757 research outputs found

    Modelling the Effect of Depression on Working Memory

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    Modelling the Effect of Depression on Working Memory

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    Individuals with depression are prone to engaging in rumination,a process in which attention turns inwards to narrowlyfocused,negative patterns of thought, at the cost of attendingto a task. Other core deficits associated with depressionare weaker inhibition of information that is no longer relevant,and a negative perceptual bias. Here, we present a computationalcognitive model that uses these mechanisms to explainperformance on an n-back task in which the stimuli are faceswith different emotional expressions, and in which depressedparticipants exhibit specific impairments. These impairmentsare explained by assuming that depressed participants selectivelyelaborate on sad items as they are removed from workingmemory, and that they have a perceptual bias towards sadfaces. In this way, by specifying a mechanism by which performanceimpairments come about, the model helps to providea deeper understanding of the cognitive processes underlyingbehaviour

    New loci for body fat percentage reveal link between adiposity and cardiometabolic disease risk

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    To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of adiposity and its links to cardiometabolic disease risk, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of body fat percentage (BF%) in up to 100,716 individuals. Twelve loci reached genome-wide significance (P<5 × 10−8), of which eight were previously associated with increased overall adiposity (BMI, BF%) and four (in or near COBLL1/GRB14, IGF2BP1, PLA2G6, CRTC1) were novel associations with BF%. Seven loci showed a larger effect on BF% than on BMI, suggestive of a primary association with adiposity, while five loci showed larger effects on BMI than on BF%, suggesting association with both fat and lean mass. In particular, the loci more strongly associated with BF% showed distinct cross-phenotype association signatures with a range of cardiometabolic traits revealing new insights in the link between adiposity and disease risk
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