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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/cortical-thickness-in-serotonin-linked-brain-regions-tied-to-psychological-problems-in-children/" 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;">Cortical thickness in serotonin-linked brain regions tied to psychological problems in children</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 12th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2025.103851" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NeuroImage: Clinical</a></em> has found that behavioral and emotional problems in children are linked to differences in the structure of brain regions associated with serotonin. The researchers found that 10-year-olds who reported more symptoms of attention, emotional, or externalizing difficulties tended to show altered brain morphology in serotonin-rich areas, especially in terms of cortical thickness and surface area. These findings suggest that aspects of brain development related to the serotonin system may contribute to early signs of psychological vulnerability.</p>
<p>Serotonin, often referred to as 5-HT, is a chemical messenger involved in regulating mood, attention, and emotional behavior. But its role begins long before those functions emerge. During early development, serotonin helps organize how the brain is wired. It guides processes such as cell growth, migration, and the formation of synapses—the connections between brain cells. Because it is widely distributed and acts on many types of receptors, serotonin influences a range of other neurotransmitter systems, including dopamine and GABA.</p>
<p>Importantly, the serotonin system is still maturing during childhood and adolescence. Shifts in serotonin receptors and transporters across brain regions during this period are thought to influence how circuits for emotion and behavior develop. If these systems are disrupted—by genetic variation or environmental stress—they may contribute to the emergence of psychiatric symptoms.</p>
<p>The new study was conducted by a research team led by Dogukan Koc and colleagues from Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Their aim was to clarify whether the shape and size of brain regions that are especially influenced by serotonin are linked to behavioral problems in children. They used an advanced atlas of serotonin-related brain areas derived from adult brain imaging studies and applied it to brain scans from a large pediatric sample.</p>
<p>“Adolescence is a sensitive window for mental health, yet we still know little about how brain biology contributes to behavioral difficulties during this period,” explained Koc, a PhD candidate. “Serotonin – a chemical that helps regulate mood, anxiety, and orchestrates early brain development – is a major target for psychiatric treatments. Yet, no one had examined how serotonin-related brain structures, such as serotonin-enriched cortical regions, develop in children in a large population.”</p>
<p>“When a new brain map of serotonin (called the NRU 5-HT Atlas) became available, it gave us the unique opportunity to bridge molecular neuroscience with large-scale imaging in children. Then we could ask if brain regions, which are particularly subserved by serotonergic innervation, also appear critical for emotional function and behavior in children.”</p>
<p>The research used data from 2,492 children participating in the Generation R Study, a long-running birth cohort based in Rotterdam. At age 10, the children underwent structural MRI scans and completed a questionnaire about their behavioral and emotional experiences. The questionnaire assessed internalizing problems (such as sadness and anxiety), externalizing problems (such as aggression), and attention difficulties.</p>
<p>To investigate serotonin-related brain morphology, the researchers used the NRU 5-HT Atlas, a parcellation map that defines brain regions according to their density of serotonin transporters and receptors. This atlas was originally developed using positron emission tomography (PET) scans in adults, allowing the researchers to examine 10 distinct brain regions with different serotonin profiles.</p>
<p>The team measured two aspects of brain structure in serotonin-coupled regions: cortical surface area and cortical thickness. Cortical surface area refers to the overall size of the brain’s outer layer, or cortex, which expands as the brain grows during early development. In contrast, cortical thickness measures the depth of the cortex from the surface to the underlying white matter.</p>
<p>Their primary analysis focused on surface area. After adjusting for differences in head size, they found that children who reported more total behavioral problems tended to have smaller cortical surface area in two brain regions: Region 9, which includes parts of the temporal lobe and shows relative enrichment for 5-HT1A receptors, and Region 10, which includes parietal areas. Smaller surface area in these regions was also linked to more externalizing and attention problems.</p>
<p>In a secondary analysis, the researchers looked at cortical thickness. Here, they found that children who reported more total, internalizing, and attention problems had thicker cortex in Region 2, which includes parts of the insula and temporal cortex and is enriched with serotonin transporters (5-HTT). This association remained statistically significant even after controlling for a range of confounding factors, including socioeconomic background, parental mental health, and the child’s IQ.</p>
<p>“One finding really stood out,” Koc told PsyPost. “We expected that smaller brain regions would relate to more problems, but instead, we also observed that a thicker cortex in serotonin-linked brain areas was related to more emotional and attention problems. This suggests that it is not only about slower growth, but it could also be about a delayed brain maturation and functional organization known to be reflected by cortical thinning.”</p>
<p>To further investigate the role of 5-HTT, the team turned to an independent adult sample (n = 100) from the Cimbi neuroimaging database in Denmark. This dataset included both structural MRI and PET imaging of 5-HTT availability. They found that individuals with lower 5-HTT availability in Region 2 tended to have a thicker cortex in that region, mirroring the pattern seen in the children with more reported behavioral problems.</p>
<p>Overall, these findings suggest that specific serotonin-linked features of brain morphology—not just global brain size—may help explain individual differences in behavioral and emotional functioning during a critical window of development.</p>
<p>“We discovered that serotonin-related brain architecture is meaningfully linked to emotional and behavioral problems in early adolescence,” Koc explained. “Specifically, children with a smaller surface area in serotonin-related brain areas showed more outward behavioral problems and trouble focusing (i.e. externalizing and attention problems). On the other hand, children with thicker brain serotonin-related regions showed more inward emotional struggles (i.e. internalizing problems like anxiety or sadness) and also attention problems.</p>
<p>“To verify these results, we saw similar patterns in adults, which suggest that serotonin-related brain features might help explain why some children are more vulnerable for behavioral and emotional difficulties.”</p>
<p>While the study offers new insight into how serotonin-related brain structure may be involved in emotional and behavioral problems, there are still some limitations. One of the most important limitations is that the study is cross-sectional. This means the researchers could not determine whether differences in brain structure caused the behavioral problems, or if the difficulties experienced by the children had effects on the brain.</p>
<p>Another consideration is that the serotonin atlas used in the study was developed using adult brains. While it provides a detailed map of serotonin receptor and transporter distribution, it may not fully reflect the developmental changes taking place in the pediatric brain. Applying adult-based templates to children’s brains introduces some uncertainty, especially when trying to draw conclusions about neurotransmitter systems that are themselves still maturing.</p>
