Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Overnight neuronal plasticity and adaptation to emotional distress – Nature.com

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Original post:
Overnight neuronal plasticity and adaptation to emotional distress - Nature.com

Neuroscience

Less Obesity and Depression in NPD Individuals – Neuroscience News

Summary: A comprehensive study across 38 states in the U.S. has revealed a surprising link between narcissism and positive health outcomes, including lower obesity and depression rates. States with higher levels of narcissism also showed a lower likelihood of heart failure and hypertension deaths, highlighting the complex role of narcissistic traits in public health.

However, these states also experienced less sleep and a higher demand for plastic surgeons, suggesting a nuanced interplay between narcissisms adaptive and maladaptive aspects. This groundbreaking research underscores the importance of considering psychological traits in public health strategies and interventions.

Key Facts:

Source: Neuroscience News

The exploration of narcissisms association with state-level health outcomes across the United States reveals a fascinating paradox within the realm of public health and personality psychology.

This extensive study, drawing on data from over 4,000 individuals in 38 states, transcends the traditional confines of individual behavior to uncover the broader societal implications of the dark triad traits, particularly narcissism.

It challenges the pervasive narrative that narcissism is solely detrimental, highlighting instead its complex dual naturewherein lies a potential ally for public health.

Narcissism, part of the dark triad of personality traits alongside Machiavellianism and psychopathy, is typically characterized by grandiosity, entitlement, and a preoccupation with self-image. However, this study sheds light on its less recognized facet: the adaptive qualities that can foster resilience, ambition, and an enhanced focus on personal health.

The findings intriguingly suggest that these adaptive aspects may lead to healthier lifestyle choices, such as regular exercise, dietary mindfulness, and engagement with preventive healthcare measures.

At a societal level, the study reveals that states with higher levels of narcissism exhibit lower rates of obesity and depression, alongside reduced mortality from heart failure and hypertension.

This correlation suggests that the positive health behaviors adopted by narcissistic individuals could aggregate to influence broader health trends within populations. Such a pattern points towards the potential of harnessing narcissisms adaptive aspects for public health benefits.

However, the study also unveils the downsides of these traits at a societal scale, including reduced sleep durations and an elevated demand for plastic surgery.

These findings hint at the societal pressures and possibly unhealthy standards of beauty that might be more prevalent in areas with higher narcissistic tendencies.

It underscores the importance of a balanced view of narcissism, recognizing both its potential to motivate healthful behaviors and its capacity to drive less beneficial outcomes, such as sleep deprivation and an obsession with physical appearance.

The nuanced understanding of narcissisms impact on health outcomes has profound implications for public health policies and interventions.

Recognizing the dual nature of narcissism can inform the development of more targeted health promotion strategies that leverage its adaptive qualities while mitigating its maladaptive aspects.

For instance, public health campaigns could emphasize self-enhancement and confidence as motivators for healthy living, while also addressing the potential pitfalls of excessive self-focus and appearance-based self-esteem.

Moreover, this study highlights the importance of psychological traits in shaping health behaviors and outcomes at a population level.

It suggests that public health strategies could benefit from considering the psychological makeup of target populations, tailoring interventions to not only address physical health needs but also the underlying personality factors that influence behavior.

While this study provides valuable insights into the relationship between narcissism and health outcomes, it also opens the door for further research.

Future studies could explore the mechanisms through which narcissism influences health behaviors and outcomes, and how these may vary across different contexts and populations.

Additionally, research could examine the interactions between narcissism and other psychological and social factors, offering a more comprehensive understanding of its role in public health.

This groundbreaking study challenges conventional views of narcissism, revealing its complex relationship with health at both individual and societal levels. By illuminating the adaptive aspects of narcissism that can contribute to positive health outcomes, it invites a reevaluation of how we understand and leverage personality traits in public health.

As we move forward, this research not only broadens our understanding of the interplay between psychology and health but also offers a promising avenue for developing more nuanced and effective public health strategies.

Author: Neuroscience News Communications Source: Neuroscience News Contact: Neuroscience News Communications Neuroscience News Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Mirror, mirror on the wall, whos the healthiest of them all The surprising role of narcissism in state-level health outcomes by DritjonGruda et al. Journal of Research in Personality

Abstract

Mirror, mirror on the wall, whos the healthiest of them all The surprising role of narcissism in state-level health outcomes

This study investigates narcissisms role in state-level health outcomes across the U.S. While often seen as maladaptive, narcissisms adaptive aspects, like self-enhancement, might promote better health.

Analyzing data from 4,230 participants in 38 states, we explore the link between dark triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and health outcomes.

States with higher narcissism had lower obesity and depression rates, and a lower likelihood of heart failure and hypertension deaths. However, these states reported less sleep and higher demand for plastic surgeons.

This study is the first to provide a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between dark triad traits and health on the state level, with significant implications for public health policies and interventions.

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Less Obesity and Depression in NPD Individuals - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Unlocking Creative Flow: How the Brain Enters the Zone – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study unveils how the brain enters the creative flow state, famously known as being in the zone. By analyzing jazz improvisations through EEGs, the research confirms that creative flow combines extensive experience with a conscious release of control, allowing for automatic idea generation.

This expertise-plus-release model suggests that deep creative flow is more accessible to those with significant experience and the ability to let go. The findings offer a new understanding of flow, challenging previous theories and opening avenues for enhancing creativity through practice and relinquishment of control.

