Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience最新文献

Motor learning is supported by both explicit and implicit processes. A central question in the field of motor control is how these two processes interact and, critically, how each process can be assessed in an unbiased manner. In this perspective paper, we propose that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) offers an informative window into explicit cognitive processes during motor learning. We first briefly review studies outside the motor learning domain, where ANS activity has been linked to internal cognitive states such as surprise and uncertainty. We then discuss how these ANS-related states can be leveraged to assess the manifestation and influence of explicit processes during motor learning, as well as to explore cognitive computations that may involve central ANS activity, including contextual inference.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a pleasant tingling sensation felt across the scalp and neck, widely reported to reduce anxiety and improve sleep. The Proximity Prediction Hypothesis (PPH) is the first comprehensive predictive coding model explaining ASMR's underlying neural mechanism. PPH posits that near-field acoustic cues from common ASMR triggers (e.g., brushing sounds, whispered speech) engage the audio-tactile Peripersonal Space Network, generating a top-down prediction of gentle C-tactile (CT) touch on CT fibre-rich skin of the scalp and neck. This prediction suppresses locus coeruleus (LC) arousal and increases vagal output, offering a mechanistic explanation for the phenomenon's therapeutic benefits. In a subjective-experience survey (N = 64), ASMR-labelled trials were rated significantly more pleasant but only slightly more arousing than controls. Pleasantness predicted both the presence and intensity of tingles, supporting PPH's core claim that hedonic value, rather than sympathetic activation, drives the graded somatosensory response. PPH situates ASMR within the Neurovisceral Integration framework, predicting measurable Central Nervous System-Autonomic Nervous System (CNS-ANS) markers (beta-band desynchronisation in the posterior insula and proportional increases in high-frequency heart rate variability with tingle intensity). It further predicts reduced LC activity during ASMR, stronger effects in individuals with high interoceptive prediction error (e.g., anxiety, autism), and attenuation of tingles when spatial proximity cues are removed. By integrating auditory proximity, CT-touch anticipation, and autonomic regulation into a single predictive-coding account, PPH provides a unified, testable framework for explaining ASMR, offering a blueprint for translating this sensory phenomenon into targeted, evidence-based interventions for anxiety and sleep disorders.

Background: Physical activity is linked to mental health, yet the dose-response shape remains debated.

Methods: In a cross-sectional sample of Chinese university students, 820 participants (mean age 21.5 years; 51.8% women) wore wrist accelerometers for 7 days. Subjective well-being (SWB) was measured with the WHO-5 (0-100). Restricted cubic spline models adjusted for age, sex, sleep quality, perceived stress, and socioeconomic status. Sensitivity analyses included quadratic and segmented models, trimming/winsorization, and E-value assessment. Peaks/plateaus were estimated via the delta method and bootstrap-BCa confidence intervals.

Results: The steps-SWB association was non-linear (overall p<0.05). SWB rose steeply up to ~8,650 steps/day and then leveled off, with a statistical plateau near ~19,300 steps/day (bootstrap-BCa 95% CI: 7,997-17,896; delta-method 95% CI: 9,394-14,462). No contrast versus 4,000 steps/day exceeded the prespecified minimal clinically important difference (MCID=10 points). Findings were consistent across specifications; right-tail precision was limited due to few very high step counts.

Conclusion: Among university students, higher daily steps are associated with better SWB up to ~8,000-12,000 steps/day, beyond which benefits plateau with diminishing returns rather than harm. Results support range-based, progressive step guidance for student mental health. Please replace the current abstract with the structured IMRaD version provided above.

Introduction: Motor sequence learning - the integration of individual movement elements into coordinated actions - is essential for everyday skills. This process comprises online learning during practice and post-practice offline consolidation. A key mechanism is action-perception coupling, in which motor actions become linked with predictable sensory outcomes. Pitch feedback, which conveys timing and spatial information, may strengthen this coupling and facilitate skill acquisition. Here, we evaluated pitch feedback as a tool to modulate both online and offline motor sequence learning.

