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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/different-types-of-childhood-maltreatment-appear-to-uniquely-shape-human-brain-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;">Different types of childhood maltreatment appear to uniquely shape human brain development</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 3rd 2026, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2026.02.016" target="_blank">Biological Psychiatry</a></em> provides evidence that experiencing abuse or neglect during childhood is linked to specific physical changes in brain structure that vary based on a person’s age and sex. The research suggests these structural differences become most visible during young adulthood, with young women showing the most extensive brain alterations following early life adversity.</p>
<p>An extensive international team of researchers, representing dozens of institutions across eight countries, initiated this study to better understand the relationship between early life adversity and brain development. Many people who experience childhood maltreatment eventually develop stress-related mental health conditions, such as major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>Past studies often looked at the brains of people with these psychiatric conditions without separating the effects of the mental illness from the effects of the childhood trauma itself. The researchers wanted to isolate the physical impact of maltreatment across different stages of human life to see how the brain adapts to stress.</p>
<p>“Early life adversity, and particularly childhood maltreatment, remains one of the most potent risk factors for mental illness,” said study author <a href="https://www.psych.ucla.edu/faculty-page/tiffanycho/" target="_blank">Tiffany C. Ho</a>, an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and head of <a href="https://candylab.psych.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">the Cognition, Affect, and Neurodevelopment in Youth Lab</a>.</p>
<p>Prominent psychological theories distinguish between adversity characterized by active threat, such as physical abuse, and adversity characterized by deprivation, such as emotional neglect. Threat-related trauma tends to affect regions involved in fear learning and stress regulation. Deprivation-related neglect often influences circuits that handle reward processing and social functioning.</p>
<p>To measure these subtle changes, the researchers used a technique called normative modeling. This approach tracks brain development similarly to how a pediatrician uses a growth chart for a child’s height and weight.</p>
<p>By creating a standard model of normal brain variation across different ages and sexes, they could pinpoint exactly where a trauma-exposed brain deviates from expected developmental patterns. This method helps separate true trauma responses from regular biological differences between individuals.</p>
<p>To conduct the study, the researchers analyzed data from 3,711 participants across 25 international sites in eight different countries. The sample included 1,389 patients diagnosed with either major depressive disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as 2,322 healthy participants. The combined group had an average age of 33.3 years, and 59.9 percent of the participants were female.</p>
<p>Participants completed a self-report survey called the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form. This assessment measures the severity of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. The scientists separated general abuse and general neglect scores to see if different types of trauma produce different physical effects.</p>
<p>The scientists then used magnetic resonance imaging, commonly known as MRI, to take highly detailed pictures of the participants’ brains. They measured 14 subcortical volumes, which represent the sizes of deep internal brain structures.</p>
<p>They also collected 68 measures of cortical thickness and 68 measures of surface area. Cortical thickness refers to the depth of the brain’s wrinkled outer layer, while surface area refers to how much total space that folded outer layer covers.</p>
<p>The researchers divided the participants by sex and placed them into three distinct age groups. These groups included a pediatric cohort of individuals 18 years old and younger, young adults between 18 and 35 years old, and older adults aged 35 and older.</p>
<p>The data revealed that childhood maltreatment is associated with specific brain deviations that depend heavily on both biological sex and developmental stage. The strongest structural differences were observed in young adult females.</p>
<p>In this specific group, more severe abuse and neglect correlated with a smaller hippocampus and a smaller putamen. The hippocampus is a deep brain region heavily involved in memory and learning, while the putamen helps regulate movement and learning.</p>
<p>Young women who experienced trauma also showed a thinner entorhinal cortex, an area vital for navigating physical space and processing time. Additionally, they displayed increased surface area in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region at the very front of the brain that helps regulate emotions and complex decision-making.</p>
<p>For male participants, the structural changes varied greatly depending on the specific type of trauma. Young adult males with a history of abuse showed a wide range of differences, including a thicker medial orbitofrontal cortex.</p>
<p>These men also exhibited larger volumes in the thalamus and pallidum. The thalamus acts as a major relay station for sensory information, while the pallidum is involved in motivation and behavior. Neglect, by contrast, had very minimal associations with brain structure in males.</p>
<p>The researchers found no significant structural brain differences related to trauma in the pediatric group. They note that the physical effects of early life adversity might remain dormant during childhood before fully emerging in early adulthood.</p>
<p>Some brain regions in adults showed larger structures, while others were smaller than the standard growth charts predicted. This opposing pattern suggests the brain tends to actively reorganize its neural circuits to cope with the trauma over time.</p>
<p>“There is no single neuroanatomical scar of childhood maltreatment: the effects depend on the form of adversity experienced (e.g., abuse versus neglect), sex, and age,” Ho told PsyPost. “Overall, young adult females exhibit more widespread effects of abuse on brain structure, whereas the effects of neglect are far more circumscribed, with these patterns persisting at a reduced magnitude into older adulthood.”</p>
<p>“Young adult males exhibit some of the same brain structural alterations in relation to childhood abuse as do females, but, in contrast, experiences of childhood neglect among males appear to have minimal effects on the neuroanatomical features examined in this study.”</p>
<p>The study provides an extensive look at trauma and brain structure. But, like all research, there are some limitations. Because the research relied on cross-sectional data, meaning it captured a single snapshot in time for each person, it cannot definitively prove that childhood maltreatment directly caused these brain changes.</p>
<p>The self-report survey also relies on participants’ personal memories, which can sometimes be imprecise. The questionnaire misses other forms of early adversity as well, such as exposure to environmental toxins or severe housing instability.</p>
<p>The lack of findings in the pediatric group might simply be a result of the smaller sample size of 349 children. The scientists suggest that this specific group likely did not provide enough statistical power to detect subtle physical differences in the developing brain.</p>
<p>Future studies could follow the same individuals over several years to observe how trauma alters brain development in real time. Scientists also aim to investigate whether these distinct physical differences can predict how well a patient might respond to psychological or medical treatments.</p>
<p>Ultimately, understanding these unique brain patterns may help doctors design more personalized therapies for individuals with a history of early life adversity. Recognizing how trauma shapes the brain is a necessary step toward providing better care.</p>
<p>“My research focuses on the neuroscience of adversity, stress, and depression in humans,” Ho said. “One of the more surprising findings from my research is that the effects of depression and other similar conditions (e.g., PTSD) on the brain are rather small in magnitude and may even be partially explained by the effects of early life adversity on the brain.”</p>
