking vapers underwent functional MRI while viewing visual cues pertaining to vaping, smoking, and nicotine-unrelated unconditioned reward (i.e., food). A priori region-of-interest analysis combined with exploratory whole-brain analysis was performed to characterize neural reactivity to vaping and smoking cues in comparison to food cues.

RESULTS

The medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, regions that play a key role in drug cue reactivity, showed significantly increased neural response to vaping cues compared to food cues. The posterior cingulate cortex additionally showed increased neural responses to smoking cues compared to food cues.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite not currently smoking combustible cigarettes, young adult vapers exhibited heightened neural susceptibility to both vaping and smoking cues within brain systems associated with cue reactivity. The findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying nicotine addiction and smoking initiation risk in this critical population and may contribute to the development of science-based interventions and regulatory measures in the future.

IMPLICATIONS

The escalating vaping prevalence among US nonsmoking young adults is alarming, due to its potential ramifications for nicotine addiction development. Nicotine addiction is characterized by elevated neural response to conditioned nicotine-related cues. Using functional neuroimaging, we showed that young adult nonsmoking vapers exhibited heightened neural susceptibility to both vaping and smoking cues within brain systems previously associated with cue reactivity. Such cross-reactivity to both types of nicotine cues may serve as the mechanism underlying nicotine addiction and smoking initiation risk in this population. Our findings may contribute to the development of science-based interventions and regulatory measures addressing the vaping epidemic.

Disease-specific alterations of effective connectivity across anti-correlated networks in major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) share various clinical behaviors and have confounded clinical diagnoses. Converging studies have suggested MDD and BD as disorders with abnormal communication among functional brain networks involved in mental activity and redirection. However, whether MDD and BD show disease-specific alterations in network information interaction remains unclear. This study collected resting-state functional MRI data of 98 patients with MDD, 55 patients with BD, and sex-, age-, and education-matched 95 healthy controls. Spectral dynamic causal model (spDCM) was used to investigate effective connectivities among three large-scale intrinsic functional networks including the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and dorsal attention network (DAN). Effective connectivities showing disease-specific changes were then used as input features of support vector models to predict clinical symptoms and classify individuals with MDD and BD. Compared with healthy controls, both the MDD and BD groups showed increased DAN → SN connectivity. However, within-network connectivities of DMN and DAN showed opposite effects on the diseases. Notably, MDD and BD also showed different alterations on a connectivity loop of SN → DAN → DMN → SN, which could be used to predict the clinical symptom severity of either MDD or BD. Individuals with MDD and BD could be further classified by using connectivities showing opposite disease effects. Our findings reveal common and unique alterations of network interactions in MDD and BD, and further suggest disease-specific neuroimaging markers for clinical diagnosis.

Precuneus activation correlates with the vividness of dynamic and static imagery: an fMRI study

Introduction

Visual mental imagery (VMI) is a cognitive function that significantly impacts various aspects of daily life. However, the neural correlates of VMI vividness remain unclear, especially underlying different VMI types. Therefore, the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying static (SI) and dynamic VMI (DI), focusing on the role of precuneus especially in the imagery vividness.

Methods

The study involved 24 participants recruited from ShanghaiTech University. After excluding four participants due to excessive movements, data from 20 participants were analyzed. Each participant completed the Chinese version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) to assess their imagery vividness abilities. During fMRI scanning, participants were asked to imagine SI and DI scenarios in response to auditory stimuli. High-resolution fMRI data were acquired using a 3T scanner, and a General Linear Model (GLM) was applied to analyze blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals, focusing on the precuneus's role in imagery vividness.

Results

The results revealed that the left precuneus was found activated in both SI and DI tasks. Moreover, the left precuneus activation was positively correlated with VVIQ score. On the other hand, greater activation in the right precuneus was found during dynamic than static imagery as well as more extensive neural engagements; the right precuneus activation was further detected significantly correlated with individual VVIQ scores.

Discussion

The study's findings offered fresh insights into the cognitive and neural processes subserving VMI. By revealing the distinct roles of the left and right precuneus in imagery vividness, this research contributed to a more nuanced understanding of VMI and its neural basis.

Brain neuromarkers predict self- and other-related mentalizing across adult, clinical, and developmental samples

Human social interactions rely on the ability to reflect on one's own and others' internal states and traits-a psychological process known as mentalizing. Impaired or altered self- and other-related mentalizing is a hallmark of multiple psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. Yet, replicable and easily testable brain markers of mentalizing have so far been lacking. Here, we apply an interpretable machine learning approach to multiple datasets (total N=281) to train and validate fMRI brain signatures that predict 1) mentalizing about the self, 2) mentalizing about another person, and 3) both types of mentalizing. We test their generalizability across healthy adults, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The classifier trained across both types of mentalizing showed 98% predictive accuracy in independent validation datasets. Self-mentalizing and other-mentalizing classifiers had positive weights in anterior/medial and posterior/lateral brain areas respectively, with accuracy rates of 82% and 77% for out-of-sample prediction. Classifier patterns across cohorts revealed better self/other separation in 1) healthy adults compared to individuals with schizophrenia and 2) with increasing age in adolescence. Together, our findings reveal consistent and separable neural patterns subserving mentalizing about self and others-present at least from the age of adolescence and functionally altered in severe neuropsychiatric disorders. These mentalizing signatures hold promise as mechanistic neuromarkers to measure social-cognitive processes in different contexts and clinical conditions.

