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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/mind-diet-linked-to-better-attentional-control-in-schoolchildren-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;">MIND diet linked to better attentional control in schoolchildren, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 29th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A study of schoolchildren found that children whose diets more closely resembled the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) performed better on a cognitive task measuring attentional control. In contrast, adherence to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index 2020, was not associated with cognitive performance. The paper was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-025-00318-4"><em>Journal of Cognitive Enhancement</em></a>.</p>
<p>Scientific research over the past several decades has highlighted many links between overall dietary patterns and various health and cognitive outcomes. This growing body of evidence has led researchers to propose specific dietary plans aimed at improving general health or reducing the risk of particular disorders.</p>
<p>One such diet is the MIND diet, short for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. It is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH diets (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), designed to support brain health and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The MIND diet emphasizes consuming leafy greens, berries, nuts, whole grains, olive oil, fish, and poultry while limiting red meat, butter, cheese, sweets, and fried food. Studies in adults suggest that even moderate adherence to the MIND diet is associated with slower cognitive decline. The diet is rich in antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats thought to support vascular and neural function.</p>
<p>Another framework for assessing diet quality is the Healthy Eating Index 2020 (HEI-2020). This index is used to measure how well an individual’s diet aligns with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It includes 13 components, such as intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and added sugars. A higher HEI-2020 score indicates greater adherence to these national dietary recommendations.</p>
<p>The researchers aimed to explore whether adherence to the MIND diet was associated with better performance on a cognitive task designed to assess attentional inhibition in children. Attentional inhibition is the ability to suppress distracting or irrelevant information to focus on a task. For comparison, the study also evaluated whether performance was related to HEI-2020 scores.</p>
<p>Participants were 85 children between the ages of 6 and 12, recruited from East-Central Illinois. Their average age was 10 years, and 44 of the children were girls. The children consumed an average of 1,690 kilocalories per day.</p>
<p>With the help of their parents or legal guardians, children completed detailed seven-day food diaries, listing all foods and beverages consumed and estimating portion sizes. These records were analyzed using specialized nutrition software to calculate each child’s MIND diet score and Healthy Eating Index 2020 score. </p>
<p>Children also completed a modified Eriksen flanker task, a computer-based test of attentional inhibition. In this task, five arrows appear on the screen, and participants are instructed to press a button indicating the direction of the central arrow, ignoring the surrounding arrows. The task includes congruent trials (where all arrows point the same direction) and incongruent trials (where the central arrow points in the opposite direction of the flanking arrows).</p>
<p>After adjusting for age, sex, total caloric intake, and household income, the researchers found that children with higher MIND diet adherence were more accurate on both congruent and incongruent trials. However, MIND diet scores were not associated with faster reaction times. In contrast, the Healthy Eating Index 2020 was not significantly related to either accuracy or reaction time.</p>
<p>“In school-aged children, higher adherence to the MIND diet related to greater accuracy on our attentional inhibition task. This indicates potential benefits of the MIND diet are evident in childhood. Future MIND diet interventions are needed to inform dietary recommendations for optimal cognitive function in children,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>While these findings suggest a link between brain-healthy dietary patterns and attentional performance, the study’s cross-sectional design means it cannot establish causality. Other factors not included in the analysis—such as physical activity, sleep, pubertal status, or home environment—could also influence cognitive performance.</p>
<p>The study sample also lacked socioeconomic and racial diversity, with the majority of participants being White and from households earning over $81,000 per year. As such, the findings may not be generalizable to all populations. Additionally, the dietary data were self-reported, which can be subject to error. Future studies using biological markers of diet and more diverse populations will be important in verifying these results.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-025-00318-4">MIND Diet Pattern Is Associated with Attentional Control in School‑Aged Children</a>,” was authored by Shelby A. Keye, Tori A. Holthaus, Corinne N. Cannavale, Laura M. Rosok, Emma Lamblin, Lisa Renzi‑Hammond, Hannah D. Holscher, and Naiman A. Khan.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/digital-therapy-cuts-body-image-anxiety-in-men-by-tackling-appearance-related-safety-behaviors/" 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;">Digital therapy cuts body image anxiety in men by tackling appearance-related safety behaviors</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 29th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-29597-001" target="_blank">Cognitive Behaviour Therapy</a></em> has found that appearance-related safety behaviors—such as repeatedly checking one’s appearance in the mirror, asking others for reassurance, or avoiding social situations out of fear of being judged—are not just a concern for women. These behaviors are also common in men and play a similar role in maintaining psychological distress related to appearance. But a simple digital intervention led to improvements in anxiety, eating disorder symptoms, and depression, with benefits persisting one month later.</p>
