Aspiration removal of orbitofrontal cortex disrupts cholinergic fibers of passage to anterior cingulate cortex in rhesus macaques

The study of anthropoid nonhuman primates has provided valuable insights into frontal cortex function in humans, as these primates share similar frontal anatomical subdivisions (Murray et al. 2011). Causal manipulation studies have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of this area. One puzzling finding is that macaques with bilateral aspiration removals of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are impaired on tests of cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation, whereas those with bilateral excitotoxic lesions of OFC are not (Rudebeck et al. 2013). This discrepancy is attributed to the inadvertent disruption of fibers of passage by aspiration lesions but not by excitotoxic lesions. Which fibers of passage are responsible for the impairments observed? One candidate is cholinergic fibers originating in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) and passing nearby or through OFC on their way to other frontal cortex regions (Kitt et al. 1987). To investigate this possibility, we performed unilateral aspiration lesions of OFC in three macaques, and then compared cholinergic innervation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) between hemispheres. Histological assessment revealed diminished cholinergic innervation in the ACC of hemispheres with OFC lesions relative to intact hemispheres. This finding indicates that aspiration lesions of the OFC disrupt cholinergic fibers of passage, and suggests the possibility that loss of cholinergic inputs to ACC contributes to the impairments in cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation observed after aspiration but not excitotoxic lesions of OFC.

Understanding anxiety through uncertainty quantification

Uncertainty has been a central concept in psychological theories of anxiety. However, this concept has been plagued by divergent connotations and operationalizations. The lack of consensus hinders the current search for cognitive and biological mechanisms of anxiety, jeopardizes theory creation and comparison, and restrains translation of basic research into improved diagnoses and interventions. Drawing upon uncertainty decomposition in Bayesian Decision Theory, we propose a well-defined conceptual structure of uncertainty in cognitive and clinical sciences, with a focus on anxiety. We discuss how this conceptual structure provides clarity and can be naturally applied to existing frameworks of psychopathology research. Furthermore, it allows formal quantification of various types of uncertainty that can benefit both research and clinical practice in the era of computational psychiatry.

Hallucination-Proneness is Associated With a Decrease in Robust Averaging of Perceptual Evidence

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS

Hallucinations are characterized by disturbances in perceptual decision-making about environmental stimuli. When integrating across multiple stimuli to form a perceptual decision, typical observers engage in "robust averaging" by down-weighting extreme perceptual evidence, akin to a statistician excluding outlying data. Furthermore, observers adapt to contexts with more unreliable evidence by increasing this down-weighting strategy. Here, we test the hypothesis that hallucination-prone individuals (n = 38 high vs n = 91 low) would show a decrease in this robust averaging and diminished sensitivity to changes in evidence variance.

STUDY DESIGN

We used a multielement perceptual averaging task to elicit dichotomous judgments about the "average color" (red/blue) of an array of stimuli in trials with varied strength (mean) and reliability (variance) of decision-relevant perceptual evidence. We fitted computational models to task behavior, with a focus on a log-posterior-ratio (LPR) model which integrates evidence as a function of the log odds of each perceptual option and produces a robust averaging effect.

STUDY RESULTS

Hallucination-prone individuals demonstrated less robust averaging, seeming to weigh inlying and outlying extreme or untrustworthy evidence more equally. Furthermore, the model that integrated evidence as a function of the LPR of the two perceptual options and produced robust averaging showed poorer fit for the group prone to hallucinations. Finally, the weighting strategy in hallucination-prone individuals remained insensitive to evidence variance.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide empirical support for theoretical proposals regarding evidence integration aberrations in psychosis and alterations in the perceptual systems that track statistical regularities in environmental stimuli.

Knowledge of Threat Biases Perceptual Decision Making in Anxiety: Evidence From Signal Detection Theory and Drift Diffusion Modeling

Background

Threat biases are considered key factors in the development and maintenance of anxiety. However, these biases are poorly operationalized and remain unquantified. Furthermore, it is unclear whether and how prior knowledge of threat and its uncertainty induce these biases and how they manifest in anxiety.

Method

Participants (n = 55) used prestimulus cues to decide whether the subsequently presented stimuli were threatening or neutral. The cues either provided no information about the probability (high uncertainty) or indicated high probability (low uncertainty) of encountering threatening or neutral targets. We used signal detection theory and hierarchical drift diffusion modeling to quantify bias.

Results

High-uncertainty threat cues improved discrimination of subsequent threatening and neutral stimuli more than neutral cues. However, anxiety was associated with worse discrimination of threatening versus neutral stimuli following high-uncertainty threat cues. Using hierarchical drift diffusion modeling, we found that threat cues biased decision making not only by shifting the starting point of evidence accumulation toward the threat decision but also by increasing the efficiency with which sensory evidence was accumulated for both threat-related and neutral decisions. However, higher anxiety was associated with a greater shift of starting point toward the threat decision but not with the efficiency of evidence accumulation.

Conclusions

Using computational modeling, these results highlight the biases by which knowledge regarding uncertain threat improves perceptual decision making but impairs it in case of anxiety.

Mismatch negativity and clinical trajectories in psychotic disorders: Five-year stability and predictive utility

BACKGROUND

Mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitude is reduced in psychotic disorders and associated with symptoms and functioning. Due to these robust associations, it is often considered a biomarker for psychotic illness. The relationship between MMN and clinical outcomes has been examined well in early onset psychotic illness; however, its stability and predictive utility in chronic samples are not clear.

METHOD

We examined the five-year stability of MMN amplitude over two timepoints in individuals with established psychotic disorders (cases; N = 132) and never-psychotic participants (NP; N = 170), as well as longitudinal associations with clinical symptoms and functioning.

RESULTS

MMN amplitude exhibited good temporal stability (cases, r = 0.53; never-psychotic, r = 0.52). In cases, structural equation models revealed MMN amplitude to be a significant predictor of worsening auditory hallucinations (β = 0.19), everyday functioning (β = -0.13), and illness severity (β = -0.12) at follow-up. Meanwhile, initial IQ (β = -0.24), negative symptoms (β = 0.23), and illness severity (β = -0.16) were significant predictors of worsening MMN amplitude five years later.