Methods: We included sixty healthy young non-musicians (mean age: 28.4 ± 4.6 years) who were asked to perform a finger-tapping task on a MIDI keyboard. They were randomly assigned to one of three auditory feedback groups: congruent, fixed, and random pitch feedback. The task involved repeatedly performing an 11-item sequence with the right hand. Pitch feedback was delivered according to group assignment during 14 training blocks of six sequences each. Prior to training, participants completed one block of the task without pitch feedback to assess baseline performance. Retention was tested 6 h later under two conditions: seven blocks without pitch feedback (Retest 1) and seven blocks with pitch feedback (Retest 2).

Results: Congruent pitch feedback facilitated online learning across the initial training session compared to fixed or random feedback. This advantage of congruent pitch feedback persisted during retesting in the presence of feedback (Retest 2), but did not generalize to task performance in the absence of pitch feedback (Retest 1). Importantly, while online learning and task performance were facilitated by congruent pitch feedback, between-session performance changes were significantly larger in the group that received random pitch feedback during the initial training session compared to the congruent and fixed feedback groups.

Conclusion: These findings highlight a dissociation between feedback types that optimize immediate performance and those that promote lasting motor memory formation. While congruent pitch feedback facilitates online skill acquisition compared to fixed or random pitch feedback, unpredictable auditory input may challenge learners to engage internal monitoring mechanisms, leading to more robust, feedback-independent motor memory consolidation. These insights have implications for optimizing auditory feedback in motor learning and neurorehabilitation contexts.

Objective: To compare the effects of ziprasidone and olanzapine on cognitive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia at different stages.

Methods: Cognitive function tests were performed on chronic schizophrenic patients who took olanzapine for a long time, first-episode drug-free schizophrenic patients, and healthy controls.

Results: There were significant differences in the digit span test, Stroop color and word test, auditory verbal learning test N2, N3, N4, trail-making test, verbal fluency test, and clock drawing test between first-episode drug-free schizophrenic patients and healthy controls (p < 0.05). Compared with patients with chronic schizophrenia, there were significant differences in the digit span test, Stroop color and word test B, auditory verbal learning test, trail making test B, and clock drawing test in patients with first-episode schizophrenia after 4 weeks of olanzapine treatment (p < 0.05). Compared with patients with chronic schizophrenia after 4 weeks of Ziprasidone treatment, patients with first-episode schizophrenia had significant differences in the digit span test, Stroop color, and word test, auditory verbal learning test N3, and clock drawing test after 4 weeks of olanzapine treatment (p < 0.05). Compared with patients with chronic schizophrenia who were treated with Ziprasidone for 12 weeks, there were significant differences in Stroop color and word test A, auditory verbal learning test N3, and clock drawing test in patients with first-episode schizophrenia after 4 weeks of olanzapine treatment (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Patients with schizophrenia have cognitive dysfunction in the early stage of onset. The combination of ziprasidone and olanzapine can effectively improve cognitive dysfunction and promote the recovery of social functions of patients.

Monitoring representative fractions of neurons from multiple brain circuits in behaving animals is necessary for understanding how different brain regions interact. Using multishank, high-density recording silicon probes (up to 1,024 sites), we describe the main characteristic LFP patterns in the hippocampus, including sharp wave-ripples (SPW-Rs), dentate spikes (DSs), theta, and gamma oscillations. Our novel observations primarily relate to the distinction between subclasses of SPW-Rs and DSs, as well as their neuronal spiking correlations. In addition to the classical SPW-Rs, initiated in the CA2-3 recurrent collateral system and characterized by a large negative sharp wave (sink) in the mid-CA1 stratum radiatum (SPW-R^Rad), a small subset of ripples, associated with a sink in CA1 str. lacunosum-moleculare was also observed (SPW-R^LM). The two types of ripple events differed in frequency, magnitude, and neuronal correlates. CA3 pyramidal neurons were strongly active during SPW-R^Rad but not during (SPW-R^LM). DSs could also be grouped further based on their excitatory inputs from the medial and lateral entorhinal cortex (DS^MEC and DS^LEC), by their impact on their physiological targets, and by the brain states into which they were embedded. Overall, our experiments demonstrate the utility and need for high-density recording of both LFP and spiking activity for the appropriate classification of seemingly similar events. These distinctions relate not only to their neurogenesis but also to their behavioral-cognitive contributions.

