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Zhao X, Zhang R, Feng T. The vmPFC-IPL functional connectivity as the neural basis of future self-continuity impacted procrastination: the mediating role of anticipated positive outcomes. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2024; 20:11. [PMID: 38724963 PMCID: PMC11083830 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-024-00236-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024]
Abstract
Procrastination is universally acknowledged as a problematic behavior with wide-ranging consequences impacting various facets of individuals' lives, including academic achievement, social accomplishments, and mental health. Although previous research has indicated that future self-continuity is robustly negatively correlated with procrastination, it remains unknown about the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of future self-continuity on procrastination. To address this issue, we employed a free construction approach to collect individuals' episodic future thinking (EFT) thoughts regarding specific procrastination tasks. Next, we conducted voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis to explore the neural substrates underlying future self-continuity. Behavior results revealed that future self-continuity was significantly negatively correlated with procrastination, and positively correlated with anticipated positive outcome. The VBM analysis showed a positive association between future self-continuity and gray matter volumes in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Furthermore, the RSFC results indicated that the functional connectivity between the right vmPFC and the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was positively correlated with future self-continuity. More importantly, the mediation analysis demonstrated that anticipated positive outcome can completely mediate the relationship between the vmPFC-IPL functional connectivity and procrastination. These findings suggested that vmPFC-IPL functional connectivity might prompt anticipated positive outcome about the task and thereby reduce procrastination, which provides a new perspective to understand the relationship between future self-continuity and procrastination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaotian Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tian Sheng RD., Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Rong Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tian Sheng RD., Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Tingyong Feng
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tian Sheng RD., Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China.
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China.
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2
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Setton R, Wynn JS, Schacter DL. Peering into the future: Eye movements predict neural repetition effects during episodic simulation. Neuropsychologia 2024; 197:108852. [PMID: 38508374 PMCID: PMC11140475 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Imagining future scenarios involves recombining different elements of past experiences into a coherent event, a process broadly supported by the brain's default network. Prior work suggests that distinct brain regions may contribute to the inclusion of different simulation features. Here we examine how activity in these brain regions relates to the vividness of future simulations. Thirty-four healthy young adults imagined future events with familiar people and locations in a two-part study involving a repetition suppression paradigm. First, participants imagined events while their eyes were tracked during a behavioral session. Immediately after, participants imagined events during MRI scanning. The events to be imagined were manipulated such that some were identical to those imagined in the behavioral session while others involved new locations, new people, or both. In this way, we could examine how self-report ratings and eye movements predict brain activity during simulation along with specific simulation features. Vividness ratings were negatively correlated with eye movements, in contrast to an often-observed positive relationship with past recollection. Moreover, fewer eye movements predicted greater involvement of the hippocampus during simulation, an effect specific to location features. Our findings suggest that eye movements may facilitate scene construction for future thinking, lending support to frameworks that spatial information forms the foundation of episodic simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roni Setton
- Harvard University, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Jordana S Wynn
- University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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3
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Aupperle RL, Kuplicki R, Tsuchiyagaito A, Akeman E, Sturycz-Taylor CA, DeVille D, Lasswell T, Misaki M, Berg H, McDermott TJ, Touthang J, Ballard ED, Cha C, Schacter DL, Paulus MP. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation and neurofeedback modulation during episodic future thinking for individuals with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Behav Res Ther 2024; 176:104522. [PMID: 38547724 PMCID: PMC11103812 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2024.104522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
Individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) show less specificity and positivity during episodic future thinking (EFT). Here, we present findings from two studies aiming to (1) further our understanding of how STBs may relate to neural responsivity during EFT and (2) examine the feasibility of modulating EFT-related activation using real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf). Study 1 involved 30 individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD; half with STBs) who performed an EFT task during fMRI, for which they imagined personally-relevant future positive, negative, or neutral events. Positive EFT elicited greater ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activation compared to negative EFT. Importantly, the MDD + STB group exhibited reduced vmPFC activation across all EFT conditions compared to MDD-STB; although EFT fluency and subjective experience remained consistent across groups. Study 2 included rtfMRI-nf focused on vmPFC modulation during positive EFT for six participants with MDD + STBs. Results support the feasibility and acceptability of the rtfMRI-nf protocol and quantitative and qualitative observations are provided to help inform future, larger studies aiming to examine similar neurofeedback protocols. Results implicate vmPFC blunting as a promising treatment target for MDD + STBs and suggest rtfMRI-nf as one potential technique to explore for enhancing vmPFC engagement.
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Affiliation(s)
- R L Aupperle
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA; School of Community Medicine, 1215 South Boulder Ave W., The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, 74119, USA.
| | - R Kuplicki
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - A Tsuchiyagaito
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - E Akeman
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - C A Sturycz-Taylor
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - D DeVille
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 4510 Executive Drive, San Diego, CA, 92121, USA
| | - T Lasswell
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - M Misaki
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - H Berg
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - T J McDermott
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - J Touthang
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA
| | - E D Ballard
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiological Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - C Cha
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 428 Horace Mann, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - D L Schacter
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., William James Hall, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - M P Paulus
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74008, USA; School of Community Medicine, 1215 South Boulder Ave W., The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, 74119, USA
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4
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Ryom KI, Basu A, Stendardi D, Ciaramelli E, Treves A. Taking time to compose thoughts with prefrontal schemata. Exp Brain Res 2024; 242:1101-1114. [PMID: 38483564 PMCID: PMC11078815 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-024-06785-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024]
Abstract
Under what conditions can prefrontal cortex direct the composition of brain states, to generate coherent streams of thoughts? Using a simplified Potts model of cortical dynamics, crudely differentiated into two halves, we show that once activity levels are regulated, so as to disambiguate a single temporal sequence, whether the contents of the sequence are mainly determined by the frontal or by the posterior half, or by neither, depends on statistical parameters that describe its microcircuits. The frontal cortex tends to lead if it has more local attractors, longer lasting and stronger ones, in order of increasing importance. Its guidance is particularly effective to the extent that posterior cortices do not tend to transition from state to state on their own. The result may be related to prefrontal cortex enforcing its temporally-oriented schemata driving coherent sequences of brain states, unlike the atemporal "context" contributed by the hippocampus. Modelling a mild prefrontal (vs. posterior) lesion offers an account of mind-wandering and event construction deficits observed in prefrontal patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kwang Il Ryom
- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy
| | - Anindita Basu
- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy
| | - Debora Stendardi
- Dip. Psicologia Renzo Canestrari, Univ. Bologna, Viale C. Berti-Pichat 5, 40126, Bologna, Italy
| | - Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dip. Psicologia Renzo Canestrari, Univ. Bologna, Viale C. Berti-Pichat 5, 40126, Bologna, Italy
| | - Alessandro Treves
- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy.
