The Role of Dopamine in Anticipatory Pursuit Eye Movements: Insights from Genetic Polymorphisms in Healthy Adults

Application and Mechanisms of Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (iCBT) in Improving Psychological State in Cancer Patients

This review article is an overview of the effectiveness of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) in Improving Psychological State in Cancer Patients. iCBT's effectiveness has been investigated in treating and managing conditions like depression, psychiatric disorders, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, and phobias. iCBT's role in the treatment of medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus with comorbid psychiatric illnesses was also explored. We conducted a thorough literature search using PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, and Wanfang with no restrictions on the date. iCBT's role in treating and controlling psychiatric illnesses in cancer patients has been established in the literature. Development and popularization of iCBT, treament forms of iCBT, platforms for iCBT, application of iCBT, strategies and efficacy of iCBT for insomnia in cancer patients, current status of iCBT application, and genetic researches on iCBT for anxiety disorders were all reviewed and discussed in this review. From the data compiled, we conclude that iCBT is useful in treating or improving psychological state in cancer patients.

Communicative roots of complex sociality and cognition: neuropsychological mechanisms underpinning the processing of social information

Primate social bonds are described as being especially complex in their nature, and primates have unusually large brains for their body size compared to other mammals. Communication in primates has attracted considerable attention because of the important role it plays in social bonding. It has been proposed that differentiated social relationships are cognitively complex because primates need to continuously update their knowledge about different types of social bonds. Therefore, primates infer whether an opportunity for social interaction is rewarding (valuable to individual goals) based on their knowledge of the social relationships of the interactants. However, exposure to distraction and stress has detrimental effects on the dopaminergic system, suggesting that understanding social relationships as rewarding is affected in these conditions. This paper proposes that complex communication evolved to augment the capacity to form social relationships during stress through flexibly modifying intentionality in communication (audience checking, response waiting and elaboration). Intentional communication may upregulate dopamine dynamics to allow recognition that an interaction is rewarding during stress. By examining these associations between complexity of communication and stress, we provide new insights into the cognitive skills involved in forming social bonds in primates and the evolution of communication systems in both primates and humans. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cognition, communication and social bonds in primates'.

Effort-related decision making in humanized COMT mice: Effects of Val158Met polymorphisms and possible implications for negative symptoms in humans

Catechol-o-methyltransferase (COMT) is an enzyme that metabolizes catecholamines, and is crucial for clearance of dopamine (DA) in prefrontal cortex. Val¹⁵⁸Met polymorphism, which causes a valine (Val) to methionine (Met) substitution at codon 158, is reported to be associated with human psychopathologies in some studies. The Val/Val variant of the enzyme results in higher dopamine metabolism, which results in reduced dopamine transmission. Thus, it is important to investigate the relation between Val¹⁵⁸Met polymorphisms using rodent models of psychiatric symptoms, including negative symptoms such as motivational dysfunction. In the present study, humanized COMT transgenic mice with two genotype groups (Val/Val (Val) and Met/Met (Met) homozygotes) and wild-type (WT) mice from the S129 background were tested using a touchscreen effort-based choice paradigm. Mice were trained to choose between delivery of a preferred liquid diet that reinforced panel pressing on various fixed ratio (FR) schedules (high-effort alternative), vs. intake of pellets concurrently available in the chamber (low-effort alternative). Panel pressing requirements were controlled by varying the FR levels (FR1, 2, 4, 8, 16) in ascending and descending sequences across weeks of testing. All mice were able to acquire the initial touchscreen operant training, and there was an inverse relationship between the number of reinforcers delivered by panel pressing and pellet intake across different FR levels. There was a significant group x FR level interaction in the ascending limb, with panel presses in the Val group being significantly lower than the WT group in FR1-8, and lower than Met in FR4. These findings indicate that the humanized Val allele in mice modulates FR/pellet-choice performance, as marked by lower levels of panel pressing in the Val group when the ratio requirement was moderately high. These studies may contribute to the understanding of the role of COMT polymorphisms in negative symptoms such as motivational dysfunctions in schizophrenic patients.