Problem gambling has been associated with attentional biases toward gambling-related stimuli, but less is known about how problem gamblers distribute their visual attention during gambling tasks. This eye-tracking study investigated differences in sustained visual attention between problem gamblers (PGs; n = 22) and non-problem gamblers (NPGs; n = 22) during a gambling task using neutral picture pairs. While total gaze time toward stimuli did not differ between the groups, PGs showed distinctive characteristics in their visual attentional allocation. Specifically, two-sample t-tests revealed that PGs exhibited significantly higher focal attention to right-sided stimuli in central zones (0-25 pixels) during decision-making, while NPGs demonstrated greater left-sided peripheral attention (76-100 pixels) during feedback. These patterns were further supported by a three-way ANOVA showing a significant group × zone × laterality interaction in the decision phase, confirming that PGs exhibited significantly higher right-sided attention in the central zone (0-25 and 26-50 pixels), while NPGs showed a tendency toward greater left-sided attention in the peripheral zone (76-100 pixels). Additionally, PGs demonstrated stronger rightward attentional bias in both phases. These differences in visual attention were associated with higher behavioral-approach-system, reward sensitivity, and sensation-seeking scores among PGs. The findings suggest that PGs exhibit distinctive characteristics in terms of sustained visual attention during gambling-related decision-making, even when viewing neutral stimuli. This distinctive distribution of visual attention may reflect fundamental differences in information processing and potential hemispheric imbalances in attention control mechanisms among PGs.

Alcohol use is associated with an increased risk of negative consequences for young adults due to their disproportionately high rates of alcohol use. Alcohol craving (i.e., the strong desire to consume alcohol) is related to increased use for clinical populations, but scant research has examined craving and its associated factors among young adults. Reward sensitivity (i.e., the desire to obtain appetitive stimuli) and impulsivity (i.e., rash action without considering the consequences) have been independently linked to alcohol craving, but few studies examine how these factors interact with alcohol craving among young adults. Consequently, the current study sought to examine these associations via five moderation models using one of the five facets of impulsivity (i.e., positive and negative urgency, perseverance, premeditation, and sensation seeking) as the variable moderating the relationship between reward sensitivity and craving.

Two hundred and ninety-one college students completed an online survey regarding their use of alcohol, trait impulsivity, reward sensitivity, and alcohol craving.

There was a significant negative interaction between levels of reward sensitivity and negative urgency. The negative associations were significant at one SD above mean levels of negative urgency.

Individuals who experienced lower levels of reward sensitivity had increased craving when they also experienced greater levels of negative urgency. Young adults who experience a combination of low reward sensitivity and heightened negative urgency may be at the greatest risk for alcohol craving.

Chronic unhealthy sleeping behaviours are a major risk factor for the emergence of mood and anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, we are still lacking understanding why some individuals are more prone than others to affective dysregulation caused by sleep disruption. With preliminary evidence suggesting that brain activity during positive and negative emotional processing might play an important modulating role, we conducted whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity analyses in a large cohort of healthy young adults (N = 155). Using regions consistently affected in insomnia disorder as seeds, we investigated sleep quality-related neural connectivity patterns that were both insensitive and sensitive to the interactions with individual measures of reward and punishment processing, additionally assessing the links with indices of emotional health. The majority of the findings reflected interactions between sleep quality and reinforcement sensitivity, with the opposite associations reported in the good and poor sleepers. One of such connections, the coupling between precentral gyrus and posterior insula, was additionally negatively linked to trait anxiety, with the lowest connectivity values observed in poor sleepers with higher sensitivity to punishment. In turn, the only finding associated solely with sleep quality, i.e. coupling between subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and thalamus, was also related to the habitual use of emotion suppression strategies. As such, the present study provides evidence that reinforcement sensitivity plays an essential role in understanding the associations of poor sleep quality with brain connectivity and emotional health, hinting at a potential link that may help explain individual differences in susceptibility to sleep-related affective dysregulation.

The current study is an investigation of the dimensionality of the Preschool Feelings Checklist-Scale (PFC-S), a caregiver-report questionnaire of early childhood depressive symptom severity. Caregivers of 450 young children, ages 3-8 years (M = 5.62, SD = 0.95; 49% female; 7% Hispanic; 66% White), completed the PFC-S and questionnaires on child emotion regulation and expression and self-reported depressive symptomatology. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a one-factor structure did not adequately fit the current PFC-S data. Using exploratory factor analysis, a three-factor structure emerged as interpretable and structurally sound, yielding reliable factors related to social and behavioral anhedonia, emotional and behavioral dysregulation, and excessive guilt and sadness. This factor structure showed configural and scalar invariance across preschool-aged and early middle childhood-aged children as well as children assigned male and female sex at birth. Correlations between the three factors and constructs related to depression suggested preliminary construct validity. The current study provides initial evidence for a multidimensional structure of the PFC-S and improves our understanding of early childhood depressive symptoms.

Existing research shows that children's responses to rewards and punishments are essential for understanding attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and callous-unemotional traits. The present study developed the Contingency Response Rating Scale (CRRS) to fulfill the need for a reliable and valid measure of children's contingency response style that is brief, easy to use in applied settings, and provides additional information to existing clinical measures. We examined the psychometric properties of the CRRS in a sample of 196 children (ages 5-12), most of whom were referred to evaluate attention and behavior problems in an outpatient clinic. Using principal axis factoring, we identified five factors: (a) punishment ineffectiveness, (b) reward ineffectiveness, (c) punishment dysregulation, (d) reward dysregulation, and (e) contingency insensitivity. The subscales based on these factors showed acceptable test-retest and internal consistency reliability, and scale intercorrelations varied from low to moderate. The subscales also captured significant variance not explained by child or parent demographics and were associated with measures of psychopathology and impairment. The results provide preliminary evidence that the CRRS may be a helpful tool for assessing reward and punishment sensitivity in children with attention and behavior problems.

