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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/therapeutic-video-game-shows-promise-for-post-covid-cognitive-recovery/" 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;">Therapeutic video game shows promise for post-COVID cognitive recovery</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 20th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A therapeutic intervention using the AKL-T01 video game was found to improve cognitive processing speed and task-switching performance in individuals with persistent cognitive deficits following COVID-19 infection. While sustained attention did not significantly improve compared to the control group, participants reported improvements in quality of life. The study was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01995-z"><em>Neuropsychopharmacology</em></a>.</p>
<p>Cognitive deficits after COVID-19, often referred to as “brain fog,” have been reported in a substantial portion of individuals, even after mild or moderate illness. These deficits commonly affect attention, memory, executive function, and processing speed. Research indicates that such impairments can persist for months after the initial infection, impacting daily functioning and overall well-being.</p>
<p>In some cases, the severity of cognitive decline has been likened to aging by several years. Neuroinflammation, microvascular injury, and autoimmune responses are among the proposed mechanisms behind these changes. Brain imaging studies have shown structural and metabolic alterations in regions associated with memory and cognition in post-COVID patients. While some individuals gradually recover, others experience prolonged or worsening symptoms, particularly those with long COVID.</p>
<p>Study author Lindsay W. Victoria and her colleagues aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the AKL-T01 intervention in individuals with cognitive dysfunction following COVID-19 infection. The intervention targeted deficits in attention and executive function.</p>
<p>AKL-T01 is a digital therapeutic program designed to improve attention and executive control. Delivered via smartphone or tablet, the program features a video game-like interface and uses a proprietary game engine to engage specific neural systems involved in attention regulation. The game dynamically adjusts its difficulty based on the user’s performance, offering personalized cognitive challenges intended to enhance attention and executive functioning.</p>
<p>The study included 98 participants with a confirmed history of COVID-19 and evidence of executive function impairment. Participants were recruited through physician referrals and post-COVID care programs.</p>
<p>Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The intervention group was instructed to use AKL-T01 at least five days per week for six weeks, with each session lasting 20–25 minutes and consisting of five in-game missions. The control group was placed on a waitlist and did not receive any intervention during the study period.</p>
<p>All participants completed a series of assessments at baseline and after six weeks. These included measures of sustained attention (the TMB Digital Symbol Matching Task), functional disability (the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule), self-reported health-related quality of life, and cognitive dysfunction in everyday life. Additional cognitive tests evaluated working memory, processing speed, and executive control.</p>
<p>The results showed no significant difference in sustained attention between the intervention and control groups. However, participants who engaged with AKL-T01 demonstrated improvements in task-switching accuracy and processing speed. They also reported reduced functional disability and enhanced quality of life.</p>
<p>“Despite the lack of improvement in sustained attention, select post-COVID-19 cognitive deficits may be ameliorated by targeted cognitive training with AKL-T01, with associated improvements in quality of life and fatigue. If replicated, the scalable nature of this digital intervention may help address substantial need for accessible, effective treatments among individuals with long COVID,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The findings highlight the potential of AKL-T01 as a digital intervention for cognitive symptoms related to long COVID. However, it is important to note that these results apply specifically to this particular therapeutic game. Outcomes from studies using different digital interventions may vary.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01995-z">A digital intervention for cognitive deficits following COVID-19: a randomized clinical trial</a>,” was authored by Lindsay W. Victoria, Lauren E. Oberlin, Irena P. Ilieva, Abhishek Jaywant, Dora Kanellopoulos, Catherine Mercaldi, Caitlin A. Stamatis, Deborah N. Farlow, Scott H. Kollins, Ochuwa Tisor, Sama Joshi, Raura Doreste-Mendez, Roy H. Perlis, and Faith M. Gunning.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/passive-scrolling-linked-to-increased-anxiety-in-teens-study-finds/" 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;">Passive scrolling linked to increased anxiety in teens, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 20th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563225001359" target="_blank">Computers in Human Behavior</a></em> finds that adolescents who spend more than two hours per day on screens, especially on weekdays, are more likely to report clinically elevated anxiety and emotional or behavioral difficulties. Among various screen use behaviors, passive scrolling—browsing through content without engaging—was most strongly associated with poorer mental health, even after accounting for age, gender, and pre-existing vulnerabilities.</p>
<p>The researchers behind the study set out to examine how adolescents’ screen time habits relate to mental health in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents’ screen use rose dramatically during the pandemic, both out of necessity and as a coping strategy during periods of social isolation. Although prior research has shown mixed results about the link between screen time and mental health, the potential risks of excessive or passive digital media use remain a public concern—especially for adolescents, who are still undergoing significant cognitive and emotional development.</p>
