Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-27DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109142
Hang Zhang , Junchen Shang , Jin Gao , Werner Sommer , Weijun Li
Attractive voices can capture listeners’ attention and evoke positive emotions. However, our understanding of how the brain integrates voice attractiveness and emotional semantic information in speech, and the temporal unfolding of this process, remains limited. The present study explored this question using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants listened to disyllabic Chinese adjectives of different emotional semantic valence (positive, e.g., mature; negative, e.g., despicable; neutral, e.g., obvious), recited by speakers with voices that had been selected for high or low attractiveness in a previous study Participants performed separate voice attractiveness and semantic valence judgments on these voice stimuli. The early N1 component of the recorded ERPs revealed an early interaction between voice attractiveness, semantic valence, and task. At later stages, voice attractiveness and semantic valence were processed independently, showing distinct effects in specific time windows during the valence judgment task. These findings suggest that the integration of emotional semantics and voice attractiveness occurs mainly at an early stage, followed by more independent processing later on.
{"title":"Integration of voice attractiveness and emotional semantics in spoken word processing: An ERP Study","authors":"Hang Zhang , Junchen Shang , Jin Gao , Werner Sommer , Weijun Li","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109142","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109142","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attractive voices can capture listeners’ attention and evoke positive emotions. However, our understanding of how the brain integrates voice attractiveness and emotional semantic information in speech, and the temporal unfolding of this process, remains limited. The present study explored this question using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants listened to disyllabic Chinese adjectives of different emotional semantic valence (positive, e.g., mature; negative, e.g., despicable; neutral, e.g., obvious), recited by speakers with voices that had been selected for high or low attractiveness in a previous study Participants performed separate voice attractiveness and semantic valence judgments on these voice stimuli. The early N1 component of the recorded ERPs revealed an early interaction between voice attractiveness, semantic valence, and task. At later stages, voice attractiveness and semantic valence were processed independently, showing distinct effects in specific time windows during the valence judgment task. These findings suggest that the integration of emotional semantics and voice attractiveness occurs mainly at an early stage, followed by more independent processing later on.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109142"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145402864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-11-12DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109162
Chenyang Liu, Jinlong Su
Yawning is widely observed in daily life. But its function has largely remained less explored. In the current study, we examined how yawning exposure affected threat detection in human adults and its potential mechanisms. We recruited 96 participants and manipulated the yawning exposure by letting participants viewing yawn videos or listening to yawn audios. Then they were asked to complete a threat-detection task as well as measures of subjective sleepiness and theory of mind (ToM). Results revealed that yawning exposure significantly enhanced both the speed and accuracy of detecting snakes from frogs but not vice versa in the visual modality (yawning videos exposure). In contrast, within the auditory modality (yawning audios exposure), yawning exposure also improved detection accuracy (rather than reaction time) for non-threatening frogs, indicating a possible modality-dependent pattern rather than a universal threat-specific enhancement. Besides, individual differences in ToM capacity likely played a role in the relationship between yawning exposure and threat detection: participants with higher ToM scores exhibited greater sensitivity in identifying snakes under the yawning condition, suggesting that the ability to infer others’ mental states might be critical for interpreting the informational content of yawning. Furthermore, yawning exposure increased subjective sleepiness and the increase in subjective sleepiness did not correlate with threat detection performance, indicating that the observed effects likely arise from domain-specific cognitive processes rather than generalized arousal modulation. These findings provided support for the communicative function of yawning and underscored the interplay between evolved nonverbal signals and modern cognitive capacities like ToM.