<p>The authors acknowledge these limitations and emphasize the need for longitudinal research. “We plan to follow these children over time to see how serotonin-related brain structures change as they grow and enter adolescence and whether the changes can predict later mental health outcomes,” Koc said. “Ultimately, we want to combine insights from genetics, environment, and neurotransmitter biology to better understand why some children develop psychiatric problems while others remain resilient. Ideally, this may inform preventive strategies and treatments that best optimize children’s development and mental health.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2025.103851" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associations of serotonin-related brain morphology in early adolescence with behavioral and emotional problems</a>,” was authored by Dogukan Koc, Martin Nørgaard, Melanie Ganz, Ryan L. Muetzel, Hanan El Marroun, Henning Tiemeier, and Vibe G. Frokjaer.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/study-finds-video-gaming-during-covid-19-had-little-impact-on-mental-health/" 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;">Study finds video gaming during COVID-19 had little impact on mental health</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 12th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new meta-analysis published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05581-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a></em> suggests that while people spent slightly more time playing video games during the COVID-19 pandemic, this increase was not meaningfully associated with changes in mental health. The findings are based on data from over tens of thousands of participants and indicate that concerns about gaming being a widespread risk to psychological well-being during lockdowns may have been overstated. At the same time, the results do not support the idea that more gaming led to mental health benefits either.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic led to sweeping lifestyle changes, including restrictions on in-person social interactions. Video gaming was often promoted as a safe form of entertainment that could help people stay connected and cope with stress. But some experts expressed concern that the rise in gaming might fuel problematic use and mental health problems.</p>
<p>Reports emerged of individuals playing for excessively long hours, raising questions about whether increased screen time was contributing to anxiety, depression, or other forms of psychological distress. Prior research offered mixed findings, with some studies suggesting that gaming could provide stress relief and emotional support, while others raised flags about overuse and potential harm.</p>
<p>“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, video gaming was often criticized. Most stakeholders highlighted potential harms, such as gaming addiction, aggression, and social isolation. As a researcher focused on the positive aspects of digital media, I was struck by how the discourse shifted during the pandemic,” said study author <a href="http://lukaszkaczmarek.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Łukasz Kaczmarek</a>, a professor at Adam Mickiewicz University, where he heads the Social Psychology Center, the founder of the Psychophysiology Laboratory: Gaming & Streaming.</p>
<p>“Within weeks, video gaming was widely recommended as an at- home activity with possible benefits. The World Health Organization (WHO) promoted active video game use for exercise (#HealthyAtHome). The WHO’s #PlayApartTogether initiative disseminated ‘stay-at-home’ messages through popular games. Early findings published during the pandemic also suggested that gaming might support well-being. At the same time, other experts, including the WHO, expressed concern that increased playtime could do more harm than good. There were worrying reports of individuals escalating from 2 to 14 hours of daily play, thereby increasing the risk of gaming disorder.”</p>
<p>“Consequently, we saw a need for a broad synthesis of the findings documented in the scientific literature, so that we can evaluate the role of gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focused on gaming time because it is a behavioral metric frequently addressed by parents, industry, and policymakers. Moreover, it is the most commonly reported measure across studies, enabling a more comprehensive and robust meta-analysis.”</p>
<p>The researchers reviewed studies published between March 2020 and December 2021 that reported on both gaming time and mental health indicators. They searched multiple academic databases and contacted dozens of researchers for unpublished data, ultimately including 17 studies that compared gaming time before and during the pandemic and 22 studies that analyzed the relationship between gaming time and mental health. In total, their analysis covered data from 37,778 participants.</p>
<p>The team focused on both positive mental health indicators—such as happiness, relaxation, and positive affect—and negative indicators, including stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness. They also conducted moderator analyses to determine whether factors like geographic region or type of mental health measure influenced the results.</p>
<p>The results indicated a modest but statistically significant increase in gaming time during the COVID-19 pandemic (with an average effect size of d = 0.26). This suggests that people played more, but not dramatically more. The prediction intervals were wide, meaning some studies found notable increases while others did not.</p>
<p>“Average increases in gaming time were small,” Kaczmarek told PsyPost. “The scientific literature indicates a more modest change than some industry reports suggest. This could result from gaming platforms’ limited ability to distinguish accurately whether a game account is being used by the primary user or by their children. Thus, the narratives around video gaming time during the pandemic might have been overstated.”</p>
<p>“My intuition was that increases in gaming time would be substantial. However, this was not the case. One possibility is that there was greater competition for access to electronic devices when all family members were at home, some of whom were teleworking. Another is that individuals and families found more attractive ways of spending time together that competed successfully with gaming, such as cooking or gardening. There may be many alternative explanations.”</p>
<p>When the researchers examined the link between gaming time and mental health, they found no significant association. The overall correlation was r = −0.03, which is close to zero. In other words, people who played more games during the pandemic were not significantly more likely to experience better or worse mental health than those who played less.</p>
<p>Even when broken down into positive and negative mental health indicators, the differences remained negligible. The researchers also tested for several potential moderators, including participant age, region, type of mental health measure, and data collection timing. None of these significantly altered the core finding: gaming time had no meaningful association with well-being or distress.</p>
<p>“There is no clear evidence that time spent gaming, by itself, either helped or harmed mental health during the pandemic,” Kaczmarek explained. “On average, gaming time was not associated with negative indicators (e.g., depression, anxiety) or positive indicators (e.g., positive affect, happiness). At both high and low levels of mental health, some individuals played a lot and others played very little. This suggests that gaming time alone is unlikely to be the primary factor associated with mental health. Other parameters may matter more. For example, several studies point not to time but timing – when people play, so that sleep patterns remain intact.”</p>
<p>There were a few exceptions. For instance, people in Asia showed a slightly stronger negative association between gaming time and well-being, and gaming time was more weakly linked to measures of psychological distress than to measures of positive well-being. But even these effects were small and likely of limited practical significance.</p>
<p>The authors suggest that much of the concern around gaming during the pandemic may have been based on anecdotes or extreme cases rather than representative trends. Similarly, the belief that gaming broadly improved well-being may stem from subjective impressions rather than consistent data.</p>
<p>“There were so many striking reports showing evidence of the positive impact of games on mental health during the pandemic that I was surprised to see no association in the aggregated data,” Kaczmarek said. “Perhaps mass media selectively showed positive evidence more often.”</p>