Neurometabolic network (NMetNet) for functional neurological disorder in children and adolescents

OBJECTIVES

Functional neurological disorder (FND) in children and adolescents is a biopsychosocially complex condition characterized by a wide range of neurological symptoms. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study neurometabolites has become an important approach to studying the mechanisms of FND. Unlike previous studies focusing on concentration-level analysis, this study examines conditional dependencies between six neurometabolites: N-acetyl aspartate, creatine, glutathione, choline, myo-inositol, and glutamate. Conditional dependence implies that two neurometabolites have joint variability that is not mediated by other neurometabolites.

METHODS

A Bayesian graphical lasso approach was used to estimate neurometabolites' conditional dependencies in three regions of interest: the anterior default mode network (aDMN), supplementary motor area (SMA), and posterior default mode network (pDMN). We introduce the term neurometabolic network (NMetNet) to describe these conditional dependencies.

RESULTS

Children and adolescents with FND (vs. healthy controls) showed a loss of conditional dependencies related to creatine and glutathione between the aDMN and SMA/pDMN. Glutathione is the primary antioxidant in the brain. Creatine plays a key role in maintaining bioenergetics and also acts as an antioxidant.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that FND is characterized by dysregulated bioenergetics and increased vulnerability to oxidative stress. Understanding NMetNet in FND offers novel insights into the disorder's neurobiology, with implications for therapeutic interventions to restore energy homeostasis and oxidative balance.

Connecting brain and mind through temporo-spatial dynamics: Towards a theory of common currency

Despite major progress in our understanding of the brain, the connection of neural and mental features, that is, brain and mind, remains yet elusive. In our 2020 target paper ("Is temporospatial dynamics the 'common currency' of brain and mind? Spatiotemporal Neuroscience") we proposed the "Common currency hypothesis": temporo-spatial dynamics are shared by neural and mental features, providing their connection. The current paper aims to further support and extend the original description of such common currency into a first outline of a "Common currency theory" (CCT) of neuro-mental relationship. First, we extend the range of examples to thoughts, meditation, depression and attention all lending support that temporal characteristics, (i.e. dynamics) are shared by both neural and mental features. Second, we now also show empirical examples of how spatial characteristics, i.e., topography, are shared by neural and mental features; this is illustrated by topographic reorganization of both neural and mental states in depression and meditation. Third, considering the neuro-mental connection in theoretical terms, we specify their relationship by distinct forms of temporospatial correspondences, ranging on a continuum from simple to complex. In conclusion, we extend our initial hypothesis about the key role of temporo-spatial dynamics in neuro-mental relationship into a first outline of an integrated mind-brain theory, the "Common currency theory" (CCT).

What I think she thinks about my paralysed body: Social inferences about disability-related content in anosognosia for hemiplegia

The neuropsychological disorder of anosognosia for hemiplegia (AHP) can offer unique insights into the neurocognitive processes of body consciousness and representation. Previous studies have found associations between selective social cognition deficits and anosognosia. In this study, we examined how such social cognition deficits may directly interact with representations of one's body as disabled in AHP. We used a modified set of previously validated Theory of Mind (ToM) stories to create disability-related content that was related to post-stroke paralysis and to investigate differences between right hemisphere damage patients with (n = 19) and without (n = 19) AHP. We expected AHP patients to perform worse than controls when trying to infer paralysis-related mental states in the paralysis-related ToM stories and explored whether such differences depended on the inference patients were asked to perform (e.g. self or other referent perspective-taking). Using an advanced structural neuroimaging technique, we expected selective social cognitive deficits to be associated with posterior parietal cortex lesions and deficits in self-referent perspective-taking in paralysis-related mentalising to be associated with frontoparietal disconnections. Group- and individual-level results revealed that AHP patients performed worse than HP controls when trying to infer paralysis-related mental states. Exploratory lesion analysis results revealed some of the hypothesised lesions, but also unexpected white matter disconnections in the posterior body and splenium of the corpus collosum associated with a self-referent perspective-taking in paralysis-related ToM stories. The study has implications for the multi-layered nature of body awareness, including abstract, social perspectives and beliefs about the body.

Visual self-face and self-body recognition in a left-brain-damaged prosopagnosic patient

The present case study describes the patient N.G., who reported prosopagnosia along with difficulty in recognising herself in the mirror following a left-sided temporo-occipital hemispheric stroke. The neuropsychological and experimental investigation revealed only a mild form of apperceptive prosopagnosia, without visual agnosia, primarily caused by an impaired visual processing of face-parts and body parts but not of full faces. Emotional expressions did not modulate her face processing. On the other hand, N.G. showed a marked impairment of visual self-recognition, as assessed with visual matching-to-sample tasks, both at the level of body-part and face-part processing and at a full-face level, featured by a deficit in the perceptual discrimination of her own face and body, as compared to the others' face and body. N.G.'s lesion mapping showed damage to the left inferior occipito-temporal cortex, affecting the inferior occipital gyrus and compromising long-range connections between the occipital/temporo-occipital areas and the anterior fronto-temporal areas. Overall, the present case report documents that visual processing of the person's own face may be selectively compromised by a left-sided hemispheric lesion disconnecting extra-striate body- and face-selective visual areas to self-representation regions. Moreover, others' (full) face processing may be preserved, as compared with the impaired ability to discriminate others' body and face parts.

Infant sleep EEG features at 4 months as biomarkers of neurodevelopment at 18 months

BACKGROUND

Sleep parameters evolve in parallel with neurodevelopment. Sleep participates in synaptic homeostasis and memory consolidation and infant sleep parameters correlate with later aspects of early childhood cognition.

METHODS

Typically developing, term-born infants had a diurnal sleep-EEG at 4 months and Griffiths III developmental assessment at 18 months. EEG analysis included sleep macrostructure (i.e. durations of total sleep and sleep stages, and latencies to sleep and REM), sleep spindle features, and quantitative EEG features (qEEG): interhemispheric connectivity and spectral power. We assessed the correlations between these EEG features and Griffiths III quotients.

