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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News Daily Digest (Unofficial)</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/plastics-and-autism-study-highlights-bpas-potential-impact-on-boys-brain-development/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Plastics and autism: Study highlights BPA’s potential impact on boys’ brain development</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 23rd 2024, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48897-8">study</a> out recently has prompted much <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/pregnancy/bpa-plastic-in-womb-linked-to-autism-worldfirst-study-finds/news-story/a06f7b2981e8f23e29d35a0871ef9886">media attention</a> about the role of plastics in developing autism.</p>
<p>In particular, the study focused on exposure to a component of hard plastics – bisphenol A, or BPA – in the womb and the risk of boys developing this neurodevelopmental disorder.</p>
<p>Importantly, the study doesn’t show plastics containing BPA <em>cause</em> autism.</p>
<p>But it suggests BPA might play a role in oestrogen levels in infant and school-aged boys, which can then affect their chance of being diagnosed with autism.</p>
<p>Let’s tease out the details.</p>
<h2>Remind me, what is BPA?</h2>
<p>BPA is a component of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-bpa-and-why-is-it-in-so-many-plastic-products-185272">hard plastics</a> that has been used for a few decades. Because BPA is found in plastics used for food and some drink containers, many people are exposed to low levels of BPA every day.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-myths/does-using-plastic-bottles-and-containers-cause-cancer">concerns</a> about how BPA impacts <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-for-bpa-and-obesity-not-so-fast-62608">our health</a> have been around for some time because it can also weakly mimic the effects of the hormone oestrogen in our body.</p>
<p>Even though this action is weak, there are worries about health because we are exposed to low levels across our lifetime. Some countries have <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/food-packaging-other-substances-come-contact-food-information-consumers/bisphenol-bpa-use-food-contact-application">banned BPA in baby bottles</a>, as a precaution; Australia is <a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/chemicals/bpa">voluntarily phasing it out</a> in baby bottles.</p>
<h2>What is autism and what causes it?</h2>
<p>Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed based on difficulties with social communication and repetitive and/or restrictive behaviours.</p>
<p>People with autism may experience other issues, such as seizures, changes in motor function (for example, difficulties with fine motor coordination, such as holding a pencil or turning a key to open a door), anxiety, sensory issues, sleeping problems as well as gut upsets.</p>
<p>There’s a <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-deficits-to-a-spectrum-thinking-around-autism-has-changed-now-there-are-calls-for-a-profound-autism-diagnosis-194049">broad range</a> of the intensity of these symptoms, so people with autism experience daily life in vastly different ways.</p>
<p>So far most studies have described autistic people who are able to interact very well in the community, and in fact may demonstrate outstanding skills in certain areas. But there’s a big gap in our knowledge around the large number of profoundly autistic people, who require 24-hour care.</p>
<p>There is a strong influence of <a href="https://gene.sfari.org">genetics in autism</a> with more than 1,000 genes associated with it. But we don’t know what causes autism in most cases. There are a few reasons for this.</p>
<p>It is not standard practice to undertake detailed gene sequencing for children with autism. Although there are clearly some <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12669065/">individual genes</a> responsible for certain types of autism, more often autism may result from the complex interaction of many genes which is very difficult to detect, even in large scale studies.</p>
<p>Environmental factors can also contribute to developing autism. For example, some <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309359">antiseizure medications</a> are no longer prescribed for pregnant women due to the increased risk of their children developing neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism.</p>
<p>This latest study looks at another possible environmental factor: being exposed to BPA in the womb. There were several parts to the research, including studies with humans and mice.</p>
<h2>What did they find in humans?</h2>
<p>The researchers looked at a group (or cohort) of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25829362/">1,074 Australian children</a>; roughly half were boys. They found 43 children (29 boys and 14 girls) had an autism diagnosis by age seven to 11 (average age nine years).</p>
<p>They collected urine from 847 mothers late in their pregnancy and measured the amount of BPA. They then focused their analysis on samples with the highest levels of BPA.</p>
<p>They also measured gene changes by analysing blood from the umbilical cord at birth. This was to check aromatase enzyme activity, which is associated with oestrogen levels. Children with gene changes that might indicate lower levels of oestrogens were classified as having “low aromatase activity”.</p>
<p>The team found a link between high maternal BPA levels and a greater risk of autism in boys with low aromatase activity.</p>
<p>In the final analysis, the researchers said there were too few girls with an autism diagnosis plus low aromatase levels to analyse. So their conclusions were limited to boys.</p>
<h2>What did they find in mice?</h2>
<p>The team also studied the effect of mice being exposed to BPA in the womb.</p>
<p>In mice exposed to BPA this way, they saw increased grooming behaviour (said to indicate repetitive behaviour) and decreased social approach behaviour (said to indicate reduced social interaction).</p>
<p>The team also saw changes in the amygdala region of the brain after BPA treatment. This region is important for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00828-2">processing social interactions</a>.</p>
<p>The researchers concluded that high levels of BPA can dampen the aromatase enzyme to alter oestrogen production and modify how neurons in mouse brains grow.</p>
<p>But we should be cautious about these mice results for a number of reasons:</p>
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<li>we cannot assume mouse behaviour directly translates to human behaviour</li>
<li>not all mice were given BPA using the same method – some were injected under the skin, others ate BPA in a sugary jelly. This may influence levels of BPA the mice actually received or how it was metabolised</li>
<li>the daily dosage delivered (50 micrograms per kilogram) was higher than the levels <a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science-data/surveillance/surveyonbisphenol.aspx">people in Australia</a> would be exposed to, and much higher than levels found in the mothers’ urine in the study.</li>
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<h2>What’s the take-home message?</h2>
<p>Finding a link between two factors – in this case BPA exposure in the womb and autism – doesn’t say one causes the other.</p>
<p>However the researchers do propose a mechanism, based on their mice study. They propose that high levels of BPA can dampen the aromatase enzyme to alter oestrogen production and modify how neurons in mouse brains grow.</p>
