Waiting impulsivity, defined as the inability to withhold a response until an anticipated signal, is a core characteristic of ADHD. However, its behavioural manifestations and underlying functional and structural neural mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. In this study, 46 children with ADHD and 56 TDCs performed a 4-choice serial reaction time task (4-CSRTT) during fMRI. Behavioural measures included premature responses, accuracy, and reward outcomes. fMRI analyses dissociated neural activity during the waiting phase, target stimulus processing, and feedback, with a focus on frontostriatal circuits. In addition, voxel-based morphometry was used to assess structural brain differences, and relationships between neural activation, brain structure, behaviour, and symptom severity were examined.

Children with ADHD exhibited increased premature responding and reduced accuracy, but paradoxically achieved higher overall rewards due to a greater number of fast and correct responses. Neuroimaging results revealed group- and phase-specific frontostriatal alterations. During the waiting phase, children with ADHD showed reduced deactivation in the ventral striatum and vmPFC, whereas TDCs exhibited pronounced hypoactivation. During target processing, vmPFC hypoactivation was observed in the ADHD group, while TDCs showed lower activation overall. Feedback analyses revealed enhanced ventral striatal responses to large rewards in ADHD, while TDCs showed little differentiation by reward magnitude. Structurally, ADHD participants exhibited reduced ventral striatal and vmPFC volumes. Overall, these findings suggest that impulsivity in ADHD reflects a miscalibration of frontostriatal circuits involving altered anticipatory control, impaired target-related recruitment, and heightened sensitivity to salient rewards, highlighting the importance of top-down modulation in motivational control.

In the distractor-induced deafness paradigm, an inhibitory process of selective attention leads to a reduced detection rate when the distractors have the same properties as the following target. This inhibitory influence seems to be affected by neuromodulation with caffeine or by total sleep deprivation, but not by tDCS. Interestingly, the rare error of missing the cue stimulus (which announces the target stimulus) is influenced differently: Real tDCS led to lower error rates in trials with six distractors compared with sham stimulation, whereas caffeine led to comparable effects in trials without distractors. In contrast, a night of total sleep deprivation led to higher error rates in trials with six distractors. These effects might be explained by a supportive influence of tDCS and caffeine and a hindering influence of sleep deprivation on selective attention.

The self-prioritization effect (SPE) describes the tendency to preferentially process self-related versus third-person-related information. Using shape-label associations of self-/third-person-related information, SPE was only found when person-related-information was task-relevant, but not when it was irrelevant (i.e. shape-location; Caughey et al., 2021). Here we asked, if SPE might endure task-irrelevance when using personal pronouns in combination with affective content as affective primes, thus avoiding learned associations. In an EEG-study, task-irrelevant sentences of either self- vs. third-person reference combined with positive or negative content served as primes. These were followed by two simultaneously left and right sided presented emojis; one happy or angry emoji (target) and a neutral (distractor). The 41 participants had to immerse themselves into the sentences’ meaning, but to respond only for the target emotion. As a control, ERP data time-locked to the sentences revealed an enhanced occipital P1-activity for self- vs. third-person sentences confirming increased attentional engagement for self-related information when presented. Importantly, behavioral data indicated faster response times to target emojis after self- vs. third-person referential sentences. Correspondingly, ERP results indicated an increased P1 lateralized over parietal-occipital areas for targets after self- vs. third-person referential sentences. Thus, the persistence of an SPE even during emotional target presentation indicates that self-reference can implicitly enhance task performance even when it is not task-relevant. We propose that self-referential stimuli, as objects of high salience, cause a nonspecific and sustained increase in responsiveness even when task-irrelevant, that facilitates the processing of upcoming targets.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Although treatment is essential and lifesaving, it can significantly impact physical health, psychological well-being, quality of life, as well as body image. This study systematically reviews and synthesizes evidence on the effects of breast cancer and its treatment on body image in women. Four major databases were searched for relevant studies published up to 2025, yielding 41 studies for the systematic review and 24 for the meta-analysis. Standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using a restricted maximum likelihood model. Analyses were conducted in JAMOVI, and heterogeneity was assessed via Q and I² statistics. Women with breast cancer reported significantly lower body image scores than healthy controls (ES = -1.02). Furthermore, body image scores declined from pre-treatment to treatment (ES = -0.45). Mastectomy was associated with poorer body image than breast-conserving therapy (ES = -1.11). Although medically essential, breast cancer treatment can adversely affect body image. Therefore, it is crucial to integrate body image support into treatment plans to promote the overall health, psychological well-being, and quality of life of women diagnosed with breast cancer.

PROSPERO No: CRD42024503033

Background: Social rejection is a social stressor with well-documented psychological effects, while biological stress effects have been examined mostly with paradigms of limited ecological validity. This study investigated psychobiological reactions to social rejection using a simulated prerecorded video-conference designed to mirror contemporary social interactions with higher ecological validity.

Methods: Eighty-four participants were randomly assigned to a condition of social rejection or social inclusion during a simulated web-conference with two peers (O-Cam paradigm). Afterwards, participants reported on fundamental need depletion and negative affect. Salivary cortisol samples were collected at baseline, immediately post-interaction, and at three follow-up time points.

Results: As expected, participants in the rejection condition showed significantly higher fundamental need depletion and stronger negative affect than those in the inclusion condition. In contrast, no overall group differences emerged in cortisol trajectories. However, exploratory moderation analyses revealed sex-specific patterns. Women exhibited higher cortisol levels immediately after rejection compared to inclusion. Men, in contrast, showed similar acute cortisol increases across both conditions in adjusted analyses and even higher levels following inclusion in unadjusted analyses.

Discussion: These findings provide important evidence on cortisol reactivity using the O-Cam paradigm and highlight the importance of considering sex and gender when examining psychobiological responses to social rejection.

Individuals learn better to execute an action when anticipating a reward and suppress action execution when anticipating punishment, a phenomenon referred to as the Pavlovian bias (PB). Few studies have used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural correlates of the PB, although midfrontal theta oscillations (MFT) have been identified as a marker of cognitive control involved in overcoming the PB. PB links reward to action and punishment to inhibition. Recent behavioural findings showed that the PB is reduced when learning from emotional (relative to neutral) visual cues. This effect might be linked to priming of the required response by a valence-congruent emotional cue. Specifically, improved learning of nogo to win for congruent (= emotionally negative) relative to neutral cues might be driven by reduced conflict processing, possibly reflected in decreased MFT power. To investigate this, 70 healthy adults performed an orthogonalized go/nogo task while EEG was recorded, learning either from emotionally congruent (n = 24), incongruent (n=22), or neutral cues (n=22). For behavioural analyses, choice accuracy was examined. In the EEG, cue-locked MFT power was assessed for Pavlovian conflict and non-conflict conditions and compared between task versions. Even though the PB-effect was replicated, further analyses failed to replicate reduction of the PB in the emotionally congruent task version. Analysis of MFT power showed no significant differences between emotionally congruent, neutral and incongruent cues, albeit similarly for Pavlovian conflict and non-conflict conditions. Future work using larger samples may detect effects more sensitively.

How grammatical gender of nouns is retrieved during reading remains disputed and largely absent from models of lexical access. A dual-route mechanism has been proposed, where gender is assumed to be partly accessed sub-lexically from form-based regularities. Support for such a sub-lexical route comes from event-related potential (ERP) studies conducted in Spanish and Italian, i.e., languages that are considered transparent with regard to form-to-gender mappings on nouns. However, the cross-linguistic generalization to more opaque languages is unclear. Thus, in this experiment we attempt to replicate previous findings that suggest the presence of a sub-lexical route to grammatical gender with German, a semi-transparent language when it comes to gender. Participants read German sentences word-by-word in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) while their brain activity is recorded with electroencephalography (EEG). They are instructed to perform a grammaticality judgment task (GJT), with gender agreement violations on article–noun pairs occurring in half of the sentences. Additionally, the critical nouns systematically vary on their ending-to-gender transparency and are divided into three conditions: (1) transparent, (2) regular, and (3) opaque. This allows for a fine-grained examination of the brain signals’ sensitivity to form-based regularities during gender retrieval. Linear mixed-effects models are used to analyze the trial-based ERP data. Based on previous research, we expect a biphasic pattern of LAN–P600 in response to agreement violations as well as an independent effect of ending-to-gender transparency starting at 200 ms. If available, we present results of preliminary data and discuss implications for models of lexical access.

Stress and emotions are tightly intertwined: emotions can elicit stress, and stress can, in turn, modulate emotional experience. We investigated stress-related changes in the individual affective space (IAS) using an individualized assessment approach in 65 subjects. IAS was measured with a Multi-Arrangement Task (MAT) and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) before and after acute stress induction with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). In addition, participants completed an Ambulatory Assessment (AA) to capture emotional variability in positive and negative affect during everyday life.

We examined three questions: (1) whether acute stress reduces IAS area; (2) whether IAS characteristics predict stress responses (cortisol, heart rate, and perceived stress); and (3) whether IAS area is associated with emotional variability in daily life. We did not find evidence for a shrinkage in IAS area or for associations between IAS area and emotional variability in AA. However, pre-stress SAM IAS area and pre-to-post changes in SAM IAS area predicted cortisol responses.

Not preregistered exploratory analyses using a three-dimensional IAS measure (volume) revealed a post-stress reduction in SAM IAS volume and showed that individual differences in SAM volume significantly predicted cortisol responses. Furthermore, MAT- and SAM-based IAS volume measures were associated with emotional variability in daily life.

Overall, stress-related shrinkage of the IAS emerged only when using volume-based measures, suggesting that two-dimensional representations of IAS have a reduced sensitivity to stress-related changes. SAM-based IAS characteristics were the most informative markers of stress-induced alterations in the mental representation of the affective space.

Stress has been linked to changes in intergroup cognition and behavior, yet existing findings are inconsistent. The present study examined whether acute stress influences cognitive and behavioral responses toward in-group and out-group members and whether cognitive changes under stress translate into behavioral differences. A total of 115 male participants belonging to a natural social group characterized by positive attitudes toward refugees were randomly assigned either to an acute psychosocial stress condition (n = 54), induced using the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups, or to a non-stressful control condition (n = 61). Intergroup bias in behavior was assessed using an incentivized version of the Intergroup Parochial and Universal Cooperation Game, which distinguishes in-group benefiting behavior, in-group benefiting plus out-group harming behavior, universal prosociality, and egoism. In the cognitive domain, participants rated in-group and out-group faces in terms of agency and communion, two key dimensions of face perception that are central to social impression formation and behavioral intentions. Acute stress did not affect behavioral choices in the cooperation game. However, stressed participants attributed greater agency and communion to in-group faces and lower levels to out-group faces. Taken together, our findings indicate that stress may amplify cognitive intergroup biases without necessarily producing corresponding changes in social decision-making.

Background: Social‑partner support attenuates physiological stress, yet it is unknown whether olfactory cues from a romantic partner produce comparable buffering. Objective: Test whether exposure to a partner’s body odor modulates endocrine, autonomic and subjective stress responses and whether sexual attraction to the partner moderates those effects. Methods: 179 adults (Mage=26, 48% female) in heterosexual relationships were randomly assigned to the Trier Social Stress Test or a low‑stress control task. During the task, an olfactometer delivered either the participant’s partner’s natural body odor (collected over five nights on cotton pads under controlled hygiene), or a control odor. Odors were presented subliminally. Primary outcomes were salivary cortisol, heart‑rate, and self‑reported stress. Sexual attractiveness of the partners’ odor was measured via self-report and used as a moderator. Results: Partner odor did not affect cortisol responses (b=0.14, t(269.29)=0.21, p=.834). Contrary to our hypothesis, partner odor increased subjective stress (b=15.56, SE=5.43, t(470.00)=2.87, p=.004) and HR reactivity during stress exposure (b=5.60, SE=1.53, t(2036.00)=3.67, p<.001). The sexual attractiveness × odor interaction was significant for HR (b=4.56, SE=1.23, t(1028.00)=3.72, p<.001): participants who rated their partner’s odor as more sexually attractive showed a larger HR increase when exposed to it. Conclusion: Subliminal exposure to the partner’s odor acts as an arousal cue rather than a stress‑buffer, especially for those highly attracted to the scent. These findings suggest olfactory cues can magnify autonomic arousal and perceived stress when a loved one is present, possibly reflecting misattribution of attraction‑related activation or an adaptive increase in stress responsiveness in the partner’s presence.

Climate change anxiety and hope are two central yet opposing psychological drivers of pro-environmental behavior (PEB). While anxiety can motivate action, it may also trigger avoidance and eco-paralysis; conversely, high hope can foster engagement but risk complacency. Understanding how these constructs shape attentional processing of climate information and translate into real-world behavior remains a key challenge, as most existing research relies on intention-based self-reports with limited ecological validity.

This study combines a laboratory eye-tracking experiment with a 12-day smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI) to examine the interplay between climate change anxiety, hope, attentional processes, and everyday PEB. In the lab phase (n = 150), participants are randomly assigned to one of three between-subjects conditions – self-efficacy induction, anxiety induction, or control – via framed news articles and videos. To assess attentional biases toward climate-change-related stimuli, eye-tracking records gaze patterns during free-viewing of IPCC climate projection maps showing varying severities of potential climate change consequences and sets of positive, negative, and neutral images. In the subsequent EMI phase, all participants receive three daily push notifications rotating across hopeful, fearful, and neutral climate-related news headlines in a within-subjects design. Following each notification, participants report their emotional state, current situational context, and recent PEB.

By combining controlled lab-based measurement of attentional biases with real-world behavioral assessment, results will be discussed in terms of how induced emotional states shape attention to climate-change stimuli and how these attentional patterns interplay with momentary and sustained PEB across daily life.

The second year of life marks a critical transition in episodic memory development, as memory shifts from short-lived to more flexible and enduring forms. This shift coincides with rapid hippocampal maturation and the offset of infantile amnesia, which is characterized by the absence of long-lasting episodic memories. However, the mechanisms enabling toddlers to form and retain enduring, episodic-like memories remain poorly understood.

We used mobile EEG in 104 naturally moving toddlers aged 18-19 months at baseline to examine neural and behavioral correlates of episodic-like memory encoding and retention after 1 day, 1 month, and 3 months. In an immersive, real-world-like object-location-context association task, toddlers actively navigated their environment to encode and retrieve memories, offering insights into episodic-like memory development in a spatially rich setting.

Behavioral results reveal substantial variability in learning and retention performance, with some kids retaining memories for up to 3 months after encoding. EEG analyses further show reduced low-frequency power preceding correct compared to incorrect responses during both short- and long-term retrieval. These results suggest that neural memory signatures are still present months after encoding in toddlers.

By combining a movement-rich behavioral paradigm with mobile EEG, this study exemplifies a more naturalistic approach to investigating memory development compared to standard laboratory tasks. The present findings reveal that even within the infantile amnesia period, toddlers can retain behavioral and neural memory signatures for months after encoding, pointing to an emerging capacity for enduring episodic-like memory in naturalistic settings.