<p>“Our group conducted several studies during the pandemic demonstrating a rapid rise in screen time in children. We studied children over time and found that even after restrictions ended, screen use remained high and was associated with anxiety and depression. In teens, anxiety is generally higher compared to younger children, so we wanted to better understand screen use in teens and how it could be associated with mental health,” said study author <a href="https://www.developingbrain.ca/" target="_blank">Emma Duerden</a>, a Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders and an associate professor at Western University.</p>
<p>The researchers were particularly interested in exploring both the quantity and quality of adolescents’ screen use. While many guidelines recommend limiting recreational screen time to two hours per day, these guidelines are often difficult to enforce and may not capture the nuances of modern digital behavior. Adolescents use screens not only for entertainment, but also to maintain social connections, express themselves creatively, and engage with educational content. The study aimed to identify which specific screen use behaviors were most strongly linked to poor mental health, and whether these patterns differed for adolescents with pre-existing developmental or psychiatric vulnerabilities.</p>
<p>To investigate these questions, the researchers surveyed 580 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 in the United States and Canada between December 2022 and August 2023. Participants were recruited through the online research platform Prolific. They completed a series of self-report questionnaires that assessed demographic characteristics, existing health conditions, and school settings, along with validated mental health measures.</p>
<p>Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, while emotional and behavioral issues were measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. To understand screen use habits, participants completed items from the SCREENS-Q tool, which captures both time-based measures (total screen time on weekdays and weekends) and behavior-based patterns such as passive scrolling and content posting on social media.</p>
<p>The researchers found that nearly half of the adolescents without any pre-existing vulnerabilities still reported anxiety levels that fell within the clinical range. When comparing groups, 72% of adolescents with developmental or psychiatric vulnerabilities reported clinically elevated anxiety, compared to 45% of those without. Emotional and behavioral difficulties followed a similar pattern, affecting 42% of adolescents with pre-existing vulnerabilities and 13% of those without.</p>
<p>“We found that in our sample, 45% of teens reported having anxiety in clinically elevated ranges,” Duerden told PsyPost. “Before the pandemic, anxiety was reported in about 8–15% of teens, so this represents a significant increase, which is concerning. In Ontario alone, tens of thousands of children and adolescents are on waitlists for mental health services. With few supports available in the community, identifying targets for prevention and resilience is key.”</p>
<p>Screen use was widespread and often exceeded guideline recommendations. Only 31% of adolescents stayed below the two-hour daily screen time limit on weekdays, and this figure dropped to just 14% on weekends. Older adolescents were more likely to engage in passive scrolling and content posting, although pre-existing conditions did not predict differences in screen behaviors.</p>
<p>Across the entire sample, increased screen time on weekdays was strongly associated with both anxiety and emotional or behavioral issues. Adolescents who exceeded two hours of screen time on weekdays were more than twice as likely to report clinically elevated anxiety and four times more likely to show emotional or behavioral difficulties. Although weekend screen use also showed associations with mental health problems, the patterns were less pronounced.</p>
<p>When examining specific screen behaviors, passive scrolling emerged as a consistent predictor of poor mental health. More time spent scrolling through content—whether on social media, video platforms, or other media—was associated with higher anxiety and more emotional and behavioral problems. These associations held even after adjusting for age, gender, and the presence of pre-existing vulnerabilities. By contrast, content posting—an indicator of more active engagement—had a much weaker association with mental health outcomes.</p>
<p>“Reducing screen time to 2 hours per day during weekdays and limiting scrolling on social media could go a long way in terms of protecting teen mental health,” Duerden said.</p>
<p>The results also revealed that girls were more likely to experience elevated anxiety levels, although no consistent gender differences emerged in terms of screen use habits. The study did not find strong evidence that adolescents with pre-existing vulnerabilities used screens more often or in more passive ways than their peers, suggesting that certain mental health risks of screen use may apply broadly across adolescent populations.</p>
<p>The findings support growing concerns about the potential harms of unstructured and passive screen use during critical developmental periods. For adolescents, school days typically offer some structure that can help regulate behavior and provide opportunities for face-to-face interaction. When screen use extends beyond two hours on these days, it may reflect or contribute to unstructured routines, reduced physical activity, social isolation, or sleep disruptions—all of which are linked to anxiety and behavioral problems.</p>
<p>As with any study, there are caveats to consider. Because it was based on self-report data collected online, the accuracy of participants’ responses could be influenced by recall bias or social desirability. The cross-sectional design also makes it impossible to determine whether screen use directly causes poor mental health, or if adolescents who are already experiencing distress are more likely to turn to screens.</p>