RESULTS

Sleep recordings from 92 infants were analyzed. Sleep latency was positively associated with the Griffiths III Foundations of Learning subscale and N3 sleep duration was positively correlated with the Personal-Social-Emotional subscale. Sleep spindle synchrony was negatively associated with Eye and Hand Coordination, Personal-Social-Emotional, Gross Motor, and General Development quotients. Sleep spindle duration was negatively associated with the Personal-Social-Emotional and Gross Motor subscales. In some sleep states, delta 1 and 2 EEG spectral power and interhemispheric coherence measures were correlated with subscale quotients.

CONCLUSION

Certain sleep features in the EEG of 4-month-old infants are associated with neurodevelopment at 18 months and may be useful early biomarkers of neurodevelopment.

IMPACT

This study shows that the EEG during infant sleep may provide insights into later neurodevelopmental outcomes. We have examined novel EEG sleep spindle features and shown that spindle duration and synchrony may help predict neurodevelopmental outcomes. Sleep macrostructure elements such as latency to sleep, N3 duration, and qEEG features such as interhemispheric coherence and spectral power measures at 4 months may be useful for the assessment of future neurodevelopmental outcomes. Due to exceptional neuroplasticity in infancy, EEG biomarkers of neurodevelopment may support early and targeted intervention to optimize outcomes.

Promoting Resilience in Youth through Mindfulness mEditation (PRYME): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of mindfulness training as add-on to care-as-usual on internalizing problems, mental illness development, and associated brain and cognitive processes in help-seeking youth

BACKGROUND

Internalizing problems, such as worrying, anxiety and low mood, are increasingly common in youth and may constitute an early stage of mental illness development. There is thus an urgent need for effective measures to address mental health complaints as they develop and to prevent progression into more serious mental illness. Enhanced understanding of early-stage mental illness development, associated cognitive and brain processes, and their amenability to early intervention is crucial to this effort. Mindfulness-based interventions offer an accessible intervention option with demonstrated positive effects on internalizing disorders such as depression. Furthermore, mindfulness-based interventions may modulate cognitive processes and brain activity patterns associated with internalizing disorders. This study aims to determine how early-stage mindfulness-based intervention impacts internalizing symptom development, associated cognitive and brain processes, and mental illness progression in help-seeking youth.

METHODS

This longitudinal two-arm randomized controlled trial will be conducted in 155 help-seeking youth between 16 and 25 years of age. The investigational treatment, the Learning to Offset Stress program, is an adaptation of existing mindfulness-based programs. Developed for youth with internalizing problems, the training combines mindfulness exercises with mindful physical activity and yoga in 8 weekly 2-hour sessions. Participants are randomized to either Learning to Offset Stress program as an add on to care-as-usual, or care-as-usual-only. Assessments take place at baseline, end of treatment, and 2 months and 6 months after completion of treatment. The primary outcome is the level of internalizing problems measured with the internalizing subscale of the Adult Self Report questionnaire at end of treatment. Secondary outcomes include measures of self-compassion, rumination, experiential avoidance, and well-being. In addition, (functional) magnetic resonance imaging and computerized cognitive tasks are conducted at baseline and at end of treatment.

DISCUSSION

The current randomized controlled trial aims to enhance our understanding of the trajectory of emerging mental illness, associated cognitive and brain processes, and their modulation by early-stage mindfulness-based intervention.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05916651. Registered on 23 June 2023.

Evaluating the relative predictive validity of measures of self-referential processing for depressive symptom severity

Introduction

The self-referential encoding task (SRET) has a number of implicit measures which are associated with various facets of depression, including depressive symptoms. While some measures have proven robust in predicting depressive symptoms, their effectiveness can vary depending on the methodology used. Hence, understanding the relative contributions of population differences, word lists and calculation methods to these associations with depression, is crucial for translating the SRET into a clinical screening tool.

Methods

This study systematically investigated the predictive accuracy of various SRET measures across different samples, including one clinical population matched with healthy controls and two university student populations, exposed to differing word lists. Participants completed the standard SRET and its variations, including Likert scales and matrix formats. Both standard and novel SRET measures were calculated and compared for their relative and incremental contribution to their associations with depression, with mean squared error (MSE) used as the primary metric for measuring predictive accuracy.

Results

Results showed that most SRET measures significantly predicted depressive symptoms in clinical populations but not in healthy populations. Notably, models with task modifications, such as Matrix Endorsement Bias and Likert Endorsement Sum Bias, achieved the lowest mean squared error (MSE), indicating better predictive accuracy compared to standard Endorsement Bias measures.

Discussion

These findings imply that task modifications such as utilising Likert-response options and the use of longer word lists may enhance the effectiveness of screening methods in both clinical and research settings, potentially improving early detection and intervention for depression.

Increased default mode network activation in depression and social anxiety during upward social comparison

Social comparisons are a core feature of human life. Theories posit that social comparisons play a critical role in depression and social anxiety triggering negative evaluations about the self, as well as negative emotions. We investigated the neural basis of social comparisons in participants with major depression and/or social anxiety (MD-SA, n = 56) and healthy controls (n = 47) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. While being scanned participants performed a social comparison task, during which they received feedback about their performance and the performance of a coplayer. Upward social comparisons (being worse than the coplayer) elicited high levels of negative emotions (shame, guilt, and nervousness) across participants, with this effect being enhanced in the MD-SA group. Notably, during upward comparison the MD-SA group showed greater activation than the control group in regions of the default mode network (DMN). Specifically, for upward comparison MD-SA participants demonstrated increased activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and reduced deactivation in the posteromedial cortex, regions linked to self-referential processing, inferences about other people's thoughts, and rumination. Findings suggest that people with depression and social anxiety react to upward comparisons with a more negative emotional response, which may be linked to introspective processes related to the DMN.

