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Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Apr 2024Internet Addiction (IA) refers to excessive or uncontrolled behaviors related to Internet access, causing impairment or distress. Similarly, Smartphone Addiction (SPA)... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Internet Addiction (IA) refers to excessive or uncontrolled behaviors related to Internet access, causing impairment or distress. Similarly, Smartphone Addiction (SPA) involves the excessive use of smartphones, disrupting users' daily lives. Cognitive control plays a relevant role in the development of IA and SPA, with executive functions and rewards processing being particularly important.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to provide a synthesis of scientific evidence on the differential effects of IA and SPA on cognition in young adults and adolescents, using fMRI.
METHODS
Relevant articles published between 2013 and May 2023 were identified following the PRISMA protocol.
RESULTS
Included studies (n = 21) revealed that both behavioral addictions were associated with impairments in cognitive control related to reward processing (ACC, insula, amygdala) and executive function (DLPFC, frontal, parietal lobes) in adolescents and young adults.
CONCLUSION
These findings provide evidence for neuroanatomical similarities between IA and SPA in young adults and adolescents related to executive functions and rewards processing. However, differential effects of SPA and IA on cognitive control were not found in this study. Future research should explore the relationship between these addictions with other cognitive domains to further expand our understanding within this field. While both IA and SPA involve the excessive use of online technology, SPA could involve a higher risk, given that smartphones allow internet connectivity anytime.
Topics: Humans; Young Adult; Adolescent; Internet Addiction Disorder; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Cognition; Executive Function; Behavior, Addictive; Internet
PubMed: 38320657
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105572 -
International Journal of Environmental... Oct 2023Mental health problems, broadly understood, are highly prevalent [...].
Mental health problems, broadly understood, are highly prevalent [...].
Topics: Humans; Mental Health; Social Stigma; Behavior, Addictive; Causality; Mental Disorders
PubMed: 37887653
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20206915 -
Brain Sciences Oct 2023The present report tries to understand the possible relationship between working memory (WM) and intelligence measurements, using the direct scores of the Working Memory...
BACKGROUND
The present report tries to understand the possible relationship between working memory (WM) and intelligence measurements, using the direct scores of the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (WMTBC) and Kaufman's Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), in normal development (ND) and diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children and adolescents.
RESULTS
Partial correlations, discounting the effect of age, showed a significant correlation in ND subjects between the central executive (CE) component of WM and the WM visuospatial sketchpad (VSS) component and the WM phonological loop (PL); also, significant correlations were obtained for the WM VSS with the K-BIT Matrices scores, the WM PL with the K-BIT Vocabulary, and the K-BIT Matrices scores with the K-BIT Vocabulary. For ADHD subjects, there were significant correlations between WM VSS and WM CE, and WM VSS and K-BIT Matrices. We tested the robustness of these correlations by selecting a small number of subjects through permutations; a robust correlation between WM CE and WM PL in ND, and between WM VSS and WM CE and WM VSS and K-BIT Matrices scores was obtained. These results were also supported by mediation analysis.
CONCLUSIONS
There is a relationship during development between WM as measured with WMTBC and general intelligence as measured with K-BIT in ND and ADHD subjects. The dysexecutive character of ADHD has been shown, given that by controlling for intelligence, the differences in WM performance between ND and ADHD disappear, except for WM CE. The results suggest that in ADHD subjects, the WM VSS component presents a more pivotal role during cognitive processing compared to ND subjects.
PubMed: 38002498
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13111538 -
Obesity Surgery Sep 2023Bariatric surgery (BS) has several potential metabolic benefits. However, little is known about its impact on changes in the inflammatory potential of diet and its...
PURPOSE
Bariatric surgery (BS) has several potential metabolic benefits. However, little is known about its impact on changes in the inflammatory potential of diet and its effect on inflammatory and metabolic markers. This study aimed to assess the short-term beneficial effects of BS on dietary inflammatory potential and inflammatory and metabolic markers.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants (n = 20) were evaluated 3 months before and after BS. Body mass, body mass index, anthropometric measurements, fat mass, fat-free mass, visceral fat, skeletal muscle mass, basal metabolic rate, serum lipids, HOMA-IR, QUICKI and inflammatory markers, including leptin, adiponectin, adiponectin/leptin ratio and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), were evaluated. Diet data were collected using a 3-day diet record and the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) and energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) scores were computed.
RESULTS
There was a reduction in DII® (2.56 vs 2.13) and E-DII (2.18 vs 0.45) indicating an improvement in inflammatory nutritional profile. Moreover, there were increases in the adiponectin/leptin ratio (0.08 vs 0.21) and QUICKI scores (0.31 vs 0.37), and reductions in leptin (36.66 vs 11.41 ng/ml) and HOMA-IR scores (3.93 vs 1.50). There were also improvements in body composition and anthropometric parameters.
