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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/this-simple-daily-habit-could-delay-alzheimers-symptoms-by-years/" 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;">This simple daily habit could delay Alzheimer’s symptoms by years</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 5th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study suggests that for older adults with early signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains, moderate physical activity is associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline. The research, published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03955-6" target="_blank">Nature Medicine</a></em>, indicates that this benefit appears to stem not from reducing the initial protein plaques linked to the disease, but from slowing the accumulation of a second protein, tau, which is more directly tied to memory loss.</p>
<p>Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the buildup of two main proteins in the brain. The first, amyloid-beta, forms clumps called plaques that can appear decades before any symptoms emerge. The second protein, tau, later forms tangles inside brain cells, a development that tracks closely with the onset of memory and thinking problems. </p>
<p>While physical inactivity is a known modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s, the specific ways it affects this biological progression in humans have remained somewhat unclear. Many previous studies relied on self-reported exercise, which can be prone to inaccuracies, especially in people who may be experiencing early cognitive changes.</p>
<p>To get a more precise picture, a team of researchers at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School utilized data from the Harvard Aging Brain Study. This long-term project follows older adults to better understand brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers sought to use objective measurements to connect physical activity with the specific brain changes and cognitive symptoms seen in the disease’s preclinical stage, the long period when brain changes are underway but before dementia is apparent. </p>
<p>The investigation involved 296 participants between the ages of 50 and 90, all of whom were cognitively healthy at the study’s outset. To measure their physical activity, each participant wore a waistband-mounted pedometer for seven consecutive days to calculate an average daily step count. </p>
<p>The researchers also used positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to measure the amount of amyloid-beta plaques in each person’s brain at the beginning of the study. Over a follow-up period that lasted up to 14 years, with an average of over nine years, participants received annual cognitive assessments to track any changes in their thinking and memory skills. A smaller group of 172 participants also received repeated PET scans to monitor the accumulation of tau tangles over time.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed a clear pattern among individuals who had elevated levels of amyloid-beta in their brains at the start. In this at-risk group, those who took more steps per day experienced significantly slower declines on cognitive tests. They also showed slower declines in their ability to perform daily functions. This relationship between physical activity and better cognitive outcomes was not observed in people who had low levels of amyloid at baseline, largely because that group experienced very little cognitive decline over the study period.</p>
<p>To understand the mechanism behind this protective association, the researchers first checked whether physical activity was linked to the amount of amyloid itself. They found no connection. People who were more active did not have less amyloid at the beginning of the study, nor did they accumulate it more slowly over time. </p>
<p>The key difference appeared to be related to tau. In participants with high amyloid levels, taking more steps per day was associated with a slower buildup of tau tangles in the inferior temporal cortex, a brain region affected early in Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>“This sheds light on why some people who appear to be on an Alzheimer’s disease trajectory don’t decline as quickly as others,” said senior author Jasmeer Chhatwal of the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurology. “Lifestyle factors appear to impact the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that lifestyle changes may slow the emergence of cognitive symptoms if we act early.”</p>
<p>Further statistical modeling suggested that this effect on tau was the primary reason for the cognitive benefits. The analysis indicated that the slower accumulation of tau fully accounted for the relationship between physical activity and slower cognitive decline. It also partially explained the link between activity and slower functional decline. </p>
<p>“We are thrilled that data from the Harvard Aging Brain Study has helped the field better understand the importance of physical activity for maintaining brain health,” said co-author Reisa Sperling, a neurologist in the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurology and co-principal investigator of the Harvard Aging Brain Study. “These findings show us that it’s possible to build cognitive resilience and resistance to tau pathology in the setting of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.”</p>
<p>The study also examined how much activity was needed to see a benefit. The researchers categorized participants into four groups based on their daily step counts: inactive (3,000 steps or fewer), low activity (3,001 to 5,000 steps), moderate activity (5,001 to 7,500 steps), and active (more than 7,501 steps). They found that even moving from the inactive group to the low-activity group was associated with substantially slower tau buildup and cognitive decline. </p>
<p>The benefits continued to increase into the moderate-activity range but then appeared to level off, suggesting that the largest gains were seen when sedentary individuals became more active. This may offer a more approachable goal than the popular 10,000-steps-a-day target. </p>