Social interactions shape how individuals evaluate and update impressions. Loneliness, defined as perceived social disconnection, has been associated with increased motivation to align with others. Social conformity, the tendency to adjust judgments in response to feedback, is supported by medial and lateral prefrontal mechanisms involved in social valuation and cognitive control. However, it remains unclear how positive social interactions shape conformity and its neural mechanisms as a function of individual differences in loneliness.

In this study, participants completed a trustworthiness conformity task while prefrontal activity was recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, after a positive social interaction or a non-social control condition. Participants first rated the trustworthiness of unfamiliar faces and then re-rated the same faces after receiving congruent or incongruent feedback from their interaction partner. Changes between ratings served as an index of social conformity. Loneliness was assessed at multiple time points using standardized self-report measures.

We hypothesize that positive social interaction increases social conformity, reflected in greater changes in trustworthiness ratings compared to the control condition, with stronger effects in individuals with higher loneliness. At the neural level, we expect that incongruent feedback elicits greater medial and lateral prefrontal cortex activity, particularly following positive interaction and more strongly in individuals with higher loneliness.

Introduction: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) requires sustained daily attendance over multiple weeks, yet demographic predictors of treatment completion in outpatient settings remain understudied. Young adults face unique structural barriers that may disproportionately limit their ability to complete intensive neuromodulation protocols.

Aim: This study examined age and gender as predictors of TMS treatment completion and characterized chart-documented reasons for dropout in a naturalistic outpatient sample.

Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of 161 patients receiving deep TMS or intermittent theta burst stimulation for major depressive disorder at a private psychiatric practice (2020–2025). Primary outcome was treatment completion (≥30 sessions). Secondary outcomes were PHQ-9 response (≥50% reduction) and remission (endpoint ≤4). Binary logistic regression examined age, gender, baseline severity, and comorbidities as predictors. Sensitivity analyses restricted to the deep TMS subgroup (n = 134) and to patients with baseline PHQ-9 ≥10 (n = 126) tested robustness.

Results: Overall completion was 80.7%. Age significantly predicted completion (OR = 1.05/year, p = .007). Young adults (<25 years) completed at 56% versus 98% among patients ≥55 years (p = .011, V = .20). Scheduling conflicts accounted for 64.5% of dropouts. Gender was unrelated to completion or outcomes. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the age effect in both restricted samples.

Conclusions: Age-related disparities in TMS completion are primarily associated with structural and logistical barriers rather than clinical factors. These findings identify a health equity gap in neuromodulation care delivery and support the development of age-tailored retention strategies including accelerated protocols and flexible scheduling.

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that substantially affects daily functioning, sexual health, and romantic relationships. The present study aimed to investigate how social factors and biological markers are associated with momentary pain and well-being in individuals with endometriosis.

We conducted a 7-day ambulatory assessment study in which endometriosis patients and their partners completed seven assessments per day. At each prompt, participants reported on pain, well-being, and social experiences, including social support and intimacy. In addition, saliva samples were collected for the assessment of cortisol and oxytocin.

Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling to account for the nested structure of repeated measurements. Discrepancy hypotheses regarding intimacy were examined using response surface analysis.

Results showed that higher perceived social support and higher feelings of intimacy were associated with increased pain ratings in patients. In contrast, neither cortisol nor oxytocin levels were significantly related to pain in patients. Partner-patient discrepancy in reported intimacy levels did not significantly predict well-being. These findings suggest that relational processes may play a complex role in shaping pain experiences in everyday life, independent of commonly studied biomarkers.

Overall, the results highlight the relevance of social context in the lived experience of endometriosis. To optimize quality of life, partners and relationship dynamics should be considered and integrated into patient care.

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often exhibit deficits in executive functions, such as interference control and action monitoring, which are linked to reduced response to cognitive behavioral therapy. To address these deficits, a cognitive training was developed for OCD patients to enhance interference control and reduce overactive performance monitoring, thereby promoting neurocognitive adaptability. Participants completed a three-week home-based training consisting of adapted Flanker and n-back tasks. The training’s efficacy was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial including an adaptive training group, an active placebo control group, and healthy controls. Outcomes consisted of behavioral measures and electrophysiological indicators of cognitive control (mediofrontal negativites: N2; error-related negativity [ERN] and correct-related negativity [CRN]). After the training, specific significant changes in mediofrontal negativities were observed in the adaptive training group. Specifically, in incompatible trials, the adaptive training group showed a pronounced increase in N2 amplitude and a decrease in CRN amplitude. This pattern indicates reduced performance monitoring and improved conflict processing in OCD patients following the adaptive training, reflecting a shift from reactive to proactive control in high-conflict trials. These findings demonstrate that deficits in executive control in OCD can be improved through targeted interventions, highlighting their potential use as an augmentation strategy alongside or in preparation for cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Objective: Expectations are well known to shape perception, particularly under conditions of ambiguity. Building on this principle in a social context, the current study investigated whether conditioned expectations of angry facial expression modulate both the subjective perception and neural processing of a mid-intensity angry face.

Method: Fifty-three healthy participants completed an initial expectation acquisition phase followed by a test phase. During the acquisition phase, a differential aversive conditioning paradigm was applied. One conditioned stimulus (CS_neutral) was paired with a range of neutral facial expressions, whereas another (CS_angry) was paired with a range of angry facial expressions, thereby establishing expectations of neutral versus angry facial expressions, respectively. In the subsequent test phase, participants were presented with a mid-intensity angry facial expression preceded by either CS_neutral or CS_angry. We assessed subjective ratings of anger intensity and event-related potentials indicative of structural-perceptual face processing (N170) as well as sustained attentional and motivational processing of emotionally salient stimuli (late positive potential, LPP).

Results: Subjective anger intensity ratings and LPP amplitudes in response to the same mid-intensity angry face were significantly greater when the face was preceded by CS_angry compared to CS_neutral. No differences were observed for the N170 amplitude.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that expecting to see an angry face enhances both the subjective perception of anger and neural responses associated with emotional salience. This effect may be relevant for understanding how expectations influence affective experiences during everyday social interactions.

Interpersonal trust is a key component of human interaction, shaping cooperation and social relationships. When interacting with a stranger, trust decisions are typically based on visual cues such as facial features, which can signal, for example, threat. Beyond visual information, other sensory inputs, including olfactory cues, can influence cognition through multisensory integration. The present study investigated how visual and chemosensory threat cues interact to influence trust decisions. In a between-subjects design, 51 healthy, normosmic male participants completed a computerized Trust Game while being exposed to one of three chemosensory conditions: stress body odor (collected from an independent male sample during the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups, TSST-G), neutral body odor (collected during the control condition of the TSST-G), or a non-human control odor (dampened cotton pad). During the Trust Game participants viewed 45 morphed pictures of male faces varying in perceived threat. For each face - representing an interaction partner - they decided whether to transfer points (i.e. trust), accepting the risk that the partner might keep the entire amount instead of sharing it. Results showed that visual threat strongly predicted trust decisions, with lower trust toward more threatening faces. Interestingly, an interaction between visual and olfactory cues emerged: exposure to body odor attenuated the influence of visual threat on trust. Specifically, trust toward low-threat faces was lowest while smelling stress body odor. This findings suggest that chemosensory information can shape social decision-making, particularly in ambiguous situations in which visual information may be insufficient.

“Social” interactions with conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) are becoming increasingly common in everyday life. These systems can display empathic and socially responsive cues and may provide forms of stress-buffering social support. However, little is known about whether such interactions influence psychobiological stress responses in naturalistic daily contexts.

In a preregistered ecological momentary assessment study, N = 80 healthy adults (18-40 years) completed smartphone-based surveys and provided saliva samples across four consecutive days. Measures include the frequency of CAI interactions, perceived quality of emotional, instrumental or informational social support, salivary cortisol, perceived stress, and mood. Applying multilevel models, we examine both within-person and between-person associations between CAI use, interaction quality, and psychobiological indicators of stress and mood.

This study provides initial evidence on how interactions with CAII relate to everyday psychobiological stress regulation and mood, offering insight into its emerging role as a potential source of social support in daily life.

Prediction is central to language comprehension, and several neural markers of predictive processing have been identified through EEG research. However, these indices are typically interpreted in isolation from the decision-making behavior in linguistic tasks, leaving unclear how distinct neural markers translate into response-related processes. To fill this gap, we combined EEG with drift-diffusion modeling (DDM) to dissociate prediction-specific mechanisms from semantic priming facilitation effects. Participants (N=30) completed a lexical decision task following either one prime (single condition) or three semantically related primes (cumulative condition), manipulating prediction strength while holding semantic relatedness constant. ERP results showed that the cumulative condition elicited early prediction-sensitive activity (eN400, 200-300ms) alongside classic N400 effects. Critically, EEG-informed DDM revealed a double dissociation among model-based behavioral mechanisms: the classic N400 modulated drift rate, while the eN400 modulated boundary separation, suggesting that predictive context shaped not only the efficiency of lexical evidence accumulation but also the response caution threshold in a time-dependent manner. These findings demonstrate that even a minimal expectation-generating context (three primes) engages qualitatively distinct neural processes. Moreover, the observed neurocomputational dissociation between neural indices and computational correlates of behavior supports hierarchical predictive accounts of language comprehension, specifying not only whether predictive context matters, but when it influences semantic processing and which decision-related cognitive parameters it modulates. Taken together, these results link neural indices of prediction with their behavioral outcomes, offering a more mechanistic account of how predictive language processing shapes decision-making.

Normal aging is accompanied by declines in higher cognition, yet the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. Relational integration (RI) is a core process of higher cognition and is required when multiple relations must be jointly considered to make inferences. The left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) plays a key role in RI, as it is selectively activated by RI demands. Given that RI is central to higher cognition and relies on prefrontal brain regions and given that prefrontal brain regions are particularly susceptible to age-related degeneration, RI can be expected to play a critical role in neurocognitive aging. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain activity in younger (25–30 years) and older (70–75 years) healthy adults was examined during a task requiring either processing of single relations (control condition) or integration of two relations (RI condition). The age group × condition interaction yielded ten significant activation clusters, following two patterns: (1) in anterior cingulate cortex, parietal and posterior prefrontal regions, younger adults showed stronger activation during RI than older adults; (2) in bilateral RLPFC and anterior insulae, activation in the control condition was greater for older than younger adults. Notably, left RLPFC was the only region with selective RI activation in younger adults, whereas older adults already recruited left RLPFC during the control condition, indicating compromised functional specificity. Overall, older adults showed smaller activation differences between conditions, suggesting generally diminished functional specificity in task areas. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying age-related declines in higher cognition.

Previous studies identified specific cortical areas tuned to different hierarchical levels of nested, naturalistic stimuli (e.g., movies). However, since higher-level stimuli are both temporally longer and include more complex content this hierarchical distinction cannot be unequivocally attributed to temporal duration, content complexity, or their interaction. This study aimed to disentangle the effects of these factors to investigate whether hierarchically nested stimuli are processed based on their underlying temporal or content structure. In an fMRI experiment we presented 48 participants with blocks of movie frames that were extracted from either SCENES or SHOTS (CONTENT LEVEL) and displayed as continuous segments for 4S, 12S or 36S (DURATION). Inter-subject correlation and three-dimensional linear mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects were applied to localize cortical areas selectively modulated by CONTENT LEVEL and DURATION. Additionally, a ROI analysis tested the effects along the visual processing hierarchy. The whole-brain results revealed cortical engagement predominantly in the scene network: Specifically, SCENES compared to SHOTS engaged in the visually-attuned posterior subnetwork containing the occipital and posterior parahippocampal place areas. Conversely, longer stimuli additionally evoked consistent activity in the memory-related anterior scene network including the anterior parahippocampal place area, retrosplenial cortex, and caudal inferior parietal lobe. The ROI analysis further highlighted that temporally extended, content-rich stimuli preferentially engaged high-level, integrative cortices. Overall, our findings underline a functional differentiation within the scene network while expanding on its relation to temporal receptive windows. We demonstrated that CONTENT LEVEL and DURATION interact in shaping the cortical processing of naturalistic stimuli.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, millions of Ukrainians have been living under unstable, highly stressful, and potentially life-threatening conditions. Such environments require continuous adaptation and may foster the development of novel coping strategies. The ability to generate multiple, flexible, and unconventional ideas beyond established pathways is called divergent thinking, a core cognitive component of creativity. It is considered essential for problem-solving in uncertain and rapidly changing contexts. However, previous research has yielded mixed evidence regarding the relationship between stress and creativity: While moderately stressful events may enhance certain creative processes, excessive or prolonged stress is often assumed to impair cognitive flexibility and creative performance. The present study examines the impact of war-related stress on divergent thinking in young adults from Ukraine and Germany. Divergent thinking was assessed using the Alternate Uses Task (AUT), with performance quantified in terms of idea fluency and originality. Subjective stress levels were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). In addition, qualitative analyses of AUT responses were conducted to explore potential semantic differences of generated ideas. Our findings suggest that prolonged war-related stress does not directly impair overall divergent thinking ability but may influence its qualitative expression. Ukrainian participants exposed to long-term war-related stress generated significantly fewer and less original ideas. There was however no significant difference in self-reports of perceived stress. These results indicate that war-related stress may not explicitly hinder creativity as a general ability, but rather modulates its characteristics emphasizing more functional, context-relevant, and adaptive forms of thinking.

Resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) dynamics have been proposed as neural markers of individual cognitive abilities. Previous reports linked fluid intelligence with signal complexity derived from multivariate multiscale sample entropy and with microstate dynamics. In light of current concerns about low replicability rates in neuroscience, the present study aimed to replicate these previous results in a large data set (N = 582), while considering the short-term stability of resting-state spatiotemporal EEG features. Partial least squares regression was used to estimate the association between fluid intelligence and both signal complexity and microstate features. Whereas signal complexity was unrelated to fluid intelligence, certain features of microstates A and D were associated, although only in the female subsample. These results are partly consistent with those previously reported. However, retest correlations of both spatiotemporal features only displayed poor to acceptable stability across different resting-state measurements and conditions. Taken together, the current observations emphasize the need for more rigorous research practice and replication efforts in this research area.

Sleep and cardiovascular exercise both support motor memory consolidation, yet their interaction remains insufficiently understood. Acute exercise can modify subsequent sleep, potentially influencing memory processes through changes in sleep architecture. This pre-registered study investigated whether a single bout of high-intensity cardiovascular exercise alters nocturnal sleep and sleep-related motor memory consolidation.

Eighty healthy young men were randomly assigned to a WAKE or SLEEP group. Each participant completed two sessions in a counterbalanced design: (i) high-intensity interval training (HIIT; 90%/25% Wmax) or (ii) rest (watching a documentary, REST) immediately after encoding a motor sequence (finger tapping task, FTT). The SLEEP group encoded in the evening and underwent overnight polysomnography before retrieval testing the next morning; the WAKE group encoded in the morning and were retested in the evening. Consolidation was defined as the percentage change in performance from the end of encoding to retrieval.

Sleep enhanced motor memory consolidation compared to wakefulness (b=4.33, SE=1.53, p=.006). HIIT did not significantly affect overall FTT consolidation but reduced REM sleep (p=.045, d=0.37) and tended to increase NREM sleep proportion (p=.077, d=0.32). Importantly, interactions emerged between exercise condition and N2 (b=4.94, SE=1.57, p=.003) as well as N3 sleep (b=4.50, SE=1.46, p=.004) on consolidation, paralleled by interactions between condition and sleep spindle density (N2: b=2.32, SE=0.99, p=.024; N3: b=5.19, SE=2.23, p=.025), indicating positive associations only in the exercise condition.

