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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/blue-light-exposure-alters-cortical-excitability-in-young-adults-but-adolescents-respond-differently/" 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;">Blue light exposure alters cortical excitability in young adults, but adolescents respond differently</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 7th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbscr.2025.100138" target="_blank">Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms</a></em> provides evidence that exposure to blue light can directly alter the baseline responsiveness of the human brain. The research suggests that while moderate levels of blue light may increase cortical excitability in young adults, higher intensities might diminish this effect. These findings indicate that the relationship between light and brain function is complex and appears to differ significantly between adolescents and young adults.</p>
<p>Light exerts a broad range of biological effects that are not related to vision, often referred to as non-image forming effects. These effects include the regulation of sleep, the synchronization of circadian rhythms, and the modulation of mood and alertness. </p>
<p>This process is primarily driven by a specific class of cells in the retina known as intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. These cells contain a photopigment called melanopsin, which is maximally sensitive to blue wavelengths of light. When these cells detect blue light, they send signals to various parts of the brain that control alertness and cognition.</p>
<p>A fundamental aspect of brain function is cortical excitability. This term refers to the responsiveness of neurons in the cortex to incoming stimuli. Cortical excitability is central to cognitive function, as it dictates how the brain processes information and reacts to the environment. </p>
<p>Previous research has established that this excitability is not static. It fluctuates depending on how long a person has been awake and their circadian phase. Typically, excitability increases the longer a person stays awake. The relationship between excitability and performance is often thought to follow an inverted U-shape. This means there is an optimal level of excitability for peak performance, while too little or too much can lead to poorer cognitive outcomes.</p>
<p>Despite knowing that light affects alertness, it was not fully established whether light exposure directly alters cortical excitability. The authors of the current study aimed to bridge this gap in knowledge. </p>
<p>“Blue light is well known to influence circadian rhythms and alertness, but its effects on cortical excitability, a fundamental property of brain function that reflects how responsive neurons are to stimulation, are much less understood,” explained study authors Roya Sharifpour of the Université libre de Bruxelles and Gilles Vandewalle of the University of Liège.</p>
<p>“This is particularly relevant because most light-emitting diodes (LEDs) widely used in daily life, including in smartphones, tablets, computer screens, and indoor lighting, emit significant amounts of blue light. As a result, we all are exposed to blue light throughout the day and in the evening.”</p>
<p>“Adolescents represent an important population for studying the non-visual effects of light, as they are among the highest consumers of artificial light. Understanding these effects is crucial to provide optimal lighting recommendations that support both performance and health. Adolescence is characterized by major changes in sleep timing, ongoing brain development, and differences in eye physiology.” </p>
<p>“For example, teenagers typically have clearer lenses, larger pupils, and later chronotypes, a natural tendency to go to sleep and wake up later, which could increase their sensitivity to light,” the researchers explained. “Conversely, they may actually be less sensitive because they are often exposed to more outdoor or artificial light throughout the day, which can reduce their sensitivity to non-visual effects of light. These all suggest that adolescents may respond to light differently than adults.”</p>
<p>“Given the limited knowledge about how light affects cortical excitability and the potential differences between adolescents and adults, we aimed to investigate: (1) whether light influences cortical excitability in young adults, and (2) whether the response differs between adolescents and young adults.”</p>
<p>For their study, the researchers recruited twenty-eight healthy volunteers. The final sample included thirteen young adults between the ages of 19 and 30, and fifteen adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18. </p>
<p>The researchers screened all participants to ensure they had no history of sleep disorders, psychiatric conditions, or excessive use of caffeine and alcohol. They also excluded individuals with extreme “early bird” or “night owl” chronotypes. To control for the effects of sleep history, all participants maintained a strict, regular sleep-wake schedule for five days before the laboratory session. Compliance with this schedule was verified using wrist-worn activity trackers and sleep diaries.</p>
<p>On the day of the experiment, participants arrived at the laboratory in the early afternoon. This timing was chosen to accommodate the school schedules of the adolescent participants. Upon arrival, subjects underwent a period of adaptation in dim light to standardize their recent light history. </p>
<p>The core of the experiment involved exposing participants to three distinct light conditions using a tunable LED light box. The conditions included an orange light, which served as a control, a lower-intensity blue light, and a higher-intensity blue light. The orange light and the lower-intensity blue light were matched in visual brightness but differed in their activation of melanopsin.</p>
<p>The researchers measured cortical excitability using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation coupled with high-density electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). This non-invasive method involves placing a magnetic coil against the participant’s scalp. The coil delivers a brief magnetic pulse to a specific area of the brain, in this case, the superior frontal gyrus. This pulse induces a mild electrical current that activates neurons in that region. A cap containing 60 electrodes records the brain’s immediate electrical response to this stimulation. By analyzing the amplitude and slope of this response, the team could quantify how excitable the cortex was under each light condition.</p>
<p>During the brain stimulation sessions, participants simultaneously performed a visuomotor vigilance task. They used a trackball device to keep a moving cursor centered on a fixed target on a computer screen. This task required sustained attention and fine motor control. The researchers aimed to see if changes in light exposure would affect performance on this task and if performance correlated with the brain measurements. Each light session lasted approximately 12 minutes, with washout periods in dim light between sessions.</p>
<p>The researchers observed a distinct pattern in the young adult group. When exposed to the lower-intensity blue light, adults showed a significant increase in cortical excitability compared to the orange light condition. This confirms that light composition affects brain physiology, as the two lights appeared equally bright to the eye but had different biological effects. </p>
<p>However, this increase did not continue linearly. When the adults were exposed to the higher-intensity blue light, their cortical excitability did not increase further. Instead, the data showed a trend toward a decrease in excitability compared to the moderate blue light.</p>
<p>This pattern suggests an inverted U-shaped relationship in adults. Moderate blue light appears to stimulate the brain’s responsiveness, but excessive intensity may dampen this effect or result in diminishing returns. This mirrors the theoretical relationship between arousal and performance. The finding implies that more intense light is not necessarily better for brain function and that there is an optimal range for stimulating the cortex.</p>
<p>The findings for the adolescent group were notably different. Statistical analysis showed no significant changes in cortical excitability across the three light conditions for the teenagers. Their brain responsiveness remained stable whether they were exposed to orange light, moderate blue light, or high-intensity blue light. This lack of variation contrasts sharply with the modulation observed in the adult group.</p>
<p>Despite the differences in how light affected their physiology, both groups demonstrated a link between brain excitability and behavior. The researchers found a significant positive correlation between cortical excitability and performance on the vigilance task. </p>
<p>In both adolescents and adults, higher levels of excitability were associated with better performance on the tracking task. This relationship held true regardless of the specific light condition. It suggests that while light may or may not shift the baseline state of the brain depending on age, the state of the brain is a reliable predictor of how well a person can function.</p>
<p>The researchers also analyzed the spontaneous brain waves of participants while they rested with their eyes open. They specifically looked at theta and alpha waves, which are often used as markers of sleepiness and alertness. The study found no significant changes in these brain waves across the different light conditions for either age group. This indicates that the changes in excitability observed in adults were specific to the brain’s response to stimulation rather than a general shift in ongoing background brain activity.</p>
<p>“The key takeaway is that blue light can directly influence the brain’s baseline responsiveness,” the researchers told PsyPost. “Since cortical excitability underlies nearly all cognitive and behavioral functions, this effect is important. Our study suggests that during the day, blue light can increase cortical excitability, but intensity matters, more is not always better, and excessive exposure may actually reduce excitability.”</p>
<p>“Importantly, adolescents and young adults do not respond to light in the same way. This highlights that age and daily light habits can shape how the brain reacts to environmental stimuli, meaning that optimal light exposure may differ across age groups.”</p>
<p>But as with all research, there are some limitations. The sample size was relatively small, which can make it difficult to detect subtle effects. The experiment was conducted only during the afternoon. Biological responses to light can vary depending on the time of day and the individual’s circadian phase. Additionally, the highest intensity blue light session was always administered last to ensure study completion. This order could theoretically introduce fatigue effects, although statistical models attempted to account for this.</p>
<p>“Our study showed differential responses, but it remains unclear whether these differences are due to higher or lower sensitivity,” Sharifpour and Vandewalle explained. “Future research could include a wider range of light intensities and assess cortical excitability in darkness, comparing it to responses under blue light, to determine whether adolescents are more or less sensitive. Additionally, since our study was conducted during afternoon, future studies could investigate the effects of light exposure at different times of day on cortical excitability.”</p>