{"title":"Yawning to communicate? Yawn exposure increases both threat detection and subjective sleepiness","authors":"Chenyang Liu, Jinlong Su","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109162","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109162","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Yawning is widely observed in daily life. But its function has largely remained less explored. In the current study, we examined how yawning exposure affected threat detection in human adults and its potential mechanisms. We recruited 96 participants and manipulated the yawning exposure by letting participants viewing yawn videos or listening to yawn audios. Then they were asked to complete a threat-detection task as well as measures of subjective sleepiness and theory of mind (ToM). Results revealed that yawning exposure significantly enhanced both the speed and accuracy of detecting snakes from frogs but not vice versa in the visual modality (yawning videos exposure). In contrast, within the auditory modality (yawning audios exposure), yawning exposure also improved detection accuracy (rather than reaction time) for non-threatening frogs, indicating a possible modality-dependent pattern rather than a universal threat-specific enhancement. Besides, individual differences in ToM capacity likely played a role in the relationship between yawning exposure and threat detection: participants with higher ToM scores exhibited greater sensitivity in identifying snakes under the yawning condition, suggesting that the ability to infer others’ mental states might be critical for interpreting the informational content of yawning. Furthermore, yawning exposure increased subjective sleepiness and the increase in subjective sleepiness did not correlate with threat detection performance, indicating that the observed effects likely arise from domain-specific cognitive processes rather than generalized arousal modulation. These findings provided support for the communicative function of yawning and underscored the interplay between evolved nonverbal signals and modern cognitive capacities like ToM.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109162"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145520829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109154
Jiahong Cui , Nianqiu Shen , Hongjun Chen , Hongyu Zhou , Lei Hu , Wenbo Yu , Zhihan Liu , Daisuke Sawamura , Yuxuan Wang , Fengyu Cong
Visual distraction often disrupts auditory working memory, but it remains unclear whether semantic and non-semantic distractors interfere through similar or distinct neural mechanisms. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the neural dynamics of semantic and non-semantic visual distractors during an auditory working memory task. Thirty nine healthy adults performed a paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) while exposed to either semantic (digits) or non-semantic (abstract symbols) visual distractors. Behavioral results showed that both distractor types impaired accuracy, with semantic distractors producing longer reaction times and higher omission rates. ERP analyses revealed that both distractor types elicited enhanced P200 amplitudes and prolonged N200 and P300 latencies, reflecting shared early attentional capture and delayed stimulus evaluation. Semantic distractors further induced stronger N200 negativity at frontal sites and shortened P200 latencies, suggesting rapid semantic access and increased conflict detection demands, whereas only non-semantic distractors reduced P300 amplitudes, indicating reactive resource reallocation. Importantly, greater reductions in P300 amplitude were associated with slower responses in the semantic distractor condition. These findings demonstrate that semantic and non-semantic distractors engage partially overlapping but functionally distinct neural processes, emphasizing the importance of distractor content and processing stage in models of cross-modal cognitive control.
{"title":"Cross-modal semantic and non-semantic distraction impairs auditory working memory: Behavioral and ERP evidence","authors":"Jiahong Cui , Nianqiu Shen , Hongjun Chen , Hongyu Zhou , Lei Hu , Wenbo Yu , Zhihan Liu , Daisuke Sawamura , Yuxuan Wang , Fengyu Cong","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109154","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109154","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Visual distraction often disrupts auditory working memory, but it remains unclear whether semantic and non-semantic distractors interfere through similar or distinct neural mechanisms. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the neural dynamics of semantic and non-semantic visual distractors during an auditory working memory task. Thirty nine healthy adults performed a paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) while exposed to either semantic (digits) or non-semantic (abstract symbols) visual distractors. Behavioral results showed that both distractor types impaired accuracy, with semantic distractors producing longer reaction times and higher omission rates. ERP analyses revealed that both distractor types elicited enhanced P200 amplitudes and prolonged N200 and P300 latencies, reflecting shared early attentional capture and delayed stimulus evaluation. Semantic distractors further induced stronger N200 negativity at frontal sites and shortened P200 latencies, suggesting rapid semantic access and increased conflict detection demands, whereas only non-semantic distractors reduced P300 amplitudes, indicating reactive resource reallocation. Importantly, greater reductions in P300 amplitude were associated with slower responses in the semantic distractor condition. These findings demonstrate that semantic and non-semantic distractors engage partially overlapping but functionally distinct neural processes, emphasizing the importance of distractor content and processing stage in models of cross-modal cognitive control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109154"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145427231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-24DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109140
Yan Hong , Renlai Zhou
This study aimed to investigate whether different working memory training (WMT) tasks differ in their effects on improving working memory, as well as their underlying cognitive neural mechanisms, from the perspective of training task characteristics. In the present study, we compared two tasks: adaptive running memory span (RMS) training and working memory animal span (WMAS) training. Eighty-four children were randomly assigned to one of the two training groups or the control group. All training protocols consisted of 20 sessions over approximately 4 weeks. Before and after training, the children completed a battery of cognitive tasks to examine the transfer of training effects to untrained measures: the backward digit span, which measured phonological WM storage; the change-detection task, which measured visual WM storage; and the n-back task with electroencephalogram (EEG), which assessed multi-item WM capacity. Compared with the control group, the two training groups showed distinct improvements in working memory capacity, which varied by training task: specifically, children in the RMS group exhibited gains in visual WM storage, updating ability, the mean amplitudes of P2 and P3, and theta power. In contrast, those in the WMAS group showed changes in the mean amplitude of P2 and alpha power. These findings provide evidence that WMT may enhance children’s working memory capacity; however, such near-transfer effects are modulated by the specific training task.