Human risk-taking is well known to be influenced by context-dependent factors. In a previous study, we demonstrated that non-human primates similarly exhibit contextual risk-preference: two species of great apes showed risk-prone or risk-neutral choices depending on the manner in which risk was presented. Here, we applied the same experimental paradigm to human participants across different age groups using a computerized online interface. Consistent with the findings in great apes, we observed shifts in risk preference contingent on the experimental context, with these effects particularly pronounced in children. In a subsequent experiment, we explored potential cognitive mechanisms underlying this preference shift, identifying a general propensity for exploration and framing effects as promising explanatory factors common to both humans and animals.

Introduction: Latent inhibition is diminished associative memory because of pre-exposure to the conditioned stimulus without any consequences. Latent inhibition likely plays a significant role in the ontogeny of anxiety disorders, contributing to why anxiety disorders are particularly prevalent in adolescence. Therefore, the present study examined latent inhibition of conditioned fear in adolescent and adult rats of each sex. Given that adolescence is associated with deficits in fear extinction, we hypothesized that latent inhibition will be impaired in adolescents compared to adults and expected females to show age-specific estrous cycle effects.

Methods: On day 1, male (Experiment 1) and female (Experiment 2) rats were placed in fear conditioning chambers. Half of the rats received pre-exposure to the tone cue while the other half received nothing. On day 2, all rats were placed back in the same chambers and exposed to three cue-footshock pairings. Latent inhibition was tested on day 3 with 20 presentations of the cue by itself in the same chamber.

Results: We unexpectedly observed enhanced latent inhibition in adolescents compared to adults in both male and female rats, indicated by lower levels of freezing due to pre-exposure to the cue. Estrous cycle did not affect latent inhibition at any age.

Discussion: These results suggest that benign experience to a cue reduces subsequent conditioning to the cue more potently in adolescence compared to adulthood, which suggests a potential resilience mechanism naturally occurring in adolescence.

Introduction: Rising numbers of binge eating disorder (BED) cases and excessive associated economic costs, together with the absence of efficient treatment strategies, highlight the importance of research in this area. To date, numerous studies have investigated the role of aberrant motivation in compulsive, maladaptive feeding behaviors. However, other aspects of maladaptive preference toward foods, possibly involving risk-based decision-making processes, are not yet fully elucidated.

Methods: In this research, two types of environmental stressors-food-related and non-food-related-are explored in their ability to model compulsive behavior toward palatable food in mice.

Results and discussion: Results from the behavioral experiments suggest that both types of stressors, when paired with the availability of highly palatable food, can produce aberrant motivation toward such food. These findings were subsequently supported by data obtained from cortisol concentration analysis in subjects.

Introduction: Music has become an established complementary element of modern medicine, demonstrating beneficial effects towards various diseases such as dementia, hypertension, or chronic pain. Given its low cost and non-invasive nature, music-based interventions have been studied in both healthy mice and disease models over recent decades to examine potential effects in rodents. However, the selection of music in these interventions is based on prior reports and human preferences, without critically evaluating its relevance or perception in mice. Novel experimental approaches are needed to evaluate which type of music is preferred by mice.

Methods: In this pilot study, we introduce a new experimental setup that can be used to analyze the music preferences regarding different genres and frequencies. Here, we present the first-ever evaluation of mouse music preferences by examining the behavioral responses of healthy C57BL/6J.

Results: When given a choice between different musical conditions, mice spent comparatively less time in a chamber playing Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K.448 by Mozart, a piece regularly used in music-intervention studies of rodents. Further testing revealed that this behavioral response is independent of tone pitch.

Discussion: These findings underscore the importance of species-specific tailoring of music selection towards therapeutic approaches. Our assay can be used to further broaden our understanding of murine music preferences and to analyze how mice respond to and perceive different auditory stimuli. Further studies are needed to systematically investigate murine music perception and preference across genres and exposure durations.