<p>“We want to empower people to protect their brain and cognitive health by keeping physically active,” said first-author Wai-Ying Wendy Yau, a cognitive neurologist in the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurology. “Every step counts — and even small increases in daily activities can build over time to create sustained changes in habit and health.”</p>
<p>As an observational study, this research identifies strong associations but cannot definitively prove cause and effect. It is possible that individuals with the very earliest, subtle brain changes of preclinical Alzheimer’s were already becoming less physically active, a concept known as reverse causality. </p>
<p>The researchers conducted several sensitivity analyses to account for this possibility, and their results remained consistent. The study population was also primarily composed of highly educated, non-Hispanic white individuals, which means the findings might not be generalizable to all populations.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the research team plans to explore which aspects of physical activity, such as intensity or consistency, might be most important for brain health. They also intend to investigate the biological mechanisms that could connect physical activity to reduced tau accumulation. The results of this study could help in designing future clinical trials that test exercise interventions, especially by suggesting that enrolling sedentary individuals who have elevated brain amyloid may be the best way to detect a protective effect.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03955-6" target="_blank">Physical activity as a modifiable risk factor in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease</a>,” was authored by Wai-Ying Wendy Yau, Dylan R. Kirn, Jennifer S. Rabin, Michael J. Properzi, Aaron P. Schultz, Zahra Shirzadi, Kailee Palmgren, Paola Matos, Courtney Maa, Jeremy J. Pruzin, Stephanie A. Schultz, Rachel F. Buckley, Dorene M. Rentz, Keith A. Johnson, Reisa A. Sperling, and Jasmeer P. Chhatwal.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cats-can-get-dementia-too-here-are-the-eight-signs-to-look-out-for/" 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;">Cats can get dementia too – here are the eight signs to look out for</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 4th 2025, 20:00</div>
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<p><p>Many cat owners don’t realise that just like humans, cats can suffer from dementia. A recent paper has even found many similarities between <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.70180">feline and human dementia</a>, finding that cognitive impairment may <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197458004002337?via%3Dihub">develop in similar ways</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the symptoms of dementia in cats are even similar to what we might see in humans – though not all of them, of course. Knowing what signs to look out for is important so you can provide your cat with the best care during this phase of its life.</p>
<p>Feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome (also known as feline dementia) is an age-related decline in a cat’s cognitive abilities. It’s generally characterised by behavioural changes that cannot be attributed to other medical conditions.</p>
<p>Feline dementia is thought to be very common in older cats. One study found that by 15 years of age, more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2007.00386.x">half of cats</a> showed signs of dementia. However, some behaviour associated with the condition has also been identified in cats <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342728023_Prevalence_of_Disease_and_Age-Related_Behavioural_Changes_in_Cats_Past_and_Present">as young as seven</a>. A separate survey of cat owners also found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2007.00386.x">around 28% of cats</a> aged between 11 and 14 exhibited at least one behavioural change associated with dementia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561611000428?via%3Dihub">Behavioural changes</a> are often the first indication that there may be something wrong. There are eight signs to look out for that might indicate <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2007.00386.x?saml_referrer">your cat has dementia</a>.</p>
<p><strong>1. Unusual vocalisation:</strong> Your cat might start to vocalise excessively, or in new situations. A common example of this is <a href="https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/vetr.3">meowing loudly at night</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2. Altered interactions:</strong> Cats with dementia sometimes <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.jfms.2010.09.004">seek attention more</a> often or become “clingy”. Equally, cats with dementia might interact less than previously, appear irritable or seem not to recognise familiar people.</p>
<p><strong>3. Sleep changes:</strong> You may notice changes in your cat’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561611000428?via%3Dihub">sleeping habits</a> – often becoming restless at night and sleeping more during the day.</p>
<p><strong>4. House soiling:</strong> Changes in toilet habits can be a sign of several different conditions, but <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1938973611000079">toileting outside the litter tray</a> can be a common sign of dementia in cats.</p>
<p><strong>5. Disorientation:</strong> Just like people with dementia, cats may show <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1938973611000079">signs of confusion</a> or wandering behaviour. This might appear as losing their bearings, staring blankly at walls, getting stuck behind objects or going to the wrong side of the door.</p>
<p><strong>6. Changes in activity levels:</strong> A cat with dementia may be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561612000678?via%3Dihub">more or less active than usual</a>. They may play less often or be less inclined to explore. You might also notice them spending less time taking care of themselves, for example grooming or washing themselves less.</p>
<p><strong>7. Appearing anxious:</strong> A cat with dementia might show <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561611000428?via%3Dihub">signs of anxiety</a> in situations that they were previously confident with – such as around familiar people, places or sounds. An anxious cat might hide more often, going under the bed or on top of cupboards to escape.</p>
