Afectos, recursos, cultura y salud percibida: ¿cuál es la relación entre ellos?

The purpose of this research is to understand if the relationship between positive and negative affect (PA/NA) and perceived health is mediated by psychosocial resources, and, whether culture (collectivistic vs. individualistic) has a role in that relationship. Structural Equation Models were applied: The first expressed the direct and indirect relationship PA/NA to health. The second reflected indirect influence of PA/NA on health and, resources mediated between both. Both models were tested in two cultures: one individualistic (Spain) and the other collectivistic (Mexico). The results showed that models work differently in both cultures. In Spain there were no significant differences between the two models. In Mexico, the direct and indirect relationship model functions better. These results have interesting implications: The influence of PA/NA on health could be different depending on the culture, so, future research to reconsider the cultural variable, would be interesting. The way PA vs. NA influences perceived health is different; PA can influence directly and indirectly, through psychosocial resources, while NA can only influence directly.  It would be fascinating if future research would replicate this, including more countries, and, using biological measurements of health.El propósito de esta investigación es comprender si la relación entre el afecto positivo y negativo (AP/AN) y la salud percibida está mediada por los recursos psicosociales, y, si la cultura (colectivista vs. individualista) tiene un rol en esta relación. Se aplicaron diferentes Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales: el primero recoge relaciones directas e indirectas entre AP/AN y salud, y el segundo, refleja la influencia indirecta de AP/AN sobre salud y la mediación de los recursos entre ambos. Los modelos fueron probados en dos culturas: individualista (España) y colectivista (México). Los resultados muestran que España no hay diferencias significativas entre los dos modelos, sin embargo, en México, el modelo con relaciones directas e indirectas ajusta mejor a los datos. Estos resultados tienen interesantes implicaciones: 1) La influencia de AP/AN sobre la salud puede ser diferente dependiendo de la cultura, por tanto, tener en consideración la variable cultura en este tipo de investigaciones podría ser una cuestión relevante. 2) La forma en la que AP y AN influyen sobre la salud percibida es distinta; el AP influye tanto directa como indirectamente a través de los recursos, mientras que AN solo influye directamente. Sería muy interesante que futuras investigaciones replicaran este estudio considerando más países, y, empleando parámetros biológicos de salud

Validación mexicana de la Escala de Funcionamiento Psicológico Positivo. Perspectivas en torno al estudio del bienestar y su medida

La escala de Funcionamiento Psicológico Positivo (FPP) es una escala recientemente desarrollada en España. Está formada por 11 recursos psicológicos: autonomía, resiliencia, autoestima, propósito en la vida, disfrute, optimismo, curiosidad, creatividad, humor, dominio del entorno y vitalidad. Éstos se agrupan en un factor de segundo orden que da nombre a la escala. Se trata de un instrumento que presenta una adecuada validez y fiabilidad. Además, los análisis factoriales confirmatorios arrojaron un buen nivel de ajuste. The Positive Psychological Functioning scale (PPF) is a newly developed measure in Spain. It consists of 11 psychological resources: autonomy, resilience, self-esteem, purpose in life, enjoyment, optimism, curiosity, Creativity, humor, environmental mastery and vitality. All of them are grouped into a second order factor called Positive Psychological Functioning. This measure has adequate validity and reliability. In addition, the confirmatory factor analysis showed a good level of adjustment

Fronto-parietal homotopy in resting-state functional connectivity predicts task-switching performance