<p>“At the same time, it is remarkable to see how common experiences of early life adversity and childhood maltreatment are, and that most exposed individuals do not necessarily go onto develop mental illness, which speaks to how adaptive and resilient the human brain is.” </p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2026.02.016" target="_blank">Childhood Maltreatment and Deviations from Normative Brain Structure: A Mega-Analysis of 3,711 Individuals from the ENIGMA MDD and ENIGMA PTSD Working Groups</a>,” was authored by Haley R. Wang, Zhen-Qi Liu, Elena Pozzi, Ahmed Hussain, Priyanka Sigar, Chadi Abdallah, Nina Alexander, Justin Baker, Jochen Bauer, Jennifer Urbano Blackford, Josh Cisler, Colm G. Connolly, Andrew Cotton, Judith Daniels, Udo Dannlowski, Maria Densmore, Terri deRoon-Cassini, Danai Dima, Stefan Du Plessis, Amit Etkin, Negar Fani, Lukas Fisch, Jacklynn Fitzgerald, Thomas Frodl, Cynthia H.Y. Fu, Ali Saffet Gonul, Evan M. Gordon, Ian Gotlib, Roberto Goya-Maldonado, Nynke A. Groenewold, Dominik Grotegerd, Tim Hahn, J. Paul Hamilton, Laura Han, Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, Courtney C. Haswell, Ryan Herringa, Julia Herzog, Jonathan Ipser, Neda Jahanshad, Tanja Jovanovic, Milissa Kaufman, Tilo Kircher, Maximilian Konowski, Sheri-Michelle Koopowitz, Axel Krug, John Krystal, Ruth Lanius, Christine Larson, Amit Lazarov, Lauren Lebois, Elisabeth Leehr, Ifat Levy, Meng Li, Antje Manthey, Adi Maron-Katz, Andrew McIntosh, Katie McLaughlin, Susanne Meinert, Benson Mwangi, Steven M. Nelson, Igor Nenadić, Yuval Neria, Richard Neufeld, Amar Ojha, Bunmi Olatunji, Elizabeth A. Olson, Nils Opel, Matthew Peverill, Kerry Ressler, Marisa Ross, Isabelle Rosso, Matthew Sacchet, Kelly Sambrook, Christian Schmahl, Soraya Seedat, Martha E. Shenton, Maurizio Sicorello, Anika Sierk, Jair C. Soares, Dan J. Stein, Frederike Stein, Murray B. Stein, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Jean Théberge, Sophia I. Thomopoulos, Carissa Tomas, Paula Usemann, Leigh L. van den Heuvel, Sanne van Rooij, Henrik Walter, Martin Walter, Xin Wang, Heather Whalley, Nils R. Winter, Mon-Ju Wu, Hong Xie, Tony Yang, Xi Zhu, Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Giovana B. Zunta-Soares, Sophia Frangou, Paul M. Thompson, Lauren Salminen, Delin Sun, Rajendra Morey, Jennifer S. Stevens, Lianne Schmaal, and Tiffany C. Ho.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-short-videos-impair-memory-and-disrupt-neural-pathways/" 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;">Brain scans shed light on how short videos impair memory and alter neural pathways</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 3rd 2026, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>Watching fragmented short videos rather than a single continuous video leads to poorer memory recall and alters how the brain retrieves information. A recent experiment revealed that fast-paced episodic media formats disrupt the neural systems responsible for integrating details and maintaining cognitive control. These results were published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00399-y">npj Science of Learning</a>.</p>
<p>Media consumption has shifted dramatically toward bite-sized content on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. This explosion of fast-paced entertainment has inspired intense public debate about its effects on the human mind. The term “brain rot” became a widely recognized phrase recently to describe the mental fatigue associated with scrolling through endless disconnected clips. The phenomenon has prompted parents and policymakers to question whether modern internet platforms are structurally altering human cognition. </p>
<p>Psychologists and educators are particularly interested in how this type of media affects memory retention and focused learning. Many schools and training programs have recently adopted short instructional videos to boost student engagement. Despite the popularity of these micro-learning tools, research displays a conflicting picture of their mental benefits. Some data suggests that quick videos keep viewers motivated and help teach simple procedures. </p>
<p>Other investigations link high levels of short-form media exposure to deficits in working memory and reduced attention spans. Watching short videos involves constant context switching. Viewers jump from one topic or setting to another in rapid succession. This fast turnover might make it harder for the brain to build strong and unified memories of what was just seen. A continuous narrative usually helps the mind link new facts together into an easily retrievable mental package.</p>
<p>To understand exactly how video formats change memory processes, researchers set up a brain imaging experiment. Meiting Wei, a psychology researcher affiliated with Yunnan Normal University and Central China Normal University, led the investigation. Wei and a team of colleagues wanted to observe what happens inside the brain when people try to remember information they just learned from either continuous or disjointed media. They focused precisely on the neural activity that occurs during the process of memory retrieval.</p>
<p>The research team recruited 57 university students for the experiment. They screened the participants to ensure no one exhibited signs of clinical media addiction or existing mental health conditions. The researchers randomly divided the volunteers into two distinct groups. One group watched a single continuous 10-minute video regarding a relatively unknown tourist destination.</p>
<p>The second group watched a series of seven short videos that also totaled 10 minutes. The researchers specifically matched the content of these short videos to the long video. Both groups heard and saw the same core information and the same total number of words. The only difference was the delivery format.</p>
<p>The short video group experienced narrative breaks and scene shifts to mimic the experience of scrolling through a social media feed. Immediately after the viewing session, participants underwent a memory test while lying inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine. This device uses magnet fields and radio waves to detect changes in blood flow, which reveals areas of the brain that are highly active at any given moment. Active brain cells consume more oxygen, so tracking this blood supply allows scientists to map cognitive work in real time.</p>
<p>The scanner recorded the participants’ brain activity as they answered multiple-choice questions about the videos. They viewed the questions on a screen and responded using a handheld button device. The behavioral results revealed a clear difference in memory performance between the two testing conditions.</p>
<p>Participants who watched the continuous long video answered about 66 percent of the questions correctly. The individuals in the short video group correctly answered only 43 percent of the questions. Watching the fragmented videos caused a noticeable drop in the participants’ ability to recall facts accurately. The constant interruptions seemed to hinder the basic formation of reliable memory traces.</p>
<p>Inside the brain, the imaging data matched these behavioral differences. The short video group showed unusually low activation in three distinct brain regions during the memory test. One of these regions is the left claustrum. The claustrum is a thin sheet of neurons that helps coordinate network signals across different parts of the brain. </p>
<p>The claustrum plays a major role in focusing attention and pulling together various sensory details into a single conscious memory. The reduced activity here suggests that the viewers struggled to reconstruct a coherent mental picture of what they had watched. Since the initial learning was chopped into discrete pieces, the brain had a harder time integrating those pieces during the test.</p>
<p>The researchers also observed reduced activation in the left caudate nucleus among the short video viewers. The caudate is a structure situated deep in the brain that manages goal-directed behaviors. It helps individuals maintain focus on a task and sort through information to find correct answers. This region is closely tied to how the brain processes rewards and internal motivation during learning tasks.</p>
<p>The diminished activity in this area hints that rapid scene changes fail to provide the stable mental cues needed to actively search memory banks. Instead of searching efficiently, the brain might have to rely on passive guessing strategies. A continuous narrative provides a strong sense of knowing, which might trigger stronger cognitive motivation and better activation of the caudate nucleus.</p>
<p>A third region, known as the left middle temporal gyrus, also showed less activity in the short video group. This section of the brain handles language processing and helps individuals grasp deep thematic meanings. When people connect specific words to broader concepts, this brain area typically displays elevated blood flow. Lower activation indicates that the fragmented input impaired the participants’ ability to process the holistic narrative of the video content.</p>
<p>The team also looked at how well different parts of the brain communicated with one another. They found a weaker connection between the caudate nucleus and the claustrum in the short video group. This reduced network connectivity points to a breakdown in how the brain links executive control with information integration. When learning formats are highly fragmented, the neural networks required to pull information back together do not synchronize efficiently.</p>
<p>Participants also filled out questionnaires detailing their everyday short video viewing habits. The researchers checked to see if these habits related to brain activity during the test. For the individuals in the short video group, higher scores on a scale measuring self-control failure correlated with stronger connections between the caudate and the claustrum. </p>
<p>The researchers interpreted this anomalous relationship as a sign of an overworked neural system. Individuals who struggle to control their media habits might have to exert extra brain effort just to achieve basic memory retrieval. This heightened connectivity likely represents a strained adaptation rather than a sign of superior mental processing. The overall system operates in a low-efficiency state due to the disjointed nature of the learned material.</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledged a few limitations to their current experiment. The participant pool consisted entirely of relatively young college students. It is possible that children or older adults might process fragmented video content differently. </p>
<p>While the team matched the video formats for duration and information density, they could not perfectly equalize the narrative flow between the two styles. Short videos inherently possess a choppier rhythm that is difficult to compare perfectly to a seamless documentary. The study design also placed different people in the two viewing groups. </p>