<p><strong>8. Learning problems:</strong> Cats with dementia may be less unable to perform <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561612000678">previously learned tasks</a>, such as finding their food bowl, and may have difficulty learning new tasks.</p>
<h2>Caring for your cat</h2>
<p>There’s significant overlap between symptoms of feline dementia and other common conditions, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612x13511446">arthritis</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.4226">kidney disease </a>. So if you see any of these behavioural changes in your cat, you should speak to your vet to rule out these other conditions.</p>
<p>Research into feline dementia is limited. Much of what we know about prevention and treatment is extrapolated from research into humans and dogs. And, as with these other species, there’s no cure for dementia in cats. But there are ways of limiting the impact of the disease.</p>
<p>Certain environmental modifications can help stimulate cats, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.3">activating their brains and causing nerves to grow</a>. But the severity of your cat’s dementia must be considered before making any of these changes.</p>
<p>In healthy or mildly affected cats, promoting play or simulating hunting with interactive toys and encouraging exploration using hide and seek games is thought to <a href="https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.3">delay the progression</a> of cognitive dysfunction.</p>
<p>But in cats with severe cognitive impairment, changing their environment could lead to confusion and anxiety – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2011.03.017">worsening behavioural symptoms</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2003.09.007">Diet changes</a> – specifically the addition of supplements containing antioxidants (vitamin E and C) and essential fatty acids – may also help to reduce inflammation in the brain, slowing the disease’s progression.</p>
<p>However, only dog-specific supplements have been tested in scientific research and proven to enhance cognition in dogs. But if you do want to try giving these supplements to your cat, be sure you only give them supplements approved for felines. Dog supplements should not be given to cats as they may include substances that are toxic to cats – such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/vec.13142">alpha lipoic acid</a>.</p>
<p>Feline dementia is a condition both highly prevalent and challenging to manage. Knowing what symptoms to look out for can ensure your cat gets diagnosed earlier on. This will also ensure you’re able to make the necessary changes to its environment or diet that will ultimately improve its quality of life.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/263148/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
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<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cats-can-get-dementia-too-here-are-the-eight-signs-to-look-out-for-263148">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/clustering-of-unhealthy-habits-linked-to-higher-depression-risk-study-suggests/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Clustering of unhealthy habits linked to higher depression risk, study suggests</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 4th 2025, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>New research has revealed that individuals accumulating several unhealthy lifestyle habits—such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and suboptimal sleep—are significantly more likely to experience depression, according to a new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.086" target="_blank">Journal of Affective Disorders</a></em>.</p>
<p>Depression affects millions worldwide and is influenced by many factors, including genetics, environment, and behavior. While previous research has shown that individual habits like smoking or poor sleep can raise the risk of depression, this new study takes a broader view by examining how these behaviors interact as a group.</p>
<p>Led by Qian Tian, researchers from Fudan University and Shanghai University in China wanted to understand whether a combined measure of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (ULB) could help predict depression risk more effectively than looking at each habit in isolation. They developed a scoring system based on five key behaviors: poor diet, physical inactivity, irregular sleep, smoking, and excessive alcohol use.</p>
<p>Data was extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included 21,854 participants from the USA between 1999 and 2018 (average age of 46 years, 52% males). The team then analyzed how ULB scores related to depression. Depression was measured using a standard questionnaire called the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, with scores of 10 or higher indicating likely depression.</p>
<p>The research group discovered that 7% of participants met criteria for depression and that depression was more common in women. Individuals with higher ULB scores were much more likely to be depressed. In fact, those in the highest quartile of unhealthy behaviors had nearly twice the risk of depression compared to those with the healthiest lifestyles. The relationship wasn’t just linear – depression increased in severity as the unhealthy behaviors accumulated. This pattern held true across all age groups, genders, and health conditions.</p>
<p>“The interaction between unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (ULB) and depression may affect emotions and behaviors through various mechanisms. Firstly, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors often coexist with other chronic diseases such as hypertension. … Secondly, unhealthy diets and lifestyle habits can alter brain structure and function. … Finally, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors often accompany social isolation and low self-esteem, leading to negative emotions and psychological stress, thus increasing the risk of depressive symptoms,” Tian and colleagues explained.</p>
<p>The researchers believe this scoring system could be used in routine health screenings to identify people at risk of depression early. By assessing lifestyle habits alongside mental health questionnaires, doctors and social workers could offer more targeted support and interventions.</p>