<p>Have we found what causes autism? Based on this study alone, no. Not all babies of women with BPA in their urine had autism, so exposure to these plastics alone isn’t sufficient to cause autism. There are likely a range of factors, including genetics, that contribute.</p>
<p>This study does hint, however, that there could be a gene-environment interaction and babies with certain gene variations could be more susceptible to BPA effects and have an increased risk of autism. But we would need more research to clarify.</p>
<p>It’s important to understand there are many other possible contributors to autism with similar amounts of evidence. And ultimately, we still don’t know for sure what causes autism for most people.<img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/236401/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"></p>
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<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-plastics-cause-autism-heres-what-the-latest-study-really-says-236401">original article</a>.</em></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cortisol-levels-in-new-mothers-tied-to-parenting-behavior-and-brain-response-to-babys-cry/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Cortisol levels in new mothers tied to parenting behavior and brain response to baby’s cry</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 23rd 2024, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030645302400252X?via%3Dihub"><em>Psychoneuroendocrinology</em></a> has uncovered a link between maternal stress, brain activity, and parenting behavior in new mothers. Researchers found that higher levels of cortisol were associated with more intrusive behaviors in mothers during interactions with their infants. Additionally, these elevated cortisol levels corresponded with reduced activity in several brain regions when the mothers heard their babies cry. This study is the first to explore the connections between maternal cortisol levels, brain response to infant distress, and parenting behavior in such detail.</p>
<p>Cortisol, a hormone produced by the body’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is central to the stress response. Elevated cortisol levels can affect a person’s ability to regulate emotions and respond to stressors, which are critical factors in parenting behavior. Previous studies had identified that higher basal cortisol levels were linked to less sensitive and more intrusive parenting, but much of this research lacked a clear understanding of the neural mechanisms involved.</p>
<p>By studying brain activity in response to infant crying, the researchers hoped to uncover how cortisol levels might alter maternal brain function, particularly in regions associated with emotional regulation and auditory processing. The motivation for this research was to bridge the gap between cortisol’s effects on the brain and how it might translate into observable caregiving behaviors.</p>
<p>“The goal of this research was to understand how the multiple biological systems that underpin parenting behavior interact,” said study author Andrew Erhart, the School Age Systems Specialist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, who conducted the research while a member of the University of Denver’s Family & Child Neuroscience Lab.</p>
<p>“We know that the transition to parenthood is a critical period where brain and body change to support the development of parenting behaviors. I am particularly interested in understanding how environmental influences like the postpartum environment and chronic stress moderate the biological changes in the transition to parenthood.”</p>
<p>“Understanding the biological systems themselves is a necessary first step. This is why we were particularly interested in examining the HPA axis as one biological component — it is a stress-responsive system thought to help motivate parenting behavior, and it is also particularly sensitive to environmental influence.”</p>
<p>The study involved 59 first-time mothers with infants aged 3 to 4 months. These mothers participated in both home and lab-based sessions designed to assess their cortisol levels, behavior during interactions with their infants, and brain responses to infant cries.</p>
<p>During the home visit, the researchers recorded 15-minute interactions between the mothers and their infants. The mothers were instructed to interact naturally without the use of toys, while their behavior was later coded for two parenting qualities: maternal sensitivity and non-intrusiveness. Sensitivity refers to how appropriately a mother responds to her baby’s cues, while non-intrusiveness reflects how well a mother allows her baby to take the lead during the interaction without being overly controlling or interfering. Cortisol samples were collected from the mothers at several points during the visit, capturing their average cortisol concentration around the time of the mother-infant interaction.</p>
<p>Following the home visit, the mothers participated in a lab session where they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. During the scans, the mothers listened to recordings of both their own baby and a control baby crying. These recordings were matched for volume, and the mothers were not told which cry belonged to their own child. The brain scans allowed researchers to measure brain activity in response to the infant cries, focusing on regions known to be involved in auditory processing, emotional regulation, and motor planning.</p>
<p>The findings revealed clear associations between elevated cortisol levels and both brain activity and parenting behavior. Mothers with higher cortisol levels during the home visit were more likely to display intrusive behaviors, meaning they were more likely to take control of the interaction and interfere with the infant’s natural cues.</p>
<p>In terms of brain activity, the fMRI scans showed that higher cortisol levels were linked to reduced activation in several brain regions when the mothers listened to their infants’ cries. These regions included the right precentral gyrus (involved in motor planning), the superior temporal gyrus (which processes auditory information), the medial frontal gyrus (associated with emotional regulation), and the culmen (a cerebellar region linked to early auditory processing). This reduction in brain activity was associated with more intrusive parenting, suggesting that elevated cortisol levels may impair a mother’s ability to respond calmly and effectively to her baby’s distress.</p>
<p>“The most surprising finding was that the interaction of cortisol and the maternal brain occurred primarily in regions of the brain thought to be involved in motor planning and auditory processing, rather than parts of the brain involved in emotion regulation,” Erhart told PsyPost.</p>
<p>“We hypothesized that these emotion regulation regions would be highly associated with cortisol in the context of parenting, and they were not. More research is needed to examine the brain networks involved here — there are techniques that can better elucidate the connection between brain function and subsequent behavior than the region-based activation analysis done in this paper.”</p>
<p>One particularly interesting finding was a three-way interaction observed in the precuneus, a brain region involved in processing self-relevant emotional information. The researchers found that mothers with higher cortisol levels showed reduced activation in this region when listening to their own baby’s cry, compared to a control baby’s cry. This suggests that stress may diminish a mother’s ability to emotionally engage with her own child’s distress, which could lead to more intrusive behavior.</p>
