The effect of cancer and cancer treatment on attention control: evidence from anti-saccade performance.

Purpose: Cancer and cancer treatment have been associated with cognitive changes in survivorship, with forgetfulness and distractibility reported years post-treatment. Deficits in attention control may explain these difficulties. We assessed breast cancer survivors using a primary measure of attention control, the saccade/antisaccade task, to assess the effects of diagnosis and treatment.

Effects of Breast Cancer Treatment on Neural Noise: a Longitudinal Design.

Objective: Cognitive dysfunction has been observed consistently in a subset of breast cancer survivors. Yet the precise neurophysiological origins of cancer-related cognitive decline remain unknown. The current study assessed neural noise (1/f activity in electroencephalogram [EEG]) in breast cancer survivors as a potential contributor to observed cognitive dysfunction from pre- to post-treatment.

COVID-19 vaccine related anxiety partially mediates the association between COVID-19 related anxiety and student adjustment to college during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions in living and learning to millions of college students. Here we investigated using mediation analysis two dimensions of anxiety that were specific to the pandemic - COVID-19 related anxiety and COVID-19 vaccine anxiety - to evaluate their relationship to college adjustment during the pandemic. Using cross-sectional survey data across three semester waves (Spring 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022) we probed whether anxiety functioned as a challenge or hindrance stressor on adjustment.

Effects of Covid-19-related anxiety on overeating and weight gain in a diverse college sample.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has been linked with caloric overeating and weight gain. We employed a mediation analysis to determine whether pandemic-associated overeating was a direct effect of Covid-19-related anxiety (affect regulation theory) or mediated by a coping mechanism of escape eating (escape theory). A diverse pool of college students participated in a repeated cross-sectional study during three separate waves: May 2021 (wave 1,  = 349), December 2021 (wave 2,  = 253), and March 2022 (wave 3,  = 132).

Atypical Neural Plasticity and Behavioral Effects of Trustworthiness Learning in Borderline Personality Disorder Features.

This study distinguishes interpersonal trust learning with a novel trust learning paradigm in participants high (H-BPD) and low (L-BPD) in BPD features. Neutral faces were paired with trust-relevant behaviors in four conditions: trustworthy, untrustworthy, ambiguously trustworthy, and mixed trustworthiness. After training, participants rated faces on untrustworthiness as electroencephalographic measures were recorded.

The effect of visual target presence and age on antisaccade performance.

Antisaccade and prosaccade (PS) performance were studied in a large cohort of females (age range 42-74 yr). Antisaccade performance was assessed in two variants of the task, a "traditional" antisaccade (TA) task, in which no visual stimuli were present at the saccade goal, and a visually guided antisaccade (VGA) task, in which small visual stimuli were present at the possible saccade goals prior to the imperative visual stimulus. Directional error frequency was similar in the two antisaccade tasks.

Longitudinal Effects of Breast Cancer Treatment on Neural Correlates of Attention.

Objective: Cognitive dysfunction has been observed consistently in a subset of breast cancer survivors. Yet, the precise physiological and processing origins of dysfunction remain unknown. The current study examined the utility of methods and procedures based on cognitive neuroscience to study cognitive change associated with cancer and cancer treatment.

Substance use trajectories among urban college students: associations with symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression before and during COVID-19.

This study explored substance use trajectories and associations with mental health among an ethnically/racially diverse college student sample before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We combined repeated cross-sections and panel data from a total of 3,247 college students assessed with an online survey in 2018, 2019, and in three waves in 2020. We estimated trends in substance use and their relation to mental health over the survey waves using generalized estimating equations (GEE).

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Children with Trauma Exposure.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate differences in frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) between children (5-17 years) with or without histories of trauma exposure. EEG data were obtained from 165 children who participated in the Healthy Brain Network Initiative during rest with eyes open and closed. FAA during resting-state electroencephalography was significantly more negative in the trauma-exposed group, suggesting greater left lateralized FAA and avoidance-oriented motivation.

Pre-Treatment Breast Cancer Patients Show Neural Differences in Frontal Alpha Asymmetry.

