The debate over whether the general population shows positive or negative attentional bias persists. Some studies indicate that attentional bias varies individually rather than being a common trait. This study explored the relationship between individuals' trait anxiety and their attentional bias and its neural mechanisms. Seventy adults with varying trait anxiety levels participated in an emotional competition search task. In the competition condition, a happy and a angry face were presented among neutral faces, with one as the target and the other as the distractor; while in the non-competition condition, one happy or angry face was presented among the neutral faces. The N2pc component of event-related potential (ERP), an attentional selection index, was used to measure attentional bias. Results showed a significant correlation: lower trait anxiety was associated with a stronger positive bias, while higher levels were linked to a more negative bias. Importantly, this anxiety-associated attentional bias specifically manifested in bottom-up processes and the emotion-competition condition. Our research offers electrophysiological evidence indicating that individuals' trait anxiety is associated with the direction of attentional bias, and, for the first time, discloses its neural mechanism-emerging in stimulation-driven attentional processes, which has implications for cognitive interventions for anxiety disorders.

The experience of interpersonal space may be altered in Alzheimer's disease (AD) due to atrophy in brain systems that support emotion and reward processing. Seventy participants (AD = 36, healthy controls=34) underwent structural neuroimaging and completed a modified stop-distance paradigm, an established interpersonal distance task, in which they indicated at which distance they preferred to have a conversation with the experimenter. After estimating the distance between themselves and the experimenter, participants rated their emotional experience. Feelings of physical closeness were calculated as the discrepancy between the perceived and actual distance between the participant and experimenter. Participants also estimated their distance from the wall, which served as a non-social control task. Unlike the healthy controls, the participants with AD felt physically closer to the experimenter than they were (despite no differences in objective interpersonal distance) and reported greater positive emotional experience. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed greater feelings of physical closeness related to smaller gray matter volume in the right ventral striatum and right medial orbitofrontal cortex (p  FWE<.05). These results suggest that reward system atrophy influences how people with AD experience interpersonal space. Individuals with AD may feel physically closer to others than they are and find social proximity more enjoyable than healthy controls.

Although patients with depression frequently report distorted self-related beliefs, such as all-or-nothing thinking, little is known about disruptions in behavioral and brain processes that occur when adults with depression make such self-evaluations. Here, we examined 117 participants ranging in depression severity (from non- to severely-depressed) as they rated their belief in statements about themselves or famous people during fMRI. We used mixed-effects models to examine task characteristics (e.g., self vs other) and depression severity to test our hypotheses that during self-evaluation, adults with depression would show increased all-or-nothing thinking (ie, decreased responding in the middle of the scale), slower reaction times (RT), and increased brain activation and connectivity in cortical regions involved in self-evaluation. Greater depression severity was associated with increased ambivalence (decreased all-or-nothing thinking) overall. Furthermore, reaction times during low-ambivalence judgments increased with depression severity. Depression severity was also linked to altered brain function, including decreased activation during low-ambivalence self-evaluation (vs other) in the medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC). Additionally, the pgACC displayed increased activation during high-ambivalence self-evaluation (vs other). Our findings clarify how adults with depression evaluate self-related beliefs, which may inform novel treatments to target distortions in these beliefs.

Depression has been linked to both elevated systemic inflammation and altered brain function related to reward processing and cognitive control. We know little, however, about how these factors jointly confer risk for this disorder, especially during adolescence, when depressive symptoms typically emerge. In this study we examined brain function during an incentivized go/no-go task in a community sample of 100 adolescents (mean [SD]=15.8 [1.1] years). We assessed neural activation and task-dependent functional connectivity using a psychophysiological interaction analysis during the contrast of High Value > Low Value targets in two regions: the ventral striatum (VS) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). We hypothesized that activation and functional connectivity in these regions would moderate the association between C-reactive protein (CRP) and depressive symptoms. Regression analyses yielded a significant interaction (β=-0.29; p = 0.009): in youth with attenuated VS activation, increased CRP was associated with higher symptoms; this pattern was reversed in adolescents with even modest VS activation. No similar effects were obtained with the vlPFC or functional connectivity. Thus, striatal activation during value-based cognitive control may shape how inflammation relates to depressive symptoms in adolescents, underscoring the importance of elucidating the functioning of reward circuitry during this sensitive developmental period.