Cognitive and neural underpinnings of friend-prioritization in a perceptual matching task

Previous findings of better behavioral responses to self- over other-related stimuli suggest prioritized cognitive processes of self-related information. However, it is unclear whether the processing of information related to important others (e.g.friends) may be prioritized over that related to the self in certain subpopulations and, if yes, whether friend-prioritization and self-prioritization engage distinct cognitive and neural mechanisms. We collected behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data from a large sample (N = 1006) during learning associations between shapes and person labels (self or a friend). Analyses of response times and sensitivities revealed two subpopulations who performed better to friend-shape or self-shape associations, respectively (N = 216 for each group). Drift diffusion model (DDM) analyses unraveled faster information acquisition for friend-shape (vs. self-shape) associations in the friend-prioritization group but an opposite pattern in the self-prioritization group. Trial-by-trial regression analyses of EEG data showed that the greater amplitudes of a frontal/central activity at 180-240 ms poststimulus were correlated with faster information acquisition from friend-shape associations in the friend-prioritization group but from self-shape associations in the self-prioritization group. However, the frontal/central neural oscillations at 8-18 Hz during perceptual learning were specifically associated with speed of information acquisition from friend-shape associations in the friend-prioritization-group. Our findings provide evidence for friend-prioritization in perceptual learning in a subpopulation of adults and clarify the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms.

Exposure to residential air pollution and the development of functional connectivity of brain networks throughout adolescence

BACKGROUND

A few studies linked air pollution to differences in functional connectivity of resting-state brain networks in children, but how air pollution exposure affects the development of brain networks remains poorly understood. Therefore, we studied the association of air pollution exposure from birth to 3 years and one year before the first imaging assessment with the development of functional connectivity across adolescence.

METHODS

We utilized data from 3,626 children of the Generation R Study (The Netherlands). We estimated residential exposure to PM10, PM2.5, PM2.5 absorbance, NOX, and NO2 with land-use regression models. Between- and within-network functional connectivity was calculated for 13 cortical networks, and the amygdala, hippocampus, and caudate nucleus at two assessments (8.6-12.0 and 12.6-17.1 years), resulting in 4,628 scans (2,511 for assessment 1 and 2,117 for assessment 2) from 3,626 individuals. We investigated the association between air pollution and functional connectivity with linear mixed models adjusted for life-style and socioeconomic variables, and corrected for multiple testing.

RESULTS

Higher exposure to PM2.5 from birth to 3 years was associated with persistently lower functional connectivity over time between the amygdala and the ventral attention, somatomotor hand, and auditory networks throughout adolescence (e.g. -0.027 functional connectivity [95 % CI -0.040; -0.013] amygdala - ventral attention network per 5 μg/m3higher PM2.5). Higher exposure to PM10 one year before the first imaging assessment was associated with persistently lower functional connectivity between the salience and medial-parietal networks throughout adolescence. Air pollution was not associated with a faster or slower change in functional connectivity with age.

CONCLUSIONS

Air pollution exposure early in life was associated with persistent alterations in connectivity between the amygdala and cortical networks involved in attention, somatomotor, and auditory function. Concurrent exposure was associated with persistent connectivity alterations between networks related to higher cognitive functions (i.e. the salience and medial-parietal networks).

The self in depression and anxiety as a transdiagnostic and differential-diagnostic neural marker: A systematic review

Accurate and early diagnosis of Depression and Anxiety is met with the challenge of comorbid presentations and the neglect of the basic disturbances of self in current diagnostic criteria. Here, we review studies employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with self-based tasks in major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (AD) to determine the transdiagnostic and differential-diagnostic applicability of neural markers related to the self. This systematic review identified three main findings: (I) Large-scale brain-wide changes related to self-dysfunction overlap significantly between MDD and AD. (II) Regional changes are unspecific to tasks and stimuli confirming their specificity to the self as distinguished from other cognitive functions. (III) MDD affects regions related to emotional-cognitive processing like the anterior cingulate cortex, while AD involves prefrontal and insular regions associated with interoceptive and emotional-cognitive regulation. Our systematic review shows the utility of the self as a transdiagnostic marker that exhibits neural topographic similarities across the diagnostic boundaries of MDD and AD. More fine-grained regional differences between MDD and AD can be found within their underlying large scale neural similarities, allowing for their differential-diagnostic specification. In conclusion, we demonstrate the relevance of the self as both a transdiagnostic and differential diagnostic neural marker in MDD and AD.

Perceived self and social relevance of content motivates news sharing across cultures and topics

Well-informed individual and collective decision-making is aided by access to high-quality, factual information. What motivates people to share high-quality news, and how can these motives be leveraged to promote news sharing? Based on the theory that self-related and social motives encourage sharing behavior, we designed and tested interventions to increase news sharing. In the interventions, individuals were exposed to actual news stories and were prompted to identify why the content was relevant to themselves (self-relevance) or people they know (social relevance). Across four studies (N participants = 2,559, N observations = 18,780), we systematically examined the effectiveness of these interventions, their generalizability across news topics (climate change and health) and cultures (the United States of America and the Netherlands), their translation to more naturalistic contexts, and their underlying neuropsychological mechanisms. In all studies, we observed expected positive correlations among perceived self and social relevance and sharing intentions. In a neuroimaging study, we also observed corresponding increases in activity in self-referential and social cognitive brain regions. Using the content-framing interventions to test causal relationships, we found that the interventions increased sharing intentions and behavior. Furthermore, we observed generalizability across news topics and cultural contexts and translation to an ecologically valid news exposure context. These findings advance theory by adding neural and behavioral evidence that self-related and social motives prompt people to share information, and demonstrate the ability of content-framing interventions to harness these motives to encourage high-quality news sharing.