<p>While appearance concerns are central to several psychiatric conditions, including body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, and social anxiety, most interventions have focused on women. There has been limited research on how these concerns affect men and how treatment might work for them. The authors aimed to evaluate whether the psychological patterns surrounding these behaviors were consistent across gender and whether men would benefit from an appearance-focused digital intervention developed in earlier studies involving women.</p>
<p>“We have been studying appearance anxiety among women and naturally wanted to extend our work to men,” said study authors Tapan Patel, a PhD candidate, and <a href="https://psy.fsu.edu/~couglelab/" target="_blank">Professor Jesse Cougle</a>. “While anxiety around appearance may differ across gender, there is enough support in prior research to suggest that men would also likely benefit from our research in developing and testing treatments for appearance anxiety.”</p>
<p>In their first study, the researchers surveyed 840 undergraduate students to assess the presence and psychological relevance of appearance-related safety behaviors in both men and women. Participants completed a range of validated questionnaires measuring how often they engaged in these behaviors, as well as symptoms of social anxiety, depression, and disordered eating. The researchers used statistical modeling to test whether the patterns of responses to the appearance behavior scale were similar for both genders.</p>
<p>They found that men and women both engage in these safety behaviors, although women reported using them more frequently. For example, women were more likely to avoid reflective surfaces, check their body parts, and seek reassurance. However, when it came to how these behaviors related to psychological symptoms—such as anxiety, depression, and eating concerns—the pattern was nearly identical across genders. The behaviors functioned the same way in men and women, contributing to distress regardless of how often they were used.</p>
<p>“Individuals who are anxious about their appearance engage in behaviors that actually maintain their anxiety,” Patel and Cougle told PsyPost. “These can include excessive mirror checking, asking others how you look, and avoiding situations because of fear that you will be negatively evaluated due to your appearance. This research suggests that while these behaviors may differ in frequency between men and women, they do function the same.”</p>
<p>Based on this, the researchers moved to the next phase of their investigation. Their second study tested whether a smartphone-based intervention aimed at reducing appearance-related safety behaviors could help men with elevated appearance concerns. Forty men from the United States, most of whom identified as gay or bisexual, were recruited for a one-month open trial. </p>
<p>“We recruited men elevated in appearance anxiety as we anticipated they would benefit most from our treatment, but an unexpected finding was that our sample of men identified as mostly non-heterosexual,” Patel and Cougle noted. “We did not expect this to occur, but there are likely a number of reasons why this happened, such as greater emphasis on a specific type of appearance among the gay and bisexual community.”</p>
<p>Participants received daily text messages encouraging them to track and reduce behaviors like mirror checking, asking for reassurance, and avoiding situations out of fear of being judged for their appearance. Each day, participants filled out a checklist to monitor their behavior.</p>
<p>Before, during, and after the intervention, the men completed a series of questionnaires measuring their anxiety about appearance, social anxiety, depression, and disordered eating symptoms. The researchers also followed up one month after the intervention to see if any improvements were sustained.</p>
<p>After one month of behavior tracking and daily encouragement to reduce these habits, participants reported significant reductions in appearance anxiety, social anxiety, depression, and disordered eating symptoms. The improvements persisted at the one-month follow-up. In fact, men showed a greater drop in their use of appearance-related safety behaviors than a comparison group of women who had participated in a similar study. However, both groups experienced similar improvements in other psychological outcomes, suggesting that the intervention was equally effective across genders.</p>
<p>Notably, the men in this study reported fewer completions of daily checklists and had higher dropout rates than the women in the comparison study. This suggests that while the intervention can be effective for men, it may need to be adjusted to improve engagement. The researchers speculate that men might have benefited early in the process and lost interest in completing daily forms, or they may have been less motivated to complete the final assessments due to the minimal incentives provided.</p>
<p>“We tested a digital intervention that targets these behaviors among men elevated in appearance concerns and found it to be similarly effective to when we have tested it in women,” Patel and Cougle explained.</p>
<p>As with all research, there are some limitations to consider. “A major limitation of Study 1 is that it was completely comprised of college students, and a caveat of Study 2 (treatment pilot) is that attrition was high, especially when compared to women who participated in this treatment,” Patel and Cougle said.</p>
