Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience最新文献

The nucleus accumbens plays a pivotal role in goal-directed behaviors, receiving inputs from prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. We investigated local field potential activity in all three areas in awake-behaving male Sprague-Dawley rats performing a high-effort lever pressing task for food reinforcement (fixed-ratio, FR40 schedule). Using a within-subject design, we administered a VMAT-2 inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ), a dopamine-depleting agent that suppresses the exertion of effort in instrumental behaviors and induces a low-effort bias on choice tasks. Tetrabenazine substantially reduced lever pressing compared with vehicle in rats responding on the FR40 schedule, and we observed that TBZ significantly decreased theta peak frequency and power (6-12 Hz). Theta frequency and power both decreased with higher local rates of responding, especially in dorsal hippocampus, and this relationship is moderated by TBZ, marking its modulatory effects on neural dynamics during exertion of effort. There is substantial variability between animals in both the TBZ-induced suppression of lever pressing and the relationship between theta power and local press rate. We determined that the behavioral effects of TBZ were correlated with these neurophysiological changes across animals. Taken together, these findings demonstrate how TBZ may affect both theta dynamics and effortful behavior and suggest that the amplitude and frequency of theta band may vary with exertion of effort in motivated behavior.

The active inference framework (AIF) considers the brain as a generative model guiding behavior under the imperative of minimizing the model's variational free energy. Computationally, this is accomplished by hierarchical Bayesian inference. The theory views organisms as doxastic agents, which has drawn the criticism of being insufficient to explain conative agents motivated by desire. Specifically, it has been noted that the concept of desire is not isomorphic with belief and, therefore, fits poorly with AIF. In this paper, we build on previous work that suggests a path to integrating conation in AIF and present three arguments. First, the dichotomy between belief and desire is unnecessary. To that end, we define desire as a hierarchical inference that starts from a domain-general inference on the agent's affective dynamics (affective charge) and descends to contextualized inference on the precision of action policies. We suggest that this hierarchy is implemented by a coordinated activity of the intrinsic brain networks: default mode, action mode, executive, and salient. Second, we argue for a central role that deferred action plays in the process of desire by allowing for affect-dependent awareness of the agent's states over different timescales. Third, we suggest that the proposed model of desire and deferred action has ramifications for understanding psychopathology, which we frame as the malfunction of deferred action and desire and use obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression as examples. This view entails that disorders of affect and motivation are subjectively desired despite their associated suffering.

Impaired breathing-related interoceptive abilities have been associated with adverse outcomes, including higher levels of anxiety. However, brain connectivity patterns related to poor interoception, and how these may be modulated by anxiety, are poorly understood. This exploratory study investigated connectivity profiles associated with breathing-related interoceptive abilities in 65 volunteers who underwent ultrahigh-field (7 Tesla) "resting-state" magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), as well as completed a breathing-related interoceptive task and an anxiety questionnaire. The breathing task measured four aspects of interoceptive ability (sensitivity, decision bias, metacognitive bias, and insight), which served alongside anxiety to explain amygdala connectivity in the rs-fMRI data. We observed that connectivity between bilateral amygdala and insula cortex was linked to the level of confidence ascribed to respiratory-related interoceptive judgements (metacognitive bias), while left-lateralised connectivity between amygdala and insula cortex was associated with a worsened ability to detect inspiratory resistances (interoceptive sensitivity). Both reductions in confidence and sensitivity correlated weakly with heightened anxiety levels at a behavioural level. By contrast, the connectivity differences across levels of metacognitive bias and interoceptive sensitivity were not accounted for by anxiety. Our findings could suggest that, in the general population, connectivity between amygdala and insula cortex is linked to breathing-related interoceptive processes in a manner that is largely independent of anxiety.