As humans rely on social groups for survival, social motivation is central to behavior and well-being. Here we define social motivation as the effort that initiates and directs behavior towards social outcomes, with the goal of satisfying our fundamental need for connection. We propose an integrated framework of social motivation which emphasizes the maintenance of optimal connection levels through effort exertion, regulating social approach and avoidance, which allow interpersonal synchrony. Together, these behaviors serve as basic building blocks of social behavior, and give rise to behaviors critical for collective living such as cooperation and empathy. We describe a neural model according to which social connection levels are monitored by the hypothalamus, while the anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula respond to detected social deficiency. As adjustment is required, the social effort system - comprised of the thalamus and striatum - is activated. This system directs neural networks that permit interpersonal synchrony or, conversely, desynchronization, aiming to restore and maintain optimal connection by preventing isolation on the one hand, and exaggerated social closeness on the other hand. The proposed framework offers insights into disorders characterized by aberrant social motivation, potentially identifying neural dysfunctions that may inform novel interventions.

To explore the association between anxiety symptoms, BIS/BAS and the relationship between both and physical activity in college students. A cross-sectional research design was used to recruit 4962 current college students to fill out three scales: generalised anxiety, behavioural inhibition/activation system, and physical activity level, which were analysed using statistical methods such as independent samples t-tests, Pearson correlation coefficient analyses, canonical correlation analyses, and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). Female students had a higher detection rate of anxiety symptoms (41.58%), higher reward responsiveness scores for female students and higher behavioural inhibition scores for male students. Behavioural inhibition and reward responsiveness were found to be canonical correlations of anxiety symptoms in college students. Among male students, behavioural inhibition was associated with nervousness and irritability, while reward responsiveness was associated with nervousness and worry too much. In female students, behavioural inhibition was associated with uncontrollable worrying, feeling afraid, while reward responsiveness was associated with nervousness, restlessness. The lower the level of physical activity, the higher the score of anxiety symptoms in male/female (p < 0.05). The higher the level of physical activity, the higher the score of reward responsiveness in the behavioural activation system of male/female students (P < 0.05); and the effect of the level of physical activity on the behavioural inhibition score of college students was non-linear. Intensity, duration and frequency of physical activity were negatively correlated with anxiety symptoms and positively correlated with reward responsiveness, but not with behavioural inhibition. For females, vigorous/high-intensity exercise with a duration greater than 30 min once a day was most effective in alleviating anxiety symptoms. For males, vigorous exercise lasting > 30 min, 3-5 times per week, was most effective in reducing anxiety symptoms. To improve reward responsiveness, females benefited most from vigorous exercise lasting > 30 min once a day, while males benefited most from vigorous exercise lasting > 60 min once a day. Behavioural inhibition and reward responsiveness were canonically correlated with anxiety symptoms in college students, with differences in canonical correlations between male and female college students. But both could improve behavioural inhibition and reward responsiveness, mitigate specific symptoms of anxiety by modulating physical activity levels.

Circadian rhythmicity is a complex phenomenon that influences human behavior, emotionality and brain activity. A detailed description of individual differences in circadian rhythmicity could inform the design of educational systems, shift-worker schedules, and daily routines. Here we present a comprehensive dataset for studying diurnal rhythms and their relationship with human behavior. Thirty seven male participants (aged 20-30) filled in validated psychometric questionnaires assessing characteristics of the circadian rhythm, sleep quality, emotionality, personality traits, reward-punishment processing and attention deficits. Moreover, we acquired high-resolution anatomical T1-weighted images using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), B0 fieldmaps for distortion corrections, and functional MRI (fMRI) during the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task, which is a common paradigm to assess human neural reinforcement processing. All files are organized in Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) and openly available on OpenNeuro.org. Validation confirmed the high quality of the described dataset. The various psychological measures combined with neuroimaging data provide a strong foundation for exploring emotionality, affective processing, and attention in the context of brain activity and circadian influences.

Brain entropy (BEN) quantifies irregularity, disorder and uncertainty of brain activity. Recent studies have linked BEN, derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), to cognition, task activation, neuromodulation, and pharmacological interventions. However, it remains unknown whether BEN can reflect the effects of hormonal fluctuations. Furthermore, ovarian hormones are known to modulate behavioral traits, such as inhibitory control and impulsivity, as measured by the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Systems (BIS/BAS). In this study, we investigated how ovarian hormones influence BEN and BIS/BAS in young adult women. The forty-four participants (mean age = 22.61 ± 2.14 years) were obtained from OpenNeuro in the study. Ovarian hormones including estradiol (E2), progesterone (PROG) and BIS/BAS were acquired before scanning. The voxel-wise BEN maps were calculated from the preprocessed rs-fMRI images. Pearson's correlation and mediation analyses were used to assess the relationships between BEN and ovarian hormones as well as BIS/BAS. Our results revealed a negative correlation between BEN and PROG in frontoparietal network (FPN), including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), as well as in the limbic network, encompassing the amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal cortex. In contrast, BEN showed a positive correlation with impulsivity traits measured by the BAS-drive subscale of BAS in the left DLPFC. Additionally, PROG was negatively correlated with impulsivity traits measured by BAS-drive. Results from mediation analysis demonstrated that PROG reduces impulsivity, as measured by BAS-drive, by decreasing BEN in the left DLPFC and subsequently increasing functional connectivity (FC) within this region. These findings provide the first evidence that BEN reflects the influence of PROG on brain function and behavior. Furthermore, they elucidate the neural mechanisms through which PROG modulates impulsivity traits measured by BAS-drive: PROG enhances the temporal coherence (decreased entropy) of neural activity in the left DLPFC, which in turn increases temporal synchronization (increased FC) within this region during resting-state, and then enhances executive control functions, thereby negatively regulating impulsivity. These findings provide new insights into our understanding of the effects of ovarian hormones on the brain and behavior in women.

To facilitate future research on self-regulation and related brain-behavior associations, we aimed to establish a psychometric model of self-regulation in the largest open neuroimaging dataset to date, the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD; https://abcdstudy.org/). Given the measures adopted in the ABCD study, we tested three theoretically defensible and applicable psychometric models of self-regulation. The dual-process theory provided the framework for postulating the models to be tested. This theory states that successful self-regulation occurs in case of a balanced state between bottom-up 'hot' and top-down 'cool' processes in favor of achieving goals. Based on the results, we recommend a measurement model with three correlated first-order factors: Hot, Cool and Executive Functions. The model successfully predicted academic achievement both at the time of self-regulation assessment and two years later, and its robustness across smaller samples was confirmed. Given its factorial and predictive validity, we recommend the adoption of the established model for future research on self-regulation and its neural correlates based on the ABCD dataset. Given the measures adopted in the ABCD study, a theoretically desirable bifactor model with a general self-regulation factor and nested Hot and Cool factors cannot be reliably established.