<p>Despite these caveats, the study adds important new evidence to the growing body of research on body image and mental health. It shows that appearance-related safety behaviors are a meaningful target for psychological intervention in men, not just women. It also suggests that simple, scalable treatments—such as daily text messages encouraging people to reduce these behaviors—can make a real difference in how people feel about themselves and their appearance.</p>
<p>Going forward, the researchers suggest that larger studies with more diverse samples should be conducted to explore how sexual orientation and gender identity might influence treatment outcomes. They also advocate for adapting the intervention into an app or integrating more interactive components to improve user engagement. If confirmed in randomized controlled trials, the intervention could be rolled out more broadly as a stand-alone or add-on treatment for those struggling with appearance concerns.</p>
<p>“Our long term goals are to include men in our future randomized controlled trials evaluating this treatment,” Patel and Cougle explained. “Additionally, we plan to explore ways to improve the treatment as well as continue to search for who benefits most from the treatment and how it can be tailored to help the most amount of people.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1080/16506073.2025.2516200" target="_blank">Characterizing gender differences in appearance-related safety behaviors and their relationship with clinical symptoms</a>,” was authored by Tapan A. Patel and Jesse R. Cougle.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-show-how-youre-unknowingly-sealing-yourself-in-an-information-bubble/" 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 show how you’re unknowingly sealing yourself in an information bubble</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 29th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2408175122" target="_blank">PNAS</a></em> highlights a powerful but often overlooked driver of belief polarization: the way people search for information online. Across 21 experiments involving nearly 10,000 participants, researchers found that people’s prior beliefs influence the search terms they use, and in turn, the search engines’ narrow focus on “relevance” reinforces those beliefs. Even when people aren’t actively seeking to confirm their views, the structure of traditional and AI-powered search tools can trap them in informational echo chambers. The study also shows that relatively simple changes to how search algorithms present information can help break this pattern, encouraging belief updating and broader understanding.</p>
<p>“The inspiration for this research came from a personal experience,” said study author Eugina Leung, an assistant professor of marketing at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. “I was visiting my co-author, Oleg Urminsky, at the University of Chicago. It was at the end of November, and I came down with a cold. As I was searching Google for cold medicine, I started paying close attention to the exact words I was using.” </p>
<p>“I noticed that searching for ‘cold medicine side effects’ gave me a very different, and much more alarming, set of results than searching for ‘best medicine for cold symptoms.’ It became clear how my own framing of the search was dramatically shaping the information I received, and that led us to investigate this phenomenon more systematically.”</p>
<p>The authors wanted to test whether the problem lies more in how algorithms deliver results or in the behavior of users themselves. They also wanted to know if anything could be done to reverse this pattern.</p>
<p>To do this, the researchers designed a series of experiments that examined how people search for information, how those searches affect their beliefs, and whether belief change could be promoted by changing either the user’s approach or the platform’s algorithm. Participants took part in studies involving health topics such as caffeine and food risks, as well as broader domains like energy, crime, bitcoin, gas prices, and age-related thinking ability. The studies included real-world platforms like Google, Bing, and ChatGPT, as well as custom-built search engines and AI chatbots.</p>
<p>The first set of studies focused on what the researchers call the “narrow search effect.” Participants were asked to report their beliefs on various topics and then come up with their own search terms to learn more. Coders who didn’t know what the study was about rated those search terms on a scale to determine whether they were neutral, or biased toward confirming or disconfirming the participant’s beliefs. </p>
<p>In one study, people who thought caffeine was healthy tended to search for things like “benefits of caffeine,” while those with more skeptical views searched for “caffeine dangers.” This happened across many topics, including gas prices, crime, and nuclear energy.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that these belief-driven search terms led to different search results—and that those results influenced people’s beliefs after they searched. In one experiment, participants were randomly assigned to search either “nuclear energy is good” or “nuclear energy is bad.” Because they were randomly assigned, the researchers could assume both groups started with similar average beliefs. Yet after reading the results from their assigned search terms, their beliefs shifted in opposite directions.</p>
<p>Importantly, the differences in belief didn’t just come from being told what to search. In a follow-up study, participants were shown identical search results, even though they thought the results matched their search terms. Their beliefs didn’t change, suggesting that it was the content of the search results—not the assigned terms—that shaped their opinions.</p>