<p>“The take-away point is that we have a better understanding of how our stress system interacts with the maternal brain when responding to infant cry, and how this relates to parenting behavior,” Erhart said. “We know that brain areas responsible for motor planning and auditory processing are the ones that are less engaged with greater cortisol concentration.”</p>
<p>“This study is a first step in understanding the connections between maternal cortisol and the maternal brain and how they together may be associated with intrusive parenting behaviors. Additionally, our study has demonstrated the importance of cortisol levels during the postpartum period, making it a target for further study.”</p>
<p>However, as with all research, there are some caveats. One limitation is the study’s cross-sectional design, meaning that it only provides a snapshot of the relationship between cortisol levels, brain activity, and parenting behavior at one point in time. Because of this, it is not possible to determine whether high cortisol leads to changes in brain function and parenting behavior or whether other factors, such as stress exposure, may cause changes in both cortisol levels and behavior.</p>
<p>“The big caveat is to avoid overgeneralization and over-extrapolation of this research,” Erhart noted. “When examining the relationship between biological systems and behavior, we have to acknowledge that we are discussing how things have been observed ‘on average.’ Biological systems underpinning behavior are complex and multifaceted and often contextually bound. This is especially true when a novel study examines the interrelation of two distinct biological systems. So we are still very much in ‘basic research’ territory, not applied research.”</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the study offers important new insights into how biological mechanisms, such as the stress hormone cortisol, can shape maternal caregiving behavior. Future research in this area could inform interventions aimed at supporting new mothers, especially those experiencing high levels of stress.</p>
<p>“The long-term goals of this research are to understand how everyday experiences impact the brains of two generations, parent and child,” Erhart explained. “The Family and Child Neuroscience Lab, which pursues this research, has the mission of using psychological and neuroscientific mechanisms to empower families to make informed decisions for their well-being and to impact public health policies.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107207" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maternal cortisol concentration is associated with reduced brain activation to infant cry and more intrusive parenting behavior</a>,” was authored by Andrew Erhart, Sarah Watamura, Aviva K. Olsavsky, Alexander Dufford, Rebekah Tribble, Tom Yeh, and Pilyoung Kim.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-fascinating-link-between-psychedelic-experiences-and-heart-activity/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists uncover fascinating link between psychedelic experiences and heart activity</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 23rd 2024, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02698811241276788"><em>Journal of Psychopharmacology</em></a> reveals a surprising link between mystical experiences induced by the psychedelic compound DMT and specific patterns of heart activity. Researchers found that a unique balance between the body’s sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems during the DMT experience was associated with participants’ reports of spiritual insights during the “trip” and improved well-being weeks later. These findings suggest that the body’s physiological responses play a key role in shaping the profound psychological effects of psychedelics.</p>
<p>DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) is a powerful, short-acting psychedelic known for inducing intense, non-ordinary states of consciousness. It occurs naturally in various plants and animals, including humans, and can be consumed through various methods to produce profound, fast-acting effects that last about 10 to 15 minutes.</p>
<p>Users of DMT often report vivid hallucinations, feelings of oneness with the universe, and deep spiritual or mystical experiences. These profound moments are often described as “peak experiences,” characterized by a sense of transcendence, intense joy, and lasting psychological insight. These experiences have been linked to therapeutic benefits, particularly for individuals undergoing treatment for conditions like depression or anxiety.</p>
<p>While the psychological effects of psychedelics have been studied extensively, relatively little is known about how the body, particularly the autonomic nervous system, is involved in these experiences. The autonomic nervous system regulates many of the body’s involuntary functions, including heart rate and stress responses. Given that emotions and physical sensations are closely linked, the researchers aimed to explore how shifts in autonomic nervous system activity during DMT administration might relate to subjective experiences of spirituality and insightfulness.</p>
<p>“As a neuroscientist, I spent most of my scientific career focusing on the brain, which I believed held the key to our consciousness and its non-ordinary states,” said study author <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-bonnelle-989668129/">Valérie Bonnelle</a>, an independent researcher who received a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from Imperial College London.</p>
<p>“In 2018, I volunteered for a psilocybin study at King’s College, and during the experience, it felt as if my awareness was no longer emerging from my brain, but from my heart. I started exploring what we know about the involvement of the heart in consciousness, and this led me on a fascinating journey where I came to realize that the body, beyond the brain, may greatly contribute to the quality and intensity of our emotional experiences and our state of consciousness.”</p>
<p>“Most psychedelic research has focused on the brain, but I became increasingly convinced that we were overlooking something crucial. This idea was reinforced by the growing field of somatic therapy and the way psychedelics seem to help reconnect people’s minds with their bodies.”</p>
<p>The study involved 17 healthy participants, 11 of whom were men, with an average age of 33.8 years. These individuals participated in a controlled trial where they received either DMT or a placebo. Electrocardiograms were used to monitor their heart activity throughout the experiment, allowing the researchers to measure the influence of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system.</p>
<p>The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for preparing the body for action in stressful situations—commonly known as the “fight-or-flight” response—while the parasympathetic nervous system works to calm the body after stress, promoting relaxation and recovery. Using electrocardiogram data, the researchers tracked how these two systems influenced heart activity before, during, and after DMT administration.</p>
<p>The participants also completed questionnaires during and after their DMT sessions, including an altered states of consciousness scale that measured dimensions like spiritual experience, insightfulness, and feelings of unity. Two weeks after the sessions, participants were also asked to report on their overall sense of well-being using a standardized well-being questionnaire.</p>
<p>The study revealed interesting relationships between heart activity and participants’ subjective experiences. During the peak of the DMT experience, there was a unique pattern of coactivation between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems—both systems were simultaneously active, which is unusual.</p>