<p>However, the study does have limitations. As it was a cross-sectional analysis (a snapshot in time), it cannot prove that unhealthy habits cause depression—only that the two are strongly linked. It’s also possible that depression leads to a less healthy lifestyle. Additionally, the data relied on self-reported habits, which can introduce bias.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.086" target="_blank">The relationship between unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and depression: Evidence from NHANES</a>,” was authored by Qian Tian, Jiahui Guo, Jingyun Ding, and Yan Zhu.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-model-unites-the-biology-psychology-and-economics-of-transactional-sex/" 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 model unites the biology, psychology, and economics of transactional sex</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 4th 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>The exchange of sex for resources, a behavior that spans human history and cultures, is often subject to intense ideological debate. A new review paper published in the <em><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-025-03259-3" target="_blank">Archives of Sexual Behavior</a></em> argues that to understand this phenomenon, we must look beyond any single explanation. Instead, the author suggests a unified framework that combines insights from evolutionary biology, psychology, social sciences, and economics to create a more complete and nuanced picture of these complex human interactions.</p>
<p>The review was authored by Norbert Meskó, a full professor in the Department of Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Pécs in Hungary. His work aims to bridge the significant gaps that exist between different academic fields studying this topic. By synthesizing these varied perspectives, the paper seeks to provide a more holistic foundation for future research, the development of support services, and the formation of evidence-based policy.</p>
<p>At the heart of the paper is an examination of the language used to describe these exchanges. The terms “prostitution” and “sex work” carry heavy historical and political weight. “Prostitution” is often associated with moral judgment and criminality, while critics of the term “sex work” argue it can normalize exploitation. To navigate this, the review often uses the more neutral, descriptive term “sexual-economic exchange,” which encompasses a wide range of transactional relationships without pre-imposing an ideological frame.</p>
<p>Social sciences have historically approached the topic from three major standpoints. The legal-moral paradigm views the behavior as a social ill that needs to be controlled through regulation and law enforcement. The gender equality paradigm, largely rooted in feminist thought, interprets it as a product of patriarchal systems, where women are often victims of structural inequality and male dominance. A third perspective, the free choice paradigm, also from a feminist tradition, emphasizes individual autonomy and views the exchange as a form of labor that should be recognized and protected under law.</p>
<p>Psychology offers two complementary lenses for understanding individual pathways into sexual-economic exchanges. The victimological approach focuses on the high prevalence of past trauma, such as childhood physical or sexual abuse, among those involved. This perspective suggests that early adverse experiences can create vulnerabilities that increase the likelihood of entering such exchanges later in life. Research in this area consistently finds higher rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress among women involved in sex work compared to the general population.</p>
<p>The cognitive psychological approach explores how these early experiences shape a person’s internal world. It centers on the concept of schemas, which are deep-seated mental frameworks about oneself and the world, formed in childhood. Negative experiences can lead to maladaptive schemas, such as feelings of defectiveness, abandonment, or mistrust. These core beliefs, often operating outside of conscious awareness, can influence adult behavior, contributing to difficulties in forming healthy relationships and sometimes leading to high-risk behaviors as a coping mechanism.</p>
<p>Beyond immediate social and psychological factors, an evolutionary perspective provides insight into the deeper biological roots of these behaviors. This approach distinguishes between the immediate triggers for a behavior and its ultimate, adaptive function over evolutionary time. The exchange of resources for sexual access is not unique to humans; it is observed in many animal species. This pattern is often tied to the different biological investments males and females make in reproduction.</p>
<p>In many species, including humans, females typically bear the higher cost of reproduction through pregnancy, birth, and nursing. As a result, female mating strategies have often evolved to favor partners who can provide resources and support. Male strategies, in contrast, have sometimes been shaped by the reproductive benefit of accessing multiple partners. Sexual-economic exchanges in humans can be seen as an extension of these fundamental biological dynamics, representing a transactional strategy in the broader human mating market.</p>
<p>Building on this, the review discusses behavioral ecology, which examines how environmental conditions shape behavior. One study mentioned in the paper found that women in committed relationships may perceive a partner’s infidelity with a sex worker as less threatening to the long-term stability of the relationship than an emotional affair, though it presents a higher risk of infection. This suggests that human responses to infidelity are flexible and context-dependent, reflecting an evolved calculus of weighing different kinds of risks to one’s relationship and well-being.</p>
<p>Another evolutionary idea, runaway selection, suggests that certain traits can become exaggerated over time simply because they are preferred by mates, even if they no longer signal an underlying survival advantage. In human societies, the development of agriculture and private property created new social structures. These changes may have intensified certain male preferences for youth and sexual availability, creating cultural conditions where institutionalized forms of sexual-economic exchange could emerge and persist.</p>