<p>The team then explored whether these shifts in belief had real-world consequences. In one study, Dutch undergraduates were asked to search for either the risks or benefits of caffeine, then offered a choice between a caffeinated or decaffeinated energy drink. Those who searched for benefits were not only more positive about caffeine afterward—they were also more likely to choose the caffeinated drink.</p>
<p>“The most important takeaway is that we all create our own mini ‘echo chambers’ without even realizing it,” Leung told PsyPost. “Our existing beliefs unconsciously influence the words we type into a search bar, and because search engines are designed for relevance, they show us results that confirm our initial belief. This happens across many topics, from health to finance, and on all platforms, including Google and new AI chatbots. While telling people to do follow-up searches doesn’t fix it, our research shows that designing search algorithms to provide broader, more balanced viewpoints is a very effective solution.” </p>
<p>“Just to be clear, we believe there is value in getting narrow, hyper-relevant results in many situations. However, we propose that giving people an easy option to see broader perspectives, like a ‘Search Broadly’ button as a counterpart to Google’s ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button, would be an incredibly beneficial step toward creating a more informed society.”</p>
<p>Next, the researchers examined potential interventions. Could simply encouraging people to do more searches help? In one experiment, participants were prompted to do a second round of searching. But doing more searches didn’t help much—people stuck to their initial biases, using similar search terms that returned similarly one-sided results.</p>
<p>They also tested a cognitive nudge. Some participants were asked to consider how their beliefs might differ if they had used a different search term. This helped a little—those who thought about the potential influence of their search term beforehand showed slightly more openness to new information. But the effect was limited, and didn’t eliminate the bias.</p>
<p>The most promising results came from changing the algorithms themselves. In several studies, the researchers used a custom search engine that looked and felt like Google but showed either the user’s original search results or a mixture that included balanced perspectives. For instance, someone who typed “caffeine health benefits” might see results not only about benefits, but also about risks. These broader results consistently led to more moderate beliefs.</p>
<p>In one study involving the relationship between age and thinking ability, participants saw either results tailored to their own search or a broader set reflecting both positive and negative perspectives. Those who saw the broader information were more likely to revise their beliefs, even though they found the results just as relevant and useful.</p>
<p>The researchers extended this idea to AI chatbots as well. In one experiment, they designed two versions of a chatbot based on ChatGPT. One version gave narrow answers focused on what the user asked. The other gave broader, more balanced answers, including pros and cons. Even though both chatbots used the same base model, the one offering broader answers led to greater belief updating. People who saw the broad responses rated them as equally useful and relevant as the narrower ones.</p>
<p>“What surprised me most was how well people responded to the broadened search results,” Leung said. “There’s an assumption in the tech world that users demand hyper-relevant, narrowly-focused information, and that giving them anything else would be seen as less useful or frustrating. However, our studies consistently found that this wasn’t true.” </p>
<p>“When we gave people a more balanced set of search results or a broader AI-generated answer, they rated the information as just as useful and relevant as the people who received narrow, belief-confirming results. This is optimistic because it means platforms can potentially contribute to a more informed public without sacrificing user satisfaction.”</p>
<p>The findings also highlight the limitations of relying solely on individual self-awareness to fix the problem. Most people didn’t realize they were searching narrowly. In fact, only a small portion said they had used their search terms to confirm their beliefs. This suggests that the problem isn’t just deliberate bias—it’s a product of natural tendencies and how search platforms respond to them.</p>
<p>But as with all research, there are some caveats.</p>
<p>“It’s important to be clear about the specific conditions where this effect is most powerful,” Leung noted. “As we lay out in the paper, the ‘narrow search effect’ and the benefits of broadening search results are most likely to occur under a specific set of circumstances: First, users need to hold some kind of prior belief, even a subtle one, that influences the search terms they choose. Second, the search technology must actually provide different, narrower results depending on the direction of the query. And third, users’ beliefs on the topic must be malleable enough to be updated by the information they receive.”</p>
<p>“This means our findings may not apply in every situation. For instance, if a major news event creates a shared, prominent cue, everyone might search using the exact same term, regardless of their personal beliefs. Similarly, for topics where information is scarce or already cleaned up by the search platforms, different search terms might lead to the same balanced results anyway. And for identity-defining political beliefs, people may be highly resistant to changing their minds, no matter what information they are shown.”</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the findings point to a need for design strategies that balance relevance with informational breadth. If the default settings of our digital tools consistently show us what we already believe, belief polarization may become harder to undo.</p>
