The Relationship Between Anxiety Symptoms and Multidimensional Life Satisfaction across Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Network Theory Approach

青春期和成年早期所面临的压力和挑战不仅会导致个体产生焦虑情绪，还可能削弱他们的生活满意度。以往研究显示，焦虑症状的表现在不同发展阶段存在显著差异，但对这种表现差异的深入探讨仍显不足。此外，尽管已有大量研究考察了焦虑症与生活满意度之间的关系，但在症状层面上，对于不同生活满意度维度与焦虑症状之间相互作用的理解依然较为薄弱。本研究基于心理病理学的网络理论，并结合网络模型的控制理论，旨在深入探讨特定焦虑症状在不同发展阶段中的表现差异，以及其与生活满意度各维度之间的关系。通过这些研究，我们希望深化对焦虑症状及其与生活满意度之间复杂相互作用的理解，从而为相关的心 理干预措施提供理论依据。 本研究由两个子研究组成，样本来源于国民心理健康数据库的数据集。研究一的参与者共计 63227 名，年龄范围为 10 至 24 岁(M 年龄 = 15.94 岁，SD = 3.53，女性占比 50.72%)。根据参与者的发展阶段，划分为四个组别：青春期早期(10- 12 岁)、青春期中期(13-15 岁)、青春期晚期(16-18 岁)及成年早期(19-24 岁)。采用广泛性焦虑障碍量表(GAD-7)测量参与者的焦虑程度。研究一基于高斯图像模型(Gaussian Graphical Model, GGM)进行网络分析，以比较不同发展阶段焦虑症状的表现差异。同时，研究一基于伊辛模型(Ising Model)进行计算机模拟干预，旨在揭示各发展阶段中特定焦虑症状的扰动对症状网络变化的影响。结果表明：(1)焦虑症状的表现因发展阶段而异，尤其是在青春期早期和中期之间存在显著差异；(2)计算机模拟干预结果显示，减轻&ldquo;紧张&rdquo;能够显著降低四个发展阶段的焦虑水平。同时，加重&ldquo;无法控制的担忧&rdquo;会导致青春期中期到成年早期的焦虑水平恶化，&ldquo;易激惹&rdquo;在青春期早期也呈现出类似的影响。因此，&ldquo;紧张&rdquo;可以作 为治疗焦虑的潜在靶点，而&ldquo;无法控制的担忧&rdquo;则可以作为潜在的预防靶点进行干预。 研究二在研究一基础上整合多维生活满意 度 (Multidimensional Life Satisfaction, MLS)，探讨其与焦虑症状之间的关系。研究二的参与者与研究一相同，在使用 GAD-7 量表的基础上，采用简明多维学生生活满意度量表(BMSLSS)，评估来自家庭、学校、居住环境、朋友和自我等五个维度的满意度。研究二基于高斯图像模型进行网络分析，在静态网络中考察生活满意度各维度与特定焦虑症状之间的相互关系。此外，研究二基于伊辛模型进行计算机模拟干预分析，在动态网络中揭示对网络波动影响最显著的项目。结果显示：(1)&ldquo;自我满意度&rdquo;和&ldquo;易激惹&rdquo;是连接焦虑与生活满意度的重要桥节点；(2)提升&ldquo;自我满意度&rdquo;显著降低了四个发展阶段的焦虑水平，并提升了整体生活满意度。&ldquo;学校满意度&rdquo;和 &ldquo;紧张&rdquo;在不同阶段也表现出与&ldquo;自我满意度&rdquo;相似的效应。然而，加重&ldquo;无法 控制的担忧&rdquo;则导致青春期中期至成年早期焦虑和生活满意度水平的恶化，多个症状在青春期早期中发挥了类似的负面作用。因此，&ldquo;自我满意度&rdquo;&ldquo;学校满意度&rdquo; 和&ldquo;紧张&rdquo;可以作为减少焦虑症状和提升生活满意度的潜在治疗靶点，而&ldquo;无法 控制的担忧&rdquo;则可作为一个有效的潜在预防靶点。 综上所述，研究一揭示了特定症状在焦虑症发展中的关键作用，指出&ldquo;紧张&rdquo; 可作为降低焦虑水平的潜在治疗靶点，而&ldquo;无法控制的担忧&rdquo;则为预防焦虑恶化 的潜在靶点。研究二表明，从生活满意度维度入手，能够显著提高治疗效果。具体而言，&ldquo;自我满意度&rdquo;&ldquo;学校满意度&rdquo;和&ldquo;紧张&rdquo;是减少焦虑和提升生活满意度 的潜在治疗靶点，而特定的焦虑症状，如&ldquo;无法控制的担忧&rdquo;则为潜在的预防靶点。本研究有助于深入理解焦虑症状及其与生活满意度各维度之间的复杂关系，为制定有效的预防和治疗策略提供了重要的理论依据。</p