<p>Future investigations might test the same individuals across both formats to rule out baseline differences in memory capacity. By observing the same brains on both tasks, scientists could gather more precise physiological measurements. The research team noted that brain scanning captures simultaneous activity but cannot strictly prove the exact sequence of biological events. Expanding this research with larger sample sizes could provide clearer answers regarding how changing media formats fundamentally reshape human learning abilities over time.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00399-y" target="_blank">Fragmented learning from short videos modulates neural activity and connectivity during memory retrieval</a>,” was authored by Meiting Wei, Jiang Liu, Huabin Wang, QinXuan Li, and Guang-Heng Dong.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cannabis-intoxication-broadly-impairs-multiple-memory-types-new-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;">Cannabis intoxication broadly impairs multiple memory types, new study shows</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 3rd 2026, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811261416079" target="_blank">Journal of Psychopharmacology</a></em> suggests that using cannabis has widespread negative effects on many different types of memory. The findings provide evidence that getting high impairs everyday cognitive functions, like remembering to perform future tasks or recalling the exact sequence of past events.</p>
<p>“It is well established in the empirical literature that acute cannabis intoxication is detrimental to memory,” said study author <a href="http://carriecuttler.com/" target="_blank">Carrie Cuttler</a>, an associate professor at Washington State University and a co-director of WSU’s Cannabis Research Center. </p>
<p>“However, the bulk of prior research examining the acute effects of cannabis on memory in humans has focused on a relatively narrow set of memory tests primarily verbal memory tasks, which involve recalling lists of words, and working memory tasks, which require temporarily holding and manipulating information in consciousness.</p>
<p>“Far fewer studies have examined how cannabis affects other types of memory that are more relevant to everyday life. These include temporal order memory (remembering the order in which events occurred), prospective memory (remembering to perform tasks in the future), source memory (remembering where information came from), false memory (recalling information that was never presented), and episodic content memory (recalling personally experienced events).”</p>
<p>“To address this gap, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study examining the acute effects of cannabis across multiple memory domains,” Cuttler explained.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited 120 adults who regularly used cannabis at least once a week. The participants were divided evenly into three groups of 40 people. One group vaporized a placebo flower containing zero active tetrahydrocannabinol. A second group vaporized a moderate dose of 20 milligrams of the drug, while the third group vaporized a high dose of 40 milligrams.</p>
<p>The participants were randomly assigned to different groups, and neither the participants nor the scientists knew who received the actual drug or a fake substitute until after the experiment ended.</p>
<p>After inhaling the vapor from a tabletop vaporizer, the participants waited about seven minutes. They then completed an hour-long series of specific cognitive tests. These tests measured a wide variety of memory domains using established psychological tools.</p>
<p>To measure verbal memory, participants listened to and recalled lists of words immediately and after a delay. The researchers also tested working memory, which involves holding and manipulating information, by asking participants to repeat sequences of numbers in reverse order. Visuospatial memory, which involves recalling shapes and their physical locations, was tested by having participants study geometric figures and draw them from memory.</p>
<p>Prospective memory was measured by seeing if participants remembered to rate the difficulty of a task immediately after finishing it or ring a bell every ten minutes. The researchers also tested source memory, which is the ability to remember the origin of information. This was done by checking if participants could remember whether they had seen a specific item as a picture or as a written word earlier in the session.</p>
<p>Susceptibility to false memories was tested by having participants listen to lists of related words. For instance, they might hear words like “bed” and “tired” and later be asked if they heard the unsaid target word “sleep.” Temporal order memory was evaluated by asking participants to organize physical cards into the exact sequence in which they completed the cognitive tests.</p>
<p>Finally, the researchers evaluated episodic content memory. This concept refers to a person’s ability to recall specific, personally experienced events. To test this, participants were simply asked to freely describe all the different cognitive tasks they had just completed during the session.</p>
<p>The data provides evidence that acute cannabis intoxication broadly harms most memory types. Compared to the placebo group, participants who inhaled the moderate and high doses performed worse on immediate and delayed verbal memory tasks. They also struggled with immediate and delayed visuospatial memory, having a harder time drawing the shapes they had seen earlier.</p>
<p>The drug increased the creation of false memories. Intoxicated participants were more likely to confidently remember seeing words that were never actually presented to them during the listening tasks. They also had a harder time with source memory, meaning they forgot whether they originally saw a picture or a word.</p>
<p>The researchers detected immediate negative effects of cannabis on prospective memory and temporal order memory. Intoxicated participants frequently forgot to execute tasks at the right moment and struggled to remember the correct order of the tests they had just taken. These findings suggest that the drug heavily impacts the practical memory skills needed for daily functioning.</p>
<p>Not all types of memory were significantly impacted by the drug. The researchers found no significant effect on episodic content memory, meaning intoxicated users could still broadly recall which events they had participated in during the session. Performance on certain short-term memory tasks also remained relatively stable across the groups.</p>
<p>“The key takeaway is that acute cannabis intoxication appears to negatively impact a broad range of memory processes, rather than selectively affecting only a few types of memory,” Cuttler told PsyPost. “We found significant detrimental effects of acute cannabis intoxication on verbal memory, visuospatial memory, working memory, prospective memory, source memory, false memory, and temporal order memory. To our knowledge, this is the first study to detect detrimental effects of acute cannabis intoxication on prospective memory and temporal order memory.”</p>
<p>“We did not detect a significant effect on episodic content memory, which in our study involved recalling the tasks participants completed during the session. However, this is the first study to examine acute cannabis effects on this particular aspect of memory.”</p>
<p>Interestingly, the data suggests that taking a higher dose does not necessarily worsen these memory impairments. The researchers found no significant differences in test scores between the moderate dose group and the high dose group. </p>
<p>“We were surprised that there were no meaningful differences between the moderate-dose (20 mg THC) and high-dose (40 mg THC) groups,” Cuttler said. “This is likely because participants in both groups experienced substantial intoxication.”</p>
<p>While the study was comprehensive, it does have some limitations. For instance, some of the memory tests were relatively easy, causing many participants to achieve perfect scores regardless of what they inhaled. This phenomenon might have masked some of the subtle impacts of the drug on time-based tasks. The scientists also acknowledge that the artificial laboratory setting might not perfectly capture how people remember their own personal events.</p>
<p>“Future research should examine autobiographical memory using more complex tasks that involve recalling real-life experiences outside of the laboratory,” Cuttler said.</p>
<p>Additionally, some participants in the active cannabis groups felt the effects were too strong and chose not to inhale the entire dose. The researchers noted this but found that excluding these individuals from the data did not drastically change the results. The participants were also young, experienced cannabis users with an average age of 28.</p>
<p>“It is also important to note that while these effects were statistically significant, they are not revealing massive memory impairments or amnesias that would lead to functional impairments,” Cuttler noted. “Our effects represent small reductions in performance on a broad array of memory tests. Nevertheless, our results suggest that people should avoid being under the influence of cannabis when they need to rely on memory, whether that involves remembering past information or remembering to carry out future tasks.”</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the research team hopes to explore how other compounds in the cannabis plant interact with human cognition, as well as how intoxication affects other complex brain functions.</p>