Social interaction relies on neurocognitive processes that support mutual prediction and coordination. Traditional neuroimaging investigates brain activity at the individual level, limiting insight into the reciprocal nature of social exchange. Hyperscanning overcomes this by simultaneously recording brain activity from interacting individuals. We conducted a systematic review of 28 fMRI hyperscanning studies examining inter-brain coupling during interactive tasks. We assessed study features and examined whether paradigms included four key properties that make the use of hyperscanning particularly valuable over single-brain designs: real-time reciprocity, mutual information flow, unpredictability, and irreproducibility. Substantial methodological heterogeneity was observed, and only a few studies incorporated all four theoretically relevant features. To identify consistent spatial neural patterns of inter-brain coupling, we performed coordinate-based hierarchical clustering on residual (task-independent) and task-evoked coupling data. The latter was further analysed in relation to the complexity of the interaction. Residual coupling consistently involved the right posterior superior temporal gyrus, overlapping with the anterior TPJ, suggesting a role in spontaneous alignment. Task-evoked coupling differed by interactional complexity, with posterior temporal regions involved in low-complexity tasks, and medial frontal, mid-cingulate, and insular areas in high-complexity ones. These findings support the relevance of fMRI hyperscanning for studying inter-brain dynamics and inform future methodological development.

Affective symptoms and behavioral symptoms are two important dimensions of Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms. These two dimensions of symptoms are closely associated with emotion process deficits in children with ODD. This study utilized functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation during the emotion process in children with ODD and its relationship with ODD symptoms. A total of 72 participants, comprising of 35 children with ODD and 37 typically developing (TD) children were recruited to perform experiment tasks of emotion recognition (ERC) and emotion regulation (ERG). Their brain activation in the prefrontal lobes and behavioral responses were recorded and analyzed. Significant brain activation was observed in the right MFG, right SFGdor and the bilateral SFGmed for ERC, and the right SFGdor for ERG among the TD children, but not among the children with ODD. Meanwhile, no significant difference was observed in behavioral outcomes between TD and ODD. Path analysis results showed that ERC neural deficits (SFGmed) predicted affective symptoms, while ERG neural deficits (SFGdor) predicted behavioral symptoms. These findings elucidate the distinct influence pathways of different emotion process deficits. A potential dual-processing framework was proposed to understand the characteristics and role of emotion process deficits in ODD.

How does the brain prioritize information when visual scenes contain multiple sources of relevance? While emotionally evocative content has long been considered central to attentional capture, social content constitutes another key dimension of relevance. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the integration of these relevance dimensions remain unclear. We co-registered event-related potentials (ERPs) and eye movements while participants viewed complex scenes varying in social content (social, non-social) and emotional valence (positive, negative, neutral). Early ERP responses (P1) showed enhanced amplitudes for positive social images, suggesting that social relevance can mitigate the early-stage negativity bias. Social content also modulated the EPN, while emotional valence shaped later components (P300, LPC), with larger amplitudes for negative scenes. Eye-tracking measures mirrored these ERP effects: initial saccades were faster for social images, and fixation patterns indicated increased visual exploration for both positive and negative social scenes relative to neutral ones. Together, these results support a sequential appraisal process in which social content is prioritized at early perceptual stages, while emotional valence influences later evaluative processing. This pattern challenges the notion of a general negativity bias and underscores the interactive and stage-specific contributions of social and emotional relevance in affective scene perception.

Approach-avoidance conflict (AAC) is a core aspect of decision-making, involving competing appetitive and aversive outcomes. Given substantial individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment, AAC experiences likely vary across individuals. This study examined the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying AAC, focusing on these individual differences. Participants completed a task with four levels of reward and punishment probabilities (.25, .50, .75, 1), choosing to accept or reject rewards paired with potential punishments. Importantly, we did not find a uniform condition that consistently elicited maximum or minimum AAC across participants. We identified individualised high- and low-conflict conditions using three metrics: reaction time, reward rejection rate, and a composite Behavioural Conflict Index. Mid-frontal theta (MFT) power, an EEG marker of conflict monitoring, was significantly higher in high-conflict compared to low-conflict trials. Computational modelling revealed variability in participants' weighting of reward and punishment probabilities, reflecting differences in participants' sensitivity to reward and punishment outcomes. Furthermore, self-reported Behavioural Inhibition System scores predicted MFT responses, linking personality traits to AAC processing. These findings demonstrate that MFT power reflects AAC-driven cognitive control, shaped by individual sensitivities and traits. Our results emphasise the importance of personalised conflict definitions for understanding adaptive control in motivationally ambiguous contexts.