<p>“This was an online study, so those without internet access were not captured in our sample,” Duerden noted. “The study findings were based on a single time point, and the results were based on self-report items. Having parent or teacher reports and more time points could give a broader picture concerning the association of screen time and screen behaviors with teen mental health. We are planning to conduct long-term studies with children and teens. We also have several brain imaging studies that are ongoing to better understand brain-behavior relationships.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108688" target="_blank">Screen time woes: Social media posting, scrolling, externalizing behaviors, and anxiety in adolescents</a>,” was authored by Eun Jung Choi, Ella Christiaans, and Emma G. Duerden.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/your-bodily-awareness-guides-your-morality-new-neuroscience-study-suggests/" 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;">Your bodily awareness guides your morality, new neuroscience study suggests</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 20th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2025/04/28/JNEUROSCI.1114-24.2025" target="_blank">The Journal of Neuroscience</a></em> suggests that people who are more attuned to their internal bodily sensations are also more likely to make moral decisions that align with the values of the broader group. The researchers found that individuals with greater interoceptive awareness—how accurately they can perceive their own bodily signals—tended to choose responses in moral dilemmas that matched the majority’s preferences. Brain imaging revealed that this connection may be supported by resting-state activity in specific brain regions involved in self-reflection and internal signal monitoring.</p>
<p>The researchers were interested in understanding why people so often make moral decisions that match the expectations of those around them, even when no explicit social pressure is present. Past theories have suggested that aligning with social norms helps conserve energy by minimizing social conflict, which in turn supports survival. The research team hypothesized that people who are better at sensing internal signals might use that information to more efficiently model others’ expectations and align their decisions accordingly.</p>
<p>“When people behave in ways that conflict with others’ expectations in social situations, it can easily lead to interpersonal conflict, and resolving this conflict may increase the use of physical resources,” said study author Hackjin Kim, a professor at Korea University and director of <a href="https://socialdecisionneurosciencelab.org/" target="_blank">the Laboratory of Social and Decision Neuroscience</a>.</p>
<p>“Recent theories (Constant et al., 2019; Theriault et al., 2021) suggest that our brains are designed to minimize physical resource consumption while maintaining survival. One way to do this is to learn others’ expectations to avoid social conflict. This strategy may ultimately be an important social adaptation skill that enhances survival. Based on this hypothesis, we predicted that if moral intuition is fundamentally based on the brain’s principle of minimizing bodily resource expenditure by learning others’ expectations, then individuals with better body-brain communication would more effectively adjust their moral intuitions by learning others’ expectations. Our findings provide the first evidence supporting this hypothesis.”</p>
<p>To test this idea, the researchers conducted two studies with Korean university students. In the first study, 74 participants completed an online task involving 48 moral dilemmas. These scenarios were designed to present ethically difficult decisions with no clear right or wrong answer—such as whether to sacrifice one person to save several others. Participants also completed a questionnaire measuring their interoceptive awareness, specifically how aware they were of bodily sensations and how they interpreted those sensations in emotional contexts. Additionally, all participants underwent resting-state brain scans.</p>
<p>In the second study, a separate group of 30 participants completed the same moral dilemma task and later performed a heartbeat counting exercise in a lab setting. This task measured interoceptive accuracy by asking participants to count their heartbeats without using physical cues, while their actual heartbeats were recorded using sensors.</p>
<p>Across both studies, participants tended to make moral decisions that aligned with the group consensus, as determined by the majority response to each scenario. Importantly, this tendency was not simply a matter of choosing utilitarian over deontological answers or vice versa. Instead, it reflected how closely a participant’s individual choices matched the specific pattern of group responses across different dilemmas.</p>
<p>The researchers found that individuals with higher interoceptive awareness, as measured by the self-report questionnaire in Study 1, made moral choices more similar to the group norm. Similarly, participants who performed better on the heartbeat counting task in Study 2 also showed greater alignment with group preferences. These findings were particularly strong in scenarios where there was less agreement among the group overall, suggesting that interoception plays a role in guiding decisions when norms are less obvious or intuitive.</p>
<p>“This study shows that people who are more aware of their internal bodily signals—like heartbeats or gut feelings—are more likely to make moral decisions that match what most people would consider acceptable or fair,” Kim told PsyPost. “This connection between the body and moral choices suggests that your physical sensations can influence how you decide what’s right or wrong.”</p>
<p>“Moral intuition isn’t random—it reflects what society expects. Even when people aren’t told what others think, their moral choices often align with group norms. That’s because over time, we build up internal ‘rules’ based on our social experiences. These rules help us predict what others expect from us, which in turn helps us avoid conflict and maintain social harmony.”</p>
<p>To understand the brain mechanisms that might support this effect, the researchers analyzed resting-state functional MRI data using a computational approach called a hidden Markov model. This allowed them to identify patterns of brain activity that fluctuate over time, even when participants are not engaged in any specific task.</p>