CONCLUSIONS
BS promotes changes in metabolic profile, inflammatory state and food intake and these modifications appeared to be associated with improvements in diet-related inflammation, an increase in the adiponectin/leptin ratio and a reduction in leptin. These results contribute to knowledge on the contribution bariatric surgery can make to the treatment of obesity and the reduction of related comorbidities.
Topics: Humans; Leptin; Adiponectin; Obesity, Morbid; Bariatric Surgery; Body Mass Index; Biomarkers
PubMed: 37540480
DOI: 10.1007/s11695-023-06743-8 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Sep 2023Early-life adversity affects long-term health outcomes but there is considerable interindividual variability in susceptibility to environmental influences. We proposed...
Early-life adversity affects long-term health outcomes but there is considerable interindividual variability in susceptibility to environmental influences. We proposed that positive psychological characteristics that reflect engagement with context, such as being concerned about people or performance on tasks (i.e., empathic concern), could moderate the interindividual variation in sensitivity to the quality of the early environment. We studied 526 children of various Asian nationalities in Singapore (46.6% female, 13.4% below the poverty line) with longitudinal data on perinatal and childhood experiences, maternal report on empathic concern of the child, and a comprehensive set of physiological measures reflecting pediatric allostatic load assessed at 6 y of age. The perinatal and childhood experiences included adversities and positive experiences. We found that cumulative adverse childhood experience was positively associated with allostatic load of children at 6 y of age at higher levels of empathic concern but not significantly associated at lower levels of empathic concern. This finding reveals evidence for the importance of empathic concern as a psychological characteristic that moderates the developmental impact of environmental influences, serving as a source for vulnerability to adversities in children.
Topics: Pregnancy; Humans; Child; Female; Male; Allostasis; Adverse Childhood Experiences; Asian; Empathy; Family
PubMed: 37725642
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2217769120 -
The International Journal of... Nov 2023The clinical debut of schizophrenia is frequently a first episode of psychosis (FEP). As such, there is considerable interest in identifying associations between...
BACKGROUND
The clinical debut of schizophrenia is frequently a first episode of psychosis (FEP). As such, there is considerable interest in identifying associations between biological markers and clinical or cognitive characteristics that help predict the progression and outcome of FEP patients. Previous studies showed that high prolactin, low oxytocin, and high homocysteine are factors associated with FEP 6 months after diagnosis, at which point plasma levels were correlated with some clinical and cognitive characteristics.
METHODS
We reexamined 75 patients at 12 months after diagnosis to measure the evolution of these molecules and assess their association with clinical features.
RESULTS
At follow-up, FEP patients had lower prolactin levels than at baseline, and patients treated with risperidone or paliperidone had higher prolactin levels than patients who received other antipsychotic agents. By contrast, no changes in oxytocin and homocysteine plasma levels were observed between the baseline and follow-up. In terms of clinical features, we found that plasma prolactin and homocysteine levels were correlated with the severity of the psychotic symptoms in male FEP patients, suggesting that they might be factors associated with psychotic symptomatology but only in men. Together with oxytocin, these molecules may also be related to sustained attention, verbal ability, and working memory cognitive domains in FEP patients.
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that focusing on prolactin, oxytocin, and homocysteine at a FEP may help select adequate pharmacological treatments and develop new tools to improve the outcome of these patients, where sex should also be borne in mind.
Topics: Humans; Male; Cognition; Follow-Up Studies; Oxytocin; Prolactin; Psychotic Disorders; Homocysteine
PubMed: 37603404
DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyad051 -
Cognitive Processing May 2024It is well recognized that children born preterm have specific learning difficulties. The objective of this study is to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis... (Review)
Review
It is well recognized that children born preterm have specific learning difficulties. The objective of this study is to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis on preterm children's reading ability performance. Of the 486 studies identified, 53 met the inclusion criteria, resulting in 143 effect sizes. 33,500 children between 5 and 18 years were included of whom 13,765 were preterm infants and 19,735 were full-term infants. Among preterm-born children without neurodevelopmental disorders significant differences and larger effect sizes were found in the reading subcategories, letter-word knowledge, reading comprehension, and spelling, whereas no significant differences were found in phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming. Extremely preterm children showed larger effect size. The present meta-analysis, which includes a much larger number of studies, shows that preterm children have lower performance than full-term children in reading and spelling. This fact underlines the need to design, develop and implement neuroeducational programs that take into account the characteristics of preterm born students.
PubMed: 38753253
DOI: 10.1007/s10339-024-01192-2 -
Psychiatry Research Mar 2024The nature of the relationship between sleep problems and dementia remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between sleep measures and dementia in older...
