Right amygdala and caudate activation patterns predict implicit attitudes toward people with autism spectrum disorders and physical disabilities, respectively.

Attitudes toward people with disabilities tend to be negative, regardless of the visibility of the disorder traits. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience stigmatization that is rooted in negative attitudes or prejudice toward them because of their social awkwardness. The neural underpinnings of attitudes toward people with disabilities remain unclear. In this study, we focused on implicit attitudes toward people with ASD and physical disabilities, which are more visible than ASD, and investigated whether implicit attitudes were predicted by using neural activity with multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) in the prejudice network. Thirty-six, right-handed, Japanese, university students without disabilities participated. Two implicit association tests (IAT) toward people with ASD and physical disabilities revealed negative implicit attitudes. In the MRI scanner, participants performed a one-back task by using the same picture sets of IATs to examine their neural responses toward people with ASD and physical disabilities. According to the MVPA results, activation patterns of the right amygdala and right caudate significantly predicted implicit attitudes toward people with ASD and physical disabilities, respectively. These results suggest that implicit attitudes toward ASD and physical disabilities can be predicted by using neural signals from different regions within the prejudice network.

Academic achievements and brain volume development in children and adolescents.

Children are expected to acquire both basic and numeric skills. Achievement of higher levels of reading, writing, arithmetic, and vocabulary are favorable and desirable. The relationship between each literacy skill and neural development has been investigated; however, association between brain development and the 4 literacy skills has not been examined. This longitudinal, structural, neuroimaging study explored the contribution of higher academic achievement in reading, writing, arithmetic, and vocabulary to neural development. The brain volumes of children and adolescents aged 9-16 years were measured in the first test. Approximately 2.6 years later, the brain volumes and 4 academic achievement scores of 77 participants were measured in the second test. Changes in the gray matter volume in the left fusiform gyrus were associated with vocabulary scores, whereas those in the left striatum were associated with arithmetic scores. The reading and writing scores showed no statistically significant relationship with changes in brain volume. The current vocabulary score correlated with current gray matter volume, while brain volumes in the first test showed no association with any achievement scores. These results suggest that academic achievement may modulate brain plasticity in various ways.

Less Negative Implicit Attitudes Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder in University Students: A Comparison with Physical Disabilities.

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience stigmatization rooted in negative attitudes or prejudice toward them due to social awkwardness. However, little is known about implicit attitudes toward ASD, especially differences in attitudes compared to those of more visible conditions; physical disabilities. In this study, we implemented implicit association tests (IATs) to assess implicit attitudes. Sixty-three university students participated in IATs and answered questionnaires that measured explicit attitudes, social desirability, knowledge about-and familiarity with-disorders. The results demonstrated that implicit attitude toward ASD was significantly less negative than toward physical disabilities. Regarding the discrepancy, not socially awkward behavior but appearance of people with ASD can be evaluated as 'in-group' members and lead to less negative attitude compared with physical disabilities.

Brain Anatomy Alterations and Mental Health Challenges Correlate to Email Addiction Tendency.

Despite the widespread use of email, our knowledge regarding the consequences of email addiction is lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop an email addiction tendency scale to evaluate its correlation to behavior and brain structure. Following this, the validity and reliability of the developed scale was investigated. We used voxel-based morphometry, correlation, and univariate regression analysis to assess the relationships between email addiction tendency scores and regional gray and white matter volumes, depression, and nonverbal reasoning abilities in a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 1152; mean age, 20.69 ± 1.84 years). The content validity ratio, content validity index, principal component analysis, and confirmatory factorial analysis all showed that the email addiction tendency scale (EATS) has high validity. Additionally, the Cronbach's alpha internal consistency and split-half reliability coefficient showed that the EATS has high reliability. We found that email addiction tendency scores were significantly negatively correlated with nonverbal reasoning. We also observed that the email addiction tendency scores were significantly and positively correlated with depression symptom severity and gray matter volume of the left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPC) in subjects. These results indicate that email addiction tendency is associated with lower mental health outcomes and increased GMV in the left RLPC.

A method to soothe and promote sleep in crying infants utilizing the transport response.