These findings suggest that acute cardiovascular exercise modulates sleep architecture, which in turn may influence mechanisms underlying sleep-related motor memory consolidation.

Increased age is associated with reduced sleep quality and memory decline (Mander et al., 2017; Kester et al., 2002), which appear to be mutually reinforcing phenomena (Yaffe et al., 2014). Particularly slow-wave sleep (SWS) plays a crucial role in declarative memory consolidation (Rasch & Born, 2013), but is reduced with age (Mander et al., 2017).

Physical activity has been shown to improve sleep quality and SWS (Kredlow et al., 2015; Stutz et al., 2019). However, the effects on macro- and microstructural sleep architecture in older adults and their relationship with memory are poorly understood. Recent findings in young adults suggest that cardiovascular exercise changes sleep architecture, and that these changes are associated with enhanced memory performance (Frisch et al., 2024; Mograss et al., 2020).

Thus, the present within-subjects study investigates effects of an acute bout of cardiovascular exercise on nocturnal sleep architecture and episodic memory consolidation. On two separate evenings, N = 50 physically active older adults (65 – 80 years) perform a declarative memory task (Word-Pairs-Task; Feld et al., 2016). This is followed by either one hour of moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) or a control condition (seated rest), in a counterbalanced order. Sleep is assessed in participants’ homes with polysomnography (PSG). Additionally, a novel sleep measurement device (OpenEarable ExG) will be implemented for a subsample. Memory retention is tested the following morning. Intervention effects on sleep macro- and microstructure and their associations with memory performance will be analyzed. As data collection is currently ongoing the study protocol will be presented.

Making inferences and predictions in uncertain, dynamically changing environments is a core aspect of human learning, particularly in threatening contexts. This requires forming internal beliefs about environmental states and updating them when systematic changes occur, a process known as dynamic belief updating (DynBU). Patients with mental disorders often show dysfunctional or negatively biased learning. Anxiety disorders (ADs), for example, are characterized by aberrant emotional-associative learning and heightened fear generalization. As childhood and adolescence are critical periods for the development of ADs, understanding DynBU in both typical development and the emergence of these disorders is essential. Consequently, this project investigates alterations in DynBU in ADs with a developmental focus, studying children and adolescents aged 10–17 years, as well as a community pilot sample of children aged 8–9 years. Based on prior literature, we hypothesize excessive learning rates in ADs, particularly during stable task phases.

To ensure valid classification into anxiety and control groups, participants undergo a structured clinical interview and a comprehensive assessment battery. The main sample is aimed at a total of 64 participants. DynBU is assessed using two gamified predictive inference tasks, the “confetti-cannon task” and the “predator task”, which measure belief formation and updating in volatile environments. In addition, heart-rate variability and pupillometry are recorded as physiological indices of DynBU.

First, very preliminary results suggest no differences in dynamic learning rate adjustment between participants with ADs and healthy controls. This is in line with recent evidence from sub-clinical samples.

Medical-ethical decision-making is central, yet the mechanisms by which social dynamics, character traits, and confidence shape ethical judgements remain elusive. Prior research demonstrates that extreme opinions correlate with elevated confidence, and discourse can further amplify extreme views as well as confidence-levels. This experimental virtual reality (VR) study investigated how avatar-mediated discourse can influence ethical judgements, confidence and emotional responses (frustration, aggression) concerning genetic technologies.

Avatars confronted participants in VR with either agreeing or dissenting ethical opinions. We assessed pre-post shifts in attitudes and opinion strength. In addition, an interactive game was played by the participant and avatar to assess cooperative behaviour and emotional responses.

The initial stances of participants concerning medical-ethical questions strongly predicted ethical judgements after the interaction. Avatar disagreement led to greater opinion change towards more moderate answers and reduced confidence, while agreement mostly stabilized attitudes. Competitive avatars increased feelings of anger and intimidation, whereas agreement and cooperation reduced anger. Overall, the ethical argumentation and the avatar’s behaviour during the game influenced both opinion change and emotional responses. The avatar’s expressed opinion was important in shaping changes in participants’ attitude and confidence, while cooperative and competitive behaviour mainly influenced emotional reactions. Importantly, the initial stance of the participants, whether they were for or against a specific statement played a key role in the process of attitude change and moderated these effects.

Our findings also show that social dynamics can be effectively studied with the help of Virtual Reality and that attitude change can depend on prior attitudes.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is accompanied by biased information processing, not only with regard to negative, but also to positive valence stimuli. Here we assessed a tablet based cognitive bias training (CBM) in MDD and controls using on a dot probe task implicitly directing attention to 100% (experimental condition) or random 50% (control condition) positive stimuli. Before and after we assessed the early posterior negativity (EPN) derived from EEG in an emotion processing task.

We analyzed 100 MDD patients and 101 healthy controls. Subjects saw emotion stimuli with low and high arousal positive and negative valence stimuli from the International Affective Picture System. Arousal and affective valence scores were comparable across the four emotion conditions. EPN was derived from occipital electrode positions in the time range of 220ms to 280ms post stimulus onset with higher EPN indicating more negative mean amplitudes.

EPN to emotion stimuli decreased over time but increased with positive valence and high arousal stimuli to a comparable degree. Valence and arousal interacted with higher EPN to high arousal positive stimuli. A three- way interaction of group, time and training indicated heightened EPN following positivity CBM training in MDD patients.

Our data demonstrate emotion and valence to affect EPN with more negative amplitudes to positive and high arousal stimuli. The EPN may therefore serve as an early cortical indicator of positive valence processing. Differential effects of positivity training on EPN demonstrate the relevance of early cortical emotion processing in patients with MDD.

Die posttraumatische Belastungsstörung (PTBS) kann infolge extrem belastender Ereignisse auftreten, wie Kriegserfahrungen, schwere Unfälle, Gewalt oder Missbrauch. Zur Behandlung der PTBS gehören psychotherapeutische und pharmakotherapeutische Verfahren. Im pharmakologischen Bereich haben sich selektive Serotonin-Wiederaufnahmehemmer (SSRI) als wirksame Behandlungsoption erwiesen. Eine systematische Übersicht der bislang identifizierten Wirkmechanismen von SSRIs im Kontext der PTBS liegt jedoch bislang nicht vor, obwohl diese angesichts potenzieller Nebenwirkungen für die Entwicklung evidenzbasierter Behandlungsstrategien von Bedeutung ist. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es daher, die Wirksamkeit von SSRIs in der Behandlung der PTBS darzustellen und deren Effektivität im Vergleich zu passiven (Placebo) und aktiven (andere Substanzen) Kontrollbedingungen zu untersuchen.

Eingeschlossen wurden randomisiert-kontrollierte Studien mit erwachsenen Patient:innen mit PTBS als Hauptdiagnose. Die identifizierten Daten wurden in das Community-Augmented Meta-Analyse-System (CAMA) des Leibniz-Instituts für Psychologie integriert. Die systematische Literaturrecherche identifizierte N = 3843 Studien, von denen n = 23 in die Metaanalyse eingeschlossen wurden.

Eine multivariate Random-Effects-Metaanalyse auf Basis von k = 29 Effektstärken zeigte eine stärkere Reduktion der PTBS-Symptomatik unter SSRI-Behandlung im Vergleich zu passiven und aktiven Kontrollgruppen. Die gepoolte Effektstärke betrug Hedges’ g = −0,39 (95%-KI: [−0,71; −0,07], p = 0,018), bei signifikanter Heterogenität zwischen den Studien (Q(28) = 304,72, p < 0,001).

Zusammenfassend zeigen die Ergebnisse einen kleinen bis moderaten positiven Effekt von SSRIs bei der Behandlung der PTBS, jedoch bei ausgeprägter Heterogenität der Befunde. Für die klinische Praxis legen die Ergebnisse nahe, dass SSRIs eine wirksame, jedoch begrenzte Rolle in der Behandlung der PTBS einnehmen und ihre Anwendung im Rahmen multimodaler, individuell abgestimmter Behandlungskonzepte erfolgen sollte.

Social disconnection is a major public health concern, with health risks comparable to established biomedical factors. Pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide, yet the role of social connectedness in pain remains unclear due to fragmented and conflated constructs. In particular, it is unknown whether subjective experiences (e.g., loneliness) and structural factors (e.g., social isolation) differentially relate to pain outcomes.

We conducted a preregistered multivariate meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD420250643896) including 239 studies, 520 effect sizes, and 1,407,803 participants from clinical and non-clinical populations. Pain outcomes spanned sensory, affective, cognitive, and functional domains. Social connectedness was operationalized as loneliness, social isolation, social support, and social exclusion. Multilevel random-effects models accounted for within-study dependencies, complemented by sensitivity analyses and correction for small-study bias.

Greater social connectedness was associated with lower pain (z = −0.09, 95% CI −0.11 to −0.07). Loneliness showed the strongest association (z = 0.14, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.17), followed by social isolation (z = 0.09, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.13). Social support was modestly associated with reduced pain (z = −0.05, 95% CI −0.08 to −0.03), particularly for affective and somatic components. No reliable association emerged for social exclusion. Effects were consistent across age, sex, and clinical status, with longitudinal evidence supporting temporal links.

This synthesis identifies loneliness as a key correlate of pain, exceeding the relevance of objective isolation. Social connectedness represents a clinically meaningful, non-pharmacological target for pain prevention and management.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating disorder characterized by substantial impairment to social functioning. A key component underlying social behavior is the ability to use social information to reduce uncertainty and improve decision accuracy, but it is difficult to quantify individual differences in this domain. To address this, we implemented the Berlin Estimate AdjuStment Task (BEAST; Molleman et al., 2019), in which participants estimated the number of animals on a screen and then had the opportunity to revise their estimation after observing other participants’ estimates. We also included a modified version of the task where participants were presented with average accuracy of other participants. In an online sample (n=113) we examined the relationship between social information use and schizotypal traits (SPQ) alongside psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) including abnormal perceptual experiences (CAPS) and delusional ideation (PDI). Computational modeling was used to determine individual decision strategies after observing social information. Our preliminary results indicate that higher scores on SPQ subscales for suspiciousness, magical thinking, and ideas of reference are associated with heightened propensity to keep one’s initial estimate instead of revising it. Similarly, we observed that PDI conviction and frequency subscales were positively associated with keeping one’s initial estimate, and negatively associated with compromising, i.e. revising between their initial estimate and others’. CAPS total scores and subscales for frequency, intrusiveness, and distress were also negatively associated with compromise strategies. Overall, these preliminary findings show specific schizotypal traits and PLE subscales, especially PLE frequency, are associated with reduced propensity to integrate social information during decision making.

The brain faces the challenge of memory abstraction and generalization to new experiences while simultaneously maintaining memory specificity. Sleep has been proposed to aid this process by reactivating recently established memories to integrate them with existing knowledge. Behavioral evidence suggests that sleep indeed benefits both consolidation of specific knowledge of single episodes as well as rule abstraction and generalization. It remains unclear, however, what role spontaneous reprocessing of learned content plays in supporting these mechanisms. Here, we present preliminary results investigating spontaneous memory reprocessing in a classification learning task where both specific exemplar and generalized rule representations are acquired. Building on previous findings of sleep-dependent improvements in categorization performance, we will now use multivariate decoding techniques to determine whether participants spontaneously reinstate learned content. We will further assess whether this reinstatement drives overnight memory consolidation and what sleep related mechanisms (sleep stages, oscillations, sleep homeostasis) contribute to this process.

When memories are retrieved, they become temporarily susceptible to modification by meaningful events such as stress. However, it remains unclear whether post-retrieval changes reflect alterations of the original memory trace through reconsolidation or instead arise from modifications of retrieval-related traces that shape future remembering. In a three-day fMRI study, we investigated how post-retrieval stress influences memory updating. Stress impaired subsequent memory performance, with effects depending on the strength of neural reinstatement during reactivation. Hippocampal activity and its interaction with neocortical representation areas predicted the degree of impairment. Pattern similarity analyses further showed that successful retrieval in control participants was associated with increased dissimilarity between neural patterns at immediate and delayed tests, suggesting the formation of updated retrieval-related traces. In contrast, stressed participants relied more strongly on the original memory representation, indicating disrupted formation of alternative traces. To examine the neurochemical basis of these effects, we conducted a follow-up pharmacological study targeting stress-related neuromodulatory systems. Using a similar three-day design, we measured brain activity during encoding, retrieval (24 hours later), and final recall, while increasing either glucocorticoid or noradrenergic activity after retrieval. Glucocorticoids did not affect later memory performance. In contrast, noradrenergic stimulation impaired subsequent remembering, depending on hippocampal reactivation and category-level reinstatement in the ventral temporal cortex. These effects were independent of offline reinstatement and did not require reactivation of the original trace. Together, these findings show that post-retrieval memory changes are shaped by retrieval-related neural processes and can be disrupted by stress and noradrenergic arousal.

Social exclusion has been linked to steeper temporal discounting, but it remains unclear why self-control resources (SCR), rather than other theoretically relevant variables, should be considered the key mechanism underlying this effect. We addressed this question by using psychological network analysis, which allows multiple candidate variables to be examined simultaneously and identifies which nodes occupy the most central bridging positions within a system. Across two complementary studies, participants reported their feeling of been social excluded, and then completed measures of SCR, trait self-control, impulsivity, affect, and intertemporal choice. Gaussian graphical models showed that social exclusion and SCR were the only variables that maintained unique associations with temporal discounting after controlling for all other nodes. Critically, bridge centrality analyses consistently identified SCR as the strongest connector between exclusion and discounting, whereas trait self-control, impulsivity, and affect occupied more peripheral positions. This pattern converged across both chronic and acute exclusion. By modeling these variables as a network rather than testing them in isolation, the present research clarifies why SCR should be regarded as the most structurally proximal mechanism which link social exclusion to impatient choice. More broadly, the findings illustrate how psychological network analysis can refine mechanistic claims in complex, multidetermined psychological systems.

Students' mindsets regarding their malleable abilities significantly influence academic performance, social adaptation, and psychological well-being. Thus, it is important to track how these mindsets change during adolescence to understand their social development. While existing literature confirmed that mindsets change often during this period, most researchers use latent variable models. These models often ignore the dynamic interactions between mindset items. Looking at how specific items change over time helps us see how mindsets grow and if boys and girls differ. Therefore, the current study looks at the links between mindset items to find the main parts that shape how students think. A total of 15,386 students enrolled in secondary vocational education programs were followed annually over three years, across 18 schools in China. Mixed-measures analyses of variance indicated that boys consistently reported higher aggregate scores of both growth and fixed mindsets than girls. The cross-lagged panel network analysis showed that boys and girls develop their mindsets in different ways. Girls experienced earlier and stronger changes in growth mindsets, while boys were slower to connect growth ideas, even though both genders developed fixed mindsets in a similar way. By conceptualizing mindsets as interconnected networks, this study identifies gender-specific developmental patterns in mindset organization among Chinese adolescents in secondary vocational education. These findings showed how mindset items co-develop over time using network analysis and highlight specific targets for gender-sensitive intervention efforts in the future.