Aging is accompanied by changes in multiple cognitive domains, which can impact older adults' ability to maintain independence. The ability to manage one's personal finances is an activity of daily living most often studied in the context of Mild Cognitive Impairment and dementia. However, it is critical that we also understand the nature and sources of variation in financial capacity in cognitively unimpaired populations. This study aimed to establish meaningful individual differences in financial capacity in this population and to define those primary behavioral predictors of individual differences. Applying a partial least squares correlation approach, we found significant associations between financial capacity, as assessed by the Financial Capacity-Short Form, and a battery of neuropsychological and self-report measures in normal aging (r = .56, p < .001). Key predictors of financial capacity included fluid reasoning, crystallized intelligence, working memory updating, visual memory, and self-reported sleep duration (|rs| = 0.29-0.56, ps = 0.02- 0.001). These findings indicate that financial capacity is supported by multiple cognitive domains in aging. Further, associations with fluid reasoning and crystallized intelligence suggest some individuals may be more protected against clinically-relevant impairment in financial capacity through cognitive reserve mechanisms.

While research supports differentiating anorexia nervosa into binge-purge (AN-BP) vs. restricting (AN-R) subtypes, DSM-5-TR does not provide a specific threshold of binge and/or purge episodes that constitutes an AN-BP vs. AN-R diagnosis. Our review of the literature suggests that cutoffs used for defining AN subtypes are rarely reported and, when reported, are highly heterogeneous. Inconsistent subtyping protocols limit generalizability and understanding of AN-R and AN-BP differences.

The present study used structural equation modeling (SEM) trees to empirically determine the frequency of binge eating and/or purging that best differentiates AN subtypes. We then compared empirically determined groups on characteristics frequently found to differ between subtypes. Participants were 731 adolescents and adults with AN (94% female, Mage = 20, 72% clinically diagnosed with AN-R) in a partial hospitalization program who completed assessments of AN and comorbid symptoms at intake.

SEM tree analyses yielded four subgroups: past-month binge/purge frequency 0 (AN-R; n = 396); frequency 1-3 (AN-BP1; n = 101); frequency 4-15 (AN-BP2; n = 130); and frequency > 16 (AN-BP3; n = 98). AN-R differed from higher frequency groups on 14/22 clinical characteristics, AN-BP1 differed from higher frequency groups on 11/22 clinical characteristics, and AN-BP2 differed from higher frequency groups on 2/22 clinical characteristics.

Findings suggest that one binge eating and/or purge episode in the past month provides adequate distinction between subtypes. These findings indicate that the DSM's definition of AN-BP may need to be revised to specify that the presence of any binge eating or purging, rather than "recurrent" binge eating or purging, is sufficient for subtyping AN.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a significant global mental health issue. However, whether the deficit in value-based decision-making processing is the consistently key mechanisms of NSSI across studies with heterogeneous decision-making tasks remains uncertain. Hence, we reviewed literature on value-based decision-making and its moderating factors in NSSI, and then conducted a meta-analysis on studies in NSSI, specifically with Iowa Gambling Task. In total, 31 studies with 8417 participants aged from 8 to 50 were included in the systematic review of and 8 studies with 657 participants aged from 10 to 37 included in the meta-analysis. We found consistent impairments in value-based decision-making processing among individuals who engage in NSSI. Importantly, age is a significant moderator, with adolescents with NSSI performance worse, exhibiting increased reward sensitivity and preference for immediate rewards compared to other age groups. These results suggest the important role of value-based decision making in NSSI behaviors, especially during the development of adolescents. Our work provides new insights and integrative evidence for decision-making based prevention and intervention of NSSI.

A central feature of internalizing mental disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders, is the avoidance of rewarding situations to prevent the risk of experiencing distressing emotions. Previous research has shown that obsessive and anxious individuals avoid situations where rewards come at the cost of aversive experiences, a phenomenon termed costly avoidance. Costly avoidance has not previously been examined in clinical samples of youths with OCD or anxiety disorders, which is an important gap as these disorders typically onset during the first two decades of life. In this study, treatment-seeking youths with OCD (n = 62) and anxiety disorders (n = 43), and a comparison group of youths without mental disorders (n = 47) performed an approach-avoidance conflict task. Participants selected to face either neutral outcomes or to obtain rewards that co-occurred with aversive images and sounds. Results showed more costly avoidance in the OCD and anxiety disorder groups compared to the non-clinical comparison group, but no differences between the two clinical groups emerged. Trait reward sensitivity and subjective negative emotional reactions to aversive sounds and images were the best individual predictors of costly avoidance. The results of our study show that youths with OCD and anxiety disorders display elevated levels of costly avoidance, which is in line with clinical theories and previous findings in adults with anxiety disorders. We also show that these elevated levels of costly avoidance are best explained by individual differences in reward sensitivity and emotional reactivity, suggesting that sensitivity to appetitive and aversive outcomes might underlie differences in maladaptive costly avoidance.

Metaverse virtual reality (VR) technology offers an environment that provides a sense of presence that cannot be achieved through traditional online interactions. Although this technology is used in education and industry, challenges remain to be overcome for further penetration into society. In this study, we conducted an experiment using a risk preference task in blue and red spaces to verify color impressions and their effects in VR environments. Consistent with previous studies, high calmness was observed in the blue space. However, contrary to expectations, the risk preference task results showed risk-averse behavior in red space but not in blue space. Therefore, conventional color psychology may not be applicable to constructing the same space in a virtual environment. Previous studies have shown consistent experimental results regarding emotional responses to color stimuli; however, no consistent outcomes have been reported regarding cognitive performance. This is because the effect of color impressions is thought to depend not only on the color itself but also on what is recalled. The results of this study suggest that red in a VR environment may be interpreted as a warning color, preventing people from losing focus.