CONCLUSIONS

These results imply that MMN measures a neural deficit that is reasonably stable up to five years. Results support disordered cognition and negative symptoms as preceding reduced MMN, which then may operate as a mechanism driving reductions in everyday functioning and the worsening of auditory hallucinations in chronic psychotic disorders. This pattern may inform models of illness course, clarifying the relationships amongst biological mechanisms of predictive processing and clinical deficits in chronic psychosis and allowing us to better understand the mechanisms driving such impairments over time.

Linking the past to the future by predictive processing: Implications for psychopathology

Most theories of psychopathology have focused on etiology at a specific level (e.g., genetic, neurobiological, psychological, or environmental) to explain specific symptoms or disorders. A few biopsychosocial theories have provided explanations that attempt to integrate different levels and disorders to some extent. However, these theories lack a framework in which different levels of analysis are integrated and thus do not explain the mechanism by which etiological factors interact and perturb neurobiology which in turn leads to psychopathology. We propose that predictive processing (PP), which originated in theoretical neurobiology literature, may provide a conceptually parsimonious and biologically plausible framework to achieve such integration. In PP, the human brain can be cast as implementing a generative model whose task is to minimize the surprise of sensory evidence by inferring its causes and actively controlling future sensory signals via action. This account offers a unifying model of perception, action, and emotion implicated in psychopathology. Furthermore, we show that PP can explain how different factors or levels result in psychopathology via updates of the generative model (the depth of the PP framework). Finally, we demonstrate the transdiagnostic appeal of PP by showing how perturbations within this framework can explain a broad range of psychopathology (the breadth of the PP framework), with a focus on bridging well-established psychosocial theories of psychopathology and PP. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Ligand Modulation on the Various Structures of Three Zinc(II)-Based Coordination Polymers for Antibiotics Degradation

The efficient removal of organic contaminants from wastewater is, nowadays, a prominent area of study due to its biological as well as environmental significance. Antibiotics are now found in wastewater because of their high use, which has become a source of aquatic pollution. These antibiotics have dangerous implications for people’s health. Hence, effective pharmaceutical removal from wastewater and contaminated water bodies, especially the removal of antibiotics, is of major interest to global research organizations. This is why it is necessary to investigate this class of toxic material in wastewater discharge. We synthesized three different coordination polymers (CPs) in the presence of various assistant carboxylate linkers, namely, [Zn(Hbtc)(dip)]n (1), [Zn4(1,2-bdc)4(dip)4]n (2), and [Zn(1,4-bdc)(dip)]n (3) (3,5-di(1H-imidazol-1-yl)pyridine = dip, 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid = H3btc, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid = 1,2-H2bdc, and 1,4-benzendicarboxylic acid = 1,4-bdc). These CPs were characterized by using different techniques, including single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structural studies demonstrated that in 2, there are four Zn(II) centers and both centers are in different coordination environments (Zn2 has distorted tetrahedral geometry, whereas Zn1, Zn3, and Zn4 have square pyramidal geometry). Hirshfeld surfaces analysis revealed that different types of intermolecular interactions (C⋯C, H⋯C, H⋯H, O⋯C, N⋯H, and O⋯H) are present in the synthesized CPs. We examined the different antibiotics, such as metronidazole (MDZ), nitrofurazone (NFZ), dimetridazole (DTZ), sulfasalazine(SLA), and oxytetracycline (OXY), degradation behaviors of the synthesized CPs, which showed remarkable degradation efficiency. 1 showed photocatalytic behavior toward the NFZ antibiotic in an aqueous media. This study also showed that these catalysts are stable and reusable under mild conditions.

What Do We Know About Threat-Related Perceptual Decision Making?

The ability to make rapid and precise decisions regarding the presence or absence of threats in our environment is critical for our survival. While threatening stimuli may be detected more accurately and faster due to the "bottom-up" salience of their features, in the real-world, these stimuli are often encountered in familiar environments in which "top-down" cues signal their arrival. There has been significant progress in our understanding of the mechanisms by which we make perceptual decisions regarding relatively routine stimuli; however, the mechanisms of threat-related perceptual decision-making remain unclear. In this paper, we discuss the psychological, computational, and neural mechanisms by which information from threatening stimuli is integrated with our prior knowledge from cues and surrounding contexts to guide perceptual decision-making.

Isolated lymph node recurrence in epithelial ovarian cancer - management and outcome

INTRODUCTION

The aim of our study was to assess the clinical outcome of isolated lymph node recurrence in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer treated by surgery and to analyze the impact of various clinico-pathological factors on prognosis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of all the epithelial ovarian cancer patients who underwent secondary lymphadenectomy surgery for isolated lymph node recurrence at our institute from 2013 to 2020. Univariate analysis of various factors influencing the post-recurrence disease free survival and post-recurrence survival was done using Kaplan-Meier for categorical variables and cox-proportional hazard progression for continuous variables.

RESULTS

A total of 21 patients of isolated lymph node recurrence were treated surgically during the study period. The median disease free interval to develop lymph nodal recurrence was 13 months. All the patients achieved complete resection to no gross residual disease without any significant morbidity associated with the procedure. The median post-recurrence disease free survival after treatment of lymph node recurrence was 25 months with 3-year post-recurrence survival of 72% and 3-year overall survival of 85%. Amongst the factors influencing post-recurrence disease free survival, young age (< 50 years), para-aortic lymph node dissection at initial surgery and single site of lymph node recurrence were significantly associated with better prognosis. A single site of lymph node recurrence was associated with significantly better post-recurrence survival.

CONCLUSIONS

Complete resection is feasible for epithelial ovarian cancer patients presenting with isolated lymph node recurrence, without any significant perioperative morbidity. When combined with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, complete resection is associated with favourable survival outcomes. Young age, para-aortic lymph node dissection during primary surgery and single site of lymph node recurrence are associated with better prognosis.

Pleasant and unpleasant odor identification ability is associated with distinct dimensions of negative symptoms transdiagnostically in psychotic disorders

Negative symptoms are among the greatest sources of functional impairment for individuals with schizophrenia, yet their mechanisms remain poorly understood. Olfactory impairment is associated with negative symptoms. The processing of pleasant olfactory stimuli is subserved by reward-related neural circuitry while unpleasant olfactory processing is subserved by emotion-related neural circuitry, suggesting that these two odor dimensions may offer a window into differential mechanisms of negative symptoms. We examined whether pleasant and unpleasant odor identification bears differential relationships with avolition and inexpressivity dimensions of negative symptoms, whether these relationships are transdiagnostic, and whether pleasant and unpleasant odor processing also relate differently to other domains of functioning in a sample of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (N = 54), other psychotic disorders (N = 65), and never-psychotic adults (N = 160). Hierarchical regressions showed that pleasant odor identification was uniquely associated with avolition, while unpleasant odor identification was uniquely associated with inexpressivity. These relationships were largely transdiagnostic across groups. Additionally, pleasant and unpleasant odor identification displayed signs of specificity with other functional and cognitive measures. These results align with past work suggesting dissociable pathomechanisms of negative symptoms and provide a potential avenue for future work using valence-specific olfactory dysfunction as a semi-objective and low-cost marker for understanding and predicting the severity of specific negative symptom profiles.