Background: Yearning for a loved one is a common human experience that may contribute to psychological burden; however, yearning in the context of social isolation and its underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Aim: This study examined associations between momentary fluctuations in yearning and oxytocin (OT), and cortisol levels (aim 1), emotional states (aim 2), and the moderating role of attachment style (aim 3), during extreme social isolation.

Method: A total of 253 participants (Mage=43, SDage=13.18; 70.4% female) participated in an ecological momentary assessment study during COVID-19 lockdown (April-July 2021). Participants provided saliva samples six times daily across two consecutive days and completed concurrent assessments of behavior and emotions. Each evening, they reported the frequency, intensity, and valence of yearning. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to test associations.

Results: Yearning was not significantly associated with cortisol. However, greater yearning intensity predicted a steeper daily increase in OT levels. Negatively appraised yearning was linked to higher average OT, whereas positively appraised yearning predicted a steeper OT increase. On days with yearning, participants reported higher anxiety and lower happiness compared to non-yearning days. Negative yearning appraisals were further linked to greater exhaustion and apathy. Avoidantly attached individuals reported higher anxiety during yearning episodes.

Discussion: Findings suggest selective activation of the OT system during daily yearning under social isolation. Emotional outcomes were more strongly shaped by the valence of yearning than its intensity. These results provide ecologically valid evidence for OT involvement in yearning. Longitudinal research is needed to clarify causal relationships.

Dual-task performance declines with healthy aging and reflects reduced executive control. Converging evidence suggests that dual-task costs are linked to cholinergic basal forebrain integrity, particularly to the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM). We examined whether resting-state fALFF in the NBM, reflecting intrinsic neural activity, is associated with dual-task costs (DTC) in healthy older adults (N = 35, age M = 67.3).

Participants performed motor and cognitive tasks singly and together inside an MRI scanner. DTC was calculated as percentage change in reaction time from single-task performance. Resting-state fMRI data was preprocessed using fmriprep. fALFF in the NBM was extracted using a probabilistic NBM mask and correlated with DTC measures.

Results showed substantial inter-individual variability in DTC (motor: M = 46.2, SD = 27.3; cognitive: M = 16.5, SD = 15.8), but minimal variability in fALFF scores (M = 0.2, SD = 0.0). No significant associations were found between NBM fALFF and DTC (mean motor DTC and mean fALFF scores ρ = .11, P = .55; mean cognitive DTC and fALFF scores ρ = .25, P = .14).

The absence of a significant association between behavioural variability and NBM fALFF was unexpected given findings in preclinical Alzheimer’s. Cholinergic dysfunction in healthy aging may be too subtle for fALFF, which was shown to be sensitive to analytic choices and may lack robustness, especially in the small, artifact-prone NBM. Results may rather reflect measurement limitations than physiological absence. Larger, multimodal studies with standardized pipelines are needed to reliably assess cholinergic contributions to cognitive aging.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are accompanied by impaired multimodal communication. This is particularly evident in production and comprehension deficits of both speech and gesture. Previous neuroimaging findings indicate reduced activation in sensorimotor regions, such as the left postcentral gyrus and right insula, during object-related speech processing in SSD (He et al., 2021). However, it remains unclear how semantic congruency of co-verbal gestures influences the neural processing of object-related speech. This study aims to investigate the effect of semantically related and unrelated gestures on the processing of social and object-related speech.

45 patients with SSD and 43 healthy controls viewed short videos of an actor presenting social or object-related sentences, accompanied by semantically related or unrelated emblematic (social-related) and tool-use (object-related) gestures. Functional MRI data was acquired while participants performed a content-judgment task, deciding whether the observed stimuli contained social or object-related information.

Object-related stimuli and semantically related gesture were associated with higher accuracy rates in the content-judgment task. When processing object-related content with unrelated gestures, patients displayed reduced neural activation in a cluster including the supplementary motor area and the precentral, superior frontal, posterior orbital and temporal gyri, as compared to healthy controls.

These results extend findings on motor-simulation in object-related information, potentially reflected in motor cortex activation for object-related sentences in healthy controls. Patients with SSD demonstrated reduced premotor cortex activation especially when the object-related speech was accompanied by semantically unrelated gestures, suggesting a specific impairment in mental simulation.

Background: Oxytocin is widely investigated as a peripheral biomarker of social processes. However, its temporal variability in saliva remains insufficiently understood. In particular, little is known about whether salivary oxytocin reflects stable individual differences or is mostly influenced by circadian fluctuations. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the stability and diurnal fluctuations of salivary oxytocin using a repeated measures design.

Methods: A total of 196 individuals (age: M=33.86, SD=13.05) participated in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study conducted over two consecutive years during Covid-19 pandemic (Spring 2020 and Spring 2021). On both years, participants collected saliva samples at six timepoints per day across two consecutive days. Concentrations of unextracted salivary oxytocin were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunoassay.

Results: Analyses showed a robust morning decrease of oxytocin across both collection years (1 year: b = −.141; t(2253) = −8.748; p<.001); 2 year: b = −.190; t(2490) = −11.869; p<.001), as well as a significant increase in oxytocin levels throughout the day in the second year (b = .047; t(2490) = 2.601; p=.009). Importantly, individual oxytocin levels were significantly positively correlated between the two years (b = .882; t(166) = 16.691; p<.001).

Conclusions: These results indicate that salivary oxytocin exhibits both trait-like stability and systematic within-day variation. The findings suggest that single time-point measurements may not adequately capture individual oxytocin profiles and could contribute to inconsistent findings in the literature. Accounting for diurnal variation may improve comparability across studies.

Deciphering the neural basis of subjective experience remains one of the most intriguing

frontiers in brain research. Within this field, how attention and visual consciousness interact represents a

pivotal challenge, typically framed by three competing hypotheses: dual dissociation, single dissociation

(consciousness requires attention, but not vice versa), and interdependence. Furthermore, whether late

electrophysiological signatures like the P3b reflect awareness or post-perceptual reporting remains heavily

debated. We investigated retrospective attention using backward masking and no-report paradigms,

isolating perceptual awareness from motor responses.

Across three experiments (N=66), participants discriminated threshold-level Gabor patches. Experiments

1 and 2 revealed that invisible retrospective cues enhanced orientation discrimination, driven by

unconscious sensory reactivation (indexed by N2pc modulation). Experiment 3 contrasted explicit-report

and no-report paradigms. Explicit reporting amplified the P3b and recruited frontoparietal networks via

multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). Conversely, under no-report conditions, the Visual Awareness

Negativity (VAN) persisted without P3b modulation, and visual awareness decoding was localized to

parieto-occipital regions.

These findings support the single dissociation hypothesis: retrospective attention enhances perception

independently of cue awareness or reporting. By isolating report-dependent global broadcasting from

report-independent local sensory activity—supporting the theoretical distinction between access and

phenomenal consciousness—our data refines the search for the neural correlates of consciousness.

Open and Reproducible Science Statement (IGOR Prize Consideration): To ensure full computational

reproducibility, all anonymized EEG datasets, behavioral results, and custom MATLAB analysis scripts

(including MVPA-Light and FieldTrip pipelines) are publicly available on the Open Science Framework

(OSF) at: https://osf.io/mjqwb/.

Temporal recalibration enables flexible adaptations to delays in action-sensory outcome relationships, which is thought to arise from both general intersensory recalibration and action-related sensorimotor prediction. But the latent decision process of these mechanisms and their sensitivity to brain stimulation remain unclear.

By applying hierarchical sequential sampling models (HSSM), we identified recalibration-related latent decision dynamics in a healthy discovery sample (n = 25), tested the same pattern in an independent healthy replication sample (n = 19), and examined modulation by cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in a healthy tDCS sample (n = 20). Participants were repeatedly exposed to delays between actively or passively elicited button presses and auditory outcomes.

In the discovery sample, adaptation shifted evidence accumulation (drift rate) away from “delayed” responses, consistent with delays being less detectable after adaptation, and also shortened non-decision time. Both effects were stronger for active than passive movements. In the replication sample, a consistent effect was observed in drift rate, whereas in the tDCS sample stimulation selectively modulated the action-related non-decision time.

These findings suggest that temporal recalibration is supported by multiple latent mechanisms, with action-related effects on evidence accumulation and selective effects of cerebellar tDCS on non-decision processing.

Errors are prominent features of daily tasks, and they often become apparent after their execution. Interestingly, evidence from cognitive neuroscience suggests that error-related information may be available prior to motor execution. We present data from a large-scale multi-laboratory EEG study in which we decoded errors and correct responses from whole-brain activity using multivariate pattern analysis. Participants performed a two-choice flanker task (n = 771) and a Go/NoGo task (n = 265) while their electroencephalogram was recorded. We preregistered the preprocessing pipeline, all analyses steps, the experimental tasks and the hypotheses as part of the CoScience project on the Open Science Framework to reduce undisclosed flexibility. All analyses scripts are available online. We hypothesized that a support-vector based classifier successfully decodes errors and correct responses from whole-brain activity after the initiation of a motor response on a central processing level (indicated by the onset of the lateralized readiness potential) but before motor execution. Results show that the classification onset of the multivariate pattern analysis (i.e. the earliest time point at which decoding accuracies are significantly above chance level) falls within the expected period. This suggests that error-related information is indeed available before a response is executed, and that response-guiding evidence accumulation proceeds after response initiation. Feature weights analyses support the claim of a recursive error monitoring network, in which the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex are involved in error evidence accumulation.

In light of the high prevalence of mental disorders and a shortage of treatment places, preventive approaches to promote mental health gain increasingly more importance. A substantial body of literature highlights the role of lifestyle factors such as sleep, healthy nutrition, exercise, social connection, and intellectual stimulation in mental wellbeing. However, research on the psychological construct of habitual self-care (HSC), comprising lifestyle-related habits and routines consciously established and maintained to support wellbeing, remains limited. To address this gap, the Habitual Self-Care Index (HSCI) was developed and validated. Next to a positive association between HSC and wellbeing, we hypothesised that self-esteem, self-compassion, self-efficacy, and coping-style predict HSC. Moreover, we assumed that HSC mediates the relationship between both, self-esteem and self-compassion, and wellbeing. A sample of N = 306 healthy participants (78.4% women) completed a questionnaire battery including the HSCI. The HSCI showed good reliability and validity; its factor structure was confirmed by an explorative factor analysis. HSC was positively associated with sleep quality, mental wellbeing, life satisfaction, body vitality, and intuitive eating, and negatively associated with depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, negative body image, and sleep problems. Self-esteem, self-efficacy, and coping style together explained around 40% of variance in HCS. HSC partially mediated the relationship between self-compassion and wellbeing, as well as the relationship between self-esteem and wellbeing. The HSCI is a promising new tool to promote neuropsychological research investigating the effectiveness of prevention programs, including the measurement of neurobiological correlates of mental health such as polysomnographic markers and hormonal stress responses.

Maternal bonding refers to the unique emotional connection between a mother and her infant that gradually develops during the pre- and postpartum period. However, 3-24% of women report bonding difficulties, which may negatively affect the mother–infant relationship and child development. The underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms remain insufficiently understood but may involve alterations in reward processing.

In the present longitudinal study, N=45 mothers with and without bonding difficulties completed a monetary reward task during fMRI scanning at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum, parallel to a neurofeedback intervention, that took place between 3 and 6 months postpartum. During the task, participants had to remember the spatial position of a previously presented cue and received rewards of varying amounts of money for correct responses in 50% of trials. Additionally, participants rated their mood and stress levels prior to the experiment and four times during the task.

Preliminary behavioral and fMRI analyses examine associations between reward-related neural activity, maternal bonding, depressive symptoms, and behavioral outcomes such as task performance and mood ratings. Implications for early prevention and intervention strategies in mothers with postpartum bonding difficulties are discussed.

Producing a vocalization requires the precise coordination across motor and physiological systems (Ghazanfar & Rendall, 2008). The orofacial articulators and larynx are recruited in concert with respiration, a process that naturally induces heart rate (HR) fluctuations. While prior work has emphasized motor, emotional, and linguistic components of infant vocal development, far less is known about the intrinsic physiological dynamics accompanying vocal production (Kent, 2022). Recent work has shown that infant vocalizations are temporally structured with fluctuations in HR, with recognizable vocalizations most likely near the end of periods of falling HR (Borjon et al., 2024). Using a larger cohort of 9–24-month-olds, we aim to replicate and extend these findings earlier in development, characterizing vocal production across late infancy.

Infant–caregiver dyads (N = 10) completed 15-minute naturalistic free-play sessions. Infants wore a wireless cardiac sensor recording ECG at 1024 Hz and lapel microphones. ECG was processed using TonaFlow (Sahoo et al., 2026), HR was converted to percentiles, and instantaneous cardiac phase was estimated via Hilbert transform. Vocalizations (N = 731) were identified in Praat using a 300-ms inter-onset interval criterion and rated for recognizability by four naive listeners.

Younger infants (9–15mo) produced no recognizable vocalizations, instead vocal productions concentrated near the peak of heart rate oscillations. In contrast, older infants (19–24mo) produced vocalizations around the cycle of heart rate oscillations and recognizable vocalizations cluster just before the HR peak and trough. Together, these findings suggest that cardiac dynamics may scaffold the emergence of recognizable word production across the second year of life.

Humans constantly decide between persisting with a known option (exploitation) or seeking alternatives (exploration)—a key aspect of adaptive behavior. Although behavioral studies have provided valuable insights into these decision-making processes, paradigms examining their neural correlates are scarce, limiting understanding of decision-making and its links to clinical conditions where altered exploration and exploitation may be implicated.

To address this, we developed a novel EEG paradigm capturing neural correlates of exploration and exploitation under dynamic reward contingencies. Participants (N = 34) repeatedly chose whether to stay in an environment with a depleting reward function (exploitation) or switch to a new one (exploration) with unknown reward probability and a time penalty.

Results showed that reward feedback elicited a robust event-related potential (ERP) resembling a reward positivity and P3 component, with more positive amplitudes for reward than no-reward trials. Single-trial analyses indicated modulation of reward ERPs within exploitative phases, increasing with longer residence time for reward trials and decreasing for no-reward trials, possibly reflecting evolving motivational salience during sustained exploitation. At the interindividual level, greater amplitudes of the reward-related positivity were associated with longer residence times, indicating prolonged exploitation. These findings support the paradigm’s suitability for capturing neural correlates of shifts between exploitation and exploration, and its potential for identifying altered decision-making dynamics in clinical populations.

Hintergrund:

Die Parkinson-Krankheit verursacht motorische und kognitive Defizite, beeinträchtigt Mobilität und erhöht das Sturzrisiko im Alltag. Drehbewegungen während des Gehens sind herausfordernd. Etwa 68% stürzen mindestens einmal jährlich, beim Gehen oder Drehen. Dual-Task-Situationen, zusätzliche Anforderungen beim Gehen, beeinflussen die motorische Leistung. Kreisgehen unter Dual-Task-Bedingungen erlaubt eine standardisierte Erfassung komplexer Bewegungen, wobei Inertialsensoren objektive Daten liefern. Unklar ist, inwiefern kognitive Leistungsfähigkeit und Sturzangst die Dual-Task-Kosten beim Kreisgehen beeinflussen und ob sich PatientInnen mit unterschiedlicher Dual-Task-Fähigkeit hinsichtlich Motorik, Kognition und Sturzangst unterscheiden.