Hypnotizability-related differences in interoception may be relevant to emotion regulation. The present study examined the relationships between hypnotizability, interoceptive sensibility (IS) and interoceptive accuracy (IA), and the use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. One hundred and two healthy volunteers, assessed for hypnotizability, completed questionnaires assessing absorption, state anxiety, IS and emotion regulation. A portion of them (N = 62) participated in the heartbeat counting task, measuring IA. IS was positively associated with hypnotizability and cognitive reappraisal and negatively associated with expressive suppression. IA was negatively associated with hypnotizability and cognitive reappraisal and showed no relationship with expressive suppression. Mediation analysis revealed that hypnotizability indirectly positively predicted cognitive reappraisal through both IS and IA. Participants with high and low hypnotizability were more likely to use expressive suppression than participants with medium hypnotizability. Results support the role of interoception and hypnotizability in emotion regulation and may guide new clinical approaches.

In response to Cannon's widely accepted fight-or-flight system, Taylor et al. proposed the tend-and-befriend hypothesis to better capture variance in women's stress response behaviors. The Tend-and-Befriend Questionnaire (TBQ) measures self-reported individual differences in the use of fight, flight, tend, and befriend. Several studies have used this scale to evaluate sex differences in these behaviors, yet it has not yet been rigorously evaluated. Using three samples (N = 1094), we first explore the factor structure of the TBQ to produce and validate a revised measure, the TBQ-Short Form (TBQ-SF). Next, we evaluate the claim that women use tend-and-befriend more than men. Results indicated that the TBQ-SF provided both reliable subscales and largely acceptable model fit, yet the factor structure and validity varied across the three samples. While men do report more fighting than women, both men and women report use tending and befriending more than fighting or fleeing. Finally, other variables-namely attachment-capture more variance in TBQ-SF factors than sex. While the TBQ-SF does capture differences in stress reactions (fight, flight, tend/befriend), we suggest that the scale is most reliable in measuring overall stress reactivity. Therefore, future research should aim to construct a better scale specific to tend-and-befriend using alternative methodologies.

Major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia involve disruptions in processing rewarding stimuli. In this review, we propose that distinct mechanistic pathways underlie these disruptions in mood disorders versus schizophrenia, and we highlight the importance of understanding these differences for developing personalized treatments. We summarize evidence suggesting that reward processing abnormalities in mood disorders are driven by dysregulated motivational systems; MDD is characterized by blunted responses to reward cues, and bipolar disorder is characterized by heightened responses. In contrast, we argue that reward processing disruptions in schizophrenia do not reflect abnormalities in motivation or hedonic experience; rather, they reflect impairments in the cognitive representation of past and future rewards as well as misdirected attention to irrelevant stimuli. To integrate these findings, we present a neurodevelopmental framework for the onset of mood and psychotic disorders and explore how disruptions in normative brain development contribute to their pathophysiology, timing, and onset. Additionally, we move beyond viewing these conditions as homogeneous disorders and discuss how reward processing profiles may align with specific symptom dimensions.

While attentional processing of reward may be altered in chronic pain, the neural circuits underlying these alterations, and impact from opioid use have remained unclear. To investigate the neural representation of attentional processing in chronic pain, we collected brain fMRI data from patients (fibromyalgia; taking vs. not taking opioids) vs. pain-free controls during performance of a reward task. We selected the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and lateral occipital cortex (LOC) as attention-relevant regions of interest. While IFG and LOC responses were not significantly different across groups, we observed decreased IFG response during reward anticipation in patients (uncorrected, p = 0.05). When evaluating LOC-IFG functional connectivity, vs. controls, we observed significantly reduced LOC-IFG connectivity in patients (p-FDR corrected = 0.026), driven by reduced connectivity in non-opioid patients. Further in non-opioid patients, we observed that the relationship between LOC-IFG connectivity and task performance was moderated by pain duration (post-hoc moderation analysis, p = 0.031), indicating cumulative influences of pain duration on attentional processing behavior/circuits. As suggested by our results, attentional processing of reward is altered in fibromyalgia within LOC-IFG brain circuits, possibly to a lesser degree in patients who take opioids, and with potential cumulative effects of longer pain duration.

The Emo-FilM dataset stands for Emotion research using Films and fMRI in healthy participants. This dataset includes emotion annotations by 44 raters for 14 short films with a combined duration of over 2½ hours and recordings of respiration, heart rate, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from a sample of 30 individuals watching the same films. 50 items were annotated including discrete emotions and emotion components from the domains of appraisal, motivation, motor expression, physiological response, and feeling. The ratings had a mean inter-rater agreement of 0.38. The fMRI data acquired at 3 Tesla is includes high-resolution structural and resting state fMRI for each participant. Physiological recordings included heart rate, respiration, and electrodermal activity. This dataset is designed, but not limited, to studying the dynamic neural processes involved in emotion experience. It has a high temporal resolution of annotations, and includes validations of annotations by the fMRI sample. The Emo-FilM dataset is a treasure trove for researching emotion in response to naturalistic stimulation in a multimodal framework.

Behavioral activation (BA) traits mediate responses to positive reinforcement, and then to promote reward-seeking actions. However, few studies have investigated the neurobiological profiles of BA traits in adolescents based on multimodal neuroimaging and machine learning techniques. In this study, a total of 6626 adolescents with both valid multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and questionnaire data were included in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Machine learning-based elastic net regression with 5-fold cross-validation (CV) was used to characterize the neurobiological profiles of BA traits using multimodal MRI data as predictors. Using 5-fold CV, the multi-region neurobiological profiles substantively predicted BA traits, and this finding was robust in an out-of-sample. Regarding specific regions, neurobiological profiles were enriched in the bilateral pallidum. Regarding functional networks, functional connectivity of the cingulo-opercular and the fronto-parietal networks with both the pallidum and nucleus accumbens, showed high beta weights. The relationships of the neurobiological profiles with BA traits were further supported by traditional univariate linear mixed effects models, in which many of the profiles identified as part of the neurobiological pattern showed significant univariate associations with BA traits, including the hub region pallidum. In summary, these findings revealed robust machine learning-derived neurobiological profiles of BA traits, those that comprised a key node the pallidum, which is involved in the motivational brain network. These findings suggested that the pallidum might play a vital role in developing BA traits in adolescents.