<p>They identified eleven distinct brain states and focused on two in particular. One state, characterized by heightened activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)—a region linked to social evaluation and internal reflection—was associated with higher interoceptive awareness. A second state, marked by decreased activity in the precuneus—a region involved in self-related thought and internal monitoring—was linked to greater deviation from group consensus in moral decision-making.</p>
<p>“The mPFC has long been known to play a key role in moral decision-making in dilemma scenarios,” Kim explained. “Past research has highlighted its role in enabling emotionally driven deontological decisions that favor empathy for individuals over utilitarian choices that benefit the majority.” </p>
<p>“However, our findings offer a different interpretation. Rather than supporting a specific moral judgment style—utilitarian or deontological—we found that the mPFC is more closely associated with internalized social norms acquired through one’s life experience. This suggests that mPFC-driven intuitions are shaped by communal norms, and depending on the context, they may support either utilitarian or deontological decisions. Our study provides a new perspective on the principles and processes underlying the formation of moral intuition, which could pave the way for future research in this area.”</p>
<p>Although interoceptive awareness was not directly correlated with moral alignment at a statistically robust level, a mediation analysis showed that the resting-state brain dynamics helped bridge the two. In particular, spending more time in the mPFC-associated state indirectly predicted closer alignment with group moral norms through reduced time in the precuneus-deactivated state. This suggests that the way the brain processes internal signals during rest might set the stage for how we unconsciously form moral intuitions that match the social environment.</p>
<p>The findings support the idea that our moral judgments are not formed in isolation. Instead, they appear to be influenced by the body’s internal signals and how the brain interprets them, especially in regions involved in tracking one’s own and others’ mental states. The researchers propose that internal bodily cues may help individuals form intuitive models of social expectations—essentially, a “sense of should” that guides behavior in ways that avoid conflict and conserve mental and physical resources.</p>
<p>While the study offers intriguing insights, it also has limitations. One important caveat is that the brain imaging data came from resting-state scans, meaning participants were not actively making decisions at the time. Although this approach is valuable for identifying stable traits, it cannot capture the specific brain activity involved in the moment of moral decision-making. Future studies using task-based brain scans could offer more direct evidence of the neural processes underlying this behavior.</p>
<p>Another limitation is that the sample consisted entirely of Korean university students, raising questions about the cultural generalizability of the findings. What counts as a morally acceptable decision in one cultural context might not align with group preferences elsewhere. Expanding this research to include participants from diverse backgrounds would help clarify which aspects of moral consensus are universal and which are culture-specific.</p>
<p>“Future research could explore how the relationship between interoception and moral behavior varies across cultural contexts, types of moral dilemmas, and individual differences such as self-esteem or emotion regulation,” Kim told PsyPost. “Experimental studies could investigate how interoception training affects the formation and revision of moral intuitions, as well as moral conformity.”</p>
<p>“Clinically, this work could lead to scientifically grounded and systematic interventions for individuals with social cognition impairments, such as those with autism or alexithymia. On the technical side, we hope to develop AI models that simulate interoception-based moral reasoning and wearable systems that track internal signals to support ethical decision-making.”</p>
<p>The authors noted that the tendency to align one’s moral judgments with group consensus, as observed in this study, is different from simply conforming to others’ opinions in the moment.</p>
<p>“We want to emphasize that the moral alignment tendency revealed in this study is conceptually distinct from moral conformity,” Kim explained. “Importantly, this study did not provide participants with others’ or group preferences, allowing them to freely express their own moral preferences. Another recent study (von Mohr et al., 2023) found that people with high interoceptive sensitivity were actually less susceptible to social conformity. When taken together, these findings suggest that moral intuitions, which are deeply internalized through lifelong social experiences, may resist being influenced by others’ preferences when they are in conflict.”</p>
<p>“In fact, our lab recently conducted an experiment designed to distinguish between moral alignment and moral conformity, in order to examine how interoception is associated with each. We hope to be able to share the results of this study as soon as the analysis is complete.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1114-24.2025" target="_blank">Neural Processes Linking Interoception to Moral Preferences Aligned with Group Consensus</a>,” was authored by JuYoung Kim and Hackjin Kim.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/where-you-flirt-matters-new-research-shows-setting-shapes-romantic-success/" 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;">Where you flirt matters: New research shows setting shapes romantic success</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 19th 2025, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>Where a romantic interaction takes place may significantly influence how it is received. A study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241235739" target="_blank">Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin</a></em> found that the perceived appropriateness of a setting shapes how likely people are to accept a relationship initiation attempt, regardless of who is doing the initiating or how attractive or familiar they are. Across five studies involving over a thousand participants, the researchers consistently found that settings judged as more socially appropriate for romantic advances led to higher reported likelihoods of success.</p>