<p>“One of my previous clinical trials found that cannabigerol (CBG) may enhance memory performance so eventually I’d like to examine whether cannabinoids like CBG might potentially mitigate or offset the detrimental effects of THC on memory,” Cuttler said. “Further, we plan to map out which aspects of executive functioning (e.g., cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, planning) are spared and impaired under conditions of acute cannabis intoxication.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811261416079" target="_blank">Mapping the acute effects of cannabis on multiple memory domains: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study</a>,” was authored by Carrie Cuttler and Ryan J. McLaughlin.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/autism-risk-genes-are-shared-across-human-ancestries-large-genome-study-reveals/" 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;">Autism risk genes are shared across human ancestries, large genome study reveals</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 2nd 2026, 22:00</div>
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<p><p>A massive new genetic analysis reveals that the biological traits underlying autism risk are the same across people of different ancestral backgrounds. By examining the DNA of thousands of Latin American individuals, researchers showed that rare genetic changes linked to autism occur in the exact same genes across diverse populations. The results, published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04228-6" target="_blank">Nature Medicine</a></em>, point to a universal genetic foundation for autism and highlight the need for more inclusive medical testing.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, researchers have identified dozens of genetic variations that increase the likelihood of a person developing autism. These variations tend to appear in highly conserved genes. A highly conserved gene is a segment of DNA that has remained nearly identical across species over vast stretches of evolutionary history.</p>
<p>Because these specific genes perform basic cellular functions, they are subject to strict natural selection. Any spontaneous mutations within them are usually weeded out over time because they disrupt essential biological processes. When such rare mutations do occur in humans, they often lead to profound neurodevelopmental changes.</p>
<p>Most of the DNA databases used to discover these autism-linked genes rely almost entirely on people of European descent. This lack of global representation leaves open a major question about whether the genetic traits tied to autism look different in other parts of the world. It also creates real-world problems in medical clinics when patients seek genetic counseling. When individuals of non-European descent undergo genetic testing, they often receive inconclusive results simply because their genetic variations do not appear in standard reference databases.</p>
<p>To close this gap, an international team of researchers formed the Genomics of Autism in Latin American Ancestries Consortium. Marina Natividad Avila, a researcher who led the study, worked alongside Joseph D. Buxbaum, director of the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai. The team wanted to determine if the genetic risk factors for autism vary depending on a person’s ancestry. They specifically focused on Latin American populations, which represent a large and genetically diverse group with Indigenous American, African, and European heritage.</p>
<p>The researchers gathered and analyzed genetic material from more than 15,000 individuals across North, Central, and South America. This group included approximately 4,700 people diagnosed with autism, along with their parents and unaffected siblings. By comparing the DNA of children with autism to the DNA of their parents, the team could identify spontaneous mutations.</p>
<p>These spontaneous mutations are newly occurring genetic changes that are present in a child but absent in both parents. To find the specific genes involved, the team used advanced DNA sequencing techniques that read the genetic code. They focused on the exome, which is the specific portion of the genome that provides the instructions for building proteins. Although the exome makes up a tiny fraction of our total DNA, it contains the vast majority of known disease-causing mutations.</p>
<p>The researchers looked closely for rare, spontaneous mutations that alter or destroy how a protein functions. They then compared the rates of these disruptive mutations in children with autism against the rates in children without the condition. Through this mathematical analysis, the research team identified 35 specific genes strongly tied to autism within the Latin American group. When they compared these 35 genes to the ones previously found in European populations, they noticed a massive overlap.</p>
<p>The biological pathways impacted by these genes remained entirely consistent across the two groups. For instance, both populations showed mutations in genes responsible for regulating how neurons communicate with one another in the brain. They also found disruptions in genes that control the cytoskeleton, which is the internal structural scaffolding of a cell. These findings show that the microscopic cellular mechanisms leading to autism are fundamentally the same worldwide.</p>
<p>The underlying biology appears to operate completely independently of a person’s ethnic background. The team also evaluated the mathematical tools used by scientists to measure how conserved a gene is. Because these tools were originally built using European DNA data, the researchers wanted to test their accuracy in a diverse Latin American group. They found that these tools remain highly accurate for the most essential genes associated with autism.</p>
<p>This means that a mutation in a highly conserved gene carries the same biological weight regardless of a person’s ancestry. Ultimately, the genetic changes driving autism likelihood were not restricted to any one ancestral group. “Our results indicate that the core genetic architecture of autism is shared across ancestries,” Buxbaum said. “This suggests that the biology underlying autism is universal and reinforces the importance of ensuring that diverse populations are represented in genetic research.”</p>
<p>Despite these clear biological similarities, the researchers noted a few important limitations to their work. When the team used standard clinical software to interpret the mutations they found, the software flagged fewer of them as definitively harmful in Latin American individuals compared to European individuals. In clinical genetics, a definitively harmful mutation is known as a pathogenic variant. This diagnostic discrepancy happens because current clinical tools rely heavily on past data, which is heavily biased toward European genomes.</p>
<p>As a result, non-European individuals might still receive less definitive answers from standard genetic tests. Additionally, the study mostly relied on sequencing only the protein-coding regions of the genome, rather than the entire DNA sequence. This approach makes it difficult to map out exactly which specific ancestral background a given genetic variation originated from. In heavily mixed populations, tracking the exact origin of a small DNA segment requires full genome data.</p>
<p>Unmapped structural changes in the DNA of less-studied populations might also hide certain genetic risk factors. To fix these clinical blind spots, researchers must continue to sequence the DNA of diverse populations around the globe. Adding more non-European genomes to medical databases will help refine the tools used to diagnose neurodevelopmental conditions. As these databases grow, doctors will be able to provide better, more accurate genetic counseling to families of all backgrounds.</p>
<p>These future efforts will help ensure that the benefits of precision medicine reach everyone. Medical testing must catch up to the reality that human biology shares a common foundation. “These findings provide a road map for improving genetic diagnosis across ancestral groups,” Buxbaum added. “Expanding genomic research in underrepresented populations is essential to reducing health disparities and advancing precision medicine for autism and related conditions across all ancestral populations.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04228-6" target="_blank">Deleterious coding variation associated with autism is shared across ancestries</a>,” was authored by Marina Natividad Avila, Seulgi Jung, F. Kyle Satterstrom, Jack M. Fu, Tess Levy, Laura G. Sloofman, Lambertus Klei, Thariana Pichardo, Dalia Marquez, Christine R. Stevens, Caroline M. Cusick, Jennifer L. Ames, Gabriele S. Campos, Hilda Cerros, Roberto Chaskel, Claudia I. S. Costa, Michael L. Cuccaro, Andrea del Pilar Lopez, Magdalena Fernandez, Eugenio Ferro, Liliana Galeano, Ana Cristina D. E. S. Girardi, Anthony J. Griswold, Luis C. Hernandez, Naila Lourenço, Yunin Ludena, Diana Núñez-Ríos, Rosa Oyama, Katherine P. Peña, Isaac Pessah, Rebecca Schmidt, Holly M. Sweeney, Lizbeth Tolentino, Jaqueline Y. T. Wang, Lilia Albores-Gallo, Lisa A. Croen, Carlos S. Cruz-Fuentes, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Alexander Kolevzon, Maria Claudia Lattig, Liliana Mayo, Maria Rita Passos-Bueno, Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, Paige M. Siper, Flora Tassone, M. Pilar Trelles, GALA Consortium, The Autism Sequencing Consortium (ASC), Michael E. Talkowski, Mark J. Daly, Behrang Mahjani, Silvia De Rubeis, Edwin H. Cook, Kathryn Roeder, Catalina Betancur, Bernie Devlin, and Joseph D. Buxbaum.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-a-brain-signal-that-reveals-whether-depression-therapies-will-work/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists identify a brain signal that reveals whether depression therapies will work</a>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-025-00182-2" target="_blank">npj Mental Health Research</a></em> reports that a specific brain-network signal may reliably predict whether a person with major depression will respond to antidepressant treatment.</p>
<p>Major depressive disorder affects millions worldwide, yet doctors still lack tools to determine which patients will benefit from antidepressants. Current treatment is largely trial-and-error, often requiring months before knowing whether a medication will work. </p>