Methodik:

150 stationäre PartientInnen mit Parkinson-Krankheit gingen 3x mit selbstgewählter Geschwindigkeit unter Single- und Dual-Task-Bedingungen um einen Stoffkreis (1080°, Durchmesser 1.2m). Dual-Task-Aufgaben waren eine motorische (Kreuze auf Blatt Papier in eine Tabelle setzten) und eine kognitive (Rückwärtsrechnen: 7er-Schritten). Zwei Inertialsensoren (Rehagait®, Hasmomed, Magdeburg) an den Sprunggelenken erfassten Bewegungen. Dual-Task-Kosten (DTC) wurden für jeden Gangparameter berechnet: ((Dual-Task - Single-Task)/Single-Task)∗ 100

Beziehung zwischen kognitiven Merkmalen (Montreal-Cognitive-Assessment, MoCA; Trail-Making-Test, TMT) und Sturzangst (Falls-Efficacy-Scale, FES-I) als unabhängige Variablen sowie Dual-Task-Kosten als abhängige Variable wurden mittels Korrelations- und Regressionsanalysen untersucht. Gruppenunterschiede nach Aufgabentyp (kognitiver Dual-Task, motorischer Dual-Task, beide oder keine Aufgabe) wurden per ANOVA analysiert.

Ergebnisse und Diskussion:

Kognitive Flexibilität (∆TMT) und Sturzangst sagen die Dual-Task-Kosten der Gehgeschwindigkeit moderat voraus F(4,39)=3.45,p=.02,adj. R²=.19. Signifikante Einflüsse zeigen sich für ∆TMT (β=.39,t=2.48,p=.02) und FES-I (β=−.28,t=−1.98,p=.05). Der Aufgabentyp ist mit motorischer Beeinträchtigung (MDS-UPDRS, F(3,80)=6.95,p<.001,ω2=.11) und Sturzangst (FES-I, F(3,47)=7.65,p<.001,ω2=.18) signifikant assoziiert. PatientInnen mit schlechter Dual-Task-Fähigkeit zeigen stärkere motorische Beeinträchtigung und höhere Sturzangst. Dies unterstreicht die Bedeutung kognitiv-motorischen Trainingskonzepte zur Minimierung des Sturzrisikos und Verbesserung der Mobilität in diesem PatientInnen-Kollektiv.

The role of agreement contexts in gender processing remains unclear, particularly whether they are required for gender retrieval in the first place. The picture-word interference paradigm (PWI) has been widely used to address this via the gender congruency effect (GCE). In this paradigm, participants name pictures while ignoring distractor nouns that are either gender-congruent or incongruent with the target noun. Findings have been inconsistent when participants produce bare nouns to name the pictures, i.e., when an agreement context is not produced. We suggest that the absence of gender effects with bare nouns may reflect PWI obscuring early lexical effects and we therefore combine it with electroencephalography (EEG) to capture the temporal dynamics of gender retrieval.

Behavioral results showed no GCE in response times. In contrast, ERP analyses revealed an asymmetric GCE restricted to masculine nouns, with larger amplitudes for incongruent pairs in early (80–190 ms) and N400 time windows. Additionally, a main effect of grammatical gender emerged: feminine nouns elicited slower responses and larger P600 amplitudes, indicating higher processing demands.

These findings provide converging evidence that gender is retrieved early during lexical access and does not require an agreement context. More broadly, they raise methodological concerns about the sensitivity of PWI for detecting early gender effects behaviorally. Combining PWI with EEG reveals electrophysiological signatures of gender processing that remain undetected in response times.

Interpersonal regulation shapes how close others influence each other’s emotions and behavior, particularly during conflict. Sibling relationships provide a natural context to study these dynamics due to their shared history, intimacy, and frequent conflict. Using hyperscanning and an interactive aggression paradigm, this study examined how adult siblings dynamically influence each other’s behavioral and neural responses on a trial-by-trial basis, focusing on the amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuit.

Fifty sibling pairs (N = 100) completed an interactive Taylor Aggression Paradigm while simultaneous neural and behavioral data were recorded. Actor–partner interdependence models (APIMs) assessed how prior aggression and partner provocation predicted subsequent aggressive behavior, and how neural activity in dmPFC/ACC and vmPFC during provocation predicted amygdala responses during decision-making. Moderators included dyadic mutuality and game-related covariates.

Behaviorally, aggression showed both strong within-person stability (actor effect: b = 0.36, t(2540) = 21.01, p < .001) and sensitivity to partner provocation (partner effect: b = 0.25, t(2540) = 14.64, p <.001). Higher dyadic mutuality amplified reactivity to partner behavior, and losses increased aggression and interpersonal reactivity.

Neurally, partner dmPFC/ACC activity during provocation predicted reduced amygdala activation in the actor during subsequent decisions (b = −0.041, t(2912) = −2.57, p = .010), suggesting an interpersonal regulatory mechanism. In contrast, vmPFC effects were primarily actor-driven (b = 0.074, t(2912) = 4.66, p < .001) and did not reliably predict partner responses.

Overall, findings demonstrate that sibling aggression is shaped by both intrapersonal stability and interpersonal regulation. They further identify dissociable mPFC–amygdala pathways through which close others dynamically modulate each other’s responses during conflict.

Modal cognition, comprising the ability to represent and reason about different possible realities, is a defining feature of human cognition. However, its developmental trajectory remains debated. Eye-tracking studies suggest that infants can represent multiple possible object identities (Cesana-Arlotti et al., 2018, 2022), whereas tasks assessing reasoning about possible locations indicate a developmental breakthrough around age 4 (e.g., Mody & Carey, 2016; Redshaw & Suddendorf, 2016). It has been proposed that reasoning about possible identities and possible locations may rely on partly distinct cognitive processes (Jasbi et al., 2019; Mazalik & Halberda, 2026), which may help reconcile these conflicting findings. To address this issue, we designed a possible identities task and a possible locations task. In both tasks, adult participants are presented with either ambiguous stimuli (two possible identities/locations) or unambiguous stimuli (one possible identity/location). On each trial, subjects make a speeded judgment about whether a presented stimulus depicts a possible identity/location. We predict longer reaction times when participants must represent two possibilities compared to one. In addition, we test whether previously reported increases in pupil dilatation for ambiguous versus unambiguous object identities (Cesana-Arlotti et al., 2018, 2022) can be replicated, and whether a similar pattern emerges for reasoning about possible locations. Gaze patterns will be analyzed exploratorily. Comparing RT and eye-tracking data between the two tasks will allow us to gain further insight into the cognitive mechanisms underlying modal reasoning about what and where. Data collection is expected to be completed by the time of the conference.

One key dimension of perfectionism is evaluative concerns perfectionism (ECP), i.e. the tendency to strive for flawlessness out of fear of being judged negatively by others if performance is flawed. Previous studies have found that high-EC perfectionists show less error-specific neural activity. In the current study, we investigated whether this impaired response monitoring in high-EC perfectionists is a result of (1) reduced processing resources occupied by worries and error-related thoughts (capacity hypothesis) or (2) a proactive downregulation of error processing aimed at avoiding the negative consequences of making errors (avoidance hypothesis). To this end, participants (N = 100) completed an Eriksen flanker task while their EEG was recorded. In one part of the experiment, they received no feedback about their performance. In the other part of the experiment, participants continuously received feedback about their recent performance throughout the experimental block. Analyses of the error negativity – a component of the event-related potential indexing error processing – revealed that high-EC perfectionists showed impaired response monitoring only in the feedback condition, but not in the no-feedback condition. Additional diffusion model analyses showed that the speed of information uptake in the flanker task in high-EC perfectionists was slower in the feedback condition than in the no-feedback condition. These results suggest that continuous performance feedback diverts processing resources in high-EC perfectionists away from response monitoring and task-related information processing, supporting the capacity hypothesis over the avoidance hypothesis.

The anticipation of avoidance behaviour is a core mechanism of anxiety, engaging both attentional and action-preparatory processes. The present study explored whether interoceptive illusions—external stimuli mimicking internal bodily signals such as heartbeats—modulate neurophysiological and behavioural responses during the anticipation of avoidable threats.

Data were collected from healthy adults during a paradigm in which a negatively valenced stimulus (an angry face) was presented for 8 s, followed by a brief prompt (250 ms) requiring participants to respond quickly to avoid an aversive auditory stimulus (human scream, 85–90 dB, 1 s), otherwise delivered. During the anticipatory phase, a simulated heartbeat sound (65 dB) was presented at different tempos (fastBeat condition: 120 bpm; slowBeat condition: 60 bpm). Neurophysiological (EEG, ECG, EDA) data were recorded continuously, together with accuracy and response times.

Preliminary analyses from an initial subsample (n = 12) suggest condition-dependent differences in avoidance behaviour, self-reported arousal, and electrocortical responses. Specifically, participants avoided the threat more often in the fastBeat condition than in the slowBeat condition (60% vs. 41%), with responses on average 20 ms faster. Participants also reported higher arousal in the fastBeat condition. Exploratory analyses indicated possible increases in frontal alpha asymmetry and reductions in posterior alpha activity.

Although preliminary, these findings suggest that interoceptive illusions may influence attentional allocation and action-preparatory processes during threat anticipation, thereby facilitating avoidance behaviour. Data collection is ongoing, and full results from a larger sample will be presented at the conference.

Apathy and anhedonia are key symptoms of blunted motivation, with a high prevalence across psychiatric and neurological disorders. Apathy is characterized by a reduction in goal-directed behavior, whereas anhedonia refers to a diminished reward experience. At the behavioral level, both are associated with reduced engagement in efforts to reach rewarding goals, a process referred to as effort-based decision-making (EBDM). Given their transdiagnostic relevance, a growing body of research has investigated their behavioral and neural correlates. This systematic review synthesizes these data.

Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus for studies combining blunted motivation measures (e.g., using neuropsychological scales like BNSS, AES, SHAPS), with behavioral measures in EBDM paradigms and neuroimaging techniques (MRI, fMRI, DTI).

The search yielded 24 studies, of which 18 met inclusion criteria. These studies included adult samples (approximately 1,000 participants) and employed choice-based EBDM tasks alongside neuroimaging measures. Data extraction and quality assessment were independently performed by two reviewers. Preliminary analyses indicate that higher levels of apathy and anhedonia are consistently associated with reduced effort allocation in EBDM tasks, even when higher rewards are offered. Computational modeling further suggests increased effort cost sensitivity and reduced reward valuation. Neuroimaging findings converge on functional abnormalities within fronto-striatal circuits, particularly the anterior cingulate cortex and the striatum. These results are valid across clinical (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, and neurodegenerative disorders) and non-clinical populations.

Overall, these findings support the view that altered effort–reward processing constitutes a transdiagnostic mechanism underlying apathy and anhedonia, potentially driven by fronto-striatal dysfunction.

Stress is a major risk factor for mental disorders, and urban living is a key environmental contributor. Nature (“green space”) exposure may promote stress recovery and mental health, but how psychophysiological and subjective stress responses change due to green vs. gray space exposure during naturalistic urban mobility is poorly understood. This preregistered study employed naturalistic geolocation-based ambulatory assessment using physiological and self-report measures to examine stress responses during transitions between urban green and gray environments. Thirty-six healthy urban residents (N=8 male, 18–32 years) completed a circular 4 km walking route in Cologne, Germany (Mdistance = 4.02 km, ±SD = 0.06; Mduration = 61.82 min, ±SD = 3.62; Mtemperature = 7.97° degrees Celsius, ±SD = 5.45, Range = -1° - 20°), in a counterbalanced within-subject design. Throughout the walk, GPS location, cardiovascular activity, and electrodermal activity were continuously recorded alongside ecological momentary assessment probes of subjective stress, affect, and exertion. Compared to gray spaces, green spaces were associated with significantly lower subjective stress and higher affective well-being, whereas perceived exertion did not differ significantly. Cardiac indices reflected reduced autonomic arousal during green space exposure. Distinct autonomic changes surrounding the moment of environmental transition persisted beyond the immediate transition window, suggesting that the physiological benefits of green spaces may extend into subsequent gray environments. Results show that even brief exposure to urban green space supports subjective and physiological stress recovery and well-being, underscoring the public health relevance of accessible urban green infrastructure for the prevention of stress-related mental health conditions in urban populations.

Physical exercise can induce structural adaptations in movement- and learning-related brain areas. However, most studies involving human subjects used cross-sectional designs with small sample sizes, often comparing novices to experienced athletes. In contrast, we used a controlled longitudinal design and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate whether learning a complex whole-body movement, i.e., hurdling, leads to changes in white-matter microstructure in relevant regions of interest (ROIs). A total of 120 participants underwent diffusion-weighted imaging before and after a six-week intervention period and were assigned to a training, active control, or waiting control group. We extracted the DTI metrics fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD), and mean diffusivity (MD) for the corticospinal tract, primary somatosensory cortex, primary motor cortex (M1), putamen, thalamus, hippocampus, anterior cerebellum, and supplementary motor area (pre and proper). Compared with the control groups, the training group showed decreases in RD and MD across most ROIs, with the exception of M1, but increases in the right anterior cerebellum. In contrast, AD increased in the anterior cerebellum, thalamus, and right hippocampus but decreased in the remaining ROIs, again with the exception of M1. These microstructural changes are consistent with training-related structural reorganization. In summary, intense hurdle training induced structural plasticity across multiple brain regions involved in motor learning.

Human cooperation depends on shared goals and dynamic role-taking, aligning individual actions with goal-related tasks. In daily life, however, social interaction is rarely purely cooperative but often intertwined with personal motivations and incentives. To capture this interplay, study participants engaged in an adapted version of our dyadic “Pacman Game,” which combined cooperative task demands with opportunities for personal reward embedded within the social interaction. Notably, personal rewards were implicitly inferred from the task context rather than conveyed through explicit feedback. Neural activity recorded using EEG hyperscanning revealed characteristic signatures of reward processing. Specifically, picture cues signaling personal rewards were associated with increased delta- to theta-band activity and sustained positive event-related potentials both over fronto-central regions. In addition, we replicated key neural markers observed in previous versions of the Pacman Game, including alpha/beta power decreases and enhanced P3-like positivities, reflecting cognitive demands of coordinating complementary actions between game partners. Together, these findings demonstrate that experimental games provide a powerful and flexible framework for investigating how shared goals and personal motivations jointly shape neural processes during social interaction, thereby bridging the gap between established research paradigms and real-world social behavior.

Co speech gestures can support language comprehension and memory, but the specific contributions of gesture presence, gesture type, and gesture speech relatedness to later recognition and metacognitive evaluation remain unclear. In the present study, we examined how these factors shape sentence memory and confidence across two experiments using video based sentence encoding tasks followed by delayed recognition tests. During encoding, participants viewed short video clips of an actor producing spoken German sentences with or without accompanying gestures and later completed old new recognition judgments with confidence ratings.