Key Facts:

Source: Drexel University

Effortless, enjoyable productivity is a state of consciousness prized and sought after by people in business, the arts, research, education and anyone else who wants to produce a stream of creative ideas and products.

Thats theflow, or the sense of being in the zone. A new neuroimagingstudyfrom Drexel UniversitysCreativity Research Labis the first to reveal how the brain gets to the creative flow state.

The study isolated flow-related brain activity during a creative task: jazz improvisation. The findings reveal the creative flow state involves two key factors:extensive experience, which leads to a network of brain areas specialized for generating the desired type of ideas, plus therelease of control letting go to allow this network to work with little or no conscious supervision.

Led by John Kounios, PhD, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences and Creativity Research Lab director, and David Rosen, PhD, a recent graduate from the College and Johns Hopkins University postdoc the team determined their results suggest that creative flow can be achieved by training people to release control when they have built up enough expertise in a particular domain.

Flow was first identified and studied by the pioneering psychological scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, said Kounios. He defined it as a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.

Kounios noted that although flow has long been a topic of public fascination as well as the focus of hundreds of behavioral research studies, there has been no consensus about what flow is. Their new study decided between different theories of how flow is involved when people produce creative ideas.

One view is that flow might be a state of highly focused concentration or hyperfocus that shuts out extraneous thoughts and other distractions to enable superior performance on a task.

A related theory based on recent research on the neuroscience of creativity is that flow occurs when the brains default-mode network, a collection of brain areas that work together when a person daydreams or introspects, generates ideas under the supervision of the executive control network in the brains frontal lobes, which directs the kinds of ideas the default-mode network produces. Kounios likened it to the analogy of a person supervising a TV by picking the movie it streams.

An alternative theory of creative flow is that through years of intense practice, the brain develops a specialized network or circuit to automatically produce a specific type of ideas, in this case musical ones, with little conscious effort. In this view, the executive control network relaxes its supervision so that the musician can let go and allow this specialized circuit to go on autopilot without interference.

The research team said the key to this notion is the idea that people who do not have extensive experience at a task or who have difficulty releasing control will be less likely to experience deep creative flow.

The studys results support the expertise-plus-release view of creative flow.

The researchers tested these competing theories of creative flow by recording high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) from 32 jazz guitar players, some highly experienced and others less experienced. Each musician improvised to six jazz lead sheets (songs) with programmed drums, bass and piano accompaniment and rated the intensity of their flow experience for each improvisation.

The resulting 192 recorded jazz improvisations, or takes, were subsequently played for four jazz experts individually so they could rate each for creativity and other qualities. The researchers then analyzed the EEGs to discover which brain areas were associated with high-flow takes (compared to low-flow takes).

The high-experience musicians experienced flow more often and more intensely than the low-experience musicians. This shows that expertise enables flow. However, expertise is not the only factor contributing to creative flow.

The EEGs showed that a high-flow state was associated with increased activity in left-hemisphere auditory and touch areas that are involved in hearing and playing music. Importantly, high flow was also associated withdecreasedactivity in the brains superior frontal gyri, an executive control region.

This is consistent with the idea that creative flow is associated with reduced conscious control, that is, letting go. This previously hypothesized phenomenon has been called transient hypofrontality.

For the high-experience musicians, flow was associated with greater activity in auditory and vision areas. However, they also showedreducedactivity in parts of the default-mode network, suggesting that the default-mode network was not contributing much to flow-related idea generation in these musicians.

In contrast, the low-experience musicians showed little flow-related brain activity.

A practical implication of these results is that productive flow states can be attained by practice to build up expertise in a particular creative outlet coupled with training to withdraw conscious control when enough expertise has been achieved, said Kounios. This can be the basis for new techniques for instructing people to produce creative ideas.

Kounios added, If you want to be able to stream ideas fluently, then keep working on those musical scales, physics problems or whatever else you want to do creativelycomputer coding, fiction writingyou name it. But then, try letting go. As jazz great Charlie Parker said, Youve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

Author: Annie Korp Source: Drexel University Contact: Annie Korp Drexel University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Creative flow as optimized processing: Evidence from brain oscillations during jazz improvisations by expert and non-expert musicians by John Kounios et all. Neuropsychologia

Abstract

Creative flow as optimized processing: Evidence from brain oscillations during jazz improvisations by expert and non-expert musicians

Using a creative production task, jazz improvisation, we tested alternative hypotheses about the flow experience: (A) that it is a state of domain-specific processing optimized by experience and characterized by minimal interference from task-negative default-mode network (DMN) activity versus (B) that it recruits domain-general task-positive DMN activity supervised by the fronto-parietal control network (FPCN) to support ideation. We recorded jazz guitarists electroencephalograms (EEGs) while they improvised to provided chord sequences.

Their flow-states were measured with the Core Flow State Scale. Flow-related neural sources were reconstructed using SPM12. Over all musicians, high-flow (relative to low-flow) improvisations were associated with transient hypofrontality. High-experience musicians high-flow improvisations showed reduced activity in posterior DMN nodes.

Low-experience musicians showed no flow-related DMN or FPCN modulation. High-experience musicians also showed modality-specific left-hemisphere flow-related activity while low-experience musicians showed modality-specific right-hemisphere flow-related deactivations.

These results are consistent with the idea that creative flow represents optimized domain-specific processing enabled by extensive practice paired with reduced cognitive control.

