Sexual trauma history is associated with reduced orbitofrontal network strength in substance-dependent women.

Aim: Substance use disorders (SUDs) are highly comorbid with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD-SUD comorbidity is associated with greater functional impairments and relapse risk. Women with SUDs experience markedly higher rates of trauma and PTSD compared to men with SUDs, particularly due to sexual and domestic abuse.

Using Neural Networks as Models of Personality Process: A Tutorial.

This paper presents a tutorial for creating neural network models of personality processes. Such models enable researchers to create explicit models of both personality structure and personality dynamics, and to address issues of recent concern in personality, such as, "If personality is stable, then how is it possible that within subject variability in personality states can be as large as or larger than between subject variability in personality?" or "Is it possible to understand personality dynamics and personality structure within a common framework?" We discuss why one should want to use neural networks, review what a neural network model is, review a previous model we have constructed, discuss how to conceptualize issues in such a way that they can be computationally modeled, show how that conceptualization can be translated into a model, and discuss the utility of such models for understanding personality structure and personality dynamics. To build our model we use a neural network modeling package called that is freely available, and a specific architecture called Leabra to build a runnable model that addresses one of the questions posed above: How can within subject variability in personality related states be as large as between subject variability in personality?

Neurocognitive decision-making processes of casual methamphetamine users.

Neuroadaptations caused by chronic methamphetamine (MA) use are likely major contributors to high relapse rate following treatment. Thus, focusing intervention efforts at pre-empting addiction in vulnerable populations, thereby preventing MA-use-induced neurological changes that make recovery so challenging, may prove more effective than targeting chronic users. One approach is studying casual/recreational users, not diagnosed with substance use disorder.

The role of the dorsal anterior insula in sexual risk: Evidence from an erotic Go/NoGo task and real-world risk-taking.

The insula plays an important role in response inhibition. Most relevant here, it has been proposed that the dorsal anterior insular cortex (dAIC) plays a central role in a salience network that is responsible for switching between the default mode network and the executive control network. However, the insula's role in sexually motivated response inhibition has not yet been studied.

Virtually 'in the heat of the moment': insula activation in safe sex negotiation among risky men.

HIV is most prevalent among men who have sex with men (MSM), and although most MSM use condoms consistently during casual sex, some take risks. To better understand the psychology of those risky decisions, we examined neural correlates of playing a virtual sexual 'hook up' game in an functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner in MSM who had, in the past 90 days, been sexually risky (N = 76) or safe (N = 31). We found that during potentially risky sexual choices, previously risky MSM had more right insula activity than previously safe MSM.

MINDFULNESS GOES TO SCHOOL: THINGS LEARNED (SO FAR) FROM RESEARCH AND REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES.

Mindfulness-based curricula are being implemented in K-12 schools across the nation. Many of these programs, although well-considered and implemented, have little or no research support for their effectiveness. Recognizing the paucity of published research in this area, a sampling of school-based programs currently being implemented in the schools is reviewed.

Roles of the Different Sub-Regions of the Insular Cortex in Various Phases of the Decision-Making Process.

This paper presents a coherent account of the role of the insular cortex (IC) in decision-making. We follow a conceptualization of decision-making that is very close to one previously proposed by Ernst and Paulus (2005): that the decision process is a progression of four phases: (1) re-focusing attention; (2) evaluation; (3) action; and (4) outcome processing, and we present evidence for the insula's role in all these phases. We review the existing work on insula's functional anatomy that subdivides the IC into posterior, dorsal anterior and ventral anterior regions.

Revisiting the role of the insula in addiction.

Brain lesions that damage the insular cortex (IC) interrupt addictive behaviors, suggesting that drug addiction sensitizes the insula. However, neuroimaging studies seem to lead to an opposite picture: structural neuroimaging studies show reduced gray matter volume of the IC of drug users, and functional neuroimaging studies show reduced IC activity when drug users perform decision-making tasks. These results have been interpreted as indicating that addictive behaviors are associated with reduced interoceptive signaling within the IC.

Common neural mechanisms underlying reversal learning by reward and punishment.

Impairments in flexible goal-directed decisions, often examined by reversal learning, are associated with behavioral abnormalities characterized by impulsiveness and disinhibition. Although the lateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC) has been consistently implicated in reversal learning, it is still unclear whether this region is involved in negative feedback processing, behavioral control, or both, and whether reward and punishment might have different effects on lateral OFC involvement. Using a relatively large sample (N = 47), and a categorical learning task with either monetary reward or moderate electric shock as feedback, we found overlapping activations in the right lateral OFC (and adjacent insula) for reward and punishment reversal learning when comparing correct reversal trials with correct acquisition trials, whereas we found overlapping activations in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) when negative feedback signaled contingency change.