Expectation effects on repetition suppression in nociception.

Repetition suppression, the reduced neural response upon repeated presentation of a stimulus, can be explained by models focussing on bottom-up (i.e. adaptation) or top-down (i.

BOLD Long-Range Temporal Correlations Reflect Changes in Language and Depression Across Intensive Aphasia Therapy.

Background: Intensive language-action therapy treats language deficits and depressive symptoms in chronic poststroke aphasia, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain underexplored. Long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs) in blood oxygenation level-dependent signals indicate persistence in brain activity patterns and may relate to learning and levels of depression. This observational study investigates blood oxygenation level-dependent LRTC changes alongside therapy-induced language and mood improvements in perisylvian and domain-general brain areas.

Local activity alterations in individuals with autism correlate with neurotransmitter properties and ketamine-induced brain changes.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition associated with altered resting-state brain function. An increased excitation-inhibition ratio is discussed as a pathomechanism but in-vivo evidence of disturbed neurotransmission underlying functional alterations remains scarce. We compare local resting-state brain activity and neurotransmitter co-localizations between autism (N = 405, N = 395) and neurotypical controls (N = 473, N = 474) in two independent cohorts and correlate them with excitation-inhibition changes induced by glutamatergic (ketamine) and GABAergic (midazolam) medication.

Neural correlates of peripartum depression: a systematic review, meta-analysis and comparison to major depressive disorder.

Background: Peripartum depression (PPD) is a form of major depressive disorder (MDD) that begins during the peripartum period and poses a significant mental health challenge affecting 10 to 29% of women.

Objective: This systematic review and multimodal activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis explored the distinct structural, functional, and metabolic features of the PPD brain as compared to female non-peripartum MDD.

Methods: For this purpose, we conducted a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, Embase and PsycINFO databases to identify peer-reviewed original studies investigating the neural correlates associated with PPD or fMDD.

Breaking the chains: Toward a neural-level account of episodic memory.

It has been suggested that episodic memory relies on the well-studied machinery of spatial memory. This influential notion faces hurdles that become evident with dynamically changing spatial scenes and an immobile agent. Here I propose a model of episodic memory that can accommodate such episodes via temporal indexing.

The dual nature of neuroinflammation in networked brain.

Neuroinflammation is a dynamic, context-sensitive process that plays essential roles in brain development, maintenance, and response to injury. It reflects a finely balanced neuroimmune state-facilitating repair and adaptation under homeostatic conditions, while also contributing to dysfunction when dysregulated or chronically activated. In this mini-review, we examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuroinflammatory responses, focusing on the roles of microglia and astrocytes, their bidirectional communication with neurons, and their interaction with peripheral immune signals.

Catecholamines reduce choice history biases in perceptual decision making.

Theoretical accounts postulate that the catecholaminergic neuromodulator noradrenaline shapes cognition and behavior by reducing the impact of prior expectations on learning, inference, and decision-making. A ubiquitous effect of dynamic priors on perceptual decisions under uncertainty is choice history bias: the tendency to systematically repeat, or alternate, previous choices, even when stimulus categories are presented in a random sequence. Here, we directly test for a causal impact of catecholamines on these priors.

Serum Galectin-9 and Decorin in relation to brain aging and the green-Mediterranean diet: A secondary analysis of the DIRECT PLUS randomized trial.

Background And Aims: We explored whether changes in serum proteomic profiles differed between participants with distinct brain aging trajectories, and whether these changes were influenced by dietary intervention.

Methods: In this secondary analysis of the 18-month DIRECT PLUS trial, 294 participants were randomized to one of three arms: 1) Healthy dietary guidelines (HDG); 2) Mediterranean (MED) diet (+440 mg/day polyphenols from walnuts); or 3) low red/processed meat green-MED diet (+1240 mg/day polyphenols from walnuts, Mankai plant, and green tea). We measured 87 serum proteins (Olink-CVDII).

Acquisition and Utilization of Recursive Rules in Motor Sequence Generation.

Recursive hierarchical embedding allows humans to generate multiple hierarchical levels using simple rules. We can acquire recursion from exposure to linguistic and visual examples, but only develop the ability to understand "multiple-level" structures like "[[second] red] ball]" after mastering "same-level" conjunctions like "[second] and [red] ball." Whether we can also learn recursion in motor production remains unexplored.

Neurons ensheathed by perineuronal nets are prone to hyperphosphorylation of tau protein in the hibernating Syrian hamster brain.

Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are a specialized form of neuronal extracellular matrix that often ensheath highly active cells, such as parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons. Net-bearing neurons have been shown to be devoid of pathological aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein (p-tau), suggesting they may serve neuroprotective functions. P-tau is a major hallmark of tauopathies like Alzheimer's disease (AD) but is also naturally present in the brains of hibernating mammals during the torpor phase.

