Dispositional optimism weakly predicts upward, rather than downward, counterfactual thinking:A prospective correlational study using episodic recall

Counterfactual thoughts center on how the past could have been different. Such thoughts may be differentiated in terms of direction of comparison, such that upward counterfactuals focus on how the past could have been better, whereas downward counterfactuals focus on how the past could have been worse. A key question is how such past-oriented thoughts connect to future-oriented individual differences such as optimism. Ambiguities surround a series of past studies in which optimism predicted relatively greater downward counterfactual thinking. Our main study (N= 1150) and six supplementary studies (N= 1901) re-examined this link to reveal a different result, a weak relation between optimism and upward (rather than downward) counterfactual thinking. These results offer an important correction to the counterfactual literature and are informative for theory on individual differences in optimism

Sexually Explicit Advertisements Boost Consumer Recycling Due to Moral Cleansing Goal Activation

Building on research showing that sexually explicit advertisements (i.e., those depicting figuratively dirty content) are viewed as immoral, three experiments propose and demonstrate that exposure to figuratively dirty (vs. clean) advertisements activates consumers\u27 moral cleansing goals, which subsequently boosts recycling-related behaviors. These effects do not arise for literally dirty (vs. clean) advertisements, helping to support a goal activation account, rather than mere semantic priming. Further, the effect of figuratively dirty (vs. clean) advertisements on recycling-related behavior is amplified for consumers higher in internalized moral identity. These findings contribute to the literatures on consumer goal activation, moral identity, and sustainability, and have practical implications for marketers considering explicit advertising campaigns and public policy makers wanting to better understand the drivers of consumer recycling

Target cell-specific synaptic dynamics of excitatory to inhibitory neuron connections in supragranular layers of human neocortex.

Rodent studies have demonstrated that synaptic dynamics from excitatory to inhibitory neuron types are often dependent on the target cell type. However, these target cell-specific properties have not been well investigated in human cortex, where there are major technical challenges in reliably obtaining healthy tissue, conducting multiple patch-clamp recordings on inhibitory cell types, and identifying those cell types. Here, we take advantage of newly developed methods for human neurosurgical tissue analysis with multiple patch-clamp recordings

Local connectivity and synaptic dynamics in mouse and human neocortex.

We present a unique, extensive, and open synaptic physiology analysis platform and dataset. Through its application, we reveal principles that relate cell type to synaptic properties and intralaminar circuit organization in the mouse and human cortex. The dynamics of excitatory synapses align with the postsynaptic cell subclass, whereas inhibitory synapse dynamics partly align with presynaptic cell subclass but with considerable overlap. Synaptic properties are heterogeneous in most subclass-to-subclass connections. The two main axes of heterogeneity are strength and variability. Cell subclasses divide along the variability axis, whereas the strength axis accounts for substantial heterogeneity within the subclass. In the human cortex, excitatory-to-excitatory synaptic dynamics are distinct from those in the mouse cortex and vary with depth across layers 2 and 3

Functional characterisation of naturally occurring mutations in human melanopsin

Melanopsin is a blue light-sensitive opsin photopigment involved in a range of non-image forming behaviours, including circadian photoentrainment and the pupil light response. Many naturally occurring genetic variants exist within the human melanopsin gene (OPN4), yet it remains unclear how these variants affect melanopsin protein function and downstream physiological responses to light. Here, we have used bioinformatic analysis and in vitro expression systems to determine the functional phenotypes of missense human OPN4 variants. From 1242 human OPN4 variants collated in the NCBI Short Genetic Variation database (dbSNP), we identified 96 that lead to non-synonymous amino acid substitutions. These 96 missense mutations were screened using sequence alignment and comparative approaches to select 16 potentially deleterious variants for functional characterisation using calcium imaging of melanopsin-driven light responses in HEK293T cells. We identify several previously uncharacterised OPN4 mutations with altered functional properties, including attenuated or abolished light responses, as well as variants demonstrating abnormal response kinetics. These data provide valuable insight into the structure–function relationships of human melanopsin, including several key functional residues of the melanopsin protein. The identification of melanopsin variants with significantly altered function may serve to detect individuals with disrupted melanopsin-based light perception, and potentially highlight those at increased risk of sleep disturbance, circadian dysfunction, and visual abnormalities