<p>The framework of sexual economics applies market principles to understand heterosexual relationships. Proposed by psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs, this theory posits that sex is a resource that is, on average, more highly sought by men than by women, due to differing levels of sexual desire. This asymmetry gives female sexuality a higher “market value,” creating a dynamic where women can exchange sexual access for a range of male-provided resources, which include not only money but also commitment, status, protection, and affection.</p>
<p>This economic model helps explain broader social patterns. For example, when there are more women than men in a population, sexual norms tend to become more liberal, as the “price” of sex decreases. When men outnumber women, norms often become more conservative, as men must compete more intensely and offer more resources to secure a partner. Newer forms of transactional relationships, such as “sugar dating,” fit neatly within this model, illustrating how these basic market dynamics adapt to modern social contexts.</p>
<p>The review concludes by proposing a “multiple perspectives approach” that integrates these different fields into a single, cohesive framework. This approach draws on the biopsychosocial model, which recognizes that health and behavior are products of biological, psychological, and social factors. It also uses systems theory, which emphasizes that all these factors are interconnected and influence each other in a dynamic way. An individual’s psychological history does not exist in a vacuum; it is shaped by social structures, economic pressures, and an evolutionary inheritance.</p>
<p>This integrated view has significant practical implications. It suggests that attempts to simply eliminate sexual-economic exchanges through legal force are likely to fail because they ignore the deep-seated biological and socioeconomic factors that sustain them. Historical efforts to do so, like those in the Soviet Union or through the Swedish “Nordic Model,” have produced mixed or unintended results, sometimes driving the practice underground and making it more dangerous.</p>
<p>At the same time, the paper cautions against an overly simplistic push for liberalization that ignores the genuine harm and psychological distress many individuals experience. High rates of trauma and mental health challenges among sex workers suggest that decriminalization alone is not enough. A truly effective policy must address the systemic issues of poverty, trauma, and stigma that create vulnerability in the first place.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-025-03259-3" target="_blank">The Multiple Perspectives Approach to Understanding Sexual-Economic Exchange</a>,” was authored by Norbert Meskó.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/spaceflight-alters-brain-fluid-more-in-women-while-men-face-higher-vision-risks/" 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;">Spaceflight alters brain fluid more in women, while men face higher vision risks</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 4th 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A new investigation into the physiological toll of spaceflight has revealed that male and female astronauts exhibit different changes in their brains and eyes. The study, published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-025-00505-9" target="_blank">npj Microgravity</a></em>, found that after a mission, female astronauts showed a greater reduction in the fluid surrounding the uppermost parts of the brain, while male astronauts were more likely to show signs of eye compression. These findings help illuminate how the human body adapts to microgravity and may inform health strategies for future long-duration space missions.</p>
<p>The human body is exquisitely adapted to Earth’s gravity. When astronauts enter the microgravity environment of space, their bodies undergo a wide range of physiological adjustments. Fluids that are normally pulled down toward the feet on Earth shift headward, altering pressure on the brain and eyes. This can lead to a condition known as Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome, or SANS, which affects approximately 70 percent of astronauts and can include changes to the shape of the eyeball and swelling of the optic nerve.</p>
<p>A team of researchers led by Rachael D. Seidler, a professor of applied physiology and kinesiology at the University of Florida, sought to understand if demographic factors like age and sex play a role in how astronauts’ brains and eyes respond to space travel. Previous research on this topic has been limited, especially concerning sex differences, because of the historically small number of female astronauts. </p>
<p>“The data on sex differences in response to spaceflight are scant, given the historically low number of female astronauts,” Seidler said. “Our dataset was still only approximately one-quarter females, but since the overall dataset was fairly large we were able to examine sex differences.”</p>
<p>To conduct their analysis, the researchers gathered data from 37 astronauts who had completed missions aboard the International Space Station. The team analyzed magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans of the astronauts’ brains taken before and after their flights. </p>
<p>These scans allowed them to measure changes in brain structure, including the volume of gray matter, which contains nerve cells, and the amount of “free water,” which is the fluid that exists in the spaces around brain cells. They also obtained results from detailed ocular exams from NASA’s health repository to determine which astronauts developed signs of SANS.</p>