<p>“This work highlights how everyday environmental factors like light can influence fundamental neural processes. Adolescence is a dynamic developmental period, and understanding how light interacts with brain physiology may eventually help inform age-specific strategies to support daily functioning and well-being.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbscr.2025.100138" target="_blank">Cortical excitability is affected by light exposure – Distinct effects in adolescents and young adults</a>,” was authored by Roya Sharifpour, Fermin Balda, Ilenia Paparella, John Read, Zoé Leysens, Sara Letot, Islay Campbell, Elise Beckers, Fabienne Collette, Christophe Phillips, Mikhail Zubkov, and Gilles Vandewalle.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/common-left-right-political-scale-masks-anti-establishment-views-at-the-center/" 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;">Common left-right political scale masks anti-establishment views at the center</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 7th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.70082" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Political Psychology</a></em> suggests that the midpoint of the common left-right political spectrum scale hides a surprising amount of political diversity, potentially mixing genuinely moderate individuals with those holding populist and anti-establishment views. This finding indicates that relying solely on this single measure may obscure important nuances in public opinion, particularly regarding attitudes toward the political system and various social issues.</p>
<p>Previous work had indicated that the midpoint of the left-right self-placement item, a standard measure of political ideology in surveys, is consistently the most frequently chosen option across many democratic nations. This midpoint group has long been recognized as heterogeneous, including individuals who are genuinely centrist, those unfamiliar with the terms “left” and “right,” individuals with low political interest, and those who hold a mix of traditionally left and right-wing stances.</p>
<p>Prior research has also observed “W-shaped” or “M-shaped” relationships when plotting the left-right item against attitudes like skepticism toward government or conspiracy beliefs. These shapes involve “bumps” at the midpoint, where individuals express views similar to those at the extreme ends of the spectrum.</p>
<p>“I, along with most collaborators on this study, had already published a paper reporting a curvilinear relationship between the left-right self-placement item and conspiracy beliefs, such that belief was higher at both extreme ends of the left-right scale, but also the center,” said study author <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VfoSoy0AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Edward Clarke</a>, a postdoctoral researcher at Philipps-Universität Marburg.</p>
<p>“This seemed to go against conventional wisdom that political centrists/moderates generally hold less extreme attitudes than the far-left and far-right, all the while acknowledging that interpreting what a midpoint response on such scales is difficult. We then decided to explore just how prevalent this ‘midpoint bump’ might be across a range of social and political attitudes, to see if there were commonalities across these attitudes that we could make sense of.”</p>
<p>To conduct their research, the scientists utilized data from two large-scale surveys: the 2019 Australian Election Study (AES) and the 2020 American National Election Studies (ANES). The AES sample consisted of 2,179 participants, with 652 identified as midpoint responders. The ANES sample included 8,280 participants, with 1,818 midpoint responders. </p>
<p>The Australian survey asked participants to place themselves on a scale from 0 (Left) to 10 (Right). The American survey utilized a seven-point scale ranging from “Extremely liberal” to “Extremely conservative.” The researchers also examined responses to questions regarding trust in politicians, attitudes toward immigration, and satisfaction with democracy.</p>
<p>The study employed a two-step analytical approach. First, the team plotted the relationship between left-right self-placement and various political attitudes. They specifically looked for nonlinear patterns in the data. A typical linear relationship would show attitudes becoming progressively more conservative as one moves from left to right. A U-shaped relationship would show the extremes agreeing with each other against the center.</p>
<p>The researchers instead found evidence of W-shaped or M-shaped relationships. This indicates that responses at the midpoint were often distinct from those immediately to their left or right. On several measures, the mean scores of midpoint responders were more extreme than those of center-left or center-right individuals. This phenomenon was particularly visible regarding anti-establishment attitudes.</p>
<p>In the Australian data, midpoint responders showed relatively high support for the death penalty and the belief that immigrants harm the economy. They also expressed significant distrust in the political system. They were more likely to believe that politicians are out of touch and that voting does not make a difference. These “bumps” in the data suggested that the center included people with views typically associated with the political fringes.</p>
<p>The American data showed similar patterns, though somewhat less pronounced. Midpoint responders in the U.S. displayed elevated levels of belief that immigrants harm culture and that the government is run by a few big interests. The researchers confirmed these visual observations using polynomial regression testing. This statistical method identified that a complex, quartic function fit the data better than a straight line for many variables.</p>
<p>The second step of the analysis involved Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). This technique allows researchers to identify unobserved subgroups within a specific population based on patterns of responses. The researchers applied this method exclusively to the participants who had selected the midpoint option. They aimed to see if the “center” was actually composed of distinct types of voters.</p>
<p>In the Australian sample, the analysis identified four distinct profiles among midpoint responders. The largest group, labeled “exclusionary populists,” made up 32 percent of the midpoint. This group reported the lowest trust in the political system and held strong anti-immigrant views. They believed strongly that the people, rather than politicians, should make policy decisions.</p>
<p>Another Australian group, labeled “establishment centrists,” comprised 11 percent of the midpoint. These individuals were the opposite of the populists. They were politically engaged and expressed high trust in the democratic system. </p>
<p>A third group, representing 29 percent, appeared “cross-pressured.” These voters held a mix of left-wing views on income equality and right-wing views on immigration. A final group, labeled ‘skeptical centrists’ (27 percent), held middling views on issues but scored lower than establishment centrists on the belief that voting makes a difference.</p>
<p>The American data revealed three profiles among the moderates. The majority, about 71 percent, fit the description of genuine centrists who held moderate views between the left and right. However, two smaller groups displayed clear populist traits. A “valence populist” group, representing 10 percent of the midpoint, expressed high skepticism of government and believed in widespread corruption.</p>
<p>A second U.S. group, labeled “exclusionary populists,” made up 19 percent of the midpoint. This group combined anti-establishment sentiment with concerns that immigrants harm American culture. When looking at voting intentions for the 2020 election, the valence populists were notable for their dissatisfaction. A significant portion intended to vote for a third-party candidate or Donald Trump, rather than Joe Biden.</p>
<p>The researchers then tested whether these specific groups were responsible for the statistical “bumps” observed earlier. They created new plots of the data while sequentially removing each latent profile. When the populist profiles were removed from the analysis, the relationships between ideology and attitudes largely smoothed out.</p>
<p>This suggests that the “extreme center” is driven by these specific subgroups. In the Australian data, removing the exclusionary populist profile significantly reduced the non-linearity for items regarding political trust. In the U.S. data, the large number of genuine centrists tended to dilute the effect of the populists. However, the populist profiles still exerted enough influence to create visible irregularities in the data trends.</p>
<p>This study provides evidence that the single left-right self-placement item can conceal significant political diversity within its midpoint, including populist beliefs that are often associated with the political extremes. This suggests that survey measures of political orientation may be providing a distorted view of what “between left and right” signifies to many individuals.</p>
<p>“The main thing to take away is that while around one-third of people may identify their politics as centrist or moderate when asked, this can mean quite different things for different people,” Clarke told PsyPost. “In fact, it can mean completely opposite things.” </p>
<p>“Those that are ideologically centrist or moderate in the traditional sense hold generally positive attitudes toward the existing political system. Members of another midpoint response group are skeptical of the political system and hold anti-establishment or populist attitudes, which are attitudes that are generally at odds with those of the more ideological centrists.”</p>
<p>A limitation of this research is its focus on two Anglophone nations, Australia and the United States. Future research should consider conducting similar analyses in a broader range of countries, particularly where the left-right scale might have different meanings. Additionally, the labels assigned to the latent profiles are interpretations based on the data and theoretical perspectives, and thus should be considered with some caution.</p>
<p>“An important caveat relates to the labelling of the midpoint profiles,” Clarke explained. “Although informed by the data and theoretical perspectives, the labels are our interpretations of the pattern of results and therefore should be taken cautiously. To add more empirical weight to our claims, it would be great to run a similar analysis on midpoint respondents using a reliable and valid populism scale, for instance.”</p>
<p>Looking forward, “we would like to conduct similar analyses using reliable and valid measures of populist and anti-establishment attitudes, to provide a better test of the claim that some populists indeed self-place on the midpoint of the left-right item. Another important extension would be to conduct more cross-national work, as our study was limited to Australian and U.S. datasets.”</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the research clearly indicates that the midpoint of the left-right scale contains distinct political profiles, with varying levels of political engagement and attitudes toward the establishment.</p>
<p>“Although this is not a new idea, I think that psychologists and political and social scientists need to reflect on how we design our measures of political orientation and ideology, because we are potentially receiving a distorted image of what ‘between left and right’ means to people,” Clarke said.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.70082" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Extremism at the center: Uncovering political diversity among midpoint responders on the left–right self-placement item</a>,” was authored by Edward J. R. Clarke, Frank Eckerle, John R. Kerr, Stephen R. Hill, Mathew Ling, Mathew D. Marques, and Matt N. Williams.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-research-suggests-deep-psychological-schemas-fuel-problematic-porn-use/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">New research suggests deep psychological schemas fuel problematic porn use</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 6th 2025, 23:00</div>