While virtual reality exposure (VRE) has shown effectiveness in treating social anxiety in adults, research on its efficacy for adolescents remains limited. Given that adolescence is a critical period for early intervention, this study aims to address this gap by evaluating the efficacy and acceptability of VRE compared to in vivo exposure (IVE) in a non-referred sample of socially anxious adolescents. Additionally, we seek to identify mechanisms of change-such as expectancy violation, habituation, and self-efficacy-as well as predictors of treatment response, including clinical, personality, and VR-related factors. Using a randomized controlled trial (RCT), 120 adolescents (ages 12-16) with subclinical to moderate social anxiety will be assigned to one of three conditions: VRE, IVE, or a waitlist control (WL). Participants in the active conditions will undergo a seven-session exposure-based intervention (either in VR or in vivo). Primary (SPAI-18, LSAS-avoidance) and secondary (SPWSS) measures of social anxiety, along with general well-being indicators (e.g., resilience, depression, psychosocial functioning), will be assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month follow-ups. A series of linear mixed model (LMM) analyses will be used to examine and compare the effects of the interventions. We hypothesize that both VRE and IVE will significantly reduce social anxiety symptoms compared to WL at post-assessment, with comparable long-term efficacy between the two exposure methods. Additionally, thematic analyses will be conducted to explore participants' experiences and acceptance of VRE and IVE through qualitative interviews. The findings of this study aim to advance digital mental health research by evaluating the potential of VRE as an early intervention and identifying mechanisms and predictors to inform personalized treatments for socially anxious youth.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov: NCT06379633, registered on April, 23, 2024.

Prior experiences, conditioning cues, and expectations of improvement are essential for nocebo hyperalgesia expression. The neural circuits that communicate with brainstem pain modulatory nuclei during nocebo hyperalgesia responsivity are underexplored. In this study, we employed a classical conditioning and expectation model in 25 healthy human participants and measured brain activity using ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging. We assessed forebrain activity changes as well as noxious stimulus-independent and -dependent connectivity changes with the lateral midbrain periaqueductal gray matter (lPAG). We found hyperalgesia-related signal increases in the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and amygdala. In addition, we found stimulus-dependent lPAG connectivity changes with the orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and stimulus-independent lPAG connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens during hyperalgesia. Whilst these connectivity changes are all associated with hyperalgesia, dynamic causal modelling analysis revealed that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was principally responsible for driving the lPAG. Overall, our results show that there is a complex relationship between forebrain activation and connectivity with brainstem pain modulation circuitry that results in the behavioural expression of nocebo hyperalgesia.

Impulsivity is consistently linked to various problematic behaviors, including aggression, substance abuse, pathological gambling, risky driving, and numerous psychopathological disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and personality disorders. This study aims to investigate the relationship between self-reported impulsivity, measured by the Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scales, and emotional states (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral), in the context of time estimation deviations. A time estimation task was administered to 129 adult participants (88 females) from the community to assess this deviation. The findings reveal that participants underestimated time across all emotional conditions, enhancing our understanding of how impulsivity relates to time perception. Therefore, it is crucial to continue neuropsychophysiological research on impulsivity to explore its causes, manifestations, and connections with other aspects of cognitive and affective functioning. This research will lead to a more precise definition and comprehensive understanding of impulsive behavior.

Computational neuroscience offers a valuable opportunity to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behavior. However, interpreting individual differences in these mechanisms, such as developmental differences, is less straightforward. We illustrate this challenge through studies that examine individual differences in reinforcement learning. In these studies, a computational model generates an individual-specific prediction error regressor to model activity in a brain region of interest. Individual differences in the resulting regression weight are typically interpreted as individual differences in neural coding. We first demonstrate that the absence of individual differences in neural coding is not problematic, as such differences are already captured in the individual specific regressor. We then review that the presence of individual differences is typically interpreted as individual differences in the use of brain resources. However, through simulations, we illustrate that these differences could also stem from other factors such as the standardization of the prediction error, individual differences in brain networks outside the region of interest, individual differences in the duration of the prediction error response, individual differences in outcome valuation, and in overlooked individual differences in computational model parameters or the type of computational model. To clarify these interpretations, we provide several recommendations. In this manner we aim to advance the understanding and interpretation of individual differences in computational neuroscience.

Diminished sleep health is a known warning sign for suicide. However, the contexts and time periods within which diminished sleep elevates suicide risk are unknown. Modeling the complex process by which diminished sleep health impacts daily functioning and establishing proximal suicide risk factors can aid in addressing these important knowledge gaps. This paper describes the methods and research protocol for a study that aims to elucidate the nature of the sleep-suicide relationship and develop an integrated model of proximal suicide risk. Participants will be 200 adults at high risk for suicide recruited from a psychiatric inpatient unit. They will complete a baseline assessment including clinical interviews and self-reports, and laboratory tasks with concurrent electroencephalography to phenotype-relevant risk processes. This baseline assessment will be followed by 4 weeks of ecological momentary assessment and digital phenotyping, coupled with assessments of sleep via a wearable used to generate a minute-by-minute metric of cognitive effectiveness using the Sleep Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness algorithm index. Follow-up assessments will be conducted 1-, 3-, and 6-months post-hospital discharge to determine how the developed proximal model of risk prospectively predicts suicidal ideation and behavior. The results of this study have the potential to greatly enhance understanding of how and why diminished sleep health is related to real-world fluctuations in suicide risk, knowledge that can inform efforts to better prevent, and intervene to reduce suicides.

Pain negatively affects several cognitive abilities, but knowledge about its effect on reinforcement learning (RL) is limited. During RL, instrumental choices can be influenced by heuristic tendencies to approach rewards or inhibit actions when facing potentially aversive events, introducing "Pavlovian bias" in behavior. Recent studies suggest that compromised outcome controllability enhances Pavlovian bias, a phenomenon that may be linked to suboptimal decision-making in learned helplessness (LH). Since LH is common in chronic pain syndromes, this study sought to establish a link between experimental heat pain (EHP), disrupted reward/loss contingencies, and RL performance in healthy adults. In addition, we investigated if intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) above the medial prefrontal/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (mPFC/dACC) alleviates the deleterious effects of EHP on choice behavior. In a preregistered, 2 × 2 between-group, double-blind study (N = 100), healthy adult participants underwent three blocks of an orthogonalized Go/NoGo task with two interleaved bouts of active or sham iTBS, and either EHP or warm skin stimulation combined with manipulated response-outcome contingency during the task. Although EHP did not impact response accuracy, it invigorated actions for rewards, reflecting enhanced Pavlovian bias. Whereas two bouts of iTBS attenuated Pavlovian tendencies, this effect was counteracted by EHP, indicating antagonistic effects of pain and iTBS-modulated mPFC activity on Pavlovian-instrumental interactions. Surprisingly, EHP and iTBS exerted largely similar effects on other latent parameters of RL (go-bias, learning rate, and exploration) in a manner that resembled LH. These findings shed light on the role of experimental pain and mPFC/dACC activity in LH-like choice behavior.