Homotopic functional connectivity reflects the degree of synchrony in spontaneous activity between homologous voxels in the two hemispheres. Previous studies have associated increased brain homotopy and decreased white matter integrity with performance decrements on different cognitive tasks across the life-span. Here, we correlated functional homotopy, both at the whole-brain level and specifically in fronto-parietal network nodes, with task-switching performance in young adults. Cue-to-target intervals (CTI: 300 vs. 1200 ms) were manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis to modulate cognitive demands and strategic control. We found that mixing costs, a measure of task-set maintenance and monitoring, were significantly correlated to homotopy in different nodes of the fronto-parietal network depending on CTI. In particular, mixing costs for short CTI trials were smaller with lower homotopy in the superior frontal gyrus, whereas mixing costs for long CTI trials were smaller with lower homotopy in the supramarginal gyrus. These results were specific to the fronto-parietal network, as similar voxel-wise analyses within a control language network did not yield significant correlations with behavior. These findings extend previous literature on the relationship between homotopy and cognitive performance to task-switching, and show a dissociable role of homotopy in different fronto-parietal nodes depending on task-demands

Asimetría en conectividad funcional cerebral de niños y adolescentes sanos

Neurobiologí

Affects, resources, culture and perceived health: what is the relationship among them?

El propósito de esta investigación es comprender si la relación entre el afecto positivo y negativo (AP/AN) y la salud percibida está me- diada por los recursos psicosociales, y, si la cultura (colectivista vs. indivi- dualista) tiene un rol en esta relación. Se aplicaron diferentes Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales: el primero recoge relaciones directas e indirectas entre AP/AN y salud, y el segundo, refleja la influencia indirecta de AP/AN sobre salud y la mediación de los recursos entre ambos. Los mode- los fueron probados en dos culturas: individualista (España) y colectivista (México). Los resultados muestran que España no hay diferencias significa- tivas entre los dos modelos, sin embargo, en México, el modelo con rela- ciones directas e indirectas ajusta mejor a los datos. Estos resultados tienen interesantes implicaciones: 1) La influencia de AP/AN sobre la salud puede ser diferente dependiendo de la cultura, por tanto, tener en consideración la variable cultura en este tipo de investigaciones podría ser una cuestión rele- vante. 2) La forma en la que AP y AN influyen sobre la salud percibida es distinta; el AP influye tanto directa como indirectamente a través de los re- cursos, mientras que AN solo influye directamente. Sería muy interesante que futuras investigaciones replicaran este estudio considerando más países, y, empleando parámetros biológicos de salud.The purpose of this research is to understand if the relationship between positive and negative affect (PA/NA) and perceived health is me- diated by psychosocial resources, and, whether culture (collectivistic vs. in- dividualistic) has a role in that relationship. Structural Equation Models were applied: The first expressed the direct and indirect relationship PA/NA to health. The second reflected indirect influence of PA/NA on health and, resources mediated between both. Both models were tested in two cultures: one individualistic (Spain) and the other collectivistic (Mexi- co). The results showed that models work differently in both cultures. In Spain there were no significant differences between the two models. In Mexico, the direct and indirect relationship model functioned better. These results have interesting implications: The influence of PA/NA on health could be different depending on the culture, therefore future research to reconsider the cultural variable, would be interesting. The way PA vs. NA influence perceived health is different; PA can influence both directly and indirectly through psychosocial resources, while NA can only influence di- rectly. It would be fascinating if future research would replicate this, includ- ing more countries, and, using biological measurements of healt

Affects, resources, culture and perceived health: what is the relationship among them?