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<p><p>Recent research challenges existing assumptions about the psychological drivers behind compulsive pornography consumption. A study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2025.2518974" target="_blank">Psychology & Sexuality</a></em> suggests that while negative thought patterns and emotional struggles both contribute to problematic pornography use, one does not necessarily cause the other. This finding indicates that the path from deep-seated psychological distress to addictive behavior is not always a simple chain reaction.</p>
<p>Problematic pornography use is a growing area of concern for mental health professionals worldwide. This condition is distinct from simply watching adult content frequently. It is defined by a lack of control over consumption despite negative consequences. Individuals with this issue often experience distress, functional impairment in their daily lives, and relationship conflicts.</p>
<p>Psychologists have long sought to understand why some individuals develop this dependency while others do not. A leading theory involves the concept of “early maladaptive schemas.” These are deeply ingrained patterns of thinking and feeling that develop during childhood. They often result from unmet emotional needs or negative experiences with caregivers.</p>
<p>These schemas are not always active. When they are triggered by specific events or stressors, they manifest as “schema modes.” A schema mode is a temporary mindset or emotional state. For example, a person might slip into a “vulnerable child” mode, feeling suddenly abandoned or helpless. Alternatively, they might enter a “punitive parent” mode, where they judge themselves harshly.</p>
<p>To manage the intense pain associated with these modes, individuals often develop “coping modes.” These are behavioral strategies used to survive the emotional distress. Some people surrender to the feeling, while others try to numb it or avoid it entirely.</p>
<p>Many researchers believe that addictive behaviors serve as a form of these coping modes. The prevailing hypothesis is that pornography use acts as a maladaptive method of self-soothing. This theory posits that a negative schema mode is triggered, which causes emotional dysregulation.</p>
<p>Emotional dysregulation refers to an inability to manage or recover from extreme emotional reactions. The individual feels overwhelmed by sadness, anger, or shame. According to the standard model, the person then turns to pornography to escape these unregulated feelings.</p>
<p>A team of researchers from the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran set out to test this specific pathway. The authors, Helia Motamed, Seyed Kazem Rasoulzadeh Tabatabaei, and Hamidreza Aghamohammadian Sharbaf, wanted to see if emotional dysregulation was the bridge connecting schema modes to problematic pornography use.</p>
<p>They hypothesized that schema modes cause emotional dysregulation. They further hypothesized that this dysregulation leads to problematic pornography use. Finally, they proposed that the relationship between schema modes and pornography use is indirect, mediated primarily by this inability to regulate emotions.</p>
<p>To investigate this, the team recruited 392 participants. The cohort was composed of young people aged 15 to 25. The average age was approximately 21 years old. The majority of the participants were male, accounting for nearly 78 percent of the group.</p>
<p>The study was conducted using an online survey distributed via social media platforms. Participants were first screened to ensure they had viewed pornography within the last six months. Those who met the criteria completed a series of standardized questionnaires.</p>
<p>The first measure was the Problematic Pornography Use Scale. This tool assesses the severity of the behavior. It asks questions about how often the use of pornography interferes with daily life or causes distress. It provides a score that reflects the intensity of the compulsion.</p>
<p>The second measure was the Schema Modes Inventory. This questionnaire is designed to identify which psychological modes are dominant for an individual. The researchers focused on specific negative modes. These included the vulnerable child mode and various dysfunction coping styles.</p>
<p>The third measure was the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. This instrument evaluates how well a person monitors and controls their feelings. It looks at impulse control, awareness of emotions, and the ability to focus when distressed. High scores indicate significant trouble handling emotional shifts.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed the collected data using a statistical technique called structural equation modeling. This method allows scientists to visualize and calculate the strength of relationships between multiple variables at once. It can determine if a path from A to C truly goes through B.</p>
<p>The results confirmed several direct connections. The analysis showed a strong positive link between maladaptive schema modes and emotional dysregulation. This means that individuals who frequently experience negative psychological states also struggle to manage their emotions.</p>
<p>The study also found a direct link between schema modes and problematic pornography use. Participants with more intense negative schema modes were more likely to report compulsive viewing habits. This aligns with previous research linking past trauma or negative self-concepts to addiction.</p>
<p>Additionally, the data showed a direct link between emotional dysregulation and problematic pornography use. Those who found it hard to control their feelings were indeed more likely to struggle with pornography addiction. This supports the idea that the behavior is often used to manage mood.</p>
<p>However, the primary hypothesis of the study was not supported. The researchers looked for an “indirect effect.” They wanted to know if the schema modes led to pornography use because they caused emotional dysregulation. The statistical analysis showed that this indirect path was not significant.</p>
<p>This is a specific and revealing statistical outcome. It implies that while schema modes and emotional dysregulation are both problems for these individuals, one is not the primary mechanism for the other regarding this behavior. The schema modes appear to drive the pornography use through a different route.</p>
<p>The negative thoughts and feelings associated with schema modes might trigger the behavior directly. For instance, a person in a “punitive parent” mode might use pornography not to soothe themselves, but to validate feelings of shame or badness. The behavior could be a direct response to the schema rather than an attempt to fix a regulated emotion.</p>
<p>This finding suggests that other mechanisms are at play. The researchers propose that the relationship is more complex than a simple coping strategy for unregulated emotion. It highlights that psychological schemas can influence behavior in ways that bypass the standard emotion-regulation model.</p>
<p>There are several caveats to this research. The study utilized a cross-sectional design. This means it captured a snapshot of the participants at a single point in time. It cannot definitively prove that schema modes cause the behavior, only that they are linked.</p>
<p>The data was also based on self-reports. Participants answered questions about their own behavior. This method can sometimes introduce bias, as people may not accurately remember or report their habits. This is particularly true for sensitive topics like pornography use.</p>
<p>The gender imbalance in the sample is another factor. The majority of respondents were young men. While this demographic is often the focus of pornography research, the results may not apply equally to women or older adults.</p>
<p>Cultural context is also relevant. The study was conducted in Iran. Cultural and religious attitudes toward sexuality and pornography in this region may influence how participants perceive their own behavior. The distress reported might be partially due to cultural conflict regarding the content.</p>
<p>Future research should address these limitations. Longitudinal studies are needed to track individuals over time. This would help clarify the direction of the relationships between schemas, emotions, and behavior. Scientists could observe if changes in schema modes precede changes in pornography habits.</p>
<p>Researchers should also investigate other potential mediators. If emotional dysregulation is not the bridge, other factors might be. These could include loneliness, sensation seeking, or specific relationship deficits. Understanding the exact mechanism is vital for treatment.</p>
<p>The implications for therapy are significant. If emotional dysregulation is not the primary mediator, teaching emotion regulation skills alone may not be enough. Therapists may need to target the underlying schema modes directly.</p>
<p>Treatments might need to focus on healing the “vulnerable child” or silencing the “punitive parent.” Addressing the core psychological wounds could be more effective than simply teaching coping strategies for stress. This suggests a need for deep psychological work rather than just behavioral management.</p>
<p>The study provides a nuanced view of a common struggle. It moves the conversation beyond simple addiction models. It suggests that compulsive behavior is deeply rooted in how individuals view themselves and interpret their internal world.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2025.2518974" target="_blank">The relationship between schema modes and problematic pornography use in youth: the mediating role of emotional dysregulation</a>,” was authored by Helia Motamed, Seyed Kazem Rasoulzadeh Tabatabaei, and Hamidreza Aghamohammadian Sharbaf.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/study-links-anxiety-and-poor-sleep-to-heart-and-kidney-disease-progression/" 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 links anxiety and poor sleep to heart and kidney disease progression</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 6th 2025, 21:00</div>
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<p><p>A pattern of restorative sleep is associated with a reduced likelihood of facing a cascade of chronic health conditions. A new large-scale analysis identifies a link between healthy sleep habits and a lower incidence of heart disease, kidney disease, and diabetes. The research also suggests that quality sleep is correlated with a decreased probability of these conditions advancing into a state where multiple diseases coexist.</p>
<p>The findings were published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2025.08.001" target="_blank">Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation</a></em>. This research highlights the significant relationship between lifestyle factors and the progression of chronic illness.</p>
<p>Medical professionals classify heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease under an umbrella term known as cardio-renal-metabolic diseases. These conditions often do not occur in isolation. Patients frequently develop one condition which then strains other bodily systems, leading to the development of a second or third disease.</p>