Cognitive impairment has been observed consistently in a subset of breast cancer survivors. Yet, still unknown is whether neural and behavioral effects of cancer exist to treatment, which may contribute to later cognitive decline. The current study investigated pre-treatment differences in attention performance and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), an established neural index of inhibitory control, in non-metastatic breast cancer patients ( = 42) compared with healthy controls ( = 28).

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Group Differences Among Individuals With and Without PTSD During an Inhibitory Control Task.

The current study examined frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a marker of approach- and avoidance-related prefrontal activity in participants with and without trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We investigated FAA in an inhibitory control paradigm (threatening vs nonthreatening cues) under 2 levels of cognitive demand (baseline: images constant within a block of trials; vs filtering: images varied randomly within a block) in 3 groups of participants: individuals with PTSD ( = 16), exposed to trauma but without PTSD ( = 14), and a control group without PTSD or trauma exposure ( = 15). Under low demand (baseline), both PTSD and trauma-exposed participants exhibited significantly greater relative left than right frontal brain activity (approach) to threatening than to nonthreatening images.

A unifying translational framework to advance treatment research for comorbid PTSD and substance use disorders.

We provide a unifying translational framework that can be used to synthesize extant lines of human laboratory research in four neurofunctional domains that underlie the co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress and substance use disorders (PTSD+SUD). We draw upon the Alcohol and Addiction Research Domain Criteria (AARDOC) to include executive functioning, negative emotionality, reward, and added social cognition from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria into our framework. We review research findings across each of the four domains, emphasizing human experimental studies in PTSD, SUD, and PTSD+SUD for each domain.

Experiences, impacts and mental health functioning during a COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown: Data from a diverse New York City sample of college students.

In March 2020, New York City (NYC) experienced an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which resulted in a 78-day mass confinement of all residents other than essential workers. The aims of the current study were to (1) document the breadth of COVID-19 experiences and their impacts on college students of a minority-serving academic institution in NYC; (2) explore associations between patterns of COVID-19 experiences and psychosocial functioning during the prolonged lockdown, and (3) explore sex and racial/ethnic differences in COVID-19-related experiences and mental health correlates. A total of 909 ethnically and racially diverse students completed an online survey in May 2020.

Neural and behavioral effects of perceptual load on auditory selective attention.

Healthy adults performed an auditory version of the flanker task under low versus high perceptual load while behavioral and electrophysiological measures were recorded. Participants experienced less attentional interference under low load than high load, whether analyses were performed between tasks (Garner interference; found in accuracy and RT), between stimuli (flanker congruity; found in accuracy), or between sequences (Gratton effect; found in accuracy). Analysis of event-related potentials to the distractor (flanker), which was physically identical across load conditions, revealed load modulation of tasks effects in the P1 component (peak amplitude and latency), an early perceptual component peaking approximately 75 ms after distractor onset.

Sensory Filtering and Sensory Memory in Breast Cancer Survivors.

Survivors of breast and other cancers often report protracted difficulty in performing tasks involving concentration and memory, even years after the completion of treatment. The current study investigated whether cancer and treatment history is associated with deficits in sensory filtering (gating out) and sensory memory (gating in), early processes in stimulus processing that may contribute to difficulties in later remembering. A group of breast cancer survivors and age-matched healthy control participants (mean age 54 years) underwent testing with paired-click and oddball tasks while electroencephalographic (EEG) signals were recorded.

Examining differences in attentional bias to smoking-related cues among black and white cigarette smokers: An event-related potential pilot study.

Black cigarette smokers experience higher craving, lower cessation rates, and increased health complications from tobacco use than Whites. We examined psychophysiological and behavioral differences in attentional bias to smoking cues between Black and White smokers. Thirty-one participants (Blacks, n = 20; MAge = 45 and Whites, n = 11, MAge = 47.

The social cognitive appraisal of trustworthiness in individuals with dimensional levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms: a translational study.