<p>There are limitations to note. Most of the included studies relied on self-reported gaming time and mental health, which can be influenced by memory biases and social desirability. The analysis also focused on average changes, which may obscure meaningful shifts in specific subgroups. For example, people who were already struggling with mental health issues before the pandemic may have been more affected by changes in gaming behavior than others.</p>
<p>In addition, the researchers could not account for people who began gaming for the first time during the pandemic. Games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Among Us surged in popularity and attracted many new players. These individuals may have had different experiences than regular gamers, but the data did not separate them out.</p>
<p>Future research could explore not just how much people play, but why and how they play. Measuring motivation, context, and quality of gaming experiences may provide a fuller picture of gaming’s role in mental health. The researchers also advocate for more longitudinal studies and for the inclusion of both positive and negative mental health measures in future work.</p>
<p>“We hope this publication will be a call to action for many researchers studying video gaming and mental health,” Kaczmarek said. “We observed recurring gaps in research designs. There is a need for more comprehensive research programs on gaming and mental health during pandemics or lockdowns. For instance, gaming time and timing should be measured in relation to mental health.”</p>
<p>“Moreover, researchers concerned with negative mental health metrics could also control for positive metrics as part of a standardized approach, and vice versa. This is important because positive and negative metrics of mental health are not redundant. Both are informative and are influenced differently by life opportunities and challenges. Such programs should start as soon as possible and be maintained between crises so that baseline data are available when future events occur. Finally, as new empirical data become available, we hope to have even more material for further analyses that will revise the outcomes or increase confidence in them, and provide new insights.</p>
<p>“I previously mentioned that many individuals overestimate the risks of video gaming,” Kaczmarek added. “Paradoxically, this increased alertness may be a desirable state even if the vast majority of the population, in fact, benefits from video gaming. Most likely, this motivates individuals to be more observant regarding the development of negative symptomatology and to adjust their gaming behavior so that it fosters their mental health. I hope our findings will encourage readers to be more observant of their gaming activity and mental health and to game more thoughtfully, rather than taking these issues lightly.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05581-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Video game play and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: a meta-analysis of global findings</a>,” was authored by Łukasz D. Kaczmarek, Patrycja Chwiłkowska, Maciej Behnke, and Dariusz Drążkowski.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/evolutionary-psychology-reveals-patterns-in-mass-murder-motivations-across-life-stages/" 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;">Evolutionary psychology reveals patterns in mass murder motivations across life stages</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 12th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new systematic review published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-025-00443-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evolutionary Psychological Science</a></em> suggests that the life stage of a mass murderer plays a significant role in shaping their motivations, stressors, and target selection. While younger perpetrators are often driven by chronic social rejection and status deprivation, older offenders are more likely to be reacting to acute life disruptions. By applying evolutionary theory, the authors propose that these acts of violence may reflect exaggerated responses to perceived threats to social status and control.</p>
<p>Mass murder is a rare but profoundly traumatic phenomenon. Although psychological and criminological research has documented many of the immediate precursors to these acts, the underlying question of why certain individuals respond to stress in violent ways remains open. The researchers behind this study aimed to address that question by integrating evolutionary perspectives, particularly Life History Theory and models of male competition, into existing frameworks.</p>
<p>This theoretical approach suggests that behaviors related to status, aggression, and reproductive strategy have been shaped by ancestral pressures and continue to influence modern behavior. While the authors emphasize that evolutionary theory does not justify or excuse violence, it may help explain why certain recurring patterns emerge in different types of offenders.</p>
<p>“I’ve been studying mass violence for the past five years, driven by its devastating impact not just on direct victims, but on entire communities and social systems,” explained study author <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-minihane-a11a9b172/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keith Minihane</a>, a PhD researcher in applied psychology, at University College Cork.</p>
<p>“Despite the attention mass murder receives, there’s still limited understanding of how offenders differ by life stage, and almost no work that systematically examines these differences through an evolutionary lens. This project emerged from that gap. We wanted to know: why do these crimes cluster in late adolescence and middle age, and what might that tell us about the underlying psychological processes at work?”</p>
<p>To identify recurring psychological stressors among mass murderers, the researchers conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed empirical studies. They searched four major academic databases, along with a manual search, identifying a total of 634 papers. After screening for relevance and applying strict inclusion criteria, 20 studies were included in the final synthesis. These studies all directly examined the motivations, stressors, and behavioral patterns of individuals who had committed mass murder, familicide, or school shootings, excluding ideologically motivated or politically driven cases.</p>
<p>One of the most striking findings was a bimodal age distribution among mass murderers. Offenders tended to cluster in either late adolescence or middle age, with each group displaying distinct behavioral patterns, motivations, and stress responses.</p>
<p>Younger offenders, including school shooters and public mass murderers, were often characterized by a history of social rejection. This included experiences of bullying, exclusion, and romantic failure. In many cases, violence was preceded by a long buildup of grievance, during which the offender internalized a sense of humiliation or insignificance. These individuals often left behind manifestos, videos, or social media posts expressing a desire for revenge or recognition. Some appeared to view mass violence as a way to assert dominance or gain notoriety, particularly after being denied social status during a key developmental period.</p>
<p>In contrast, older offenders were more likely to commit acts of familicide, often killing their partners and children before taking their own lives. These acts were frequently preceded by acute life crises, such as financial collapse, divorce, or job loss. In many cases, the offenders framed their violence as a protective or “compassionate” act—attempting to “rescue” their families from a perceived future of hardship. While the reasoning may appear twisted, the researchers suggest that these actions may reflect a distortion of evolved caregiving mechanisms under extreme stress.</p>
<p>What was particularly surprising was the consistency of these findings, Minihane said. “Younger offenders were often driven by chronic rejection, humiliation, or identity struggles, while older offenders were more likely facing acute crises like divorce, job loss, or financial collapse. These themes emerged repeatedly. Different life stages, different stressors, but both converged on violence as a perceived solution to social failure.”</p>
<p>Across both age groups, revenge was a consistently reported motivation. Whether directed at peers, romantic partners, employers, or family members, many mass murderers appeared to view their actions as a form of retaliation. This was especially true among younger offenders, who often blamed classmates or society for their perceived failures. The researchers point to evolutionary models of status competition and risk-taking to explain why some young men may be especially prone to respond violently to rejection or humiliation.</p>