Sexual minority youth (SMY) experience heightened suicide risk, partly because of stigma surrounding sexual orientation identity. Neurobiological characteristics can influence reactivity to social cues (e.g., perceived liking or rejection) and suicide risk. These effects are exacerbated during adolescence-a developmental period of heightened sensitivity to social contexts. In this cross-sectional study of youth at varying psychiatric risk, we examined whether neural reactivity to social cues moderated the link between sexual minority status and suicidal ideation (SI) and whether sexual orientation victimization experiences further influenced these effects. Seventy-five youth (aged 14-22 years; 52% SMY, 48% heterosexual) reported depression, SI, and victimization, and completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging task involving viewing of unfamiliar face stimuli and receipt of social cues in rewarding and ambiguous contexts. Regions-of-interest analyses examined task-related neural reactivity in neural social regions. Moderation analyses were conducted using linear regressions. Sexual minority youth reported more severe depression, victimization, and SI (p < .05). Left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) activation to social cues, regardless of the degree of valence and certainty, moderated the link between sexual minority status and SI, where SMY (vs. non-SMY) with dampened left TPJ activity had higher SI. Exploratory analyses indicated that these associations were not further influenced by victimization. Results indicate enhanced suicide risk in SMY with altered social processing in the TPJ-a key region of neural social systems-across contexts, regardless of victimization history. Findings suggest that individual differences in neural reactivity to social cues are critical for understanding SMY suicide risk and have potentially important clinical implications.

Reward and punishment learning are critical across multiple clinical populations. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is frequently used to assess these constructs and multiple forms of psychopathology are associated with IGT performance. However, it is not clear whether alterations in IGT performance are general to psychopathology or specific to different forms of psychopathology. Thus, we examined whether IGT performance was uniquely predicted by anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder. We tested a sample of adults (N = 293) on the play-or-pass version of the IGT. We characterized behavior using a hierarchical Bayesian computational model, formalizing parameters underlying task behavior. With the model, we examined unique associations between IGT performance and lifetime diagnostic history of anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder. Anxiety, but not depression or substance use, was associated with higher punishment learning rates, posterior mean β = 0.15, 95% CI [0.01, 0.28]. In addition, women showed lower punishment learning rates, posterior mean β =  - 0.17, 95% CI [- 0.3, - 0.03], and lower response bias, posterior mean β =  - 0.3, 95% CI [- 0.56, - 0.05]. The relation between punishment learning rates and history of anxiety was small; however, our findings were consistent with established findings in anxiety derived from self-report. In addition, only main effects of diagnostic status were examined; thus, future research should examine comorbidity between diagnoses on IGT performance. Overall, our findings are consistent with research showing that anxiety is associated with punishment avoidance. In addition, our behavioral findings with respect to gender are also consistent with previous research employing the IGT.

Stroke patients have shown low reward sensitivity, which is a transdiagnostic dimension that defines the extent to which a person actively pursues rewarding stimuli. Low reward sensitivity has been related to depression and dysregulation of the frontostriatal network. To date, studies have addressed this dimension in heterogenic stroke lesions and the underlying mechanisms of frontostriatal stroke patients are still unknown. This study included 54 participants (32 chronic frontostriatal stroke patients and 22 healthy controls). Reward sensitivity was assessed using the probabilistic reversal learning task. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Adult Self-Report, and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) was examined using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in prefrontal, motor, and parietal cortices. Group differences and predictors of reward sensitivity were analyzed using Bayesian ANCOVA and multiple regression models. Stroke patients displayed lower reward sensitivity, higher depressive problems, and lower resting-state functional connectivity between the right orbitrofrontal cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the right orbitrofrontal cortex and the right dorsolateral prefrontal, and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right premotor cortex and supplementary motor area. In stroke patients, lower reward sensitivity was predicted by higher depressive problems and lower resting-state functional connectivity between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right premotor cortex and the right supplementary motor area. This work showed the relevance of reward sensitivity in frontostriatal post-stroke patients and its relationship with depression, and supports the resting-state functional connectivity measurement for characterizing abnormalities in connectivity in stroke patients.