<p>The simultaneous presence of two or more of these conditions is called cardio-renal-metabolic multimorbidity. This state is associated with a much higher risk of premature death and significantly greater healthcare costs. Preventing the transition from a single disease to a cluster of diseases is a primary goal for public health officials.</p>
<p>Researchers from Zhengzhou University and Jilin University in China conducted this study to understand how sleep influences this disease progression. Previous investigations have typically examined the link between sleep and individual diseases in isolation. There has been less focus on how sleep patterns affect the trajectory from good health to a single disease and finally to multimorbidity.</p>
<p>The team also sought to understand the role of mental health in this process. Anxiety and depression are known to disrupt sleep and are also common in patients with chronic physical illnesses. The authors hypothesized that these psychological factors might act as a bridge connecting poor sleep to physical disease.</p>
<p>To investigate these relationships, the authors utilized data from the UK Biobank. This is a massive biomedical database containing genetic and health information from half a million participants in the United Kingdom. For this specific analysis, the researchers selected 375,837 participants.</p>
<p>The cohort was comprised of individuals aged 37 to 73 years. The participants were generally healthy at the start of the study period and did not have existing heart, kidney, or metabolic conditions. The researchers followed these individuals for a median period of nearly 14 years.</p>
<p>The study assessed sleep quality using a composite score based on six specific behaviors. These behaviors included sleep duration, chronotype (whether a person is a “morning” or “evening” person), and insomnia frequency. The score also accounted for snoring, daytime napping, and how easily participants woke up in the morning.</p>
<p>Participants received points for each healthy behavior. A healthy duration was defined as seven to eight hours per day. An early chronotype, lack of snoring, and rare insomnia were also scored positively. A higher total score indicated a healthier overall sleep profile.</p>
<p>The research team employed a statistical method known as a multistate model. This approach allowed them to track participants through different stages of health over time. They observed transitions from full health to a first diagnosis, and then from that first diagnosis to multimorbidity or death.</p>
<p>The results showed a clear protective benefit associated with high sleep scores. Participants with the healthiest sleep traits had a 30 percent lower risk of developing a first cardio-renal-metabolic disease compared to those with poor sleep scores. This suggests that good sleep acts as a shield against the initial onset of chronic illness.</p>
<p>The protective effect extended beyond the first diagnosis. Among those who did develop a first disease, healthy sleepers were 30 percent less likely to progress to multimorbidity. This finding implies that even after a diagnosis, maintaining good sleep habits may slow the deterioration of health.</p>
<p>The study also found a reduction in mortality risk. Healthy sleep traits were associated with a 21 percent lower risk of transitioning from a healthy state to death during the study period. This reinforces the connection between restorative rest and overall longevity.</p>
<p>When the researchers looked at specific diseases, the connection to type 2 diabetes was particularly strong. Healthy sleep habits showed a greater association with preventing diabetes than they did with preventing heart or kidney disease. This aligns with biological evidence linking sleep deprivation to insulin resistance and glucose metabolism issues.</p>
<p>The analysis of mental health factors provided additional insight into why these associations exist. The researchers found that anxiety and depression mediated a significant portion of the risk. Psychological distress explained approximately 16 percent of the relationship between sleep and the first disease diagnosis.</p>
<p>For the progression to multimorbidity, anxiety and depression accounted for about 14 percent of the risk. The mediation effect was strongest regarding mortality. Mental health factors explained roughly 25 percent of the link between sleep traits and death.</p>
<p>This suggests a bidirectional relationship where poor sleep fuels mental distress, which in turn stresses the cardiovascular and metabolic systems. Conversely, reducing anxiety and depression could be a key mechanism by which sleep improves physical health.</p>
<p>The researchers observed that the protective benefits of sleep were most evident in the early and middle stages of disease progression. Once a patient reached a state of severe multimorbidity, the impact of sleep on mortality was no longer statistically significant. This indicates that sleep interventions might be most effective before disease burden becomes overwhelming.</p>
<p>The study had a few distinct strengths in its design. The use of a composite sleep score provided a more comprehensive picture than looking at sleep duration alone. The large sample size and long follow-up period added weight to the statistical conclusions.</p>
<p>However, there are important caveats to consider when interpreting these results. The sleep data was self-reported by participants at the beginning of the study. Human memory can be imperfect, and sleep habits can change over more than a decade.</p>
<p>The study population also presents a limitation regarding generalizability. Over 95 percent of the participants in the UK Biobank are White. This lack of diversity means the findings may not fully apply to other racial or ethnic groups who might face different health disparities.</p>
<p>Additionally, the study is observational in nature. This means it can identify strong associations but cannot definitively prove that poor sleep causes these diseases. Unmeasured factors, such as specific genetic markers or environmental stressors, could influence the results.</p>
<p>Future research should aim to replicate these findings in more diverse populations. Studies that monitor changes in sleep patterns over time would also provide clearer data than a single baseline measurement. Clinical trials could help determine if improving sleep hygiene directly halts the progression of these diseases.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the study offers practical implications for preventative medicine. It suggests that screening for sleep problems should be a routine part of assessing cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Addressing sleep issues early could potentially delay or prevent the onset of complex, multi-system diseases.</p>
<p>The connection to mental health also suggests a need for holistic treatment. Managing anxiety and depression may be just as vital for heart and kidney health as monitoring blood pressure or blood sugar. Physicians might consider integrated approaches that target both sleep and mental well-being to protect physical health.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2025.08.001" target="_blank">Sleep traits and the longitudinal progression of cardio-renal-metabolic multimorbidity: A prospective study from UK-Biobank</a>,” was authored by Yali Niu, Tianrun Wang, Xiaocan Jia, Chaojun Yang, Jingwen Fan, Chenyu Zhao, Nana Wang, Zhixing Fan, and Xuezhong Shi.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/mdmas-blue-tuesday-study-confirms-three-day-drop-in-mental-well-being-after-ecstasy-use/" 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;">MDMA’s blue Tuesday: Study confirms three-day drop in mental well-being after ecstasy use</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 6th 2025, 19:00</div>
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<p><p>Recent research confirms that the use of the drug MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, is associated with a significant decline in mental well-being for three days following consumption. This negative shift in mood persists even when accounting for factors such as lack of sleep or the use of other substances. The findings were published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112881" target="_blank">Drug and Alcohol Dependence</a>.</p>
<p>For decades, anecdotal reports from the nightlife scene have described a period of low mood after taking ecstasy. Users often refer to this phenomenon as the “midweek low” or “Blue Tuesday.” This describes a dip in emotion that typically occurs a few days after weekend partying.</p>
<p>Despite these common reports, scientific consensus has been difficult to reach. Researchers have debated whether this “comedown” is caused by the chemical effects of the drug itself. Some argue it is merely a result of the circumstances surrounding its use.</p>
<p>Factors such as physical exhaustion from dancing or sleep deprivation often accompany recreational drug use. The consumption of other substances like alcohol or cannabis is also frequent in these settings. These confounding variables make it difficult to isolate the specific impact of MDMA.</p>
<p>In recent years, MDMA has gained attention beyond the nightlife community. Clinical researchers are exploring its potential as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder. This medical interest necessitates a clearer understanding of the drug’s aftereffects.</p>
<p>Previous studies have produced mixed results regarding the post-acute effects of the drug. Some clinical trials found no change in mood in the days following administration. This led some experts to suggest the “comedown” might be a myth or entirely environmental.</p>
<p>A team of researchers sought to resolve this uncertainty through a rigorous real-world study. The study was conducted by scientists from the Trimbos Institute in the Netherlands and University College London. They collaborated with colleagues from the University of Bath and Arkin Mental Health Care.</p>
<p>The research team employed a method known as Ecological Daily Assessment. This approach gathers data in real-time within the participants’ natural environments. It reduces the errors often associated with remembering past events.</p>
<p>The investigators recruited 244 young adults to participate in the study. These individuals were residents of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. All participants were active in the nightlife scene and had used ecstasy at least three times in the previous year.</p>
<p>The study utilized a custom-made smartphone application to collect data. Participants installed the app and used it for 35 consecutive days. This extended period allowed researchers to track mood fluctuations over time.</p>
<p>Each day around 8:00 PM, the participants received a notification to complete a brief questionnaire. The survey took approximately three minutes to finish. It asked questions about their substance use, sleep patterns, and mental state over the past 24 hours.</p>
<p>To measure mental well-being, the researchers asked participants to rate how they felt on a specific scale. The items included feelings of happiness, relaxation, tiredness, stress, and boredom. These scores were combined to create a daily index of mental health.</p>
<p>The study also collected baseline data before the daily tracking began. Participants completed standard psychological assessments for depression and anxiety. This helped the researchers understand the underlying mental health of the volunteers.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed the data to look for patterns following the use of various substances. They specifically examined the three-day window after drug consumption. This window was chosen based on prior literature suggesting when a mood drop might occur.</p>