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Unlocking Creative Flow: How the Brain Enters the Zone - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Self-Control, Not Impulsivity, Paves the Way to Power – Neuroscience News

Summary: Self-control, rather than impulsivity, often leads individuals to attain power. The research involved seven experiments with 3,500 participants, demonstrating that individuals exhibiting high levels of self-control were perceived as more powerful and suitable for leadership roles.

These findings challenge common perceptions of power dynamics, emphasizing the importance of aligning actions with goals. The study also suggests that failing to meet ambitious goals can diminish perceptions of power, providing valuable insights for organizations on goal setting and leadership selection.

Key Facts:

Source: UCSD

Out-of-control behavior by CEOs and other powerful people constantly makes headlines so much so that some might consider impulsivity a pathway to power.

New research from the UC San Diego Rady School of Management and Texas A&M University finds that having self-control is often what leads to power.

In a paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers find that showing self-control influences how powerful an individual is perceived to be by their peers, as well as how much power they are granted by those peers.

In a series of seven experiments with roughly 3,500 participants, both students and working adults read about or interacted with individuals with varying levels of self-control, which the researchers define as how much people tend to behave in ways aligned with their goals.

Across all experiments, individuals with high self-control were seen as more powerful, and as better suited for powerful roles, than individuals with low self-control.

In one experiment, working adults imagined a scenario where a colleague with the goal of being fit either ate a large dessert or abstained from dessert altogether. Researchers found that the colleague was seen as being better suited for high-power roles when they abstained from indulging, an indication of self-control.

It did not matter whether the colleague seemed to deliberate before acting, or just acted without thinking, said Pamela Smith, associateprofessor of management at the Rady School of Management and co-author of the study.

What mattered for participants judgments was whether the colleague acted in line with their goals. This pattern held across a variety of goals in our experiments, including saving money, being healthy and reading books.

The researchers also found that people are perceived as less powerful and less suited for powerful roles when they fail to meet ambitious goals, even if their performance is the same as their peers.

In an experiment investigating how self-control often leads to power,a group of undergraduate students interacted with individuals who set various reading goals.

Some set an ambitious goal of reading 200 pages each week, while others set a more moderate goal of reading 50 pages per week. All of these individuals read the same amount 100 pages but those who didnt meet their goal were seen as less powerful by study participants.

Furthermore, study participants were less interested in having those who didnt meet their goal as the group leader in later tasks.

To motivate their employees, organizations often want employees to set stretch goals goals that are challenging and hard-to-reach. However, we found that setting a stretch goal and not meeting it makes someone look less powerful than setting an easy goal and surpassing it, said Rady School PhD student Shuang Wu, the first author of the paper.

Author: Christine Clark Source: UCSD Contact: Christine Clark UCSD Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Closed access. Self-Control Signals and Affords Power by Pamela Smith et al. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract

Self-Control Signals and Affords Power

Whom do we perceive as more powerful and prefer to give power to: Those who have self-control or those who lack it?

Past theory and research provide divergent predictions. Low self-control can be seen as a form of disinhibition, and disinhibition has been associated with greater power. However, high self-control can be seen as a form of agency, which is associated with greater power.

Across seven studies, we found that individuals who exhibited high self-control were seen as more powerful, and given more power, than individuals who exhibited low self-control.

This result held when the low or high self-control behavior was chosen either quickly or slowly (Studies 3 and 4), and when exhibiting low versus high self-control entailed the same action but different goals (Studies 5 and 6).

Study 6 demonstrated important implications of our findings for goal setting: People were perceived as more powerful and given more power when they had a modest goal but exceeded it than when they had an ambitious goal but failed to meet it, even though in both cases they performed the same action.

A meta-analysis of our mediation results showed that people perceived individuals higher in self-control as more assertive and competent, which was associated with greater power perception and then with greater power conferral. Perceived competence also directly mediated the effect of self-control on power conferral.

The current research addresses a theoretical debate in the power literature and contributes to a better understanding of how power is perceived and accrued.

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Self-Control, Not Impulsivity, Paves the Way to Power - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

3D Maps Reveal Molecular Complexities of the Brain – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers pioneered the use of spatial omics and deep learning to craft 3D molecular maps of the brain, offering new insights into its function across different scales. Their study employs advanced mass spectrometry imaging and single-cell metabolomics to decode the brains intricate biochemistry.

This groundbreaking work aims to unravel the complex chemical interactions within the brain, potentially paving the way for breakthroughs in treating neurological diseases. The collaborative effort underscores the importance of interdisciplinary research in advancing our understanding of the brains molecular landscape.

Key Facts:

Source: Beckman Institute

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology researchersJonathan Sweedler, a professor of chemistry, andFan Lam, a professor of bioengineering, outlined how spatial omics technologies can reveal the molecular intricacy of the brain at different scales.

Their research appeared this month inNature Methods.

The researchers and their colleagues used a biochemical imaging framework integrated with deep learning to create 3D molecular maps with cell specificity to better understand how the brain functions in health and disease. Their research is supported by a$3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.

If you look at the brain chemically, its like a soup with a bunch of ingredients, Lam said. Understanding the biochemistry of the brain, how it organizes spatiotemporally, and how those chemical reactions support computing is critical to having a better idea of how the brain functions in health as well as during disease.

To understand how the brains chemical ingredients interact with one another, the researchers used a new imaging technique called mass spectrometry imaging to collect and analyze massive amounts of high-resolution data.

They also used single-cell metabolomics and computational tools to extract data about individual molecules in single brain cells, which enabled data acquisition at unprecedented speeds and scales.