<p>This state of “sympathovagal coactivation” was strongly linked to participants’ reports of spiritual and insightful experiences during their DMT session. In other words, when the body experienced this rare balance between stress responses and relaxation, individuals were more likely to report having profound, mystical experiences.</p>
<p>Additionally, the researchers found that the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems before DMT was administered could predict the intensity of these experiences. Participants who had a more balanced autonomic state before the DMT injection were more likely to have insightful and spiritual experiences during the session. This balance at baseline also predicted how strongly the two systems coactivated later during the experience.</p>
<p>Perhaps most notably, the study found that the degree of sympathovagal coactivation during the DMT session was linked to improvements in participants’ well-being two weeks later. Those who experienced this coactivation during their DMT session reported higher well-being scores at the follow-up assessment, suggesting that this physiological state might play a role in the long-term positive effects of the psychedelic experience.</p>
<p>“In essence, DMT-induced ‘mystical’ experiences appear to manifest in the body as an unusual state of coactivation of cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic activity,” Bonnelle said. “Not only was this paradoxical physiological state of peaceful activation strongly related to spiritual and insightful experiences, but it was also predictive of well-being improvement after the experience. Our results also suggest that practices that promote the cultivation of balance between the two branches of the autonomic nervous system may facilitate the occurrence of such a state.”</p>
<p>Bonnelle was surprised to find that lower sympathetic activation during DMT experiences was linked to more challenging outcomes, contrary to the expectation that a higher stress response (sympathetic activity) would lead to more anxious experiences.</p>
<p>“I was expecting that higher levels of sympathetic activity during the experience (associated with the fight-or-flight stress response) would be associated with more anxiogenic experiences, as is normally the case in a ‘normal’ state, but results actually showed the opposite,” Bonnelle told PsyPost. “This warrants further research, but one possible interpretation is that people who resist the experience (due to fear of losing control or other traumatic blockages) fail to fully engage their stress response during the initial phase of the DMT trip, and therefore experience incomplete trips, stuck between two states of consciousness—no longer in a ‘normal’ state, but not fully in the ego-dissolved state either.”</p>
<p>“This in-between state might be very uncomfortable, as the ego is still clinging for control, triggering fear responses. DMT has a very abrupt onset that might be too intense for some individuals, and more research should be conducted to try to predict who is ready for such experiences, possibly based on the state of their autonomic nervous system.”</p>
<p>Bonnelle emphasized that while challenging experiences shouldn’t always be avoided, some individuals may require more preparation before using powerful psychedelic compounds like DMT.</p>
<p>“It’s possible that for some individuals, much more preparatory work might be needed to overcome this mental and physiological brake that typically results in unpleasant experiences,” Bonnelle said. “Although this will have to be researched much more thoroughly, I suspect that for some people with deeply rooted trauma, this stress brake (which may have developed as a protective shield) may be so strong that compounds triggering a steep stress response, such as DMT or 5-MeO-DMT, may not be appropriate, as they are more likely to hit the ‘alarm’ button.”</p>
<p>While the study provides important new insights into the physiological mechanisms associated with psychedelic experiences, it also has some limitations. One major limitation is the small sample size of only 17 participants, which may not capture the full range of variability in how people respond to DMT. Additionally, the study only examined heart function as a measure of autonomic nervous system activity. Future research could benefit from incorporating other physiological measures, such as skin conductance or brain activity, to create a more comprehensive picture of how the body and brain work together during a psychedelic experience.</p>
<p>Future research could also explore whether techniques like meditation or breathwork, which are known to influence autonomic nervous system balance, could enhance the effects of psychedelics or help prepare individuals for a more positive experience. If baseline autonomic balance can predict the quality of a psychedelic experience, as this study suggests, there may be ways to train or optimize individuals’ physiological states to improve the safety and efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy.</p>
<p>“I’m interested in continuing research into how certain beneficial bodily states can be conducive to expanded states of awareness, and how these bodily states may be influenced and guided,” Bonnelle said. “This knowledge has been intuitively applied for millennia through yogic practices, but science is only beginning to scratch the surface. My next journey is taking me toward VR contemplative experiences and the possible use of biofeedback to project important physiological measures into the VR environment that contribute to our level and quality of presence.”</p>
<p>“I was supported by the Beckley Foundation for the DMT study, but I am now working as an independent researcher, currently collaborating with <a href="https://www.intangiblerealitieslab.org/" target="_new" rel="noopener">the Intangible Realities Lab</a> on a project aimed at fostering connectedness and insight through guided group VR meditations for individuals suffering from existential distress due to a life-threatening illness,” she added.</p>
<p>“I’ve always been convinced that we can induce our own expanded states of consciousness without drugs or decades of meditation practice, and there are several practices (e.g., involving breath, sound, sensory deprivation) that confirm this, but they remain under-researched and poorly understood. This limits their clinical deployment and wider use for achieving more flourishing human experiences. ‘Thinking outside the brain’ seems to be a promising approach to scientifically address this uncharted territory and help bridge this gap.”</p>
<p>The study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811241276788" target="_new" rel="noopener">“Autonomic nervous system activity correlates with peak experiences induced by DMT and predicts increases in well-being”</a>, was authored by Valerie Bonnelle, Amanda Feilding, Fernando E. Rosas, David J. Nutt, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, and Christopher Timmermann.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/energy-drink-use-associated-with-shorter-less-efficient-sleep-in-college-students/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Energy drink use associated with shorter, less efficient sleep in college students</a>
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<p><p>A recent study of over 50,000 Norwegian students revealed that individuals who drank energy drinks daily tended to have lower-quality sleep compared to students who rarely or never consumed energy drinks. Daily energy drink consumers had shorter, less efficient sleep, took longer to fall asleep, and required more time to wake up. The research was published in <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/2/e072951"><em>BMJ Open</em></a>.</p>
