Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience最新文献

Witnessing rejection against one's group can have similar impacts on psychological distress and aggression as experiencing rejection personally. In this study, we investigated the neural activity patterns of group rejection and whether they resemble those of personal-level rejection. We first identified the neural correlates of social rejection (exclusion based on negative attention) compared with ostracism (exclusion based on lack of social connection) and then compared group-level to personal-level rejection. We employed a novel social exclusion task, "RateME," to induce group and personal rejection and Cyberball to evoke ostracism during fMRI scans. Our results showed that personal rejection increased activity in regions associated with autobiographical memory and self-identity, such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the lingual gyrus, whereas ostracism engaged areas related to social pain and salience, including the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula. Additionally, group and personal-level rejection elicited similar neural activity patterns, regardless of participants' fusion with the rejected groups. Therefore, group membership seems sufficient for group rejection to trigger self-referential processing pathways similar to those activated by personal rejection. Our findings highlight the overlapping neural mechanisms underlying personal and group-level grievances, which may explain the detrimental effects of group rejection on aggression, extremism, and intergroup conflict.

The viewpoint that unitization provides a possibility of increasing the contribution of familiarity to associative memory has been widely accepted, but its effects on associative memory and recollection remain controversial. The current study aims to explain these mixed results by considering a potential moderator: changes in the level of unitization from encoding to retrieval phases. During the encoding phase, participants learned the related and unrelated picture pairs (i.e., high vs. low levels of unitization). Subsequently, they needed to distinguish between the intact and rearranged pairs during retrieval, where, in these rearranged pairs, the level of unitization from encoding to retrieval phases may or may not change. Meanwhile, the scalp electroencephalographic activity (EEG) was recorded. The results showed a significant familiarity-related FN400 old/new effect for related picture pairs alone, which supported the above viewpoint. However, its impact on the associative memory and recollection-related LPC old/new effects varied with the level of unitization changes-specifically, under the unchanged conditions. Although related pairs elicited significant FN400 and LPC old/new effects, the differences in these old/new effects and associative memory between the related and unrelated picture pairs were not significant. Conversely, under the changed conditions, related picture pairs not only elicited significantly larger FN400 and LPC old/new effects but also improved associative memory more than unrelated picture pairs. These findings not only clarify some of the inconsistencies in the literature concerning the impact of unitization on associative memory but also suggest that unitization affects the contributions of familiarity and recollection to associative memory differently, its effectiveness varying with the level of unitization changes.

Small animal phobia (SAP) is a subtype of specific phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear of small animals, which has been underexplored in the neuroscientific literature. Previous studies often faced limitations, such as small sample sizes, focusing on only one neuroimaging modality, and reliance on univariate analyses, which produced inconsistent findings. This study was designed to overcome these issues by using for the first time advanced multivariate machine-learning techniques to identify the neural mechanisms underlying SAP. Specifically, we relied on the multimodal Canonical Correlation Analysis approach combined with Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to decompose the structural magnetic resonance images from 122 participants into covarying gray and white matter networks. Stepwise logistic regression and boosted decision trees were then used to extract a predictive model of SAP. Our results indicate that four covarying gray and white matter networks, IC19, IC14, IC21, and IC13, were critical in classifying SAP individuals from control subjects. These networks included brain regions, such as the Middle Temporal Gyrus, Precuneus, Insula, and Anterior Cingulate Cortex-all known for their roles in emotional regulation, cognitive control, and sensory processing. To test the generalizability of our results, we additionally ran a supervised machine-learning model (boosted decision trees), which achieved an 83.3% classification accuracy, with AUC of 0.9, indicating good predictive power. These findings provide new insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of SAP and suggest potential biomarkers for diagnosing and treating this condition. The study offers a more nuanced understanding of SAP, with implications for future research and clinical applications in anxiety disorders.

Cognitive reserve (CR) and busyness can boost memory, whereas stress can impair memory. Nevertheless, extant research has not yet examined busyness in conjunction with CR and stress, nor whether CR or stress moderate the relationship between busyness and episodic memory. Middle-aged and older adult participants (N = 71; ages 50-74; 31% African-American) answered lifestyle questionnaires and completed a visual paired-associate memory fMRI task. Dimension reduction techniques identified two latent CR factors-personal CR (own education; occupation complexity; socioeconomic status) and parental education (mother's/father's education), and identified two latent stress factors-external stress (neighborhood stress/violence; financial strain) and personal stress (perceived stress; work/personal stress). We cast these latent factors into a series of regression models, revealing that (1) in isolation, higher busyness predicted better episodic memory, (2) higher external stress predicted worse memory, (3) both greater personal CR and greater parental education predicted better memory, (4) busyness did not interact with stress nor with CR, and (5) in a combined model, higher parental education and lower external stress were significant independent predictors. Neuroimaging data revealed that higher CR was associated with more efficient brain activity in the hippocampus and posterior cingulate during successful episodic memory retrieval, whereas higher personal stress was associated with heightened activity in the precuneus. No interactions or main effects of busyness were observed for the fMRI data. Thus, although busyness was associated with superior episodic memory, busyness did not modulate brain activity during episodic memory retrieval, nor did CR or stress moderate the relationship between busyness and associative memory.