<p>While younger offenders often survived their attacks, older perpetrators were significantly more likely to die by suicide. Suicide rates were especially high among those who committed familicide. These older offenders appeared to view violence as a final response to what they saw as irreversible status loss or existential failure. Rather than seeking fame or recognition, they often acted in private and left behind notes expressing despair, guilt, or hopelessness.</p>
<p>The review also noted clear sex differences. Mass murder is overwhelmingly committed by men. Women who do commit mass killings often act in domestic settings and tend to target family members using less direct means, such as poisoning or arson. Female perpetrators were also more likely to report motives tied to perceived altruism rather than revenge or dominance. These differences suggest that gendered patterns in violence may reflect underlying psychological and social distinctions shaped by both evolutionary and cultural factors.</p>
<p>“Mass murder is seldom a sudden or random act; it is well planned, sometimes for years,” Minihane told PsyPost. “It’s rarely the result of a mental health crisis in the way people often assume. In fact, people with mental health difficulties are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. Stigmatizing them only distracts from the real social and psychological dynamics we need to address, these dynamics include social stress, rejection, and perceived status loss. These pressures tap into deep-rooted psychological systems evolved to monitor threats to social standing and identity. That’s important, because it helps us move beyond reactive explanations and toward proactive ways of identifying and interrupting pathways to violence.”</p>
<p>The review also highlights key limitations in the current research landscape. Definitions of mass murder vary across studies, with some setting the threshold at three victims and others at four. This inconsistency can affect who gets included in analyses and may obscure meaningful comparisons across subtypes.</p>
<p>The researchers also acknowledge that the focus on peer-reviewed, English-language studies introduces potential selection bias. While the review includes international cases, much of the available research is based in Western contexts. A broader global dataset would allow for more culturally nuanced comparisons. The authors call for the development of a standardized international mass murder database to enable such analysis.</p>
<p>The authors also emphasize that evolutionary theory is not a replacement for existing models of violence but a complementary tool to help understand consistent patterns.</p>
<p>“Evolutionary psychology is only one lens,” Minihane said. “Other perspectives such as feminist theory (mass murder is overwhelmingly carried out by males), and sociological and criminological approaches, are vital. Our goal isn’t to replace those theories, but to augment them with a broader framework that highlights how age and life-history pressures shape responses to stress. Methodological considerations include our strict inclusion criteria, and, although worldwide studies were included, the literature still mainly focuses on western based offenders.</p>
<p>“This paper is part of a larger effort to build a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework for exploring extreme violence. One path we’re pursuing now focuses on ‘legacy tokens,’ manifestos, suicide notes, or online posts that reveal how offenders want to be remembered. As we recently saw with the case of Robin Westman, the publication of legacy tokens remains a crucial dimension of mass violence today. Our initial research into this topic revealed significant differences between how those in late adolescence and their early 20s conceptualize their violence as compared with middle aged offenders. This research was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-025-09739-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published earlier this year</a> in the <em>Journal of Criminal and Police Psychology</em> and offers an initial step in outlining how offenders narrativize their violence.”</p>
<p>“The key point, and I really want to stress this, is that evolutionary psychology does not excuse violence, nor does it offer a singular, explanatory framework,” Minihane added. “Instead, it helps explain why certain patterns emerge when evolved minds encounter modern stressors. By better understanding the distinct trajectories of younger and older offenders, we can improve focused risk assessment, identify warning signs earlier, and ultimately work toward prevention.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-025-00443-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Bimodal Age Distribution of Mass Murder: a Systematic Review Using Evolutionary and Life History Perspectives</a>,” was authored by Keith Minihane, Maria Dempsey, and Robert King.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/the-origin-of-the-mental-number-line-may-be-biological-not-cultural-according-to-a-new-study/" 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;">The origin of the mental number line may be biological, not cultural, according to a new study</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 11th 2025, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study has found that a chick’s ability to mentally organize numbers along a line from left to right is not learned but is instead a direct result of brain specialization that occurs before hatching. Researchers found that exposing chick eggs to light in the final days of incubation causes the two hemispheres of the brain to develop distinct functions, which in turn establishes an innate tendency for the chicks to count from left to right.</p>
<p>For many years, scientists and philosophers have debated the origins of the “mental number line,” a common intuition where people visualize smaller numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right. The prevailing theory suggested this was a cultural artifact, learned through years of reading and writing in a left-to-right direction. </p>
<p>However, this idea has been challenged by findings that pre-verbal infants and even some animals exhibit a similar spatial bias for numbers, suggesting a deeper, biological foundation. Researchers have hypothesized that this foundation lies in brain lateralization, the process where the left and right hemispheres of the brain become specialized for different cognitive tasks. While this connection seemed plausible, there was little direct experimental evidence to confirm that brain specialization actually causes this numerical mapping.</p>
<p>To investigate this connection, a team of researchers turned to the domestic chick, a model animal that allows for direct manipulation of brain development. In birds, brain lateralization is heavily influenced by a simple environmental factor: light. During the last few days of incubation, a chick embryo is positioned inside the egg so that its right eye is turned toward the shell, while its left eye is obscured by its own body. If the egg is exposed to light, the right eye receives more stimulation, which promotes the development of specialized pathways in the opposite (left) hemisphere of the brain. </p>
<p>This simple asymmetry in light exposure produces chicks with strongly lateralized brains. Conversely, incubating eggs in complete darkness prevents this asymmetric stimulation, resulting in chicks with weakly lateralized brains. This unique developmental feature provided the scientists with a perfect opportunity to compare the numerical abilities of strongly and weakly specialized brains.</p>
<p>The research team, led by Professor Rosa Rugani at the University of Padua, designed an experiment to test for a directional bias in counting. They incubated one batch of one hundred eggs in the presence of light and another batch in total darkness. After the chicks hatched, they were individually trained to perform a specific task. </p>
<p>Each chick was placed in an arena with a row of ten identical red bottle caps arranged in a straight line, pointing directly away from the chick. Their task was to learn that a food reward, a mealworm, was consistently hidden under the fourth cap in the sequence. Once a chick reliably located the food at the fourth position, the testing phase began.</p>
<p>In the first test, the researchers rotated the line of ten caps by 90 degrees, so it was now arranged horizontally in front of the chick. This created a new challenge. From the chick’s perspective, there were now two correct options: the fourth cap from the left end of the line and the fourth cap from the right end. The researchers observed which cap the chicks chose to investigate first. </p>