Neural activity during negative self-evaluation is associated with negative self-concept and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls

Self-concept becomes reliant on social comparison, potentially leading to excessive self-focused attention, persistently negative self-concept and increased risk for depression during early adolescence. Studies have implicated neural activation in cortical midline brain structures in self-related information processing, yet it remains unclear how this activation may underlie subjective self-concept and links to depression in adolescence. We examined these associations by assessing neural activity during negative vs. positive self-referential processing in 39 11-to-13-year-old girls. During a functional neuroimaging task, girls reported on their perceptions of self-concept by rating how true they believed positive and negative personality traits were about them. Girls reported on depressive symptoms at the scan and 6 months later. Activation in the dorsomedial and ventrolateral prefrontal cortexes (dMPFC; VLPFC), and visual association area was significantly associated with subjective self-concept and/or depressive symptoms at the scan or 6 months later. Exploratory models showed higher activation in the dMPFC to Self-negative > Self-positive was indirectly associated with concurrent depressive symptoms through more negative self-concept. Higher activation in the visual association area to Self-positive > Self-negative was associated with lower depressive symptoms at follow-up through more positive self-concept. Findings highlight how differential neural processing of negative versus positive self-relevant information maps onto perceptions of self-concept and adolescent depression.

The social self in the developing brain

The notion that the self is fundamentally social in nature and develops through social interactions has a long tradition in philosophy, sociology, and psychology. However, to date, the early development of the social self and its brain bases in infancy has received relatively little attention. This presents a review and synthesis of existing neuroimaging research, showing that infants recruit brain systems, involved in self-processing and social cognition in adults, when responding to self-relevant cues during social interactions. Moreover, this review draws on recent research, demonstrating the early developmental emergence and social embeddedness/dependency of the default-mode network in infancy, a brain network considered of critical importance to the sense of self and social cognition. This stands in contrast to research pointing to the relatively late ontogenetic emergence of the conceptual self, by about 18-24 months of age, as seen in the mirror-self recognition test. Based on this review and synthesis, the social self first hypothesis (SSFH) is formulated, presenting an integrated view, arguing for the early ontogenetic emergence of the social self and its brain basis. This developmental account informs and extends existing evolutionary thinking, emphasizing the primary role that social interdependence has played in the evolution of the human mind.

Altered Self-Referential-Related Brain Regions in Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to explore the alteration in topology and network properties in self-referential-related brain regions of individuals with depersonalization-derealization disorders (DPD), using evidence from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).

METHODS

We first determined the regions of interest (ROIs) using Neurosynth, based on which we conducted an ROI-wise functional connectivity search to create a self-referential-related network and performed a topographical analysis. We then compared the analyzed properties from the rs-fMRI of disordered individuals to those of healthy controls to generate differential properties, based on which we conducted a machine learning-based disease diagnostic model.

RESULTS

The study found significant changes in connectivity between brain regions associated with self-referential processing in individuals with DPD compared to healthy controls. Correlation analysis showed negative correlations between "unreality of surroundings" and connectivity between the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars orbitalis and left insula and between "perceptual alterations" and connectivity between the left pregenual and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Graph theoretical analysis revealed increased local and global efficiency but decreased characteristic path length. The accuracy of the classification model was 0.885, and the area under the curve was 0.928.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with DPD showed alterations in brain topography and changes in network properties within self-referential-related brain regions; specifically, the changes in cortical midline structures and insula could be related to the underlying mechanism of DPD, highlighting potential targets for future research and therapeutic strategies.

Self-referential belief shares common neural correlates with general belief

Belief processing and self-referential processing have been consistently associated with cortical midline structures, and cortical regions such as the vmPFC have been implicated in general belief processing. The neural correlates of self-referential belief are yet to be investigated. In this fMRI study, we presented 120 statements with trait adjectives to N = 27 healthy participants, who subsequently judged whether they believed these trait adjectives applied to themselves, a close person, or a public person. Thereafter, participants rated their certainty in this judgment. Expectedly, self-referential processing evoked a large cluster in the vmPFC, ACC, and dmPFC. For belief, we found a cluster in the vmPFC, ACC, and amPFC during statement presentation, partially overlapping with that for self-referential processing. The cluster for self-belief vs. disbelief was similar in location and size to that for general belief processing. For uncertainty, we found dmPFC activation. We replicated vmPFC involvement in belief processing and found a common neural correlate for belief and self-belief in the vmPFC. Furthermore, we replicated the role of the dmPFC in uncertainty, supporting a dual neural process model of belief and certainty.

Self-mentions in design area disciplines: A corpus analysis

This study analyzes the self-mention forms represented by first-person pronouns (I, me, my, we, us, and our), self-citations, and other forms of mentions made by the same author(s) in each article (e.g., this writer, the author, the authors, the research team) in a corpus of academic articles (625,195 words) in Design area disciplines to determine the similarities and differences in self-mention practices within these disciplines and the previous findings reported in the literature of authorial self-representation observed in hard and soft fields. A quantitative approach using the method employed by Hyland in 2001 [23] explored a corpus of 100 academic empirical and theoretical articles on visual arts, design, architecture, and art and design education (25 for each discipline) obtained from Q1 and Q2 journals listed in the Visual Arts and Performing Arts subject area of Scopus. The results suggest that self-mention practices in Design area disciplines share similarities and differences with the authorial self-representation in soft and hard fields previously reported in the literature by Hyland in 2001 [23] and Dixon in 2022 [24]. Overall, self-mentions in Design area disciplines resemble the authorial self-representation practices in soft fields. However, self-mentions in architecture tend to use the impersonal writing of hard fields because this discipline has a close historical relationship with engineering. This is the first corpus analysis of self-mention practices in academic articles in the Design area disciplines. The implications of the findings for academic literacy are also discussed.