The prevalence of mobile gaming addiction (MGA) has risen as a result of technical advancements that have made it more portable and handier. Emotional distress and a decline in inhibitions might worsen addictions. The study sought to examine the physiological and neuropsychological indicators of MGA.

Following the examination of the online activities of 1774 students in their first year, we recruited 13 participants with MGA and 27 controls, utilizing the internet gaming disorder test (IGDT) and problematic mobile gaming questionnaire (PMGQ). They filled daily executive function scale (DEFS), brief symptom rating scale-50 (BSRS-50), and behavior inhibition/activation scale (BIS/BAS). The Iowa gambling task (IGT-2), Stroop color-word test (SCWT), and the digit-span of the Wechsler intelligence scale were administered. The Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was measured at baseline, playing mobile games, and recovery condition. The independent t-test and repeated-measures ANOVA were used for analysis.

There were similar demographics between groups. The MGAs exhibited reduced inhibitions in SCWT, decreased DEFS, less total money in IGT-2, and elevated distress in BSRS. Both groups showed decreased SDNN, very low frequency, and total power during gameplay. However, the F-test indicated interaction effects of the proportion of NN50 divided by total number of NNs and high-frequency during gameplay, indicating an elevated state for MGAs than controls.

MGAs exhibit lower executive function, inhibition, and increased negative mood. The MGAs decreased in HRV during gaming, suggesting potential connections to impaired inhibitory control and stress-related responses. Further study is needed to clarify the mechanisms that contribute to MGA and differentiate it from broader frameworks of internet addiction.

It is an open question how prevented events are represented in the human cognitive system-are they represented like produced events or are they represented in a different format? Here, we propose that seemingly contradictory observations on this question can be unified by assuming different time courses for production and prevention actions. Evidence from two experiments in the anticipatory saccades paradigm supported this model. Specifically, our results suggest that prevented events might be represented like produced events during action selection and execution, whereas their representation dissolves rapidly during action monitoring. In other words, the representation of prevented events reflects a two-step process: An initial affirmative representation is followed by later negation. Preregistrations, data, and analysis scripts for all experiments are available online ( https://osf.io/m3veh/ ).

The identification of relationships between individual differences in functional connectivity (FC) and behavior has been the focus of considerable investigation. Although emerging evidence has identified relationships between FC and cognitive performance, relationships between FC and measures of affect, including depressed mood, anhedonia, and anxiety, and decision-making style, including impulsivity and sensation seeking, appear to be more inconsistent across the literature. This may be due to low power, methodological differences across studies, including the use of global signal correction (GSR), or uncontrolled characteristics of the population.

Here, we evaluated measures of FC, regional variance, and global signal (GS) across six functional MRI (fMRI) sequences of different tasks and resting states and their relationship with individual differences in self-reported measures of symptoms of depression, anxiety, impulsivity, reward sensitivity, and sensation seeking, as well as demographic variables and acquisition order, within groups of distressed and healthy young adults (18-25 years old).

Adopting a training/testing sample structure to the analysis, we found no evidence of reproducible brain/behavior relationships despite identifying regions and connections that reflect reliable between-scan individual differences. However, summary measures of the GS were reproducibly associated with sex: The most consistent finding was an increase in low frequency variance of the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal from all gray matter regions in males relative to females. Post hoc analysis of GS topography yielded sex differences in a number of regions, including cerebellum and putamen. In addition, effects of paradigm acquisition order were observed on GS measures, including an increase in BOLD signal variance across time. In an exploratory analysis, a specific relationship between sex and relative high-frequency within-scanner motion was observed.

Together, the findings suggest that FC relationships with affective measures may be inconsistent or modest, but that global phenomena related to state and individual differences can be robust and must be evaluated, particularly in studies of psychiatric disorders such as mood disorders or ADHD, which show sex differences.

Humans engage with music for various reasons that range from emotional regulation and relaxation to social bonding. While there are large inter-individual differences in how much humans enjoy music, little is known about the origins of those differences. Here, we disentangle the genetic factors underlying such variation. We collect data on several facets of music reward sensitivity, as measured by the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire, plus music perceptual abilities and general reward sensitivity from a large sample of Swedish twins (N = 9169; 2305 complete pairs). We estimate that genetic effects contribute up to 54% of the variability in music reward sensitivity, with 70% of these effects being independent of music perceptual abilities and general reward sensitivity. Furthermore, multivariate analyses show that genetic and environmental influences on the different facets of music reward sensitivity are partly distinct, uncovering distinct pathways to music enjoyment and different patterns of genetic associations with objectively assessed music perceptual abilities. These results paint a complex picture in which partially distinct sources of variation contribute to different aspects of musical enjoyment.

thinking and concrete thinking shape how we interpret and interact with the world. One of the most influential approaches to abstract and concrete construals is Construal Level Theory, which has primarily taken a situational approach to studying construal level. The current research develops the General Construal Questionnaire to measure individuals' general tendencies toward abstract and concrete thinking, opening possibilities for new research that extends past the focus on situational construal. Distinguishing abstract and concrete construals as distinct factors reveals that they have unique effects. Abstract construal correlates with extraversion, openness to experience, a focus on the future, promotion, and desirability, a preference for cognition, tolerance for uncertainty, and a tendency to perceive similarities, stereotype, and evaluate. Concrete construal correlates with conscientiousness, a focus on the present, prevention, and feasibility, a preference for certainty and perfectionism, and a tendency to perceive differences and make daily progress.

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a widely used tool for assessing decision-making in clinical populations. In each trial of the task, participants freely select from different playing card decks that vary in the magnitude and frequency of rewards and punishments. Good decks offer relatively smaller rewards on each trial yielding greater overall winnings while bad decks result in a net loss over time as high penalties negate any rewards earned. Comparing participants' rate of selecting good to bad decks can provide insight into learning in uncertain conditions across time. However, inconsistent patterns of deficits and learning within clinical and control populations are often observed in the task (eg., in depression). Thus, a clearer mechanistic understanding of the IGT is needed to fully understand the decision-making process. The goal of the current review is to synthesize the predominant empirical and theoretical literature of the IGT using event-related potentials (ERPs) derived from electroencephalogram (EEG). The review then explores how modifications of the IGT allow for event-related potentials to be captured at each stage of decision-making. Lastly, the review discusses how the modified version with ERPs can be further applied to directly assess the impact of emotion processing on decision-making, using findings from depression research as an example.