Most people have a feeling that brain diseases such as depression and Alzheimers are caused by neurochemical imbalances, Sweedler said. But those imbalances are really hard to study and its difficult to understand how chemicals interact at different scales (for example, at the tissue level and individual cell level) during problems in the brain.

According to Sweedler, creating 3D maps of chemical distributions with cell-type specificity enables researchers to further understand the complicated biochemistry withinthe brain, which in the long term should help address currently intractable neurological diseases.

Single-cell metabolomics, a technology critical to the researchers findings, was named as one of Natures Seven technologies to watch in 2023 along with CRISPR and the James Webb Space Telescope, speaking to the high impact these tools will continue to have as it relates to looking at cell-specific data, Sweedler said.

The research wouldnt have been possible without the collaborative nature of the Beckman Institute.

It truly amazes me how small interactions can turn into interesting research conversations and eventually into large-scale collaborative studies, said first author Richard Xie, aBeckman Institute Graduate Fellow.

The key is to be open-minded and interdisciplinary, as you may draw inspirations from another field. I feel very excited about the progress on leveraging different expertise across groups to engineer tools to better depict the biochemical landscape of the brain.

Lam and Sweedler met at Xies behest to discuss his work on single-cell and tissue mass spectrometry imaging. The team had a breakthrough in how informatics and computational methods could lead to a new kind of multimodal, multiscale biochemical imaging thats highlighted in their recent Nature Methods paper.

Funding: Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01AG078797. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Author: Jenna Kurtzweil Source: Beckman Institute Contact: Jenna Kurtzweil Beckman Institute Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Multiscale biochemical mapping of the brain through deep-learning-enhanced high-throughput mass spectrometry by Fan Lam et al. Nature Methods

Abstract

Multiscale biochemical mapping of the brain through deep-learning-enhanced high-throughput mass spectrometry

Spatial omics technologies can reveal the molecular intricacy of the brain. While mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) provides spatial localization of compounds, comprehensive biochemical profiling at a brain-wide scale in three dimensions by MSI with single-cell resolution has not been achieved.

We demonstrate complementary brain-wide and single-cell biochemical mapping using MEISTER, an integrative experimental and computational mass spectrometry (MS) framework.

Our framework integrates a deep-learning-based reconstruction that accelerates high-mass-resolving MS by 15-fold, multimodal registration creating three-dimensional (3D) molecular distributions and a data integration method fitting cell-specific mass spectra to 3D datasets.

We imaged detailed lipid profiles in tissues with millions of pixels and in large single-cell populations acquired from the rat brain. We identified region-specific lipid contents and cell-specific localizations of lipids depending on both cell subpopulations and anatomical origins of the cells.

Our workflow establishes a blueprint for future development of multiscale technologies for biochemical characterization of the brain.

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3D Maps Reveal Molecular Complexities of the Brain - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Loneliness Linked to Personality Disorders – Neuroscience News

Summary: A systematic review synthesizing data from 70 studies reveals significant insights into the relationship between loneliness, perceived social support (PSS), and personality disorders.

The review found that individuals with personality disorder traits or diagnoses, except those with narcissistic traits, experience higher levels of loneliness and lower levels of PSS compared to the general population and other clinical groups. Certain risk factors were identified, including previous depression, sleep disruption from nocturnal hot flashes, and concurrent stressful life events, which heighten the risk of depressive symptoms during menopause.

These findings underscore the pressing need for targeted interventions to address the social and emotional challenges faced by individuals with personality disorders.

Key Facts:

Source: Neuroscience News

In a society where mental health awareness is steadily rising, the shadows cast by loneliness and insufficient social support, particularly among individuals with personality disorders, remain a significant concern.

A groundbreaking systematic review conducted by researchers delves into the prevalence and severity of loneliness and deficits in perceived social support (PSS) among people with personality disorder traits or diagnoses.

This comprehensive analysis, which synthesized data from 70 studies, sheds light on the intricate relationship between social isolation, the quality of interpersonal relationships, and personality disorders.

The Intricate Web of Loneliness and Personality Disorders

Personality disorders, characterized by enduring patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience that deviate markedly from the expectations of an individuals culture, often lead to significant distress or impairment.

The systematic review uncovers that individuals with traits or diagnoses of personality disorders, barring those with narcissistic traits, report feeling lonelier and having lower levels of perceived social support compared to both the general population and other clinical groups.

This revelation underscores the nuanced challenges faced by those with personality disorders, challenges that extend beyond the symptoms of the disorders themselves and into the realm of social and emotional well-being.

The Methodology Behind the Insights

The systematic review, a meticulous synthesis of quantitative data, included studies from Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Social Science, Google scholar, and Ethos British Library, spanning up to December 2021.

The majority of the included studies were cross-sectional and predominantly based in the United States, focusing on community samples.

By employing quality appraisals and grading the certainty of evidence, the review prioritized high-quality studies to draw its conclusions, providing a robust understanding of the social challenges faced by individuals with personality disorders.

Key Findings: A Closer Look

The reviews findings paint a complex picture of the social landscape for individuals with personality disorders:

The Implications: Toward Targeted Interventions

The systematic reviews findings hold significant implications for mental health professionals, policymakers, and researchers alike. By highlighting the critical role of social factors in the mental health and recovery of individuals with personality disorders, the review calls for a shift in therapeutic approaches.