The nature of the relationship between sleep problems and dementia remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between sleep measures and dementia in older adults (≥ 65) using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and further investigated the causal association in Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. In total of 7,223 individuals, 5.7 % developed dementia (1.7 % Alzheimer's disease (AD)) within an average of 8 (± 2.9) years. Cox regression models and MR were employed. Long sleep duration (>8 h) was associated with 64 % increased risk of incident dementia and 2-fold high risk of AD compared to ideal sleep duration (7-8 h). This association was particularly evident in older-older adults (≥70 years) and those who consumed alcohol. Short sleep duration (<7 h) was associated with lower risk of incident dementia among older-older but higher risk among younger-older adults. Sleep disturbances and perceived sleep quality were not associated with dementia or AD. The MR study did not reveal causal associations between sleep duration and dementia. These findings suggest that self-reported short sleep in younger-older and long sleep in older-older adults and those with frequent alcohol consumption are associated with dementia. Early detection of these sleep patterns may help identify individuals at higher dementia risk.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Follow-Up Studies; Longitudinal Studies; Sleep Duration; Incidence; Sleep; Sleep Wake Disorders
PubMed: 38301285
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2024.115760 -
Journal of Behavioral Addictions Dec 2023Data implicate overlaps in neurobiological pathways involved in appetite regulation and addictive disorders. Despite different neuroendocrine measures having been...
BACKGROUND
Data implicate overlaps in neurobiological pathways involved in appetite regulation and addictive disorders. Despite different neuroendocrine measures having been associated with both gambling disorder (GD) and food addiction (FA), how appetite-regulating hormones may relate to the co-occurrence of both entities remain incompletely understood.
AIMS
To compare plasma concentrations of ghrelin, leptin, adiponectin, and liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2 (LEAP-2) between patients with GD, with and without FA, and to explore the association between circulating hormonal concentrations and neuropsychological and clinical features in individuals with GD and FA.
METHODS
The sample included 297 patients diagnosed with GD (93.6% males). None of the patients with GD had lifetime diagnosis of an eating disorder. FA was evaluated with the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0. All patients were assessed through a semi-structured clinical interview and a psychometric battery including neuropsychological tasks. Blood samples to measure hormonal variables and anthropometric variables were also collected.
RESULTS
From the total sample, FA was observed in 23 participants (FA+) (7.7% of the sample, 87% males). When compared participants with and without FA, those with FA+ presented both higher body mass index (BMI) (p < 0.001) and leptin concentrations, after adjusting for BMI (p = 0.013). In patients with FA, leptin concentrations positively correlated with impulsivity, poorer cognitive flexibility, and poorer inhibitory control. Other endocrine measures did not differ between groups.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The present study implicates leptin in co-occurring GD and FA. Among these patients, leptin concentration has been associated with clinical and neuropsychological features, such as impulsivity and cognitive performance in certain domains.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Behavior, Addictive; Food Addiction; Gambling; Impulsive Behavior; Leptin
PubMed: 38141066
DOI: 10.1556/2006.2023.00051 -
HERD Oct 2023To consider one common aspect of biophilic design (BD; i.e., color) and its relationship to an important element of well-being (i.e., hope).
AIM
To consider one common aspect of biophilic design (BD; i.e., color) and its relationship to an important element of well-being (i.e., hope).
BACKGROUND
BD is multifaceted making the identification of critical design elements difficult. Further complexity is introduced given that practice assumptions stemming from the biophilia hypothesis may be questioned. Consistent with the biophilia hypothesis, the author considers the study's findings from the perspectives of evolutionary psychology and psychobiology.
METHODS
One hundred and fifty four adult participants engaged in one of the three experiments. Using colored test cards, Experiment #1 sought to determine which of four biophilic colors (i.e., red, yellow, green, or blue) evoked the strongest experience of hope. Considering this color alone, Experiment #2 sought to manipulate "color depth." Participants were asked to identify what color depth evoked the strongest experience of hope. Experiment #3 sought to determine if the outcomes of Experiments #1 and #2 were due to a priming effect. All participants were asked about color associations they held.
RESULTS
Experiments #1 and #2 demonstrated that yellow at maximal color depth evoked the strongest experience of hope ( < .001). Experiment #3 demonstrated that no priming effect was evident ( < .05). No participant had a strong personal preference for/against yellow. Natural world color associations existed for yellow, green, and blue. Red held emotive associations.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings clearly associate yellow with hope. From the perspectives of evolutionary psychology and psychobiology this suggests color cues can evoke time-dependent motive states. Implications for practitioners designing within healthcare facilities are considered.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Color; Color Perception
PubMed: 37194294
DOI: 10.1177/19375867231173410