Faces are special for humans. This importance is reflected in increased relative attention to faces, referred to as face attention bias (FAB). This preregistered study investigated FAB transdiagnostically in two neurodevelopmental disorders associated with social symptoms, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We assessed exogenous selective attention to faces using a dot-probe paradigm in adults with ASD, adults with ADHD, adults with both and non-clinical comparison adults. While comparison adults showed FAB as expected, adults with ASD did not. Yet, the between-group difference in FAB was not credible, contrary to our hypothesis. Critically, adults with ADHD but no ASD showed increased FAB, suggesting heightened exogenous selective attention towards faces. This increase was not reflected in oculomotor behaviour, indicating covert attentional mechanisms. Adults with comorbid ASD and ADHD did not show increased FAB. Saccades were produced faster towards face-cued targets across all groups, but no significant interaction with group emerged regarding oculomotor behaviour. These findings unveil an attentional signature in ADHD: a heightened bias for faces possibly connected to social symptoms. Furthermore, they highlight the nuanced and distinct attentional profiles in different neurodevelopmental disorders, underscoring the critical need to understand shared and distinct mechanisms of ASD and ADHD.

We often seek advice from others outside our groups to optimize decision-making. This process may involve discerning the reliability of others, that is, whether the advice others provide is reliable enough to accept. However, little is known about how people collectively take advice from others. In this study, we recruited participant dyads (n = 35) to perform an advice-taking task, where they took advice collectively or individually from unreliable or reliable others. Interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) was examined using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based hyperscanning technique. For advice from unreliable others, the dyads performed better than the individuals. The dyads demonstrated a higher learning rate for bad advice than for good advice, as indicated by the analysis of the Bayesian reinforcement learning model. Furthermore, they demonstrated enhanced IBS in the frontopolar cortex, which was positively correlated with learning rates and dyad performance. However, these findings did not apply to reliable others or individuals. This study shows that groups, compared to individuals, are better able to discern valuable advice from others, which may be associated with neural coupling between members. This suggests a cognitive-brain mechanism for group advice-taking.

Negative self-descriptive information can be threatening to the self. This may depend, however, on the self-representation for which the information is relevant. We focused on two self-presentations, the authentic self and the presented self. In particular, we examined how the authentic and presented selves are influenced by emotional self-descriptiveness. Participants (N = 147) completed a self-referent emotional Stroop task while EEG was recorded. They viewed in colored text positive or negative traits exemplifying the authentic self ("I am genuinely honest"), the presented self ("I am outwardly honest"), or control ("It is clearly honest"). Color naming latency was slower to negative (vs. positive) traits for the presented self and control. Color naming latency was faster to negative (vs. positive) traits for the authentic self. Event-related potentials indicated that at both early (P1) and later (P3) stages of attentional processing, the authentic self exhibited comparable amplitudes to negative and positive traits. However, P1 was larger for negative, and P3 was larger for positive, traits for the presented self. Taken together, the findings highlight that the presented self is more pursuant of positivity, whereas the authentic self is more tolerant of negativity.

Studies linking childhood adversity with risk for psychopathology suggest a threat-related information processing bias in those exposed. We combined frequency-tagging electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking to assess automatic and implicit facial expression processing in youth aged 16-24 years with childhood adversity and emerging psychiatric symptoms (N = 52) as compared to healthy controls (N = 47). Neural discrimination of angry or happy faces from neutral faces was assessed via an EEG oddball paradigm. Neural responses and preferential looking towards angry versus neutral faces were quantified via an EEG multi-input paradigm with eye-tracking. Youth exposed to adversity showed reduced angry-neutral discrimination, which was specifically related to their threat but not neglect experiences and independent of concurrent psychiatric symptoms. When presenting angry and neutral faces simultaneously, controls showed higher neural responses to neutral faces but adversity exposed youth showed indistinct neural responses to both face categories. Furthermore, they showed increased neural responses for angry faces relative to controls. These results underscore the evidence of increased neural responses to angry faces in adversity as well as reduced neural threat-safety discrimination uniquely relating to threat experiences.