<p>The strongly lateralized chicks, those that had been exposed to light as embryos, showed a distinct preference for searching the fourth cap from the left. This behavior indicates an inherent left-to-right mapping of numbers onto space. In contrast, the weakly lateralized chicks, which had developed in darkness, showed no directional preference at all. They chose the fourth cap from the left and the fourth from the right at random, suggesting they lacked an internal mental number line.</p>
<p>To gain a deeper understanding of which brain hemisphere was driving this behavior, the scientists conducted a second, more specific test. They temporarily placed a small, harmless patch over one of the chick’s eyes. Because the visual systems of chicks are almost completely crossed, covering the left eye forces the chick to rely on its right brain hemisphere, while covering the right eye engages the left hemisphere. When the strongly lateralized chicks used only their left eye (and right hemisphere), they once again consistently chose the fourth cap from the left. </p>
<p>This confirmed that the right hemisphere plays a key role in integrating spatial and numerical information to create the left-to-right bias. When these same chicks used only their right eye (and left hemisphere), their preference flipped, and they tended to select the fourth cap from the right. The weakly lateralized chicks were unable to solve the task at all when one of their eyes was covered, further demonstrating that brain specialization enhances overall cognitive performance.</p>
<p>In a final experiment, the researchers explored the importance of spatial consistency. They repeated the horizontal test, but this time they varied the spacing between the bottle caps in each trial. This meant that the physical location of the fourth cap changed from one trial to the next, making spatial information an unreliable guide. To find the food, the chicks had to rely purely on their ability to count to the fourth item, regardless of its position. </p>
<p>Under these conditions, the left-to-right preference vanished. Even the strongly lateralized chicks no longer favored the fourth cap from the left, instead choosing randomly between the left and right options. This result shows that the mental number line is not an abstract concept alone; it is tightly linked to the spatial arrangement of objects in the environment. The brain’s left-to-right bias is activated when there are consistent spatial cues to process.</p>
<p>The study’s authors conclude that these findings provide the first direct experimental proof that brain lateralization is not merely associated with the mental number line but is a necessary condition for its development. The work strongly supports the idea that our sense of number is biologically grounded. </p>
<p>The researchers propose that this left-to-right scanning bias may have evolutionary roots. For a chick foraging for food, having a default scanning direction could be an efficient strategy, ensuring that no potential food sources are missed. The right hemisphere, known for its specialization in spatial awareness, appears to establish the left side of space as a natural starting point, or anchor, for processing the environment.</p>
<p>This research, while conducted in chicks, has significant implications for understanding human cognition. “Understanding the biological basis of numerical thinking may help us identify why certain cognitive abilities emerge when they do in development, and why they might be altered in individuals with atypical brain organisation,” commented senior author Lucia Regolin. The study opens new avenues for research into how early sensory experiences, such as light exposure, can have lasting effects on the organization of the brain and subsequent cognitive functions.</p>
<p>One limitation of the study is that it focuses on a single species, and further work is needed to see how these principles apply to other animals, including primates and humans. Future research could explore how different types of early environmental stimulation might influence the development of numerical and spatial reasoning. By continuing to examine the biological origins of fundamental cognitive abilities, scientists can build a more complete picture of how the brain learns to make sense of the world.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.106356.3" target="_blank">Prenatal light exposure affects number sense and the mental number line in young domestic chicks</a>,” was published in <em>eLife</em> and authored by Rosa Rugani, Matteo Macchinizzi, Yujia Zhang, and Lucia Regolin.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-evidence-for-the-gateway-misbelief-model-perceived-consensus-shapes-climate-beliefs/" 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 evidence for the Gateway (mis)Belief Model: Perceived consensus shapes climate beliefs</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 11th 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70022" target="_blank">British Journal of Psychology</a></em> has found that misinformation about climate change can reduce people’s perceptions of scientific consensus, which in turn tends to lower belief in human-caused climate change and diminish public support for action. The researchers tested what they call the Gateway (mis)Belief Model, or GmBM, and found that even brief exposure to misinformation weakened trust in climate science and, in some cases, reduced willingness to take collective action.</p>
<p>The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. Their work builds on earlier research into how public beliefs about climate change are shaped by perceived scientific agreement, a key factor that has been shown to influence attitudes, emotions, and policy preferences.</p>
<p>The scientific consensus on climate change is strong, with over 97% of climate scientists agreeing that human activities are the primary driver of global warming. Yet many people, especially in the United States, continue to underestimate this level of agreement. The so-called “consensus gap” has been identified as a factor that contributes to climate skepticism and resistance to environmental policy.</p>
<p>Previous research has shown that highlighting the scientific consensus can improve public understanding and increase support for mitigation efforts. This is the basis for the Gateway Belief Model (GBM), which describes how people use cues about expert agreement to form opinions about complex scientific topics. However, while many studies have tested the positive impact of consensus messaging, fewer have looked at what happens when misinformation distorts perceptions of agreement. The new study aimed to address this gap by proposing and testing a version of the GBM that includes misinformation as a causal factor.</p>
<p>“We wanted to explore the process by which misinformation can disrupt public discourse around important scientific issues,” said study author Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge and author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/4geZkm6" target="_blank">Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity</a></em>. “One of the main mechanisms that disinfomers use is attacking the scientific consensus on important issues like climate change and vaccination. We wanted to explore the downstream impacts of how casting doubt about the scientific consensus on climate change can impact public opinion about the issue.”</p>
<p>The researchers reanalyzed data from two previous experiments involving U.S. participants. In both studies, people were shown misinformation designed to reduce their perception of scientific consensus. This included a fabricated petition suggesting that thousands of scientists rejected human-caused climate change—a widely debunked claim that has been used in public discourse for years.</p>
<p>In the first experiment, 207 participants were randomly assigned to view either a consensus message or a combination of consensus followed by misinformation. Beliefs were measured at three time points: before any messages, after the consensus message, and after the misinformation. The researchers found that exposure to misinformation significantly lowered participants’ estimates of scientific consensus and, to a lesser extent, their belief that climate change is happening.</p>
<p>Although the misinformation did not significantly affect every belief tested, structural modeling suggested a pattern of indirect influence. Lower perceptions of consensus tended to reduce belief in human causation, which in turn predicted less worry about climate change and weaker support for public action. However, these downstream effects varied in strength and significance. The overall model fit the data reasonably well, but not all relationships aligned with previous findings.</p>