<p>Energy drinks are beverages designed to boost energy, alertness, and concentration. They typically contain high levels of caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants such as taurine, guarana, and B vitamins. These drinks are popular among individuals seeking a quick energy boost, particularly students, athletes, and those working long hours.</p>
<p>However, excessive consumption can lead to side effects such as increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and anxiety. Regular intake of energy drinks, especially those high in sugar, may contribute to health risks like obesity and dental problems. Due to these potential health concerns, many health organizations recommend moderation in their use, particularly among young people.</p>
<p>Study author Siri Kaldenbach and her colleagues aimed to investigate how often students consume energy drinks and whether this consumption is associated with sleep characteristics. Previous studies had reported that individuals who drank more energy drinks tended to have poorer sleep quality, but these studies involved relatively small participant groups. The authors also noted that energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine, which is known to help people stay awake, making it harder to fall asleep after consuming large amounts.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed data from the Students’ Health and Well-being Study, a large national survey of students in higher education in Norway, conducted by three major student welfare organizations. This study used data from 59,544 students who completed online questionnaires in 2022. The students’ mean age was 24 years, and 66% were women.</p>
<p>In the questionnaires, students provided demographic information, details about their energy drink consumption habits, and self-reported their usual bedtimes and wake times for both weekdays and weekends. They also reported how long it typically took them to fall asleep, how long they needed to wake up after sleeping, how often they had difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or experienced early morning awakenings. Additionally, they reported how often they felt tired and sleepy during the day.</p>
<p>Results showed that around 50% of women and 40% of men stated they never consumed energy drinks. In contrast, approximately 6% of women and 8% of men reported consuming 4-6 energy drinks per week. About 3% of women and 5% of men reported consuming energy drinks daily.</p>
<p>Both men and women who consumed energy drinks daily slept, on average, 30 minutes less per day compared to those who never consumed them. Daily energy drink consumers slept around 7 hours and 10 minutes, while those who never drank energy drinks slept about 7 hours and 40 minutes per night.</p>
<p>Among women who consumed energy drinks, 51% reported insomnia symptoms, compared to 33% of women who rarely or never consumed them. These percentages were 37% and 22% for men. Men who consumed energy drinks daily were twice as likely to sleep less than 6 hours per night compared to those who rarely or never consumed energy drinks. This difference was smaller for women. Both men and women who drank energy drinks daily also took more time to fall asleep, wake up, and experienced more difficulty maintaining sleep.</p>
<p>“The results from the current study show that there is a robust association between the frequency of ED [energy drink] consumption and the different sleep parameters. Identifying modifiable risk factors for sleep problems among college and university students is vital and our results suggest that the frequency of ED consumption could be a possible target for interventions,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the links between energy drink consumption and sleep quality among students. However, both sleep and energy drink consumption data came from self-reports, leaving room for reporting bias to affect the results. Additionally, the design of the study does not allow any cause-and-effect inferences to be drawn from the results.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072951">Energy drink consumption and sleep parameters in college and university students: a national crosssectional study,</a>” was authored by Siri Kaldenbach, Mari Hysing , Tor A Strand, and Børge Sivertsen.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-aphantasia-research-sheds-light-on-the-role-of-visual-imagery-when-reading-stories/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">New aphantasia research sheds light on the role of visual imagery when reading stories</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 22nd 2024, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810024000126"><em>Consciousness and Cognition </em></a>has revealed that individuals with aphantasia, a condition where people cannot form mental visual images, experience storytelling in a markedly different way than those with typical mental imagery. While aphantasics enjoy stories as much as their peers, they report less emotional engagement and find it harder to immerse themselves in the world of the story.</p>
<p>For most people, visual imagery plays a significant role in how we process language, especially when reading narratives. Vivid descriptions in a book often trigger mental images that enhance the reading experience, allowing readers to visualize settings, characters, and events as if they were watching a movie in their mind. This mental imagery not only adds richness to the storytelling experience but also aids emotional engagement, making readers feel more connected to the characters and events in the story.</p>
<p>However, individuals with the rare condition of aphantasia lack the ability to visualize mental images. They <a href="https://www.psypost.org/deep-aphantasia-what-its-like-to-have-no-visual-imagination-or-inner-voice/">cannot “see” things in their mind’s eye</a>, even when reading vivid descriptions. Despite this, many aphantasics live much of their lives unaware that <a href="https://www.psypost.org/aphantasia-linked-to-abnormal-brain-responses-to-imagined-and-observed-actions/">their cognitive experience</a> differs from others, as they often develop alternative ways to process information.</p>
<p>Previous research has highlighted the importance of visual imagery in language comprehension and emotional engagement with narratives. To better understand how aphantasia alters the experience of reading fiction, a research group based at Radboud University in the Netherlands sought to explore this difference in depth. The researchers aimed to investigate whether aphantasics would have a fundamentally different reading experience compared to individuals with typical visual imagery, particularly in areas like emotional connection and immersion in the story.</p>
<p>Led by Laura Speed, the research team recruited 47 individuals with aphantasia and 51 control participants with typical visual imagery. Recruitment was done online via platforms like Reddit and Facebook, where specific communities for aphantasia exist. Participants were asked to read a short story titled <em>My Dead</em> by Peter Orner, a third-person narrative that explores themes of human connection and near-death experiences. The story was selected for its descriptive content, which the researchers believed would engage the participants’ visual imagination.</p>
<p>After reading the story, participants completed several questionnaires designed to measure different aspects of their reading experience. These included their overall enjoyment of the story, their emotional engagement with the characters, and how absorbed they felt in the world of the narrative. The questionnaires also explored which elements of the story—such as scenery, character actions, or dialogue—captured the participants’ attention.</p>