CT-MIFNet: Convolutional transformer-based multi-view interaction and fusion network for EEG decoding

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are effective at extracting local features but are limited in capturing long-term dependencies due to their fixed kernel size. In contrast, Transformers are capable of capturing long-range dependencies through the self-attention mechanism.Although there are frameworks that extract both local and global features by combining CNN with Transformer in brain-computer interface (BCI) systems, multi-view features have not been effectively explored in Electroencephalography (EEG) decoding. Moreover, the increased computational complexity introduced by the attention mechanism in Transformers poses challenges, hindering their application to EEG signals with long sequence. Therefore, a novel Convolutional Transformer-based multi-view Interaction and Fusion Network (CT-MIFNet) is proposed. Initially, the preprocessed EEG signals are passed through a spatial transformation module, which reduces dimensionality while minimizing noise. After undergoing fast fourier transform (FFT) and branching into two separate paths, the signals are input into a Patch Embedding module with multi-scale convolution mapping to extract temporal, frequency, and spatial features. Subsequently, to enhance feature representations, these local features are processed by the Transformer-based Feature Interaction and Fusion module, which leverages Cross-Covariance Attention (CCA) to reduce computational complexity while facilitating the exchange and fusion of feature tokens from various perspectives. Extensive experiments showed that CT-MIFNet demonstrated the superior performance and generalization ability on the BCI Competition IV-2a, BCI Competition IV-2b, and the EEG datasets for laser-evoked pain datasets, achieving accuracies of 81.67%, 86.75%, and 83.48%, respectively. To enhance model interpretability, t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) and heatmap were employed for visualization.</p

Beyond Aromas: Exploring the Development and Potential Applications of Electroencephalography in Olfactory Research - From General Scents to Food Flavor Science Frontiers

Olfaction is crucial to our dietary choices and significantly influences our emotional and cognitive landscapes. Understanding the underlying neural mechanisms is pivotal, especially through the use of electroencephalography (EEG). This technology has strong temporal resolution, allowing it to capture the dynamics of neural responses to odors, bypassing the need for subjective interpretations. The application of EEG in food flavor research is still relatively new, but it has great potential. This review begins with an examination of general scent stimulation, charts the advances in using EEG to understand odor perception, and explores its future in food flavor science. By analyzing EEG&#39;s ability to detect distinct patterns and strengths in brain activity, we can elucidate the perceptual, affective, and cognitive frameworks associated with food odors. Event-related potentials and oscillatory activities, markers of central olfactory processing, provide insights into the neural architecture of olfaction. These markers are instrumental in assessing the influence of food odors on health, emotions, and decision-making processes. We argue that EEG&#39;s application in olfaction research holds considerable promise for the food industry to innovate products that are not only healthier but also more appealing, thereby promoting human well-being.</p

Dynamic interactions among schizotypal traits, affective and prodromal symptoms, social functioning in a large sample of college students: A cross-lagged panel network analysis

Objective: Previous studies suggested that schizotypal traits are closely related with affective symptoms and social dysfunction in general population. However, the dynamic interactions among these variables across time remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate this issue using cross-sectional and longitudinal network analysis. Methods: A total of 9136 college students completed self-report scales measuring schizotypal traits, anxiety, depression, prodromal risk, and social functioning at timepoint 1 (T1) and six months later. Classical contemporaneous network analysis was used to estimate the associations among all variables at T1, and the cross-lagged panel network analysis was performed to estimate the predictive effects at follow-up. In addition, prodromal high-risk and low-risk subgroups at T1 were identified using Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16) to investigate differences on network constructs and edge weights using Network Comparison Tests (NCT). Results: Contemporaneous network showed that negative dimension of schizotypal traits, anxiety, and depression interacted and were all negatively correlated with social functioning. Of all the nodes in the network, interpersonal features of schizotypal traits was the most centralized. The results of cross-lagged network analysis further verified the predictive effect of personality traits and emotions on social function. In addition, NCT revealed significant difference between prodromal high-risk and low-risk subgroups in network structure and strength of edges connecting schizotypal traits, affective symptoms with prodromal risk, but not in global strength. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that schizotypal traits, affective symptoms, and prodromal risk relate to social functioning, both independently and through their dynamic interactions.</p