<p>Using sophisticated computational tools, the scientists compared the pre-flight and post-flight scans to map out specific changes. The team then statistically analyzed whether these brain and eye changes were associated with the astronauts’ sex, age, or mission duration. This approach allowed them to identify patterns that might not be apparent from looking at individual cases alone.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed no significant link between an astronaut’s age and the extent of brain changes following spaceflight. However, the researchers did identify a notable difference between the sexes. In specific regions near the top of the brain, female astronauts exhibited a greater decrease in the volume of free water compared to male astronauts after returning from space. The functional consequences of this more pronounced fluid shift in females are not yet understood.</p>
<p>When the team looked at eye health, they found that a flattening of the back of the eyeball was the most consistent change among crew members who developed SANS. In more than half of the cases of SANS, this globe flattening was the only symptom present. “By far the most prevalent sign of eye changes that we observed was globe flattening, suggesting that this should be the primary monitoring target for ocular health,” Seidler explained.</p>
<p>The study also showed that eye changes were more common in male astronauts. Although the statistical analysis was not strong enough to be conclusive, the data suggested that male crew members were more than three times as likely to develop SANS compared to their female counterparts. Another unexpected observation was the lack of a strong relationship between the structural changes in the brain and the development of SANS. This suggests that the effects of spaceflight on the brain and the eyes might be driven by separate biological mechanisms.</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledge certain limitations to their work, a common challenge in spaceflight studies. The sample size, while large for this field of research, is still small, particularly when looking at subgroups like female astronauts. The team also noted that some of the data was collected from different sources, which meant MRI scanning parameters were not always identical. Despite these constraints, the study provides a new perspective on how individual differences can influence adaptation to space.</p>
<p>Future research will need to build on these observations, especially as more women travel to space. A clearer understanding of why these sex differences occur could lead to personalized countermeasures to protect astronaut health on missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. The finding that globe flattening is a primary indicator of SANS also has immediate implications, suggesting it should be a key focus for monitoring and diagnosing the condition in astronauts.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-025-00505-9" target="_blank">Crewmember demographic factors and their association with brain and ocular changes following spaceflight</a>,” was authored by Heather R. McGregor, Kathleen E. Hupfeld, Ofer Pasternak, Nichole E. Beltran, Yiri E. De Dios, Jacob J. Bloomberg, Scott J. Wood, Roy F. Riascos, Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz, and Rachael D. Seidler.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/smarter-ai-models-show-more-selfish-behavior/" 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;">Smarter AI models show more selfish behavior</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 4th 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17720" target="_blank">new study</a> reveals that as artificial intelligence systems become more capable of complex reasoning, they also tend to act more selfishly. Researchers found that models with advanced reasoning abilities are less cooperative and can negatively influence group dynamics, a finding that has significant implications for how humans interact with AI. This research is set to be presented at the 2025 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing.</p>
<p>As people increasingly turn to artificial intelligence for guidance on social and emotional matters, from resolving conflicts to offering relationship advice, the behavior of these systems becomes more significant. The trend of anthropomorphism, where people treat AI as if it were human, raises the stakes. If an AI gives advice, its underlying behavioral tendencies could shape human decisions in unforeseen ways.</p>
<p>This concern prompted a new inquiry from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Yuxuan Li, a doctoral student, and Associate Professor Hirokazu Shirado wanted to explore how AI models with strong reasoning skills behave differently from their less deliberative counterparts in cooperative settings. </p>
<p>Their work is grounded in a concept from human psychology known as the dual-process framework, which suggests that humans have two modes of thinking: a fast, intuitive system and a slower, more deliberate one. In humans, rapid, intuitive decisions often lead to cooperation, while slower, more calculated thinking can lead to self-interested behavior. The researchers wondered if AI models would show a similar pattern.</p>
<p>To investigate the link between reasoning and cooperation in large language models, Li and Shirado designed a series of experiments using economic games. These games are standard tools in behavioral science designed to simulate social dilemmas and measure cooperative tendencies. The experiments included a wide range of commercially available models from companies like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and DeepSeek, allowing for a broad comparison.</p>
<p>In the first experiment, the researchers focused on OpenAI’s GPT-4o model and placed it in a scenario called the Public Goods Game. In this game, each participant starts with 100 points and must choose whether to contribute them to a shared pool, which is then doubled and divided equally among all players, or to keep the points for themselves. Cooperation benefits the group most, but an individual can gain more by keeping their points while others contribute.</p>
<p>When the model made a decision without being prompted to reason, it chose to cooperate and share its points 96 percent of the time. However, when the researchers prompted the model to think through its decision in a series of steps, a technique known as chain-of-thought prompting, its cooperative behavior declined sharply. </p>
<p>“In one experiment, simply adding five or six reasoning steps cut cooperation nearly in half,” Shirado said. A similar effect occurred with another technique called reflection, where the model reviews its own initial answer. This process, designed to simulate moral deliberation, resulted in a 58 percent decrease in cooperation.</p>
