Effects of Gaze Cues on Distributive Behavior of the Ultimatum Game in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

ABSTRACT: Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulty in social decision-making. The ultimatum game (UG) is a popular economic game used to evaluate social decision-making. This study aimed to examine the effects of schematically depicted eyes and ADHD symptoms on UG performance. Thirty adults with ADHD were recruited. The computer screen background was changed among the "eyespots," "neutral," and "flowers" conditions among 30 trials of UG. Through all trials, task performances were recorded, and then compared with 30 typical adults and 30 adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The reaction time was not affected by the background in any group. Although typical adults distributed more money in the "eyespots" condition, a nonsignificant background effect was observed in adults with ADHD or ASD. These results may be associated with reduced attention to social cues in individuals with ADHD, and this ADHD characteristic might lead to difficulty in social decision-making.

Spontaneous theory of mind in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Spontaneous theory of mind (ToM) is an unconscious and automatic understanding of others' mental states. Recently, individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been shown to have social and communication difficulties, and ToM in ADHD has come under scrutiny. Although some studies have employed explicit ToM tasks to this end with contradictory results, none, to our knowledge, has investigated spontaneous ToM in individuals with ADHD. Therefore, we performed this study to examine implicit mentalizing in adults with ADHD using the anticipatory-looking paradigm designed by Senju et al. (2009) with a sample of 24 adults with ADHD and 18 neurotypical adults. The total fixation times to three areas of interest, i.e., the actor and the false-belief congruent and incongruent sides of the scene were measured. We found that neither group showed looking bias toward either the false-belief congruent or incongruent side. We interpret that this similar gaze pattern and the absence of looking bias to the false-belief incongruent side in both groups is indicative of intact implicit ToM in adults with ADHD. Adults with ADHD looked significantly less at the actor than did neurotypical individuals, possibly due to inattention and further experimental modifications should be considered.

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Biomarkers and Low-Grade Inflammation in Patients with Psychiatric Disorders: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) present positive effects on mental health in diverse populations. However, the detailed associations between MBIs and biomarkers in patients with psychiatric disorders remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of MBIs on biomarkers in psychiatric illness used to summarise the effects of low-grade inflammation. A systematic review of PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library was conducted. Effect sizes (ESs) were determined by Hedges' g and the number needed to treat (NNT). Heterogeneity was evaluated. A total of 10 trials with 998 participants were included. MBIs showed significant improvements in the event-related potential amplitudes in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, the methylation of serotonin transporter genes in post-traumatic stress disorder, the salivary levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in depression, and the blood levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), IL-6, and TNF-α in generalised anxiety disorder. MBIs showed low but significant effects on health status related to biomarkers of low-grade inflammation (g = -0.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.41 to -0.01; NNT = 8.47), with no heterogeneity (I2 = 0; 95% CI 0 to 79). More trials are needed to establish the impact of MBIs on biomarkers in psychiatric illness.

Gut microbiota and major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Growing attention has been paid to the field of gut microbiota for mental disorders over the last decade. However, to our knowledge, no studies have conducted systematic reviews on the association between gut microbiota and major depressive disorder (MDD) in both interventional and non-interventional studies. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 studies (10 observational [701 participants] and six interventional trials [302 participants]) examining gut microbiota in patients with MDD. The primary outcome measures were differences in the profile of microbiota in the observational studies, and symptom changes for depression between pre- and post-intervention with probiotics in the interventional trials. RESULTS: In the observational studies, significant reductions in several taxa at the family and genus levels were observed in patients with MDD compared to non-depressed controls. In the interventional studies with probiotics, a significant improvement was found in depressive symptomatology compared to controls (SMD = -1.62, 95% CI = -2.73 to -0.51, p< 0.01). LIMITATIONS: Lack of consideration of the effects of diet and pharmacotherapy was a possible limitation. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that several taxa at the family and genus levels, specifically family Prevotellaceae, genus Corprococcus, and Faecalibacterium, were decreased in MDD compared to non-depressed controls in observational studies, and depressive symptoms were improved compared to controls in interventional studies with probiotics. Due to the limited number of studies, further studies considering diet and pharmacotherapy are needed to explore the relationships between gut microbiota and MDD in humans.

The effect of visual cues on performance in the ultimatum game in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

The Ultimatum Game (UG) allows for the assessment of altruistic behavior as well as the perception of fairness. We examined the effects of visual social cues (gaze of others), factors associated with autism, and trust on UG performance in typical adults (TAs) and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We hypothesized that individuals with ASD would be less affected by visual social cues than TAs. We recruited 30 TAs and 30 individuals with ASD. Participants completed 30 trials of the UG, during which the visual background was altered to include either stylized eyespots, flowers, or a neutral background. Reaction times and money distributed in each condition were recorded. Reaction times did not vary among background conditions in either group, although individuals with ASD responded more slowly overall. TAs distributed less money in the neutral background and flowers conditions than in the eyespots condition, while no significant differences in the amount of money distributed were observed among background conditions for individuals with ASD, who also distributed more money overall than TAs. Such findings may be due to decreased susceptibility to social cues among individuals with ASD.

Serum anticholinergic activity: a possible peripheral marker of the anticholinergic burden in the central nervous system in Alzheimer's disease.

We review the utility of serum anticholinergic activity (SAA) as a peripheral marker of anticholinergic activity (AA) in the central nervous system (CAA). We hypothesize that the compensatory mechanisms of the cholinergic system do not contribute to SAA if their system is intact and that if central cholinergic system deteriorates alone in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or Lewy body dementia, CAA and SAA are caused by way of hyperactivity of inflammatory system and SAA is a marker of the anticholinergic burden in CNS. Taking into account the diurnal variations in the plasma levels of corticosteroids, which are thought to affect SAA, it should be measured at noon or just afterward.

[Proposal of endogenous anticholinergic hypothesis in Alzheimer disease].

We previously speculated that anticholinergic activity (AA) endogenously appeared in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and accelerated AD pathology. In this article we introduce manuscripts supporting the endogenous appearance of AA in AD and the acceleration of AD pathology. We speculate that acethylcholine (ACh) not only is related to cognitive functions but also regulates the inflammatory system. Therefore in AD, in which the ACh system is down-regulated, the hyperactivity of the inflammatory system may be caused and among cyctokines, substances having anticholinergic properties may appear. We also refer to a case in which serum anticholinergic activity (SAA) disappeared with the prescription of memantine (an antidementia agent that has the property of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blocker) and speculate that because the hyperactivity of the inflammatory system occurs by way of the hyperactivity of NMDA receptor, memantine could abolish the AA.