Decision-making under uncertainty is a key cognitive function that is sensitive to acute stress. While prior studies have documented gender-specific effects of stress (i.e., typically increased risk-taking in males and greater caution in females), such findings have primarily emerged in conditions where participants were aware of the ongoing stressor. The present study explored whether stress awareness modulates gender differences in risk-taking by manipulating participants' awareness of being under mild hypoxia (i.e., reduced oxygen availability), a systemic stressor that often goes unnoticed by individuals. Sixty-four participants completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) under normoxic (fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂) = 20.9%) and mildly hypoxic (FiO₂ = 14.1%) conditions, with participants either being informed or uninformed about the stressor. Results indicated that when participants were aware of the stressor, males exhibited an increased selection of disadvantageous decks (corresponding to greater risk-taking in the IGT) under mild hypoxia, whereas females demonstrated a trend toward more cautious and advantageous choices. In contrast, when unaware of the stressor, both genders showed similar, modest increases in disadvantageous choices under hypoxia. These findings suggest that gender-specific coping strategies in risky decision-making are triggered by the conscious appraisal of stress, rather than by its mere physiological presence, and support theoretical models emphasizing the role of cognitive appraisal and internalized gender norms in shaping decision-making under stress.

Procrastination is a maladaptive behavior associated with a wide range of negative life outcomes, such as poorer educational and occupational performance, and lower levels of physical and mental health. Although previous research has demonstrated that individuals with heightened future time perspective (FTP) exhibit reduced procrastination, the cognitive and neural bases of this relationship remain unclear. Drawing on the self-regulatory framework of time perspective, the present study used two large independent samples (N₁ = 447, N₂ = 459) to test whether self-control and its underlying neural substrates mediate the relationship between FTP and procrastination. Participants were recruited to undergo resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and complete questionnaires assessing FTP, procrastination, and self-control. Behavioral results from both samples indicated that self-control partially mediated the association between FTP and procrastination. Whole-brain correlation analysis in Sample 1 further revealed that self-control was associated with greater amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Notably, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the left DLPFC was also found to mediate the FTP-procrastination relationship in both samples. The current study provides considerable evidence that spontaneous activity in the DLPFC, which supports self-control, serves as a neural substrate mediating the association between FTP and procrastination.

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) affects autonomic function and enhances cognitive performance by increasing vagal activation and central noradrenergic activity. Nevertheless, the impact of taVNS on acute mental stress remains largely unexplored. This study examined whether taVNS can mitigate the acute sympathetic stress response and improve cognitive performance during a socially evaluated version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). The PASAT is a demanding task that assesses working memory and divided attention and serves as a potent stressor. Forty-one young healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to receive either taVNS stimulation (n = 21) at the left cymba conchae or a sham stimulation (n = 20) at the ear lobe. Participants received 15-min stimulation before they were challenged with the PASAT while the stimulation continued. Electrocardiogram, electrodermal activity and self-reports of stress and anxiety were collected. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation increased heart rate variability and sympathetic electrodermal activity during the stimulation. Self-reports, cognitive performance and physiological stress responses remained unaffected by taVNS. Physiological measures were highly intercorrelated in participants receiving taVNS. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation did not influence physiological, psychological or behavioral responses to an acute mental/social stressor. The strong intercorrelation between sympathetic and parasympathetic indexes in the taVNS group, however, suggests that taVNS improves autonomic regulation in healthy participants.

Many studies have explored the neural correlates and benefits of mindfulness, but have rarely focused on its components. This neuroimaging study investigates two components of a short mindfulness training, namely interoception and mindful attention, compared to immersion as an active control condition. Healthy participants were trained in three conditions: (1) interoception, (2) mindful attention of bodily sensations, and (3) immersion. In the scanner, participants read and imagined stressful self-relevant events while adopting one of these three strategies and rated subjective arousal. Participants felt the least aroused in the mindful attention condition compared to both immersion and interoception. Compared to immersion, interoception decreased activation in regions of the Default Mode Network (DMN), including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), precuneus, angular gyrus, and hippocampus, while mindful attention increased activation in regions related to the sensation of bodily states, such as the bilateral insula. Although the results broadly align with prior research, we argue that inconsistent past findings concerning the amygdala and insula activation might be due to a differential focus on mindfulness components. We discuss other explanations for our results, including differences in prior mindfulness experience.