Traditional treatments focusing solely on symptom management may not suffice; there is a pressing need for interventions that also address the social and emotional needs of these individuals.

Developing targeted interventions to enhance social support and reduce loneliness could have profound effects on the mental health outcomes for individuals with personality disorders.

Such interventions could range from group therapy sessions designed to foster social skills and connections, to community-based programs aimed at integrating these individuals into supportive social networks.

Challenges and Future Directions

The review acknowledges several challenges, including the low quality of evidence and the cross-sectional nature of most studies, which limits the ability to establish causality. Furthermore, the focus on primarily U.S.-based studies and community samples may limit the generalizability of the findings.

These challenges highlight the need for further research, particularly longitudinal studies, to explore the causative links between personality disorders, loneliness, and social support deficits.

A Call to Action

The systematic review serves as a call to action for mental health professionals, researchers, and policymakers to prioritize the social and emotional well-being of individuals with personality disorders.

By recognizing the profound impact of loneliness and social support deficits, and developing targeted interventions, we can take a significant step toward improving the quality of life and mental health outcomes for this vulnerable population.

In conclusion, this systematic review shines a spotlight on the critical yet often overlooked aspect of mental health care for individuals with personality disorders.

As we move forward, it is imperative that we address the complex interplay between social isolation, perceived social support, and personality disorders with compassion, understanding, and targeted interventions.

Breaking the cycle of isolation for those with personality disorders is not just a matter of improving individual lives; it is about fostering a more inclusive, supportive, and mentally healthy society.

Author: Neuroscience News Communications Contact: Neuroscience News Source: Neuroscience News Communications Neuroscience News Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. The prevalence and severity of loneliness and deficits in perceived social support among who have received a personality disorder diagnosis or have relevant traits: a systematic review by Sarah Ikhtabi et al. BMC Psychiatry

Abstract

The prevalence and severity of loneliness and deficits in perceived social support among who have received a personality disorder diagnosis or have relevant traits: a systematic review

Loneliness and struggles with unmet social needs are a common experience among people with personality disorder diagnoses/traits. Given the impact of loneliness and poor perceived social support on mental health, and the importance of a sense of belonging for recovery, a systematic review examining the prevalence/severity of loneliness and deficits in perceived social support among people with personality disorder diagnoses/traits is an essential step towards developing an intervention targeting the social needs of people with diagnoses/traits personality disorder. Despite an extensive literature on loneliness and deficits of perceived social support among people with personality disorder diagnosis/traits, to date there has been no systematic review of this evidence.

We conducted a systematic review synthesising quantitative data on the prevalence/severity of loneliness and deficits of perceived social support among people with diagnoses/traits of personality disorder in comparison with other clinical groups and the general population. We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Social Science, Google scholar and Ethos British Library from inception to December 2021. We conducted quality appraisals using the Joanna Briggs Critical appraisal tools and rated the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. A narrative synthesis was used describing the direction and strength of associations prioritising high quality studies.

A final set of 70 studies are included in this review, most of which are cross-sectional studies(n=55),based in the United States(51%)and focused on community samples. Our synthesis of evidence found that, across all types of personality disorders (except narcissistic personality traits), people with traits associated with personality disorder or meeting criteria for a diagnosis of personality disorder, have higher levels of loneliness, lower perceived relationship satisfaction, and poorer social support than the general population or other clinical samples.

The quality of evidence is judged as low quality. However, given the distressing nature of loneliness and the known negative effects of loneliness on mental health and recovery, it is important for future research to explore mechanisms by which loneliness may exacerbate personality disorder symptoms and the impact this has on recovery.

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Loneliness Linked to Personality Disorders - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Gen Z’s Climate Anxiety: A Call for Action and Hope – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study reveals Gen Zs profound concern over climate change, identifying it as their top environmental worry with over 80% feeling anxious about its impacts. This climate anxiety contributes to a broader unease towards the future, affecting life decisions such as career choices and family planning.

Despite their concerns, only a third of Gen Z engages in traditional climate activism, with many turning to social media for advocacy and information. The study underscores the need for Gen Z to explore varied activism forms to drive meaningful change and alleviate feelings of powerlessness, highlighting the importance of collective action in addressing climate change.

Key Facts:

Source: Curtain University

New Curtin University research has shown Australian young people have major concerns about climate change, which is having a significant impact on their lives and could have broader consequences decades into the future.

Published inSustainable Earth Reviews, the study surveyed Australian university students belonging to Generation Z (people born between 1995 and 2010) and found climate change was their number one environmental concern.

More than 80 percent reported being concerned or very concerned about climate change, with many revealing they felt anxious over the issue.

Climate anxiety sees concern about climate change manifest as disturbing thoughts, overwhelming distress about future climate disasters and the continuing fate of humanity and the world. It can also translate into feelings of fear, insecurity, anger, exhaustion, powerlessness and sadness.

Curtin Professor of SustainabilityDora Marinovasaid climate anxiety was a contributing factor to Gen Zs overall sense of unease towards the future, which could have major future ramifications.

These young people are very concerned and, in a way, intimidated by the lack of concrete action being taken to battle climate change, Professor Marinova said.

Gen Z has serious concerns which will not only impact their mental health which will be something society and the public health system will have to deal with but also the choices young people make: how they spend their money, whether they have families, their choice of career and more.

The study also revealed despite their concerns, only 35 per cent of Gen Z regularly engaged in traditional climate activism such as fundraising, donating money to worthy causes, supporting political campaigns, or participating in events such as marches or protests.