Experiment 1 tested the effects of gesture presence and gesture type by comparing tool use and emblematic events presented either with gesture or without gesture. Experiment 2 tested the effects of gesture speech relatedness and gesture type by comparing related and unrelated gestures paired with tool use and emblematic utterances. Memory performance was quantified using signal detection measures, including hit rate, false alarm rate, discrimination sensitivity, and response criterion. Metacognitive efficiency was assessed using model based estimates of meta d prime.

The findings showed that gesture type and gesture speech relatedness contributed differently to memory performance. In Experiment 1, tool use materials were associated with better recognition than emblematic materials, whereas in Experiment 2, semantically related gestures improved memory relative to unrelated gestures. Effects on metacognitive efficiency were more selective. These results suggest that co speech gestures influence memory through partially distinct mechanisms linked to representational format and semantic alignment.

Acute psychosocial stress affects memory. Recent studies revealed that enhanced

recognition for central visual stimuli linked to the stressor occurred when memory was

tested after one day. Whether such effects persist over time and generalize across

stimulus modalities remains unclear. To address this, 85 healthy male participants

were tested in a balanced 2 × 2 between-subjects design, undergoing either a stressful

or non-stressful Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Both conditions were modified to

include central, peripheral and body-related objects as well as verbal stimuli consisting

of standardized phrases and personal information disclosed by committee members.

After the TSST, a list of 24 words (twelve stressor-relevant, twelve stressor-irrelevant)

was read aloud. Memory was tested one or seven days later using a recognition task

for visual and verbal stimuli as well as a free and a cued recall task for the word list.

Stress manipulation was confirmed via salivary cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase, stress

ratings and affective state questionnaires. For visual stimuli, after seven days, central

objects were recognized better than peripheral objects in the stress group, whereas

this distinction was not evident in the control group, suggesting that stress may

particularly modulate memory performance across longer retrieval intervals. Similarly,

memory for standardized phrases in the recognition task and memory for stressor

relevant words in the cued recall task appeared more stable across time under stress,

while the control group showed the expected decline. Thus, the results indicate that

acute stress selectively promotes longer-term stabilization of central and stressor

relevant elements of a stressful episode.

This study investigated the potential protective effects of bilingualism on cognitive and affective functioning during pregnancy, a period characterized by significant neuroplasticity and self-reported cognitive change. Drawing from an online study we analyzed a longitudinal dataset of N=387 participants, comparing three groups: Monolingual English, Bilingual with English as primary language, and Bilingual Other, with another primary language. Four key measures were studied: positive affect, depressive symptoms, response inhibition (Stop-Signal Reaction Time), and metacognitive bias. Cross-sectional results revealed that the Bilingual Other group reported significantly higher positive affect than both the Monolingual English (p=.002) and Bilingual English (p=.002) groups. Conversely, response inhibition in the Bilingual Other group was slower, though this difference only approached statistical significance (p=.082). Longitudinal analysis using linear mixed-effects models found no significant main effects of pregnancy week or interactions between week and language group for any measure, indicating an absence of systematic linear change over gestation. These findings suggest that the effects of bilingualism do not manifest as a protective factor against pregnancy-related cognitive or affective shifts in this sample. Instead, observed group differences in emotional affect are more plausibly attributed to socio-cultural factors, rather than linguistic experience alone. Future research with larger, more balanced cohorts is required to disentangle the complex interactions between bilingualism, migration status, and maternal neurobiology.

In noisy environments, listeners may remain undecided or neutral about what they heard. Yet, typically used forced-choice paradigms require a decision even under uncertainty, limiting our understanding of perceptual states of neutrality. Here, we tested whether sensory ambiguity elicits different states of perceptual neutrality in a vowel discrimination task. Participants identified minimal-pair target words (e.g., satt- Saat) whereby the duration of the critical phoneme (/a/) varied along a continuum around individually-determined perceptual boundaries. On each trial, participants categorized the target as short or long, or selected one of two uncertainty options: requesting a repetition, indicating mere indecision, or committing to a neutral response. In three experiments, we investigated the effect of internal ambiguity (Exp.1) and external noise (Exp.2) on decisions and confidence ratings (Exp.3).

Exp.1 (n=36) showed that participants chose both uncertainty responses most frequently for ambiguous stimuli. Moreover, responses transitioned from indecision to committed neutrality, supporting the existence of different states of perceptual uncertainty. In Exp.2 (n=36), targets were embedded in speech-shaped noise, which led to an increase in neutral responses and broader response curves, suggesting that perceptual neutrality is shaped not only by internal ambiguity but also by external noise. Exp.3 (n=38) showed that confidence ratings were equally high for committed neutral and categorical responses, and even higher for neutral responses to ambiguous targets.

In sum, our findings indicate a distinct decisional neutral state for ambiguous sensory inputs. We provide the first behavioral evidence for perceptual states of uncertainty, enabling a more naturalistic understanding of perceptual decision-making.

The unpredicted omission of expected sound, that is “silence”, elicits omission N1, N2 and P3 (early and late oN1, oN2, oP3) event-related potential (ERP) and pupil dilation responses (PDR), which are interpreted as prediction error signals located along different processing levels. The present study aims to investigate whether these responses to unpredicted silence can also be elicited by the unpredicted continuation of sound, that is, the “absence” of expected silence. A prediction error response to the absence of silence would indicate that silence was predicted including the levels of processing on which a prediction of silence was established. Participants pressed a button every 1-2s while exposed to continuous Brownian noise. In three conditions, button presses predictably (88% of trials), randomly (50% of trials) or never (0% of trials; motor-control) interrupted the noise. EEG and pupil diameter data were recorded. We found that the unpredicted absence of a silent interval in the noise elicited late oN1 (~150ms) and oN2, oP3 and PDR omission prediction error responses. However, we did not find an early oN1 (~100ms). Predictive representations of silence can be established at the level of categorical sensory processing (late oN1) and at the levels of later, higher cognitive processing and attention (oN2, oP3, and PDR), but not at the level of feature-based, early cortical sensory processing (early oN1), possibly because the absence of features cannot easily be encoded. These results suggest that silence is represented not only as the absence of sound but also as a predictable event in itself.

Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) show reduced top-down control, the ability to ignore task-irrelevant information. It is unclear whether this reduction corresponds with decreased brain connectivity. We aimed to determine whether and how differences in functional connectivity, or the correlated activity between brain areas, explain differences in top-down control in MCI. Twenty-six patients with MCI (mean age: 71.2 ± 8.9 years; 10 females) and 29 age-matched healthy older adults (mean age: 68.2 ± 4.6 years; 9 females) underwent neuropsychological assessment to confirm diagnosis and cognitive status. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3T to analyze functional connectivity. Top-down control was estimated with a theory of visual attention (TVA)-based verbal partial-report task (parameter α; higher α indicates poorer control). We identified visual and attention-relevant functional brain networks and tested for differences between patients and controls while controlling for age and sex. Patients with MCI showed lower functional connectivity in the left frontoparietal (FPN) and visual network (VN). Patients also had worse top-down control than healthy controls (p = 0.031). The FPN, but not the VN, significantly correlated with top-down control across participants (r = -0.39, p = 0.003) and in the patient group (ρ = -0.48, p = 0.014). Moreover, FPN connectivity mediated the relationship between MCI and top-down control. These results indicate that lower FPN connectivity explains worse attentional control in MCI. Top-down control might explain memory decline in patients with MCI; longitudinal data are needed to establish prognostic value.

Exploiting reoccurring environmental regularities underlies language acquisition and is closely related to memory processes. Previous evidence remains inconclusive, however, regarding (low) reliabilities of statistical learning measures, developmental differences in relations of statistical learning with general cognitive skills, and evaluations of these associations across ecologically valid timescales.

Here we assessed test-retest reliability of visual Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) across one year and parallel-test reliability between two picture sets for 5-year-olds (n = 22-27), 6-year-olds (n = 25-28), 7-year-olds (n = 16-27) and adults (n = 20-29). Additionally, we tested associations of multi-session AGL performance and working/declarative memory and language/grammar skills in children and adults across one week (AGL improvement & transfer ~ language/memory, within Year1 & Year2) and across one year (AGL consolidation (Year1 to Year2), improvement (Year2) & transfer (Year2) ~ language/memory (Year1)).

Reliability estimates of AGL tasks ranged from r = .77 to r = .84 in the combined sample of children and adults. AGL performance was significantly associated with working memory capacity across one week and across one year by r = .20 in our whole sample, and with memory encoding and retrieval skills by r = .50-.70 after one year in adults. AGL performance associations with German grammar skills did not reach statistical significance for any timescale or age group.

Our results suggest that visual AGL can be reliably assessed in children and adults. Furthermore, working memory capacity in childhood and adulthood and declarative memory skills in adults are associated with experimentally assessed visual statistical learning trajectories.

While animal research on social fear conditioning typically employs instrumental paradigms, human research has largely focused on Pavlovian conditioning, leaving unresolved the fundamental question of whether fear learning is equivalent across active and passive contexts. This preregistered study directly compares aversive learning acquired through Pavlovian conditioning (shock follows CS+ regardless of behavior) versus Instrumental conditioning (shock is contingent on gazing at CS+). Participants complete both paradigms in counterbalanced order, with threat ratings, pupil diameter, and gaze behavior assessed during non-reinforced test trials. We predict that both conditioning types will produce successful aversive learning, evidenced by higher threat ratings and larger pupil dilation to CS+ compared to CS−. However, gaze behavior is expected to diverge between paradigms: Pavlovian CS+ should elicit increased dwell time, more first saccades, and shorter saccade latencies than CS−, reflecting vigilance toward threat cues, whereas Instrumental CS+ should show the opposite pattern, revealing learned avoidance. Exploratory analyses will examine whether instrumental avoidance transfers to Pavlovian stimuli based on training order.

Neurofeedback (NF) provides participants with real-time information about a specific brain state, enabling them to learn its modulation. EEG-based NF training typically targets activity within a predefined frequency band at a specific scalp location. Because a substantial proportion of participants fail to learn effective modulation, current work aims to improve protocol precision. One proposed strategy is to individualize feedback by targeting narrow frequency bands centered on each participant’s peak frequency, which is determined before – oftentimes multiple – NF sessions. This approach, however, assumes that peak frequency is stable over time.

We tested this assumption for conflict-related frontal midline theta (FMT) during repeated EEG measurements of an approach–avoidance task across sessions (n=151). Individual theta peak frequency (ITF) was estimated with multiple pipelines (all based on EPOS open-source scripts; using Morlet wavelets). Its within- and across-session reliability (ICC) was assessed to determine whether it provides a robust basis for individualized NF calibration.

Across analysis approaches, theta peak frequency showed limited stability, with low reliability (ICC < 0.4) at both the within- and across-session level. In a substantial subset of participants, peak frequency shifts were large enough to question the suitability of narrow individualized bands for calibration.

These findings highlight a challenge for individualized neurofeedback: if ITF is insufficiently stable, calibration based on a single estimate may reduce rather than improve training precision. Protocols using individualized oscillatory targets should therefore assess frequency stability explicitly before applying narrow-band personalization, or instead consider broader frequency bands and adaptive procedures that account for temporal variability.

Although reading is a recent development in human evolution, words can elicit emotional responses as if they were evolutionarily prepared. The amygdala has been implicated in this process, yet it is unclear how its signals converge with cortical language processing to flag a word as emotional. In this study, we examined how gamma-band activity (GBA, > 30 Hz) on the scalp and in the amygdala encodes emotional salience in words. Furthermore, we investigated whether these processes are modulated by a valence monitoring task. Twenty-nine healthy controls provided scalp EEG data; intracranial EEG in the amygdala was recorded from fifteen patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Participants viewed a randomized series of negative, neutral, and positive nouns in three blocks. In each block, they were instructed to monitor words of one valence category. Behaviorally, both groups detected emotional words most accurately and responded fastest to negative targets. In scalp GBA, we found a selective enhancement of responses to negative targets from 195 – 795 ms. In the amygdala, GBA increased in response to positive and negative words irrespective of target status from 320 – 550 ms. These findings suggest distinct mechanisms for emotional language processing in the cortex and amygdala: threat-vigilance selectively tunes cortical processing toward negative verbal information, potentially facilitating fast behavioral responding. The amygdala appears to support valence categorization after semantic encoding.

Intergroup conflict often involves not only the pursuit of benefits for one’s own group, but also a willingness to harm an opposing group even in the absence of any direct or strategic benefit. Such “pure harm” behavior remains poorly understood, and it is rarely shown in laboratory-controlled experiments. At the same time, most previous research has relied on short tasks, leaving open how these motives unfold over time across multiple trials.

We address this gap using an extended version of the Intergroup Prisoner’s Dilemma-Maximizing Difference (IPD-MD), a group-based decision task in which individuals benefit their own group or reduce outcomes of another group. Our version additionally allowed for choices that selectively harm the other group without providing any advantage to one’s own group. The task was implemented in a repeated-measures design to examine how such decisions evolve across multiple interactions under varying levels of aggression.

Participants (N = 53) completed 99 trials across three blocks, in which the opposing team's behavior varied between low and high levels of aggression by the outgroup.

Results show that participants systematically retaliated the initial aggression by outgroups: the stronger the aggression by the outgroup, the more they opted to harm them in return. Importantly, participants also made choices that selectively reduced others’ outcomes without improving those of their own group. These effects were consistent across blocks, indicating stable responses over time.

The findings suggest that intergroup behavior cannot be fully explained by a single motive, but reflects a dynamic interplay between-group-benefiting strategies and harm-focused responses.

Binary response tasks are typically used to investigate neurocognitive mechanisms of error processing. However, binary tasks are far from reflecting complex everyday life decisions. Previous research has shown that the number of response alternatives influences neural error processing mechanisms, and that a higher number of response options results in smaller error-related negativity (Ne) and error positivity (Pe) amplitudes. Using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), i.e., a machine learning approach that decodes information from patterns of whole-brain activity, the response accuracy has been successfully predicted in binary response tasks, but not in more complex choice tasks. In this preregistered study, we specifically target the effect of response complexity on behavioral and neural correlates of error processing. A total of 109 participants performed a binary response task and a similar, more complex task with eight response alternatives while the EEG was recorded. Neural data were analyzed using both univariate approaches (Ne and Pe amplitudes) and MVPA. Results indicate that neural correlates of error processing were attenuated in the more complex task. Specifically, differences in the Ne/c and Pe/c amplitudes between error and correct responses were reduced, and the MVPA classification accuracy was lower in the complex task than in the binary task. Our findings suggest that increased response complexity impairs the neural representation of response accuracy. This may be due to a reduced accumulation of error evidence, leading to greater uncertainty about response accuracy under more demanding conditions.