{"title":"Can working memory training improve working memory capacity in typically developing children?: Training methods reveal specific effects","authors":"Yan Hong , Renlai Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109140","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109140","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aimed to investigate whether different working memory training (WMT) tasks differ in their effects on improving working memory, as well as their underlying cognitive neural mechanisms, from the perspective of training task characteristics. In the present study, we compared two tasks: adaptive running memory span (RMS) training and working memory animal span (WMAS) training. Eighty-four children were randomly assigned to one of the two training groups or the control group. All training protocols consisted of 20 sessions over approximately 4 weeks. Before and after training, the children completed a battery of cognitive tasks to examine the transfer of training effects to untrained measures: the backward digit span, which measured phonological WM storage; the change-detection task, which measured visual WM storage; and the n-back task with electroencephalogram (EEG), which assessed multi-item WM capacity. Compared with the control group, the two training groups showed distinct improvements in working memory capacity, which varied by training task: specifically, children in the RMS group exhibited gains in visual WM storage, updating ability, the mean amplitudes of P2 and P3, and theta power. In contrast, those in the WMAS group showed changes in the mean amplitude of P2 and alpha power. These findings provide evidence that WMT may enhance children’s working memory capacity; however, such near-transfer effects are modulated by the specific training task.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109140"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145420395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-11-25DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109171
Melisa Saygin , Martin Gevonden , Eco de Geus
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is the heart period variability observed in synchrony with respiration. RSA amplitude is widely used in psychophysiological research to non-invasively index cardiac vagal activity. However, RSA measures are significantly affected by respiratory behavior, even in the absence of changes in cardiac vagal activity. Fifty-to-sixty percent of the variation in RSA can be attributed to respiration rate and tidal volume. This poses a notable challenge for ambulatory RSA measurement where respiratory behavior cannot be experimentally controlled and can show substantial variation. This pre-registered two-day ambulatory study (https://osf.io/57es4) compared four approaches to control for respiratory influences on RSA, to make an empirical recommendation on how to best capture cardiac vagal activity in daily life. We evaluated how well the RSA metric of each approach predicted (1) Minute-to-minute heart period, assumed to be predominantly governed by cardiac vagal activity, and (2) Perceived stress, positive affect, negative affect, and safety—states expected to elicit fluctuations in cardiac vagal activity— at smartphone prompts. The tidal volume-normalized RSA approach was optimal, explaining 1.47 times as much within-individual variance in heart period as that explained by uncontrolled-RSA. The need to use respiratory-controlled RSA was further highlighted by results on safety. Perceived safety was associated with uncontrolled-RSA (p = .033) but not with any of the controlled-RSA metrics. This relationship was driven by higher respiration rate co-occurring with lower safety. We recommend using tidal volume-normalized RSA in ambulatory research to avoid reporting spurious within-individual correlations between psychological states and cardiac vagal activity.