<p>The results demonstrated that individuals with aphantasia were less likely to become emotionally engaged with the story or absorbed in its world. They also reported a lower level of attention to elements like the story’s scenery and character actions, and were also less likely to sympathize with or feel connected to the characters in the story.</p>
<p>Interestingly, despite their reduced emotional engagement, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding their overall appreciation of the story. Aphantasics and control participants rated the story similarly in terms of how much they liked it.</p>
<p>Notably, both groups reported reading a similar number of books per year, and their preferred genres, such as fantasy and science fiction, were closely aligned. Aphantasics did however report consuming more fiction and non-fiction through other media like television, movies, and video games, compared to the control group. “This could reflect a preference for added visual stimulation, which might compensate for their reduced visual imagery,” the authors noted.</p>
<p>Speed and colleagues concluded that, “aphantasics and controls did differ in their experience of the story, which supports a role for mental imagery or mental simulation in story reading. But, since overall liking did not differ between the two groups, nor did recall of the story, this suggests that mental imagery or mental simulation is not critical for comprehending a story.”</p>
<p>A limitation of the study is that it was conducted online, which may limit its generalizability to real-world experiences of reading books. Additionally, the researchers note that aphantasia likely varies from person to person, where the condition could be global (affecting all sensory modalities) whereas others have aphantasia affecting only one or some sensory modalities, and that this could have affected the analyses.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2024.103645">The Role of Visual Imagery in Story Reading: Evidence from Aphantasia</a>,” was authored by Laura J. Speed, Lynn S. Eekhof, and Marloes Mak.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/excessive-news-consumption-predicts-increased-political-hostility/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Excessive news consumption predicts increased political hostility</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 22nd 2024, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>According to new research published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241277149"><em>Communication Research</em></a>, people who obsessively consume news are more prone to political hostility. The study shows that those who lose themselves in political news are more likely to see opponents as enemies, leading to hostile actions such as online fights. However, individuals with higher levels of mindfulness are less likely to fall into this pattern, suggesting a way to reduce political tension.</p>
<p>News outlets often exaggerate political conflict, presenting a world where opposing sides seem to be locked in never-ending battles. These portrayals can have real consequences for viewers. Some people may become so absorbed in these news narratives that they see the political landscape as a battlefield where the “other side” is a threat, fueling anger and aggressive behavior. Given the current climate of rising political tension, the researchers wanted to understand whether problematic news consumption contributes to this hostility.</p>
<p>In addition, the researchers aimed to explore the role of mindfulness in mitigating these effects. Mindfulness, which involves being aware of the present and less reactive to external stimuli, has been shown in other studies to reduce unhealthy behaviors like internet addiction and excessive smartphone use. The researchers hypothesized that mindfulness could also protect individuals from developing problematic relationships with news consumption, preventing political hostility from escalating.</p>
<p>“Following the news has always been considered an important civic duty, but it is easy to look around and see that, for many people, news consumption isn’t healthy, it’s a problem,” said study author Bryan McLaughlin, an associate professor at Texas Tech University. “We became really interested in this idea that people can develop a relationship with the news that is almost like an addiction. Following this initial observation, we’ve sought to learn more about the individual and societal consequences of having a problematic relationship with the news.”</p>
<p>For their research, Mclaughlin and his colleagues first conducted a cross-sectional survey in the summer of 2021. The researchers recruited 1,100 U.S. adults, intentionally oversampling people who strongly identified with a political party. Of this group, 870 participants self-identified as partisans, meaning they had strong political allegiances, which made them particularly relevant to the study’s focus on political hostility.</p>
<p>The survey used multiple measures to assess the key variables in the study. Participants were asked about their levels of problematic news consumption (PNC), which was measured using 17 items that captured how absorbed they became in the news, how much the news interfered with their daily lives, and how frequently they checked the news. The researchers also measured political hostility, using questions about participants’ acceptance of aggressive behavior toward political opponents and their actual engagement in hostile activities, like flaming (insulting or mocking others online) or having conflicts with friends or family over politics.</p>
<p>Additionally, they measured mindfulness, which was assessed through questions about the participants’ ability to stay present and aware in their everyday lives. Lastly, the researchers evaluated participants’ conflict-approach orientation, a personality trait that gauges how comfortable people are with conflict. Some people avoid conflict, while others actively engage with it.</p>
<p>The findings showed a clear relationship between problematic news consumption and increased political hostility. The more absorbed people were in the news and the more it interfered with their lives, the more likely they were to endorse and engage in hostile political behavior. Additionally, mindfulness was found to have a protective effect: individuals with higher levels of mindfulness were less likely to develop problematic news consumption patterns.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the relationship between problematic news consumption and political hostility was especially strong for individuals with a high conflict-approach orientation. These individuals, who were more comfortable with confrontation, were more prone to act out their political hostility when they were deeply immersed in political news.</p>
<p>Building on these findings, the researchers conducted a subsequent study to explore these relationships further using a longitudinal approach. The second study involved a two-wave survey conducted in the fall of 2022, with an initial sample of 1,800 U.S. adults. Of these, 852 participants completed both waves of the survey, allowing the researchers to track changes over time.</p>
<p>The longitudinal design also allowed the researchers to control for participants’ prior levels of political hostility, making it possible to examine how changes in news consumption habits over time might influence future hostility. In other words, the study helped rule out the possibility that individuals who were already hostile were simply more likely to engage in problematic news consumption.</p>
