Evidence for optimal semantic search throughout adulthood.

As people age, they learn and store new knowledge in their semantic memory. Despite learning a tremendous amount of information, people can still recall information relevant to the current situation with ease. To accomplish this, the mind must efficiently organize and search a vast store of information. It also must continue to retrieve information effectively despite changes in cognitive mechanisms due to healthy aging, including a general slowing in information processing and a decline in executive functioning. How effectively does the mind of an individual adjust its search to account for changes due to aging? We tested 746 people ages 25 through 69 on a semantic fluency task (free listing animals) and found that, on average, retrieval follows an optimal path through semantic memory. Participants tended to list a sequence of semantically related animals (e.g., lion, tiger, puma) before switching to a semantically unrelated animal (e.g., whale). We found that the timing of these transitions to semantically unrelated animals was remarkably consistent with an optimal strategy for maximizing the overall rate of retrieval (i.e., the number of animals listed per unit time). Age did not affect an individual's deviation from the optimal strategy given their general performance, suggesting that people adapt and continue to search memory optimally throughout their lives. We argue that this result is more likely due to compensating for a general slowing than a decline in executive functioning.

Polygenic risk scores cannot make their mark on psychiatry without considering epigenetics.

We generally agree with Burt's thesis. However, we note that the author did not discuss epigenetics, the study of how the environment can alter gene structure and function. Given epigenetic mechanisms, the utility of polygenic risk scores (PRS) is limited in studies of development and mental illness. Finally, in this commentary we expand upon the risks of reliance upon PRSs.

Social anhedonia in Malaysian schizophrenia patients and healthy participants.

The reduced capacity for social and interpersonal interactions, social anhedonia, is an important aspect of various psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The goal of the present study was to validate a Malay translation of the adult version of the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS; Gooding and Pflum, 2014), a relatively short and easy to administer indirect measure of social anhedonia. This cross-sectional study included 95 (47 male, 48 female) schizophrenia patients and 300 (77 male, 223 female) healthy subjects. Participants were given Malay versions of the ACIPS, Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS-M), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-M). The ACIPS exhibited good internal consistency (Ordinal alpha = 0.966). Total ACIPS scores were inversely correlated with the BDI-M scores, and positively correlated with total SHAPS-M scores. Factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution which accounted for 52.06% of the variance. As expected, the schizophrenia patients scored significantly lower than the healthy community participants on the ACIPS, t(130) = 4.26, p < 0.001. The Malay translation of the ACIPS showed good concurrent validity and excellent internal consistency. Taken together, these data provide further validation for the utility of the ACIPS in a cross-cultural context.

Preliminary assessment of connected speech and language as marker for cognitive change in late middle-aged Black/African American adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Connected speech-language (CSL) has been a promising measure of assessing cognitive decline in populations at-risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) populations. A common way to obtain CSL is through using picture description tasks such as the most frequently used image Cookie Theft (CT). However, questions have been raised about using CT for diverse communities. Little is known about the CSL produced in response to this task in Black/African American (BAA) adults aged 48-74. Goals: The present study's goals were to characterize CSL in BAA adults by sex and APOE-ε4 status from Milwaukee in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP) study when presented with the CT picture description task and to identify differences in CSL output between BAAs and non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). Methods and Procedures: We collected CSL samples from the CT picture from 48 BAA participants and 30 NHW participants from the WRAP participants in Milwaukee, WI group. CSL was analyzed using chi-square tests, T-tests, and ANCOVA. Linear mixed effect regression models were used to determine the association between cognitive status and longitudinal CSL in BAA participants with more than 1 timepoint. Outcomes and Results: Declines in CSL of BAA participants were associated with subtle declines in cognition. Among BAA participants, we found no significant differences in speech measures in terms of sex and APOE-ε4 status. Our results showed no significant differences in speech measures between BAA and NHW groups. Conclusions: CSL analysis provides an inexpensive way to evaluate preclinical changes in cognitive status that may not be as affected by other factors, such as ethnocultural background. Future studies with larger sample sizes and participants from other geographic locations can clarify these findings.

Celebrating the accomplishments of thought leaders in psychiatry research: Introduction.

In academia and related industry, particularly in the medical sciences, some individuals are noticed for their ability to attract others towards their ideas, theories and objectives. They are often referred to as the "thought leaders" of the field. Noticeably, individuals who are labeled as "thought leaders" appear more often to be males than females. Moreover, this is not a racially or ethnically diverse group. In this special issue, we intend to challenge that bias. As we look world-wide at the incredibly important contributions of women in both psychiatry and related neuroscience, it was a logical step to ask these 'thought leaders' to write commentaries on their most important work, how they got there, and what they predict for the future. When compiling a list of "thought leaders" for future academic and industry workshops, these scientists are certain to enrich and advance the discourse.