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5
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Fernandino L, Binder JR. How does the "default mode" network contribute to semantic cognition? BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 252:105405. [PMID: 38579461 PMCID: PMC11135161 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
This review examines whether and how the "default mode" network (DMN) contributes to semantic processing. We review evidence implicating the DMN in the processing of individual word meanings and in sentence- and discourse-level semantics. Next, we argue that the areas comprising the DMN contribute to semantic processing by coordinating and integrating the simultaneous activity of local neuronal ensembles across multiple unimodal and multimodal cortical regions, creating a transient, global neuronal ensemble. The resulting ensemble implements an integrated simulation of phenomenological experience - that is, an embodied situation model - constructed from various modalities of experiential memory traces. These situation models, we argue, are necessary not only for semantic processing but also for aspects of cognition that are not traditionally considered semantic. Although many aspects of this proposal remain provisional, we believe it provides new insights into the relationships between semantic and non-semantic cognition and into the functions of the DMN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Fernandino
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA.
| | - Jeffrey R Binder
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA; Department of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA
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6
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Zhang Y, Banihashemi L, Versace A, Samolyk A, Taylor M, English G, Schmithorst VJ, Lee VK, Stiffler R, Aslam H, Panigrahy A, Hipwell AE, Phillips ML. Early Infant Prefrontal Cortical Microstructure Predicts Present and Future Emotionality. Biol Psychiatry 2024:S0006-3223(24)01220-4. [PMID: 38604525 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND High levels of infant negative emotionality (NE) and low positive emotionality (PE) predict future emotional and behavioral problems. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) supports emotional regulation, with each PFC subregion specializing in specific emotional processes. Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging estimates microstructural integrity and myelination via the neurite density index (NDI) and dispersion via the orientation dispersion index (ODI), with potential to more accurately evaluate microstructural alterations in the developing brain. Yet, no study has used these indices to examine associations between PFC microstructure and concurrent or developing infant emotionality. METHODS We modeled PFC subregional NDI and ODI at 3 months with caregiver-reported infant NE and PE at 3 months (n = 61) and at 9 months (n = 50), using multivariable and subsequent bivariate regression models. RESULTS The most robust statistically significant findings were positive associations among 3-month rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) ODI and caudal ACC NDI and concurrent NE, a positive association between 3-month lateral orbitofrontal cortex ODI and prospective NE, and a negative association between 3-month dorsolateral PFC ODI and concurrent PE. Multivariate models also revealed that other PFC subregional microstructure measures, as well as infant and caregiver sociodemographic and clinical factors, predicted infant 3- and 9-month NE and PE. CONCLUSIONS Greater NDI and ODI, reflecting greater microstructural complexity, in PFC regions supporting salience perception (rostral ACC), decision making (lateral orbitofrontal cortex), action selection (caudal ACC), and attentional processes (dorsolateral PFC) might result in greater integration of these subregions with other neural networks and greater attention to salient negative external cues, thus higher NE and/or lower PE. These findings provide potential infant cortical markers of future psychopathology risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yicheng Zhang
- Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
| | - Layla Banihashemi
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Amelia Versace
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Alyssa Samolyk
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Megan Taylor
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Gabrielle English
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Vanessa J Schmithorst
- Department of Pediatric Radiology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Vincent K Lee
- Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Pediatric Radiology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Richelle Stiffler
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Haris Aslam
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Ashok Panigrahy
- Department of Pediatric Radiology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Alison E Hipwell
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Mary L Phillips
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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7
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Gamble RS, Henry JD, Decety J, Vanman EJ. The role of external factors in affect-sharing and their neural bases. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 157:105540. [PMID: 38211739 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Affect-sharing, the ability to vicariously feel another person's emotions, is the primary component of empathy that is typically thought to rely on the observer's capacity to feel the emotions of others. However, external signals, such as the target's physical characteristics, have been demonstrated to influence affect-sharing in the neuroscientific literature that speaks to the underappreciated role of external factors in eliciting affect-sharing. We consider factors that influence affect-sharing, including physical cues, emotional cues, situational factors, and observer-target relationships, as well as the neural circuits involved in these processes. Our review reveals that, while neural network activation is primarily responsible for processing affect-sharing, external factors also co-activate a top-down cognitive processing network to modulate the conscious process of affect-sharing. From this knowledge, an integrative framework of external factor interactions with affect-sharing are explained in detail. Finally, we identify critical areas for future research in social and affective neuroscience, including research gaps and incorporation of ecologically valid paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger S Gamble
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072 Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
| | - Julie D Henry
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072 Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Jean Decety
- Department of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Eric J Vanman
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072 Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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8
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Yan X. The role of cortical midline structure in diagnoses and neuromodulation for major depressive disorder. PSYCHORADIOLOGY 2024; 4:kkae001. [PMID: 38666138 PMCID: PMC10917364 DOI: 10.1093/psyrad/kkae001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Xinyuan Yan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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9
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Kruschwitz JD, Goschke T, Ahmed Mohamed Ali E, Kraehe AC, Korb FM, Walter H. The role of anticipated emotions in self-control: linking self-control and the anticipatory ability to engage emotions associated with upcoming events. Front Psychol 2024; 14:1152155. [PMID: 38259533 PMCID: PMC10802682 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1152155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Self-control is typically attributed to "cold" cognitive control mechanisms that top-down influence "hot" affective impulses or emotions. In this study we tested an alternative view, assuming that self-control also rests on the ability to anticipate emotions directed toward future consequences. Using a behavioral within-subject design including an emotion regulation task measuring the ability to voluntarily engage anticipated emotions towards an upcoming event and a self-control task in which subjects were confronted with a variety of everyday conflict situations, we examined the relationship between self-control and anticipated emotions. We found that those individuals (n = 33 healthy individuals from the general population) who were better able to engage anticipated emotions to an upcoming event showed stronger levels of self-control in situations where it was necessary to resist short-term temptations or to endure short-term aversions to achieve long-term goals. This finding suggests that anticipated emotions may play a functional role in self-control-relevant deliberations with respect to possible future consequences and are not only inhibited top-down as implied by "dual system" views on self-control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johann D. Kruschwitz
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Thomas Goschke
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Elkhansa Ahmed Mohamed Ali
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne-Carolin Kraehe
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Franziska Maria Korb
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Henrik Walter
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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10
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Brevers D, Billieux J, de Timary P, Desmedt O, Maurage P, Perales JC, Suárez-Suárez S, Bechara A. Physical Exercise to Redynamize Interoception in Substance use Disorders. Curr Neuropharmacol 2024; 22:1047-1063. [PMID: 36918784 DOI: 10.2174/1570159x21666230314143803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Physical exercise is considered a promising medication-free and cost-effective adjunct treatment for substance use disorders (SUD). Nevertheless, evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions is currently limited, thereby signaling the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying their impact on SUD, in order to reframe and optimize them. Here we advance that physical exercise could be re-conceptualized as an "interoception booster", namely as a way to help people with SUD to better decode and interpret bodily-related signals associated with transient states of homeostatic imbalances that usually trigger consumption. We first discuss how mismatches between current and desired bodily states influence the formation of reward-seeking states in SUD, in light of the insular cortex brain networks. Next, we detail effort perception during physical exercise and discuss how it can be used as a relevant framework for re-dynamizing interoception in SUD. We conclude by providing perspectives and methodological considerations for applying the proposed approach to mixed-design neurocognitive research on SUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien Brevers
- Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Joël Billieux
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Centre for Excessive Gambling, Addiction Medicine, Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Philippe de Timary
- Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Adult Psychiatry, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Olivier Desmedt
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Pierre Maurage
- Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
| | - José Cesar Perales
- Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Samuel Suárez-Suárez
- Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Antoine Bechara
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, CA, USA
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11
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Shin WG, Jyung M, Choi I, Sul S. Perceived financial well-being and its association with frontostriatal functional connectivity, real-life anticipatory experiences, and everyday happiness. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18739. [PMID: 37907524 PMCID: PMC10618479 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44001-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Perceived financial well-being (FWB) is an important aspect of life that can affect one's attitude toward future experiences and happiness. However, the relationship between FWB, anticipatory experiences, and happiness, and the brain's functional architecture underlying this relationship remain unknown. Here, we combined an experience sampling method, multilevel modeling, and functional neuroimaging to identify the neural correlates of FWB and their associations with real-world anticipatory experiences and everyday happiness. Behaviorally, we found that individuals with greater FWB felt more positive and more interested when they expected positive events to occur, which in turn resulted in increased everyday happiness. Furthermore, the level of FWB was significantly associated with the strength of functional connectivity (FC) between the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the local coherence within the vmPFC. The frontostriatal FC and local coherence within the vmPFC were further predictive of everyday happiness via the anticipatory response involving interestedness during positive expectations. Our findings suggest that individual differences in FWB could be reflected in the functional architecture of brain's reward system that may contribute to shaping positive anticipatory experiences and happiness in daily life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Won-Gyo Shin
- Social Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Pusan National University, 2 Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea
| | - Mina Jyung
- Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Incheol Choi
- Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunhae Sul
- Social Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Pusan National University, 2 Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea.