{"title":"Controlling heart rate variability for respiratory effects in ambulatory psychophysiological measurements","authors":"Melisa Saygin , Martin Gevonden , Eco de Geus","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109171","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109171","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is the heart period variability observed in synchrony with respiration. RSA amplitude is widely used in psychophysiological research to non-invasively index cardiac vagal activity. However, RSA measures are significantly affected by respiratory behavior, even in the absence of changes in cardiac vagal activity. Fifty-to-sixty percent of the variation in RSA can be attributed to respiration rate and tidal volume. This poses a notable challenge for ambulatory RSA measurement where respiratory behavior cannot be experimentally controlled and can show substantial variation. This pre-registered two-day ambulatory study (<span><span>https://osf.io/57es4</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>) compared four approaches to control for respiratory influences on RSA, to make an empirical recommendation on how to best capture cardiac vagal activity in daily life. We evaluated how well the RSA metric of each approach predicted (1) Minute-to-minute heart period, assumed to be predominantly governed by cardiac vagal activity, and (2) Perceived stress, positive affect, negative affect, and safety—states expected to elicit fluctuations in cardiac vagal activity— at smartphone prompts. The tidal volume-normalized RSA approach was optimal, explaining 1.47 times as much within-individual variance in heart period as that explained by uncontrolled-RSA. The need to use respiratory-controlled RSA was further highlighted by results on safety. Perceived safety was associated with uncontrolled-RSA (<em>p</em> = .033) but not with any of the controlled-RSA metrics. This relationship was driven by higher respiration rate co-occurring with lower safety. We recommend using tidal volume-normalized RSA in ambulatory research to avoid reporting spurious within-individual correlations between psychological states and cardiac vagal activity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109171"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145643112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-11-11DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109160
Rong Jiang , Laura Etzel , Lorrie Schmid , Victoria Lee , Sarah J. Short , William Roger Mills-Koonce , Cathi B. Propper , Patricia Garrett-Peters
Background
Psychosocial stress and sleep disturbances are common during pregnancy and can contribute to heightened hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, potentially impacting maternal and fetal health. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) provide a measure of cumulative circulating cortisol over a period of months and serve as a marker of HPA-axis activity. Yet the interplay between psychosocial stress, sleep quality, and HCC during pregnancy remains unclear.
Methods
We conducted a secondary analysis of 141 pregnant women from the Brain and Early Experiences (BEE) Study. Two types of psychosocial stressors - financial strain and pregnancy-related anxiety - were assessed using the Economic Strain Questionnaire and the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire, respectively. Sleep quality was measured via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and HCC was analyzed from 3 cm of hair collected toward the end of the second trimester. Multivariable linear regression tested associations between psychosocial stressors, sleep quality, and HCC, adjusting for key covariates. Mediation analyses assessed whether sleep quality mediated associations between psychosocial stressors and HCC.
Results
Financial strain was significantly associated with both poorer sleep quality (β=0.22, P = .02) and higher HCC (β=0.26, P = .006). Pregnancy-related anxiety was not linked to poorer sleep quality P = .23) or HCC (P = .17). Sleep quality did not mediate psychosocial stressors and HCC associations.
Conclusion
Findings suggest that financial strain may contribute to poorer sleep quality during pregnancy. Financial strain may also contribute to higher cortisol levels, independent of its association with sleep quality. Understanding these associations is critical for identifying intervention targets to mitigate stress-related health risks during pregnancy.