Validation of the Korean Version of the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale in Non-help-seeking Individuals.

The Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS) is a psychometric instrument that has been used to indirectly measure social anhedonia in many cross-cultural contexts, such as in Western (US), European (French, Spanish), Eastern (Chinese), and Israeli samples. However, little is known about the psychometric properties of the ACIPS in Korean samples. The primary goal of this study was to validate the Korean version of the ACIPS among non-help-seeking individuals. The sample consisted of 307 adult individuals who had no current or prior psychiatric history. Participants were administered the ACIPS, along with the Behavioral Inhibition and Behavioral Activation Scales (BIS/BAS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). We examined the association of the total ACIPS scores with the other measures. The ACIPS showed good internal consistency. We also explored the factor structure of the Korean translation of the ACIPS using principal component analysis with Promax rotation and Kaiser normalization. Factor analysis yielded a three-factor structure that accounted for 58.8% of the variance. The three-factor model included the following subdomains: interactions involving close relationships, casual interactions, and interactions involving family members. Total BAS and BIS scores were significantly associated with total ACIPS scores, while BDI scores were inversely associated with total ACIPS scores. The current research indicates that the Korean version of the ACIPS is a useful and valid scale. Future directions include using the Korean translation of the ACIPS to elucidate the varying degrees of hedonic capacity in psychiatric patients.

Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in Black and non-Hispanic White cohorts: A contextualized review of the evidence.

Black Americans are disproportionately affected by dementia. To expand our understanding of mechanisms of this disparity, we look to Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. In this review, we summarize current data, comparing the few studies presenting these findings. Further, we contextualize the data using two influential frameworks: the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) Research Framework and NIA's Health Disparities Research Framework. The NIA-AA Research Framework provides a biological definition of AD that can be measured in vivo. However, current cut-points for determining pathological versus non-pathological status were developed using predominantly White cohorts-a serious limitation. The NIA's Health Disparities Research Framework is used to contextualize findings from studies identifying racial differences in biomarker levels, because studying biomakers in isolation cannot explain or reduce inequities. We offer recommendations to expand study beyond initial reports of racial differences. Specifically, life course experiences associated with racialization and commonly used study enrollment practices may better account for observations than exclusively biological explanations.

GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO POSITIVE AFFECT: INSIGHTS FROM ADOLESCENT TWINS.

Disturbances in positive affect and reductions in social reward/interpersonal pleasure are common across a range of clinical disorders and are often related. We examined the relationship between the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS-A), and other measures of positive affect in adolescents in a genetically informative research design. The sample consisted of 177 MZ and 136 same sex DZ twins drawn from a study of adolescent twins (M = 16.4 ± .97 years) who were part of the Wisconsin Twin Project. The self-report questionnaires included the Behavioral Activation Scale (BAS), Psychological Well-Being Scale, revised Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (EATQR) and the adolescent version of the ACIPS (ACIPS-A). Structural equation modeling estimated the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the phenotypic variance in each of the measures. Follow-up bivariate analyses parsed the genetic and environmental contributions to the phenotypic covariances between the ACIPS-A and each of the other measures of positive affect. We found evidence of moderate heritability for the ACIPS-A scale scores. Overall, models specifying additive genetic and unique environmental effects (AE models) were the most parsimonious models for each of the measures. Several of the measures showed moderate positive phenotypic intercorrelations, and all but one of these intercorrelations showed significant partial genetic underpinnings. Moreover, the bivariate biometric analyses indicated that the ACIPS-A also captures unique heritable variation. Thus, the ACIPS-A captures unique heritable contributions to social/interpersonal pleasure, as well as shared genetic variance with other measures of positive affectivity.

Developmental antecedents of social anhedonia: The roles of early temperament and sex.

Social anhedonia is well established as a transdiagnostic factor, but little is known about its development. This study examined whether temperament and parenting in early childhood predict social anhedonia in early adolescence. We also explored whether the relationships between early predictors and social anhedonia are moderated by a child's sex. A community sample of children participated in laboratory observations of temperament and parenting practices at age 3 (n = 275). The participants returned at age 12 and completed the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale-Child Version (ACIPS-C). Our results indicated that, at age 3, lower observed sociability predicted higher levels of social anhedonia at age 12. These associations were moderated by child sex, such that males with diminished sociability reported greater social anhedonia. These findings indicate that predictors of early adolescent social anhedonia are evident as early as 3 years of age. However, these effects were evident only for males, suggesting that the pathways to social anhedonia in early adolescence differ as a function of sex.