Late positive potentials elicited by negative self-referential processing predict increases in social anxiety, but not depressive, symptoms from age 11 to age 12

Social anxiety and depression exacerbate in early adolescence. Maladaptive self-referential processing confers risk for both conditions and can be assessed by the Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET). Our cross-sectional findings indicated that the SRET-elicited anterior late positive potential (LPP) was uniquely associated with social anxiety symptoms, whereas behavioral SRET scores were uniquely associated with depressive symptoms. Expanding this work, this study investigated whether the SRET-generated behavioral and LPP indices differentially predicted changes of social anxiety or depressive symptoms over time. At baseline, 115 community-dwelling youths (66 girls; Mean age/SD = 11.00/1.16 years) completed an SRET with EEG. Youths reported social anxiety and depressive symptoms at baseline and ∼six and ∼ 12 months later, based on which the intercept and slope of symptoms were estimated as a function of time. A larger anterior LPP in the negative SRET condition uniquely predicted a larger slope (faster increase) of social anxiety (but not depressive) symptoms. Greater positive behavioral SRET scores marginally predicted a smaller slope (slower increase) of depressive (but not social anxiety) symptoms. We provided novel evidence concerning the differential, prospective associations between self-referential processing and changes of social anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence.

Impaired insight in schizophrenia is associated with higher frontoparietal cerebral blood flow: an arterial spin labeling study

Impaired insight into illness occurs in up to 98% of patients with schizophrenia, depending on the stage of illness, and leads to negative clinical outcomes. Previous neuroimaging studies suggest that impaired insight in patients with schizophrenia may be related to structural and functional anomalies in frontoparietal brain regions. To date, limited studies have investigated the association between regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) and impaired insight in schizophrenia. Therefore, we sought to investigate the relationship between regional CBF, as measured by arterial spin labeling (ASL), and impaired insight in participants with schizophrenia. A total of 32 participants were included in the analysis. Impaired insight in patients with schizophrenia was measured using the VAGUS, Self-report (VAGUS-SR). Resting-state regional CBF was measured using pseudo-continuous ASL (pCASL) and extracted using SPM12 and REX toolbox. Whole brain analysis found that impaired insight was associated with higher regional CBF in the right angular gyrus, left supramarginal gyrus, and right superior frontal region when controlling for age, gender, smoking status, and illness severity. The results indicate that impaired insight in schizophrenia is related to regional CBF in frontoparietal areas. These neuroimaging findings can serve as therapeutic targets for intervention, such as with non-invasive brain stimulation.

Unpacking mentalizing: The roles of age and executive functioning in self-other appraisal and perspective taking

Mentalizing involves a number of psychological processes designed to appraise self and others from different points of view. Factors affecting the flexibility in the ability to switch between self-other representations and perspectives remain yet unclear. In this study, we sought to (a) assess individual variability in processing and switching between self and other-oriented mental representations and perspectives in a sample of typically developing youths and (b) examine how age and executive functioning may affect this switching process. A total of 88 adolescents and 163 young adults completed the Self-Other Switching Task, a new computerised personality trait attribution paradigm. Measures of sustained attention, working memory, and inhibition were used to assess executive functioning. Linear mixed models showed that participants were faster at making attributions from the self-perspective and when referring to the self. They were also slower to disengage/switch from the self-perspective and the self-representation. Whereas there were no age differences in self-other switching efficiency per se, adolescents were slower than adults on trials involving appraisals of the other from the self-perspective. Importantly, higher verbal working memory scores were associated with better performance on incongruent trials and with switching scores. This study demonstrates the utility of a new experimental task permitting to tease apart the effects of self-other appraisal and perspective switching within a single paradigm. Our behavioural results highlight a self-cost observed in switching between representations and perspectives and emphasise the roles of age and working memory in the simultaneous processing of self- and other-oriented information.

Long-term mindfulness meditation increases occurrence of sensory and attention brain states

Interest has been growing in the use of mindfulness meditation (MM) as a therapeutic practice, as accumulating evidence highlights its potential to effectively address a range of mental conditions. While many fMRI studies focused on neural activation and functional connectivity during meditation, the impact of long-term MM practice on spontaneous brain activity, and on the expression of resting state networks over time, remains unclear. Here, intrinsic functional network dynamics were compared between experienced meditators and meditation-naïve participants during rest. Our analysis revealed that meditators tend to spend more time in two brain states that involve synchrony among cortical regions associated with sensory perception. Conversely, a brain state involving frontal areas associated with higher cognitive functions was detected less frequently in experienced meditators. These findings suggest that, by shifting attention toward enhanced sensory and embodied processing, MM effectively modulates the expression of functional network states at rest. These results support the suggested lasting effect of long-term MM on the modulation of resting-state networks, reinforcing its therapeutic potential for disorders characterized by imbalanced network dynamics. Moreover, this study reinforces the utility of analytic approaches from dynamical systems theory to extend current knowledge regarding brain activity and evaluate its response to interventions.

Aesthetic evaluation underpinning brand love relationship development: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis and multivariate analysis

Objectives

Brand love is a crucial construct in marketing strategies. Building brand love can generate stable profits for enterprises. Although the marketing literature points out that aesthetic factors contribute to establishing the relationship as a trigger, to what stage of the relationship do they influence the minds of consumers? The present study attempts to reveal the involvement of aesthetic experiences in brand love developmental dynamics.