<p>The results showed a statistically significant drop in mental well-being in the three days following ecstasy use. This decline was observed consistently across the sample. The effect was distinct from the normal daily fluctuations in mood.</p>
<p>To ensure accuracy, the researchers utilized statistical models that controlled for various influencing factors. They adjusted for the day of the week to account for natural weekend highs and weekday lows. They also factored in the participants’ sleep duration and quality.</p>
<p>The analysis further controlled for the use of other drugs. The study tracked the consumption of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and amphetamines. Even after adjusting for all these variables, the negative association between MDMA and well-being remained strong.</p>
<p>The study compared the effects of MDMA to other common substances. Alcohol and cannabis did not show a similar prolonged drop in mental well-being in the days after use. This suggests the three-day “blues” are somewhat specific to stimulant use.</p>
<p>Cocaine was the only other substance that showed a similar negative effect. The data indicated a drop in well-being after cocaine use, although it was less pronounced than with MDMA. The researchers noted that both drugs interact with serotonin transporters in the brain.</p>
<p>Sleep quality played a significant role in daily well-being scores. Participants who slept better generally reported higher mood scores. However, the drop in mood after MDMA use occurred independently of how well the person slept.</p>
<p>Pre-existing mental health conditions also influenced the results. Participants with higher baseline levels of depression or anxiety reported lower overall well-being. These personal vulnerabilities appeared to exacerbate the low mood experienced after drug use.</p>
<p>The study revealed demographic differences between the two participant groups. Participants from the United Kingdom reported higher lifetime usage of ecstasy compared to their Dutch counterparts. The UK group also reported slightly lower overall mental well-being.</p>
<p>Despite these differences, the core finding held true for both groups. The link between MDMA use and a subsequent drop in mood was robust. It could not be explained away by location or cultural differences in nightlife.</p>
<p>The researchers also attempted to measure harm reduction strategies. They asked participants if they took steps such as limiting their dose or taking supplements. However, the reliability of this specific measurement was lower than other parts of the survey.</p>
<p>The findings challenge the idea that the “comedown” is solely due to a lack of sleep or partying too hard. While those factors contribute to how a person feels, the drug appears to have a direct impact. The chemical footprint of MDMA seems to leave a temporary mark on mood.</p>
<p>There are limitations to this study that should be considered. The data relied entirely on self-reports from the participants. The researchers could not verify the purity or dosage of the drugs consumed.</p>
<p>Street drugs often contain adulterants or vary in strength. It is possible that contaminants contributed to the observed effects. This is a common challenge in research involving illicit substances.</p>
<p>Additionally, not all participants completed every daily survey. The researchers filtered out those with low response rates to maintain data quality. Sensitivity analyses suggested that this did not skew the final results.</p>
<p>The study did not measure certain physical factors like hydration or nutrition. Dehydration and poor diet are common in nightlife settings. These physical stressors could theoretically interact with the drug’s effects.</p>
<p>The authors suggest that these findings have practical implications for users. Understanding that a drop in mood is a likely biological consequence can help manage expectations. It frames the “Tuesday blues” as a predictable reaction rather than a personal failing.</p>
<p>For the clinical application of MDMA, these results offer a point of comparison. Clinical settings involve pure substances and controlled environments. Comparing these real-world results with clinical data helps isolate the risks of recreational use.</p>
<p>Future research could focus on interventions to mitigate these effects. The study indicates that improving sleep and avoiding cocaine co-use could lessen the severity of the mood drop. Testing these strategies in a controlled manner would be a logical next step.</p>
<p>The investigation highlights the value of monitoring drug aftereffects over several days. A single snapshot in time might miss the delayed onset of low mood. The three-day window proved essential for capturing the full scope of the experience.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this research provides strong evidence for the existence of a post-MDMA mood drop. It moves the discussion from anecdotal lore to empirical observation. It confirms that for many users, the high of the weekend is followed by a distinct pharmacological low.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112881" target="_blank">Three-day blues after ecstasy/MDMA use: Evidence from a longitudinal and daily analysis in the European nightlife scene</a>,” was authored by Matthijs Blankers, Ruben van Beek, Desirée Spronk, Wouter den Hollander, Rosa Andree, Tom P. Freeman, Meryem Grabski, H. Valerie Curran, Jon Waldron, and Margriet W. van Laar.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/nonmedical-tiktok-creators-outperform-doctors-in-engagement-on-ssri-videos/" 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;">Nonmedical TikTok creators outperform doctors in engagement on SSRI videos</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 6th 2025, 17:00</div>
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<p><p>An analysis of TikTok videos on SSRIs showed that medical professionals generally maintained a neutral tone in those videos, while nonmedical professionals were more likely to adopt a positive tone. Videos by nonmedical professionals tended to have more views, likes, and comments. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/77383"><em>JMIR Mental Health</em></a>.</p>
<p>Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are a class of antidepressant medications that increase serotonin availability in the brain. They are commonly prescribed for depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and PTSD. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood, sleep, appetite, and various other physiological and emotional processes in the body.</p>
<p>SSRIs work by blocking the reabsorption of serotonin into neurons, allowing more of it to remain active in synapses. Because they are relatively safe to use, SSRIs are considered first-line treatments for many mood and anxiety conditions. The therapeutic effects typically appear after several weeks, even though serotonin levels change rapidly. </p>
<p>Side effects can include nausea, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and emotional blunting, though many people tolerate them well. SSRIs generally have fewer cardiovascular and anticholinergic side effects than older antidepressants. Common anticholinergic side effects include dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, urinary retention, rapid heartbeat, confusion, and difficulty sweating.</p>
<p>Study author Brittany Quinn and her colleagues wanted to examine the content of TikTok videos on SSRIs. They hypothesized that these videos would predominantly emphasize negative experiences and that videos by nonmedical professionals would attract higher engagement.</p>
<p>These authors analyzed 99 TikTok videos collected on December 8, 2024. They used a web scraper to collect engagement metrics for the videos and manually recorded the number of views. Study authors initially collected 209 videos but excluded some because they did not fit their requirements. Additionally, 80 videos were excluded because study authors decided they did not need more than 99 videos.</p>
<p>Three researchers evaluated the content and tone of these videos. They also classified the creators of these videos as “medical professionals” or “nonmedical professionals” based on the credentials they provided.</p>
<p>The tone of the video was categorized as positive, negative, ambiguous, or neutral based both on the overall video and on the content. The overall videos were classified as positive if they exuded an uplifting, cheerful, and enthusiastic vibe. Negative videos were those creating a sense of discomfort, sadness, or distress. Ambiguous videos were those blending elements of positivity and negativity without clearly conveying a single emotion. Finally, neutral videos were those that did not include elements of positivity or negativity.</p>
<p>Looking at content, positive videos were those mentioning positive side effects, negative videos mentioned negative side effects, while ambiguous videos mentioned both positive and negative symptoms. Neutral videos did not mention either positive or negative symptoms or experiences.</p>
<p>Results showed that 52 of the 99 analyzed videos were created by nonmedical professionals, while the remaining 47 were created by medical professionals. Physicians were creators of 25 videos, 5 were created by pharmacists, 4 by neuroscientists, and nurse practitioners created 3 videos. 35 videos mentioned a specific SSRI, while the remaining did not.</p>
<p>Forty-six videos conveyed a positive tone, but only 16 videos presented content that was objectively positive. Fourteen videos had an overtly negative tone, while 42 videos had content that was objectively negative.</p>
<p>Nonmedical professionals created significantly more videos with a positive tone compared to medical professionals. Videos created by nonmedical professionals had significantly higher numbers of overall views, likes, and comments. However, there were no differences in the number of shares of videos created by medical and nonmedical professionals.</p>
<p>“Results showed that while both creator groups focused on negative SSRI side effects and experiences (content tone), the way they presented this information (video tone) differed. Medical professionals generally maintained a neutral video tone, whereas nonmedical professionals were more likely to adopt a positive video tone. This may explain why nonmedical professionals’ videos had significantly more cumulative views, likes, and comments than medical professionals’ videos,” study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the characteristics of TikTok videos. However, it should be noted that the study was based on an analysis of a selected sample of 99 videos all taken from TikTok on the same day. Studies using different samples of videos might report different results.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/77383">Dissemination of Information on Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors on TikTok: Analytical Mixed Methods Study of Creator Types, Content Tone, and User Engagement</a>,” was authored by Brittany Quinn, Lindsey Nichols, Jennifer Frazee, Mark Payton, and Rachel M A Linger.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/learning-about-the-nocebo-effect-prevents-false-adhd-self-diagnosis-study-shows/" 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;">Learning about the “nocebo effect” prevents false ADHD self-diagnosis, study shows</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 6th 2025, 15:00</div>