Social anhedonia across mental disorders: A validation study of the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale.

The present study validated the Chinese version of the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS) in a group of patients with mental disorders. The results replicated the four-factor structure of the ACIPS in a Chinese setting and showed good discrimination validity.

Revisiting the overlap between autistic and schizotypal traits in the non-clinical population using meta-analysis and network analysis.

The present study aimed to explore the relationship between autistic and schizotypal traits in the non-clinical population. We first conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the correlation between self-reported autistic traits and the three dimensions of schizotypal traits (positive, negative and disorganization). The strongest correlation was found between autistic traits and negative schizotypal traits (r = 0.536, 95% CI [0.481, 0.586]), followed by the disorganization (r = 0.355, 95% CI [0.304, 0.404]) and positive (r = 0.256, 95% CI [0.208, 0.302]) dimensions. To visualize the partial correlations between dimensional behavioural traits, we constructed a network model based on a large sample of college students (N = 2469). Negative schizotypal traits were strongly correlated with autistic social/communicative deficits, whereas positive schizotypal traits were inversely correlated with autistic-like traits, lending support to the psychosis-autism diametrical model. Disentangling the overlapping and diametrical structure of autism and schizophrenia may help to elucidate the aetiology of these two neurodevelopmental disorders.

Enhancing Psychosis-Spectrum Nosology Through an International Data Sharing Initiative.

The latent structure of schizotypy and psychosis-spectrum symptoms remains poorly understood. Furthermore, molecular genetic substrates are poorly defined, largely due to the substantial resources required to collect rich phenotypic data across diverse populations. Sample sizes of phenotypic studies are often insufficient for advanced structural equation modeling approaches. In the last 50 years, efforts in both psychiatry and psychological science have moved toward (1) a dimensional model of psychopathology (eg, the current Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology [HiTOP] initiative), (2) an integration of methods and measures across traits and units of analysis (eg, the RDoC initiative), and (3) powerful, impactful study designs maximizing sample size to detect subtle genomic variation relating to complex traits (the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium [PGC]). These movements are important to the future study of the psychosis spectrum, and to resolving heterogeneity with respect to instrument and population. The International Consortium of Schizotypy Research is composed of over 40 laboratories in 12 countries, and to date, members have compiled a body of schizotypy- and psychosis-related phenotype data from more than 30000 individuals. It has become apparent that compiling data into a protected, relational database and crowdsourcing analytic and data science expertise will result in significant enhancement of current research on the structure and biological substrates of the psychosis spectrum. The authors present a data-sharing infrastructure similar to that of the PGC, and a resource-sharing infrastructure similar to that of HiTOP. This report details the rationale and benefits of the phenotypic data collective and presents an open invitation for participation.

Context matters: Social cognition task performance in psychometric schizotypes.

Patients with schizophrenia show performance deficits on tasks requiring empathy-related social cognition. The extent to which empathy impairments are observed in psychometric schizotypy is unclear. We compared accuracy and reaction time in three groups of individuals characterized by positive schizotypy (n = 79), negative schizotypy (n = 123), or low schizotypy group (n = 137). On a social cognition task that provided context, namely, the Emotion Perspective Taking Task, the positive schizotypes showed poorer performance than the negative schizotypy and control groups. These results suggest that some schizotypes differ in their ability to make use of context (e.g., social cues from the environment) to affect their social cognitive performance. However, on the Affective Responsiveness Task, in which no context was given, both groups of psychometric schizotypes displayed lower performance than the controls. These findings highlight the importance of assessing multiple groups of schizotypes as well as the value of including several social cognition tasks in order to reveal relative performance deficits.

Clustering of Schizotypal Features in Unaffected First-Degree Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients.

