Affective cognition in response to infant stimuli in pregnant compared with non-pregnant women.

Physiological, neurocognitive, and psychological changes facilitates adaptation to motherhood. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine differences between pregnant and non-pregnant women in affective cognitive and psychophysiological responses to infant stimuli. We hypothesized that pregnant women would display (I) reduced negative emotional reactivity and perception of distressed infant stimuli, (II) increased attention toward infants compared to adults, and (III) greater psychophysiological response to infant distress. The sample comprised 22 pregnant women (22-38 weeks gestation) and 18 non-pregnant nulliparous women. Four computerized tasks were administered to measure affective cognitive processing of infant stimuli, while recording facial expressions, electrodermal activity, and eye gazes. Results indicated that pregnant women exhibited fewer negative facial expressions, reported less frustration when exposed to distressed infant cries, and showed greater attention to emotional infant faces compared to non-pregnant women, but the differences did not remain statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. No differences were observed in psychophysiological responses. The findings indicate a possible pregnancy-mediated effect regarding the cognitive processing of infant stimuli, potentially as preparation for motherhood. Future research with larger samples and longitudinal design is needed to understand the predictors, timing, and plasticity of cognitive changes during pregnancy.

Associations between cognition and subsequent mood episodes in patients with bipolar disorder and their unaffected relatives: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) is highly recurrent and prevention of relapse and illness onset is an urgent treatment priority. This systematic review examined whether cognitive assessments can aid prediction of recurrence in patients with BD and/or illness onset in individuals at familial risk. METHODS: The review included longitudinal studies of patients with BD or individuals at familial risk of mood disorder that examined the association between cognitive functions and subsequent relapse or illness onset, respectively. We followed the procedures of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2020 statement. Searches were conducted on PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsychInfo databases from inception up until May 10th 2021. RESULTS: We identified 19 eligible studies; 12 studies investigated cognitive predictors of recurrence in BD (N = 36-76) and seven investigated cognitive predictors of illness onset in at-risk individuals (N = 84-234). In BD, general cognitive impairment, poorer verbal memory and executive function and positive bias were associated with subsequent (hypo)manic relapse -but with not depressive relapse or mood episodes in general. In first-degree relatives, impairments in attention, verbal memory and executive functions and positive bias were associated with subsequent illness onset. LIMITATIONS: The findings should be considered preliminary given the small-to-moderate sample sizes and scarcity of studies. CONCLUSIONS: Subject to replication, the associations between cognitive impairment and (hypo)mania relapse and illness onset may provide a platform for personalised treatment and prophylactic strategies.

Cognitive training with fully immersive virtual reality in patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Cognitive impairment occurs across several neuropsychiatric diseases and impede everyday functioning and quality of life. Fully immersive Virtual Reality (VR) aid motivation and engagement and therefore has a potential to help overcome the obstacles in the field of cognitive rehabilitation. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate whether VR can be a useful intervention in cognitive rehabilitation transdiagnostically. We identified nine studies with randomized controlled trials following the PRISMA guidelines in databases Pubmed, Embase and PsychInfo. The trials were all evaluated through Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias. The studies were conducted in patients with mild cognitive impairment (k=4), schizophrenia (k=3), ADHD (k=1), or stroke (k=1) and involved 6-12 weeks of training. Overall, results showed improvement in some domains of cognition, primarily executive function and attention. The studies were pilot studies with 6-34 participants per treatment group. Risk of bias was either high (k=3) or moderate (some concerns) (k=6). Key reasons were suboptimal statistical analyses and lack of clarification on randomization and blinding of participants and assessors. In conclusion, this review found promising evidence for VR cognitive rehabilitation for neuropsychiatric illnesses. However, larger and methodologically stronger studies are warranted to establish the full potential of VR.