<p>For their second experiment, the team expanded their tests to include ten different models across six economic games. The games were split into two categories: three that measured direct cooperation and three that measured a willingness to punish non-cooperators to enforce social norms. </p>
<p>The researchers consistently found that models explicitly designed for reasoning were less cooperative than their non-reasoning counterparts from the same family. For example, OpenAI’s reasoning model, o1, was significantly less generous than GPT-4o. The same pattern of reduced cooperation appeared in models from Google, DeepSeek, and other providers.</p>
<p>The results for punishment, a form of indirect cooperation that helps sustain social norms, were more varied. While the reasoning models from OpenAI and Google were less likely to punish those who acted selfishly, the pattern was less consistent across other model families. This suggests that while reasoning consistently reduces direct giving, its effect on enforcing social rules may depend on the specific architecture of the model.</p>
<p>In a third experiment, the researchers explored how these behaviors play out over time in group settings. They created small groups of four AI agents to play multiple rounds of the Public Goods Game. The groups had different mixes of reasoning and non-reasoning models. The results showed that the selfish behavior of the reasoning models was infectious. </p>
<p>“When we tested groups with varying numbers of reasoning agents, the results were alarming,” Li said. “The reasoning models’ selfish behavior became contagious, dragging down cooperative non-reasoning models by 81% in collective performance.”</p>
<p>Within these mixed groups, the reasoning models often earned more points individually in the short term by taking advantage of the more cooperative models. However, the overall performance of any group containing reasoning models was significantly worse than that of a group composed entirely of cooperative, non-reasoning models. The presence of even one selfish model eroded the collective good, leading to lower total payoffs for everyone involved.</p>
<p>These findings carry important caveats. The experiments were conducted using simplified economic games and were limited to English, so the results may not generalize to all cultures or more complex, real-world social situations. The study identifies a strong pattern of behavior, but it does not fully explain the underlying mechanisms that cause reasoning to reduce cooperation in these models. Future research could explore these mechanisms and test whether these behaviors persist in different contexts or languages.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers suggest that the development of AI needs to focus on more than just raw intelligence or problem-solving speed. “Ultimately, an AI reasoning model becoming more intelligent does not mean that model can actually develop a better society,” Shirado said. The challenge will be to create systems that balance reasoning ability with social intelligence. Li added, “If our society is more than just a sum of individuals, then the AI systems that assist us should go beyond optimizing purely for individual gain.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17720" target="_blank">Spontaneous Giving and Calculated Greed in Language Models</a>,” was authored by Yuxuan Li and Hirokazu Shirado.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/altered-sense-of-self-in-psychosis-traced-to-the-spinal-cord/" 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;">Altered sense of self in psychosis traced to the spinal cord</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Nov 4th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study suggests that individuals with psychotic disorders process sensations they produce themselves, such as their own touch or heartbeat, differently from people without these conditions. This altered processing appears not only in the brain but also at the level of the spinal cord, potentially affecting the fundamental sense of self. The findings, published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03130-w" target="_blank">Molecular Psychiatry</a></em>, provide a deeper look into the biological underpinnings of self-disturbance in psychosis.</p>
<p>Psychotic disorders like schizophrenia are often characterized by a disrupted sense of self. This can manifest in symptoms like hallucinations or delusions, where individuals might misattribute their own inner thoughts or actions to an outside source. Researchers have long theorized that these complex symptoms may originate from more fundamental difficulties in processing basic bodily signals. </p>
<p>A team of scientists, primarily from Linköping University in Sweden, sought to investigate this idea by examining how the nervous system handles sensations that are self-generated compared to those that come from the external world. Their goal was to use a variety of methods to get a comprehensive picture of self-related processing across different sensory systems.</p>
<p>“Schizophrenia is a complex disorder, and its underlying neurobiological mechanisms are still not understood. Especially, how hallucinations and delusions develop and are maintained remains unclear,” said study author <a href="https://rebeccaboehme.com/rebeccaboehme/" target="_blank">Rebecca Böhme</a>, an associate professor at the Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience at <a href="https://liu.se/en/research/csan/labs/bohme-lab" target="_blank">Linköping University</a>.</p>
<p>“We hypothesized that a disturbance in the ability of identify self-produced sensations can underlie these symptoms, for example when the own thoughts are not identified as ‘self-produced,’ then they might cause the experience of voices in the head or being controlled from outside forces. Similar for touch: not identifying self-evoked tactile sensations can cause the feeling of ‘something else’ touching you, which the brain then will try to explain – potentially with a quite irrational story, because the brain always looks for causes to its experiences. It might for example come up with the idea, that an invisible demon is following and controlling you through touch.”</p>