Curtin Research FellowDr Diana Boguevasaid the survey respondents instead regularly use social media to voice their concerns and find out information.

She said while their online activities were important, Gen Z may need to engage in other ways to both alleviate climate anxiety and drive change.

Gen Z should consider participating in more traditional or mainstream areas of activism such as political campaigns to engage with policy makers and better connect with other generations to influence decision makers, to accelerate climate action, and help safeguard a liveable planet for all, she said.

Dr Bogueva stressed it wasnt solely Gen Zs responsibility to solve climate change a problem they didnt create but taking meaningful action can help alleviate an individuals feelings of anxiety and powerlessness.

This can include finding out how they can be part of the solution in their personal lives, whether its choosing a career which has an impact or adjusting the products or food they consume, she said.

While the challenges of climate change can be scary it is not too late for Gen Z to make a difference fighting for a sustainable future.

Author: Sam Jeremic Source: Curtain University Contact: Sam Jeremic Curtain University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Australias university Generation Z and its concerns about climate change by Dora Marinova et al. Sustainable Earth Reviews

Abstract

Australias university Generation Z and its concerns about climate change

Despite scientific evidence about the imminent threat of climate change, people and governments around the world are slow in taking sufficient action. Against these bleak outlooks, Generation Z (Gen Z) born 19952010 will inherit the consequences of prolonged inaction. This research delves into the climate change concerns of Australias university Gen Z.

A representative survey of 446 Australian university students conducted between September 2021 and April 2022 revealed that climate change is the top environmental concern for Gen Z with 81% of these young people being significantly concerned and many experiencing serious climate anxiety.

Despite this pervasive concern, 65% of Australias university Gen Z is not engaged in traditional climate activism; however, these young people are using technology to voice their concerns.

As the future decision-makers of the world, it is crucial for Gen Z to accelerate climate action in all of its forms, including engaging with scientific knowledge and other generations to shape policies and safeguard a liveable planet for all.

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Gen Z's Climate Anxiety: A Call for Action and Hope - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Decoding Emotions: Beyond Senses in the Human Brain – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study explores how the human brain constructs emotions, regardless of sensory input.

By analyzing brain activity in individuals with and without sensory deprivations while they experienced the film 101 Dalmatians, researchers discovered that emotions are represented in the brain through an abstract coding system that transcends sensory modalities. This system involves a distributed network, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which stores abstract representations of emotions.

The findings challenge traditional views on emotion and perception, suggesting that our emotional experiences are not solely dictated by our immediate sensory input but are instead constructed by the brain in a more abstract manner.

Key Facts:

Source: IMT

How much do our emotions depend on our senses? Does our brain and body react in the same way when we hear a fearful scream, see an eerie shadow, or smell a sinister odor? And does hearing an upbeat music or seeing a colorful landascape bring the same joy?

In an innovative study published inScience Advances, researchers have unveiled new insights into the intricate relationship between emotion and perception.

Led by a team of Italian neuroscientists from theIMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, and conducted in collaboration with the University of Turin, the research project investigates whether the brain employs sensory-specific or abstract codes to construct emotional experiences.

Emotion and perception are deeply intertwined, yet the exact mechanisms by which the brain represents emotional instances have remained elusive, saysGiada Lettieri, researcher in psychology at the IMT School, and lead author of the study.

Our research addresses this fundamental question, providing critical insights into how the brain organizes and represents emotional information across different sensory modalities and as a result of past sensory experience.

To conduct the study, the researchers showed the movie101 Dalmatiansto a group of 50 volunteers, and tracked with functional magnetic resonance imaging the brain activity associated with the unfolding of the movie plot.

The viewers of the movie in the scanner were both individuals with typical development and congenitally blind and congenitally deaf volunteers, who were presented with the audio play and the silent version of the movie, respectively.

The researchers also asked a group of 124 independent participants to express and rate their emotions while watching the same movie outside the scanner, trying to predict the brain response of people with and without sensory deprivation during the experience of amusement, fear, and sadness, among other emotions.

Including in the experiment individuals with congenital sensory deprivation blind and deaf people is a way to dissect and decipher the contribution of sensory experience to neural mechanisms underlying emotions explainsLuca Cecchetti, researcher at the IMT School, and senior author and supervisor of the study.

Our results show that emotions categories are represented in the brain regardless of sensory experience and modalities. In particular, there is a distributed network encompassing sensory, prefrontal, and temporal areas of the brain, which collectively encode emotional instances.

Of note, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex emerged as a key locus for storing an abstract representation of emotions, which does not depend on prior sensory experience or modality.

The existence of an abstract coding of emotions in the brain signifies that even though we are tempted to believe that our emotions directly depend on what happens in the surrounding world, it is our brain that is wired to generate emotional meaning regardless of whether we are able to see or hear.

In a world where sensory-deprived individuals are frequently overlooked, it is essential to understand how mental faculties and their corresponding neural representations can evolve and refine without sensory input, so to further advance the understanding of theemotion and the human brain, says Lettieri.

Author: Chiara Palmerini Source: IMT Contact: Chiara Palmerini IMT Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: The findings will appear in Science Advances

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Decoding Emotions: Beyond Senses in the Human Brain - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Brain Circuit Balances Speech and Breath – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers identified a brain circuit that harmonizes vocalization with breathing, ensuring that speech occurs predominantly during exhalation. This circuit, which regulates the larynxs narrowing and the act of exhaling, is under the influence of a brainstem area responsible for the breathing rhythm.