<p>“Our overarching goal is to use these insights to help design a healthier and more robust information ecosystem,” Leung explained. “We plan to pursue this in a few directions: First, we want to go deeper into the psychology of the searcher. We’re interested in understanding who is most susceptible to this effect and why. Second, we hope to figure out how to apply these principles to highly polarized topics and areas plagued by misinformation. How can we design systems that broaden perspectives without amplifying harmful or dangerous content?”</p>
<p>“Ultimately, we hope this line of research helps create a new standard for search and AI design – one that accounts for human psychology by default to create a more shared factual foundation for society.”</p>
<p>“I think it’s crucial to understand that this isn’t just about ‘filter bubbles’ being created for us by algorithms; it’s also about the echo chambers we unintentionally create ourselves through our search habits,” Leung added. “The good news is that the solution doesn’t require us to rewire our brains. Instead, we can make simple but powerful design changes to the technology we use every day. With thoughtful design, the same AI and search tools that risk reinforcing our biases can become powerful instruments for broadening our perspectives and leading to more informed decisions.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2408175122" target="_blank">The narrow search effect and how broadening search promotes belief updating</a>,” was authored by Eugina Leung and Oleg Urminsky.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/liver-health-may-influence-mental-health-via-inflammation-and-glutamate-levels/" 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;">Liver health may influence mental health via inflammation and glutamate levels</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 28th 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A study in China found that feeding mice a high-fat diet combined with fructose syrup induces neuroinflammation and anxiety-like behaviors. It also damaged their livers in ways similar to what is seen in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, injections of a natural compound called corilagin protected against these adverse changes. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-025-06820-z"><em>Psychopharmacology</em></a>.</p>
<p>Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a condition in which excess fat builds up in the liver of individuals who drink little or no alcohol. It is the most common liver disorder in industrialized countries and is often linked to obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. NAFLD ranges from simple fatty liver (steatosis) to a more severe form called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which involves inflammation and liver cell damage.</p>
<p>Over time, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis can progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis, or even liver cancer. Most people with NAFLD have no symptoms, but some may experience fatigue or discomfort in the upper right abdomen. Diagnosis is typically made through imaging tests or liver biopsy. There is currently no specific medication approved for NAFLD, so treatment focuses on weight loss, a healthy diet, and physical activity.</p>
<p>Study author Hongmei Du and her colleagues aimed to explore the relationship between liver injury caused by a high-fat, high-fructose diet and the development of anxiety-like behaviors in mice. In rodent models, anxiety-like behaviors include actions such as avoiding open areas or remaining motionless, which may indicate heightened fear or stress.</p>
<p>The study used 26 male, 8-week-old C57BL/6J mice — a commonly used inbred laboratory strain known for its genetic consistency and predictable behavior in biomedical experiments.</p>
<p>The mice were randomly assigned to three groups. One group was fed a normal diet. The second group received a high-fat diet and had free access to water containing 12.5% fructose syrup. The third group received the same high-fat, high-fructose diet, but also received intraperitoneal injections of corilagin (2.5 mg/kg) every other day.</p>
<p>Corilagin is a natural polyphenol found in several medicinal plants. It has demonstrated anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and potential anticancer effects in earlier research. In this study, its role was to test whether it could counteract the harmful effects of the high-fat, high-fructose diet.</p>
<p>In addition to these three diet-based groups, the researchers used a second model to test anxiety-like behavior. This involved four more groups of mice, where anxiety was induced using chronic social defeat stress — a method that repeatedly exposes mice to larger, aggressive counterparts over several days. This stress protocol reliably produces behaviors in mice that resemble human depression and anxiety. Of these four groups, two were subjected to chronic social defeat stress, but only one received corilagin. The other two groups served as controls — one with corilagin and one without.</p>
<p>Following the four-week treatments, the mice underwent a battery of behavioral tests designed to assess anxiety-related behaviors. After behavioral testing, the researchers euthanized the mice and analyzed tissue samples from the liver and brain.</p>
<p>Mice that received the high-fat, high-fructose diet developed anxiety-like behaviors. They also showed clear signs of liver damage, including fat accumulation and elevated levels of enzymes indicating liver cell injury. In the brain, signs of inflammation were observed in the cortex and hippocampus — regions associated with emotion and memory.</p>