{"title":"Psychosocial stressors, sleep quality, and hair cortisol concentrations among pregnant women","authors":"Rong Jiang , Laura Etzel , Lorrie Schmid , Victoria Lee , Sarah J. Short , William Roger Mills-Koonce , Cathi B. Propper , Patricia Garrett-Peters","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109160","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109160","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Psychosocial stress and sleep disturbances are common during pregnancy and can contribute to heightened hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, potentially impacting maternal and fetal health. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) provide a measure of cumulative circulating cortisol over a period of months and serve as a marker of HPA-axis activity. Yet the interplay between psychosocial stress, sleep quality, and HCC during pregnancy remains unclear.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We conducted a secondary analysis of 141 pregnant women from the Brain and Early Experiences (BEE) Study. Two types of psychosocial stressors - financial strain and pregnancy-related anxiety - were assessed using the Economic Strain Questionnaire and the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire, respectively. Sleep quality was measured via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and HCC was analyzed from 3 cm of hair collected toward the end of the second trimester. Multivariable linear regression tested associations between psychosocial stressors, sleep quality, and HCC, adjusting for key covariates. Mediation analyses assessed whether sleep quality mediated associations between psychosocial stressors and HCC.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Financial strain was significantly associated with both poorer sleep quality (β=0.22, <em>P</em> = .02) and higher HCC (β=0.26, <em>P</em> = .006). Pregnancy-related anxiety was not linked to poorer sleep quality <em>P</em> = .23) or HCC (<em>P</em> = .17). Sleep quality did not mediate psychosocial stressors and HCC associations.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Findings suggest that financial strain may contribute to poorer sleep quality during pregnancy. Financial strain may also contribute to higher cortisol levels, independent of its association with sleep quality. Understanding these associations is critical for identifying intervention targets to mitigate stress-related health risks during pregnancy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109160"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145514758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-14DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109137
Eric Schade , P. Jason White , Peter Maramaldi
Social anxiety often emerges during adolescence, marked by heightened self-consciousness and sensitivity to social evaluation, then persists in adulthood. This systematic review synthesizes findings from studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to examine self-conscious processing in socially anxious adolescents and adults. Following PRISMA guidelines, we reviewed 47 studies (2008-July 2025) and conducted a narrative synthesis with a descriptive synthesis restricted to personally evaluative fear of negative evaluation tasks. fMRI studies most commonly reported heightened activation in brain regions associated with self-evaluation and social threat processing, including the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula. EEG event-related potential (ERP) studies identified enhanced amplitudes in early (P2) and late (late positive potential) components in response to negative self-descriptors, suggesting increased attentional and emotional reactivity. Many findings came from studies using the self-referential encoding task (SRET), which prompts self-processing and social evaluation. While fMRI provides spatial precision, ERP methods capture the temporal dynamics of self-related threat sensitivity. Together, the findings support altered self-conscious processing as a neurobiological feature of social anxiety in adolescents and adults. fMRI and EEG offer complementary strengths for identifying potential diagnostic markers and treatment targets. Future research should integrate both methods and examine developmental trajectories to improve mechanistic understanding and inform personalized interventions.
{"title":"Self-consciousness in adolescent and adult social anxiety: A systematic review of fMRI and EEG findings","authors":"Eric Schade , P. Jason White , Peter Maramaldi","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109137","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109137","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social anxiety often emerges during adolescence, marked by heightened self-consciousness and sensitivity to social evaluation, then persists in adulthood. This systematic review synthesizes findings from studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to examine self-conscious processing in socially anxious adolescents and adults. Following PRISMA guidelines, we reviewed 47 studies (2008-July 2025) and conducted a narrative synthesis with a descriptive synthesis restricted to personally evaluative fear of negative evaluation tasks. fMRI studies most commonly reported heightened activation in brain regions associated with self-evaluation and social threat processing, including the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula. EEG event-related potential (ERP) studies identified enhanced amplitudes in early (P2) and late (late positive potential) components in response to negative self-descriptors, suggesting increased attentional and emotional reactivity. Many findings came from studies using the self-referential encoding task (SRET), which prompts self-processing and social evaluation. While fMRI provides spatial precision, ERP methods capture the temporal dynamics of self-related threat sensitivity. Together, the findings support altered self-conscious processing as a neurobiological feature of social anxiety in adolescents and adults. fMRI and EEG offer complementary strengths for identifying potential diagnostic markers and treatment targets. Future research should integrate both methods and examine developmental trajectories to improve mechanistic understanding and inform personalized interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109137"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145310095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-11-08DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109159
Ferenc Köteles , Dóra Nagy , Bernadett Tőkés , Renáta Szemerszky
Response expectancies are expectations referring to changes in voluntarily not controllable internal states, such as mood, body sensations, and peripheral physiology. The current study investigated whether response expectancies can predict experiential and actual and perceived physiological responses to slow stroking of the hairy skin, also called affective touch. 94 young individuals participated in the preregistered within-subject experiment. Participants’ mood state and spontaneous expectations with respect to pleasantness of the skin sensation, change in mood state, heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature were assessed before (1) paying attention to the skin, and receiving (2) fast (30 cm/sec) and (3) slow (3–4 cm/sec) stroking for two minutes in a randomized order. Experienced skin sensation, mood state, and perceived physiological changes were measured after the stimulation sessions; actual physiological changes were recorded throughout the experiment. Expectations predicted pleasantness of skin sensation, changes of mood state, and perceived changes for all three physiological modalities in the slow stroking condition. However, expected and perceived physiological changes were unrelated to actual changes. Pleasantness of skin sensation showed a positive association with improvement in mood state. In conclusion, response expectancies can predict experiential changes but not actual physiological changes evoked by slow stroking.