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<p><p>Mental health awareness campaigns have become a staple in universities and schools, aiming to reduce stigma and encourage treatment. A new study suggests that these well-intentioned efforts may have an unintended side effect for healthy young adults. Research published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725101979" target="_blank">Psychological Medicine</a></em> found that learning about the signs of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) led many participants to falsely identify themselves as having the condition.</p>
<p>But the researchers also discovered that this spike in false self-diagnosis could be prevented. They tested a brief educational intervention designed to explain how negative expectations can influence physical and mental states. When participants received this “nocebo education” alongside the standard mental health information, they were significantly less likely to wrongly attribute a disorder to themselves.</p>
<p>In recent years, rates of reported mental health problems have surged among young adults in North America. Universities and advocacy groups have responded by ramping up awareness efforts to help students recognize symptoms. The goal is to ensure that those struggling receive the help they need.</p>
<p>There is growing concern among experts that these campaigns might be casting too wide a net. Some evidence indicates that when healthy individuals learn about the broad symptoms of a condition, they may begin to view their normal life difficulties through the lens of a medical disorder. This phenomenon is often linked to the “nocebo effect.”</p>
<p>The nocebo effect occurs when negative expectations lead to a worsening of symptoms or the perception of illness. In the context of mental health, a person might learn that distractibility is a sign of ADHD. Consequently, they might interpret ordinary lapses in attention as evidence of a neurological condition.</p>
<p>The authors of the current study aimed to test whether this effect could be observed in a controlled setting. They also sought to develop a way to “inoculate” students against it. They hypothesized that explaining the mechanism of the nocebo effect would help students maintain a more objective view of their own experiences.</p>
<p>“We talk about mental health more than ever before. Especially so about ADHD,” said study author <a href="https://www.dashasandra.com" target="_blank">Dasha A. Sandra</a>, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. “The awareness efforts are growing in schools, universities, and especially online. While we know that these can be helpful, it’s unclear if they can also be harmful by changing people’s expectations and nudging them to falsely self-diagnose or develop symptoms. And if they are, we wanted to find a way to reduce these harms without reducing the awareness itself.”</p>
<p>To test this, the researchers recruited 215 young adults from the University of Toronto Scarborough. A key part of the study design was the selection process. The team specifically screened for individuals who did not meet the criteria for ADHD.</p>
<p>They used a validated screening tool and excluded anyone who scored above a certain threshold. This ensured the sample consisted of participants who were highly unlikely to be true cases of the disorder. The researchers also excluded anyone with a prior history of psychiatric or neurological diagnoses.</p>
<p>The participants were invited to the laboratory under the guise of evaluating health workshops. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group attended a standard ADHD awareness workshop.</p>
<p>This session presented statistics on the disorder and described various symptoms. It included a video of an advocate describing her personal experiences. The workshop concluded with a writing exercise where participants reflected on whether they related to the symptoms.</p>
<p>The second group received the same ADHD awareness material but with an added component. Before the main presentation, they received a ten-minute lesson on the nocebo effect. This brief session explained how learning about symptoms can sometimes cause people to misinterpret normal experiences as signs of illness.</p>
<p>The third group served as a control. These participants attended a workshop about sleep and dreaming. They learned about sleep hygiene and theories regarding why humans dream.</p>
<p>Participants completed surveys immediately after the workshop and again one week later. These surveys measured their tendency to self-diagnose with ADHD. The researchers also measured the participants’ self-reported symptom levels.</p>
<p>The results revealed a substantial increase in false self-diagnosis among those who received only the standard ADHD awareness training. Before the workshop, about 30 percent of this group rated themselves as having high levels of identification with the disorder. Immediately after the workshop, that number nearly doubled to 58 percent.</p>
<p>“The sheer magnitude of the effect was quite surprising,” Sandra told PsyPost. “This was just one half-hour workshop delivered once, whereas normally people get mental health awareness repeatedly from many channels in different ways, for example at home, in school, from friends, online. So we had modest expectations. But even this one workshop was clearly enough to change people’s self-diagnosis.”</p>
<p>This elevated rate of self-diagnosis persisted over time. One week after the session, 52 percent of the participants in the standard awareness group still believed they likely had ADHD. This occurred even though their actual reported symptom severity did not change significantly.</p>
<p>The group that received the nocebo education showed a different pattern. They did experience a rise in self-diagnosis immediately after the workshop, but it was only half as large as the increase seen in the standard group. More importantly, this increase did not last.</p>
<p>By the one-week follow-up, the self-diagnosis rates in the nocebo education group had returned to levels comparable to the control group. About 35 percent of them endorsed a high self-diagnosis score, which was statistically indistinguishable from the control group’s 30 percent. The brief intervention effectively neutralized the long-term impact of the awareness materials.</p>
<p>“In practical terms, the effect was quite large,” Sandra said. “The number of people who had a high self-diagnosis rating went from 30% before the ADHD workshop to almost 60% immediately after, and then stayed over 50% a week later. This didn’t happen in the control group. When we combined mental health awareness with the intervention, though, this false self-diagnosis effect was gone after one week.”</p>
<p>These findings provide evidence that healthy young adults are highly susceptible to suggestion regarding mental health. A single thirty-minute session was enough to convince a majority of participants that they had a disorder they had previously screened negative for. This suggests that the current approach to mental health awareness may need adjustment.</p>
<p>The study implies that context is vital when presenting medical information to the public. Without guidance on how to interpret symptoms, individuals may pathologize normal variations in human behavior. The “nocebo education” functioned like a vaccine, offering protection against misinformation while still allowing students to learn about the condition.</p>
<p>“If young people learn about a mental disorder, they may feel like they have it even if they don’t, and then self-diagnose with it,” Sandra explained. “But if you use our intervention to effectively tell them ‘you might think that you have these, but you probably don’t, and that’s normal,’ — that removes the effect.”</p>
<p>The researchers noted that the intervention was simple and scalable. It took only ten minutes to deliver. This makes it a feasible addition to school curriculums or university orientation programs.</p>
<p>There are some limitations to the study that should be considered. The research focused on university students, who may be more responsive to educational interventions than the general public. The study also relied on self-reported beliefs rather than clinical interviews or behavioral outcomes.</p>
<p>It is not known whether the participants who self-diagnosed would have gone on to seek medical treatment or request academic accommodations. Future research is needed to track these real-world behavioral consequences. The researchers also suggest investigating whether this intervention works in online environments, where many young people consume mental health content.</p>
<p>The study highlights a disconnect between self-perception and actual symptoms. Participants in the standard awareness group believed they had the disorder, yet their scores on a symptom checklist did not increase to match that belief. This indicates that the workshop changed their identity or self-concept rather than their actual experience of impairment.</p>
<p>This phenomenon is particularly relevant in the age of social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are filled with content that relates everyday struggles to psychiatric diagnoses. The study suggests this content could be leading large numbers of people to adopt diagnoses that do not fit them.</p>
<p>But the authors emphasize that the goal is not to stop mental health awareness. Recognizing legitimate disorders is essential for those who need support. The challenge is to balance awareness with accuracy.</p>
<p>“This work can be easily misinterpreted as evidence of the fact that ‘all diagnoses are sham,’ ‘we should not believe young people,’ or ‘we should get rid of all mental health awareness.’ That is not the point of our work at all,” Sandra said. “We believe that mental health awareness has an important place, that people’s distress is real. And at the same time, our work shows that we need to be careful about <em>how</em> we speak about mental health, so that we don’t mistakenly turn difficult life experiences into a psychiatric diagnosis.” </p>
<p>By teaching people to understand the difference between normal distress and clinical disorder, educators can prevent unnecessary anxiety. The inclusion of nocebo education appears to be a promising method for achieving this balance. It allows for the dissemination of health information while minimizing the risk of “medical student syndrome” among the general population.</p>
<p>“We made our intervention publicly available so that universities and schools could adapt it to their own awareness workshops,” Sandra said. “It can be found here: <a href="https://www.dashasandra.com/strategies/" target="_blank">https://www.dashasandra.com/strategies/</a>.” </p>
<p>Looking forward, “we have two main directions,” she added. “First, understanding what factors make people falsely self-diagnose or develop worse symptoms in these situations; and second, testing if our intervention can reduce the false self-diagnosis and improve functioning for people who have already self-diagnosed.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725101979" target="_blank">Inform and do no harm: Nocebo education reduces false self-diagnosis caused by mental health awareness</a>,” was authored by Dasha A. Sandra, Zindel Segal, Sanaa Majoo, Anastasia Sistanis, Matthew J. Burke, and Michael Inzlicht.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/children-with-better-musical-skills-may-benefit-from-a-prolonged-window-of-brain-plasticity/" 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;">Children with better musical skills may benefit from a prolonged window of brain plasticity</a>
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<p><p>New research indicates that children with better rhythmic abilities tend to exhibit a slower, more prolonged rate of brain development in specific regions associated with motor control and emotion. This attenuated pace of maturation suggests that an enriched environment, such as one involving musical engagement, may extend the window of neural plasticity needed for learning.</p>