<p>The second experiment involved a much larger sample of 755 participants and provided a stronger test of the GmBM. This time, participants were randomly assigned to receive either the misinformation message or a neutral task. Once again, the misinformation significantly reduced perceived scientific consensus. It also lowered belief in human-caused climate change, concern about the issue, and willingness to support mitigation measures.</p>
<p>In this second study, the model showed more consistent results. Changes in perceived consensus were associated with changes in key beliefs, and misinformation had both direct and indirect effects on support for action. In particular, reduced belief in human causation and decreased worry about climate change both contributed to lower support for mitigation efforts. The researchers noted that even among a sample that skewed liberal and highly educated—groups generally more accepting of climate science—the effects of misinformation were still observable.</p>
<p>To confirm their findings, the researchers conducted an internal meta-analysis across both studies and an additional dataset. This analysis supported the central idea of the GmBM: misinformation erodes perceived scientific consensus, and this erosion trickles down through related beliefs to reduce support for climate action. </p>
<p>The results indicate “that misinformation can have real-world consequences, such as lowering support for public action on climate change by changing people’s beliefs on the issue,” van der Linden told PsyPost. “One of the main tactics used is to cast doubt on the near-unanimous consensus among climate scientists that humans are causing global warming – e.g., by using fake experts, people should be on the lookout for such disinformation.”</p>
<p>“Our sample contained many people with a fairly liberal ideology,” he added. “The fact that even audiences who already strongly support the science on climate change can be derailed by misinformation about it was somewhat surprising (and concerning).”</p>
<p>There are a few limitations to consider. One issue is that the two experiments used different designs and measures, which makes it more difficult to compare results directly. In the first experiment, for instance, participants in both groups were initially shown a consensus message before any misinformation, whereas in the second experiment the control group received no message about climate change. This may have dampened the observed effects in the first study.</p>
<p>“When people learn about the strong scientific consensus on important issues such as climate change, it changes their beliefs and opinions about the matter, which in turn predict support for societal action,” van der Linden said. “This is why we refer to perceived scientific consensus as a ‘gateway’ belief. What was slightly different here is that misinformation about the scientific consensus doesn’t work in exactly the same (linear) way insofar it is less predictable what beliefs or emotions it might change – though what is clear is that in the end, the bottom line is the same: it undermines people’s support for action. One other limitation is that our samples were not representative of the population and we only tested one kind of misinformation (casting doubt about the scientific consensus) so it is unclear to what extent these results generalize to other types of misinformation.”</p>
<p>Another open question is whether certain individual traits make people more or less susceptible to misinformation. One candidate is metacognitive confidence—the degree to which people feel sure about their own beliefs. Previous work suggests that people with lower confidence may be more open to changing their views, while those with high confidence may resist updates regardless of evidence. Exploring these and other potential moderators could improve efforts to protect the public from misinformation.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70022" target="_blank">The gateway (mis)belief model: How misinformation impacts perceptions of scientific consensus and attitudes towards climate change</a>,” was authoed by Hannah Timna Logemann, Jacob B. Rode, Rakoen Maertens, and Sander van der Linden.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/psilocybin-therapy-linked-to-lasting-depression-remission-five-years-later/" 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;">Psilocybin therapy linked to lasting depression remission five years later</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 11th 2025, 13:00</div>
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<p><p>A new long-term follow-up study has found that a significant majority of individuals treated for major depressive disorder with psilocybin-assisted therapy were still in remission from their depression five years later. The research, which tracked participants from an earlier clinical trial, suggests that the combination of the psychedelic substance with psychotherapy can lead to lasting improvements in mental health and overall well-being. The findings were published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2025.00461"><em>Journal of Psychedelic Studies.</em></a></p>
<p>Psilocybin is the primary psychoactive compound found in certain species of mushrooms, often referred to as “magic mushrooms.” When ingested, it can produce profound alterations in perception, mood, and thought. In recent years, researchers have been investigating its potential as a therapeutic tool when administered in a controlled clinical setting alongside psychological support.</p>
<p>The rationale for this line of research stems from the limitations of existing treatments for major depressive disorder. While many people benefit from conventional antidepressants and psychotherapy, a substantial portion do not achieve lasting remission, and medications often come with undesirable side effects and require daily, long-term use.</p>
<p>Psychedelic-assisted therapy represents a different treatment model, one where a small number of high-intensity experiences might catalyze durable psychological changes. This new study was conducted to understand the longevity of the effects observed in an earlier, promising trial.</p>
<p>The research team, led by Alan Davis, an associate professor and director of the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education at The Ohio State University, sought to determine if the initial antidepressant effects would hold up over a much longer period. Davis co-led the original 2021 trial at Johns Hopkins University, and this follow-up represents a collaborative effort between researchers at both institutions.</p>
<p>The investigation was designed as a long-term extension of a clinical trial first published in 2021. That initial study involved 24 adults with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. The participants were divided into two groups: one that received the treatment immediately and another that was placed on a wait-list before receiving the same treatment.</p>
<p>The therapeutic protocol was intensive, involving approximately 13 hours of psychotherapy in addition to two separate sessions where participants received a dose of psilocybin. The original findings were significant, showing a large and rapid reduction in depression symptoms for the participants, with about half reporting a complete remission from their depression that lasted for up to one year.</p>
<p>For the new follow-up, conducted an average of five years after the original treatment, the researchers contacted all 24 of the initial participants. Of those, 18 enrolled and completed the follow-up assessments. This process involved a series of online questionnaires designed to measure symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as any functional impairment in their daily lives.</p>
<p>Participants also underwent a depression rating assessment administered by a clinician and took part in in-depth interviews. These interviews were intended to capture a more nuanced understanding of their experiences and life changes since the trial concluded, going beyond what numerical scores alone could convey.</p>
<p>The researchers found that 67% of the original participants were in remission from their depression. This percentage was slightly higher than the 58% who were in remission at the one-year follow-up point.</p>