Approximately 20%-30% of infants cry excessively and exhibit sleep difficulties for no apparent reason, causing parental stress and even triggering impulsive child maltreatment in a small number of cases.1-8 While several sleep training methods or parental education programs may provide long-term improvement of infant cry and sleep problems, there is yet to be a conclusive recommendation for on-site behavioral interventions.9-13 Previously we have reported that brief carrying of infants transiently reduces infant cry via the transport response, a coordinated set of vagal activation and behavioral calming conserved in altricial mammals.14-18 In this study, we disentangled complex infant responses to maternal holding and transport by combining subsecond-scale, event-locked physiological analyses with dynamic mother-infant interactions. Infant cry was attenuated either by maternal carrying or by reciprocal motion provided by a moving cot, but not by maternal holding. Five-minute carrying promoted sleep for crying infants even in the daytime when these infants were usually awake, but not for non-crying infants. Maternal laydown of sleeping infants into a cot exerted bimodal effects, either interrupting or deepening the infants' sleep. During laydown, sleeping infants were alerted most consistently by the initiation of maternal detachment, then calmed after the completion of maternal detachment in a successful laydown. Finally, the sleep outcome after laydown was associated with the sleep duration before the laydown onset. These data propose a "5-min carrying, 5- to 8- min sitting" scheme for attending to infant cry and sleep difficulties, which should be further substantiated in future studies. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Mercury levels in hair are associated with reduced neurobehavioral performance and altered brain structures in young adults.

The detrimental effects of high-level mercury exposure on the central nervous system as well as effects of low-level exposure during early development have been established. However, no previous studies have investigated the effects of mercury level on brain morphometry using advance imaging techniques in young adults. Here, utilizing hair analysis which has been advocated as a method for biological monitoring, data of regional gray matter volume (rGMV), regional white matter volume (rWMV), fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), cognitive functions, and depression among 920 healthy young adults in Japan, we showed that greater hair mercury levels were weakly but significantly associated with diminished cognitive performance, particularly on tasks requiring rapid processing (speed measures), lower depressive tendency, lower rGMV in areas of the thalamus and hippocampus, lower rWMV in widespread areas, greater FA in bilaterally distributed white matter areas overlapping with areas of significant rWMV reductions and lower MD of the widely distributed gray and white matter areas particularly in the bilateral frontal lobe and the right basal ganglia. These results suggest that even normal mercury exposure levels in Japan are weakly associated with differences of brain structures and lower neurobehavioral performance and altered mood among young adults.

Loneliness inside of the brain: evidence from a large dataset of resting-state fMRI in young adult.

Although loneliness itself is a natural emotion, prolonged loneliness is detrimental to human health. Despite its detrimental effect, few loneliness-related neuroimaging studies have been published and some have limitations on the sample size number. This study aims to find the difference in resting-state functional connectivity associated with loneliness within a big sample size via the seed-based approach. Functional connectivity analysis was performed on a large cohort of young adults (N = 1336) using the seed-based functional connectivity approach to address the concern from previous studies. The analysis yielded statistically significant positive correlations between loneliness and functional connectivities between the inferior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, and superior parietal lobule. Additionally, the analysis replicated a finding from a previous study, which is increased functional connectivities between the inferior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area. In conclusion, greater loneliness is reflected by stronger functional connectivity of the visual attention brain area.

Sex interaction of white matter microstructure and verbal IQ in corpus callosum in typically developing children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Childhood is an extremely important time for neural development that has a critical role in human intelligence. Efficient information processing is crucial for higher intelligence, so the intra- or inter-hemispheric interaction is vital. However, the relationship between neuroanatomical connections and intelligence in typically developing children, as well as sex differences in this relationship, remains unknown. METHODS: Participants were 253 typically developing children (121 boys and 132 girls) aged 5-18. We acquired diffusion tensor imaging data and intelligence using an age-appropriate version of the IQ test; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). We conducted whole-brain multiple regression analysis to investigate the association between fractional anisotropy (FA), which reflects white matter microstructural properties, and each composite score of IQ test (full-scale IQ, performance IQ, and verbal IQ). RESULTS: FA was positively correlated with full-scale IQ in bilateral inferior occipitofrontal fasciculus, genu, and splenium of corpus callosum (CC). FA in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and splenium of CC were also positively correlated with performance IQ. Furthermore, we found significant sex interaction between FA in the CC and verbal IQ. FA was positively correlated in boys, and negatively correlated in girls. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that efficient anatomical connectivity between parietal and frontal regions is crucial for children's intelligence. Moreover, inter-hemispheric connections play a critical role in verbal abilities in boys.

Brain structures and activity during a working memory task associated with internet addiction tendency in young adults: A large sample study.