<p>Generalized anxiety disorder and many psychological conditions are often studied in terms of internal traits or interpersonal dynamics. But this research shifts the focus to the physical and social environment in which interactions unfold. The authors, Katie N. Adams and Omri Gillath, sought to understand whether the setting—be it a bar, a workplace, or a funeral—could affect how people perceive romantic advances. </p>
<p>Past research has shown that context influences how behaviors are judged, but the role of setting in romantic initiation has rarely been explored systematically. The researchers aimed to fill this gap by examining not only which environments people consider appropriate for initiating romantic contact, but also how these settings interact with other factors like attractiveness, familiarity, and the nature of the proposition.</p>
<p>To begin, the researchers conducted an initial exploratory survey (Study 1a) in which 35 participants were asked to list places where they thought romantic initiations were appropriate or inappropriate. This produced a wide variety of responses, from expected places like dating apps and bars to less intuitive ones like grocery stores or public transportation. From this list, the researchers narrowed the locations down to 48 distinct settings.</p>
<p>In a follow-up study (Study 1b), another sample of 162 participants rated the appropriateness of each setting for romantic initiation on a five-point scale. This allowed the researchers to rank each location and group them into three categories: high, moderate, and low appropriateness. High-appropriateness settings included dating apps, bars, and private residences. Moderate settings included gyms, online gaming spaces, and sidewalks. Low-appropriateness settings included workplaces, doctor’s offices, and funerals.</p>
<p>The main experiment was conducted in three parts (Studies 2a–2c), each testing how the appropriateness of a setting affected the perceived success of a romantic initiation attempt. Each of these studies manipulated one additional variable alongside the setting: initiator attractiveness (Study 2a), initiator familiarity (Study 2b), and the explicitness of the romantic proposition (Study 2c). Participants were asked to imagine hypothetical scenarios in which someone approached them with a romantic interest in one of the selected settings. Then they rated how likely they would be to accept the proposition.</p>
<p>Study 2a examined the influence of initiator attractiveness. Participants were randomly assigned to read about either an attractive or unattractive person initiating contact in one of the 12 settings. Even though attractiveness increased the reported likelihood of accepting a proposition, this effect was moderated by the setting. Participants were significantly more likely to say they would respond positively to attractive initiators in high-appropriateness settings like bars, but this advantage disappeared in low-appropriateness settings like doctor’s offices or funerals.</p>
<p>Study 2b tested whether initiator familiarity played a role. Here, participants imagined being approached by either a close opposite-sex friend or a stranger. In general, familiarity had a modest influence on how initiations were received, but its effects also varied by setting. For instance, familiar initiators were rated less favorably in inappropriate settings, possibly because participants believed the initiator could have chosen a better time or place. Interestingly, women were less likely than men to respond positively to familiar initiators, possibly due to perceptions of boundary violations in friendship.</p>
<p>In Study 2c, the researchers manipulated the nature of the proposition itself. Participants read vignettes in which the initiator either invited them out to dinner (a less explicitly sexual invitation) or suggested coming over to their place (a more explicitly sexual one). Once again, setting played a consistent role. Participants were more likely to accept either type of proposition when it occurred in a high-appropriateness setting. </p>
<p>However, a significant three-way interaction between setting, proposition type, and participant gender emerged. Women showed a consistent preference for the less sexual invitation across all settings, with a steep decline in acceptance for more sexual propositions in low-appropriateness settings. Men’s responses also declined with setting inappropriateness, especially for more sexual propositions.</p>
<p>Across all three experimental studies, the perceived appropriateness of the setting emerged as a consistent predictor of initiation success, often stronger than the other variables manipulated. While attractiveness, familiarity, and proposition type did have effects, none of these factors were able to overcome the impact of being in a socially inappropriate setting.</p>
<p>The findings suggest that people use environmental cues to determine how to interpret and respond to social advances. Social scripts and cultural norms influence what kinds of behavior are considered acceptable in different locations. For example, romantic advances in a nightclub may be seen as normal, while the same approach in a doctor’s office may be perceived as intrusive or inappropriate, regardless of who initiates it.</p>
<p>One limitation of the study is its reliance on hypothetical scenarios. Participants were asked to imagine themselves in various settings and respond accordingly, which may not perfectly mirror how they would behave in real life. Additionally, the researchers used written descriptions to manipulate variables like attractiveness, which may be less effective than using photographs or other media. The participants were also predominantly recruited from a U.S. university and Amazon Mechanical Turk, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other populations or cultures.</p>