{"title":"Expectations predict the psychological but not the physiological effects of slow stroking","authors":"Ferenc Köteles , Dóra Nagy , Bernadett Tőkés , Renáta Szemerszky","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109159","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109159","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Response expectancies are expectations referring to changes in voluntarily not controllable internal states, such as mood, body sensations, and peripheral physiology. The current study investigated whether response expectancies can predict experiential and actual and perceived physiological responses to slow stroking of the hairy skin, also called affective touch. 94 young individuals participated in the preregistered within-subject experiment. Participants’ mood state and spontaneous expectations with respect to pleasantness of the skin sensation, change in mood state, heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature were assessed before (1) paying attention to the skin, and receiving (2) fast (30 cm/sec) and (3) slow (3–4 cm/sec) stroking for two minutes in a randomized order. Experienced skin sensation, mood state, and perceived physiological changes were measured after the stimulation sessions; actual physiological changes were recorded throughout the experiment. Expectations predicted pleasantness of skin sensation, changes of mood state, and perceived changes for all three physiological modalities in the slow stroking condition. However, expected and perceived physiological changes were unrelated to actual changes. Pleasantness of skin sensation showed a positive association with improvement in mood state. In conclusion, response expectancies can predict experiential changes but not actual physiological changes evoked by slow stroking.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109159"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145490941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109157
Jie Liu, Jiajun Li, Jun Yang, Qin Zhang
The neural power spectrum contains both periodic and aperiodic 1/f-like activity. Aperiodic activity is functionally significant, reflecting the excitation-inhibition balance within the nervous system. Without proper parameterization, aperiodic activity can confound oscillatory power, leading to misinterpretations of physiological phenomena. While target load's impact on aperiodic activity has been studied, its modulation by distractor load is less understood. Our study used a parameterization algorithm to separate periodic alpha oscillations from aperiodic activity, examining their relationship with target and distractor items during working memory. We found that periodic alpha activity increased with target load, a change not evident with traditional analysis. The aperiodic exponent was modulated by both target and distractor loads, but in opposite directions, highlighting their differential impact on excitation-inhibition balance. An exploratory analysis showed no modulatory role of working memory capacity on these neural indicators. Our findings emphasize the importance of distinguishing periodic and aperiodic activity in working memory research. They provide empirical support for the dynamic regulation of the neuronal excitation/inhibition balance by target and distractor items. Future research should focus on the functional significance of these individual components for a deeper understanding of brain function.
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Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109145
Jens Allaert , Djamilah Mohamed , Daniel Hellemons , Frederik M. van der Veen
<div><div>Individuals prone to rumination and depressive symptoms often experience maladaptive, repetitive regret when confronted with lost opportunities. Understanding underlying neurobehavioral mechanisms is crucial for clarifying how these vulnerabilities might foster affective disorders. This study used a sequential risk-taking task to investigate how these vulnerabilities modulate behavioral, neural (Late Positive Potential, LPP), and cardiac responses to outcomes. Ninety-two female subjects received trial-by-trial feedback, yielding optimal, suboptimal (mixed gain/loss), and nonoptimal (total loss) outcomes. Higher rumination and depressive symptoms predicted greater behavioral sensitivity to lost opportunities. For suboptimal outcomes, the positive association between sensitivity and LPP amplitude was stronger in individuals with higher vulnerability, whereas for nonoptimal outcomes, the positive association between sensitivity and LPP amplitude was only present in those with extremely high rumination. Together, these findings suggest that for vulnerable individuals, a heightened sensitivity to lost opportunities manifests as a neural signature of sustained, maladaptive elaboration on partially or fully negative choice outcomes. In contrast, for individuals with low vulnerabilities, greater sensitivity predicted a reduced LPP for nonoptimal outcomes, a possible signature of adaptive disengagement from