The structural and functional brain characteristics associated with the excessive use of the internet have attracted substantial research attention in the past decade. In current study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and multiple regression analysis to assess the relationship between internet addiction tendency (IAT) score and regional gray and white matter volumes (rGMVs and rWMVs) and brain activity during a WM task in a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 1,154, mean age, 20.71 ± 1.78 years). We found a significant positive correlation between IAT score and gray matter volume (GMV) of right supramarginal gyrus (rSMG) and significant negative correlations with white matter volume (WMV) of right temporal lobe (sub-gyral and superior temporal gyrus), right sublobar area (extra-nuclear and lentiform nucleus), right cerebellar anterior lobe, cerebellar tonsil, right frontal lobe (inferior frontal gyrus and sub-gyral areas), and the pons. Also, IAT was significantly and positively correlated with brain activity in the default-mode network (DMN), medial frontal gyrus, medial part of the superior frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex during a 2-back working memory (WM) task. Moreover, whole-brain analyses of rGMV showed significant effects of interaction between sex and the IAT scores in the area spreading around the left anterior insula and left lentiform. This interaction was moderated by positive correlation in women. These results indicate that IAT is associated with (a) increased GMV in rSMG, which is involved in phonological processing, (b) decreased WMV in areas of frontal, sublobar, and temporal lobes, which are involved in response inhibition, and (c) reduced task-induced deactivation of the DMN, indicative of altered attentional allocation.

Polygenic risk score for bipolar disorder associates with divergent thinking and brain structures in the prefrontal cortex.

It has been hypothesized that a higher genetic risk of bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with greater creativity. Given the clinical importance of bipolar disorder and the importance of creativity to human society and cultural development, it is essential to reveal their associations and the neural basis of the genetic risk of bipolar disorder to gain insight into its etiology. However, despite the previous demonstration of the associations of polygenic risk score (PRS) of BD and creative jobs, the associations of BD-PRS and creativity measured by the divergent thinking (CMDT) and regional gray matter volume (rGMV) as well as regional white matter volume (rWMV) have not been investigated. Using psychological analyses and whole-brain voxel-by-voxel analyses, we examined these potential associations in 1558 young, typically developing adult students. After adjusting for confounding variables and multiple comparisons, a greater BD-PRS was associated with a greater total CMDT fluency score, and a significant relationship was found in fluency subscores. A greater BD-PRS was also associated with lower total mood disturbance. Neuroimaging analyses revealed that the BD-PRS was associated with greater rGMV in the right inferior frontal gyrus, which is a consistently affected area in BD, as well as a greater rWMV in the left middle frontal gyrus, which has been suggested to play a central role in the increased creativity associated with the risk of BD with creativity. These findings suggest a relationship between the genetic risk of BD and CMDT and prefrontal cortical structures among young educated individuals.

Brain microstructural properties related to subjective well-being: diffusion tensor imaging analysis.

Although it is known that health is not merely the absence of disease, the positive aspects of mental health have been less comprehensively researched compared with its negative aspects. Subjective well-being (SWB) is one of the indicators of positive psychology, and high SWB is considered to benefit individuals in multiple ways. However, the neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in SWB remain unclear, particularly in terms of brain microstructural properties as detected by diffusion tensor imaging. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between measurements of diffusion tensor imaging [mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy] and the degree of SWB as measured using a questionnaire. Voxel-based analysis was used to investigate the association between MD and SWB scores in healthy young adults (age, 20.7 ± 1.8 years; 695 males and 514 females). Higher levels of SWB were found to be associated with lower MD in areas surrounding the right putamen, insula, globus pallidus, thalamus and caudate. These results indicated that individual SWB is associated with variability in brain microstructural properties.

Childhood socioeconomic status is associated with psychometric intelligence and microstructural brain development.

Childhood socioeconomic status is robustly associated with various children's cognitive factors and neural mechanisms. Here we show the association of childhood socioeconomic status with psychometric intelligence and mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy using diffusion tensor imaging at the baseline experiment (N = 285) and longitudinal changes in these metrics after 3.0 ± 0.3 years (N = 223) in a large sample of normal Japanese children (mean age = 11.2 ± 3.1 years). After correcting for confounding factors, cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses show that higher childhood socioeconomic status is associated with greater baseline and baseline to follow-up increase of psychometric intelligence and mean diffusivity in areas around the bilateral fusiform gyrus. These results demonstrate that higher socioeconomic status is associated with higher psychometric intelligence measures and altered microstructural properties in the fusiform gyrus which plays a key role in reading and letter recognition and further augmentation of such tendencies during development. Definitive conclusions regarding the causality of these relationships requires intervention and physiological studies. However, the current findings should be considered when developing and revising policies regarding education.

Intrinsic hippocampal functional connectivity underlying rigid memory in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A case-control study.