By studying mice, the team discovered that this vocalization circuit receives inhibitory signals from the pre-Btzinger complex during inhalation, preventing speech. This groundbreaking discovery not only sheds light on how speech and breathing coordination is neurologically controlled but also suggests a fundamental mechanism shared across species, including humans, underscoring the primacy of breathing over vocalization.

Key Facts:

Source: MIT

MIT researchers have discovered a brain circuit that drives vocalization and ensures that you talk only when you breathe out, and stop talking when you breathe in.

The newly discovered circuit controls two actions that are required for vocalization: narrowing of the larynx and exhaling air from the lungs. The researchers also found that this vocalization circuit is under the command of a brainstem region that regulates the breathing rhythm, which ensures that breathing remains dominant over speech.

When you need to breathe in, you have to stop vocalization. We found that the neurons that control vocalization receive direct inhibitory input from the breathing rhythm generator, says Fan Wang, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences, a member of MITs McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and the senior author of the study.

Jaehong Park, a Duke University graduate student who is currently a visiting student at MIT, is the lead author of the study, which appears today inScience. Other authors of the paper include MIT technical associates Seonmi Choi and Andrew Harrahill, former MIT research scientist Jun Takatoh, and Duke University researchers Shengli Zhao and Bao-Xia Han.

Vocalization control

Located in the larynx, the vocal cords are two muscular bands that can open and close. When they are mostly closed, or adducted, air exhaled from the lungs generates sound as it passes through the cords.

The MIT team set out to study how the brain controls this vocalization process, using a mouse model. Mice communicate with each other using sounds known as ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), which they produce using the unique whistling mechanism of exhaling air through a small hole between nearly closed vocal cords.

We wanted to understand what are the neurons that control the vocal cord adduction, and then how do those neurons interact with the breathing circuit? Wang says.

To figure that out, the researchers used a technique that allows them to map the synaptic connections between neurons. They knew that vocal cord adduction is controlled by laryngeal motor neurons, so they began by tracing backward to find the neurons that innervate those motor neurons.

This revealed that one major source of input is a group of premotor neurons found in the hindbrain region called the retroambiguus nucleus (RAm). Previous studies have shown that this area is involved in vocalization, but it wasnt known exactly which part of the RAm was required or how it enabled sound production.

The researchers found that these synaptic tracing-labeled RAm neurons were strongly activated during USVs. This observation prompted the team to use an activity-dependent method to target these vocalization-specific RAm neurons, termed as RAmVOC. They used chemogenetics and optogenetics to explore what would happen if they silenced or stimulated their activity.

When the researchers blocked the RAmVOCneurons, the mice were no longer able to produce USVs or any other kind of vocalization. Their vocal cords did not close, and their abdominal muscles did not contract, as they normally do during exhalation for vocalization.

Conversely, when the RAmVOCneurons were activated, the vocal cords closed, the mice exhaled, and USVs were produced. However, if the stimulation lasted two seconds or longer, these USVs would be interrupted by inhalations, suggesting that the process is under control of the same part of the brain that regulates breathing.

Breathing is a survival need, Wang says. Even though these neurons are sufficient to elicit vocalization, they are under the control of breathing, which can override our optogenetic stimulation.

Rhythm generation

Additional synaptic mapping revealed that neurons in a part of the brainstem called the pre-Btzinger complex, which acts as a rhythm generator for inhalation, provide direct inhibitory input to the RAmVOCneurons.

The pre-Btzinger complex generates inhalation rhythms automatically and continuously, and the inhibitory neurons in that region project to these vocalization premotor neurons and essentially can shut them down, Wang says.

This ensures that breathing remains dominant over speech production, and that we have to pause to breathe while speaking.

The researchers believe that although human speech production is more complex than mouse vocalization, the circuit they identified in mice plays the conserved role in speech production and breathing in humans.

Even though the exact mechanism and complexity of vocalization in mice and humans is really different, the fundamental vocalization process, called phonation, which requires vocal cord closure and the exhalation of air, is shared in both the human and the mouse, Park says.

The researchers now hope to study how other functions such as coughing and swallowing food may be affected by the brain circuits that control breathing and vocalization.

Funding: The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Author: Sarah McDonnell Source: MIT Contact: Sarah McDonnell MIT Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: The findings will appear in Science

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Brain Circuit Balances Speech and Breath - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Schizophrenia and Aging Share Brain Changes – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study revealed shared cellular and molecular changes in the brains of people with schizophrenia and older adults, pointing to a common biological basis for cognitive impairments in these groups.

The study analyzed gene expression in over a million cells from 191 individuals, uncovering a coordinated reduction in genes supporting synaptic connections by neurons and astrocytes, dubbed the Synaptic Neuron and Astrocyte Program (SNAP). This synchronization indicates a closely coordinated system affecting brain function, with potential implications for understanding and treating cognitive decline in schizophrenia and aging.

The discovery of SNAP offers insights into the brains synaptic dynamics and raises hope for identifying interventions to preserve cognitive functions.

Key Facts:

Source: Broad Institute

Researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and McLean Hospital have uncovered a strikingly similar suite of changes in gene activity in brain tissue from people with schizophrenia and from older adults.

These changes suggest a common biological basis for the cognitive impairment often seen in people with schizophrenia and in the elderly.