<p>Future research could address these limitations by using virtual reality to simulate more realistic social environments or by conducting observational studies in real-world settings. It could also explore other dimensions of the environment that might affect relationship initiation, such as ambient noise, crowd density, or the presence of bystanders.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241235739" target="_blank">Setting Appropriateness and Romantic Relationship Initiation Success</a>,” was published March 18, 2024.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/psychedelics-anti-anxiety-effects-can-be-separated-from-hallucinations-by-targeting-specific-brain-circuits/" 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;">Psychedelic’s anti-anxiety effects can be separated from hallucinations by targeting specific brain circuits</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 19th 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl0666"><em>Science</em></a> suggests that the anxiety-reducing effects of psychedelics can be reproduced by stimulating a specific group of brain cells, without triggering hallucination-like behaviors. In experiments with mice, researchers identified a set of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex that are activated by a psychedelic compound and linked to decreased anxiety. When these neurons were reactivated using light the next day, the mice still showed less anxiety — even though the drug was no longer present in their system and the head-twitch responses associated with psychedelic-like experiences had faded.</p>
<p>Psychedelic compounds have shown therapeutic promise for mood and anxiety disorders, especially in people who do not respond to traditional treatments. However, the hallucinogenic effects of these substances raise safety concerns and limit their widespread clinical use. While some newer compounds aim to remove the hallucinogenic effects chemically, researchers in this study pursued a different strategy: pinpointing the brain circuits responsible for the therapeutic benefit and testing whether stimulating those circuits alone could mimic the desired effects.</p>
<p>To explore this idea, the research team at the University of California, Davis administered the psychedelic compound DOI (2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine) to mice. DOI acts on serotonin receptors in the brain and has been previously shown to reduce anxiety-like behaviors in animals. The team first tracked the presence of the drug in the brain using a fluorescent biosensor that lights up when serotonin receptors are activated. They found that the drug peaked in the brain around 30 minutes after injection and was largely undetectable after four hours.</p>
<p>To measure behavior, the researchers used two standard tests: the marble burying test and the elevated plus maze. In the marble burying test, anxious mice tend to compulsively bury marbles in their bedding. In the elevated plus maze, anxious mice avoid exploring the open arms of a raised cross-shaped maze. Mice given DOI buried fewer marbles and spent more time exploring the open arms, indicating reduced anxiety. Importantly, while the hallucinogenic-like head twitch response appeared only within the first few hours after dosing, the reduction in anxiety-like behavior lasted beyond that window.</p>
<p>“It is well known that in mice, psychedelics induce reduced marble burying and promote exploration of the open arms of the plus maze,” said <a href="https://neuroscience.ucdavis.edu/people/christina-kim">Christina Kim</a>, the study’s corresponding author and an assistant professor of neurology, core member of the <a href="https://neuroscience.ucdavis.edu/">Center for Neuroscience</a>. “But there is also an intoxicating or hallucinogenic-like effect, which can be measured through head twitches in mice.”</p>
<p>The team next examined how DOI affected neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a region involved in mood and decision-making. Using a fluorescent calcium sensor and a miniature lens implanted in the brain, they monitored real-time activity in individual neurons. They found that about half of the neurons in this region increased their activity after DOI administration, while others were either unaffected or suppressed.</p>
<p>To identify the specific neurons involved in this process, the researchers used a molecular tagging tool called scFLARE2. This system allowed them to genetically label the cells that were active during a brief window following DOI administration. Later, they could reactivate just those tagged cells using optogenetics—a technique that uses light to control genetically modified cells.</p>
<p>When the researchers reactivated the DOI-tagged neurons 24 hours after the drug was given, the mice again showed reduced anxiety-like behavior in both the marble burying and elevated plus maze tests. At that point, DOI was no longer present in the brain, and the mice did not show head twitch behaviors. This indicates that the therapeutic effects could be recreated through specific circuit activation without triggering behaviors linked to hallucinogenic effects.</p>
<p>To better understand which types of neurons were involved, the team performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing on the tagged cells. They found that DOI activated a mixture of excitatory and inhibitory neurons, especially within certain layers of the prefrontal cortex. Some of the activated neurons expressed the serotonin receptor targeted by DOI, while others did not. This pattern suggests that DOI initially activates a specific subset of receptor-expressing cells, which then go on to recruit additional downstream neurons to produce behavioral effects.</p>
<p>Interestingly, when the researchers blocked serotonin receptors using an antagonist before DOI administration, they could prevent both the behavioral effects and the ability to later reactivate the anxiety-reducing response. This confirms that initial receptor activation is necessary to engage the network of cells responsible for the therapeutic effects.</p>
<p>The study also explored whether optogenetic reactivation of these cells produced any side effects similar to those seen during psychedelic exposure. The mice showed no increase in head twitch behaviors during reactivation, reinforcing the idea that the anxiety-reducing effects of the drug and its hallucinogenic effects can be separated at the circuit level.</p>