Hyperscanning research suggests that interbrain synchronization supports the regulation of social behavior. However, the evidence is predominantly correlational, leaving a gap for epiphenomenal accounts, where synchrony merely represents concurrent stimulus processing rather than a mechanism relevant to interpersonal interactions. Here, we demonstrate that interbrain synchrony causally drives cooperative success, as evidenced by non-invasive stimulation enhancing coupling and subsequently improving performance in a concurrent interdependent cooperation task. We applied dual-sensory entrainment at 16 Hz and 40 Hz to dyads and compared their performance with non-entrained control dyads performing the same cooperation task. We found that dual stimulation improved interbrain synchrony at the targeted frequencies relative to controls, with 16 Hz entrainment producing the most prominent effect. Strikingly, sensory entrainment facilitated sustained behavioral coupling, allowing partners to maintain coordination over extended periods. Notably, these effects are contingent on improved response coordination, indicating the importance of interbrain coupling for facilitating coordination and demonstrating causally that partner neural attunement is necessary to produce effective joint behavior. Thus, our study supports the concept that interbrain synchrony represents a neural mechanism with functional specificity in social interactions.

Identifying the neural characteristics of impulsivity and anxiety is important, as both traits confer risk for mental health conditions. In this study, we applied a Hidden Semi-Markov Model (HSMM) to capture the temporal patterns of brain activity to identify brain states associated with impulsivity and anxiety. Using the Leipzig Study for Mind-Body Emotion Interactions (LEMON) resting-state fMRI dataset of healthy individuals (N = 56), we analyzed three groups: High Impulsivity (HI), High Anxiety (HA), and High Impulsivity & High Anxiety (HIHA), assessed with the STAI-T and UPPS scales. HSMM identified three distinct functional brain states characterized by mean activation, functional connectivity, and topological properties of the frontoparietal, default mode, salience/ventral attention, and limbic networks. Notably, the HI group spent more time in a state with an inverse pattern between the default mode network and the salience/ventral attention network, with anticorrelated connectivity and opposing activation, compared with the HA and HIHA groups. Furthermore, the HI group showed a stronger tendency to persist in this state, which may reflect the neural characteristic distinguishing impulsivity from anxiety. However, no distinctive features were observed in the HIHA group. Nevertheless, these findings provide initial insights into the time-varying characteristics of impulsivity and anxiety.

Previous studies have examined the neural mechanisms of body dissatisfaction. This study aimed to investigate the neural basis of recovery from body dissatisfaction. Sixty-seven young women participated in this study, engaging in a fat talk-a conversation known to induce body dissatisfaction-followed by a.

A growing literature links various experiences of adversity to brain activity, particularly in regions that support threat processing and the stress response (e.g. the amygdala). However, this work has not considered racialized adversities and the extent to which specific experiences (e.g. police contact) may be uniquely salient for marginalized communities (e.g. Black adolescents). In a sample of 131 Black adolescents, we found that a history of police contact was associated with heightened amygdala reactivity when viewing neutral faces. Activity was specific to the Basolateral (BL) subregion, a region involved in hypervigilance. Police contact uniquely contributed to amygdala activation over and above cumulative measures of threat and social deprivation experiences traditionally studied in adversity literature. This study highlights police contact as a form of racialized adversity that is important to consider when elucidating the neurobiological embedding of adversity, particularly among marginalized youth.