Dynamic interplay between life events and course of psychotic disorders: 10-year longitudinal study following first admission

BACKGROUND

Life events (LEs) are a risk factor for first onset and relapse of psychotic disorders. However, the impact of LEs on specific symptoms - namely reality distortion, disorganization, negative symptoms, depression, and mania - remains unclear. Moreover, the differential effects of negative v. positive LEs are poorly understood.

METHODS

The present study utilizes an epidemiologic cohort of patients (N = 428) ascertained at first-admission for psychosis and followed for a decade thereafter. Symptoms were assessed at 6-, 24-, 48-, and 120-month follow-ups.

RESULTS

We examined symptom change within-person and found that negative events in the previous 6 months predicted an increase in reality distortion (β = 0.07), disorganized (β = 0.07), manic (β = 0.08), and depressive symptoms (β = 0.06), and a decrease in negative symptoms (β = -0.08). Conversely, positive LEs predicted fewer reality distortion (β = -0.04), disorganized (β = -0.04), and negative (β = -0.13) symptoms, and were unrelated to mood symptoms. A between-person approach to the same hypotheses confirmed that negative LEs predicted change in all symptoms, while positive LEs predicted change only in negative symptoms. In contrast, symptoms rarely predicted future LEs.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings confirm that LEs have an effect on symptoms, and thus contribute to the burden of psychotic disorders. That LEs increase positive symptoms and decrease negative symptoms suggest at least two different mechanisms underlying the relationship between LEs and symptoms. Our findings underscore the need for increased symptom monitoring following negative LEs, as symptoms may worsen during that time.

Threat and uncertainty in the face of perceptual decision-making in anxiety

Anxiety is defined as an anticipatory response to uncertain, future threats. It is unknown how anticipatory information regarding uncertainty about upcoming threatening and neutral stimuli impacts attention and perception in anxiety. Individuals with and without anxiety disorders performed two perceptual decision-making tasks in which they used threat or neutral prestimulus cues to discriminate between subsequent threatening and neutral faces. In one task, cues provided no probability information (high uncertainty). In the other, cues indicated a high probability of encountering threatening or neutral faces (low uncertainty). Under high uncertainty only, anxious apprehension was associated with worse discrimination between threatening versus neutral faces after threat cues. Additionally, anxious arousal was associated with worse discrimination after neutral cues in individuals with anxiety disorders. These findings will advance the field by spurring the development of more comprehensive and ecologically valid models in which anticipatory top-down factors influence threat perception in anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Association of attention and memory biases for negative stimuli with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms

Cognitive models have highlighted the role of attentional and memory biases towards negatively-valenced emotional stimuli in the maintenance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, previous research has focused mainly on attentional biases towards distracting (task-irrelevant) negative stimuli. Furthermore, attentional and memory biases have been examined in isolation and the links between them remain underexplored. We manipulated attention during encoding of trauma-unrelated negative and neutral words and examined the differential relationship of their encoding and recall with PTSD symptoms. Responders to the World Trade Center disaster (N = 392) performed tasks in which they read negative and neutral words and reported the color of another set of such words. Subsequently, participants used word stems to aid retrieval of words shown earlier. PTSD symptoms were associated with slower response times for negative versus neutral words in the word-reading task (r = 0.170) but not color-naming task. Furthermore, greater PTSD symptom severity was associated with more accurate recall of negative versus neutral words, irrespective of whether words were encoded during word-reading or color-naming tasks (F = 4.11, p = 0.044, η_p² = 0.018). Our results show that PTSD symptoms in a trauma-exposed population are related to encoding of trauma-unrelated negative versus neutral stimuli only when attention was voluntarily directed towards the emotional aspects of the stimuli and to subsequent recall of negative stimuli, irrespective of attention during encoding.

Mismatch negativity amplitude in first-degree relatives of individuals with psychotic disorders: Links with cognition and schizotypy

Mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitude is reliably reduced in psychotic disorders. While several studies have examined this effect in first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia, few have sought to quantify deficits in relatives of individuals with other psychotic disorders. While some conclude that, compared to healthy subjects, first-degree relatives of schizophrenia show reduced MMN, others contradict this finding. Furthermore, though MMN is often shown to be associated with cognitive impairments and clinical symptoms in psychotic disorders, to our knowledge no studies have sought to fully examine these relationships in studies of first-degree relatives. The present study sought to clarify the extent of MMN amplitude reductions in a large sample of siblings of individuals with diverse psychotic disorders (n = 67), compared to probands with psychosis (n = 221) and never psychotic comparison subjects (n = 251). We further examined associations of MMN amplitude with cognition and schizotypal symptoms across these groups. We found that MMN amplitude was intact in siblings compared to probands. MMN amplitude was associated with cognition and schizotypal symptoms dimensionally across levels of familial risk. The present results imply that MMN reductions do not reflect genetic risk for psychotic disorders per se, and instead emerge as a result of, or in conjunction with, clinical features associated with psychosis. Such findings carry important implications for the utility of MMN amplitude as an indicator of inherited risk, and suggest that this component may be best conceptualized as an endophenotype for clinical symptoms and cognitive impairments, rather than risk for psychosis per se.

DNA banking, its current awareness and national status in biomedical research in India, a survey

A Biobank/Biorepository is an organized collection of resources that can be accessed to retrieve biological material and data for research purpose. Human specimen repositories (adult and paediatric) take lead amongst the various types of biorepositories. Patient's bio samples are a rich source of genetic information and therefore can form the basis of diagnostics, forensics and multidimensional disciplines of biomedical research. The advent of molecular techniques and the technological upsurge in the management of genetic resources has facilitated the human DNA sampling and data collection leading to the emergence of DNA banking. DNA banking has paved a new path in precision oncology and personalized medicine. This article highlights the current scenario concerning the general awareness, scientific consciousness and current national and international practices being initiated and in practice for the establishment of bio banking facilities particularly DNA bio banking.