In a study published inNature, the team describes how they analyzed gene expression in more than a million individual cells from postmortem brain tissue from 191 people.

They found that in individuals with schizophrenia and in older adults without schizophrenia, two brain cell types called astrocytes and neurons reduced their expression of genes that support the junctions between neurons called synapses, compared to healthy or younger people.

They also discovered tightly synchronized gene expression changes in the two cell types: when neurons decreased the expression of certain genes related to synapses, astrocytes similarly changed expression of a distinct set of genes that support synapses.

The team called this coordinated set of changes the Synaptic Neuron and Astrocyte Program (SNAP). Even in healthy, young people, the expression of the SNAP genes always increased or decreased in a coordinated way in their neurons and astrocytes.

Science often focuses on what genes each cell type expresses on its own, saidSteve McCarroll, a co-senior author on the study and an institute member at the Broad Institute.

But brain tissue from many people, and machine-learning analyses of those data, helped us recognize a larger system. These cell types are not acting as independent entities, but have really close coordination. The strength of those relationships took our breath away.

Schizophrenia is well-known for causing hallucinations and delusion, which can be at least partly treated with medications. But it also causes debilitating cognitive decline, which has no effective treatments and is common in aging as well.

The new findings suggest that the cognitive changes in both conditions might involve similar cellular and molecular alterations in the brain.

To detect coordination between astrocytes and neurons in schizophrenia and aging, we needed to study tissue samples from a very large number of individuals, said Sabina Berretta, a co-senior author of the study, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and a researcher in the field of psychiatric disorders.

Our gratitude goes to all donors who chose to donate their brain to research to help others suffering from brain disorders and to whom wed like to dedicate this work.

McCarroll is also director of genomic neurobiology for the BroadsStanley Center for Psychiatric Researchand a professor at Harvard Medical School. Berretta also directs theHarvard Brain Tissue Resource Center(HBTRC), which provided tissue for the study. Emi Ling, a postdoctoral researcher in McCarrolls lab, was the studys first author.

SNAP insights

The brain works in large part because neurons connect with other neurons at synapses, where they pass signals to one another. The brain constantly forms new synapses and prunes old ones.

Scientists think new synapses help our brains stay flexible, and studies including previous efforts by scientists inMcCarrolls labandinternational consortia have shown that many genetic factors linked to schizophrenia involve genes that contribute to the function of synapses.

In the new study, McCarroll, Berretta, and colleagues used single-nucleus RNA sequencing, which measures gene expression in individual cells, to better understand how the brain naturally varies across individuals. They analyzed 1.2 million cells from94 people with schizophrenia and 97 without.

They found that when neurons boosted expression of genes that encode parts of synapses, astrocytes increased the expression of a distinct set of genes involved in synaptic function.

These genes, which make up the SNAP program, included many previously identified risk factors for schizophrenia. The teams analyses indicated that both neurons and astrocytes shape genetic vulnerability for the condition.

Science has long known that neurons and synapses are important in risk for schizophrenia, but by framing the question a different way asking what genes each cell type regulates dynamically we found that astrocytes too are likely involved, said Ling.

To their surprise, the researchers also found that SNAP varied greatly even among people without schizophrenia, suggesting that SNAP could be involved in cognitive differences in healthy humans.

Much of this variation was explained by age; SNAP declined substantially in many but not all older individuals, including both people with and without schizophrenia.

With better understanding of SNAP, McCarroll says he hopes it might be possible to identify life factors that positively influence SNAP, and develop medicines that help stimulate SNAP, as a way to treat the cognitive impairments of schizophrenia or help people maintain their cognitive flexibility as they age.

In the meantime, McCarroll, Berretta, and their team are working to understand if these changes are present in other conditions such as bipolar disorder and depression. They also aim to uncover the extent to which SNAP appears in other brain areas, and how SNAP affects learning and cognitive flexibility.

Funding: This work was supported by the Stanley Family Foundation, the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain, and the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

Author: Allessandra DiCorato Source: Broad Institute Contact: Allessandra DiCorato Broad Institute Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Concerted neuron-astrocyte program declines in ageing and schizophrenia by Steve McCarroll et al. Nature

Abstract

Concerted neuron-astrocyte program declines in ageing and schizophrenia

Human brains vary across people and over time; such variation is not yet understood in cellular terms. Here we describe a relationship between peoples cortical neurons and cortical astrocytes.

We used single-nucleus RNA sequencing to analyse the prefrontal cortex of 191 human donors aged 2297years, including healthy individuals and people with schizophrenia.

Latent-factor analysis of these data revealed that, in people whose cortical neurons more strongly expressed genes encoding synaptic components, cortical astrocytes more strongly expressed distinct genes with synaptic functions and genes for synthesizing cholesterol, an astrocyte-supplied component of synaptic membranes. We call this relationship the synaptic neuron and astrocyte program (SNAP).

In schizophrenia and ageingtwo conditions that involve declines in cognitive flexibility and plasticitycells divested from SNAP: astrocytes, glutamatergic (excitatory) neurons and GABAergic (inhibitory) neurons all showed reduced SNAP expression to corresponding degrees.

The distinct astrocytic and neuronal components of SNAP both involved genes in which genetic risk factors for schizophrenia were strongly concentrated. SNAP, which varies quantitatively even among healthy people of similar age, may underlie many aspects of normal human interindividual differences and may be an important point of convergence for multiple kinds of pathophysiology.

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Schizophrenia and Aging Share Brain Changes - Neuroscience News