failure. Physiologically, regardless of vulnerability, greater sensitivity predicted increased cardiac acceleration following suboptimal outcomes, suggesting heightened autonomic arousal, though this effect only survived multiple-comparison correction in the model with rumination. In conclusion, sensitivity to lost opportunities seems not inherently maladaptive; its link to neural processing is shaped by clinical vulnerabilities. This altered processing may explain how these vulnerabilities sustain biased thinking, offering a transdiagnostic marker and targets for intervention against maladaptive regret. In contrast, individuals with low vulnerability showed a reduced LPP for nonoptimal outcomes, a signature of adaptive disengagement from failure. (both rumination and depressive symptoms). For nonoptimal outcomes, sensitivity predicted an amplified LPP in those with extremely high rumination. For suboptimal outcomes, the positive association between sensitivity and LPP amplitude was stronger in individuals with higher vulnerability, suggesting intensified counterfactual elaboration. For nonoptimal outcomes, this sensitivity predicted a reduced LPP (suggesting adaptive disengagement) in individuals with low vulnerability but an amplified LPP (suggesting maladaptive perseveration) in those with extremely high rumination. Individuals prone to self-critical rumination and depressive symptoms often experience maladaptive, repetitive regret when confronted with lost opportunities. Understanding the underlying neurobehavioral mechanisms in those wit
{"title":"Neural and cardiac correlates of sensitivity to lost opportunities: The role of self-critical rumination and depressive symptoms","authors":"Jens Allaert , Djamilah Mohamed , Daniel Hellemons , Frederik M. van der Veen","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109145","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Individuals prone to rumination and depressive symptoms often experience maladaptive, repetitive regret when confronted with lost opportunities. Understanding underlying neurobehavioral mechanisms is crucial for clarifying how these vulnerabilities might foster affective disorders. This study used a sequential risk-taking task to investigate how these vulnerabilities modulate behavioral, neural (Late Positive Potential, LPP), and cardiac responses to outcomes. Ninety-two female subjects received trial-by-trial feedback, yielding optimal, suboptimal (mixed gain/loss), and nonoptimal (total loss) outcomes. Higher rumination and depressive symptoms predicted greater behavioral sensitivity to lost opportunities. For suboptimal outcomes, the positive association between sensitivity and LPP amplitude was stronger in individuals with higher vulnerability, whereas for nonoptimal outcomes, the positive association between sensitivity and LPP amplitude was only present in those with extremely high rumination. Together, these findings suggest that for vulnerable individuals, a heightened sensitivity to lost opportunities manifests as a neural signature of sustained, maladaptive elaboration on partially or fully negative choice outcomes. In contrast, for individuals with low vulnerabilities, greater sensitivity predicted a reduced LPP for nonoptimal outcomes, a possible signature of adaptive disengagement from failure. Physiologically, regardless of vulnerability, greater sensitivity predicted increased cardiac acceleration following suboptimal outcomes, suggesting heightened autonomic arousal, though this effect only survived multiple-comparison correction in the model with rumination. In conclusion, sensitivity to lost opportunities seems not inherently maladaptive; its link to neural processing is shaped by clinical vulnerabilities. This altered processing may explain how these vulnerabilities sustain biased thinking, offering a transdiagnostic marker and targets for intervention against maladaptive regret. In contrast, individuals with low vulnerability showed a reduced LPP for nonoptimal outcomes, a signature of adaptive disengagement from failure. (both rumination and depressive symptoms). For nonoptimal outcomes, sensitivity predicted an amplified LPP in those with extremely high rumination. For suboptimal outcomes, the positive association between sensitivity and LPP amplitude was stronger in individuals with higher vulnerability, suggesting intensified counterfactual elaboration. For nonoptimal outcomes, this sensitivity predicted a reduced LPP (suggesting adaptive disengagement) in individuals with low vulnerability but an amplified LPP (suggesting maladaptive perseveration) in those with extremely high rumination. Individuals prone to self-critical rumination and depressive symptoms often experience maladaptive, repetitive regret when confronted with lost opportunities. Understanding the underlying neurobehavioral mechanisms in those wit","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109145"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145410843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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