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12
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Montijn ND, Gerritsen L, van Son D, Engelhard IM. Positive future thinking without task-relevance increases anxiety and frontal stress regulation. Biol Psychol 2023; 182:108620. [PMID: 37399916 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
Negative anticipatory biases can affect the way we interpret and subjectively experience events. Through its role in emotion regulation, positive future thinking may provide an accessible way to attenuate these biases. However, it is unclear whether positive future thinking works ubiquitously, independent of contextual relevance. Here, we used a positive future thinking intervention (task-relevant; task-irrelevant and control condition) prior to a social stress task to adapt the way this task was experienced. We assessed subjective and objective stress measures and also recorded resting state electroencephalography (EEG) to assess intervention related differences in the level of frontal delta-beta coupling, which is considered a neurobiological substrate of stress regulation. Results show that the intervention reduced subjective stress and anxiety, and increased social fixation behavior and task performance, but only if future thinking was task-relevant. Paradoxically, task-irrelevant positive future thoughts enhanced negative perceptual biases and stress reactivity. This increase in stress reactivity was corroborated by elevated levels of frontal delta-beta coupling during event anticipation, which suggests an increased demand for stress regulation. Together, these findings show that positive future thinking can mitigate the negative emotional, behavioral and neurobiological consequences of a stressful event, but that it should not be applied indiscriminately.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole D Montijn
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Lotte Gerritsen
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Dana van Son
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Iris M Engelhard
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
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13
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Abstract
In a complex world, we are constantly faced with environmental stimuli that shape our moment-to-moment experiences. But just as rich and complex as the external world is the internal milieu-our imagination. Imagination offers a powerful vehicle for playing out hypothetical experiences in the mind's eye. It allows us to mentally time travel to behold what the future might bring, including our greatest desires or fears. Indeed, imagined experiences tend to be emotion-laden. How and why are humans capable of this remarkable feat? Based on psychological findings, we highlight the importance of imagination for emotional aspects of cognition and behavior, namely in the generation and regulation of emotions. Based on recent cognitive neuroscience work, we identify putative neural networks that are most critical for emotional imagination, with a major focus on the default mode network. Finally, we briefly highlight the possible functional implications of individual differences in imagination. Overall, we hope to address why humans have the capacity to simulate hypothetical emotional experiences and how this ability can be harnessed in adaptive (and sometimes maladaptive) ways. We end by discussing open questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chantelle M Cocquyt
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Daniela J Palombo
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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14
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Ye JY, Qin XJ, Cui JF, Shi HS, Liu JL, Huang J, Wang Y, Yang TX, Lui SSY, Wang Y, Chan RCK. Neural correlates of mental time travel in individuals with high level of schizotypy. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2023; 124:110734. [PMID: 36796475 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 02/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mental time travel (MTT) is the ability to re-experience past events (autobiographic memory, AM) and pre-experience possible future events (episodic future thinking, EFT) through mental simulation. Empirical findings suggest that individuals with high level of schizotypy exhibit MTT impairment. However, the neural correlates of this impairment remain unclear. METHOD Thirty-eight individuals with high level of schizotypy and 35 low level of schizotypy were recruited to complete an MTT imaging paradigm. Participants were required to recall past events (AM condition), imagine possible future events (EFT condition) related to cue words, or generate exemplars related to category words (control condition) while undergoing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). RESULTS AM showed greater activation in precuneus, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, and middle frontal gyrus than EFT. Individuals with high level of schizotypy exhibited reduced activation in the left anterior cingulate cortex during AM (vs. Control) and in the medial frontal gyrus during EFT (vs. Control) compared to individuals with low level of schizotypy. Although psychophysiological interaction analyses did not show any significant group difference, individuals with high level of schizotypy exhibited functional connectivity between left anterior cingulate cortex (seed) and right thalamus, between medial frontal gyrus (seed) and left cerebellum during MTT, whereas individuals with low level of schizotypy did not exhibit these functional connectivities. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that decreased brain activations may underlie MTT deficits in individuals with high level of schizotypy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun-Yan Ye
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiao-Jing Qin
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
| | - Ji-Fang Cui
- Research Center for Information and Statistics, National Institute of Education Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hai-Song Shi
- Mental Health Education Center, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China
| | - Jia-Li Liu
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jia Huang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Tian-Xiao Yang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Simon S Y Lui
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Ya Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Raymond C K Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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15
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Kislov A, Shestakova A, Ushakov V, Martinez-Saito M, Beliaeva V, Savelo O, Vasilchuk A, Klucharev V. The prediction of market-level food choices by the neural valuation signal. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286648. [PMID: 37267322 PMCID: PMC10237376 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the ability to use the brain activity of a group of individuals to forecast the behavior of an independent group. In the current study, we attempted to forecast aggregate choices in a popular restaurant chain. During our functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 22 participants were exposed to 78 photos of dishes from a new menu of a popular restaurant chain. In addition to self-reported preferences, fMRI data was extracted from an a priori domain-general and task-specific region of interest-the ventral striatum. We investigated the relationship between the neural activity and real one-year sales provided by the restaurant chain. Activity in the ventral striatum, which was defined using the task-specific region of interest, significantly correlated (r = 0.28, p = 0.01) with one-year sales. A regression analysis, which included ventral striatum activity together with the objective characteristics of the products (price and weight), behavioral, and survey data, showed R2 values of 0.33. Overall, our results confirm prior studies, which have suggested, that brain activity in the reward system of a relatively small number of individuals can forecast the aggregate choice of a larger independent group of people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Kislov
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Anna Shestakova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Vadim Ushakov
- Institute for Advanced Brain Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Mario Martinez-Saito
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Valeria Beliaeva
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Olga Savelo
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Vasily Klucharev
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
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16
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Bernhard RM, Frankland SM, Plunkett D, Sievers B, Greene JD. Evidence for Spinozan "Unbelieving" in the Right Inferior Prefrontal Cortex. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:659-680. [PMID: 36638227 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Humans can think about possible states of the world without believing in them, an important capacity for high-level cognition. Here, we use fMRI and a novel "shell game" task to test two competing theories about the nature of belief and its neural basis. According to the Cartesian theory, information is first understood, then assessed for veracity, and ultimately encoded as either believed or not believed. According to the Spinozan theory, comprehension entails belief by default, such that understanding without believing requires an additional process of "unbelieving." Participants (n = 70) were experimentally induced to have beliefs, desires, or mere thoughts about hidden states of the shell game (e.g., believing that the dog is hidden in the upper right corner). That is, participants were induced to have specific "propositional attitudes" toward specific "propositions" in a controlled way. Consistent with the Spinozan theory, we found that thinking about a proposition without believing it is associated with increased activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus. This was true whether the hidden state was desired by the participant (because of reward) or merely thought about. These findings are consistent with a version of the Spinozan theory whereby unbelieving is an inhibitory control process. We consider potential implications of these results for the phenomena of delusional belief and wishful thinking.
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17
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The traces of imagination: early attention bias toward positively imagined stimuli. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022; 87:1475-1483. [PMID: 36125531 PMCID: PMC9485787 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01737-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Positively imagined activities may capture visual attention due to an increase in positive value. Increasing attention toward activities, in turn, may prove useful for clinical interventions aiming to motivate behavioral engagement. Employing a within-subject experimental design, we examined the effect of positive imagery on attention using a visual probe task with concurrent eye tracking. Adults from the general population (N = 54) imagined performing activities involving visually presented objects in a positive (focusing on the positive emotional impact) or neutral (focusing on a neutral circumstance) manner. They then completed a visual probe task using picture stimuli depicting one object per type of imagery. Positive compared to neutral imagery increased self-reported behavioral motivation and biased the direction, but not the duration, of gaze toward objects associated with the imagined activities. An exploratory analysis showed a positive association between the direction bias and depressive symptoms. Our findings build on existing literature on positive imagery as a motivational amplifier by highlighting early attention as an underlying cognitive mechanism.