<p>The findings provide evidence that the relationship between brain structure and musical skill is driven not only by genetics but also by environmental factors like practice. The study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2025.150045" target="_blank">Brain Research</a>.</em></p>
<p>Scientists have established that human brain development follows a complex trajectory that varies significantly between individuals. The outer layer of the brain, known as the cortex, generally increases in thickness during early childhood before thinning out as the child matures. This thinning process is often a sign of the brain becoming more efficient by pruning away unused connections.</p>
<p>Previous studies have frequently focused on deprived environments, such as those characterized by low socioeconomic status. In those contexts, adversity is often linked to accelerated brain development, which can limit the time available for the brain to adapt and learn.</p>
<p>Less is understood regarding how enriched environments, such as those providing musical training, influence these developmental paths. Musical performance is a demanding activity that requires the simultaneous integration of motor planning, auditory processing, and emotional engagement.</p>
<p>The authors of this study sought to determine whether musical skills relate to the speed of brain maturation and to disentangle the extent to which this relationship is shaped by genetic predispositions versus environmental experiences.</p>
<p>“The knowledge gap was twofold. First, this study stands out for investigating brain development in a typical childhood sample of non-musicians who differ in instrumental exposure and practice duration, while using a twin design to disentangle genetic and environmental influences. Despite investigating a sample with diverse musical experience rather than a highly trained musician cohort, we observed measurable effects on brain development,” explained Lina van Drunen, a postdoctoral researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam.</p>
<p>“Second, research on sensitive periods has largely emphasized adverse experiences that accelerate brain maturation and reducing its possibility for long-term learning potential. In contrast, our study investigated a positive environmental enrichment, such as instrumental training, during these developmental windows, a topic that remains comparatively understudied.”</p>
<p>The research team utilized data from <a href="https://www.developmentmatters.nl/" target="_blank">the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development</a>, a large longitudinal project based in the Netherlands. The study followed same-sex twin pairs to allow for the analysis of genetic and environmental contributions. The final sample for the brain imaging analysis included data from waves of collection when the children were approximately 7 to 9 years old, 9 to 11 years old, and 11 to 14 years old.</p>
<p>In total, 418 participants contributed data at the first time point, with 367 and 228 participating in the subsequent MRI waves. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to map changes in brain structure over time, specifically measuring cortical thickness, surface area, and the volume of subcortical regions.</p>
<p>When the participants were between the ages of 11 and 13, they completed a behavioral assessment to measure their musical aptitude. The researchers used a sensorimotor synchronization task, which is a standard method for evaluating rhythmic ability.</p>
<p>During this task, the children tapped their finger on a percussion pad in time with an auditory beat. The test included various conditions of increasing difficulty, such as tapping to a simple metronome and tapping along with pop songs that varied in rhythmic complexity.</p>
<p>The stability and accuracy of the tapping served as a proxy for the child’s musical skill. Additionally, parents provided information regarding their children’s history of music lessons and the number of years spent practicing an instrument.</p>
<p>“What struck me most were the substantial individual differences in children’s tapping accuracy when synchronizing to the beat of music songs,” van Drunen said. “These variations underscore that there is meaningful room for growth in youth: music lessons are not simply extracurricular, but an opportunity that alongside strengthening motor skills, timing, language, emotion, and coordination, may also support neural development.”</p>
<p>The researchers found that children who demonstrated superior rhythmic performance showed distinct patterns of brain development in approximately 27 percent of the examined brain regions. For the majority of these regions, high musical skill was associated with attenuated, or slower, development.</p>
<p>Specifically, children who were better at keeping the beat exhibited a slower rate of cortical thinning in the pars orbitalis and pars triangularis. These regions are located in the inferior frontal gyrus and are known to be involved in movement planning and the processing of structural hierarchies, such as those found in music and language.</p>
<p>A similar pattern of attenuated development was observed in the volume of the cerebellum and the amygdala. The cerebellum is critical for timing and coordination, while the amygdala processes emotional content. The authors propose that this slower maturation rate preserves neural plasticity, effectively keeping the window for learning open longer to allow for the refinement of complex sensorimotor and emotional skills.</p>
<p>“Kids completed a tapping task to the beat (metronome and music) and their rhythm accuracy served as a solid proxy musical ability,” van Drunen told PsyPost. “Furthermore, we asked the parents for their music experience. Kids who were better at keeping the beat had <em>slower (attenuated)</em> brain development in parts of the brain that control movement, coordination and emotional engagement with music. However, slower does not mean that it is worse for development, we hypothesize that these children likely have longer windows of plasticity and more time to adapt, learn, and refine skills.”</p>
<p>While the dominant trend was towards slower development, the study also identified two specific brain regions where better rhythmic performance corresponded with accelerated development. The fusiform gyrus and the postcentral gyrus showed faster reductions in cortical thickness and surface area in children with high rhythmic accuracy. The fusiform gyrus is often linked to the recognition of harmony and visual notation, while the postcentral gyrus integrates sensory and motor information.</p>
<p>The researchers suggest that rapid maturation in these specific sensory processing areas might support the ability to quickly decode and respond to complex rhythmic stimuli. This contrast indicates that musical engagement does not uniformly slow down or speed up the entire brain but rather modulates development in a region-specific manner to optimize performance.</p>
<p>“Two brain regions showed opposite effects,” van Drunen said. “Areas that help decode rhythm and coordination of movement showed faster brain development in relation to better rhythm performances. As such, most musical brain parts slowed down, while some sped up, all for better musical performance.”</p>
<p>A key component of this study was the use of twin modeling to estimate heritability. By comparing the similarity of traits between monozygotic twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, and dizygotic twins, who share approximately 50 percent, the researchers could calculate the relative influence of nature and nurture.</p>
<p>The modeling results indicated that the association between brain development and rhythmic skill is not driven solely by genetics. The analysis showed that shared environmental factors and unique individual experiences accounted for a significant portion of the variance.</p>
<p>For example, in the pars orbitalis, shared environmental factors explained about 13 percent of the relationship between brain change and rhythmic ability, with unique environmental factors explaining the rest. This suggests that while genetic potential plays a role, active engagement with the environment, such as practicing a musical instrument, contributes significantly to the observed brain changes.</p>
<p>As with all research, there are limitations. The researchers relied on three time points of MRI data, which provides a general view of developmental trajectories but may miss more subtle, non-linear growth patterns that occur in the years between scans. The sample consisted primarily of non-musicians or amateur players rather than intense professionals, meaning the effects might be more pronounced in children who undergo rigorous musical training.</p>
<p>Future research plans involve expanding this line of inquiry to examine broader social outcomes. The authors intend to investigate whether the musical training and skills linked to these brain development patterns also relate to prosocial behaviors, such as empathy and perspective-taking. By understanding how enriched environments shape the developing brain, scientists hope to uncover mechanisms that could inform educational strategies and therapies for cognitive and emotional development.</p>
<p>“Arts education, especially music, is often thought to influence development beyond instrumental skill,” van Drunen explained. “While most research has focused on cognitive academic outcomes, broader social abilities are equally important. The follow-up preregistered project (<a href="https://aspredicted.org/zz4n-ywqf.pdf" target="_blank">#220,243 | AsPredicted</a>) will examine whether musical training and skill relate to prosocial behavior, empathy, and perspective taking.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2025.150045" target="_blank">Brain development and musical skills: A longitudinal twin study on brain developmental trajectories and sensorimotor synchronization</a>,” was authored by L. van Drunen, B.G. Schultz, A.I. Becht, R.S. Schaefer, and L.M. Wierenga.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/large-scale-u-s-study-links-water-fluoridation-to-slightly-improved-cognitive-development/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Large-scale U.S. study links water fluoridation to slightly improved cognitive development</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 6th 2025, 11:00</div>
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<p><p>Recent findings published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz0757" target="_blank">Science Advances</a></em> provide new evidence regarding the long-term cognitive effects of consuming fluoridated water during childhood. The study suggests that growing up in communities with water fluoridation levels typical of the United States does not harm brain development and may be associated with slightly higher academic achievement in adolescence. These results offer a counterpoint to ongoing debates and legal challenges asserting that current fluoridation practices lower intelligence quotients in children.</p>
<p>For decades, the practice of adding fluoride to public drinking water has been a cornerstone of dental public health. The United States began this initiative in 1945 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after scientists discovered that fluoride could significantly reduce the incidence of tooth decay. </p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eventually recognized water fluoridation as one of the ten great public health interventions of the 20th century. Despite the consensus among dental professionals regarding the benefits for oral health, questions regarding the safety of fluoride ingestion have persisted for nearly eighty years.</p>
