The effects of personal relevance and repetition on persuasive processing

Past research has suggested that familiarity with amessage, brought about by repetition, can increase (Cacioppo & Petty, 1989) or decrease (Garcia–Marques & Mackie, 2001) analytic (systematic) processing of that message. Two experiments attempted to resolve these contradictory findings by examining how personal relevance may moderate the impact of familiarity on processing. Experiment 1 manipulated repetition and personal relevance and found that message repetition increased analytic processing (as reflected by greater persuasion following strong vs.weak arguments) under high relevance conditions and decreased analytic processing when relevance was low. In Experiment 2, both repetition and relevance were manipulated in different ways, but results again showed that repetition reduced analytic processing under low relevance conditions and that perceived familiarity mediated this outcome. Implications of these findings are discussed

Correlations between fMRI activation and individual psychotic symptoms in un-medicated subjects at high genetic risk of schizophrenia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background:</p> <p>It has been proposed that different types of psychopathology in schizophrenia may reflect distinguishable pathological processes. In the current study we aimed to address such associations in the absence of confounders such as medication and disease chronicity by examining specific relationships between fMRI activation and individual symptom severity scores in un-medicated subjects at high genetic risk of schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods:</p> <p>Associations were examined across two functional imaging paradigms: the Hayling sentence completion task, and an encoding/retrieval task, comprising encoding (at word classification) and retrieval (old word/new word judgement). Symptom severity was assessed using the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Items examined were hallucinations, delusions, and suspiciousness/persecution.</p> <p>Results:</p> <p>Associations were seen in the anterior middle temporal gyrus in relation to hallucination scores during the sentence completion task, and in the medial temporal lobe in association with suspiciousness/persecution scores in the encoding/retrieval task. Cerebellar activation was associated with delusions and suspiciousness/persecution scores across both tasks with differing patterns of laterality.</p> <p>Conclusion:</p> <p>These results support a role for the lateral temporal cortex in hallucinations and medial temporal lobe in positive psychotic symptoms. They also highlight the potential role of the cerebellum in the formation of delusions. That the current results are seen in un-medicated high risk subjects indicates these associations are not specific to the established illness and are not related to medication effects.</p

Comprehensive Assessment of Sleep Duration, Insomnia and Brain Structure within the UK Biobank Cohort

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess for associations between sleeping more than or less than recommended by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), and self-reported insomnia, with brain structure. METHODS: Data from the UK Biobank cohort were analysed (N between 9K and 32K, dependent on availability, aged 44 to 82 years). Sleep measures included self-reported adherence to NSF guidelines on sleep duration (sleeping between 7 and 9 hours per night), and self-reported difficulty falling or staying asleep (insomnia). Brain structural measures included global and regional cortical or subcortical morphometry (thickness, surface area, volume), global and tract-related white matter microstructure, brain age gap (difference between chronological age and age estimated from brain scan), and total volume of white matter lesions. RESULTS: Longer-than-recommended sleep duration was associated with lower overall grey and white matter volumes, lower global and regional cortical thickness and volume measures, higher brain age gap, higher volume of white matter lesions, higher mean diffusivity globally and in thalamic and association fibers, and lower volume of the hippocampus. Shorter-than-recommended sleep duration was related to higher global and cerebellar white matter volumes, lower global and regional cortical surface areas, and lower fractional anisotropy in projection fibers. Self-reported insomnia was associated with higher global grey and white matter volumes, and with higher volumes of the amygdala, hippocampus and putamen. CONCLUSIONS: Sleeping longer than recommended by the NSF is associated with a wide range of differences in brain structure, potentially indicative of poorer brain health. Sleeping less than recommended is distinctly associated with lower cortical surface areas. Future studies should assess the potential mechanisms of these differences and investigate long sleep duration as a putative marker of brain health

Genetic Architectures of Adolescent Depression Trajectories in 2 Longitudinal Population Cohorts

Importance: Adolescent depression is characterized by diverse symptom trajectories over time and has a strong genetic influence. Research has determined genetic overlap between depression and other psychiatric conditions; investigating the shared genetic architecture of heterogeneous depression trajectories is crucial for understanding disease etiology, prediction, and early intervention. Objective: To investigate univariate and multivariate genetic risk for adolescent depression trajectories and assess generalizability across ancestries. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study entailed longitudinal growth modeling followed by polygenic risk score (PRS) association testing for individual and multitrait genetic models. Two longitudinal cohorts from the US and UK were used: the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD; N = 11876) study and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; N = 8787) study. Included were adolescents with genetic information and depression measures at up to 8 and 4 occasions, respectively. Study data were analyzed January to July 2023. Main Outcomes and Measures: Trajectories were derived from growth mixture modeling of longitudinal depression symptoms. PRSs were computed for depression, anxiety, neuroticism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and autism in European ancestry. Genomic structural equation modeling was used to build multitrait genetic models of psychopathology followed by multitrait PRS. Depression PRSs were computed in African, East Asian, and Hispanic ancestries in the ABCD cohort only. Association testing was performed between all PRSs and trajectories for both cohorts. Results: A total sample size of 14112 adolescents (at baseline: mean [SD] age, 10.5 [0.5] years; 7269 male sex [52%]) from both cohorts were included in this analysis. Distinct depression trajectories (stable low, adolescent persistent, increasing, and decreasing) were replicated in the ALSPAC cohort (6096 participants; 3091 female [51%]) and ABCD cohort (8016 participants; 4274 male [53%]) between ages 10 and 17 years. Most univariate PRSs showed significant uniform associations with persistent trajectories, but fewer were significantly associated with intermediate (increasing and decreasing) trajectories. Multitrait PRSs - derived from a hierarchical factor model - showed the strongest associations for persistent trajectories (ABCD cohort: OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.26-1.68; ALSPAC cohort: OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.20-1.49), surpassing the effect size of univariate PRS in both cohorts. Multitrait PRSs were associated with intermediate trajectories but to a lesser extent (ABCD cohort: hierarchical increasing, OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.13-1.43; decreasing, OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.09-1.40; ALSPAC cohort: hierarchical increasing, OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.28; decreasing, OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.18-1.47). Transancestral genetic risk for depression showed no evidence for association with trajectories. Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this cohort study revealed a high multitrait genetic loading of persistent symptom trajectories, consistent across traits and cohorts. Variability in univariate genetic association with intermediate trajectories may stem from environmental factors. Multitrait genetics may strengthen depression prediction models, but more diverse data are needed for generalizability.</p