The Influence of Exposure to Unbalanced Sex Ratios on Perceived Vocal Attractiveness

The population sex ratio greatly impacts human behavior, especially mating patterns. Recent research shows that visual exposure to unbalanced sex ratios influences perceived facial attractiveness for opposite-sex faces. When opposite-sex faces are scarce in exposure, subsequent opposite-sex faces are rated as more attractive than when they are plentiful during exposure. The current work examines an auditory analog of this effect by exposing listeners to unbalanced ratios of male and female voices and measuring the perceived attractiveness of subsequently presented opposite sex voices. A 2x2 ANOVA was conducted with participant sex and sex ratio exposure as the between-subject factors. Results showed that when participants were in the low-exposure group, ratings of opposite-sex voices were significantly greater than the ratings from participants who were in the high-exposure group. These findings present new evidence that could further explain the effect of unbalanced sex ratios of local populations on mating-related behaviors in humans

Mapping social target detection with functional magnetic resonance imaging

The neural correlates of cognitive control and social processing functions, as well as the characteristic patterns of anomalous brain activation patterns in psychiatric conditions associated with impairment in these functions, have been well characterized. However, these domains have primarily been examined in isolation. The present study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to map brain areas recruited during a target-detection task designed to evaluate responses to both non-social (i.e. shape) and social (i.e. face) target stimuli. Both shape and face targets activated a similar brain network, including the postcentral gyrus, the anterior and posterior cingulate gyri and the right midfrontal gyrus, whereas face targets additionally activated the thalamus, fusiform and temporooccipital cortex, lingual gyrus and paracingulate gyrus. Comparison of activations to social and non-social target events revealed that a small portion of the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (Brodmann's area 32) and the supracalcarine cortex were preferentially activated to face targets. These findings indicate that non-social and social stimuli embedded within a cognitive control task activate overlapping and distinct brain regions. Clinical cognitive neuroscience research of disorders characterized by cognitive dysfunction and impaired social processing would benefit from the use of tasks that evaluate the combined effects of deficits in these two domains

fMRI tracks reductions in repetitive behaviors in autism: Two case studies

Autism is characterized by abnormal prefrontal brain activation during cognitive control, a potential biomarker of repetitive behaviors. In this proof-of-principle study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine brain activity during an oddball task in two high-functioning males with autism before and after 12 weeks of treatment with citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. One participant showed marked reductions in repetitive behaviors whereas the other showed mild worsening. Brain activation in relevant prefrontal regions increased in only the participant whose repetitive behavior symptoms improved. These findings suggest that fMRI may elucidate potential mechanisms of action of targeted autism interventions

Is the PANSS used correctly? a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) is one of the most important rating instruments for patients with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, there is a long and ongoing debate in the psychiatric community regarding its mathematical properties.</p> <p>All 30 items range from 1 to 7 leading to a minimum total score of 30, implying that the PANSS is an interval scale. For such interval scales straightforward calculation of relative changes is not appropriate. To calculate outcome criteria based on a percent change as, e.g., the widely accepted response criterion, the scale has to be transformed into a ratio scale beforehand. Recent publications have already pointed out the pitfall that ignoring the scale level (interval vs. ratio scale) leads to a set of mathematical problems, potentially resulting in erroneous results concerning the efficacy of the treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A Pubmed search based on the PRISMA statement of the highest-ranked psychiatric journals (search terms "PANSS" and "response") was carried out. All articles containing percent changes were included and methods of percent change calculation were analysed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This systematic literature research shows that the majority of authors (62%) actually appear to use incorrect calculations. In most instances the method of calculation was not described in the manuscript.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These alarming results underline the need for standardized procedures for PANSS calculations.</p