<p>Mice treated with corilagin showed reduced liver damage, lower inflammation in both the liver and brain, decreased levels of glutamate (a neurotransmitter that can be toxic at high levels), and fewer anxiety-like behaviors. However, corilagin did not alleviate anxiety behaviors in the mice subjected to chronic social defeat stress, suggesting that its behavioral benefits depend on improving liver health, not direct action on the brain.</p>
<p>“This study demonstrated that HFFD [high-fat fructose diet], continued for four weeks, induced anxiety-like behavior, liver damage, and higher levels of transaminases, glutamate, and inflammation in the liver and brain, which were partially reversed by corilagin, a liver protector. These results suggest a potential therapeutic target for patients with NAFLD-induced anxiety disorders to effectively alleviate their symptoms and improve the quality of life,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study highlights a potentially important link between liver function and mental health — and suggests that dietary interventions or liver-targeted therapies could help address mood disturbances tied to metabolic diseases. However, it is important to note that the research was conducted in mice, not humans. While mouse models offer valuable insights, they do not perfectly replicate human physiology or behavior. Also, corilagin is not currently approved as a medication for use in humans.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-025-06820-z">High-fat Fructose diet induces neuroinflammation and anxiety-like behaviors by modulating liver-brain axis communication</a>,” was authored by Hongmei Du, Yuan Zhou, Jia Wang, Xianbing Bai, Borui Tao, and Ming Chen.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/sleep-helps-stitch-memories-into-cognitive-maps-according-to-new-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;">Sleep helps stitch memories into cognitive maps, according to new neuroscience breakthrough</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 28th 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sheds light on how the brain creates internal maps of space. Their research in mice reveals that while some brain cells quickly encode specific locations, it takes a broader ensemble of neurons and repeated experiences—along with sleep—to form a coherent mental map of the environment.</p>
<p>The study, published in <em><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(24)01379-2" target="_blank">Cell Reports</a></em>, supports the idea that cognitive maps are built through a gradual process involving not just specialized “place cells” in the hippocampus, but also a group of neurons that initially respond only weakly to specific locations. Over several days of exploration and sleep, these weakly tuned neurons begin to work together with place cells, forming coordinated patterns that reflect the layout of an environment.</p>
<p>The researchers were interested in a longstanding question in neuroscience: How does the brain go from recognizing individual places to constructing a complete internal map? Since the 1970s, scientists have known that certain hippocampal neurons fire when an animal is in a specific location. But a map requires more than isolated waypoints—it needs a network that connects them. Psychologist Edward Tolman first proposed the idea of cognitive maps in 1948, and while the discovery of place cells supported his theory, the exact process by which the brain links individual locations into a full map remained poorly understood.</p>
<p>“I’m interested in this project because how memory is formed in the brain is one of the most fundamental questions in neuroscience,” said study author Wei Guo, a research scientist at the Picower Institute of Learning and Memory, working under the supervision of Professor Matthew Wilson.</p>
<p>To investigate, the team used mice that freely explored unfamiliar mazes over several days. Importantly, the animals did not receive rewards or punishments in the mazes, allowing the researchers to study how the brain learns spatial layouts without reinforcement. The focus was on a form of passive learning known as latent learning, where knowledge is acquired without immediate behavioral changes.</p>
<p>To track brain activity, the researchers used advanced calcium imaging. They genetically modified hippocampal neurons to produce a fluorescent protein that signals activity, and implanted tiny lenses and microscopes into the mice’s brains. This setup allowed them to record activity from hundreds of neurons in the hippocampus while the mice explored the mazes or rested in their home cages.</p>
<p>Using a technique called manifold learning, the researchers created simplified visual representations of neural activity patterns over time. On the first day in a maze, each neuron had its own spatial firing pattern, but the ensemble of neurons did not yet form a recognizable map. By day five, however, the overall neural activity could be organized into a low-dimensional shape—called a “neural manifold”—that resembled the structure of the maze. This shift showed that over time, the brain began to represent the entire environment, not just individual spots.</p>
<p>The researchers found that this transformation was especially dependent on sleep. In one part of the study, mice explored the maze twice in one day, with a three-hour break in between. Some mice were allowed to sleep during the break, while others were gently kept awake. Only the sleeping mice showed improvements in how well their neural activity matched the maze layout. This indicated that sleep helped reorganize the hippocampal neural patterns into a more coherent map.</p>
<p>To understand what was changing in the brain, the researchers focused on two types of neurons. Some neurons, called strongly spatial cells, had clear place fields—they reliably fired when the mouse visited specific parts of the maze, even from the first session. These cells remained stable across days and did not significantly change their behavior during learning. In contrast, weakly spatial cells had less defined firing patterns early on but gradually increased their spatial tuning over time. More importantly, these weakly tuned cells became more coordinated with the rest of the neural network, particularly during sleep.</p>