LAY ABSTRACT: Atypical learning and memory in early life can promote atypical behaviors in later life. Specifically, less relational learning and inflexible retrieval in childhood may enhance restricted and repeated behaviors in patients with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms of atypical memory in children with autism spectrum disorder. We conducted picture-name pair learning and delayed-recognition tests with two groups of youths: one group with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder children (aged 7-16, n = 41) and one group with typically developing children (n = 82) that matched the first group's age, sex, and full-scale IQ. We examined correlations between successful recognition scores and neural connectivity during resting in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner without thinking about anything. Although both learning and retrieval performances were comparable between the two groups, we observed significantly fewer memory gains in the autism spectrum disorder group than in the typically developing group. The memory network was involved in successful memory retrieval in youths with typically developing, while the other memory systems that do not depend to a great degree on networks may be involved in successful memory in youths with autism spectrum disorder. Context-independent and less relational memory processing may be associated with fewer memory gains in autism spectrum disorder. In other words, autism spectrum disorder youths might benefit from non-relational memory. These atypical memory characteristics in autism spectrum disorder may exaggerate their inflexible behaviors in some situations, or-vice versa-their atypical behaviors may result in rigid and less connected memories.

General Intelligence Is Associated with Working Memory-Related Functional Connectivity Change: Evidence from a Large-Sample Study.

Background/Purpose: Psychometric intelligence is closely related to working memory (WM) and the associated brain activity. We aimed to clarify the associations between psychometric intelligence and WM-induced functional connectivity changes. Materials and Methods: Here we determined the associations between psychometric intelligence measured by nonverbal reasoning (using the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices) and WM-induced changes in functional connectivity during the N-back paradigm, in a large cohort of 1221 young adults. Results: We observed that the measures of general intelligence showed a significant positive correlation with WM-induced changes in the functional connectivity with the key nodes of the frontoparietal network, such as the bilateral premotor cortices and the presupplementary motor area. Those significant correlations were observed for (1) areas showing a WM-induced increase of the functional connectivity with the abovementioned key nodes, such as the lateral parietal cortex; (2) areas showing a WM-induced decrease of the functional connectivity with the abovementioned key nodes (2-a) such as left perisylvian areas and cuneus, the fusiform gyrus, and the lingual gyrus, which play key roles in language processing, (2-b) hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, which play key roles in memory processing, and (2-c) the key node of the default mode network such as the medial prefrontal cortex; as well as (3) the border areas between (1) and (2). Conclusion: Psychometric intelligence is associated with WM-induced changes in functional connectivity, influencing the way in which WM key nodes dynamically modulate the interaction with other brain nodes in response to WM.

Sex-Dependent Effects of the APOE ɛ4 Allele on Behavioral Traits and White Matter Structures in Young Adults.

The APOE ɛ4 allele is associated with a risk of Alzheimer's disease in the elderly, with the association being pronounced in females. Conversely, findings of the effects of the APOE ɛ4 allele in young adults are mixed. Here, we investigated the sex-genotype interaction effects of the APOE ɛ4 allele on cognitive functions as well as brain structures among 1258 young adults. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, there were significant effects of the interaction between sex and the number of APOE ɛ4 allele on some speed tasks (e.g., simple processing speed tasks and the reverse Stroop task) as well as on regional white matter volume (rWMV). The observed sex-genotype interaction conferred better cognitive performance and greater rWMV in the anterior frontal and precentral white matter areas in females having more APOE ɛ4 alleles and reduced rWMV in the same areas in male having more APOE ɛ4 alleles. These findings support the long-debated antagonistic pleiotropic effects of the APOE ɛ4 allele in females.

The associations of BMI with mean diffusivity of basal ganglia among young adults with mild obesity and without obesity.

Obesity causes a wide range of systemic diseases and is associated with mood and anxiety disorders. It is also associated with dopaminergic reward system function. However, the relationships between microstructural properties of the dopaminergic system and body mass index (BMI) have not been investigated. In this study, we investigated the associations of BMI with mean diffusivity (MD), diffusion tensor imaging measure in areas of the dopaminergic system (MDDS) in 435 healthy young adults with mild obesity and without obesity (BMI < 40). We detected the association between greater BMI and lower MD of the right globus pallidus and the right putamen. These results suggest that the property of the dopaminergic system is associated with BMI among young adults with mild obesity and without obesity.

Association Between Resting-State Functional Connectivity and Reading in Two Writing Systems in Japanese Children With and Without Developmental Dyslexia.