Presentation and Outcomes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Arabian Peninsula: A Review of a Single Institution Experience in the Sorafenib Era

PURPOSE

There is a growing evidence showing that there are geographic differences in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Little is known about the characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma in the Arabian Peninsula. The present study examines the presentation and outcomes of HCC in a single institution.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review of patients presented with advanced-stage HCC to Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC) between 2008 and 2018 was conducted. Data collected included patients demographics, HCC risk factors, performance status, Child-Pugh score, pick up of sorafenib, and survival.

RESULTS

About 111 cases were analyzed. The mean age of the cohort was 61.8 ± 11.4 years and 94 patients (84.7%) were males. HCV and diabetes were the most common risk factors for HCC and presented in 60 patients (54.1%) and 45 patients (40.5%), respectively. About 78 (70.3%) patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-1 at presentation. Only 29 (26.1%) patients presented with Child-Pugh class A, while 42 (40.4%) patients received sorafenib. The median overall survival was only 3 months.

CONCLUSIONS

In our cohort, HCV and diabetes were the main risk factors for HCC. The majority of patients was not amenable to sorafenib treatment and carries a very poor prognosis.

They're watching you: the impact of social evaluation and anxiety on threat-related perceptual decision-making

In day-to-day social interactions, we frequently use cues and contextual knowledge to make perceptual decisions regarding the presence or absence of threat in facial expressions. Such perceptual decisions are often made in socially evaluative contexts. However, the influence of such contexts on perceptual discrimination of threatening and neutral expressions has not been examined empirically. Furthermore, it is unclear how individual differences in anxiety interact with socially evaluative contexts to influence threat-related perceptual decision-making. In the present study, participants completed a 2-alternative forced choice perceptual decision-making task in which they used threatening and neutral cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral faces while being socially evaluated by purported peers or not. Perceptual sensitivity and reaction time were measured. Individual differences in state anxiety were assessed immediately after the task. In the presence of social evaluation, higher state anxiety was associated with worse perceptual sensitivity, i.e., worse discrimination of threatening and neutral faces. These findings suggest that individual differences in anxiety interact with social evaluation to impair the use of threatening cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral expressions. Such impairment in perceptual decision-making may contribute to maladaptive social behavior that often accompanies evaluative social contexts.

Effects of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Attentional Intervention on Threat-Related Perceptual Decision-Making

Objectives

Threat-related cues and contexts facilitate perceptual decision-making, yet it is unclear whether this threat-driven tuning of perceptual decision-making is modifiable by top-down attentional control. Since state and dispositional mindfulness are linked to improved attentional control, we examined whether these factors assist the use of prior knowledge to detect threatening stimuli.

Methods

Participants were randomly assigned to a brief mindfulness-based intervention (N=32) or a physics lecture audio recording (N=31) and then asked to perform a task in which they used threatening and neutral cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral faces.

Results

Results showed that threatening cues led to faster and more sensitive perceptual decision-making, specifically for threatening faces. Furthermore, higher levels of dispositional mindfulness were associated with improved ability to use cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral stimuli in the group that underwent a brief mindfulness induction but not in the control group.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight how top-down attention-related dispositions and strategies can influence our ability to detect threats in our environment.

Online Survey of the Impact of COVID-19 Risk and Cost Estimates on Worry and Health Behavior Compliance in Young Adults

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is associated with elevated rates of anxiety and relatively lower compliance with public health guidelines in younger adults. To develop strategies for reducing anxiety and increasing adherence with health guidelines, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to anxiety and health compliance in the context of COVID-19. Earlier research has shown that greater perceived risk of negative events and their costs are associated with increased anxiety and compliance with health behaviors, but it is unclear what role they play in a novel pandemic surrounded by uncertainty. In the present study we measured (1) perceived risk as the self-reported probability of being infected and experiencing serious symptoms due to COVID-19 and (2) perceived cost as financial, real-world, physical, social, and emotional consequences of being infected with COVID-19. Worry was assessed using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PWSQ) and health compliance was measured as endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO) health directives for COVID-19. Our results showed that greater perceived risk and costs of contracting the COVID-19 virus were associated with greater worry and while only costs were associated with greater compliance with health behaviors. Neither self-reported worry nor its interaction with cost estimates was associated with increased engagement in health behaviors. Our results provide important insight into decision making mechanisms involved in both increased anxiety and health compliance in COVID-19 and have implications for developing psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic strategies to target both domains.

Structural Connectivity Between Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Amygdala Predicts First Onset of Depressive Disorders in Adolescence

BACKGROUND

Adolescent-onset depressive disorders (DDs) are associated with deficits in the regulation of negative affect across modalities (self-report, behavioral paradigms, and neuroimaging), which may manifest prior to first-onset DDs. Whether the neurocircuitry governing emotional regulation predates DDs is unclear. This study tested whether a critical pathway for emotion regulation (rostral anterior cingulate cortex-amygdala structural connectivity) predicts first-onset DDs in adolescent females.

METHODS

Diffusion tensor imaging data were acquired on adolescent females (n = 212) without a history of DDs and the cohort was reassessed for first-onset DDs over the next 27 months.

RESULTS

A total of 26 girls developed first onsets of DDs in the 27 months after imaging. Multivariate logistic regression showed that lower weighted average fractional anisotropy of uncinate fasciculus tracts between the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala prospectively predicted first onset of DDs (adjusted odds ratio = 0.44, p = .005), above and beyond established risk factors including baseline depression symptom severity, history of anxiety disorders, parental history of depression, parental education, and age.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence for the first time showing that aberrant structural connectivity between the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala prospectively predates first onset of DDs in adolescent females. These results highlight the importance of a well-established neural circuit implicated in the regulation of negative affect as a likely etiological factor and a promising target for intervention and prevention of DDs.