<p>Current skepticism focuses largely on <a href="https://www.psypost.org/fluoride-exposure-may-impact-childrens-cognitive-development-study-finds/" target="_blank">potential neurodevelopmental risks</a>. Critics of water fluoridation argue that exposure to fluoride during critical periods of brain development lowers IQ in children. They frequently cite meta-analyses that found inverse relationships between fluoride exposure and cognitive ability. </p>
<p>However, the researchers behind the new study note a significant disconnect in that existing literature. Many of the studies demonstrating harm examined populations in China, India, Iran, or Mexico, where people were often exposed to fluoride levels far exceeding the concentrations found in U.S. tap water. In some of those cases, the fluoride levels were high enough to cause physical toxicity, known as fluorosis.</p>
<p>To address this discrepancy, a multidisciplinary team of researchers sought to evaluate the effects of fluoride at levels actually relevant to American policy. The team included sociologists, demographers, and neurologists from the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. Their goal was to determine if the specific concentration recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—0.7 milligrams per liter—poses a risk to cognitive health over a person’s lifespan.</p>
<p>The investigators utilized data from <a href="https://edshareproject.org/data/hsb/about" target="_blank">the “High School and Beyond” cohort</a>, a large longitudinal project that began in 1980. The original sample consisted of a nationally representative group of 58,270 high school sophomores and seniors from 1,020 schools across the United States. A subset of approximately 26,820 participants was selected for long-term follow-up and has been interviewed on multiple occasions, most recently in 2021. This design allowed the authors to observe cognitive outcomes at two distinct points in the life course: late adolescence and midlife.</p>
<p>To estimate fluoride exposure, the researchers reconstructed the water quality history of the communities where the students attended school. They accessed government records from 1967 through 1993 to identify which municipalities fluoridated their water and when they began the practice. Additionally, they used data from the United States Geological Survey to account for naturally occurring fluoride in untreated well water.</p>
<p>The team categorized the participants based on their access to fluoridated water from the time of conception through their high school years. Students were considered “consistently exposed” if they lived in areas where the water contained at least 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter for their entire childhoods. Those living in areas with levels below this threshold were classified as having insufficient exposure. The researchers then analyzed the students’ 1980 test scores in mathematics, reading comprehension, and vocabulary.</p>
<p>For the midlife analysis, the study examined cognitive performance in participants who were approximately 60 years old in 2021. This assessment used a sophisticated model to combine scores from tests measuring memory, fluency, and attention. Throughout their statistical modeling, the authors adjusted for various factors that could skew the results, such as family socioeconomic status, race, gender, urbanicity, and the region of the country.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed that students who had consistent access to recommended levels of fluoride performed better on high school academic tests than those who did not. The difference was modest but statistically distinguishable from zero. The advantage amounted to approximately 7 percent of a standard deviation in the test scores. This finding held true even after accounting for the fact that fluoridated water is more common in urban areas and specific regions that might have different educational resources.</p>
<p>Regarding cognitive health in later life, the results showed no evidence of harm. The association between childhood fluoride exposure and cognitive functioning at age 60 was not statistically significant. The data points trended slightly positive, mirroring the adolescent results, but the link was too weak to be considered definitive. Essentially, the researchers found that early-life exposure to fluoridated water had no negative impact on cognitive abilities as the participants entered their senior years.</p>
<p>“We find very small (in magnitude), positive conditional associations between adolescent fluoride exposure and academic achievement in high school; those associations are statistically distinguishable from zero,” explained corresponding author <a href="https://www.rob-warren.com/" target="_blank">John Robert Warren</a>, a professor and director of the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota.</p>
<p>“Associations between adolescent fluoride exposure and cognition at age ~60 are not distinguishable from zero. But the claims being made by those opposed to community water fluoridation practices are that fluoride exposure lowers young people’s IQs. The fact that we find small (in magnitude) positive associations between fluoride exposure and adolescent academic achievement contradicts those claims.”</p>
<p>To ensure the validity of their findings, the authors conducted a “future treatment” test. This statistical technique helps determine if the observed benefits were caused by the fluoride itself or by unmeasured characteristics of the towns that choose to fluoridate. For example, a town that fluoridates its water might also invest more in schools or healthcare. The results of this check supported the idea that the fluoride exposure itself, rather than general community characteristics, was associated with the higher test scores.</p>
<p>“The empirical evidence used most heavily by those opposed to community water fluoridation — best exemplified by the 2025 National Toxicology report and Taylor et al’s <em><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2828425" target="_blank">JAMA Pediatrics</a></em> article that came out of it — is seriously flawed in a number of ways,” Warren told PsyPost.</p>
<p>“Most importantly, it only provides evidence about the effects of MASSIVELY high doses of fluoride as compared to VERY HIGH doses, which is not at all relevant to public policy debates in places like the United States. Also: That evidence does not come from population representative samples, has never used US data, often does not account for selection into treatment, etc.” </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aed4503" target="_blank">an editorial</a> accompanying the study, David A. Savitz of the Brown University School of Public Health contextualizes these findings within the broader history of the fluoridation debate. He observes that while early opposition was often rooted in political ideology, modern arguments have shifted toward environmental health concerns. Savitz points out that many recent studies claiming to show risks rely on data from countries with vastly different fluoride delivery systems, such as fluoridated salt in Mexico, or examine exposure levels that are irrelevant to U.S. policy.</p>
<p>Savitz argues that the new study is particularly significant because it addresses the specific policy question facing American communities: the safety of adding fluoride to water at 0.7 milligrams per liter. He notes that while biological markers like urinary fluoride are useful in some contexts, they do not directly answer whether municipal water treatment is safe. By focusing on the water supply itself, this study provides evidence directly applicable to city councils and voters.</p>
<p>Savitz’s arguments were echoed by Matthew Hobbs, a researcher affiliated with the University of Canterbury. “These findings align with decades of high-quality international research showing that concerns about fluoride and cognition stem from studies of populations exposed to extremely high fluoride levels, not from community water fluoridation,” he told <a href="https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/11/20/40-year-water-fluoridation-study-finds-no-negative-effect-on-brain-development-expert-reaction/" target="_blank">the Science Media Centre</a>.</p>
<p>“From a public health perspective, this matters. Community water fluoridation remains one of the most equitable and cost-effective ways to prevent tooth decay, particularly for children and for communities with limited access to dental care. This new evidence reinforces that we can continue to deliver these benefits without compromising cognitive health at any stage of life.”</p>
<p>The new research distinguishes itself by using a large, nationally representative sample of Americans, directly addressing the cognitive effects of fluoride concentrations actually used in U.S. municipal systems rather than the toxic levels often examined in international research. Additionally, the research utilizes a robust longitudinal design that tracks participants over several decades, allowing for a rare assessment of how early-life exposure relates to cognitive health in both adolescence and midlife.</p>
<p>But there are still some limitations to consider. A primary challenge was the lack of complete residential history for every participant. The researchers had to assume that students lived in the same community from birth until high school. While migration rates for children are generally low, any moves between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas would introduce error into the exposure estimates.</p>
<p>Additionally, the study relied on community-level water data rather than individual consumption. The researchers could not measure how much tap water each child actually drank or how much fluoride they ingested from other sources, such as toothpaste. This is a common constraint in large-scale historical studies where collecting biological samples from the past is impossible. </p>
<p>Looking ahead, the research team is working to replicate these findings using <a href="https://wls.wisc.edu/" target="_blank">the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study</a>. That upcoming project will address some of the current limitations by using actual IQ scores and linking participants to historical census records from 1940 and 1950. This will allow the researchers to verify residence at precise ages in early childhood, providing a more rigorous test of the fluoride-cognition link.</p>
<p>“Although the sample is only from Wisconsin (participants are a 1/3 random sample of 1957 Wisconsin high school seniors, followed prospectively since 1957), these new analyses improve on the ‘High School and Beyond’ analyses in two ways,” Warren explained. “(1) We have real IQ scores, not just academic achievement and (2) 90%+ of the records have been linked to the 1940 and 1950 US Censuses, when participants would have been ages 1 and 11, respectively. Thus we can restrict the analyses to people who lived in their same HS community in 1950 (age 11) and in 1940 (age 1).”</p>
<p>“The results are preliminary, but they exactly mirror those in the ‘High School and Beyond’ article. No significant association of fluoride exposure with IQ in high school or cognition as assessed at multiple points in later life.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz0757" target="_blank">Childhood fluoride exposure and cognition across the life course</a>,” was authored by John Robert Warren, Gina Rumore, Soobin Kim, Eric Grodsky, Chandra Muller, Jennifer J. Manly, and Adam M. Brickman.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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