Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: From Social Stimuli Processing to Social Engagement

Social cognition consists of several skills which allow us to interact with other humans. These skills include social stimuli processing, drawing inferences about others’ mental states, and engaging in social interactions. In recent years, there has been growing evidence of social cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia. Apparently, these impairments are separable from general neurocognitive impairments, such as attention, memory, and executive functioning. Moreover, social cognition seems to be a main determinant of functional outcome and could be used as a guide to elaborate new pharmacological and psychological treatments. However, most of these studies focus on individual mechanisms and observational perspectives; only few of them study schizophrenic patients during interactive situations. We first review evidences of social cognitive impairments both in social stimuli processing and in mental state attribution. We focus on the relationship between these functions and both general cognitive impairments and functional outcome. We next review recent game theory approaches to the study of how social engagement occurs in schizophrenic patients. The advantage of using game theory is that game-oriented tasks can assess social decision making in an interactive everyday situation model. Finally, we review proposed theoretical models used to explain social alterations and their underlying biological mechanisms. Based on interactive studies, we propose a framework which takes into account the dynamic nature of social processes. Thus, understanding social skills as a result of dynamical systems could facilitate the development of both basic research and clinical applications oriented to psychiatric populations

Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men

Gender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women's worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7,876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women's brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality

Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men

男女間の不平等と脳の性差 --男女間の不平等は脳構造の性差と関連する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-05-10.Gender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women’s worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7, 876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women’s brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality

Balance en la cuerda floja: la neurobiología del trastorno por déficit atencional e hiperactividad

ResumenEn este artículo discutimos investigaciones recientes relacionadas a los mecanismos neurobiológicos subyacentes al Trastorno por Déficit Atencional e Hiperactividad, (TDAH) en particular la dinámica de señalización dopaminérgica y la llamada red por defecto, que consiste en patrones de actividad que se generan durante el reposo. Ambos tipos de fenómenos han sido asociados al TDAH y aquí proponemos una relación entre ambas dinámicas, y cómo ésta puede estar afectada en el TDAH.SummaryIn this article we discuss recent findings on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying Attentional Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); specifically the dynamics of dopaminergic signaling and the default mode network, consisting of activity patterns generated during the resting state. Both phenomena have been related to ADHD, and we propose here a relationship between both dynamics, and how this can be affected in ADHD

Un nuevo enfoque de entrenamiento de habilidades motoras laparoscópicas basadas en automatización