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18
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Bo O'Connor B, Fowler Z. How Imagination and Memory Shape the Moral Mind. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2022; 27:226-249. [PMID: 36062349 DOI: 10.1177/10888683221114215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Interdisciplinary research has proposed a multifaceted view of human cognition and morality, establishing that inputs from multiple cognitive and affective processes guide moral decisions. However, extant work on moral cognition has largely overlooked the contributions of episodic representation. The ability to remember or imagine a specific moment in time plays a broadly influential role in cognition and behavior. Yet, existing research has only begun exploring the influence of episodic representation on moral cognition. Here, we evaluate the theoretical connections between episodic representation and moral cognition, review emerging empirical work revealing how episodic representation affects moral decision-making, and conclude by highlighting gaps in the literature and open questions. We argue that a comprehensive model of moral cognition will require including the episodic memory system, further delineating its direct influence on moral thought, and better understanding its interactions with other mental processes to fundamentally shape our sense of right and wrong.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zoë Fowler
- University at Albany, State University of New York, USA
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19
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Fan F, Tan S, Huang J, Chen S, Fan H, Wang Z, Li CSR, Tan Y. Functional disconnection between subsystems of the default mode network in schizophrenia. Psychol Med 2022; 52:2270-2280. [PMID: 33183375 DOI: 10.1017/s003329172000416x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A dysfunctional default mode network (DMN) has been reported in patients with schizophrenia. However, the stability of the deficits has not been determined across different stages of the disorder. METHODS We examined the functional connectivity of the DMN subsystems of 125 patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) or recurrent schizophrenia (RES), compared to that of 82 healthy controls. We tested the robustness of the findings in an independent cohort of 158 patients and 39 healthy controls. We performed resting-state functional connectivity analysis, and examined the strength of the connections within and between the three subsystems of the DMN (core, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex [dMPFC], and medial temporal lobe [MTL]). We also analyzed the connectivity correlations to symptoms and illness duration. RESULTS We found reduced connectivity strength between the core and MTL subsystems in schizophrenia patients compared to controls, with no differences between the FES and RES patient groups; these findings were validated in the second sample. Schizophrenia patients also showed a significant reduction in connectivity within the MTL and between the dMPFC-MTL subsystems, similarly between FES and RES groups. The connectivity strength within the core subsystem was negatively correlated with clinical symptoms in schizophrenia. There was no significant correlation between the DMN subsystem connectivity and illness duration. CONCLUSIONS DMN subsystem connectivity deficits are present in schizophrenia, and the homochronicity of their appearance indicates the trait-like nature of these alterations. The DMN deficit may be useful for early diagnosis, and MTL dysfunction may be a crucial mechanism underlying schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fengmei Fan
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Shuping Tan
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
| | - Junchao Huang
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
| | - Song Chen
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
| | - Hongzhen Fan
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
| | - Zhiren Wang
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
| | - Chiang-Shan R Li
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Yunlong Tan
- Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing 100096, China
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20
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Simulation-based learning influences real-life attitudes. Cognition 2022; 227:105202. [PMID: 35714560 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Humans can vividly simulate hypothetical experiences. This ability draws on our memories (e.g., of familiar people and locations) to construct imaginings that resemble real-life events (e.g., of meeting a person at a location). Here, we examine the hypothesis that we also learn from such simulated episodes much like from actual experiences. Specifically, we show that the mere simulation of meeting a familiar person (unconditioned stimulus; US) at a known location (conditioned stimulus; CS) changes how people value the location. We provide key evidence that this simulation-based learning strengthens pre-existing CS-US associations and that it leads to a transfer of valence from the US to the CS. The data thus highlight a mechanism by which we learn from simulated experiences.
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21
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Campbell D, Tusche A, Bo O’Connor B. Imagination and the Prosocial Personality: Mapping the Effect of Episodic Simulation on Helping Across Prosocial Traits. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dylan Campbell
- Department of Psychology, University at Albany State University of New York Albany NY
| | - Anita Tusche
- Department of Psychology Queen’s University Kingston ON
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA
| | - Brendan Bo O’Connor
- Department of Psychology, University at Albany State University of New York Albany NY
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22
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Morris A, O'Connor BB, Cushman F. The role of episodic simulation in motivating commonplace harms. Cognition 2022; 225:105104. [PMID: 35366483 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 02/06/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Every day, people face choices which could produce negative outcomes for others, and understanding these decisions is a major aim of social psychology. Here, we show that episodic simulation - a key psychological process implicated in other types of social and moral decision-making - can play a surprising role. Across six experiments, we find that imagining performing actions which adversely affect others makes people report a higher likelihood of performing those actions in the future. This effect happens, in part, because when people construe the actions as morally justified (as they often do spontaneously), imagining doing it makes them feel good. These findings stand in contrast to traditional accounts of harm aversion in moral psychology, and instead contribute to a growing body of evidence that people often cast harming others in a positive light.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Morris
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
| | - Brendan Bo O'Connor
- Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, United States of America
| | - Fiery Cushman
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
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23
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McWilliams K, Kaplan A, Eline EE, Kaminer I, Zodrow S, Petersen J, Williams JM, Osipowicz K. Cortical Semantization of Autobiographical Memory over Subjective Chronological Time: an fMRI Study. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 55:1798-1809. [PMID: 35304784 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The content and neural representation of autobiographical memories change over time, however, these changes are poorly understood. We hypothesize that the content of memories becomes semanticized, while the neural representation moves from mesial to cortical structures. We conducted an fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) study on the effects of time on autobiographical memory retrieval. Twenty healthy participants were cued by a selection of photographs that represented distinct episodic memories from 1, 2, 6, and 14 years prior to scanning. Our behavioral data of self-report measures of memory qualia suggests a loss of episodic content over time. GLM (General Linear Model) results demonstrate that across all time points, visual association cortices and mesial temporal lobes were activated. However, we did not observe any GLM differences between memory time-points. We used SVM (Support Vector Machine) in order to predict memory time-point based on neural activation patterns. We were able to accurately predict classification accuracy for the one year (66.7%), two year (66.7%), and fourteen year (33.4%) memory time points, with an overall classification accuracy of 55.6%. We suggest that our findings can be interpreted in light of cortical semantization; as memories age, they become more semanticized and shift in representation towards cortical structures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ellen E Eline
- Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | - Shauna Zodrow
- Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Julie Petersen
- Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | - Karol Osipowicz
- Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
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24
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Bradley MM, Sambuco N, Lang PJ. Neural correlates of repeated retrieval of emotional autobiographical events. Neuropsychologia 2022; 169:108203. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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25
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Sambuco N, Bradley MM, Lang PJ. Narrative imagery: Emotional modulation in the default mode network. Neuropsychologia 2022; 164:108087. [PMID: 34785150 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The default mode network (DMN) is activated when constructing and imagining narrative events, with functional brain activity in the medial-prefrontal cortex hypothesized to be modulated during emotional processing by adding value (or pleasure) to the episodic representation. However, since enhanced reactivity during emotional, compared to neutral, content is a more frequent finding in both the brain and body in physiological, neural, and behavioral measures, the current study directly assesses the effects of pleasure and emotion during narrative imagery in the DMN by using a within-subject design to first identify the DMN during resting state and then assess activation during pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant imagery. Replicating previous findings, enhanced functional activity in the medial prefrontal cortex was found when imagining pleasant, compared to unpleasant, events. On the other hand, emotion-related activation was found when imagining either pleasant or unpleasant, compared to neutral, events in other nodes of the DMN including the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), angular gyrus, anterior hippocampus, lateral temporal cortex, temporal pole, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Pervasive emotional modulation in the DMN is consistent with the view that a primary function of event retrieval and construction is to remember, recreate, and imagine motivationally relevant events important for planning adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Sambuco