<p>Scientists have long suspected that the brain’s “default mode network”—a system active during self-reflection and rumination—plays a central role in depression. But until now, no study had convincingly shown that patterns within this network could predict treatment outcomes.</p>
<p>The research team, led by Kaizhong Zheng and Liangjun Chen, set out to test whether communication between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)—two hubs of the default mode network—could serve as such a predictor. These regions are known to be involved in self-focused thinking and emotional regulation, both of which are disrupted in depression.</p>
<p>To investigate this, the research team analyzed resting-state brain scans from a total of 4,271 participants across four datasets. The largest of these cohorts included 2,142 people diagnosed with major depression and 1,991 healthy individuals. </p>
<p>The sample included both first-episode patients who had never taken antidepressants and those with recurrent depression. Additional datasets followed patients undergoing antidepressant medication or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), allowing the team to examine how brain connectivity correlated with treatment.</p>
<p>Using a technique called Granger causality analysis, the team measured the directional flow of information from the mPFC to the PCC. They found that people with recurrent depression had significantly reduced connectivity compared with both healthy participants and those experiencing their first depressive episode who had not taken any antidepressant medication. This reduction also correlated with longer illness duration and prior antidepressant use.</p>
<p>Most strikingly, the pre-treatment baseline signal predicted who would improve with therapy. The researchers noted that successful antidepressant treatment actually decreased mPFC-to-PCC connectivity. More importantly, machine-learning models trained on a patient’s baseline connectivity measure were able to distinguish future responders from non-responders with high accuracy before treatment even began.</p>
<p>The baseline connectivity measure was also linked to eventual treatment improvement rather than to the initial severity of core depressive symptoms, such as anhedonia or suicidal thinking, suggesting it reflects a treatment-specific mechanism rather than general illness severity.</p>
<p>Zheng and Chen concluded: “Despite the known pivotal role of the DMN in various cognitive and emotional processes, it has not yet been targeted for therapeutic intervention. Our study reveals a significant association between the DMN and treatment outcomes, providing strong evidence for the feasibility of DMN-targeted interventions.”</p>
<p>Despite its promise, the study has limitations. For instance, the study examined only antidepressant medication and rTMS, while other treatments with distinct mechanisms—such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or psychotherapy—were not included and may show different patterns of brain connectivity.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-025-00182-2" target="_blank">Beyond depression symptoms: the default mode network as a predictor of antidepressant response</a>,” was authored by Kaizhong Zheng, Liangjun Chen, Huaning Wang, the DIRECT consortium, Baojuan Li, and Badong Chen.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/large-scale-study-links-autoimmune-diseases-to-higher-rates-of-depression-and-an-2026-03-26/" 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 study links autoimmune diseases to higher rates of depression and anxiety</a>
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<p><p>People diagnosed with autoimmune diseases experience mood and anxiety disorders at nearly double the rate of the general population. Data from more than 1.5 million adults in the United Kingdom suggests that persistent physical inflammation is closely tied to this elevated mental health risk. The findings were published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2025-301706">BMJ Mental Health</a>.</p>
<p>Medical professionals label depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder as affective disorders. These psychological conditions alter a person’s mood, emotional state, and daily functioning. Autoimmune diseases have entirely different visible symptoms, occurring when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissues as if they were foreign threats. Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and lupus cause chronic, widespread inflammation throughout the body.</p>
<p>In recent years, medical researchers have noticed a distinct connection between immune system activity and mental health outcomes. Blood markers that indicate an active immune response, such as specific proteins and cellular messengers, frequently run high in individuals experiencing depression or anxiety. Some studies even show that administering standard antidepressant medications corresponds with a drop in these inflammatory markers.</p>
<p>Conversely, receiving treatments designed solely to lower bodily inflammation can sometimes result in modest improvements in symptoms for people with mood disorders. Because of these distinct patterns, researchers suspect that inflammation could play a direct biological role in creating or worsening mental health conditions.</p>
<p>Testing this idea on a grand scale presents major logistical hurdles. Analyzing blood samples to quantify specific inflammatory proteins in thousands of people is prohibitively expensive and time consuming. As a result, studies exploring the connection between the immune system and the brain typically rely on very small groups of participants.</p>
<p>University of Edinburgh researcher Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots and his colleagues decided to take an indirect approach to overcome this limitation. In the absence of direct blood measurements, having a diagnosed autoimmune condition serves as a reliable indicator of chronic internal inflammation. The team utilized a massive national health database to see if simply living with one of these inflammatory conditions relates to a person’s mental health history.</p>
<p>The researchers tapped into the Our Future Health initiative. This database collects detailed survey information and physical health data from volunteer participants entirely across the United Kingdom. The research team filtered the records of roughly 1.5 million adults, dividing them into two distinct groups for comparison.</p>
<p>One group consisted of nearly 38,000 individuals who reported having at least one of six autoimmune diseases. The researchers focused on rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and Graves’ disease. The remaining 1.5 million adults served as a massive control group, representing the general public without autoimmune conditions.</p>
<p>All participants completed lengthy questionnaires concerning their demographic backgrounds, family histories, and lifestyle habits. They noted if a doctor or other medical professional had ever diagnosed them with depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder at any point in their lives. The surveys also asked if the participants’ biological parents had ever received similar psychiatric diagnoses.</p>
<p>To gauge present mental health status alongside past diagnoses, the survey included standard psychiatric rating scales. Participants answered several questions about their current mood, allowing the researchers to tally scores for active depressive and anxious symptoms.</p>
<p>The team discovered a pronounced difference in mental health history between the two groups. Just under 29 percent of individuals with an autoimmune disease reported a lifetime diagnosis of an affective disorder. In contrast, roughly 18 percent of the general population group reported the same mental health history.</p>
<p>This pattern held true regardless of the exact autoimmune condition a participant experienced. Over a quarter of participants with an autoimmune disease had experienced depression, compared to 15 percent of the general public. Likewise, about 21 percent of the autoimmune group reported an anxiety diagnosis, whereas only 12 percent of the control group said the same.</p>
<p>While bipolar disorder remains relatively uncommon in the general public, it was also elevated among those with overactive immune systems. Almost one percent of the autoimmune group reported a lifetime bipolar disorder diagnosis. This was roughly double the prevalence found among the participants without immune conditions.</p>
<p>Current daily symptoms painted a very similar picture. Nearly 19 percent of the autoimmune group scored intensely enough on mood questionnaires to indicate active, ongoing depression, compared to just 10 percent of the general population. Reports of current anxiety were similarly elevated among the autoimmune group.</p>
<p>Looking at raw percentages only tells part of the story, as other life circumstances can deeply impact emotional well being. People with autoimmune diseases often experience severe physical discomfort, and chronic pain is a major contributor to poor mental health. Physical illnesses can also make it difficult to leave the house, leading to social isolation, which independently harms emotional stability.</p>
<p>The researchers constructed mathematical models to adjust their data for these confounding variables. In addition to accounting for age, sex, ethnicity, and household income, they factored in whether participants lived with chronic pain or reported a low frequency of visiting with family and friends.</p>
<p>Even after stripping away the influence of pain, isolation, and income, the odds of experiencing a mood or anxiety disorder remained about 50 percent higher for those with autoimmune diseases. The researchers noted that this elevated risk was broadly identical across depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. This suggests that systemic inflammation might create a generalized vulnerability to several different types of mood disruption, rather than causing one specific disorder.</p>