<p>To ensure their analysis was robust, the scientists took a conservative approach when handling the data for the six individuals who did not participate in the long-term follow-up. They made the assumption that these participants had experienced a complete relapse and that their depression symptoms had returned to their pre-treatment levels.</p>
<p>“Even controlling for those baseline estimates from the people who didn’t participate in the long-term follow-up, we still see a very large and significant reduction in depression symptoms,” said Davis, who also holds faculty positions in internal medicine and psychology at Ohio State. “That was really exciting for us because this showed that the number of participants still in complete remission from their depression had gone up slightly.”</p>
<p>The study also revealed that these lasting improvements were not solely the product of the psilocybin therapy sessions from five years earlier. The reality of the participants’ lives was more complex. Through the interviews, the researchers learned that only three of the 18 follow-up participants had not received any other form of depression-related treatment in the intervening years. The others had engaged in various forms of support, including taking antidepressant medications, undergoing traditional psychotherapy, or trying other treatments like ketamine or psychedelics on their own.</p>
<p>However, the qualitative data provided important context for these decisions. Many participants described a fundamental shift in their relationship with depression after the trial. Before undergoing psilocybin-assisted therapy, they often felt their depression was a debilitating and all-encompassing condition that prevented them from engaging with life. After the treatment, even if symptoms sometimes returned, they perceived their depression as more situational and manageable.</p>
<p>Participants reported a greater capacity for positive emotions and enthusiasm. Davis explained that these shifts appeared to lead to important changes in how they related to their depressive experiences. This newfound perspective may have made other forms of therapy more effective or made navigating difficult periods less impairing.</p>
<p>“Five years later, most people continued to view this treatment as safe, meaningful, important, and something that catalyzed an ongoing betterment of their life,” said Davis, who co-led the 2021 trial at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s important for us to understand the details of what comes after treatment. I think this is a sign that regardless of what the outcomes are, their lives were improved because they participated in something like this.”</p>
<p>Some participants who had tried using psychedelics on their own reported that the experiences were not as helpful without the supportive framework provided by the clinical trial, reinforcing the idea that the therapeutic context is a vital component of the treatment’s success.</p>
<p>Regarding safety, 11 of the participants reported no negative effects since the trial. A few recalled feeling unprepared for the heightened emotional sensitivity they experienced after the treatment, while others noted that the process of weaning off their previous medications before the trial was difficult.</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledge several limitations of their work. The small sample size of the original trial means that the findings need to be interpreted with caution and require replication in larger studies. Because the study was a long-term follow-up without a continuing control group, it is not possible to definitively attribute all the observed benefits to the psilocybin-assisted therapy, especially since most participants sought other forms of treatment during the five-year period. It is also difficult to know how natural fluctuations in mood and life circumstances may have influenced the outcomes.</p>
<p>Future research should aim to include larger and more diverse groups of participants, including individuals with a high risk for suicide, who were excluded from this trial. Despite these limitations, this study provides a first look at the potential for psilocybin-assisted therapy to produce durable, long-term positive effects for people with major depressive disorder. The findings suggest the treatment may not be a simple cure but rather a catalyst that helps people re-engage with their lives and other therapeutic processes, ultimately leading to sustained improvements in functioning and well-being.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2025.00461">Five-year outcomes of psilocybin-assisted therapy for Major Depressive Disorder</a>,” was authored by Alan K. Davis, Nathan D. Sepeda, Adam W. Levin, Mary Cosimano, Hillary Shaub, Taylor Washington, Peter M. Gooch, Shoval Gilead, Skylar J. Gaughan, Stacey B. Armstrong, and Frederick S. Barrett.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/rat-study-links-high-fructose-corn-syrup-to-anxiety-markers-and-autism-linked-gene-activity/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Rat study links high-fructose corn syrup to anxiety markers and autism-linked gene activity</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 11th 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A study of young female Sprague-Dawley rats found that those raised on water sweetened with 13% high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) had increased adrenal gland mass, suggesting chronic stress. They also exhibited lengthened estrous cycles. Analysis of gene expression in the hypothalamus revealed alterations in genes involved in regulating the sleep–wake cycle and in the Engrailed-2 gene, which has been linked to autism spectrum disorder in humans. The findings were published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2025.2509751"><em>Nutritional Neuroscience</em></a>.</p>
<p>High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener derived from corn starch that has been enzymatically processed to convert some of its glucose into fructose, resulting in a mixture of both sugars. Developed in the 1960s, HFCS gained popularity due to its lower cost compared to cane sugar and its convenience in liquid form. It is now widely used in soft drinks, sweetened beverages, baked goods, condiments, and processed foods.</p>
<p>From a taste and caloric perspective, HFCS is similar to regular table sugar. However, its pervasive use in processed foods has led to much higher consumption levels. It is currently the leading source of added sugars in the American diet. Studies have associated excessive HFCS intake with weight gain, obesity, and various metabolic issues, partly because liquid calories are easier to consume in excess without promoting satiety. Other research suggests that high HFCS intake may contribute to insulin resistance, fatty liver disease, and elevated triglyceride levels, all of which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.</p>
<p>Study author Sundus S. Lateef and colleagues sought to investigate the effects of consuming HFCS-, sucrose-, or fructose-sweetened water from the weaning stage through early adulthood in rats. They focused on physiological processes regulated by the hypothalamus, a brain region that controls hunger, thirst, temperature regulation, sleep, stress responses, and hormonal activity via the pituitary gland.</p>
<p>The experiment involved 28 weanling female Sprague-Dawley rats, a widely used laboratory strain known for its calm temperament and rapid growth. The rats were 21 days old at the study’s onset.</p>
<p>After a 7-day acclimation period, the rats were randomly assigned to four groups, each given a different water solution. One group received plain water, while the other three were given carbohydrate-sweetened solutions containing 13% sugar by weight. One group drank a fructose solution (130 grams per liter), another drank a sucrose solution (130 grams per liter), and the third consumed HFCS-sweetened water (168.8 grams of syrup per liter).</p>
<p>The rats were housed individually in metabolic cages that allowed researchers to precisely monitor food and fluid intake. All groups had free access to standard chow. The sweetened water regimen continued for eight weeks. During this period, the researchers tracked body weight weekly and monitored the estrous cycles of the rats. The estrous cycle, lasting about 4–5 days in rats, reflects hormonal changes associated with reproductive readiness. At the end of the study, the rats were euthanized for tissue analysis.</p>
<p>The results showed that rats consuming HFCS and sucrose drank more liquid but ate less food. Rats in the HFCS group had the greatest absolute adrenal gland mass, indicating prolonged activation of the stress response.</p>