<p>The researchers measured each neuron’s “mental field”—how its activity related not to physical space, but to the broader neural state. This helped them identify which neurons were becoming more integrated into the ensemble. They found that weakly spatial neurons, even if they never became strong place cells, played a key role in shaping the overall structure of the cognitive map. These cells developed correlations with other neurons, contributing to a network that could represent not just isolated locations but the relationships between them.</p>
<p>When the researchers tried to reconstruct the neural map using only the strong place cells, the resulting patterns showed little change over time. Only when they included the weakly spatial neurons did the full map-like structure emerge. This suggests that while place cells provide the building blocks, it’s the subtle and often-overlooked shifts in less specialized neurons that help assemble the full mental picture.</p>
<p>The study points to a broader role for weakly tuned neurons in learning. Rather than being noise or irrelevant, these cells help the brain build flexible, interconnected representations. They appear to respond not just to places, but to combinations of activity across the network. Over time, their activity becomes more synchronized with the rest of the ensemble, helping to stitch together a map of the environment.</p>
<p>“I was surprised that a subset of previously overlooked neurons that had weak activity turned out to be pivotal to memory formation,” Guo told PsyPost.</p>
<p>Sleep appeared to amplify this process. During rest after maze exploration, neural activity patterns resembled those seen during navigation, a phenomenon known as replay. This replay likely helps the brain reinforce connections between different places. The researchers found that after sleep, neural states during rest were more similar to those during maze runs, suggesting that the brain was using sleep to reinforce and refine the map.</p>
<p>This work supports the idea that memory formation is not limited to fast, discrete events. It often involves slower, distributed changes that rely on experience and sleep. The findings also highlight that “sleep is very important in transforming your experience into memory,” Guo said.</p>
<p>As with all research, the study has some limitations. The researchers relied on calcium imaging, which offers slower and less precise readings than direct electrical recordings. Their recordings were also limited to one part of the hippocampus and did not include other brain areas that may contribute to spatial memory. </p>
<p>Looking forward, Guo plans “to further investigate the local circuit in the hippocampus as well as their interactions with other brain regions during memory formation.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115028" target="_blank">Latent learning drives sleep-dependent plasticity in distinct CA1 subpopulations</a>,” was authored by Wei Guo, Jie J. Zhang, Jonathan P. Newman, and Matthew A. Wilson.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/radical-leaders-inspire-stronger-devotion-because-they-make-followers-feel-significant-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;">Radical leaders inspire stronger devotion because they make followers feel significant, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 28th 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>People are more likely to throw their support behind radical political leaders than moderate ones—not just because of their ideas, but because those ideas make followers feel like they matter. A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3090" target="_blank">European Journal of Social Psychology</a></em> finds that when people see a political figure as advocating bold or revolutionary goals, they are more motivated to campaign for them, make sacrifices, and stay engaged. This motivation comes from a psychological payoff: a stronger sense of personal significance.</p>
<p>The researchers behind the study wanted to understand why people are drawn to political leaders who push for major change, even when their ideas may seem extreme or unlikely to succeed. Past research has shown that people are motivated by a desire to feel meaningful and important, a concept known in psychology as the quest for personal significance. The authors proposed that radical leaders tap into this need by presenting a cause that feels more urgent and transformative, which in turn makes followers feel like their actions matter more. In contrast, moderate leaders, while often pragmatic, might not offer the same emotional reward.</p>
<p>To test this theory, the researchers conducted five studies involving more than 2,100 participants. Three of these were run in the United States across different phases of the 2016 presidential election, one focused on the Democratic primaries in 2020, and a final experiment took place during the 2023 Polish parliamentary election. Across all five studies, the researchers examined whether the perception of a leader as radical would increase the importance of the leader’s goals to the voter, heighten feelings of personal significance, and boost willingness to take action or make sacrifices.</p>
<p>In the first study, conducted in March 2016, 307 supporters of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump were surveyed. Participants rated how radical they believed their candidate to be, listed the values they thought their candidate stood for, and indicated how important those values were to them personally. They also rated how supporting the candidate made them feel—whether it made them feel proud or significant—and how likely they were to take activist steps like attending events or volunteering. </p>