<p>“In the past, we did this using chemistry by making new compounds, but here we focused on identifying the circuits responsible for the effects, and it does seem that they are distinct,” said study co-author <a href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/biochem/faculty/olson/index.html">David E. Olson</a>, director of the <a href="https://neurotherapeutics.ucdavis.edu/">Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics</a> (IPN) and a professor of chemistry and of biochemistry and molecular medicine. “This is an important mechanistic study that validates our earlier results.”</p>
<p>While the findings offer new insights into how psychedelics work in the brain, the researchers note that their study has some limitations. The work was conducted in mice, and while the marble burying and maze tests are widely used to study anxiety, they cannot fully capture the human experience. Additionally, the tagging system used in the study only labels activated neurons and not those that are suppressed, which may also play a role in shaping behavior.</p>
<p>Another limitation is the use of DOI itself. While it shares many properties with other classical psychedelics, it is not being considered for human therapeutic use. “While DOI is a potent psychedelic, it is not being explored as a potential therapeutic drug in the clinic. Thus the findings here are focused on dissecting the basic circuit mechanisms of this important class of drugs,” Kim said.</p>
<p>The researchers suggest that different behavioral effects may arise from distinct populations of neurons, even if they are activated by the same compound. Future studies will aim to further map these circuits and determine how changes in activity, plasticity, and gene expression contribute to lasting improvements in mood and anxiety.</p>
<p>“Understanding which neural circuits psychedelics activate to elicit their effects is the kind of basic science needed to ultimately develop targeted therapeutics with better safety profiles,” Olson said.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl0666">Isolation of psychedelic-responsive neurons underlying anxiolytic behavioral states</a>,” was authored by J. Muir, S. Lin, I. K. Aarrestad, H. R. Daniels, J. Ma, L. Tian, D. E. Olson, and C. K. Kim.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-research-reveals-aging-shifts-gender-stereotypes-in-unexpected-ways/" 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 research reveals aging shifts gender stereotypes in unexpected ways</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 19th 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>People view older men and women equally, but younger and middle-aged women are seen more favorably than their male peers, according to a large meta-analysis published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000467"><em>Psychological Bulletin</em></a>.</p>
<p>Traditionally, older women have been seen as facing a “double jeopardy,” discrimination based both on their gender and their age. This perspective suggests that older women are doubly marginalized, experiencing more negative stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination than either older men or younger women.</p>
<p>However, some recent findings challenge this view, suggesting that the disadvantages tied to gender might actually lessen with age. In this newer “convergence” view, age-related changes may overshadow gender biases, leading to more equal perceptions of older men and women.</p>
<p>Angela Shakeri and Michael S. North explored these competing ideas by conducting a meta-analysis of how people view men and women at different life stages. Drawing on intersectionality theory, they compared support for the “double jeopardy” hypothesis versus the “convergence” hypothesis by examining how gender-based biases change across age groups. They also investigated whether specific attitude dimensions, such as warmth, agency, or attractiveness, differently shaped these perceptions.</p>
<p>The researchers systematically searched academic databases, dissertations, and conference proceedings to identify studies from the year 2000 onward that quantitatively measured attitudes toward younger (18-34), middle-aged (35-54), and older (55+) men and women. This meta-analysis synthesized data from 55 independent reports, encompassing 92 unique samples and a total of 37,235 participants.</p>
<p>To be included, studies had to report attitudes (e.g., stereotypes, emotional reactions, behavioral intentions) toward at least two intersecting age-gender groups (e.g., younger men vs. younger women, younger women vs. older women). Attitudes were gauged through a variety of stimuli, including written descriptions, photos, videos, audio clips, and even real-life individuals in field contexts. Participants ranged from university students to members of the general population, and target figures varied in presentation and setting (e.g., work vs. nonwork scenarios).</p>
<p>The researchers coded and categorized these studies by tagging key features such as the type of attitude measured (e.g., warmth, competence, attractiveness), study design (within- or between-subjects), and contextual variables like country and sample demographics. Attitudes were compared across different combinations of age and gender to evaluate both the overall effects and the potential moderating roles of these intersecting identities.</p>
<p>Shakeri and North found that, in general, women were viewed more positively than men, and younger and middle-aged adults were viewed more positively than older adults. However, when looking specifically at intersections of age and gender, the results revealed a more nuanced picture. Younger and middle-aged women were both rated more favorably than their male counterparts. But when it came to older adults, perceptions of women and men were virtually identical, suggesting that gender differences in attitudes tend to level out in later life. This pattern provides empirical support for what the authors call the “gender convergence effect,” where distinctions in attitudes based on gender diminish with age.</p>