Amygdala connectivity during emotional face perception in psychotic disorders

Emotional face perception (EFP) deficits have been identified as a significant feature of psychotic disorders and are associated with symptoms and real-world functioning in these disorders. The amygdala is frequently implicated in EFP and bears extensive structural connectivity with other brain regions supporting EFP. Amygdala functional connectivity during attentional control of implicitly processed emotional faces in psychotic disorders is well examined. However, it is unclear whether amygdala functional connectivity while explicitly processing emotional faces contributes to EFP deficits in psychotic disorders. Further, it is unclear whether these connectivity differences are associated with symptoms or functioning and if these relationships are transdiagnostic across psychotic disorders. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and seed-based functional connectivity analyses to examine connectivity of amygdala to other regions of the face processing network during an EFP task. The sample consisted of 55 cases with psychotic disorders and 29 participants with no history of psychosis (NP). Results indicated that, compared to NP, cases showed worse accuracy, greater inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) activation, and greater amygdala-insula connectivity while matching emotional and neutral faces. Additionally, worse accuracy, greater IFG activation, greater amygdala-insula and amygdala-IFG connectivity during emotional vs. neutral faces was associated with worse negative symptoms and greater deficits in social and global functioning in cases. Importantly, these relationships transcended diagnostic categories, and applied across psychotic disorders. The present study presents compelling evidence relating alterations in amygdala functional connectivity during explicit EFP with clinical and functioning deficits seen across psychotic disorders.

Conspiratorial Thinking During COVID-19: The Roles of Paranoia, Delusion-Proneness, and Intolerance of Uncertainty

The COVID-19 global pandemic has left many feeling a sense of profound uncertainty about their world, safety, and livelihood. Sources espousing misinformation and conspiracy theories frequently offer information that can help make sense of this uncertainty. Individuals high in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) may be particularly impacted by the impoverished epistemic environment and may thus be more drawn to conspiratorial thinking (CT). In the present work, we show across 2 studies (N = 519) that COVID-19-specific CT is associated with higher levels of IU as well as delusion-proneness, and paranoia. Furthermore, delusion-proneness and paranoia explained the relationship between IU and CT and emerged as independent partial correlates of CT even when controlling for other facets of schizotypy. In contrast, anxiety did not explain the relationship between IU and CT. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of individual differences in IU, delusion-proneness and paranoia in the development of CT in the context of the acute uncertainty of a global crisis, in which conspiracy theories are more prevalent and salient. Informational intervention designs may benefit from leveraging the body of work demonstrating the efficacy of targeting IU to incite meaningful changes in thinking.

Contrasting Behaviors of FA and MA Cations in APbBr3

It is known that the organic units in hybrid halide perovskites are free to rotate, but it is not clear if this freedom is of any relevance to the structure-property relationship of these compounds. We have employed quasi-elastic neutron scattering using two different spectrometers, thus providing a wide dynamic range to investigate the cation dynamics in methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr₃) and formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr₃) over a large temperature range covering all known crystallographic phases of these two compounds. Our results establish a plastic crystal-like phase forming above 30 K within the orthorhombic phase of MAPbBr₃ related to 3-fold rotations of MA units around the C-N axis with an activation energy, E_a, of ∼27 meV, which has no counterpart in the FA compound. MA exhibits an additional 4-fold orientational motion of the whole molecule via rotation of the C-N axis itself with an E_a of ∼68 meV common for the high-temperature tetragonal and cubic phases. In contrast, the FA compound exhibits only an isotropic orientational motion of the whole FA unit with E_a ≈ 106 meV within the orthorhombic phase and a substantially reduced common E_a of ∼62 meV for the high-temperature tetragonal and cubic phases. Our results suggest that the rotational dynamics of the organic units, crystallographic phases, and physical properties of these compounds are intimately connected.

Myeloid Sarcoma Involving the Central Nervous System Without Evidence of Preexisting Hematologic Disease: A Case Report

Introduction/Objective

Myeloid sarcoma within the central nervous system is a rare presentation of an infiltrative mass of immature myeloid cells. It is typically found in association with myeloid dysplastic syndrome, myeloproliferative disorder, or acute myeloid leukemia. Rarely, it can occur in the absence of these diseases.

Methods

We present the case of 68-year-old female with worsening nausea and headaches. Brain MRI showed diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement with numerous nodular enhancing extra-axial masses overlying both cerebral hemispheres.

Results

Open biopsy of these masses showed gelatinous, hemorrhagic, brown tissue measuring 3.0 x 2.0 x 0.7 cm. Histologically, the specimen shows a diffuse polymorphous atypical myeloid proliferation consisting of all three cell lineages. There are nodules composed predominantly of large blastoid cells with 1 to 2 prominent oblong nucleoli, consistent with erythroblasts and early erythroid precursors. In between the nodules there are myeloid cells in different stages of maturation, including numerous eosinophilic precursors. Scattered megakaryocytes are also identified.

Immunohistochemistry shows positivity for E-cadherin, CD235a and spectrin which highlight the immature erythroid cells. MPO, muramidase, and CD33 are positive in myeloid elements. Eosinophilic peroxidase highlights numerous eosinophilic precursors. CD34 is positive in the endothelial cells and very rare hematopoietic cells. CD20 and PAX 5 highlights B-cells, CD3 highlights T-cells, and CD4 highlights monocytic precursors, monocytes, histiocytes and a subset of T-cells.

Conclusion

Additional work up at the time of biopsy including FLOW cytometry and bone marrow biopsies showed no evidence of hematologic pathology. In summary the histologic and immunohistochemical findings demonstrate a tumor composed of proliferating immature myeloid cells most consistent with myeloid sarcoma without any evidence of hematological disease.

What we think about when we think about predictive processing

The predictive processing framework (PPF) attempts to tackle deep philosophical problems, including how the brain generates consciousness, how our bodies influence cognition, and how cognition alters perception. As such, it provides a zeitgeist that incorporates concepts from physics, computer science, mathematics, artificial intelligence, economics, psychology, and neuroscience, leveraging and, in turn, influencing recent advances in reinforcement learning and deep learning that underpin the artificial intelligence in many of the applications with which we interact daily. PPF purports to provide no less than a grand unifying theory of mind and brain function, underwriting an account of perception, cognition, and action and their dynamic relationships. While mindful of legitimate criticisms of the framework, to which we return below, an important test of PPF is its utility in accounting for individual differences such as psychopathology. These, then, are the central concern of this special section of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology: What is the state of the art with regards to applying the PPF to the symptoms of mental illness? How might we leverage its insights to elevate and systematize our explanations, and ideally treatments, of those symptoms? And, conversely, can we refine and refute aspects of the PPF by considering the particular challenges that our patients experience as departures from the parametric estimates of the PPF? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations of mismatch negativity with psychotic symptoms and functioning transdiagnostically across psychotic disorders

Mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitude has been widely shown to be diminished in schizophrenia and, more recently, in other psychotic disorders. Although there is considerable evidence linking MMN reduction to cognitive and functional deficits in schizophrenia, there is little evidence of associations with specific psychotic symptoms. Further, it is unclear if MMN reductions relate to specific symptoms, cognitive, and functional deficits transdiagnostically across different psychotic disorders. The present study examines MMN amplitude in a large cohort of cases diagnosed with psychotic disorders including schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (N = 116); bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder (N = 75); and other psychotic disorders (N = 25), as well as individuals with no psychotic disorder diagnoses (N = 248). Furthermore, we examined the association of MMN with symptoms, cognitive functioning, and real-world functioning to determine whether these relationships differ by diagnosis. Results showed that MMN amplitude was reduced in cases overall compared to never-psychotic individuals, with no differences between psychotic disorders. Furthermore, there were transdiagnostic associations of reduced duration MMN (MMN-D) with worse auditory hallucinations (r = .14) and disorganization (r = .14), frequency MMN (MMN-F) with real-word functioning (r = .20) and episodic memory (r = -.22), and both components with executive functioning (MMN-D: r = -.17; MMN-F: r = -.15). Our findings relating MMN reductions with cognitive and real-world functioning replicate earlier research in schizophrenia and extend these relationships to other psychotic disorders. Furthermore, our correlations with MMN-D are consistent with computational modeling research and theoretical proposals that view MMN reduction, cognitive dysfunction, and psychotic symptoms as reflecting underlying predictive coding deficits. However, differences in relationships with MMN-F suggest that additional work is warranted on this topic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Is threat detection Black and White? Race effects in threat-related perceptual decision-making

There is a vast literature base indicating that people respond differently to Black and White individuals based on differential perceptions of threat. As facial affect is a fundamental way that individuals communicate their emotional state, studies have examined differences in how Black and White threatening facial expressions are perceived. However, perceptual decisions regarding threatening and neutral stimuli often occur in familiar contexts or in environments where explicit cues indicate the presence or absence of threat. Furthermore, these decisions often occur in "noisy" (i.e., ambiguous) environments where the quality of sensory evidence is poor, requiring us to rely on perceptual "sets" or expectations to interpret such evidence. Therefore, in the present study we used a two-alternative perceptual decision-making task in which participants used threatening and neutral cue-elicited perceptual sets to discriminate between subsequently presented threatening and neutral Black and White faces. Threatening cues led to a greater tendency to decide that both Black and White faces were threatening, as well as faster and greater discriminability between threatening and neutral Black and White faces. However, race-related differences revealed that, following both cue types, discriminability between threatening and neutral Black faces was worse compared to White faces. Therefore, using a paradigm that is ecologically valid, our findings highlight the importance of examining basic aspects of visual perception to understand race-related differences in threat-related perceptual decision-making. Furthermore, these findings emphasize the importance of anticipatory top-down factors when making perceptual decisions about the presence or absence of threat in faces of different races. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Intrinsic neural circuitry of depression in adolescent females

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is characterized by affective and cognitive changes that increase vulnerability to depression, especially in females. Neurodevelopmental models attribute adolescent depression to abnormal responses in amygdala, striatum, and prefrontal cortex (PFC). We examined whether the strength of functional brain networks involving these regions predicts depression symptoms in adolescent females.

METHODS

In this longitudinal study, we recorded resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in 174 adolescent females. Using a cross-validation strategy, we related RSFC profiles that included (a) a network consisting of amygdala, striatum, and PFC (within-circuit model), (b) connectivity of this network to the whole brain (extended-circuit model), and (c) a network consisting of the entire brain (whole-brain model) to depression symptoms assessed concurrently and 18 months later.

RESULTS

In testing subsets, the within-circuit RSFC profiles were associated with depression symptoms concurrently and 18 months later, while the extended-circuit and whole-brain model did not explain any additional variance in depression symptoms. Connectivity related to anterior cingulate and ventromedial prefrontal cortex contributed most to the association.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrate that RSFC-based brain networks that include amygdala, striatum, and PFC are stable neural signatures of concurrent and future depression symptoms, representing a significant step toward identifying the neural mechanism of depression in adolescence.

The role of imagery in threat-related perceptual decision making

Visual perception is heavily influenced by "top-down" factors, including goals, expectations, and prior knowledge about the environmental context. Recent research has demonstrated the beneficial role threat-related cues play in perceptual decision making; however, the psychological processes contributing to this differential effect remain unclear. Since visual imagery helps to create perceptual representations or "templates" based on prior knowledge (e.g., cues), the present study examines the role vividness of visual imagery plays in enhanced perceptual decision making following threatening cues. In a perceptual decision-making task, participants used threat-related and neutral cues to detect perceptually degraded fearful and neutral faces presented at predetermined perceptual thresholds. Participants' vividness of imagery was measured by the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VVIQ-2). Our results replicated prior work demonstrating that threat cues improve accuracy, perceptual sensitivity, and speed of perceptual decision making compared to neutral cues. Furthermore, better performance following threat and neutral cues was associated with higher VVIQ-2 scores. Importantly, more precise and rapid perceptual decision making following threatening cues was associated with greater VVIQ-2 scores, even after controlling for performance related to neutral cues. This association may be because greater imagery ability allows one to conjure more vivid threat-related templates, which facilitate subsequent perception. While the detection of threatening stimuli is well studied in the literature, our findings elucidate how threatening cues occurring prior to the stimulus aid in subsequent perception. Overall, these findings highlight the necessity of considering top-down threat-related factors in visual perceptual decision making. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Prevalence of familial hypercholesterolemia in premature coronary artery disease patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital in North India

Aims

The prevalence of premature coronary artery disease (CAD) in India is two to three times more than other ethnic groups. Untreated heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the important causes for premature CAD. As the age advances, these patients without treatment have 100 times increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) mortality resulting from myocardial infarction (MI). Recent evidence suggests that one in 250 individuals may be affected by FH (nearly 40 million people globally). It is indicated that the true global prevalence of FH is underestimated. The true prevalence of FH in India remains unknown.

Methods

A total of 635 patients with premature CAD were assessed for FH using the Dutch Lipid Clinical Network (DLCN) criteria. Based on scores, patients were diagnosed as definite, probable, possible, or no FH. Other CV risk factors known to cause CAD such as smoking, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension were also recorded.