Meehl conceptualized schizotypy as the phenotypic manifestations of a neural integrative defect resulting from a schizophrenia diathesis. The majority of schizotypy studies recruited subjects from the general population and revealed a multidimensional construct. This 2-phase investigation first examined the clustering of schizotypy in 194 unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients using the Chapman Psychosis Proneness scales and then directly compared the cognitive profiles of negative schizotypal individuals and positive schizotypal individuals with schizophrenia patients and controls. In the first phase, cluster analysis categorized 194 unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients into positive schizotypy (n = 33), negative schizotypy (n = 66), mixed schizotypy (n = 27), and low schizotypy (n = 64). Positive schizotypal participants showed more self-report pleasure experiences than negative schizotypal participants, replicating earlier cluster analytic findings. In the second phase, 27 negative schizotypal individuals, 18 positive schizotypal individuals, 19 schizophrenia patients, and 29 controls were recruited. Although the groups were matched in terms of age, gender, and IQ, they differed significantly in cognitive profiles. While schizophrenia patients exhibited the broadest cognitive impairments, negative schizotypal participants exhibited visual memory, working memory, and verbal fluency impairments, and positive schizotypal participants exhibited logical memory, visual memory, working memory, and theory-of-mind impairments. Among people with familial risk of schizophrenia, individuals exhibiting positive rather than negative schizotypal features resembled schizophrenia patients in cognitive profiles. Using the psychometric-familial method to identify schizotypy, our findings support the heterogeneity of schizotypy as well as the potential utility of the positive schizotypy dimension in genetically high-risk individuals to predict the risk of developing schizophrenia.

Childhood Affective Indicators of Risk for Adulthood Psychopathology: The New York High-Risk Project Findings.

There are relatively few investigations of the emotion expressivity of children at risk for the later development of schizophrenia and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Using data from the New York High-Risk Project, we compared children's emotional expressivity during a semi-structured videotaped interview. Data were coded for 173 child subjects: 61 with schizophrenic parents (HRSz); 54 with affectively ill parents (HRAff); and 58 with psychiatrically "normal" parents (NC). A child's affective responses were rated for the presence of discrete positive, negative, or neutral emotions by coders naive to group membership. Responses were also rated for anxiety, flat affect, inappropriate affect, and emotional withdrawal/disengagement. Compared with the two other two groups, HRSz children displayed significantly more negative affect in response to questions regarding their most negative experiences and, when questioned about their self-concept, they displayed significantly less positive affect. Both HRSz and HRAff children showed more inappropriate affect than NC children. Significantly more HRSz children were rated as demonstrating a lack of emotional engagement. Children making inappropriate displays of positive affect while discussing a negative topic were most likely to manifest a psychiatric disorder as an adult. These findings suggest that inappropriate affect may be a nonspecific indicator of risk for psychopathology. Emotional withdrawal in childhood may be a potential indicator of risk for schizophrenia.

Trajectories of schizotypy and their emotional and social functioning: An 18-month follow-up study.

Schizotypy is a set of personality traits that convey liability to develop schizophrenia. Studying schizotypy in healthy individuals may facilitate the understanding of the psychopathological processes underlying schizophrenia. The present study aimed to examine the developmental trajectories of schizotypy over time using a longitudinal study design. The Chapman Scales for Psychosis Proneness were administered to 1541 college students at baseline, and subsequently at six-monthly intervals up to 18months. Latent class growth analysis was conducted to track the different trajectories. In addition, self-reported scales were used to measure idea of reference, emotional experiences and expression, stress and coping, as well as social functioning. We identified four latent classes with distinct trajectories: "nonschizotypy" group (LC1), "stable high schizotypy" group (LC3), "high reactive schizotypy" group (LC2) and "low reactive schizotypy" group (LC4). These findings suggest that there may be distinct developmental trajectories for schizotypy. Two groups may be of particular interest: the "stable high schizotypy" group that displayed the worst clinical and functioning outcomes on almost all measures and the "high reactive schizotypy" group characterized by a relatively rapid decline in functioning.

Age of pubertal onset and 2nd to 4th digit ratios: Preliminary findings.

BACKGROUND: The second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is used as a marker of prenatal sex hormone exposure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible relation between digit ratio and age of pubertal onset. METHODS: Participants were 321 men and 202 women aged between 18 and 28 at the time of assessment who self-reported their onset of puberty (i.e., age at first conscious ejaculation or menarche). Participants' right and left digit lengths were measured from hand scans. RESULTS: All groups of males, i.e., early, average, and late pubertal onset, had lower mean 2D:4D than the comparable female groups, regardless of the relative timing of their pubertal onset. Among the males, there was a significant difference in digit ratios between individuals who experienced early, average, and late onset of puberty. In the males, we observed a positive relationship between 2D:4D and age of pubertal onset for both right and left hands. There were no significant differences in 2D:4D among the three groups of female maturers. We observed no significant association between digit ratios and age at menarche. CONCLUSIONS: These data lend further support for using 2D:4D as a measure of prenatal androgen exposure.