<p>The data also revealed clear differences based on biological sex. Autoimmune conditions and affective disorders are both recognized to occur more frequently in women. The study confirmed this trend, showing that female participants with autoimmune diagnoses reported notably higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders than male participants with the exact same physical health conditions.</p>
<p>Medical literature presents a few theories to explain these sex differences. The higher prevalence of autoimmune conditions in women might relate to differing sex hormones, chromosomal factors, or variations in how certain antibodies circulate in the blood. Additionally, the specific ways that immune responses affect brain chemistry might be stronger in women, leading to a compounded risk for mental health issues.</p>
<p>Because this study relied entirely on observational data, the results cannot establish whether inflammation directly causes psychiatric conditions. The researchers could only identify a numerical correlation between physical health diagnoses and mental health outcomes.</p>
<p>The database did not include a specific timeline of when each participant received their particular diagnoses. It remains entirely unclear whether the autoimmune disease developed before the emotional disorder, or the other way around. In some instances, a person might have experienced severe depression years before their immune system began attacking their joints or skin.</p>
<p>The study also depended entirely on self reported health histories. Without accessing actual medical records to confirm diagnoses, the findings remain subject to the accuracy of the participants’ memories. A definitive psychiatric diagnosis usually requires a structured clinical interview with a doctor, which was not feasible for a study involving over a million people.</p>
<p>Future investigations will need to track participants continuously over several years to determine the exact sequence of disease development. Tracking symptoms over time could reveal if surges in physical inflammation perfectly match the onset of low moods or an anxious state.</p>
<p>The authors hope eventually to incorporate direct biological measurements into large databases like Our Future Health. Analyzing actual blood samples for specific inflammatory proteins could help clarify if the severity of a person’s internal inflammation matches the severity of their mood symptoms. This level of detail would provide a much clearer picture of the biological mechanisms at play.</p>
<p>In a clinical setting, these widespread patterns suggest that medical professionals should consider implementing routine mental health screenings for patients dealing with autoimmune diseases. Catching symptoms of depression or anxiety early could help doctors provide tailored psychological support alongside standard physical treatments. Addressing both the immune system and emotional well being at the same time could improve the overall quality of life for millions of people.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2025-301706" target="_blank">Affective disorders and chronic inflammatory conditions: analysis of 1.5 million participants in Our Future Health</a>,” was authored by Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots, Duncan Swiffen, Christina Steyn, Katie F M Marwick, and Daniel J Smith.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/smoked-cannabis-reduces-immediate-alcohol-consumption-in-controlled-laboratory-t/" 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;">Smoked cannabis reduces immediate alcohol consumption in controlled laboratory trial</a>
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<p><p>Smoked cannabis directly reduced the amount of alcohol heavy drinkers consumed during a controlled laboratory experiment. The research indicates that acute marijuana intoxication may decrease the immediate urge to drink and delay the onset of alcohol consumption. These findings were published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20250115">American Journal of Psychiatry</a>.</p>
<p>Public health experts track the concurrent use of alcohol and cannabis closely. Across the country, expanding legalization has made cannabis the most popular psychoactive substance after tobacco for people who consume alcohol. Many individuals engage in both habits, and a strong overlap exists between those who struggle with alcohol use and those who face challenges regulating their cannabis intake. </p>
<p>In recent years, a social trend has emerged where people attempt to manage their alcohol habits by substituting cannabis instead. Pop culture sometimes refers to this practice as becoming “California sober.” This movement aligns with a broader push toward harm reduction, and it has fueled a rapid expansion in the market for cannabis-infused beverages marketed as alcohol alternatives. </p>
<p>Despite this cultural shift, previous observational studies produced conflicting results regarding how cannabis impacts alcohol consumption. Some research suggested that using cannabis leads to heavier drinking and worse treatment outcomes for those trying to quit alcohol. Other surveys indicated that people drink less on days when they use cannabis before they consume alcohol. </p>
<p>Observational data can only reveal associations rather than direct cause and effect. To find more concrete answers, researchers needed a controlled setting to observe how cannabis alters drinking behavior in real time. Jane Metrik, a researcher at the Brown University School of Public Health, led a team of scientists to investigate this dynamic. </p>
<p>The research team recruited 157 adults between the ages of 21 and 44 from the local community. These participants reported engaging in heavy episodic drinking at least once a month. They also used cannabis at least twice a week. </p>
<p>Metrik and her colleagues utilized a double-blind crossover experimental design. This structure meant that participants came into the laboratory strictly after abstaining from both substances. Over the course of three completely separate experimental days, participants received different testing conditions, acting as their own baseline controls. </p>
<p>During the sessions, laboratory staff provided participants with cannabis cigarettes. Depending on the day, the cigarette contained either a placebo with virtually no active ingredients, a moderate dose of 3.1 percent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or a higher dose of 7.2 percent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Medical staff monitored blood pressure and heart rates while collecting blood samples to confirm intoxication levels. </p>
<p>After smoking, participants experienced a cue reactivity procedure. The researchers brought them into a neutral room and gave them a glass of water to smell and sip. Later, staff brought the participants into a simulated bar environment and presented them with their favorite alcoholic beverage to evaluate their cravings. </p>
<p>Following the cue exposure, participants engaged in a two-hour alcohol choice task in the simulated bar. Staff provided subjects with the opportunity to consume up to eight miniature alcoholic drinks. To mimic real world decision making, the researchers offered participants a financial incentive of three dollars for every drink they chose to leave on the table. </p>
<p>The physiological measurements confirmed that the cannabis doses worked exactly as intended. Both the moderate and higher doses elevated participants’ heart rates and increased their subjective feelings of intoxication, happiness, and arousal. The placebo condition produced no such alterations in mood or biology.</p>
<p>When measuring the desire to drink, the results painted a nuanced picture. The researchers used a standard multipoint questionnaire to grade alcohol cravings, and the overall scores did not show statistically significant differences across the three cannabis conditions. However, when asked a single targeted question about having an immediate urge for alcohol, participants reported a notable drop in desire right after smoking the higher concentration cannabis.</p>
<p>The most definitive changes appeared during the simulated bar task. Following the placebo cigarette, participants drank the largest amount of alcohol. When participants smoked the moderate dose of cannabis, they consumed 19 percent less alcohol compared to the placebo day. </p>
<p>The higher concentration dose produced an even larger reduction. Participants who smoked the 7.2 percent cannabis cigarette drank 27 percent less alcohol than they did under the placebo condition. The difference in alcohol consumption between the two active cannabis doses was not statistically significant. </p>
<p>The higher concentration of cannabis altered the timing of drinking behavior alongside the volume consumed. Compared to the placebo day, smoking the stronger cannabis delayed the decision to start drinking by an average of 48 percent. Participants waited over half an hour to initiate drinking, whereas they started drinking much faster when given the dummy cigarette.</p>
<p>The researchers suspect a satiation effect might explain these behavioral shifts. People who combine alcohol and cannabis often do so to reach a specific level of intoxication. Once a person achieves a desired mental state through smoking cannabis, their motivation to seek out further impairment through alcohol may naturally diminish. </p>
<p>Brain chemistry may also play a major role in these outcomes. The main active compound in cannabis acts upon the endogenous cannabinoid system, a natural chemical network in the human body that regulates reward processing and motivation. Chronic exposure to cannabis causes the brain to reduce the density of these chemical receptors in an attempt to maintain balance. </p>