Activity in the amygdala during intergroup contact and prejudice has been explained as a conditioned threat response and as a social saliency response. More recently, the theory that both explanations are true has received some empirical support, suggesting that the amygdala subnuclei (basal, lateral, and central) may play distinct roles in the social categorization process. In this study, we used machine learning to decode amygdala subregion activations during simulated encounters with protagonists representing four different stereotypes. In these encounters, a generalized threat was presented: the protagonists initially remained at a distance, then approached the participant, and finally entered their personal space. Using a time-resolved decoding approach, we studied the effect of interpersonal distance on the subnuclei's prejudice response. Moreover, a second classification was used to evaluate how the group relevance modified the perceived generalized threat. Both classifications revealed that all amygdala subregions encoded stereotype content. The likelihood of successful stereotype classification in each subregion was modulated differently by the context. Methodologically, our results show that a time-resolved decoding approach provides tools for studying prejudice within the amygdala's subnuclei. Neuroscientifically, our results support the theorization of different and parallel functions of amygdala subnuclei in prejudice.

Although widely experienced within the grieving community, the sense of presence (SOP) remains an inconsistently defined phenomenon in the literature, frequently categorized alongside anomalous or supernatural experiences. Existing research often centres on subjective interpretations, and few studies approach the phenomenon through a neuropsychological lens, leaving the underlying mechanisms and preceding events largely unexplored. To address these gaps, we propose a neurocognitive framework for understanding grief-related SOP and introduce 'person networks' as a core driver for the experience. The current model consists of three stages: initiation of perception, identity attribution, and meaning attribution. We aim for this theory to provoke meaningful discussion within the field, prompting reconceptualization of existing models and integration between disciplines to advance understanding of this phenomenon.

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and neuroticism are two of the most prominent transdiagnostic risk factors for internalizing disorders. Previous research highlighted a complex relationship between neuroticism and RNT. However, no study has yet examined their interaction at the neural level. Trait RNT and neuroticism were assessed in a sample of 126 healthy participants, followed by a fMRI task designed to elicit RNT. Linear models were employed to examine the interaction between trait RNT and neuroticism and main effects of RNT on brain changes. No significant interaction between trait RNT and neuroticism in relation to DMN and AI recruitment was found. A positive association was observed between trait RNT and recruitment of the precuneus during negative self-referential processing compared to distraction; however, this result did not survive FDR correction for multiple comparisons. Exploratory analyses revealed that responses of the anterior insula during RNT compared to distraction were inversely related to self-reported trait RNT on the trend-level. Our results confirm the relevance of DMN recruitment for RNT and underscore a putative role of the anterior insula. The absence of a significant interaction between RNT and neuroticism may suggest that an alternative conceptualization of their relationship could better capture their underlying dynamics.

Listening to preferred music can strengthen the social bond between listeners and performers. However, little is known about whether and how social bonds, such as shared group identity, affect music listening activities. In this study, we manipulated social condition (inclusion vs. exclusion) to influence participants' group identification with music performers, after which they listened to six music pieces by the performers. The behavioral results showed that stronger group identification was associated with greater music liking. Machine-learning predictive models showed the effect of group identification on music liking beyond musical features. Notably, interpersonal brain analyses revealed increased inter-brain synchronization (IBS) in the temporal cortex between participants and performers. This IBS could mediate the relationship between group identification and music liking. The music-related IBS emerged earlier during listening, with participants' brain activity preceding that of performers, suggesting anticipatory neural engagement. This study reveals the unique role of group identification in shaping music appreciation and the underlying inter-brain mechanisms. It highlights the performer-listener bond as a potential conduit for intergroup communication in musical contexts.

Previous research on self-determination theory has primarily focused on analyzing experiences and behaviors, without fully elucidating the neural basis of how teacher autonomy support influences students' academic performance. In this study, four individuals were selected to act as teachers, while 42 individuals were assigned as students. The study manipulated teacher autonomy support and control styles. By simulating the real teaching process, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning technology was used to examine how teachers' autonomy support style affected students' autonomous motivation, academic emotions, and test scores. The behavioral findings indicated that, in comparison to the teachers' control style, students exposed to the teacher autonomy support style demonstrated heightened autonomous motivation and more positive academic emotions. Furthermore, these positive effects were mediated by students' autonomy need satisfaction. The fNIRS results revealed that, compared to the teachers' control style, the students and teachers in the teachers' autonomy support style exhibited enhanced interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the left prefrontal cortex (lPFC). This INS was positively associated with autonomy need satisfaction and positive emotions, with consistent findings observed in dynamic teacher-student INS. These findings provide a basis for further exploration into the neural mechanism underlying autonomy need satisfaction.