IntroducciónBasado en la teoría de adquisición de habilidades, se ha planteado que generar automatización en punto laparoscópico intracorpóreo (PLI) generaría una habilidad laparoscópica basal que haría mucho más simple y duradera la adquisición de destrezas laparoscópicas avanzadas. Nuestro objetivo fue optimizar el programa de entrenamiento laparoscópico de la PUC (PEL-UC), utilizando los conceptos de automatización y sobre-entrenamiento de PLI, para definir nuevos umbrales de rendimiento para cada etapa del programa.MétodosSe analizó el PEL-UC en la transición entre el Módulo Laparoscópico Básico (MLB) y el Avanzado (MLA). Se midió de manera basal en PLI a 12 individuos que habían aprobado el MLB, los que posteriormente se sobre-entrenaron en PLI antes de iniciar MLA. Las variables medidas fueron OSATS, tiempo operatorio (TO) e índice de detectabilidad (ID) de manera simultánea a cada procedimiento. El ID deriva de la evaluación de segunda tarea viso-espacial, como medida de automaticidad. Los participantes fueron evaluados pre y post sobre-entrenamiento, configurando dos grupos, de acuerdo con si alcanzaron o no automatización: grupo 1 (ID < 0.68, etapa asociativa tardía) y grupo 2 (ID ≥ 0.68, etapa de automatización). Se especificó el número de repeticiones de PIL realizadas como sobre-entrenamiento. Cuatro expertos fueron evaluados del mismo modo para dar validez de constructo.ResultadosDoce individuos fueron sobre-entrenados luego de aprobar el MLB (etapa asociativa temprana), ninguno de ellos cumplía criterios de automaticidad de manera previa (mediana ID 0.48). 5 individuos sobre-entrenaron hasta la etapa asociativa tardía (grupo 1), y 7 hasta la de automatización (grupo 2). Hubo cambios significativos de las variables analizadas después del sobre-entrenamiento para ambos grupos. Para TO [grupo 1 (95 vs. 80 s; p=0.08), grupo 2 (87 vs. 64 s; p=0.028), y para OSATS [grupo 1 (18.5 vs. 23 puntos; p=0.043), grupo 2 (20 vs. 24.5 puntos; p=0.027)]. Se evidenció mejor rendimiento en el grupo automatizado en términos de TO (80 vs. 64 s; p=0.013) y de OSATS (23 vs. 24.5 puntos; p=0.02). Todos los expertos cumplían criterios de automaticidad. Al comparar el rendimiento de los expertos con grupo 1, solo hubo diferencia significativa en ID (0.78 vs. 0.56; p=0.014), mientras que al comparar con el grupo 2 solo hubo diferencia en TO (74 vs 64 s; p=0.01). No hubo diferencias respecto al número de repeticiones como sobre-entrenamiento entre el grupo grupo 1 y el grupo 2.Discusión: Al aprobar MLB se ha superado solo la etapa cognitiva, por lo que el rendimiento en PLI aún es mejorable a través del sobre-entrenamiento. Con los datos obtenidos se puede definir un nivel óptimo de rendimiento pre-automaticidad en términos de OSATS (> 23 puntos) y TO (< 80 s). El número de repeticiones requeridas en el sobre-entrenamiento no se relaciona con la etapa alcanzada, explicado probablemente por lo heterogéneo de las destrezas basales de los entrenados. La aplicación del concepto de automaticidad permite definir mejor la destreza laparoscópica obtenida y en qué etapa de la curva de aprendizaje se encuentra según la teoría de adquisición de habilidades. Para que el alumno obtenga una mejor experiencia de entrenamiento en MLA, los resultados sugieren el sobre-entrenamiento en PLI luego de finalizar MLB hasta alcanzar automaticidad

Fluctuating Minds: Spontaneous Psychophysical Variability during Mind-Wandering

International audienceMind-wandering is the occasional distraction we experience while performing a cognitive task. It arises without any external precedent, varies over time, and interferes with the processing of sensory information. Here, we asked whether the transition from the on-task state to mind-wandering is a gradual process or an abrupt event. We developed a new experimental approach, based on the continuous, online assessment of individual psycho-physical performance. Probe questions were asked whenever response times (RTs) exceeded 2 standard deviations from the participant's average RT. Results showed that mind-wandering reports were generally preceded by slower RTs, as compared to trials preceding on-task reports. Mind-wandering episodes could be reliably predicted from the response time difference between the last and the second-to-last trials. Thus, mind-wandering reports follow an abrupt increase in behavioral variability, lasting between 2.5 and 10 seconds

Brain state-dependent recruitment of high-frequency oscillations in the human hippocampus

International audienceRipples are high-frequency bouts of coordinated hippocampal activity believed to be crucial for information transfer and memory formation. We used intracortical macroelectrodes to record neural activity in the human hippocampus of awake subjects undergoing surgical treatment for refractory epilepsy and distinguished two populations of ripple episodes based on their frequency spectrum. The phase-coupling of one population, slow ripples (90e110 Hz), to cortical delta oscillations was differentially modulated by cognitive task; whereas the second population, fast ripples (130e170 Hz), was not seemingly correlated to local neural activity. Furthermore, as cognitive tasks changed, the ongoing coordination of neural activity associated to slow ripples progressively augmented along the parahippocampal axis. Thus, during resting states, slow ripples were coordinated in restricted hippocampal territories; whereas during active states, such as attentionallydemanding tasks, high frequency activity emerged across the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex, that was synchronized with slow ripples, consistent with ripples supporting information transfer and coupling anatomically distant regions. Hence, our results provide further evidence of neural diversity in hippocampal high-frequency oscillations and their association to cognitive processing in humans