Results

Of total 635 patients, 25 (4%) were diagnosed as definite, 70 (11%) as probable, 238 (37%) as possible, and 302 (48%) without FH, suggesting the prevalence of potential (definite + probable) FH of about 15% in the North Indian population. FH is more common in younger patients, and they have lesser incidence of common CV risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and smoking than the younger MI patients without FH (26.32% vs.42.59%; 17.89% vs.29.44%; 22.11% vs.40.74%).

Conclusion

FH prevalence is high among patients with premature CAD admitted to a cardiac unit. To detect patients with FH, routine screening with simple criteria such as family history of premature CAD combined with hypercholesterolemia, and a DLCN criteria score >5 may be effectively used.

Memory for dangers past: threat contexts produce more consistent learning than do non-threatening contexts

In earlier work we showed that individuals learn the spatial regularities within contexts and use this knowledge to guide detection of threatening targets embedded in these contexts. While it is highly adaptive for humans to use contextual learning to detect threats, it is equally adaptive for individuals to flexibly readjust behaviour when contexts once associated with threatening stimuli begin to be associated with benign stimuli, and vice versa. Here, we presented face targets varying in salience (threatening or non-threatening) in new or old spatial configurations (contexts) and changed the target salience (threatening to non-threatening and vice versa) halfway through the experiment to examine if contextual learning changes with the change in target salience. Detection of threatening targets was faster in old than new configurations and this learning persisted even after the target changed to non-threatening. However, the same pattern was not seen when the targets changed from non-threatening to threatening. Overall, our findings show that threat detection is driven not only by stimulus properties as theorised traditionally but also by the learning of contexts in which threatening stimuli appear, highlighting the importance of top-down factors in threat detection. Further, learning of contexts associated with threatening targets is robust and speeds detection of non-threatening targets subsequently presented in the same context.

Neural markers of emotional face perception across psychotic disorders and general population

There is considerable variation in negative and positive symptoms of psychosis, global functioning, and emotional face perception (EFP), not only in schizophrenia but also in other psychotic disorders and healthy individuals. However, EFP impairment and its association with worse symptoms and global functioning have been examined largely in the domain of schizophrenia. The present study adopted a dimensional approach to examine the association of behavioral and neural measures of EFP with symptoms of psychosis and global functioning across individuals with schizophrenia spectrum (SZ; N = 28) and other psychotic (OP; N = 29) disorders, and never-psychotic participants (NP; N = 21). Behavioral and functional MRI data were recorded as participants matched emotional expressions of faces and geometrical shapes. Lower accuracy and increased activity in early visual regions, hippocampus, and amygdala during emotion versus shape matching were associated with higher negative, but not positive, symptoms and lower global functioning, across all participants. This association remained even after controlling for group-related (SZ, OP, and NP) variance, dysphoria, and antipsychotic medication status, except in amygdala. Furthermore, negative symptoms mediated the relationship between behavioral and brain EFP measures and global functioning. This study provides some of the first evidence supporting the specific relationship of EFP measures with negative symptoms and global functioning across psychotic and never-psychotic samples, and transdiagnostically across different psychotic disorders. Present findings help bridge the gap between basic EFP-related neuroscience research and clinical research in psychosis, and highlight EFP as a potential symptom-specific marker that tracks global functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record

Here Comes Trouble: Prestimulus Brain Activity Predicts Enhanced Perception of Threat

Research on the perceptual prioritization of threatening stimuli has focused primarily on the physical characteristics and evolutionary salience of these stimuli. However, perceptual decision-making is strongly influenced by prestimulus factors such as goals, expectations, and prior knowledge. Using both event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we test the hypothesis that prior threat-related information and related increases in prestimulus brain activity play a key role in subsequent threat-related perceptual decision-making. After viewing threatening and neutral cues, participants detected perceptually degraded threatening and neutral faces presented at individually predetermined perceptual thresholds in a perceptual decision-making task. Compared with neutral cues, threat cues resulted in (1) improved perceptual sensitivity and faster detection of target stimuli; (2) increased late positive potential (LPP) and superior temporal sulcus (STS) activity, both of which are measures of emotional face processing; and (3) increased amygdala activity for subsequently presented threatening versus and neutral faces. Importantly, threat cue-related LPP and STS activity predicted subsequent improvement in the speed and precision of perceptual decisions specifically for threatening faces. Present findings establish the importance of top-down factors and prestimulus neural processing in understanding how the perceptual system prioritizes threatening information.

Differential functional connectivity of rostral anterior cingulate cortex during emotional interference

The rostral-ventral subdivision of the anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) plays a key role in the regulation of emotional processing. Although rACC has strong anatomical connections with anterior insular cortex (AIC), amygdala, prefrontal cortex and striatal brain regions, it is unclear whether the functional connectivity of rACC with these regions changes when regulating emotional processing. Furthermore, it is not known whether this connectivity changes with deficits in emotion regulation seen in different kinds of anxiety and depression. To address these questions regarding rACC functional connectivity, non-patients high in self-reported anxious apprehension (AP), anxious arousal (AR), anhedonic depression (AD) or none (CON) indicated the ink color of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant words during functional magnetic resonance imaging. While ignoring task-irrelevant unpleasant words, AD and CON showed an increase in the functional connectivity of rACC with AIC, putamen, caudate and ventral pallidum. There was a decrease in this connectivity in AP and AR, with AP showing greater reduction than AR. These findings provide support for the role of rACC in integrating interoceptive, emotional and cognitive functions via interactions with insula and striatal regions during effective emotion regulation in healthy individuals and a failure of this integration that may be specific to anxiety, particularly AP.

Orbitofrontal cortex activity and connectivity predict future depression symptoms in adolescence

Background

Major depressive disorder is a leading cause of disability worldwide; however, little is known about pathological mechanisms involved in its development. Research in adolescent depression has focused on reward sensitivity and striatal mechanisms implementing it. The contribution of loss sensitivity to future depression, as well as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) mechanisms critical for processing losses and rewards, remain unexplored. Furthermore, it is unclear whether OFC functioning interacts with familial history in predicting future depression.

Methods

In this longitudinal study we recorded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data while 229 adolescent females with or without parental history of depression completed a monetary gambling task. We examined if OFC blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response and functional connectivity during loss and win feedback was associated with depression symptoms concurrently and prospectively (9 months later), and whether this relationship was moderated by parental history of depression.