<p>Nearly all the participants in this trial used cannabis on a daily basis. The mandatory abstinence period before the placebo session might have put them in a mild state of withdrawal. This sudden deprivation could have increased the reward value of alcohol, prompting them to consume more drinks on the placebo day than they did when their brain’s receptors were satisfied by the active cannabis joints. </p>
<p>The findings are attached to several limitations. The cannabis distributed in the study contained much lower concentrations of active compounds than the products currently dominating commercial dispensaries. The experiment also specifically tested sequential use, where participants smoked prior to drinking, rather than simultaneous consumption or pairing cannabis with an initial alcohol prime. </p>
<p>Medical professionals recommend caution regarding these results. The findings show a clear reduction in immediate drinking, but this does not mean replacing alcohol with cannabis is a safe or proven medical treatment. Clinicians advise against viewing cannabis as a primary harm reduction strategy for severe alcohol issues until longitudinal trials map out the long-term safety and efficacy of the substitution model. </p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20250115" target="_blank">Acute Effects of Cannabis on Alcohol Craving and Consumption: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial</a>,” was authored by Jane Metrik, Elizabeth R. Aston, Rachel L. Gunn, Robert Swift, James MacKillop, and Christopher W. Kahler.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/vulnerable-narcissism-is-linked-to-intense-celebrity-worship-via-parasocial-relationships/" 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;">Vulnerable narcissism is linked to intense celebrity worship via parasocial relationships</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 2nd 2026, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>New research published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16030333" target="_blank">Behavioral Sciences</a></em> suggests that people with certain self-centered but insecure personality traits tend to develop intense, one-sided bonds with famous figures. This unreciprocated connection provides evidence as to why these individuals are more likely to become excessively attached to celebrities.</p>
<p>Extreme fascination with public figures is a growing issue in modern society. This behavior ranges from simply enjoying entertainment with friends to developing unhealthy obsessions that disrupt daily life. Psychologists often view this progression through an absorption and addiction framework.</p>
<p>In this framework, people with a poorly developed sense of identity might use their interest in a celebrity as a coping mechanism. As they become more absorbed in the public figure’s life, their behavior can become addictive and increasingly problematic. </p>
<p>The new study was conducted by Lawrence Locker Jr. and Jeff Klibert, psychology professors at Georgia Southern University, alongside Joshua L. Williams, a professor and chair of criminal justice and criminology at the same institution. They sought to explore how specific psychological struggles might drive obsessive fan behavior.</p>
<p>“We were motivated by the fact that celebrity worship is becoming an increasingly problematic phenomenon. While a growing body of evidence has linked celebrity worship to negative outcomes like poor mental health and narcissism, we noticed a significant gap in understanding the specific psychological mechanisms behind these connections,” the researchers told PsyPost.</p>
<p>“Our prior research consistently showed that vulnerable narcissism, a subtype characterized by distress, anxiety, and insecurity, was a stronger and more consistent predictor of celebrity worship than the grandiose subtype. We wanted to explore if commitment to parasocial relationships, one-sided, non-reciprocated connections, was the ‘missing link’ that explained why individuals with these personality traits tend to demonstrate a greater likelihood of becoming absorbed in celebrities.”</p>
<p>To investigate this, the researchers recruited 293 undergraduate students from a university in the southeastern United States. After removing participants who failed attention checks or provided incomplete demographic data, the final sample consisted of 218 students. The group included 161 women and 57 men, with an average age of about 22 years old.</p>
<p>The sample was predominantly composed of individuals who identified as White, making up roughly seventy-four percent of the participants. About twenty-two percent identified as Black or African American, and eight percent identified as Hispanic or Latino. The remaining participants identified as Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, or preferred not to say.</p>
<p>The scientists administered an online survey where participants first named their favorite celebrity or social media influencer. The participants were instructed to keep this specific public figure in mind while completing a series of questionnaires. These surveys measured three main concepts, which included their level of vulnerable narcissism, their commitment to the one-sided relationship, and their overall degree of extreme celebrity attachment.</p>
<p>To measure extreme celebrity attachment, the survey asked participants to rate their agreement with statements regarding their obsessive thoughts or behaviors toward the celebrity. The assessment for vulnerable narcissism asked participants to rate feelings of hidden shame, sensitivity to criticism, and resentment toward others. Finally, the measure of one-sided relationship commitment evaluated how connected the participants felt to the media figure and how much they valued the figure’s beliefs.</p>
<p>The researchers found that higher levels of vulnerable narcissism were strongly associated with greater levels of extreme celebrity attachment. Participants who scored high in vulnerable narcissism also tended to report a stronger commitment to their one-sided relationships with their chosen celebrities. Similarly, a stronger commitment to these one-sided relationships was consistently linked to higher scores in excessive celebrity attachment.</p>
<p>When looking at the variables together, the scientists found that the one-sided relationship commitment partially explained the link between vulnerable narcissism and excessive celebrity attachment. This suggests that people with vulnerable narcissistic traits tend to form deep, unreciprocated bonds with media figures to cope with their negative emotions. These imaginary relationships then appear to foster a more obsessive and unhealthy attachment to the celebrity.</p>
<p>The data also revealed that the strength of the connection between vulnerable narcissism and extreme celebrity attachment depended on the fan’s level of one-sided relationship commitment. </p>
<p>“One particularly striking result was that the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and celebrity worship actually disappeared at extremely low levels of parasocial commitment,” the researchers explained. “In other words, if a person does not feel a personal or emotional ‘bond’ with the media figure, their narcissistic traits do not necessarily translate into celebrity worship. This highlights that the one-sided “relationship” component is an essential driver of this behavior, rather than just a byproduct.”</p>
<p>“The most important takeaway is that for some individuals, developing celebrity attachment serves as a maladaptive coping mechanism. Our study found that people who struggle with a poorly developed sense of self or psychological distress, traits often found with individuals high in vulnerable narcissism, may use these one-sided relationships to compensate for unfulfilling social lives and to find a sense of purpose.”</p>
<p>“We established that the risk of problematic celebrity worship is highest when an individual has both high levels of vulnerable narcissism and a strong commitment to a parasocial relationship,” the researchers continued. “Essentially, the feeling of a personal ‘connection’ to a celebrity may drive someone from simple admiration into a more addictive and harmful level of absorption.”</p>
<p>While these findings provide new insights, there are limitations. The research relied on a specific convenience sample of mostly White female college students. This limits the ability to apply the findings to the general population, which includes people of varying ages and cultural backgrounds.</p>
<p>“Readers should keep in mind that this was a cross-sectional and correlational study, which means that we cannot definitively say that vulnerable narcissism causes celebrity worship. We only know they are strongly related,” the researchers noted.</p>
<p>“We also want to be cautious that it is possible that not all interest in celebrities is “bad.” According to the Absorption-Addiction framework, celebrity interest exists on a continuum. It may begin as a benign social or entertainment interest and may only become maladaptive when it reaches ‘Intense-Personal’ or ‘Borderline-Pathological’ levels, involving intrusive thoughts or even a willingness to engage in illegal behavior for a celebrity.”</p>
<p>Future research should aim to include a more diverse group of participants to see if the patterns hold true across different demographics. The researchers also plan to study people over longer periods to better track how these psychological traits and obsessive behaviors develop over time. Experimental studies could also help establish a clearer chain of cause and effect among the variables.</p>
<p>“Specifically, we want to know whether vulnerable narcissism leads to parasocial commitment, which then may lead to and heighten celebrity worship,” the researchers told PsyPost. “We also believe it is vital to investigate other potential mediators, such as anxiety, the need for intimacy, and deficiencies in identity formation, to gain a more complete picture of why these attachments form.”</p>