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
| | - Margaret M Bradley
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Peter J Lang
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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26
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Devitt AL, Thakral PP, Schacter DL. Decoding the emotional valence of future thoughts. Cogn Neurosci 2022; 13:10-14. [PMID: 33928872 PMCID: PMC8556409 DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2021.1906638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Affective future thinking allows us to prepare for future outcomes, but we know little about neural representation of emotional future simulations. We used a multi-voxel pattern analysis to determine whether patterns of neural activity can reliably distinguish between positive and negative future simulations. Neural patterning in the anterior cingulate and ventromedial prefrontal cortices distinguished positive from negative future simulations, indicating that these regions code for the emotional valence of future events. These results support prior findings that anterior medial regions contain representations of emotions across various stimuli, and contribute to identifying potential rewarding outcomes of future events. More broadly, these results demonstrate that the phenomenological features of future thinking can be decoded using neural activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleea L. Devitt
- School of Psychology, The University of Waikato, New Zealand,Department of Psychology, Harvard University, MA, USA
| | - Preston P. Thakral
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, MA, USA,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, MA, USA
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27
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Zamani A, Carhart-Harris R, Christoff K. Prefrontal contributions to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:329-348. [PMID: 34545195 PMCID: PMC8616944 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01147-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The human prefrontal cortex is a structurally and functionally heterogenous brain region, including multiple subregions that have been linked to different large-scale brain networks. It contributes to a broad range of mental phenomena, from goal-directed thought and executive functions to mind-wandering and psychedelic experience. Here we review what is known about the functions of different prefrontal subregions and their affiliations with large-scale brain networks to examine how they may differentially contribute to the diversity of mental phenomena associated with prefrontal function. An important dimension that distinguishes across different kinds of conscious experience is the stability or variability of mental states across time. This dimension is a central feature of two recently introduced theoretical frameworks-the dynamic framework of thought (DFT) and the relaxed beliefs under psychedelics (REBUS) model-that treat neurocognitive dynamics as central to understanding and distinguishing between different mental phenomena. Here, we bring these two frameworks together to provide a synthesis of how prefrontal subregions may differentially contribute to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience. We close by considering future directions for this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andre Zamani
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
| | - Robin Carhart-Harris
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Kalina Christoff
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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28
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Liu L, Bulley A, Irish M. Subjective Time in Dementia: A Critical Review. Brain Sci 2021; 11:1502. [PMID: 34827501 PMCID: PMC8616021 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11111502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The capacity for subjective time in humans encompasses the perception of time's unfolding from moment to moment, as well as the ability to traverse larger temporal expanses of past- and future-oriented thought via mental time travel. Disruption in time perception can result in maladaptive outcomes-from the innocuous lapse in timing that leads to a burnt piece of toast, to the grievous miscalculation that produces a traffic accident-while disruption to mental time travel can impact core functions from planning appointments to making long-term decisions. Mounting evidence suggests that disturbances to both time perception and mental time travel are prominent in dementia syndromes. Given that such disruptions can have severe consequences for independent functioning in everyday life, here we aim to provide a comprehensive exposition of subjective timing dysfunction in dementia, with a view to informing the management of such disturbances. We consider the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning changes to both time perception and mental time travel across different dementia disorders. Moreover, we explicate the functional implications of altered subjective timing by reference to two key and representative adaptive capacities: prospective memory and intertemporal decision-making. Overall, our review sheds light on the transdiagnostic implications of subjective timing disturbances in dementia and highlights the high variability in performance across clinical syndromes and functional domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lulu Liu
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; (L.L.); (A.B.)
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Adam Bulley
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; (L.L.); (A.B.)
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02138, USA
| | - Muireann Irish
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; (L.L.); (A.B.)
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
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29
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Cheng Q, Han Z, Liu S, Kong Y, Weng X, Mo L. Neural responses to facial attractiveness in the judgments of moral goodness and moral beauty. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:843-863. [PMID: 34767078 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02422-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The judgments of moral goodness and moral beauty objectively refer to the perception and evaluation of moral traits, which are generally influenced by facial attractiveness. For centuries, people have equated beauty with the possession of positive qualities, but it is not clear whether the association between beauty and positive qualities exerts a similarly implicit influence on people's responses to moral goodness and moral beauty, how it affects those responses, and what is the neural basis for such an effect. The present study is the first to examine the neural responses to facial attractiveness in the judgments of moral goodness and moral beauty. We found that beautiful faces in both moral judgments activated the left ventral occipitotemporal cortices sensitive to the geometric configuration of the faces, demonstrating that both moral goodness and moral beauty required the automatic visual analysis of geometrical configuration of attractive faces. In addition, compared to beautiful faces during moral goodness judgment, beautiful faces during moral beauty judgment induced unique activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and midline cortical structures involved in the emotional-valenced information about attractive faces. The opposite comparison elicited specific activity in the left superior temporal cortex and premotor area, which play a critical role in the recognition of facial identity. Our results demonstrated that the neural responses to facial attractiveness in the process of higher order moral decision-makings exhibit both task-general and task-specific characteristics. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the essence of the relationship between morality and aesthetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiuping Cheng
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 West Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Zhili Han
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 West Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
- NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science, New York University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Shun Liu
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 West Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Yilong Kong
- School of Music, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Xuchu Weng
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 West Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Lei Mo
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 West Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
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30
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Thakral PP, Madore KP, Addis DR, Schacter DL. Reinstatement of Event Details during Episodic Simulation in the Hippocampus. Cereb Cortex 2021; 30:2321-2337. [PMID: 31701122 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2018] [Revised: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 06/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis, episodic simulation (i.e., imagining specific novel future episodes) draws on some of the same neurocognitive processes that support episodic memory (i.e., recalling specific past episodes). Episodic retrieval supports the ability to simulate future experiences by providing access to episodic details (e.g., the people and locations that comprise memories) that can be recombined in new ways. In the current functional neuroimaging study, we test this hypothesis by examining whether the hippocampus, a region implicated in the reinstatement of episodic information during memory, supports reinstatement of episodic information during simulation. Employing a multivoxel pattern similarity analysis, we interrogated the similarity between hippocampal neural patterns during memory and simulation at the level of individual event details. Our findings indicate that the hippocampus supports the reinstatement of detail-specific information from episodic memory during simulation, with the level of reinstatement contributing to the subjective experience of simulated details.
