Factual and counterfactual learning in major adolescent depressive disorder, evidence from an instrumental learning study.

Background: The incidence of adolescent depressive disorder is globally skyrocketing in recent decades, albeit the causes and the decision deficits depression incurs has yet to be well-examined. With an instrumental learning task, the aim of the current study is to investigate the extent to which learning behavior deviates from that observed in healthy adolescent controls and track the underlying mechanistic channel for such a deviation.

Methods: We recruited a group of adolescents with major depression and age-matched healthy control subjects to carry out the learning task with either gain or loss outcome and applied a reinforcement learning model that dissociates valence (positive .

The heart-brain axis: A proteomics study of meditation on the cardiovascular system of Tibetan Monks.

Background: There have been mixed reports on the beneficial effects of meditation in cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is widely considered the leading cause of death worldwide.

Methods: To clarify the role of meditation in modulating the heart-brain axis, we implemented an extreme phenotype strategy, i.e.

Asymmetric valuation and belief updating over gain and loss in risky decision making: A behavioral and electrophysiological investigation.

Decisions under risk, either for gain or loss, are ubiquitous in our daily life. However, the extent to which the valence (gain or loss) of risky financial choices shapes outcome valuation and belief updating is a relatively overlooked research area. In the current study, we image neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG) combined with a financial decision task to investigate outcome valuation and belief updating.

Blending oxytocin and dopamine with everyday creativity.

Converging evidence suggests that oxytocin (OT) is associated with creative thinking (CT) and that release of OT depends on ADP ribosyl-cyclases (CD38 and CD157). Neural mechanisms of CT and OT show a strong association with dopaminergic (DA) pathways, yet the link between CT and CD38, CD157, dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) peripheral gene expression remain inconclusive, thus limiting our understanding of the neurobiology of CT. To address this issue, two principal domains of CT, divergent thinking (AUT), were assessed.

Genetic variation in the oxytocin system and its link to social motivation in human infants.

Frontal brain asymmetry has been linked to motivational processes in infants and adults, with left lateralization reflecting motivation to approach and right lateralization reflecting motivation to withdraw. We examined the hypothesis that variability in infants' social motivation may be linked to genetic variation in the oxytocin system. Eleven-month-old infants' brain responses and looking preferences to smiling and frowning individuals were assessed in conjunction with a polymorphism in CD38 (rs3796863) linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and reduced oxytocin.

To Reveal or Not to Reveal? Observation of Social Outcomes Facilitates Reward Processing.

Motivation is a key topic that comprises considerable theoretical and practical implications, and its study is gaining increasing traction in recent years. Employing both behavioral and neural techniques, previous studies examined the extent to which intrinsic and extrinsic motivations collectively shape individual decision making. Investigations found that both processes play indispensable and interactive roles in choice behavior.

Intranasal oxytocin in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders: A multilevel meta-analysis.

Intranasal oxytocin has been shown to promote social functioning and has recently been applied as a treatment for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current meta-analysis aims to assess the crucial question of oxytocin's efficacy in the treatment of ASD. We performed a systematic literature search, including randomized, single- or double-blind/open-label and placebo-controlled clinical trials as well as single-arm, non-randomized and uncontrolled studies investigating exogenous oxytocin effect on ASD.

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Psychological Symptoms and Telomere Length: A Randomized Active-Controlled Trial.

Much research has demonstrated the beneficial effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on psychological and physical health, but it is not known whether MBSR may impact cellular aging in healthy populations. Further, little research has evaluated MBSR against an active control condition, which precludes strong conclusions regarding the unique effects of mindfulness on psychological functioning. The present study examined the effects of MBSR versus music therapy-based stress reduction (MTSR) on trait mindfulness, self-compassion, and several psychological health outcomes, as well as leukocyte telomere length (LTL).

Serotonin and early life stress interact to shape brain architecture and anxious avoidant behavior - a TPH2 imaging genetics approach.

Background: Early life stress has been associated with emotional dysregulations and altered architecture of limbic-prefrontal brain systems engaged in emotional processing. Serotonin regulates both, developmental and experience-dependent neuroplasticity in these circuits. Central serotonergic biosynthesis rates are regulated by Tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) and transgenic animal models suggest that TPH2-gene associated differences in serotonergic signaling mediate the impact of aversive early life experiences on a phenotype characterized by anxious avoidance.

Molecular genetics in psychology and personality neuroscience: On candidate genes, genome wide scans, and new research strategies.