<p>At the same time, evidence also supported the “double jeopardy” perspective, which posits that older women face sharper declines in social perception compared to other groups. Although older women were not rated more negatively than older men, the drop in positivity from youth to old age was significantly steeper for women than for men. For instance, the difference in attitudes between younger and older women was notably larger than the equivalent drop for men, indicating a disproportionate deterioration in how aging women are perceived.</p>
<p>Moreover, the nature of the specific attitude measured mattered. When rating traits like competence and agency, older women were viewed less favorably than other groups, even as they were perceived as highly warm. In contrast, behavioral intentions (such as willingness to interact or hire) showed a more equal pattern for older men and women, reinforcing the idea that convergence and double jeopardy can co-occur depending on the dimension of judgment. These findings underscore the importance of examining multiple facets of attitude, rather than relying on a single global measure.</p>
<p>One limitation is the lack of data from non-Western countries, which restricts the generalizability of the findings to more culturally diverse contexts.</p>
<p>The meta-analysis, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000467">The Gender Convergence Effect in Older Age: A Meta-Analytic Review Comparing Modern Attitudes Toward Younger, Middle-Aged, and Older Women and Men</a>,” was authored by Angela Shakeri and Michael S. North.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/optimistic-individuals-are-more-likely-to-respond-to-ssri-antidepressants/" 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;">Optimistic individuals are more likely to respond to SSRI antidepressants</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 19th 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A study of individuals with major depressive disorder found that those with higher levels of optimism were more likely to respond positively to treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of medications commonly prescribed for depression. However, people with depression generally reported lower optimism than their healthy peers. The study was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2024.2427577"><em>Journal of Positive Psychology</em></a>.</p>
<p>Optimism refers to a general tendency to expect positive outcomes and to believe that negative situations will improve over time. It has been associated with greater psychological well-being, in part because optimistic individuals tend to focus on solutions rather than dwell on problems. Optimism can promote resilience by encouraging proactive coping strategies and by reducing the harmful effects of stress.</p>
<p>Research has also linked optimism to healthier behaviors—such as regular physical activity and strong social relationships—which may contribute to better physical health outcomes. Optimists tend to recover more quickly from illnesses and surgeries, possibly due to lower levels of stress and inflammation. However, excessive optimism can lead to unrealistic expectations and poor risk assessment, potentially resulting in disappointment or risky decisions.</p>
<p>Lead author Ari S. Coopersmith and colleagues aimed to explore whether dispositional optimism—optimism as a stable personality trait—could predict how individuals with major depressive disorder respond to antidepressant treatment. They compared levels of optimism between individuals with depression and healthy controls, and examined whether higher optimism would be associated with better outcomes following SSRI treatment.</p>
<p>SSRIs work by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain by preventing its reabsorption. They are a widely used treatment for depression, but they are not effective for everyone. Identifying predictors of treatment response could help personalize care and improve outcomes.</p>
<p>The study included 86 unmedicated individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 65 healthy controls. About 44% of the depressed participants and 38% of the healthy participants were men. The average age across participants was approximately 37 years.</p>
<p>At the start of the study and again after eight weeks, participants completed the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) to assess optimism. Depression severity was measured using the observer-rated Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS).</p>
<p>Forty-six individuals with depression completed eight weeks of open-label SSRI treatment. The remaining 40 were assessed prior to the implementation of this treatment protocol. Medication adherence was confirmed through pill counts and plasma drug concentration tests.</p>
<p>Results showed that participants with depression had significantly lower optimism than healthy controls at baseline. Importantly, among those who received SSRIs, individuals with higher pre-treatment optimism were more likely to be classified as treatment responders—defined as experiencing at least a 50% reduction in depression symptoms. Furthermore, individuals who experienced an increase in optimism over the course of treatment were also more likely to respond positively to the medication.</p>
<p>“Our results suggest that baseline optimism and increases in optimism during treatment are associated with increased likelihood of SSRI treatment response in MDD [major depressive disorder],” the authors concluded.</p>
<p>The findings suggest that optimism may play a meaningful role in depression recovery and could serve as a psychological marker of treatment responsiveness. However, the authors note that participants were aware they were receiving antidepressant medication, which may have influenced their expectations and potentially affected treatment outcomes. This open-label design limits the ability to rule out expectancy or placebo effects.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2024.2427577">Dispositional optimism predicts antidepressant treatment response in major depressive disorder: potential relevance for positive psychology interventions</a>,” was authored by Ari S. Coopersmith, Owen M. Wolkowitz, Sindy H. Mellon, Gwyneth Wu, Ryan Rampersaud, Nicholas Hansen, Ethan G. Dutcher, Victor I. Reus, and Stefanie E. Mayer.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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