Effects of Mindful Breathing Exercise on Attention Bias in Chinese College Students With Sub-Threshold Depression

Objectives The attention bias of people with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with difficulty disengaging from negative stimuli (e.g., images of sad faces). However, the mechanism of attention bias in individuals with sub-threshold depression (sD) is less studied. The objective of this research was to investigate the characteristics of attention bias in sD group and the effects of mindful breathing exercise as a possible intervention method. Method A dot probe task, which measures attention by presenting dot probes following emotional and neutral stimuli, was used. It provides three indices based on reaction time: the bias index (BI) indicates if the participant has attention bias towards emotional stimuli; the orientation index (OI) indicates if the participant has faster reaction towards emotional stimuli, and the disengagement difficulty index (DI) indicates if the participant has more attention dwell time thus more difficulty disengaging from emotional stimuli. Facial images displaying sad, fearful, happy, and neutral expressions were used as stimuli. In Study 1, a comparison was made between sD group (n = 30) and healthy control (HC) group (n = 28); in Study 2, a comparison between two sD groups, the intervention group (n = 23) completed a 20-day mindful breathing exercise (15 min per day) and the control group (n = 22) did not. Dot probe tasks were done before and after the intervention. Results In Study 1, the sD group had greater attention bias index (BI) (p < 0.05), and greater disengagement difficulty index (DI) to a marginal extent (p = 0.07) towards sad faces than the HC group; In Study 2 post-test, the BI (p < 0.05) and DI (p < 0.05) of the intervention group towards sad faces were significantly smaller than the control group. Conclusions Individuals with sub-threshold depression have negative attention bias associated with attention disengagement difficulty towards sad faces; a 20-day mindful breathing exercise reduces the attention bias and the associated attention disengagement difficulty towards sad faces

Personal Goal-Related Mental Time Travel and Its Association With Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Individuals With High Schizotypal Traits

Background and Hypothesis Mental time travel (MTT) is a crucial ability for daily life. Personal goal-related MTT events has stronger phenomenological characteristics than personal goal-unrelated ones, ie, the "personal goal-advantage effect". However, it remains unclear whether this effect is impacted in individuals with high schizotypal traits (HST) and the neural correlates of this effect have yet to be elucidated. The present study aimed to fill these knowledge gaps. We hypothesized that HST would show a reduced "personal goal-advantage effect" in MTT and would exhibit altered relationships with resting-state functional connectivity.Study Design In Study 1, 37 HST and 40 individuals with low schizotypal traits (LST) were recruited. Participants generated MTT events with personal goal-related and personal goal-unrelated cues. In Study 2, 39 HST and 38 LST were recruited, they completed the same behavioral task and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning.Study Results Both Study 1 and Study 2 revealed that HST exhibited reduced "personal goal-advantage effect" on MTT specificity. Moreover, Study 2 showed that compared with LST, HST exhibited altered association between the "personal goal-advantage effect" and functional connectivity (ie, between the right precuneus and the left postcentral gyrus and "personal goal-advantage effect" on emotional valence, between the left hippocampus and the right temporal fusiform gyrus and "personal goal-advantage effect" on emotional intensity).Conclusions These findings suggest that HST exhibit a reduced "personal goal-advantage effect" in MTT specificity and altered neural correlates related to this effect. The "personal goal-advantage effect" may be a potential target for intervention in HST

Sex differences in the prevalence and clinical correlates of autistic features in patients with chronic schizophrenia: a large scale cross-sectional study