<p>Gene expression analyses of hypothalamic tissue revealed that rats in the HFCS group showed the most pronounced differences in genes related to circadian rhythm regulation, neuronal function, and Engrailed-2 (En2), a gene associated with autism spectrum disorder in humans.</p>
<p>“Among the different caloric-sweetened solutions, young female rats drinking HFCS solution showed food selectivity, elevated basal stress, and reproductive irregularity, which are characteristics associated with ASD [autism spectrum disorder, in humans]. RNA-Seq [RNA sequencing] revealed DEGs [differentially expressed genes] in rats drinking HFCS solution, including disrupted circadian sleep cycles, neurotoxicity, and ASD. The results of this preclinical study suggest that HFCS intake should be limited due to its potential for increasing the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The findings shed light on how chronic consumption of high-fructose corn syrup may affect stress responses, reproductive cycles, and neurodevelopmental pathways in young female rats. However, it is important to emphasize that this was an animal study. While rats share many physiological traits with humans, they are not identical, and results from rodent studies do not always translate directly to human outcomes.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2025.2509751">Hypothalamic regulated physiological function and gene expression changes suggest high fructose corn syrup intake affects neurodevelopment in adolescent female rats,</a>” was authored by Sundus S. Lateef, Vanessa L. Mueller, Eloisa Vendematti, Vagner A. Benedito, Joseph C. Gigliotti, R. Chris Skinner, and Janet C. Tou.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-detect-causal-links-hidden-within-the-chaotic-chatter-of-neurons/" 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 detect causal links hidden within the chaotic chatter of neurons</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 11th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>Understanding the intricate web of connections within the human brain remains one of the greatest challenges in science. This complex network of billions of neurons, communicating through brief electrical pulses, forms the foundation of every thought, memory, and action. A fundamental goal for neuroscientists is to map this connectivity, to determine which neurons influence others and how information flows through these circuits.</p>
<p>Scientists typically monitor this neural communication by recording the electrical pulses, or “spikes,” that neurons generate. When plotted over time, these signals form a pattern known as a spike train. However, these spike trains are not neat and rhythmic; they are often chaotic, bursty, and irregular. This unpredictability makes it exceptionally difficult to determine cause and effect. Is a spike in Neuron A causing a subsequent spike in Neuron B, or are they both responding to a third, unobserved neuron, or is it just a coincidence?</p>
<p>Traditional methods for detecting causality in data often struggle with the unique nature of neural signals. Many techniques require data that is sampled at regular time intervals or assume that the relationships between components are simple and linear. The brain, with its complex and nonlinear dynamics, rarely fits these assumptions. This has left a significant gap in the tools available to researchers trying to build an accurate functional map of the brain directly from observed activity.</p>
<p>In a new study published in the journal <em><a href="https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/t2jb-vvx9" target="_blank">Physical Review E</a></em>, a team of researchers from Japan has introduced a novel technique designed to overcome these hurdles. The method provides a powerful new way to identify causal relationships directly from the irregular spike trains of neurons. The research was led by Assistant Professor Kazuya Sawada from the Tokyo University of Science, in collaboration with Professor Tohru Ikeguchi, also from the Tokyo University of Science, and Associate Professor Yutaka Shimada from Saitama University.</p>
<p>Their approach is an inventive adaptation of an existing framework for analyzing complex systems, known as convergent cross mapping (CCM). The core principle of CCM is that if one component in a system (Neuron A) causally influences another (Neuron B), then the behavior of Neuron B must contain some signature or “shadow” of Neuron A’s activity. By analyzing the data from Neuron B alone, one should be able to make increasingly accurate predictions about Neuron A’s past behavior. If such predictions are not possible, then a causal link is unlikely.</p>
<p>The challenge was that conventional CCM cannot be directly applied to the irregularly timed events of a spike train. The research team implemented two key modifications to solve this. First, instead of looking at the spike times themselves, they focused on the time intervals between consecutive spikes. This sequence of interspike intervals (ISIs) transforms the irregular timing of events into a more continuous series of data points that reflects the neuron’s dynamic state.</p>
<p>Second, they devised a new procedure to establish a temporal correspondence between the ISI data from different neurons. Since the spikes do not happen at the same time, a system was needed to match a point in time in one neuron’s activity stream with the closest corresponding point in another’s. This alignment is essential for making the cross-system predictions that lie at the heart of the method.</p>
<p>With these modifications, the team created a new way to assess causality. The method calculates how accurately one can predict a given neuron’s ISI sequence using the data from another neuron. If the prediction accuracy improves as more data becomes available, it signals a genuine causal connection.</p>
<p>“The method proposed in our paper differs from previous ones in that it can be directly applied to spike sequences and identify causal relationships in data generated by complex, nonlinear systems that cannot be represented by simple rules,” Sawada highlights. This allows for the estimation of neuronal connectivity from easily observable spike train recordings.</p>
<p>To verify that their new technique worked as intended, the scientists applied it to a well-established mathematical model of neurons. In this simulated environment, they could program the exact connections between neurons and then see if their method could correctly identify them. They tested scenarios with bidirectional connections, unidirectional connections, and no connections at all. The proposed approach successfully detected the correct causal structure in each case. It also performed well even when a degree of random noise was added to the system, a feature that mimics the inherent unpredictability of real biological environments.</p>
<p>The development of this tool opens up new avenues for exploring the brain’s functional architecture with greater precision. It could allow researchers to construct more detailed maps of how information is processed and routed through neural circuits.</p>
<p>“The connections between brain neurons are not yet fully understood, and causality detection methods can be used to estimate not only structural and anatomical connections but also effective connections,” explains Sawada. “If we could clarify the nature of such effective connections within the brain, it would contribute to a better understanding of disorders and mental illnesses caused by neuronal connections, potentially paving the way for new therapies.” The approach could offer new insights into conditions like epilepsy, which involves abnormal synchronized firing, or schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which are thought to involve imbalances in neural circuitry.</p>
<p>Sawada noted that the current study focused on small networks of two or three neurons. A primary goal for future research is to expand the method’s capability to analyze much larger and more complex networks, bringing it closer to the scale of real brain circuits.</p>
<p>The impact of this work may extend beyond neuroscience. Data composed of irregularly timed events, known as point processes, appear in many other fields. The principles behind this new method could inspire similar analytical techniques for determining causal links in disciplines like finance, seismology, and logistics, where understanding the drivers of complex events is of immense importance.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/t2jb-vvx9" target="_blank">Detecting causality based on state space reconstruction from interspike intervals for neural spike trains</a>,” was published July 28, 2025.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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