Methodology

Using the activation likelihood estimation method, we address this issue by assessing overlapping brain regions between brand love at each stage and aesthetic experiences. We adopted three major meta-analytic decoding analysis modules to objectively interpret these brain regions, namely, Neurosynth, NeuroQuery, and the Behavioral Analysis plugin (BrainMap platform). Moreover, we performed a correspondence analysis to identify relationships of mental processes between aesthetic experiences and brand love in each developmental stage of brand love.

Findings

Our results suggest that the same neural mechanism and mental processes may be underlaid between brand love and aesthetic experiences across all stages. Although reward- and emotion-related mental processes are commonly underlaid between brand love at the first-half stage and aesthetic experiences, exteroceptive and interoceptive signals may drive those mental processes between the early and migration stages of brand love, respectively, and aesthetic experiences. Overlapping regions of brand love at the stable stage and aesthetic experiences may be associated with semantic processing.

Conclusion

We demonstrate that several brain regions overlapped between brand love and aesthetic experiences across all the brand love developmental stages. Therefore, aesthetic experiences might be associated with the mental processes of brand love development through all the developmental stages. Our results suggest that aesthetic experiences are essential elements for developing brand-love relationships.

Implications

Our findings indicate that marketers should recognize that aesthetic experiences play a crucial role in building a bond between brands and consumers, not only when choosing brands. Thus, marketers need to design visual strategies from the view of nurturing brand-love relationships.

Reconceptualizing Disorders of the Self as Disorders of Relationship

OBJECTIVE

To validate a universal neuropsychological model that suggests that disorders of the self are best conceptualized as disintegrated neuropsychological processes (ie, sensations, mental experiences) that lack a sense of relationship to the unified experience/sense of self.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional observational study.

SETTING

Rehabilitation hospital outpatient clinics.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 73 individuals including 33 with acquired brain injury and 40 with multiple sclerosis.

INTERVENTION

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

On the basis of the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale, a measure of general disintegration of sensations and mental experiences, a team of rehabilitation clinicians and researchers proposed 6 clinically derived indices of specific disintegrated neuropsychological inputs (ie, sensations), outputs (ie, mental experiences), and experiences of disintegration (ie, space, time, context).

RESULTS

As hypothesized (1) a confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed factors including disintegrated bodily sensations (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA]=0.193, P=.009; comparative fit index [CFI]=0.909; Tucker-Lewis index [TLI]=0.819), disintegrated context (RMSEA=0.143, P=.129; CFI=0.970; TLI=0.911), disintegrated emotions (RMSEA=0.090, P=.266; CFI=0.967; TLI=0.902), disintegrated cognition (RMSEA=0.091, P=.210; CFI=0.963; TLI=0.939), disintegrated smell/taste, and disintegrated spatial perception (measures of model fit for these last 2 factors could not be determined given they included only 2 items); and (2) Pearson correlations indicated that all 7 Cambridge Depersonalization Scale indices were negatively correlated with a measure associated with right hemisphere functioning, with 5 achieving/approaching statistical significance.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that (1) neuropsychological abilities should be conceptualized in terms of relatively singular neuropsychological domains (ie, affect, behavior, cognition, sensation) and the experience of relationship that is created when they are integrated, and (2) disorders of the self are best conceptualized as disorders of disintegration that are associated with decreased relationship between specific neuropsychological processes and the unified experience/sense of self.

Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Default Mode Network During Opioid Use and Cessation in Treatment-Seeking Persons

Resting-state functional connectivity analyses have been used to examine synchrony in neural networks in substance use disorders (SUDs), with the default mode network (DMN) one of the most studied. Prior research has generally found less DMN synchrony during use and greater synchrony during cessation, although little research has utilized this method with opioid use. This study examined resting brain activity in treatment-seeking persons who use opioids at two points-when using opioids and when opioid-free-to determine whether the DMN exhibits different levels of connectivity during opioid use and cessation and whether differences in connectivity predict subsequent relapse. The sample included 11 participants who met DSM-5 criteria for opioid use disorder and initiated buprenorphine treatment following fMRI scans that were approximately 3 days apart. Results showed greater functional connectivity in the DMN and the rIFG of the salience network (SN) when participants were abstaining than when actively using opioids. These changes in connectivity predicted 76.2% of the variance in withdrawal symptom severity, with the DMN nodes accounting for an additional 30.9%. Findings warrant further longitudinal exploration of the role of DMN connectivity and its interactions with other networks in relation to abstinence and withdrawal status and examination of its utility as a prognostic marker of cessation or relapse.

Apples and oranges: Conceptual review as task analysis method

Conceptual review is a method to address issues of task comparability and task validity in cognitive neuroscience. Meta-analyses within cognitive neuroscience (CNS) as well as integration of neuroscientific findings with findings from adjacent disciplines both involve gathering studies that have purportedly investigated the same mental concept. After all, it is no use comparing apples and oranges. Tasks, and in particular the experimental contrasts implemented through tasks, determine whether studies are in fact comparable. Yet studies tend to be grouped together or kept apart based on the mental label researchers have applied and unfortunately, labels are an unreliable proxy for experimental contrasts. Different contrasts may receive the same label: 'working memory' studies rely on a variety of contrasts, derived from a variety of tasks. Vice versa, the same contrast may receive different labels: 'task switching' and 'working memory' studies can be exactly the same in terms of their experimental contrast. Label use thus obscures comparability problems. What is more, even when experimental contrasts are comparable, they may be invalid operationalizations of the mental label attached to them. In this paper, I introduce conceptual review as a method for task analysis. It can stand on its own or be combined with a cognitive ontology. Conceptual review applies philosophical strategies for analysing concepts to methodological choices in CNS studies, to uncover their conceptual implications. Conceptual review thus sheds light on the precise concept that was studied and thereby, on the comparability of CNS studies and the validity of tasks.