Results

Reduced OFC response during loss was associated with higher depression symptoms concurrently and prospectively, even after controlling for concurrent depression, specifically in adolescents with parental history of depression. Similarly, increased OFC-posterior insula connectivity during loss was associated with future depression symptoms but this relationship was not moderated by parental history of depression.

Conclusions

This study provides the first evidence for loss-related alterations in OFC functioning and its interaction with familial history of depression as possible mechanisms in the development of depression. While the current fMRI literature has mainly focused on reward, the present findings underscore the need to include prefrontal loss processing in existing developmental models of depression.

Context learning for threat detection

It is hypothesised that threatening stimuli are detected better due to their salience or physical properties. However, these stimuli are typically embedded in a rich context, motivating the question whether threat detection is facilitated via learning of contexts in which threat stimuli appear. To address this question, we presented threatening face targets in new or old spatial configurations consisting of schematic faces and found that detection of threatening targets was faster in old configurations. This indicates that individuals are able to learn regularities within visual contexts and use this contextual information to guide detection of threatening targets. Next, we presented threatening and non-threatening face targets embedded in new or old spatial configurations. Detection of threatening targets was facilitated in old configurations, and this effect was reversed for non-threatening targets. Present findings show that detection of threatening targets is driven not only by stimulus properties as theorised traditionally but also by learning of contexts in which threatening stimuli appear. Further, results show that context learning for threatening targets obstructs context learning for non-threatening targets. Overall, in addition to typically emphasised bottom-up factors, our findings highlight the importance of top-down factors such as context and learning in detection of salient, threatening stimuli.

Transdiagnostic neural markers of emotion-cognition interaction in psychotic disorders

Deficits in working memory (WM) and emotion processing are prominent impairments in psychotic disorders, and have been linked to reduced quality of life and real-world functioning. Translation of knowledge regarding the neural circuitry implementing these deficits into improved diagnosis and targeted treatments has been slow, possibly because of categorical definitions of disorders. Using the dimensional Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, we investigated the clinical and practical utility of transdiagnostic behavioral and neural measures of emotion-related WM disruption across psychotic disorders. Behavioral and functional MRI data were recorded while 53 participants with psychotic disorders and 29 participants with no history of psychosis performed a modified n-back task with fear and neutral distractors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that psychotic symptoms entered after diagnosis accounted for unique variance in fear versus neutral accuracy and activation in the ventrolateral, dorsolateral, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, but diagnostic group entered after psychotic symptoms did not. These results remained even after controlling for negative symptoms, disorganized symptoms, and dysphoria. Finally, worse accuracy and greater prefrontal activity were associated with poorer social functioning and unemployment across diagnostic groups. Present results support the transdiagnostic nature of behavioral and neuroimaging measures of emotion-related WM disruption as they relate to psychotic symptoms, irrespective of diagnosis. They also provide support for the practical utility of these markers in explaining real-world functioning. Overall, these results elucidate key aspects of the RDoC construct of WM maintenance by clarifying its transdiagnostic importance and clinical utility in psychotic disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record

Disconnection Between Amygdala and Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Psychotic Disorders

Distracting emotional information impairs attention more in schizophrenia (SCZ) than in never-psychotic individuals. However, it is unclear whether this impairment and its neural circuitry is indicative generally of psychosis, or specifically of SCZ, and whether it is even more specific to certain SCZ symptoms (eg, deficit syndrome). It is also unclear if this abnormality contributes to impaired behavioral performance and real-world functioning. Functional imaging data were recorded while individuals with SCZ, bipolar disorder with psychosis (BDP) and no history of psychotic disorders (CON) attended to identity of faces while ignoring their emotional expressions. We examined group differences in functional connectivity between amygdala, involved in emotional evaluation, and sub-regions of medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), involved in emotion regulation and cognitive control. Additionally, we examined correlation of this connectivity with deficit syndrome and real-world functioning. Behaviorally, SCZ showed the worst accuracy when matching the identity of emotional vs neutral faces. Neurally, SCZ showed lower amygdala-MPFC connectivity than BDP and CON. BPD did not differ from CON, neurally or behaviorally. In patients, reduced amygdala-MPFC connectivity during emotional distractors was related to worse emotional vs neutral accuracy, greater deficit syndrome severity, and unemployment. Thus, reduced amygdala-MPFC functional connectivity during emotional distractors reflects a deficit that is specific to SCZ. This reduction in connectivity is associated with worse clinical and real-world functioning. Overall, these findings provide support for the specificity and clinical utility of amygdala-MPFC functional connectivity as a potential neural marker of SCZ.

Human Amygdala Represents the Complete Spectrum of Subjective Valence

Although the amygdala is a major locus for hedonic processing, how it encodes valence information is poorly understood. Given the hedonic potency of odor stimuli and the amygdala's anatomical proximity to the peripheral olfactory system, we combined high-resolution fMRI with pattern-based multivariate techniques to examine how valence information is encoded in the amygdala. Ten human subjects underwent fMRI scanning while smelling 9 odorants that systematically varied in perceived valence. Representational similarity analyses showed that amygdala codes the entire dimension of valence, ranging from pleasantness to unpleasantness. This unidimensional representation significantly correlated with self-reported valence ratings but not with intensity ratings. Furthermore, within-trial valence representations evolved over time, prioritizing earlier differentiation of unpleasant stimuli. Together, these findings underscore the idea that both spatial and temporal features uniquely encode pleasant and unpleasant odor valence in the amygdala. The availability of a unidimensional valence code in the amygdala, distributed in both space and time, would create greater flexibility in determining the pleasantness or unpleasantness of stimuli, providing a mechanism by which expectation, context, attention, and learning could influence affective boundaries for guiding behavior.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

Our findings elucidate the mechanisms of affective processing in the amygdala by demonstrating that this brain region represents the entire valence dimension from pleasant to unpleasant. An important implication of this unidimensional valence code is that pleasant and unpleasant valence cannot coexist in the amygdale because overlap of fMRI ensemble patterns for these two valence extremes obscures their unique content. This functional architecture, whereby subjective valence maps onto a pattern continuum between pleasant and unpleasant poles, offers a robust mechanism by which context, expectation, and experience could alter the set-point for valence-based behavior. Finally, identification of spatial and temporal differentiation of valence in amygdala may shed new insights into individual differences in emotional responding, with potential relevance for affective disorders.