Adding to the burden: the tendency to resonate with others' stress is linked to higher PTSD symptom severity in individuals with war-related trauma.

Many refugees experience multiple traumatic events, which set them at increased risk to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To refine interventions aimed at improving refugees' mental health, a better understanding of the factors modulating vulnerability to war-related trauma is needed. In the present study, we focused on stress resonance as a potential vulnerability factor.

Neural correlates of metacognition in education: a machine learning approach.

Metacognition, the ability to reflect and regulate one's cognitive processes, has been shown to play a role in various aspects of life, particularly in academic settings. While important steps have been made in uncovering the neural basis of metacognition for highly specific domains (such as perceptual and mnemonic decision-making), little is known about how these findings relate to general forms of metacognition relevant in education. In this study, we use a data-driven approach to (i) identify brain regions associated with metacognition in education, and (ii) investigate the issue of domain-generality and to what extent these brain regions overlap with regions involved in metacognition in the context of specific decision-making tasks used in cognitive neuroscience.

Criminal minds in dementia: A systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis.

Introduction: Subjects with dementia might exhibit criminal risk behavior (CB), even in early disease stages.

Methods: This systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis investigated CB prevalence across all neurodegenerative syndromes according to PRISMA criteria and preregistered in PROSPERO. Mean frequencies and odds ratios were calculated and compared.

Age- and sex-related differences in landmark recall following a virtual spatial navigation task.

Introduction: Wayfinding is a cognitive ability that supports accurate spatial navigation and declines in this ability adversely affect independent living in older age. The cognitive map represents environmental details, such as landmark cues, relative to the goal location. Distal cues appear to be less effective than proximal ones in precisely locating the goal.

Neurodevelopmentally rooted epicenters in schizophrenia: sensorimotor-association spatial axis of cortical thickness alterations.

Pathological disturbances in schizophrenia have been suggested to propagate via the functional and structural connectome across the lifespan. However, how the connectome guides early cortical reorganization of developing schizophrenia remains unknown. Here, we used early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) as a neurodevelopmental disease model to investigate putative early pathologic origins propagating through the functional and structural connectome.

Neighborhood context, genetic influences, and life satisfaction: Evidence from the German twin family panel.

Both genetic influences and neighborhood environments play a role in shaping life satisfaction. However, research examining gene-environment interactions (GxE) in this context remains limited. This study investigates how neighborhood deprivation moderates the effects of genetic influences on life satisfaction.

HeteroMRI: Robust white matter abnormality classification across multi-scanner MRI data.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used for analyzing white matter abnormalities in the human brain. Integrating machine learning into MRI analysis can enhance diagnostic processes. However, the application of such techniques for white matter analysis in clinical practice is often limited when MRI data are multi-scanner (i.

Replay in the human visual cortex during brief task pauses is linked to implicit learning of successor representations.

Humans can implicitly learn about multistep sequential relationships between events in the environment from their statistical co-occurrence. Theoretical work has suggested that neural replay is a candidate mechanism that aids such learning. Here, we used functional MRI (fMRI) to test whether replay is related to implicit learning of higher-order sequential relationships.

Quantifying the influence of vocational education and training with text embedding and similarity-based networks.

Assessing the potential influence of Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses on creating job opportunities and nurturing work skills has been considered challenging due to the ambiguity in defining their complex relationships and connections with the local economy. Here, we quantify the potential influence of VET courses and explain it with future economy and specialization by constructing a network of more than 17,000 courses, jobs, and skills in Singapore's SkillsFuture data based on their text similarities captured by a text embedding technique, Sentence Transformer. We find that VET courses associated with Singapore's 4th Industrial Revolution economy demonstrate higher influence than those related to other future economies.

Short-range human cortico-cortical white matter fibers have thinner axons and are less myelinated compared to long-range fibers despite a similar g-ratio.

The size and complexity of the human brain require optimally sized and myelinated fibers. White matter fibers facilitate fast communication between distant areas, but also connect adjacent cortical regions via short association fibers. The difference in length and packing density of long and short association fibers pose different requirements on their optimal size and degree of myelination.

How mindfulness-based training improves stress-related health: a selective review of randomized clinical trials comparing psychological mechanisms of action.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been shown to reduce both subjective experiences and physiological markers of stress, a central pathway to improving health and wellbeing. Yet, understanding of the causal mechanism through which MBIs affect stress-related health outcomes remains poor. Most MBIs rely on training programs that simultaneously target multiple and distinct mental processes, hampering mechanistic conclusions.

Multivariate white matter microstructure alterations in older adults with coronary artery disease.

Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) face an increased risk of cognitive impairment, dementia, and stroke. While white matter (WM) lesions are frequently reported in patients with CAD, the effects on WM microstructure alterations remain largely unknown. We aimed to identify WM microstructural alterations in individuals with CAD compared to healthy controls (HC), and to examine their relationships with cognitive performance.