The distinct effects of fearful and disgusting scenes on self-relevant face recognition

Self-face recognition denotes the process by which a person can recognize their own face by distinguishing it from another's face. Although many research studies have explored the inhibition effect of negative information on self-relevant face processing, few researchers have examined whether negative scenes influence self-relevant face processing. Fearful and disgusting scenes are typical negative scenes, but little research to data has examined their discriminative effects on self-relevant face recognition. To investigate these issues, the current study explored the effect of negative scenes on self-relevant face recognition. In Study 1, 44 participants (20 men, 24 women) were asked to judge the orientation of a target face (self-face or friend-face) pictured in a negative or neutral scene, whereas 40 participants (19 men, 21 women) were asked to complete the same task in a fearful, disgusting, or neutral scene in Study 2. The results showed that negative scenes inhibited the speed of recognizing self-faces. Furthermore, the above effect of negative scenes on self-relevant face recognition occurred with fearful rather than disgusting scenes. Our findings suggest the distinct effects of fearful scenes and disgusting scenes on self-relevant face processing, which may be associated with the automatic attentional capture to negative scenes (especially fearful scenes) and the tendency to escape self-awareness.

Examining Insula-Default Mode Network Functional Connectivity and Its Relationship with Heart Rate Variability

BACKGROUND

The Default Mode Network (DMN) is involved in self-referential and emotional processes, while the insula integrates emotional and interoceptive signals. Functional connectivity between the insula and the DMN is proposed to enhance these processes by linking internal bodily states with self-referential thoughts and emotional regulation. Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a measure of parasympathetic regulation of cardiac activity, has been associated with the capacity to regulate autonomic arousal. This study explored the relationship between insula-DMN functional connectivity and HRV. We hypothesized that (1) insula's functional activity and volume would be related to HRV; (2) insula activation would be functionally connected with the DMN; and (3) stronger insula-DMN connectivity would correlate with higher HRV.

METHODS

Forty-three healthy adults underwent a structural and functional MRI acquisition to assess insula-DMN connectivity during resting state. HRV was measured also at rest using the BIOPAC system.

RESULTS

A significant positive correlation was found between insula-DMN connectivity, but no correlation was observed between insula-DMN connectivity and HRV. We also found a positive significant association between left insula volume and HRV.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that while the AI and DMN are functionally interconnected, this connectivity may not be directly related to HRV. The results highlight the complexity of the relationship between brain connectivity and autonomic function, suggesting that other factors may influence HRV.

Brain functional effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression: A systematic review of task-based fMRI studies

BACKGROUND

Depressive disorders are associated with alterations in brain function, affecting processes such as affective and reward processing and emotion regulation. However, the influence of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on the neuronal patterns remains inadequately understood. Therefore, this review systematically summarizes longitudinal fMRI brain activity changes in depressive patients treated with CBT and their association with symptom remission.

METHODS

This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA statement. Out of 2149 results of the literature search, N = 14 studies met the inclusion criteria (e.g., diagnosis of a current depressive disorder, assessment of longitudinal task-based fMRI, and the analysis of functional changes before and after CBT).

RESULTS

The findings reveal (1) diminished limbic reactivity following CBT across various tasks, (2) increased striatal activity during reward processing, but decreased activity during affective processing and future thinking, and (3) alterations in cingulate and prefrontal cortex activity across tasks. Partially, these results are associated with symptom remission, especially in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex.

LIMITATIONS

There are heterogenous results especially in cortical areas that might partially be due to methodological issues like differences across the studies in terms of task content, statistical evaluation, and interventions. Thus, future research should focus on the standardization of methodologies.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that CBT partially normalizes the neural patterns of depressive patients, particularly within regions involved in affective and reward processing and the development of negative cognitive biases. Overall, potential neural mechanisms underlying CBT were identified, underscoring its effectiveness on an objective neurobiological basis.

Unmasking the Dark Triad: A Data Fusion Machine Learning Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Narcissistic, Machiavellian and Psychopathic Traits

The Dark Triad (DT), encompassing narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy traits, poses significant societal challenges. Understanding the neural underpinnings of these traits is crucial for developing effective interventions and preventive strategies. Our study aimed to unveil the neural substrates of the DT by examining brain scans from 201 individuals (mean age: 32.43, 105 females) using the unsupervised learning algorithm transposed independent vector analysis (tIVA). tIVA, known for identifying complex patterns in neuroimaging data, detected 15 joint grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) networks. Of these networks, four were associated with the DT. The first component comprises areas within the reward network, including the thalamus, caudate, anterior cingulate and prefrontal regions. The second component encompasses regions within the executive network, predominantly involving prefrontal and posterior areas. The third component includes regions within the default mode network (DMN), such as the angular gyrus, the precuneus and the posterior cingulate cortex. Lastly, the fourth component overlaps with areas of the visual network, primarily located in the occipital and temporal lobes. Within these networks, the reward-related component correlated with narcissism, suggesting an association with the need for constant interpersonal rewards to enhance self-esteem and grandiosity in narcissistic individuals. Conversely, the DM-related component correlated with Machiavellianism, potentially reflecting the heightened strategic thinking employed by Machiavellian individuals for manipulation purposes. In line with established trends, sex differences emerged, with males displaying notably higher DT scores. Our findings offer insights into the intricate neurobiological bases of the DT personality and hold implications for future research and interventions.