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Affiliation(s)
- Preston P Thakral
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Kevin P Madore
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Donna Rose Addis
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, ON M6A 2E1, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada.,School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Daniel L Schacter
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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31
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Ciaramelli E, De Luca F, Kwan D, Mok J, Bianconi F, Knyagnytska V, Craver C, Green L, Myerson J, Rosenbaum RS. The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in reward valuation and future thinking during intertemporal choice. eLife 2021; 10:67387. [PMID: 34342577 PMCID: PMC8331177 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Intertemporal choices require trade-offs between short-term and long-term outcomes. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage causes steep discounting of future rewards (delay discounting [DD]) and impoverished episodic future thinking (EFT). The role of vmPFC in reward valuation, EFT, and their interaction during intertemporal choice is still unclear. Here, 12 patients with lesions to vmPFC and 41 healthy controls chose between smaller-immediate and larger-delayed hypothetical monetary rewards while we manipulated reward magnitude and the availability of EFT cues. In the EFT condition, participants imagined personal events to occur at the delays associated with the larger-delayed rewards. We found that DD was steeper in vmPFC patients compared to controls, and not modulated by reward magnitude. However, EFT cues downregulated DD in vmPFC patients as well as controls. These findings indicate that vmPFC integrity is critical for the valuation of (future) rewards, but not to instill EFT in intertemporal choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Flavia De Luca
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Donna Kwan
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Jenkin Mok
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Francesca Bianconi
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Violetta Knyagnytska
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy.,Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Carl Craver
- Department of Philosophy, Washington University, St. Louis, United States
| | - Leonard Green
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, United States
| | - Joel Myerson
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, United States
| | - R Shayna Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
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32
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Cortese A, Yamamoto A, Hashemzadeh M, Sepulveda P, Kawato M, De Martino B. Value signals guide abstraction during learning. eLife 2021; 10:68943. [PMID: 34254586 PMCID: PMC8331191 DOI: 10.7554/elife.68943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The human brain excels at constructing and using abstractions, such as rules, or concepts. Here, in two fMRI experiments, we demonstrate a mechanism of abstraction built upon the valuation of sensory features. Human volunteers learned novel association rules based on simple visual features. Reinforcement-learning algorithms revealed that, with learning, high-value abstract representations increasingly guided participant behaviour, resulting in better choices and higher subjective confidence. We also found that the brain area computing value signals – the ventromedial prefrontal cortex – prioritised and selected latent task elements during abstraction, both locally and through its connection to the visual cortex. Such a coding scheme predicts a causal role for valuation. Hence, in a second experiment, we used multivoxel neural reinforcement to test for the causality of feature valuation in the sensory cortex, as a mechanism of abstraction. Tagging the neural representation of a task feature with rewards evoked abstraction-based decisions. Together, these findings provide a novel interpretation of value as a goal-dependent, key factor in forging abstract representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurelio Cortese
- Computational Neuroscience Labs, ATR Institute International, Kyoto, Japan.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Asuka Yamamoto
- Computational Neuroscience Labs, ATR Institute International, Kyoto, Japan.,School of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara, Japan
| | - Maryam Hashemzadeh
- Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Pradyumna Sepulveda
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mitsuo Kawato
- Computational Neuroscience Labs, ATR Institute International, Kyoto, Japan.,RIKEN Center for Artificial Intelligence Project, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Benedetto De Martino
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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33
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Serra L, De Simone MS, Fadda L, Perri R, Caltagirone C, Bozzali M, Carlesimo GA. Memory for public events in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: The role of hippocampus and ventro-medial prefrontal cortex. J Neuropsychol 2021; 16:131-148. [PMID: 34170071 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Current theories assume that retrograde memory deficits for semantic information in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) are temporally graded and partially sparing most remote memories. Moreover, these models assume a prevalent role of the hippocampus in early phases of memory consolidation and of the prefrontal mesial neocortical areas in permanent consolidation of traces. PURPOSE To explore the relationship between hippocampus and memory accuracy for the most recent public events and between the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and memory accuracy irrespective of the memory age, we investigated in aMCI patients the retrograde memory for public events and its relationship with grey matter volume reductions in the hippocampus and vmPFC. METHODS 18 aMCI patients and 13 healthy subjects (HS) underwent a modified version of the Famous Events questionnaire (FEq) to assess their memory performance for public events. Patients underwent 3T-MRI scanning to assess correlations between FEq's scores and grey matter volumes. RESULTS aMCI showed significantly reduced performances on FEq compared to HS in the recollection of most recent events, while no significant difference was observed for more remote memories, thus demonstrating a temporal gradient. Moreover, hippocampal volumes predicted accuracy scores for most recent, but not older, public events. Finally, an area in the subcallosal portion of the vmPFC, corresponding to BA32, predicted accuracy scores on FEq irrespective of the period examined. CONCLUSIONS Pathological changes in a neural circuit linking hippocampal to medial prefrontal cortical regions are responsible for impaired recollection of retrograde memories in aMCI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Serra
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Lucia Fadda
- Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Rome, Italy
| | - Roberta Perri
- Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Caltagirone
- Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Bozzali
- Department of Neuroscience "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Torino, Turin, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Giovanni A Carlesimo
- Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Rome, Italy
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34
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Lee S, Parthasarathi T, Kable JW. The Ventral and Dorsal Default Mode Networks Are Dissociably Modulated by the Vividness and Valence of Imagined Events. J Neurosci 2021; 41:5243-5250. [PMID: 34001631 PMCID: PMC8211541 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1273-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent work has shown that the brain's default mode network (DMN) is active when people imagine the future. Here, we test in human participants (both sexes) whether future imagination can be decomposed into two dissociable psychological processes linked to different subcomponents of the DMN. While measuring brain activity with fMRI as subjects imagine future events, we manipulate the vividness of these events to modulate the demands for event construction, and we manipulate the valence of these events to modulate the demands for event evaluation. We found that one subcomponent of the DMN, the ventral DMN or medial temporal lobe (MTL) subsystem, responds to the vividness but not the valence of imagined events. In contrast, another subcomponent, the dorsal or core DMN, responds to the valence but not the vividness of imagined events. This separate modifiability of different subcomponents of the DMN by vividness and valence provides strong evidence for a neurocognitive dissociation between (1) the construction of novel, imagined events from individual components from memory and (2) the evaluation of these constructed events as desirable or undesirable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sangil Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Trishala Parthasarathi
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Joseph W Kable
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
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35
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The self in context: brain systems linking mental and physical health. Nat Rev Neurosci 2021; 22:309-322. [PMID: 33790441 PMCID: PMC8447265 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-021-00446-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that mental health and physical health are linked by neural systems that jointly regulate somatic physiology and high-level cognition. Key systems include the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the related default-mode network. These systems help to construct models of the 'self-in-context', compressing information across time and sensory modalities into conceptions of the underlying causes of experience. Self-in-context models endow events with personal meaning and allow predictive control over behaviour and peripheral physiology, including autonomic, neuroendocrine and immune function. They guide learning from experience and the formation of narratives about the self and one's world. Disorders of mental and physical health, especially those with high co-occurrence and convergent alterations in the functionality of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the default-mode network, could benefit from interventions focused on understanding and shaping mindsets and beliefs about the self, illness and treatment.