<p>The research team conducted a series of experiments with 35 patients diagnosed with psychotic disorders and 35 healthy control participants who were matched for age and sex. The experiments were designed to measure neural and behavioral responses to both touch and internal body signals.</p>
<p>“A very common misconception is that schizophrenia means having two or more personalities,” Böhme noted. “Schizophrenia is a complicates psychiatric condition, where affected individuals experience symptoms like hallucinations and delusions, but also depression, executive dysfunction, and difficulties in social interactions.”</p>
<p>In one part of the study, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow. While in the scanner, they were asked to perform or receive gentle strokes on their left forearm. The conditions included touching their own arm, being touched by an experimenter, and touching a pillow as a control for movement. </p>
<p>The results indicated that when participants with psychosis touched themselves, a brain region known as the right superior temporal gyrus showed significantly higher activation compared to the control group. In healthy individuals, the brain tends to show reduced activity in response to self-touch, a phenomenon thought to occur because the sensation is predictable. The heightened activation in the patient group suggests there may be a mismatch between the brain’s prediction of the sensation and the sensory information it actually receives.</p>
<p>To investigate sensory processing at an even earlier stage, the researchers used a technique to measure somatosensory evoked potentials. This method involves delivering small, non-painful electrical pulses to a nerve in the hand and then recording the speed and strength of that signal as it travels up the spinal cord and into the brain. These measurements were taken during different conditions, including self-touch and other-touch. </p>
<p>In the control group, there was a measurable difference in the timing of the signal at the spinal cord level between self-touch and other-touch. For the patient group, this distinction was significantly smaller, providing evidence that the ability to differentiate between self and other may be altered at a very basic level of the nervous system.</p>
<p>A behavioral experiment provided further support for these neural findings. The researchers measured participants’ tactile thresholds, or the lightest touch they could feel, using a set of fine filaments. This test was also conducted during self-touch and other-touch. </p>
<p>Healthy controls tended to be less sensitive to the filaments while touching themselves, consistent with the idea that the brain dampens the perception of predictable, self-produced sensations. The patients with psychosis did not show this difference in sensitivity between the two conditions, suggesting an alteration in this sensory filtering mechanism.</p>
<p>The researchers also explored interoception, which is the sense of the internal state of the body. Participants performed a heartbeat detection task where they tried to tap a button in sync with their own heartbeat without feeling their pulse. The patients were found to be less accurate in this task compared to controls. Both groups performed equally well on a control task where they tapped along to a recorded heartbeat, indicating that the difficulty was specific to perceiving internal signals and not related to general attention or motor coordination.</p>
<p>Finally, the researchers measured heartbeat-evoked potentials, which are the brain’s electrical responses to the signals from the heart. The analysis showed that patients with psychosis had a reduced brain response to their own heartbeat signals. </p>
<p>Together, these interoceptive findings point to a broad disruption in the processing of self-generated internal signals, which are essential for maintaining a stable sense of one’s own body. The researchers also found that the degree of alteration in touch-related measures was associated with the severity of certain symptoms, and the brain activity during self-touch was a strong predictor of group membership.</p>
<p>The results show “that it is crucial for all of us to be able to differentiate between ‘self’ and ‘other,'” Böhme told PsyPost. “This basic self-other-distinction forms the basis of our self-experience. If this ability is altered or disrupted in some way, also our higher order sense of self will be affected.” </p>
<p>“Schizophrenia, the condition we studied here, is an example of such an alterations. It has been suggested before that schizophrenia can be understood as a disorder of the self. The other key take-away is that this difference is not only sensed in the brain but already affects earlier processing, like in our study the neural processing of self- or other-touch in the spinal cord.”</p>
<p>But the study, like all research, has some limitations. The patient sample was taking medication, which could potentially influence sensory processing, although the researchers conducted additional analyses that did not suggest a clear medication effect. The patients also had relatively low levels of active symptoms and included a mix of different psychotic disorders. </p>
<p>The researchers suggest that future work could examine individuals at earlier stages of the illness or before they begin treatment to see if these findings hold. Investigating these mechanisms further could open new avenues for therapies aimed at correcting the fundamental sensory and self-processing disruptions seen in psychosis.</p>
<p>“My lab studies the sense of self in many different psychiatric conditions and life situations,” Böhme said. “We have also investigated self-other-distinction for example in autism, ADHD, and anorexia. In my newest study, I will investigate how the sense of self is altered in times of grief, i.e. when losing a loved one, and whether people with complicated grief can be better supported using the psychedelic substance psilocybin.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03130-w" target="_blank">Altered processing of self-produced sensations in psychosis at cortical and spinal levels</a>,” was authored by Paula C. Salamone, Adam Enmalm, Reinoud Kaldewaij, Marie Åman, Charlotte Medley, Michal Pietrzak, Håkan Olausson, Andrea Johansson Capusan, and Rebecca Boehme.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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