Despite the substantial heritability estimates for psychological traits, their precise genetic foundation from a molecular perspective remains elusive. We summarize findings and advances from more than twenty years of research into the molecular genetics of personality and other psychological traits. We describe how the candidate gene approach has - despite its appealing theoretical foundations - often (but not always) failed to point towards replicable associations between genetic polymorphisms and behavioral traits.

Correction to: Association among dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and leukocyte telomere length in Chinese adults.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Cumulative Risk on Oxytocin-Pathway Genes Impairs Default Mode Network Connectivity in Trauma-Exposed Youth.

Although the default mode network (DMN) is a core network essential for brain functioning, little is known about its developmental trajectory, particularly on factors associated with its coherence into a functional network. In light of adult studies indicating DMN's susceptibility to stress-related conditions, we examined links between variability on oxytocin-pathway genes and DMN connectivity in youth exposed to chronic war-related trauma Following a cohort of war-exposed children from early childhood, we imaged the brains of 74 preadolescents (age 11-13 years; 39 war-exposed) during rest using magnetoencephalography (MEG). A cumulative risk index on oxytocin-pathway genes was constructed by combining single nucleotide polymorphisms on five genes previously linked with social deficits and psychopathology; rs1042778, rs2254298, rs53576, rs3796863, and RS3.

A Novel Role of CD38 and Oxytocin as Tandem Molecular Moderators of Human Social Behavior.

Oxytocin is an important modulator of human affiliative behaviors, including social skills, human pair bonding, and friendship. CD38 will be discussed as an immune marker and then in more detail the mechanisms of CD38 on releasing brain oxytocin. Mention is made of the paralogue of oxytocin, vasopressin, that has often overlapping and complementary functions with oxytocin on social behavior.

Weight gain, feeding and eating in the first year of life of babies of smoking and non-smoking mothers.

Babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy tend to be born underweight but are at risk for pediatric obesity. Maternal feeding practices, maternal disordered eating, and child temperament were assessed as potential mediators of early weight gain in babies of smoking and non-smoking mothers. The BMIs of babies of 88 smoking and 107 non-smoking mothers were recorded at birth and reported one year later.

To run with the herd or not: Electrophysiological dynamics are associated with preference change in crowdfunding.

The herd instinct is a common feature of human society and is frequently encountered in a myriad of other human social interaction including entertainment, fashion, and the adoption of new gadgets. Indeed, social influence, taking account of others' actions in one's decisions, is ubiquitous in our daily life. With the growing prevalence of crowdfunding investments, an increasing number of studies are currently focused on how social influences impact such behavior.

Human Extinction Learning Is Accelerated by an Angiotensin Antagonist via Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex and Its Connections With Basolateral Amygdala.

Background: Deficient extinction learning and threat adaptation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)-amygdala circuitry strongly impede the efficacy of exposure-based interventions in anxiety disorders. Recent animal models suggest a regulatory role of the renin-angiotensin system in both these processes. Against this background, the present randomized placebo-controlled pharmacologic functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment aimed at determining the extinction enhancing potential of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist losartan (LT) in humans.

Association among dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and leukocyte telomere length in Chinese adults.

Background: Whereas meditation training has been purported to support slower cellular aging, little work has explored the association among different facets of dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and cellular aging. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between leukocyte telomere length (LTL), an index of cellular aging, dispositional mindfulness, and self-compassion in a sample of Singaporean Chinese adults.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-eight Chinese adults (mean age = 27.

Correction: AVPR1a and SLC6A4 Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Creative Dance Performance.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.

Successful aging, cognitive function, socioeconomic status, and leukocyte telomere length.

In a rapidly greying world, the notion that some individuals maintain successful aging trajectories, viz. high physical, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning in older age, is increasingly germane. Biomarkers of such successful aging are increasingly sought.

The role of the Oxytocin-Neurophysin I gene in contributing to human personality traits promoting sociality.

Oxytocin (OT) plays a salient role in contributing to the high levels of human sociality that characterize our species. Across the lifespan this nonapeptide promotes prosocial behaviors and modulates stress responses. Curiously, the OXT-Neurophysin I gene has been little studied despite the fact this is the structural gene for the OT nonapeptide.

Vicarious social touch biases gazing at faces and facial emotions.

Research has suggested that interpersonal touch promotes social processing and other-concern, and that women may respond to it more sensitively than men. In this study, we asked whether this phenomenon would extend to third-party observers who experience touch vicariously. In an eye-tracking experiment, participants (N = 64, 32 men and 32 women) viewed prime and target images with the intention of remembering them.