Amygdala activation by emotional arousal during memory formation can prioritize events for long-term memory. Building upon our prior demonstration that brief electrical stimulation to the human amygdala reliably improved long-term recognition memory for images of neutral objects without eliciting an emotional response, our study aims to explore and describe individual differences and stimulation-related factors in amygdala-mediated memory modulation. Thirty-one patients undergoing intracranial monitoring for intractable epilepsy were shown neutral object images paired with direct amygdala stimulation during encoding with recognition memory tested immediately and one day later. Adding to our prior sample, we found an overall memory enhancement effect without subjective emotional arousal at the one-day delay, but not at the immediate delay, for previously stimulated objects compared to not stimulated objects. Importantly, we observed a larger variation in performance across this larger sample than our initial sample, including some participants who showed a memory impairment for stimulated objects. Of the explored individual differences, the factor that most accounted for variability in memory modulation was each participant's pre-operative memory performance. Worse memory performance on standardized neuropsychological tests was associated with a stronger susceptibility to memory modulation in a positive or negative direction. Sex differences and the frequency of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) during testing also accounted for some variance in amygdala-mediated memory modulation. Given the potential and challenges of this memory modulation approach, we discuss additional individual and stimulation factors that we hope will differentiate between memory enhancement and impairment to further optimize the potential of amygdala-mediated memory enhancement for therapeutic interventions.

Cognitive control develops throughout adolescence, a high-risk period for bipolar disorders (BD) onset. Despite neurobehavioral abnormalities in adults with BD, there is minimal research investigating deviations in cognitive control in adolescents with BD. Cognitive control involves numerous processes. Identifying the specific neural abnormalities in adolescent BD could provide precise targets for novel interventions that improve illness outcomes. The present study administered a Go/No-Go (GNG) task to 98 adolescents (44 BD; 54 controls) to activate response inhibition and error processes and recorded EEG for event-related potentials (ERPs) analysis. Stimulus-locked N2 and P3 (response inhibition) and response-locked error-related negativity (ERN; early error detection) and error positivity (Pe; conscious error detection) were analyzed. Adolescents with BD had attenuated Pe mean amplitudes following failed inhibition trials. There were no group differences in other ERP amplitudes, including N2, P3, and ERN. The pattern of findings implicates conscious error detection impairment in adolescents with BD, without support for deficits in more automatic, earlier error detection. Impaired conscious error detection in adolescents with BD may be an early expression of BD pathophysiology and a possible intervention target for cognitive rehabilitation. Further studies are needed to examine Pe in BD across the lifetime.

The extent to which a belief is rooted in one's sense of morality has significant societal implications. While moral conviction can inspire positive collective action, it can also prompt dogmatism, intolerance, and societal divisions. Research in social psychology has documented the functional characteristics of moral conviction and shows that poor metacognition exacerbates its negative outcomes. However, the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying moral conviction, their relationship with metacognition, and how moral conviction is integrated into the valuation and decision-making process remain unclear. This study investigated these neurocognitive processes during decision-making on sociopolitical issues varying in moral conviction. Participants (N = 44) underwent fMRI scanning while deciding, on each trial, which of two groups of political protesters they supported more. As predicted, stronger moral conviction was associated with faster decision times. Hemodynamic responses in the anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) were elevated during decisions with higher moral conviction, supporting the emotional and cognitive dimensions of moral conviction. Functional connectivity between lPFC and vmPFC was greater on trials higher in moral conviction, elucidating mechanisms through which moral conviction is incorporated into valuation. Average support for the two displayed groups of protesters was positively associated with brain activity in regions involved in valuation, particularly vmPFC and amygdala. Metacognitive sensitivity, the ability to discriminate one's correct from incorrect judgments, measured in a perceptual task, negatively correlated with parametric effects of moral conviction in the brain, providing new evidence that metacognition modulates responses to morally convicted issues.

Three experiments with the psychomotor vigilance task examined whether presenting content-free cues, feedback, and points would reduce lapses of sustained attention. In all three experiments, behavioral lapses of attention (particularly slow reaction times) were reduced with the motivation manipulations compared with control conditions, but self-reports of off-task thinking (e.g., mind-wandering) were unaffected. Pupillary responses (preparatory and phasic) also tended to be larger with the different manipulations compared to control conditions. Collectively, the results are consistent with attentional effort models, suggesting that sustained attention was improved and lapses of attention reduced owing to participants in the motivation conditions mobilizing more attentional effort than participants in the control conditions. These results are consistent with recent research, which suggests that the locus coeruleus norepinephrine system is associated with the mobilization of effort.

We preferentially process self-related information. However, less is known about how this advantage extends to reward processing and if this process is sensitive to a continuum of self-relevance. Specifically, do we dissociate ourselves from all others when processing rewards, or do those we know personally also enjoy self-related biases? To address this, we recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) data from 30 undergraduate student participants who played a simple two-choice "bandit" gambling game where a photo presented before each gamble indicated whether it benefited either the participant, an individual they knew, or a person they did not know. Temporal spatial principal components analysis (tsPCA) of EEG data evoked by target photos revealed a component consistent with attention and early perceptual processing (the P200), while analysis of data evoked by the feedback stimuli revealed a component consistent with reward processing (the reward positivity). Results demonstrated that P200 component scores were larger for self-gambles than both known- and unknown-other target photos. Interestingly, and contrary to previous findings, reward positivity component scores were similar for all gambles independent of perceived ownership. Our findings suggest that, when gambling for individuals on a continuum of self-relevance, the potential for monetary gain based on the self-relevance cues is differentially processed for ourselves while the actual reward is not. We suggest that the known-other gambling target introduced an empathy-like effect, contesting the self-bias in reward processing.

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.