Previous studies have reported automatic approach-avoidance tendencies toward various stimuli, such as words, facial expressions, and images in the appetitive or aversive valence domain. This work investigates whether self-relevant evaluative feedback affects these behavioral tendencies using a touchscreen-based approach and avoidance task, in which participants responded to two-colored fish icons either by pulling toward or by pushing away from themselves. Evaluative feedback on participants' personality traits, provided by the fish, served as a task-irrelevant feature. A pronounced valence-congruence effect for positive feedback relative to negative feedback was observed. Interestingly, higher social desirability ratings of social feedback were associated with faster reaction times for approach trials and slower reaction times for avoidance trials. Personality traits were linked to approach tendencies: higher fear of negative evaluation scores predicted a slower approach for both positive and negative feedback compared to neutral feedback. This study demonstrates automatic approach and avoidance tendencies toward self-relevant social feedback, indicating a behavioral predisposition that may be automatically triggered by such feedback. Additionally, this study lays the groundwork for developing touchscreen-based approach-avoidance tasks for measuring individual differences in sensitivity to social feedback and the strength of behavioral predispositions.

Impulsivity, cognitive arousal, and sleep quality are critical factors affecting college students' well-being and academic performance. While impulsivity negatively influences sleep quality, the mediating role of cognitive arousal remains underexplored. The present study assesses how impulsivity affects sleep quality through cognitive arousal. Specifically, it explores whether impulsive behavior heightens cognitive arousal, leading to impaired sleep quality, and whether these relationships hold over time. A longitudinal design was employed, collecting data from 521 college students across three waves over an academic year. Standardized questionnaires were administered to measure impulsivity, cognitive arousal, and sleep quality at each wave. Structural equation modeling and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were utilized to analyze the associations, assessing both the direct effects and the mediating role of cognitive arousal over time. Impulsivity significantly predicted increased cognitive arousal over time, which in turn negatively affected sleep quality. Cognitive arousal was confirmed as a significant mediator in the relationship between impulsivity and sleep quality. These relationships remained consistent across the three-time points, with significant direct effects of impulsivity on cognitive arousal and cognitive arousal on sleep quality. Interventions to reduce cognitive arousal and impulsivity-related behaviors could improve sleep quality among college students. Future research should explore additional environmental and psychological factors influencing these relationships.

Background/Objectives: In many societies, especially in highly masculine societies like Japan, being a man, getting older, engaging in knowledge work, and earning a high annual salary are seen as conditions for success. On the other hand, an increasing number of studies have shown that incorporating kawaii-ness into our lives can help maintain and improve happiness and well-being. Methods: Therefore, in this study, we employed a variable expressing the response to kawaii-ness together with four demographic variables (sex, age, income, and knowledge work), happiness, and fractional anisotropy brain healthcare quotient (FA-BHQ) which is derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images calculations to analyze the relationship between them. Results: The results of a path analysis using data obtained from 182 healthy men and women showed that kawaii-ness mediates the association between demographic variables and happiness, which is in turn associated with FA-BHQ. Furthermore, with the correlation analysis between happiness and individual FA regions, we were able to confirm that FA regions, including the limbic-thalamo-cortical pathway, which is responsible for emotional regulation, are related to happiness. Conclusions: These results indicate the following: Men, older people, people engaged in knowledge work, and people with high annual incomes avoid kawaii-ness; As a result, they are unable to obtain the sense of happiness that they should have; as a result, they are unable to keep their brains healthy, and their brain functions, including emotional regulation, are not functioning properly; This may prevent them from maintaining or improving their performance. This study is the first attempt to clarify the relationship between demographic scales, kawaii-ness, happiness, and brain conditions.

Cognitive flexibility, the brain's ability to adjust to changes in the environment, is a critical component of executive functioning. Previous literature shows a robust relationship between reward dynamics and flexibility: flexibility is highest when reward changes, while flexibility decreases when reward remains stable. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of uncertain reward in a voluntary task switching paradigm on behavior, pupillometry, and eye gaze. We used pupil dilation as a neuropsychological correlate of arousal and accumulated fixations on a region (i.e. dwell time) to measure oculomotor attention capture. Results during the cue phase showed that pupil dilation under a deterministic, but not a stochastic reinforcement schedule tracked arousal from the magnitude of reward. In addition, dwell time was increased for the eventual choice and dwell-time was reduced under high reward. Taken together, results show that arousal and attentional capture by reward depends to some extent on reward certainty. Turning to reward outcome, pupil dilation was highest (and average dwell time was lowest) following Error feedback compared to correct rewarded feedback. Overall results show that uncertain reward cues may alter pupil-linked arousal and attention as compared to certain reward, highlighting the role of uncertainty as an important modulator affecting attention and reward processing in environments that demand cognitive flexibility.

Individuals avoid spending cognitive effort unless expected rewards offset the perceived costs. Recent work employing tasks that provide explicit information about demands and incentives suggests causal involvement of the frontopolar cortex (FPC) in effort-based decision-making. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), we examined whether the FPC's role in motivating effort generalizes to sequential choice problems in which task demand and reward rates vary indirectly and as a function of experience. In a double-blind, within-subject design, 46 participants (36 female, 8 male, 1 "neither/other") received anodal (i.e., excitatory) or sham stimulation over the right FPC during an Effort Foraging Task, which required choosing between harvesting patches for successively decreasing resources or traveling to replenished patches by performing a cognitive task with environment-specific difficulty. As expected, participants exited patches later (i.e., exhibited lower exit thresholds) when traveling required greater (versus less) effort, indicating increased travel costs in high-effort environments. Under anodal tDCS, the difference in exit thresholds between environments was significantly smaller relative to sham. Finally, individual differences analyses hint that participants with lower self-reported motivation to exert effort exhibited greater travel cost reductions following tDCS. Together, these findings support the theorized causal role of the FPC in motivating cognitively effortful behavior, expand its role to more ecologically valid serial decisions, and highlight the potential for tDCS as a tool to increase motivation with potential clinical applications.

Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide pivotal in social and reproductive behaviors, has recently gained attention for its potential impact on cognitive processes relevant to creativity. Yet, the direct intricate interplay between OT and creativity, particularly in the context of individual differences in motivational orientations, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of intranasal OT on creative thinking in individuals characterized by varying levels of approach and avoidance motivations. The initial study, involving participants with high approach or avoidance motivation, employed the Alternative Uses Task to assess creativity under OT administration. Subsequently, the second study induced different motivational states through a recall task, aiming to validate and extend observed effects. Results revealed a significant enhancement of creativity in individuals with approach motivation following OT administration, while no parallel effect was discerned in those with avoidance motivation. Aligning with behavioral findings, functional connectivity and graph theory analyses of neural data illuminated the coordinated effects of OT on creativity-related neural networks. These outcomes collectively suggest that OT exerts a dissociable influence on creativity contingent upon an individual's motivational tendencies, providing insights into the intricate relationship between OT and human creative behavior.

Two event-related brain potential (ERP) components, the frontocentral feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the posterior P300, are key in feedback processing. The FRN typically exhibits greater amplitude in response to negative and unexpected outcomes, whereas the P300 is generally more pronounced for positive outcomes. In an influential ERP study, Hajcak et al., (2005) manipulated outcome valence and expectancy in a guessing task. They found the FRN was larger for negative outcomes regardless of expectancy, and the P300 larger for unexpected outcomes regardless of valence. These findings challenged the dominant Reinforcement Learning Theory of the ERN. We aimed to replicate these results within the #EEGManyLabs project (Pavlov et al., 2021) across thirteen labs. Our replication, including robustness tests, a PCA and Bayesian models, found that both FRN and P300 were significantly modulated by outcome valence and expectancy: FRN amplitudes (no-reward - reward) were largest for unexpected outcomes, and P300 amplitudes were largest for reward outcomes. These results were consistent across different methods and analyses. Although our findings only partially replicate the original study, they underscore the complexity of feedback processing and demonstrate how aspects of Reinforcement Learning Theory may apply to the P300 component, reinforcing the need for rigorous ERP research methodologies.

Depression and pain co-occur, even during adolescence. However, there is limited knowledge on the association between pain and lifetime depression, and which biopsychosocial measures are associated with this co-occurrence.

Cross-sectional analysis of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) two-year follow-up. We explored associations between the presence and characteristics of past month pain (intensity, duration, activity limitations, and number of pain sites) and lifetime depression using logistic regression. We explored associations of brain structure, physical, behavioural, emotional, social, and cognitive measures with lifetime depression and past month pain compared to having had one or neither condition using multinomial logistic regression.

A total of 5211 adolescents (mean age = 12.0 years) who had: (1) no lifetime mental ill-health and no pain (n = 3327); (2) pain only (n = 1407); (3) lifetime depressive disorder but no pain (n = 272); and (4) lifetime depressive disorder and pain (n = 205) were included. Pain presence was associated with lifetime depression (OR[95%CI]: 1.76 [1.45, 2.13], p < 0.001). Pain-related activity limitations (1.13 [1.06, 1.21], p < 0.001) and the number of pain sites (1.06 [1.02, 1.09], p < 0.001) were associated with lifetime depression. Various behavioural, emotional, social, and cognitive, but not brain structure or physical measures, were associated with lifetime depression and past month pain.

Longitudinal analyses should validate prognostic markers for predicting co-occurring depression and pain.

Results support an association between the presence and characteristics of pain and lifetime depression during adolescence and could indicate the need for more integrated recognition and clinical care of youth experiencing both depression and pain.

Considerable research has mapped the human brain networks implicated in anxiety. Yet, less is known about the intrinsic features of the brain implicated in adolescent anxiety and their generalizability to affective and behavioral problems. To this end, we investigated the intrinsic functional connectomes associated with anxiety, their associations with behavioral phenotypes of clinical interest, and the cross-syndrome overlap between the anxiety network and other affective syndromes in an adolescent sample.

We used the Boston Adolescent Neuroimaging of Depression and Anxiety (BANDA) dataset which comprises 203 clinical and healthy adolescents aged 14-17. Participants underwent a resting-state magnetic resonance imaging scan and completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Behavioral Inhibition/Activation System scale. Using network-based statistics, we identified functional networks associated with anxiety and other behavioral syndromes. The anxiety network strengths were then correlated with behavioral measures.

A significant resting-state functional network associated with anxiety was identified, largely characterized by hyperconnectivity between the somatomotor and both the default mode network and subcortical regions. Network strengths derived from the anxiety network were significantly correlated to various behavioral syndromes, including internalizing and externalizing tendencies. Cross-syndrome overlapping edges were also observed in networks of internalizing disorders, more prominently post-traumatic stress syndromes.

Our results revealed the functional connectomes characteristic of anxiety in adolescents. This resting-state functional network was also predictive of and shared similar features with behavioral syndromes typically associated with anxiety-related disorders, providing evidence that the high comorbidity of anxiety with other clinical conditions may have a neurobiological basis.

Identification of specific patterns of brain activity related to problem gambling may provide a deeper understanding of its underlying mechanisms, highlighting the importance of neurophysiological studies to better understand development and persistence of gambling behavior. The patterns of cognitive functioning have been investigated through electroencephalography (EEG) studies based on the near-win/near-miss (NW) effect. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the neurophysiological basis of NWs and their modulation by gambling problems through a systematic review of event-related potentials (ERP) studies elicited by feedback events. The review followed the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA). A total of 15 studies were included, 12 comprising non-problem gamblers (NPGs) and three comparing problem gamblers (PGs) with matched controls. For the P300 component, the win outcome elicited a larger amplitude than the other outcomes (NW and loss), followed by the NW outcome, which elicited a larger amplitude than loss in some studies. For feedback-related negativity (FRN), the loss outcome evoked a more negative amplitude in several studies, despite eliciting a similar amplitude to NW outcomes in others. For PGs, the NW outcome evoked a higher amplitude of P300 than loss, while NPGs showed a similar amplitude to both outcomes. The present review gathered information from different sources and provides a consistent view of the different studies. However, studies lack systematic and robust methodologies, leading to inconsistent results and making it difficult to reach any definitive conclusions.