ObjectiveSex differences have been suggested in both schizophrenia (SCZ) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aims to assess the prevalence and clinical correlates of autistic features in male and female patients with chronic SCZ.MethodsA total of 1690 chronic SCZ patients (M/F: 1122/568) were recruited from ten psychiatric hospitals in China. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale Autism Severity Score and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) were utilised to assess the presence of autistic features and measure cognitive function, respectively.ResultsFemale SCZ patients had a higher prevalence of autistic features than male SCZ patients. In male patients, those with autistic features exhibited higher illness duration and RBANS scores, but lower years of education. Whereas in female patients, those with autistic features had higher RBANS scores, but lower years of education. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that years of education, illness duration, visuospatial/constructional abilities, and language were correlated with autistic features in male patients. In female patients, years of education, language, and delayed memory were correlated with the presence of autistic features.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that sex differences exist in the prevalence and clinical correlates of autistic features in chronic SCZ patients

Inhibition of the basolateral amygdala to prelimbic cortex pathway enhances risk-taking during risky decision-making shock task in rats

Many animal studies have explored decision-making under risk and punishment, particularly regarding potential rewards, but less focus has been placed on contexts involving net losses. Understanding decision-making under net loss conditions can shed light on the neural mechanisms involved. The basolateral amygdala to prelimbic cortex (BLA-*PL) pathway is crucial for risky decision-making. In this study, we investigated how rats make decisions under no-reward but shock conditions, specifically examining the role of the BLA-*PL pathway. In the risky decision-making shock task (RDST), rats chose between a &quot;small/certain&quot; lever, which consistently delivered one pellet, and a &quot;large/risky&quot; lever, offering variable rewards with a 50 % probability of reward and a 50 % probability of 1-s foot-shock. The results showed that the shock condition decreased the preference for the large/ risky lever, despite increasing rewards. Importantly, inhibiting the BLA-*PL pathway significantly increased the selection of the &quot;large/risky&quot; lever compared to the control. Although rats in the clozapine N-oxide (CNO) group did not exhibit significant differences in response latency between levers, they exhibited heightened sensitivity to rewards and losses, suggesting that the BLA-*PL pathway affects the encoding of the relationship between aversive stimuli and reward-seeking. Overall, these results provide valuable insights into the neural mechanisms of risk-taking, particularly regarding how inhibition in the BLA-*PL pathway can influence reward processing and decision-making under no-reward but shock conditions, with implications for understanding risk-related psychiatric disorders.</p

Appearance anxiety: concept and measurement

外貌焦虑一般指个体因可能或预期会受到他人对自己外貌的负面评价而引发的担忧。外貌焦虑不仅与社交焦虑、躯体变形障碍、进食障碍等精神障碍有关，还与普通人群中的焦虑和抑郁症状、身体不满、低自尊、对运动持有的负面态度和不健康运动行为、社交回避行为等均存在关联。然而，国内外现有的外貌焦虑概念的内涵和外延存在差异，所采用的测量工具也各有侧重。该文通过梳理和比较国内外外貌焦虑的相关概念和主要测量工具，总结并提出了一个更为全面的外貌焦虑概念。开发适合我国各类人群的外貌焦虑测量工具将是未来研究的重要方向。</p

The Relationship Among Range Adaptation, Social Anhedonia, and Social Functioning: A Combined Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Resting-State fMRI Study

Background and Hypothesis Social anhedonia is a core feature of schizotypy and correlates significantly with social functioning and range adaptation. Range adaptation refers to representing a stimulus value based on its relative position in the range of pre-experienced values. This study aimed to examine the resting-state neural correlates of range adaptation and its associations with social anhedonia and social functioning.Study Design In study 1, 60 participants completed resting-state magnetic resonance spectroscopy and fMRI scans. Range adaptation was assessed by a valid effort-based decision-making paradigm. Self-reported questionnaires was used to measure social anhedonia and social functioning. Study 2 utilized 26 pairs of participants with high (HSoA) and low levels of social anhedonia (LSoA) to examine the group difference in range adaptation&#39;s neural correlates and its relationship with social anhedonia and social functioning. An independent sample of 40 pairs of HSoA and LSoA was used to verify the findings.Study Results Study 1 showed that range adaptation correlated with excitation-inhibition balance (EIB) and ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC) functional connectivity, which in turn correlating positively with social functioning. Range adaptation was specifically determined by the EIB via mediation of ventral-medial prefrontal cortex functional connectivities. Study 2 found HSoA and LSoA participants exhibiting comparable EIB and vPFC connectivities. However, EIB and vPFC connectivities were negatively correlated with social anhedonia and social functioning in HSoA participants.Conclusions EIB and vPFC functional connectivity is putative neural correlates for range adaptation. Such neural correlates are associated with social anhedonia and social functioning.</p