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36
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Vollberg MC, Gaesser B, Cikara M. Activating episodic simulation increases affective empathy. Cognition 2021; 209:104558. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Revised: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 12/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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37
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De Rozario MR, Van Velzen LS, Davies P, Rice SM, Davey CG, Robinson J, Alvarez-Jimenez M, Allott K, McKechnie B, Felmingham KL, Schmaal L. Mental images of suicide: Theoretical framework and preliminary findings in depressed youth attending outpatient care. JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS REPORTS 2021; 4:100114. [PMID: 36567757 PMCID: PMC9785063 DOI: 10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- MR De Rozario
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia,Corresponding author at: Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, 35 Poplar Rd, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia. (M. De Rozario)
| | - LS Van Velzen
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - P Davies
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - SM Rice
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - CG Davey
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - J Robinson
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - M Alvarez-Jimenez
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - K Allott
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | | | - KL Felmingham
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - L Schmaal
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia,Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
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38
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Yang ZY, Zhang RT, Wang YM, Huang J, Zhou HY, Cheung EFC, Chan RCK. Altered activation and functional connectivity in individuals with social anhedonia when envisioning positive future episodes. Psychol Med 2021; 52:1-9. [PMID: 33775271 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291721000970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anticipatory pleasure deficits are closely correlated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia, and may be found in both clinical and subclinical populations along the psychosis continuum. Prospection, which is an important component of anticipatory pleasure, is impaired in individuals with social anhedonia (SocAnh). In this study, we examined the neural correlates of envisioning positive future events in individuals with SocAnh. METHODS Forty-nine individuals with SocAnh and 33 matched controls were recruited to undergo functional MRI scanning, during which they were instructed to simulate positive or neutral future episodes according to cue words. Two stages of prospection were distinguished: construction and elaboration. RESULTS Reduced activation at the caudate and the precuneus when prospecting positive (v. neutral) future events was observed in individuals with SocAnh. Furthermore, compared with controls, increased functional connectivity between the caudate and the inferior occipital gyrus during positive (v. neutral) prospection was found in individuals with SocAnh. Both groups exhibited a similar pattern of brain activation for the construction v. elaboration contrast, regardless of the emotional context. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide further evidence on the neural mechanism of anticipatory pleasure deficits in subclinical individuals with SocAnh and suggest that altered cortico-striatal circuit may play a role in anticipatory pleasure deficits in these individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuo-Ya Yang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Rui-Ting Zhang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yong-Ming Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, PR China
| | - Jia Huang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Han-Yu Zhou
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Eric F C Cheung
- Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administration Region, Hong Kong Special Administration Region, China
| | - Raymond C K Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, PR China
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39
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Gilmore AW, Quach A, Kalinowski SE, Gotts SJ, Schacter DL, Martin A. Dynamic Content Reactivation Supports Naturalistic Autobiographical Recall in Humans. J Neurosci 2021; 41:153-166. [PMID: 33203742 PMCID: PMC7786205 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1490-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans can vividly recall and re-experience events from their past, and these are commonly referred to as episodic or autobiographical memories. fMRI experiments reliably associate autobiographical event recall with activity in a network of "default" or "core" brain regions. However, as prior studies have relied on covert (silent) recall procedures, current understanding may be hampered by methodological limitations that obscure dynamic effects supporting moment-to-moment content retrieval. Here, fMRI participants (N = 40) overtly (verbally) recalled memories for ∼2 min periods. The content of spoken descriptions was categorized using a variant of the Autobiographical Interview (AI) procedure (Levine et al., 2002) and temporally re-aligned with BOLD data so activity accompanying the recall of different details could be measured. Replicating prior work, sustained effects associated with autobiographical recall periods (which are insensitive to the moment-to-moment content of retrieval) fell primarily within canonical default network regions. Spoken descriptions were rich in episodic details, frequently focusing on physical entities, their ongoing activities, and their appearances. Critically, neural activity associated with recalling specific details (e.g., those related to people or places) was transient, broadly distributed, and grounded in category-selective cortex (e.g., regions related to social cognition or scene processing). Thus, although a single network may generally support the process of vivid event reconstruction, the structures required to provide detail-related information shift in a predictable manner that respects domain-level representations across the cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans can vividly recall memories of autobiographical episodes, a process thought to involve the reconstruction of numerous distinct event details. Yet how the brain represents a complex episode as it unfolds over time remains unclear and appears inconsistent across experimental traditions. One hurdle is the use of covert (silent) in-scanner recall to study autobiographical memory, which prevents experimenter knowledge of what information is being retrieved, and when, throughout the remembering process. In this experiment, participants overtly described autobiographical memories while undergoing fMRI. Activity associated with the recall and description of specific details was transient, broadly distributed, and grounded in category-selective cortex. Thus, it appears that as events unfold mentally, structures are dynamically reactivated to support vivid recollection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian W Gilmore
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Alina Quach
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Sarah E Kalinowski
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Stephen J Gotts
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Daniel L Schacter
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
| | - Alex Martin
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
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40
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Mills C, Zamani A, White R, Christoff K. Out of the blue: understanding abrupt and wayward transitions in thought using probability and predictive processing. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190692. [PMID: 33308075 PMCID: PMC7741073 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Thoughts that appear to come to us ‘out of the blue’ or ‘out of nowhere’ are a familiar aspect of mental experience. Such thoughts tend to elicit feelings of surprise and spontaneity. Although we are beginning to understand the neural processes that underlie the arising of such thoughts, little is known about what accounts for their peculiar phenomenology. Here, we focus on one central aspect of this phenomenology—the experience of surprise at their occurrence, as it relates to internal probabilistic predictions regarding mental states. We introduce a distinction between two phenomenologically different types of transitions in thought content: (i) abrupt transitions, which occur at surprising times but lead to unsurprising thought content, and (ii) wayward transitions, which occur at surprising times and also lead to surprising thought content. We examine these two types of transitions using a novel approach that combines probabilistic and predictive processing concepts and principles. We employ two different probability metrics—transition and occurrence probability—to characterize and differentiate between abrupt and wayward transitions. We close by discussing some potentially beneficial ways in which these two kinds of transitions in thought content may contribute to mental function, and how they may be implemented at the neural level. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin Mills
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
| | - Andre Zamani
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Rebecca White
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
| | - Kalina Christoff
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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41
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Crawford B, Muhlert N, MacDonald G, Lawrence AD. Brain structure correlates of expected social threat and reward. Sci Rep 2020; 10:18010. [PMID: 33093488 PMCID: PMC7582181 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-74334-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Prospection (mentally simulating future events) generates emotionally-charged mental images that guide social decision-making. Positive and negative social expectancies—imagining new social interactions to be rewarding versus threatening—are core components of social approach and avoidance motivation, respectively. Interindividual differences in such positive and negative future-related cognitions may be underpinned by distinct neuroanatomical substrates. Here, we asked 100 healthy adults to vividly imagine themselves in a novel self-relevant event that was ambiguous with regards to possible social acceptance or rejection. During this task we measured participants’ expectancies for social reward (anticipated feelings of social connection) or threat (anticipated feelings of rejection). On a separate day they underwent structural MRI; voxel-based morphometry was used to explore the relation between social reward and threat expectancies and regional grey matter volumes (rGMV). Increased rGMV in key default-network regions involved in prospection, socio-emotional cognition, and subjective valuation, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex, correlated with both higher social reward and lower social threat expectancies. In contrast, social threat expectancies uniquely correlated with rGMV of regions involved in social attention (posterior superior temporal sulcus, pSTS) and interoception (somatosensory cortex). These findings provide novel insight into the neurobiology of future-oriented cognitive-affective processes critical to adaptive social functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonni Crawford
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK.
| | - Nils Muhlert
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Geoff MacDonald
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Andrew D Lawrence
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
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Sauciuc GA, Persson T. Chimpanzees Predict the Hedonic Outcome of Novel Taste Combinations: The Evolutionary Origins of Affective Forecasting. Front Psychol 2020; 11:549193. [PMID: 33192796 PMCID: PMC7646213 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.549193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Affective forecasting–predicting the emotional outcome of never-before experienced situations–is pervasive in our lives. When facing novel situations, we can quickly integrate bits and pieces of prior experiences to envisage possible scenarios and their outcomes, and what these might feel like. Such affective glimpses of the future often steer the decisions we make. By enabling principled decision-making in novel situations, affective forecasting confers the important adaptive advantage of eluding the potentially costly consequences of tackling such situations by trial-and-error. Affective forecasting has been hypothesized as uniquely human, yet, in a recent study we found suggestive evidence of this ability in an orangutan. To test non-verbal subjects, we capitalized on culinary examples of affective forecasting and devised a behavioral test that required the subjects to make predictions about novel juice mixes produced from familiar ingredients. In the present study, we administered the same task to two chimpanzees and found that their performance was comparable to that of the previously tested orangutan and 10 humans, who served as a comparison group. To improve the comparability of human and animal performance, in the present study we also introduced a new approach to assessing if the subjects’ performance was indicative of affective forecasting, which relies exclusively on behavioral data. The results of the study open for the possibility that affective forecasting has evolved in the common ancestor of the great apes, providing Hominids with the adaptive advantage of e.g., quickly evaluating heterogeneous food patches using hedonic prediction.