<p>The results largely confirmed the previous findings. The researchers found that participants who exhibited higher levels of problematic news consumption in the first wave were more likely to endorse and engage in hostile political behaviors in the second wave. Mindfulness again acted as a protective factor. Those who scored high in mindfulness, particularly in terms of being aware of the present and not being overly judgmental, were less likely to develop problematic news consumption patterns and, consequently, less likely to engage in political hostility.</p>
<p>“When people get too caught up in the news, to the point that they can’t stop thinking about it and it is interfering with other aspects of their daily life, it can end up making them more hostile toward those who hold opposing political views,” McLaughlin told PsyPost. “This appears most likely to occur among people who are generally more comfortable with confrontation. On the other hand, we find that being more mindful—that is, focusing more attention on the here and now—can help ground people and make them less likely to develop a problematic relationship with the news.”</p>
<p>But there are some caveats to consider. While the second study used longitudinal data to track changes over time, it still cannot definitively establish causality between problematic news consumption and political hostility. Experimental studies are needed to confirm whether problematic news consumption directly leads to increased political hostility or if other factors are at play. Additionally, the types of news consumed were not analyzed in detail, limiting the ability to determine how specific news sources or content might contribute to hostility.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, this study provides a valuable framework for understanding how an unhealthy relationship with the news can foster political animosity and suggests that mindfulness could be a key tool for reducing this hostility.</p>
<p>“Our goal is to keep learning more about problematic news consumption, including its causes and consequences, as well as what can be done to help address it,” McLaughlin said.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00936502241277149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Living in a (Mediated) Political World: Mindfulness, Problematic News Consumption, and Political Hostility</a>,” was authored by Bryan McLaughlin, Melissa R. Gotlieb, Devin J. Mills, Michael J. Serra, and Joshua Cloudy.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-discover-glue-that-holds-memory-together-in-fascinating-neuroscience-breakthrough/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists discover “glue” that holds memory together in fascinating neuroscience breakthrough</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 22nd 2024, 10:40</div>
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<p><p>A team of scientists has made a significant discovery about how the brain retains long-term memories. They identified the molecule KIBRA, which acts as a “glue” to anchor PKMζ, an enzyme critical for strengthening synaptic connections between neurons. This interaction ensures that memories are not lost as brain proteins degrade and regenerate, offering a deeper understanding of memory stability. The findings have been published in <em><a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adl0030" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Science Advances</a>.</em></p>
<p>The scientists were driven by a long-standing question in neuroscience: how can memories last for years or even decades when the molecules in our brains are constantly being replaced? Neurons store information in the strength of synapses, but the proteins and molecules in those synapses are unstable and degrade after just a few days. This creates a puzzle—if the building blocks of memory are so short-lived, what allows us to maintain long-term memories?</p>
<p>The idea that certain molecular interactions might provide stability to memory storage has been around since 1984, when Francis Crick proposed that continuous interactions between proteins might maintain synaptic strength over time. This new study sought to explore this hypothesis further, focusing on the role of PKMζ and how its interaction with another molecule, KIBRA, might contribute to the stability of long-term memory.</p>
<p>“I have been interested in memory since I was a little boy. I also had the sense that there were always deeper, simpler levels of understanding for any mysterious process, and I was driven by curiosity to find the deepest for memory,” said study author <a href="https://www.downstate.edu/faculty/pharmacology/sacktor.html">Todd C. Sacktor</a>, a distinguished professor at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.</p>
<p>Sacktor explained that in college, he became interested in understanding how memory is stored at the molecular level, focusing on the persistent strengthening of synapses during learning. During his neurology residency at Columbia, he worked in James Schwartz’s lab, which guided him toward discovering PKMζ, an enzyme that strengthens synaptic connections.</p>
<p>“The rest was simply trying to figure out what PKMζ did and how it worked,” Sacktor continued. “Ultimately, for memory to last years, i.e., beyond the lifespans of individual molecules, we realized PKMζ had to have a partner, which is the discovery presented in this paper.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fentonlab.com/">André Fenton</a>, a professor of neural science at New York University and another of the study’s principal investigators, added that he was draw to this research because he is interested in uncovering the fundamental processes underlying our subjective experience.</p>
<p>“While experience requires complex brain activity to process information, I have long thought that our concept of memory is essential to this processing, not merely for storing what has already happened but also for generating expectations and beliefs that influence, if not dictate, subsequent experience,” Fenton said. “While it has always been a fascinating problem to work out how memory can persist for years when the constituent protein components only last days-weeks, work that challenged some of our prior findings and understanding pointed to a solution.”</p>
<p>To explore the connection between KIBRA and PKMζ, the researchers used male laboratory mice. The scientists conducted a series of experiments involving hippocampal slices, a region of the brain critical for memory, and various techniques such as proximity ligation assays and confocal microscopy to visualize the molecular interactions between KIBRA and PKMζ.</p>
<p>They also used genetically modified mice lacking PKMζ to see how memory maintenance differed when this enzyme was missing. In addition, behavioral tests, such as spatial memory tasks, were used to assess the impact of disrupting the KIBRA-PKMζ interaction on memory retention.</p>
<p>One key experiment involved applying a drug called ζ-stat, which blocks the interaction between KIBRA and PKMζ, to see if this would disrupt the stability of synaptic potentiation and long-term memory. Another experiment introduced a peptide called K-ZAP, which mimics KIBRA’s binding site and interferes with its ability to anchor PKMζ, further testing the importance of this interaction.</p>
<p>The study found evidence that KIBRA plays a vital role in stabilizing PKMζ at synapses, effectively creating a “persistent synaptic tag” that helps maintain long-term memory. The researchers found that when synapses are activated during learning, KIBRA binds to those synapses and helps PKMζ stay attached. This connection ensures that the synapses remain strong, even as other molecular components degrade and are replaced.</p>