<p>The results showed that the more radical a candidate was perceived to be, the more personally important their goals seemed to supporters. This, in turn, made people feel more significant and led to stronger activist intentions and greater willingness to make personal sacrifices.</p>
<p>Two more studies replicated this model. One was conducted in June 2016, after Bernie Sanders had exited the race, and another in the week following the general election in November. Despite Sanders’ defeat, his supporters still reported strong feelings of significance and were willing to make sacrifices for his goals. These results suggest that commitment to a leader’s ideas can persist even after political setbacks, particularly when those ideas feel personally meaningful.</p>
<p>The fourth study was conducted during the 2020 Democratic primaries and involved 551 participants who supported one of four candidates: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, or Bernie Sanders. Unlike previous studies, this one asked participants to rate all four candidates, not just their preferred one. This design allowed the researchers to compare how voters perceived candidates who were considered more moderate (Biden and Buttigieg) versus those seen as more radical (Sanders and Warren). </p>
<p>Once again, perceiving a candidate as more radical predicted greater importance placed on their goals and more personal significance. These, in turn, predicted greater activist intentions. Interestingly, the pattern held even among moderate candidates—when they were seen as more radical by their supporters, they received a similar boost in engagement.</p>
<p>However, the researchers also found that the effect of perceived radicalism varied depending on who the voter was. Among voters with more radical political leanings, perceiving any candidate as radical led to increased support, regardless of whether the candidate was objectively radical. Among more moderate voters, this effect was weaker and only held for moderate candidates. In other words, for moderate voters, seeing a radical candidate did not boost motivation as much.</p>
<p>The final study took place in Poland and used an experimental design. Instead of measuring how radical participants perceived their chosen party to be, the researchers manipulated that perception. Over 500 Polish participants were randomly assigned to read a fictional news article that described their preferred political party as either radical or moderate. Those in the radical condition were told their party supported bold, revolutionary reforms, while the moderate group read that their party favored more gradual change. After reading the article, participants answered questions about how important their party’s goals were to them, how much personal significance they gained from supporting the party, and how willing they were to take activist steps or make sacrifices.</p>
<p>The results showed that portraying a political party as more radical increased perceived importance of its goals, increased personal significance, and boosted activist intentions and self-sacrifice. However, it did not significantly affect whether participants actually chose to engage in a behavioral task designed to help their party. </p>
<p>The researchers also noted that many participants in the moderate condition misremembered or misreported what they had read, claiming that their party was described as radical when it was not. This suggests that people may resist labeling their party as moderate if doing so undermines their personal investment in its cause. These misperceptions themselves supported the study’s main point: people feel more connected and willing to act when they believe their party or leader represents a bold and meaningful vision.</p>
<p>Taken together, the five studies support a consistent pattern. Political figures who are seen as advocating radical change inspire greater personal commitment from their followers, and that commitment is tied to a psychological sense of meaning and purpose. The perception of radicalism helps make the leader’s goals feel more important, and this in turn helps followers feel more significant, increasing their willingness to engage and even make personal sacrifices.</p>
<p>But the research has some important limitations. Most of the studies were correlational, meaning the researchers could not conclusively prove that perceived radicalism causes greater engagement. Only the final study used an experimental design, and even that was complicated by unexpected participant responses. The researchers acknowledge that the direction of influence could go both ways—people who already feel deeply invested in a party may be more likely to perceive it as radical, or may simply resist seeing it as moderate.</p>
<p>Another limitation is that the studies focused on specific elections in the United States and Poland, with most participants only rating their preferred candidates. Broader research is needed to see whether the same psychological dynamics apply in different countries or political systems, or in non-electoral contexts like activism or social movements.</p>
<p>Future studies could also compare this personal significance model with group-based explanations, such as social identity theory, which emphasizes shared group norms and belonging. It’s possible that radical leaders not only make followers feel individually meaningful but also heighten a sense of collective identity and purpose. Another promising line of inquiry could be identity fusion—the intense alignment between personal and group identity—which may be especially strong when followers see their values reflected in a radical leader’s message.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3090" target="_blank">Motivational underpinnings of support for radical political leaders</a>,” was authored by Joanna Grzymala-Moszczynska, Marta Maj, Marta Szastok, Arie Kruglanski, and Katarzyna Jasko.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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