Introduction: Japanese is unique, as it features two distinct writing systems that share the same sound and meaning: syllabic Hiragana and logographic Kanji scripts. Acquired reading difficulties in Hiragana and Kanji have been examined in older patients with brain lesions. However, the precise mechanisms underlying deficits in developmental dyslexia (DD) remain unclear. Materials and Methods: The neural signatures of Japanese children with DD were examined by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We examined 22 dyslexic and 46 typically developing (TD) children, aged 7-14 years. Results: Reading performance in each writing system was correlated with neural connectivity in TD children. In contrast, in children with DD, weak associations between neural connectivity and reading performance were observed. In TD children, Hiragana-reading fluency was positively correlated with the left fusiform gyrus network. No significant correlations between Hiragana fluency and neural connectivity were observed in children with DD. Correspondingly, there were fewer correlations between Kanji accuracy and strength of reading-related connectivity in children with DD, whereas positive correlations with the bilateral fronto-parietal network and negative correlations with the left fusiform network were found in TD children. Discussion: These data suggest that positive and negative coupling with neural connectivity is associated with developing Japanese reading skills. Further, different neural connectivity correlations between Hiragana fluency and Kanji accuracy were detected in TD children but less in children with DD. Conclusion: The two writing systems may exert differential effects and deficits on reading in healthy children and in children with DD, respectively.

High-power, frontal-dominant ripples in absence status epilepticus during childhood.

OBJECTIVE: Absence status epilepticus (ASE) is a form of non-convulsive status epilepticus characterized by ongoing or intermittent epileptic activity accompanied by behavioral and cognitive changes. Herein, we assessed high-frequency oscillations in the ripple band in patients with ASE and typical absence seizures. METHODS: We enrolled five patients with ASE, 26 patients with childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), and 15 patients with juvenile absence epilepsy (JAE). We performed time-frequency analysis of electroencephalogram data for ictal absence seizures at each electrode to assess the high frequency activity (HFA) rate, peak frequency, and peak power. RESULTS: The average HFA rates were 60.7%, 20.8%, and 12.9% in ASE, CAE, and JAE patients, respectively. The average peak frequencies were 126.4 Hz, 120.9 Hz, and 126.1 Hz in ASE, CAE, and JAE patients, respectively. The average peak power values were 2,388.8 µV2, 120.9 µV2, and 126.1 µV2 in ASE, CAE, and JAE patients, respectively, and all epilepsy groups exhibited frontal-dominant ripple distribution. CONCLUSION: ASE patients presented higher power and frontal dominant ripples of absence seizure, compared to CAE and JAE patients. SIGNIFICANCE: Future studies should utilize scalp-recorded ripples as a biomarker of absence epilepsy. This may aid in the development of novel treatment strategies for ASE.

Originality of divergent thinking is associated with working memory-related brain activity: Evidence from a large sample study.

The originality of creativity measured by divergent thinking (CMDT) is a unique variable that is positively correlated with psychometric intelligence and other psychological measures. Here, we aimed to determine the associations of CMDT originality/fluency scores and brain activity associated with working memory (WM) and simple cognitive processes during the N-back paradigm in a cohort of 1221 young adults. We observed that originality/fluency scores were associated with greater brain activity during the 0-back simple cognitive task and 2-back WM task in key nodes of the ventral attention system in the right hemisphere. Further, subjects with higher originality/fluency scores showed lower task-induced deactivations in areas of the default mode network, especially during the 2-back task. Psychological analyses revealed the associations of originality/fluency scores with both psychometric intelligence and systemizing. We also observed the effects of interaction between sex and originality/fluency scores on functional activity during the 0-back task in posterior parts of the default mode network together with other areas as well as simple processing speed. These results indicate that the originality of CMDT is associated with (a) greater activation of the ventral attention system, which is involved in reorienting attention and (b) reduced task-induced deactivation of the default mode network, which is indicative of alterations in attentional reallocation, and (c) cognitive correlates of originality of CMDT and revealed sex differences in these associations.

Convergent creative thinking performance is associated with white matter structures: Evidence from a large sample study.

In laboratory settings, creativity is measured using tasks of divergent as well as convergent thinking. It has been suggested that brain connectivity is important for creativity. In the present study, we investigated the associations of convergent thinking performance of compound Remote Associates Test (CRAT) with fractional anisotropy (FA) in diffusion tensor imaging and regional white matter (WM) volume (rWMV) in voxel-based morphometry in a large sample of healthy young adults (360 males and 280 females; mean age: 20.9 years, SD â€‹= â€‹1.6). We showed that CRAT performance was positively correlated with WM pathway property (i.e., FA) in the left fronto-occipital fasciculus and the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, which play important roles in processing of language and concept. Further, CRAT performance was negatively correlated with rWMV in the widespread frontal temporal subcortical and cerebellar WM areas, suggesting the unique association of convergent thinking with WM connectivity.