<p>“For the first time, we have a fundamental biological understanding of how memory can last for years, perhaps even decades,” Sacktor told PsyPost.</p>
<figure aria-describedby="caption-attachment-224871" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-224871" src="https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-1024x512.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="512" srcset="https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-300x150.jpg 300w, https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-768x384.jpg 768w, https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-360x180.jpg 360w, https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-750x375.jpg 750w, https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors-1140x570.jpg 1140w, https://www.psypost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PKM-KIBRA-Structures-with-Inhibitors.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Memories are stored by the interaction of two proteins: a structural protein, KIBRA (green), that acts as a persistent synaptic tag, and a synapse-strengthening enzyme, protein kinase Mzeta (red). Drugs that disrupt the memory-perpetuating interaction (other colors) erase pre-established long-term and remote memories. (Credit: Changchi Hsieh)</figcaption></figure>
<p>More specifically, they observed that when ζ-stat was used to block the KIBRA-PKMζ interaction, it reversed the potentiation of synapses that had previously been strengthened during learning. This effect was selective, impacting only the activated synapses that were involved in memory formation, while leaving unactivated synapses unaffected. This indicates that the KIBRA-PKMζ interaction is crucial for maintaining the strength of memory-related synapses.</p>
<p>In behavioral tests, disrupting the KIBRA-PKMζ interaction in mice also led to a loss of long-term memory. Mice that received ζ-stat injections after learning a spatial memory task were unable to recall the location of a shock zone in subsequent tests. Interestingly, this effect was not seen in genetically modified mice that lacked PKMζ, further confirming that KIBRA’s interaction with PKMζ is essential for memory maintenance.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that this molecular interaction is not just important for short-term memory, but can maintain memory for weeks. Even when PKMζ was degraded over time, the KIBRA-PKMζ complexes remained at the synapses, suggesting that new PKMζ molecules continue to be synthesized and incorporated into the same synaptic locations, allowing memories to persist long after the initial learning.</p>
<p>“The persistent KIBRA-PKMζ interaction explains how memory can last for a lifetime, something humans have been trying to understand for a very long time, at least since Plato wrote about it,” Fenton said.</p>
<p>“But there’s more if we connect some dots. A human brain is made up of about 100 billion neurons, each of which receives input connections at synapses from about 10 thousand other neurons. When we have any experience we use the neural circuits of our brain to process information defined by the flow of electrochemical activity through subnetworks of those connections between millions of neurons. Memory may be the result of experience changing those connections, typically a very small (1%) subset. How does an experience today persistently change connections so memory of the experience last years?”</p>
<p>“Our work determined that memory is the result of an active, ongoing biochemical process in which the kinase action of a persistently active catalyst protein, PKMζ is targeted to the experience-activated connections within the neurons that constitute the information processing connections of the experience-mediating neural circuit,” Fenton explained. “PKMζ is generated in an activated neuron and because KIBRA, a targeting molecule accumulates at the activated connections, it directs the kinase action of PKMζ to those specific locations.</p>
<p>“The KIBRA-PKMζ interaction persists because the KIBRA-PKMζ complex is more stable than the individual protein components and like the paradox of Theseus’ ship persisting despite all the planks being replaced, the KIBRA-PKMζ complex persists even though the individual protein components are continually replaced.”</p>
<p>“The takeaway is that experience activates neural circuits that process information and that processing creates memory, which depends on an elegant continually active biophysical process, which at once stores information and by storing that information also changes the neural circuit and with it the information processing within which future experience will occur,” Fenton told PsyPost. “Memory is about the future.”</p>
<p>Although the study offers strong evidence that KIBRA is crucial for sustaining long-term memory by stabilizing PKMζ at synapses, certain limitations remain. The researchers acknowledge that not all forms of memory may rely on this molecular interaction. For example, the study found that some types of memory, such as contextual fear memory, are maintained through PKMζ-independent mechanisms. Understanding how these different systems operate will require further investigation.</p>
<p>“There are some memories that are not stored by PKMζ,” Sacktor noted. “Does KIBRA play a role in these by interacting with a different, but related synapse-strengthening molecules, or is there completely different mechanisms?”</p>
<p>Another limitation is that while KIBRA helps explain how memories can last for years despite molecular turnover, the study did not fully explain how the process of memory formation begins—specifically, how KIBRA is initially recruited to the synapses involved in memory formation. This will be an important area for future research.</p>
<p>The researchers also plan to explore the potential applications of their findings for treating memory-related disorders. Since the KIBRA-PKMζ interaction is so critical for memory stability, drugs that target this process could potentially be used to enhance memory in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or to weaken harmful memories in conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>“We wish to explain how the process of memory persistence is initiated,” Fenton said. “In other words, how does the KIBRA appear and accumulate; how are the memory-changed connections arranged within a neuron and between neurons; how specifically does the KIBRA-PKMζ mediated change in connections change information processing; and how can this fundamental neurobiology be used to improve outcomes in disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, and mental illness?”</p>
<p>“In any fundamental discovery in biology, there will be ‘low-lying fruit’ in medicine—diseases that can now be treated,” Sacktor said. “Often which diseases cannot be predicted ahead of time. I am curious which psychiatric or neurological diseases it will be for the discovery of KIBRA-PKMζ’s role in memory.”</p>
<p>“Doing this work is painstakingly slow and careful, and at times frustrating but has always been joyous!” Fenton added.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl0030" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KIBRA anchoring the action of PKMζ maintains the persistence of memory</a>,” was authored by Panayiotis Tsokas, Changchi Hsieh, Rafael E. Flores-Obando, Matteo Bernabo, Andrew Tcherepanov, A. Iván Hernández, Christian Thomas, Peter J. Bergold, James E. Cottrell, Joachim Kremerskothen, Harel Z. Shouval, Karim Nader, André A. Fenton, and Todd C. Sacktor.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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