<p>“It is important to acknowledge that with modern technology and social media, the opportunity to form parasocial connections is rapidly increasing. Understanding these underlying personality risks can help us better identify why some individuals progress from simple fans to those suffering from maladaptive levels of absorption.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16030333" target="_blank">Vulnerable Narcissism and Celebrity Worship: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Commitment to Parasocial Relationships</a>,” was authored by Lawrence Locker, Jr., Joshua L. Williams, and Jeff Klibert.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-the-neural-fingerprints-of-dark-personality-traits/" 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;">Brain scans reveal the neural fingerprints of dark personality traits</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 2nd 2026, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>People with personality traits associated with narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy exhibit distinct patterns of brain activity even while resting. A recent analysis of brain scans shows these individuals have heightened baseline activity in areas linked to strategic planning and reduced activity in regions responsible for empathy and self-reflection. The research was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-025-01352-7">Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience</a>.</p>
<p>Psychologists group three overlapping personality types under a single umbrella known as the dark triad. Narcissism involves a blend of grandiosity, a sense of deep entitlement, and underlying emotional vulnerability. Machiavellianism is characterized by cold, calculating manipulation and a general lack of empathy toward others. Psychopathy is defined by emotional callousness combined with highly impulsive or antisocial behavior.</p>
<p>While these traits are often studied in people with clinical diagnoses or criminal histories, they exist on a continuum across the general population. Elevated levels of these characteristics often correlate with antisocial actions, prejudice, and aggression in everyday settings. Researchers have heavily concentrated on the psychological and behavioral outcomes of these antagonistic personalities. The biological foundations of this triarchic model have received far less attention in clinical science.</p>
<p>Richard Bakiaj, a researcher at the University of Trento in Italy, led a team to investigate the core neural architecture shared by these three traits. Most previous neuroimaging studies on this topic relied on small groups of participants or analyzed predetermined individual regions of the brain. Bakiaj and his colleagues aimed to observe the whole brain organically to see how large-scale networks operate in individuals who score higher on dark personality tests. The team wanted to determine if these personality dimensions share common neurobiological roots.</p>
<p>The research team obtained cognitive and neuroimaging data from an existing database of two hundred German adults. Every participant in the database had taken a standardized questionnaire designed to measure the three dark traits. The individuals in the sample scored within normative ranges, meaning they represented the typical public rather than a clinical or incarcerated population. Along with the survey data, the researchers obtained functional magnetic resonance imaging scans for each participant.</p>
<p>Functional magnetic resonance imaging works by detecting changes in blood flow and oxygenation, which operate as proxies for actual neural activity. The scans analyzed in this study were captured during a resting state, rather than during a specific cognitive test. Participants simply lay awake in the scanner looking at a low-contrast crosshair to minimize visual stimulation. This protocol allowed the researchers to capture authentic, spontaneous brain network activity in its baseline state.</p>
<p>To process the massive amount of imaging data, the researchers used a type of unsupervised machine learning. They fed the brain scans into an algorithm that blindly separated the signals into twenty distinct neurobiological networks. Because the algorithm was not given predefined anatomical regions to look for, it provided a data-driven map of how the brains were functioning across the whole sample. This prevented the researchers from introducing their subjective geographical biases into the analysis.</p>
<p>The team focused specifically on the low-frequency spectral power within these isolated networks. This measurement acts as an index of intrinsic neural excitability, showing how active a brain region remains by default when a person is physically resting. Low-frequency power is highly associated with tonic arousal, which governs how an individual passively monitors their environment. The team mapped these network activity levels against the participants’ scores on the personality questionnaire to look for correlations.</p>
<p>Two specific brain networks effectively predicted overall dark triad scores in the sample. The first was the central executive network, a system that governs goal maintenance, focused attention, and flexible problem solving. People who scored higher on the dark personality traits exhibited increased baseline activity in this cognitive network. </p>
<p>The researchers suggest that this higher baseline power reflects a chronically primed cognitive state. Such heightened environmental vigilance and strategic cognitive control help a person successfully manipulate social situations. Deception requires continuous mental effort to maintain lies and properly evaluate the emotional reactions of the target. Supporting this theory, the researchers found a specific positive correlation between elevated activity in the central executive network and scoring high on the Machiavellianism scale.</p>
<p>The second predictive circuit was a posterior segment of the default mode network. This network traditionally activates when the brain is at rest, managing self-referential thinking, memory processing, and social cognition. The default mode network handles our ability to understand the inner lives of other people, a psychological skill known as theory of mind. Reduced function in this area correlates heavily with deficits in moral reasoning.</p>
<p>In contrast to the central executive network, activity in the default mode network was reduced in participants with elevated dark personality scores. The researchers associate this dampened spontaneous activity with blunted introspection and lower empathy, which are common hallmarks of both narcissism and psychopathy. Reduced activity in these specific regions could make it incredibly difficult for an individual to form deep social connections. Impaired emotional regulation in narcissism may manifest as hypersensitivity to criticism, driven by a lack of introspective capacity.</p>
<p>The exact regions showing reduced activity included the parieto-occipital area, a segment previously implicated in clinical impulsivity. Decreased baseline activity here aligns closely with the impulsive and risk-taking behaviors commonly seen in individuals with high psychopathic traits. A dampened network might hinder an individual’s ability to engage in future-oriented thinking. This lack of foresight often leads to reckless decisions without concern for long-term consequences.</p>
<p>Together, these opposing patterns indicate that elevated dark personality features rely on enhanced goal-directed vigilance combined with dampened introspective activity. The brain appears physically wired to prioritize instrumental manipulation over emotional connection in these individuals. These results represent a network-level signature of dark personality features, advancing the idea that whole-brain dynamics parallel antagonistic behaviors.</p>
<p>The study does contain several limiting factors holding back broader generalizations. The research relied entirely on self-reported surveys to measure personality traits, which may fail to capture the full nuance of a person’s psychological profile. People who score high in deception might not report their own behaviors accurately, even though the questionnaire accounts for basic self-presentation bias. To verify these findings, subsequent studies will need to incorporate multiple distinct behavioral assessment tools.</p>
<p>Because the study pulled observational data from a single time period, it cannot determine causality. It remains entirely unclear whether these brain patterns cause dark personality traits or if practicing antisocial traits slowly shapes the brain over the adult lifespan. The open-access data set also lacked detailed demographic information, such as socioeconomic status and racial identity. Such missing variables prevented the team from examining how environmental or cultural factors might relate to personality development.</p>
<p>Future longitudinal research would be needed to track individuals over time and observe how these neural networks mature. Such studies could determine if the neural patterns are permanent biological traits or if they change in response to age and experience. Understanding the temporal dynamics of these brain correlations could eventually help scientists develop interventions for extreme antisocial behaviors. Modifying pathological personality traits through targeted therapies would require a firm grasp on how the adult brain changes.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-025-01352-7" target="_blank">Neural fingerprint of the dark triad: Resting state BOLD power (fALFF) alterations in executive and default mode networks</a>,” was authored by Richard Bakiaj, Clara Isabel Pantoja Muñoz, and Alessandro Grecucci.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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