: Misappraisals in evaluating the trustworthiness of others may be one mechanism contributing to the interpersonal difficulties individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) face. : This study used a translational experimental design to examine the behavioural and neural correlates underlying the appraisal of facial stimuli morphed on dimensions of trustworthiness across three groups: individuals with high posttraumatic stress symptoms (HPTS), low posttraumatic stress symptoms (LPTS), and healthy controls (HC). : Participants (N = 70) rated how trustworthy to untrustworthy they perceived three facial morphs (trustworthy, neutral, and untrustworthy) while undergoing electroencephalography (EEG).

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Inhibitory Control among Individuals with Cannabis Use Disorders.

To better understand the biopsychosocial mechanisms associated with development and maintenance of cannabis use disorder (CUD), we examined frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a measure of approach bias and inhibitory control in cannabis users versus healthy nonusers. We investigated: (1) whether FAA could distinguish cannabis users from healthy controls; (2) whether there are cue-specific FAA effects in cannabis users versus controls; and (3) the time course of cue-specific approach motivation and inhibitory control processes. EEG data were analyzed from forty participants (CUD ( = 20) and controls ( = 20)) who completed a modified visual attention task.

Smoking policies in the home have less influence on cigarettes per day and nicotine dependence level among African American than White smokers: A cross-sectional analysis.

Background: African American smokers suffer disproportionately from tobacco-related disease caused, in part, by lower rates of smoking cessation. We examined whether smoke-free home policies and delay discounting were differentially associated with cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) and nicotine dependence (ND) among African Americans and Whites.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using data from 65 African American (n = 40) and White (n = 25) smokers who completed measures of CPD, ND, tobacco craving, stress, depression, home smoking policy, and delay discounting.

Neural and behavioral correlates of attentional bias to cannabis cues among adults with cannabis use disorders.

The current pilot study probed the time course of attentional bias to cannabis-related cues among individuals with cannabis use disorders (CUDs) compared with healthy controls. Forty participants (individuals with CUDs, = 20, = 26.2 and healthy controls, = 20, = 28) completed a modified visual attention task in which they made decisions about the orientation of a target line while ignoring temporally flanking lines and cannabis-related, positive-, negative-, and neutral-images as behavioral responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded.

Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Attentional Inhibition Training and Perceptual Discrimination Training in a Visual Flanker Task.

Two groups of healthy young adults were exposed to 3 weeks of cognitive training in a modified version of the visual flanker task, one group trained to discriminate the target (discrimination training) and the other group to ignore the flankers (inhibition training). Inhibition training, but not discrimination training, led to significant reductions in both Garner interference, indicating improved selective attention, and in Stroop interference, indicating more efficient resolution of stimulus conflict. The behavioral gains from training were greatest in participants who showed the poorest selective attention at pretest.

Regulation of threat in post-traumatic stress disorder: Associations between inhibitory control and dissociative symptoms.

The current study investigated links between trauma exposure, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and inhibitory control assessed using a modified version of the visual flanker task. The study had three aims: (1) specifically confirm general non-affective deficits in sustained attention in PTSD; (2) probe the influence of threatening and trauma-related stimuli on inhibitory control; and (3) explore neural correlates connecting PTSD, facets of dissociation, and inhibitory control. Participants with PTSD (n = 16), trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD (TE; n = 14), and healthy controls (n = 15) discriminated line orientations while ignoring temporally flanking lines and images depicting threatening or non-threatening scenes or faces.

Inhibitory Control under Threat: The Role of Spontaneous Eye Blinks in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

This study is the first to explore spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We investigated the connection between the magnitude of flanker interference in PTSD participants and sEBR during performance on a modified version of the Eriksen flanker task. As a peripheral measure of cognitive control and dopaminergic function, sEBR may illuminate the relationship between PTSD and executive function.

Does Working Memory Enhance or Interfere With Speech Fluency in Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter? Evidence From a Dual-Task Paradigm.

Purpose: The present study examined whether engaging working memory in a secondary task benefits speech fluency. Effects of dual-task conditions on speech fluency, rate, and errors were examined with respect to predictions derived from three related theoretical accounts of disfluencies.

Method: Nineteen adults who stutter and twenty adults who do not stutter participated in the study.