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Gaesser B. Episodic mindreading: Mentalizing guided by scene construction of imagined and remembered events. Cognition 2020; 203:104325. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2019] [Revised: 02/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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Wilson NA, Ahmed RM, Hodges JR, Piguet O, Irish M. Constructing the social world: Impaired capacity for social simulation in dementia. Cognition 2020; 202:104321. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Mills-Finnerty C, Hanson C, Khadr M, José Hanson S. Computations and Connectivity Underlying Aversive Counterfactuals. Brain Connect 2020; 10:467-478. [PMID: 32842766 DOI: 10.1089/brain.2020.0766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Mentally simulating counterfactuals (scenarios that have not actually occurred) is a sophisticated human cognitive function underlying creativity, planning, and daydreaming. One example is the "would you rather" game, in which forced choices are made between outlandish negative counterfactuals. Materials and Methods: We measured behavioral and neural correlates while participants made "would you rather" choices framed as approaching or avoiding aversive counterfactual scenarios (e.g., illnesses, car accidents). Results: We found in two independent cohorts that participants were highly susceptible to framing effects when making these decisions, taking significantly longer to respond to approach frames compared with avoidance. Brain imaging showed that choices to approach and avoid resulted in a pattern of activation consistent with a network associated with responding to aversive stimuli, identified via a coordinate-based meta-analysis of 238 studies. Bayesian graph connectivity analysis showed that network connectivity differed by choice frame, with significantly stronger connectivity for approach choices compared with avoidance choices among primarily limbic nodes (putamen, insula, caudate, and amygdala). Computational modeling of behavior revealed that approach frames led to significantly longer nondecision times, increased evidence required to make decisions, and faster evidence accumulation than avoidance frames. Stronger network connectivity between corticostriatal and limbic regions was associated with rate of evidence accumulation and length of nondecision time during approach choices. For avoidance choices, prefrontal connectivity was related to nondecision time. Conclusions: These results suggest that "would you rather" decisions about aversive counterfactuals differentially recruit limbic circuit connectivity based on choice frame. Impact statement We measured brain connectivity and latent cognitive variables underlying aversive counterfactual choices. We found a replicable reaction time effect whereby approach decisions were slower than avoidance decisions. Computational modeling identified that the latent cognitive variable of evidence accumulation was related to strength of connectivity between corticostriatal and limbic nodes during approach decisions. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and clustering revealed a three-dimensional choice structure that differed between individuals, and between approach and avoidance choices within individuals. Our results suggest that cognitive evaluations of aversive counterfactuals involve flexible representations that can be altered by choice framing. These findings have broad implications for prospective decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colleen Mills-Finnerty
- Palo Alto Veterans Administration Health Care System, Stanford University Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Palo Alto, California, USA
| | - Catherine Hanson
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University Newark, New Jersey, USA
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Tabibnia G. An affective neuroscience model of boosting resilience in adults. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 115:321-350. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2019] [Revised: 05/09/2020] [Accepted: 05/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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Devitt AL, Thakral PP, Szpunar K, Addis DR, Schacter DL. Age-related changes in repetition suppression of neural activity during emotional future simulation. Neurobiol Aging 2020; 94:287-297. [PMID: 32712534 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2020.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 06/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Despite advances in understanding the consequences of age-related episodic memory decline for future simulation, much remains unknown regarding changes in the neural underpinnings of future thinking with age. We used a repetition suppression paradigm to explore age-related changes in the neural correlates of emotional future simulation. Younger and older adults simulated positive, negative, and neutral future events either 2 or 5 times. Reductions in neural activity for events simulated 5 versus 2 times (i.e., repetition suppression) identify brain regions responsive to the specific emotion of simulated events. Critically, older adults showed greater repetition suppression than younger adults in the temporal pole for negative simulations, and the cuneus for positive simulations. These findings suggest that older adults distance themselves from negative future possibilities by thinking about them in a more semantic way, consistent with the view that older adults down-regulate negative affect and up-regulate positive affect. More broadly this study increases our understanding of the impact of aging on the neural underpinnings of episodic future simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleea L Devitt
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | | | - Karl Szpunar
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Donna Rose Addis
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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Konu D, Turnbull A, Karapanagiotidis T, Wang HT, Brown LR, Jefferies E, Smallwood J. A role for the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in self-generated episodic social cognition. Neuroimage 2020; 218:116977. [PMID: 32450251 PMCID: PMC7422831 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 05/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The human mind is equally fluent in thoughts that involve self-generated mental content as it is with information in the immediate environment. Previous research has shown that neural systems linked to executive control (i.e. the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) are recruited when perceptual and self-generated thoughts are balanced in line with the demands imposed by the external world. Contemporary theories (Smallwood and Schooler, 2015) assume that differentiable processes are important for self-generated mental content than for its regulation. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with multidimensional experience sampling to address this possibility. We used a task with minimal demands to maximise our power at identifying correlates of self-generated states. Principal component analysis showed consistent patterns of self-generated thought when participants performed the task in either the lab or in the scanner (ICC ranged from 0.68 to 0.86). In a whole brain analyses we found that neural activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) increases when participants are engaged in experiences which emphasise episodic and socio-cognitive features. Our study suggests that neural activity in the vMPFC is linked to patterns of ongoing thought, particularly those with episodic or social features. We identified neural regions associated with patterns of self-generated thought. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) activity during episodic social cognition. VMPFC may play a role in episodic and social features of self-generated thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Delali Konu
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK.
| | - Adam Turnbull
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | | | - Hao-Ting Wang
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Studies, University of Sussex, UK
| | - Lydia Rebecca Brown
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Jonathan Smallwood
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
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Wagner IC, Rütgen M, Lamm C. Pattern similarity and connectivity of hippocampal-neocortical regions support empathy for pain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 15:273-284. [PMID: 32248233 PMCID: PMC7235961 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathy is thought to engage mental simulation, which in turn is known to rely on hippocampal-neocortical processing. Here, we tested how hippocampal-neocortical pattern similarity and connectivity contributed to pain empathy. Using this approach, we analyzed a data set of 102 human participants who underwent functional MRI while painful and non-painful electrical stimulation was delivered to themselves or to a confederate. As hypothesized, results revealed increased pattern similarity between first-hand pain and pain empathy (compared to non-painful control conditions) within the hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex, the temporo-parietal junction and anterior insula. While representations in these regions were unaffected by confederate similarity, pattern similarity in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex was increased the more dissimilar the other individual was perceived. Hippocampal-neocortical connectivity during first-hand pain and pain empathy engaged largely distinct but neighboring primary motor regions, and empathy-related hippocampal coupling with the fusiform gyrus positively scaled with trait measures of perspective taking. These findings suggest that shared representations and mental simulation might contribute to pain empathy via hippocampal-neocortical pattern similarity and connectivity, partially affected by personality traits and the similarity of the observed individual.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabella C Wagner
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Markus Rütgen
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, Vienna 1010, Austria
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van Kesteren MTR, Meeter M. How to optimize knowledge construction in the brain. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2020; 5:5. [PMID: 32655882 PMCID: PMC7339924 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-020-0064-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Well-structured knowledge allows us to quickly understand the world around us and make informed decisions to adequately control behavior. Knowledge structures, or schemas, are presumed to aid memory encoding and consolidation of new experiences so we cannot only remember the past, but also guide behavior in the present and predict the future. However, very strong schemas can also lead to unwanted side effects such as false memories and misconceptions. To overcome this overreliance on a schema, we should aim to create robust schemas that are on the one hand strong enough to help to remember and predict, but also malleable enough to avoid such undesirable side effects. This raises the question as to whether there are ways to deliberately influence knowledge construction processes, with the goal to reach such optimally balanced schemas. Here, we will discuss how the mnemonic processes in our brains build long-term knowledge and, more specifically, how different phases of memory formation (encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and reconsolidation) contribute to this schema build-up. We finally provide ways how to best keep a balance between generalized semantic and detailed episodic memories, which can prove very useful in, e.g., educational settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlieke Tina Renée van Kesteren
- Section of Education Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institute of Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- LEARN! Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn Meeter
- Section of Education Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- LEARN! Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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