El propósito de esta investigación es comprender si la relación entre el afecto positivo y negativo (AP/AN) y la salud percibida está me- diada por los recursos psicosociales, y, si la cultura (colectivista vs. indivi- dualista) tiene un rol en esta relación. Se aplicaron diferentes Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales: el primero recoge relaciones directas e indirectas entre AP/AN y salud, y el segundo, refleja la influencia indirecta de AP/AN sobre salud y la mediación de los recursos entre ambos. Los mode- los fueron probados en dos culturas: individualista (España) y colectivista (México). Los resultados muestran que España no hay diferencias significa- tivas entre los dos modelos, sin embargo, en México, el modelo con rela- ciones directas e indirectas ajusta mejor a los datos. Estos resultados tienen interesantes implicaciones: 1) La influencia de AP/AN sobre la salud puede ser diferente dependiendo de la cultura, por tanto, tener en consideración la variable cultura en este tipo de investigaciones podría ser una cuestión rele- vante. 2) La forma en la que AP y AN influyen sobre la salud percibida es distinta; el AP influye tanto directa como indirectamente a través de los re- cursos, mientras que AN solo influye directamente. Sería muy interesante que futuras investigaciones replicaran este estudio considerando más países, y, empleando parámetros biológicos de salud.The purpose of this research is to understand if the relationship between positive and negative affect (PA/NA) and perceived health is me- diated by psychosocial resources, and, whether culture (collectivistic vs. in- dividualistic) has a role in that relationship. Structural Equation Models were applied: The first expressed the direct and indirect relationship PA/NA to health. The second reflected indirect influence of PA/NA on health and, resources mediated between both. Both models were tested in two cultures: one individualistic (Spain) and the other collectivistic (Mexi- co). The results showed that models work differently in both cultures. In Spain there were no significant differences between the two models. In Mexico, the direct and indirect relationship model functioned better. These results have interesting implications: The influence of PA/NA on health could be different depending on the culture, therefore future research to reconsider the cultural variable, would be interesting. The way PA vs. NA influence perceived health is different; PA can influence both directly and indirectly through psychosocial resources, while NA can only influence di- rectly. It would be fascinating if future research would replicate this, includ- ing more countries, and, using biological measurements of healt

Predicting depression risk in early adolescence via multimodal brain imaging

Depression is an incapacitating psychiatric disorder with increased risk through adolescence. Among other factors, children with family history of depression have significantly higher risk of developing depression. Early identification of pre-adolescent children who are at risk of depression is crucial for early intervention and prevention. In this study, we used a large longitudinal sample from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (2658 participants after imaging quality control, between 9–10 years at baseline), we applied advanced machine learning methods to predict depression risk at the two-year follow-up from the baseline assessment, using a set of comprehensive multimodal neuroimaging features derived from structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and task and rest functional MRI. Prediction performance underwent a rigorous cross-validation method of leave-one-site-out. Our results demonstrate that all brain features had prediction scores significantly better than expected by chance, with brain features from rest-fMRI showing the best classification performance in the high-risk group of participants with parental history of depression (N = 625). Specifically, rest-fMRI features, which came from functional connectomes, showed significantly better classification performance than other brain features. This finding highlights the key role of the interacting elements of the connectome in capturing more individual variability in psychopathology compared to measures of single brain regions. Our study contributes to the effort of identifying biological risks of depression in early adolescence in population-based samples

The Time Varying Networks of the Interoceptive Attention and Rest

Focused attention to spontaneous sensations is a dynamic process that demands interoceptive abilities. Failure to control it has been linked to neuropsychiatric disorders like illness-anxiety disorder. Regulatory strategies, such as focused attention meditation (FAM), may enhance the ability to control focused attention particularly to body sensations, which can be reflected on functional neuroanatomy. The functional connectivity (FC) related to focused attention has been described, however, the dynamic brain organization associated to this process and the differences to the resting state remains to be studied. To quantify the cerebral dynamic counterpart of focused attention to interoception, we examined fifteen experienced meditators while performing a 20-min attentional task to spontaneous sensations. Subjects underwent three scanning sessions obtaining a resting-state scan before and after the task. Sliding window dynamic FC (DFC) and k-means clustering identified five recurrent FC patterns along the dorsal attention network (DAN), default mode network (DMN), and frontoparietal network (FPN). Subjects remained longer in a low connectivity brain pattern during the resting conditions. By contrast, subjects spent a higher proportion of time in complex patterns during the task than rest. Moreover, a carry-over effect in FC was observed following the interoceptive task performance, suggestive of an active role in the learning process linked to cognitive training. Our results suggest that focused attention to interoceptive processes, demands a dynamic brain organization with specific features that distinguishes it from the resting condition. This approach may provide new insights characterizing the neural basis of the focused attention, an essential component for human adaptability