Social discounting describes the decline in prosocial behavior as a function of increasing social-emotional distance between people. It has been well established in the monetary domain. However, it remains unclear whether this pattern generalizes to other cost domains. In a preregistered study, we therefore extended the social discounting framework to the effort domain and introduced the concept of effort-based social discounting (EBSD). For this, we developed a novel EBSD task, in which participants earned monetary rewards for themselves and others at varying levels of social distance by applying force to a hand dynamometer. Participants completed four measurement blocks and additionally performed a single block of a money-based social discounting task (MBSD). We found that willingness to exert effort for others decreases with increasing social distance. Importantly, EBSD demonstrated satisfactory test–retest reliability at the single-measure level and improved reliability when averaging across repeated measurements. Furthermore, EBSD was well described by a hyperbolic discounting function, similar to MBSD. Critically, however, prosocial behavior in MBSD diverged from EBSD at larger social distances: despite similar levels of prosocial behavior at close social distances, participants were more willing to invest effort to generate rewards for socially distant others than to directly share monetary rewards with those distant individuals. This suggests that prosocial behavior may depend not only on social distance but also on the cost domain (effort vs. money). These findings show that social discounting extends to the effort domain and establish EBSD as a novel, reliable tool for investigating the mechanisms underlying prosocial decision-making.

Alterations in the sensing, interpreting and integrating of bodily signals (altered interoception) have been described for both, adults and children/ adolescents with internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Recently, Schoeller et al. (2024) introduced the term interoceptive technologies for methods that systematically manipulate bodily signals and their perception (e.g., stimulation of somatosensory signals, induction of interoceptive illusions). Interoceptive technologies are used to increase our knowledge on altered interoception as psychopathological mechanism and provide potential for therapeutic intervention improvement. We aimed to conduct a first scoping review that summarizes the current literature on application of interoceptive technologies in children/ adolescents with internalizing symptoms (preregistered at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UEZBC). The search was conducted in four databases (APA PsycINFO, Scopus, Cochrane Library, PubMed) on February 12, 2026. Inclusion criteria comprised primary research studies in pediatric samples (4 to 18 years) with internalizing symptoms that applied interoceptive technologies for mechanism or intervention research purposes. After deletion of duplicates, 1.708 articles were screened based on title and abstract by two independent reviewers using Rayyan.ai. Rate of inter-rater agreement was 91.63%. Currently, discrepancies are resolved within the research team and full texts are retrieved for the next screening stage. Preliminary results of the scoping review will be presented at the conference and are expected to inform the development of further research paradigms and clinical interventions for children/ adolescents with internalizing symptoms and altered interoception.

Aging is characterized by increased false recognition, the tendency to remember past events that are in part or entirely false. Yet little is known about how older adults’ propensity for false memory varies by information type. This study examined age-related susceptibility to perceptual, semantic, and source lures, and the roles of learning trajectories and retroactive interference. Participants were drawn from Berlin Aging Study II, including younger adults (N = 388, 20–35 years) and older adults (N = 1462, 60–80 years). All completed the Verbal Learning and Memory Test with five learning trials, an interference list, and delayed recall and recognition. Both groups committed most false alarms to perceptual lures. Younger adults showed more semantic than source false alarms, whereas older adults showed higher source than semantic false alarms. Higher initial learning and steeper learning slopes were associated with fewer semantic false alarms in younger adults and fewer source false alarms in older adults. Higher retroactive interference predicted higher source false alarms in older adults, indicating difficulty resolving episodic competition. These findings suggest false memory in aging is not uniform but depends on information type. While younger adults were susceptible to gist-based errors, older adults faced a disproportionate challenge in source monitoring, likely due to age-related declines in learning and interference resolution.

This project follows open and reproducible science practices. The data analysis was pre-registered( https://aspredicted.org/37B_61C); analysis scripts will be available upon publication. The data is part of an ongoing longitudinal study BASE-II. Application for data assess is possible via https://www.base2.mpg.de/7549/data-documentation.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been linked to altered reward-related decision-making, particularly steeper delay discounting, reflecting a stronger preference for smaller immediate over larger delayed rewards. However, social decision-making in ADHD remains less well understood. Social discounting, the decline in willingness to forgo own benefits for others as social distance increases, has received comparatively little attention in this population. The present study examines both delay and social discounting in adults with ADHD and neurotypical control participants. Participants complete one delay discounting task and one social discounting task in randomized order. In the delay discounting task, participants choose between smaller immediate and larger delayed monetary rewards with variable delays and reward magnitudes. In the social discounting task, they choose between maximizing their own payoff and an option benefiting themselves and other persons at varying social-emotional distances. One randomly selected choice from each task is implemented for real monetary payment to ensure incentive-compatible decision-making. This study aims to provide insight into social decision-making in ADHD and into potential common mechanisms underlying both forms of discounting.

Work is central to human life, yet occupational stress can erode mental health, manifesting in depression. Using MRI data of the Dortmund Vital Study (N =166, age range:19-72 years; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05155397), we examined individualized morphological brain networks underlying occupational stress (MBI, OLBI), depressive symptoms (BDI), and emotional dissonance (self-control work demand questionnaire). Networks were established based on volume, thickness, and surface area (Freesurfer). Associations of interest were tested with generalized additive models applied on each of the connection controlling for confounders and image quality using bootstrapping for robust and consistent networks. Significance of brain regions’ topology (degree centrality measured as the number of connections) was tested using bootstrapped permutation testing. Occupational stress and emotional dissonance were associated with significant elevated centrality in parietal-temporal regions (e.g. right inferior temporal/parietal lobules, left superior temporal gyrus), characterized by mixed positive and negative connections and previously related to multisensory integration, perspective taking, and social cognition. Depressive symptoms showed significant centrality in the right superior frontal gyrus, left posterior cingulate, and left lateral occipital cortex – linked to cognitive control and emotional processing. Latent factor analyses performed for validity purposes confirmed these patterns further. Notably, no regional atrophy was linked to occupational stress or emotional dissonance, while reduced thickness in the left posterior cingulate cortex was associated with depressive symptoms. These findings highlight that while occupational stress and emotional dissonance relate to altered network integration, depression involves both network-level and regional alterations, underscoring the need for differentiated neurobiological models of work-related mental health.

Hemispheric lateralization is a fundamental aspect of human brain organization, yet its expression across motor, sensory, and perceptual domains is highly heterogeneous. This ongoing online study investigates multidimensional patterns of lateral preference using a combination of behavioral and perceptual measures. Motor lateralization is assessed via handedness, eyedness, and footedness, while language and emotional asymmetries are measured through dichotic listening and a chimeric faces task.

Preliminary results replicate classical lateralization biases: right-handed participants show a robust right-ear advantage in dichotic listening and a left-hemifield bias in chimeric face perception, whereas left-handers exhibit weaker or more variable biases. Beyond these canonical patterns, substantial diversity emerges in sensorimotor asymmetry combinations. While many right-handers display consistent right-sided preferences across hand, foot, and eye, and many left-handers the converse, mixed profiles—combinations of right- and left-sided preferences across domains—occur frequently, highlighting the multidimensional nature of individual lateralization.

Building on these observations, the study is designed to create a comprehensive database that systematically integrates multiple measures of laterality with personality and well-being variables. This resource will allow for detailed analyses of inter-domain segregation and the spectrum of typical and atypical lateralization profiles. By providing a multidimensional framework for laterality assessment, the database aims to advance our understanding of hemispheric specialization and its variability across individuals, offering a foundation for future research on the neuropsychological correlates of behavior and psychological functioning.

Beyond its well-established physical and mental health benefits, physical activity has been increasingly recognized as a critical component of brain health. However, not all forms of physical activity are equal, and those involving higher cognitive demands may be particularly relevant. In this context, dance has received considerable attention, given its multifaceted nature and the complex interaction of motor, cognitive, and affective processes.

This randomized controlled intervention study examines structural brain changes in white matter morphology following two different dance interventions over 6 weeks. A sample of young adults from the general population was randomized into three groups: classical ballet intervention, contemporary dance intervention, and a control group. Participants in the experimental groups received dance training twice a week for 90 minutes each session. The ballet training consisted of basic ballet exercises at the barre and in the center, while the contemporary training included technique exercises, improvisation, partner work, and choreography. Additionally, participants completed MRI brain scans at three assessment time points (pre-, mid-, and post-intervention).

Preliminary analyses of white matter microstructure reveal changes in relevant brain regions associated with motor and sensorimotor functions, already emerging after 2-3 weeks of dance training. These initial results provide new insights into the brain mechanisms modulated by dancing and demonstrate how rapidly the brain adapts when learning a new motor skill.

In our daily lives, we often have to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. When decisions involve potential gains and losses, people tend to weigh losses more heavily than equivalent gains – termed loss aversion. Prior research suggests that catecholamines (dopamine and noradrenaline) and serotonin play key roles in risky decision-making. Since neurotransmitter synthesis depends on dietary precursors, we hypothesized that nutrition influences loss aversion. By varying the macronutrient composition of a single meal, it is possible to modulate circulating large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) – including tyrosine and tryptophan, precursors for catecholamines and serotonin – thereby influencing neurocognitive functioning. To test this, we collected behavioral, neuroimaging, and blood data from 43 participants (20 female) across two sessions one week apart. Each session involved consuming one of two isocaloric breakfasts differing in macronutrient composition (high vs. low carbohydrate-to-protein ratio), designed to shift the balance of tryptophan or tyrosine relative to other LNAAs. Three hours post-meal, participants completed a monetary gambling task with varying gains and losses. We applied a drift diffusion model that decomposes loss aversion into multiple computational markers. Analyses revealed a tyrosine-dependent shift in starting point bias and drift bias, translating into increased gamble rejections. Further functional MRI analyses aimed at unraveling neural correlates of nutritional effects on loss aversion are currently ongoing. These findings suggest that the macronutrient composition of a single meal can influence loss aversion. This supports the growing body of evidence indicating that nutrition modulates cognition by affecting the availability of neurotransmitter precursors.

Ample evidence suggests that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) interact during cognitive conflict processing. The ACC is assumed to detect and signal conflicts and errors, whereas the DLPFC implements cognitive control. However, the precise temporal dynamics of this interaction remain unclear. In this study, we investigated ACC-to-DLPFC interactions during error processing using concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG). Thirty-eight participants performed an error-prone task while receiving online triple-pulse TMS over the right DLPFC (compared to an active control condition) within a 200 ms window following their response, targeting the period of error-related ACC activation.

Our aim was to disrupt DLPFC processing during error signalling and examine effects on neural markers, specifically the error-related negativity (Ne/ERN), as well as behavioural adjustments such as post-error slowing (PES) and post-error accuracy (PEA). Additionally, we analysed EEG predictors of behavioural adaptation, including the contingent negative variation (CNV) during the inter-trial interval (ITI). Although TMS did not produce significant main effects on individual neural or behavioural measures, it significantly altered the relationships between neural activity (Ne/ERN, ITI) and behavioural outcomes (PES, PEA).

These findings suggest that DLPFC stimulation affects the strategy rather than the magnitude of behavioural adaptation, supporting its role in implementing cognitive control. Furthermore, the results highlight the pre-stimulus interval as a critical phase for translating neural error signals into adaptive behaviour. Overall, the study demonstrates the value of combining temporally precise neurostimulation and neuroimaging methods to better understand the functional interplay underlying adaptive cognition.

In recent years, sleep research has primarily focused on the use of electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate neural correlates of cognitive processes during sleep. State of the art polysomnography incorporates EEG as the central component for assessing neural activity, and sleep staging is still primarily defined based on characteristic EEG patterns. To advance current methodologies, we implemented magnetoencephalographic sleep measurements in our MEG laboratory at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH). MEG offers both high temporal and high spatial resolution, enabling novel insights into the temporal and spatial dynamics of memory reactivation and consolidation during sleep. To investigate memory consolidation, we employed targeted memory reactivation (TMR). In the context of a pilot analysis, an initial sample of 10 participants was recruited, with plans to extend the sample size to 30 participants. Participants learned image–word associations, with words presented auditorily and images visually. Encoding and retrieval were assessed prior to a daytime nap of up to two hours in the MEG coupled with EEG recordings for sleep scoring and comparison purposes. Following sleep, participants completed a second retrieval session. During the nap, targeted memory reactivation of a subset of the associated stimuli was performed. Although preliminary analysis yielded no robust behavioral TMR effects in the current sample, and multivariate classifiers trained on wake data did not yet reliably detect reactivation patterns during sleep, we successfully established a functional MEG-based sleep paradigm. This setup demonstrates feasibility and provides a strong methodological foundation for future data collection with an increased sample size.

Resting electroencephalography (EEG) has been considered a stable trait and associated with various personality constructs. The Five-Factor Model (FFM) as a well-established model of personality has been discussed to be partly based on innate biological factors with potential correlates including physiological measures like aspects of the resting EEG. Most research into resting EEG features and their relation to personality traits has been focused on frequency bands, others such as entropy have rarely been considered. Discussions about trait aspects of resting EEG features have been expanded to include how such traits might come into effect, presumably as latent traits which are superimposed by state-dependent fluctuations. The goal of this study was to explore the latent state-trait structure of features of the resting EEG like frequency bands and entropy through structural-equation-modelling (SEM). To calculate a model of latent traits and states a minimum of two occasions of measurement is required. The study used data from three resting EEG sessions from one day of measurement of 745 participants conducted as part of the CoScience EEG personality project. Different options of latent-trait, latent-state-trait and models including method-factors were analysed through SEM regarding their fit to the data. A latent trait specified in the models was further investigated to determine whether it could be associated with factors of the FFM measured by questionnaires. Absolute model fit for any of the investigated models was not adequate and there were no significant correlations between aspects of resting EEG and personality traits after correcting for multiple testing.

This preregistered study investigated how social exclusion affects neural responses to fair and unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants first played Cyberball (inclusion or exclusion), followed by an Ultimatum Game with the same players, who were manipulated to behave either predominantly fair (3/7, 5/5 splits) or unfair (7/3, 9/1 splits). Our analyses were based on a preliminary sample of 33 participants (18–32.4 years; 66.7% female). Behaviorally, we expected higher acceptance rates for fair offers and reduced acceptance following exclusion, particularly for unfair confederates. We examined the feedback-related negativity (FRN; reflecting conflict and fairness violation detection) and P3b (reflecting motivational outcome evaluation) during offer evaluation, focusing on mismatch effects between prior social context (inclusion/exclusion) and confederate type (fair/unfair). We expected enhanced FRN for unfair (vs. fair) confederates and enhanced P3b for fair (vs. unfair) confederates, while both components should reflect the mismatch when confederate behavior violated prior social context expectations. While exclusion consistently threatened the need to belong, there was only a main effect of confederate type on acceptance rates, with fair offers accepted near ceiling and unfair offers substantially less often. There were no ERP effects, although a non-significant trend indicated enhanced FRN following exclusion vs. inclusion. Findings suggest behavioral responses were primarily driven by offer fairness rather than prior social context. The role of prior social experiences on fairness considerations will be discussed.

Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) proposes that re-exposing sensory cues associated with prior learning during sleep can strengthen memory consolidation. In a seminal study, Rudoy et al. (2009) found that auditory cues presented during slow-wave sleep selectively reduced forgetting for cued image-location pairs, suggesting that sleep-dependent reactivation can help stabilize specific memories. However, the true magnitude and robustness of this effect remain uncertain, as meta-analytic estimates indicate that previously reported effects may be considerably smaller than initially assumed. To address this open question, the ManyBeds project unites more than 13 laboratories across Asia, Europe, and North America in a coordinated, preregistered replication effort. Using standardized behavioral, electrophysiological, and questionnaire protocols, the consortium will collect data from over 600 participants to derive the most precise and transparent estimate of the TMR effect to date. Data collection is currently underway, with participating sites contributing datasets across all three continents. A split-half design will divide the data into exploratory and confirmatory halves, enabling a many-analysts approach in which independent teams preregister, exchange, and validate their analyses on withheld data. By combining large-scale collaboration with rigorous Open Science practices, ManyBeds will not only assess the reliability of TMR during sleep but also illuminate how analytical and theoretical flexibility influence replicability in cognitive neuroscience. The project aims to establish a benchmark for reproducible, collaborative experimental science in human sleep research and to demonstrate how open, theory-driven, and cooperative science can advance confidence in neuroscientific findings.

Self-report studies indicate that individual differences in emotional reactivity are linked to chronotype, mental health, and emotion regulation. Yet it remains unclear whether equivalent associations can be found for neural measures of emotional reactivity. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) from 200 adult participants viewing pictures of neutral, fearful, and happy facial expressions while categorizing the picture stimuli for male vs. female models. Early to late event-related potentials were analyzed for effects of stimulus valence, focusing on the P1, N170, early posterior negativity (EPN), and late positive potential (LPP). We observed valence-dependent modulations that were largely independent of model gender: relative to neutral expressions, P1 amplitudes were reduced for happy expressions, N170 and EPN were reduced for happy and increased for fearful expressions, and LPP was increased for fearful expressions. These findings suggest that emotional reactivity differentially unfolds across successive processing stages for happy and fearful stimuli, with early sensitivity to positive valence, differentiation at structural encoding stages, and enhanced elaborative processing of threat-related stimuli. Individual differences in these neural measures of emotional reactivity were not significantly associated with self-reported chronotype, mental health, or emotion regulation. However, greater self-reported emotional reactivity was linked to evening chronotype, reduced well-being, higher anxiety and depression, and greater emotional dysregulation. These findings suggest that neural and self-report measures of emotional reactivity capture different aspects of the constructs. It can be assumed that self-report measures reflect more abstract assessments that are aligned with a person’s self-concept and only partially correspond to direct physical responses.

Auditory working memory (AWM) serves the temporary maintenance of sensory information, for example in real-world communication contexts. Compared with visual working memory, the encoding of auditory features in working memory and their neural representation have remained less explored. As previous work has suggested that sounds are stored in working memory as objects including both task-relevant and -irrelevant features, we investigated whether we can decode both types of features from magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals during the delay phase of a working memory task. Each trial began with the sequential presentation of two spoken syllables that differed both in voice identity (task-relevant feature) and perceived spatial location (task-irrelevant feature). A subsequent retrocue indicated the target stimulus whose voice identity had to be memorized. After a brief delay, participants made a match-non-match decision about a probe sound whose irrelevant feature could either be identical to or differ from the memorized stimulus. Behavioral results demonstrated an effect of irrelevant location on voice identity recall. Multivariate analyses of spatiotemporal activity patterns revealed that both task-relevant and -irrelevant features were decodable during stimulus encoding. During the delay period, task-relevant feature could be decoded following the retrocue. suggesting a transient rather than sustained neural representation of the memorized voice identity. In contrast, the task-irrelevant feature remained non-decodable throughout the delay period. Attempts are ongoing to assess whether stimulus-specific task-irrelevant information during the delay period might be decodable with different, e.g., spectral signal-based, analysis methods.

Truth and lie are fundamental to human communication. We trace their underlying cognitive processes using event-related potentials (ERPs) in a card game with 32 interactive dyads. Speakers sometimes freely chose to deceive while listeners rated response truthfulness. Even if speakers responded truthfully, forming an intention to lie (when reward was potentially available) or experiencing situational temptation (when having a low-valued card) modulated cognitive, emotional, and motivational ERPs in both interlocutors. Despite chance-level lie detection, listener’s rating was sensitive to speakers’ response times, intentions, and temptations. In the speaker, rewards elicited enhanced emotional responses and semantic analyses when obtained through lying compared to truth-telling. Control-task comparisons confirm these effects to be specific to the social-deceptive context. By differentiating intention, temptation, production/perception, and feedback processing within a single interactive paradigm, our study offers a comprehensive account of the complex dynamics of deceptive communication and helps explain our notoriously poor lie detection.

The design, hypotheses, and analyses are all preregistered. Data, analysis scripts, and materials are shared within a reproducible environment.

Frontal EEG alpha asymmetry (FAA) is a neural marker of approach and withdrawal tendencies, yet most research focuses on emotional provocation rather than everyday cognitive challenges. FAA may be more informative under task-induced strain, highlighting individual differences in neural recovery. We investigated whether short-term cognitive effort elicits FAA changes and how these relate to trait neuroticism.

A sample of 105 healthy university students (41 men, 57 women, 7 diverse; 18 to 39 years) completed two cognitively demanding tasks, a 3-back working-memory task and paced mental arithmetic, preceded and followed by eight-minute eyes-closed resting EEG recordings. FAA was calculated from frontal alpha power (F4 minus F3), with higher values indicating greater left-frontal activity. Trait neuroticism was assessed via the Big Five Inventory.

FAA showed minimal change at the group level, suggesting that short-term cognitive effort does not reliably alter frontal asymmetry across individuals. However, interindividual differences revealed a clear pattern: higher neuroticism was associated with a rightward shift in FAA, while lower neuroticism showed a slight leftward shift. These findings support a dynamic trait and state interaction perspective, indicating that cognitive strain may reveal personality-dependent variation in neural recovery.

From a translational perspective, individuals with higher neuroticism may exhibit withdrawal-biased neural responses to routine cognitive challenges, reflecting increased stress sensitivity. Monitoring FAA in response to cognitive demands may inform personalized resilience interventions, and future research should examine whether such EEG patterns predict adaptive functioning and vulnerability in daily life.

This contribution reconceptualizes immersion in children’s digital learning environments through the Two-Competitor Model of attention, which frames cognitive engagement as a dynamic competition between task-relevant and task-irrelevant information streams.

We present a structural analysis of the model by formalizing attentional channels as time-varying weights. Salience, task affordances, and learner goals act as modulatory inputs, while a gating mechanism regulates transitions between sustained focus and distractor capture. Capacity limits determine whether this competition yields productive immersion or cognitive overload.

Mapping these components onto classroom settings, we identify key sources of attentional competition: multimedia features and animations that strongly attract attention; interface complexity and notifications that create persistent distractor streams; social and pedagogical cues that direct learners’ attention to task-relevant information; and internal factors such as motivation and metacognitive strategies that bias attention toward task relevance.

To operationalize the model, we implement a computational simulation that captures the temporal dynamics of attentional competition under varying design conditions. The simulation generates testable predictions about how specific interface features amplify extraneous load or support self-regulated learning by stabilizing task-relevant processing.

Finally, we outline empirical implications, including psychophysiological measures (e.g., pupillometry, heart rate variability, skin conductance, EEG) to validate simulated dynamics in situ. Together, these contributions inform the design of adaptive, cognitively sustainable digital learning environments for children.

This multicentre study (n=505 participants) utilized a large-scale, harmonized dataset to investigate whether cortical-subcortical brain structural asymmetries serve as neural correlates for placebo analgesia (PA). Employing both mass-univariate and multivariate machine learning approaches, the analysis revealed that structural asymmetry is not a widespread predictor of PA. Indeed, most brain regions provide strong evidence for the null hypothesis (BF01>20). While putamen, parsorbitalis, and parahippocampal gyrus showed weak suggestive associations (p<0.05, uncorrected), and brain-wide association study demonstrated statistically significant predictive power (r = 0.12, p=0.004), the overall effect sizes remain small. These findings suggest that while PA is subtly encoded within distributed multivariate structural signature, regional asymmetry alone lacks the robustness required for a standalone clinical neuro-marker. Consequently, future research should transition towards a multimodal framework. Specifically, integrating T1w metrics with structural methods from DWI connectivity and network perturbation methods is essential to better capture the complex, distributed psychobiological mechanisms underlying pain expectations.

Background and aims. Kinesiophobia and fear-avoidance are key factors in chronic primary low back pain, yet underlying mechanisms remain unclear due to ambiguous findings. We developed an integrative paradigm combining self-report and technology-based measures to experimentally induce pain-related responses in pain-free individuals. We hypothesize that a low back pain simulator would elicit pain experiences, movement alterations, and stress responses to research underlying mechanisms in chronic primary low back pain.

Methods. Twenty pain-free participants performed six standardized movement tasks with and without a low back pain simulator (randomized order). Pain measures included Visual Analogue Scales assessing intensity, impairment, and emotional distress. Wearable motion capture was used to compute lumbar range of motion. Stress responses were assessed via questionnaire (SSSQ-G) and salivary biomarkers (cortisol, alpha-amylase). Kinesiophobia was measured using the TSK-G.

Results. Participants reported significantly higher pain intensity, impairment, and distress in the pain condition (all p < .001). Lumbar range of motion decreased significantly during pain induction compared to the control condition (p < .05). rmANOVA revealed a significant condition×timepoint interaction for self-reported stress (p = .010): stress decreased in the control condition (p = .002) but remained elevated during pain induction, resulting in significant post-task differences (p = .004). Mixed ANOVAs revealed no significant effects of time or condition order on salivary cortisol or alpha-amylase levels (all p > .05).

Discussion. This paradigm successfully evokes pain experiences, movement alterations, and self-reported stress in pain-free individuals, offering a controlled experimental model for investigating fear-avoidance mechanisms without confounding chronic pain comorbidities.

Neural activity consists of both rhythmic (oscillatory) and arrhythmic (aperiodic) components. While oscillatory activity has been widely studied in relation to perception and cognition, the functional role of aperiodic activity has only recently gained attention. The aperiodic component, commonly described by a 1/f-like slope, is thought to reflect the balance between neural excitation and inhibition (E:I), a key mechanism of brain function.

Alterations in E:I balance have been linked to several neurological and psychiatric conditions. In the present study, we examined whether aperiodic activity is altered in hepatic encephalopathy (HE), a disorder associated with increased ammonia levels and changes in inhibitory (GABAergic) neurotransmission. We recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 17 healthy participants and 17 HE patients during visual and temporal discrimination tasks.

HE patients showed reduced aperiodic exponents in parieto-occipital regions (p < .01) and a trend toward increased exponents in frontal regions (p = .085). Importantly, aperiodic activity was related to behavior: higher exponents in parieto-occipital areas were associated with better temporal discrimination performance (p < .05), whereas higher exponents in frontal regions were linked to poorer performance (p < .05). In addition, we found that E:I balance correlated with distributions of specific neurotransmitters (GABAA, opiod).

These findings suggest that aperiodic neural activity reflects region-specific differences in E:I balance and is meaningfully related to perceptual performance. Aperiodic measures may therefore provide a useful, non-invasive marker for studying brain–behavior relationships in both healthy individuals and clinical populations.

Insights into the mechanisms of expectation effects in the emotional domain are essential for developing therapeutic interventions for mood disorders. Recent findings demonstrate that positive expectations can induce a positivity bias on both behavioral and neural. This is particularly relevant as antidepressant treatments, which show high placebo responses, are reported to reduce the negativity bias commonly observed in depression.

Previous research suggests that cognitive processes play a key role in maintaining and implementing affective expectations. However, expectation effects in daily life likely also depend on less demanding processes shaped by prior experience and learning.

The present cross-over study investigates how treatment expectations influence early processing of emotional stimuli and how these effects are modulated by prior experiences in healthy volunteers. Participants perform an emotion classification task in which emotional faces are presented at varying visibility levels and different fixation locations. Treatment expectations are induced through a controlled sham oxytocin treatment combined with verbal instructions and reinforced by a manipulated training creating positive prior experiences.

To assess early effects, behavioral measures are combined with psychophysiological recordings, including reflexive gaze shifts and sensory event-related potentials (ERPs). Positive expectations are hypothesized to enhance mood, facilitate recognition of happy expressions, increase gaze shifts toward the mouth region, and evoke expectation-congruent early potentials. Here, we present pilot behavioral and eye-tracking data.

This study (A06) is part of the Collaborative Research Center TRR289 (“Treatment expectation”) and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (ID: 422744262).

Psychological burden and interparental relationship strain are often assumed to heighten physiological stress responses, yet evidence from everyday family life remains limited. Using ecological momentary assessment and repeated salivary cortisol sampling, the present study examined whether within-person variations and between-person differences in psychological burden and couple climate are associated with cortisol levels in adults and children.

This ongoing study addresses four research questions: whether (1) adults show higher momentary cortisol when experiencing more distress than usual; (2) adults with greater trait-like psychological burden show higher overall cortisol output (AUCg); (3) interparental conflict and negative couple climate relate to children’s momentary and daily cortisol beyond children’s own mood; and (4) children with higher trait-like psychological burden show higher overall cortisol output (AUCg).

Data are collected as part of the STAR_T family study (DRKS00036615): N = 60 parent couples and one of their children repeatedly collect subjective measures and salivary samples using psychobiological ecological momentary assessment to calculate diurnal profiles of psychobiological stress and family interactions. Data from 39 already included study participants suggest that in this multi-person context confirm feasibility and the expected diurnal decline in cortisol. Data collection is underway and initial descriptive data on subjective stress and psychobiological stress-indicators will be presented at the conference.

The study aims to provide a comprehensive multilevel examination of associations between psychological burden, family dynamics, and cortisol in everyday life. By integrating momentary, daily, and person-level perspectives in both adults and children, this approach contributes to a more nuanced understanding of psychobiological processes in everyday family life.

Perceived trustworthiness is crucial in social approach-avoidance decisions. Adaptive social behavior requires evaluating potential risks and benefits under uncertainty and resolving conflicts between competing approach-avoidance tendencies. In this study we investigate how decisional uncertainty and approach-avoidance conflict type influence behavioral responses and eye movements as neurocognitive markers of value-based decision-making in a social context. Participants (N = 61) navigated a virtual maze and repeatedly chose between two faces differing in perceived trustworthiness, where higher trustworthiness was associated with a greater likelihood of receiving a positive evaluative comment and progressing in the maze. Uncertainty was operationalized as the difference in trustworthiness between the two faces, with conflict type defined by their overall trustworthiness level, ranging from approach-approach (both faces highly trustworthy) to avoidance-avoidance (both faces untrustworthy) conflicts. Confirming the manipulation, participants were more likely to choose faces with higher perceived trustworthiness. Results show that smaller trustworthiness differences led to longer response times and higher gaze variability, reflecting increased decisional difficulty under more uncertainty. Conflict type and its interaction with trustworthiness difference did not predict response times or gaze variability. Eye-tracking analyses further revealed that both the last fixation before the response and relative dwell time predicted which face was ultimately chosen, supporting a bidirectional relationship between visual attention and option valuation. These findings suggest that trustworthiness difference serves as a meaningful proxy for decisional uncertainty in social approach-avoidance conflicts, while conflict type, operationalized as the sum of both faces' trustworthiness ratings, did not modulate behavioral or attentional responses.

Rewards increase our motivation to learn. In their seminal study, Adcock et al. (2006) demonstrated that the anticipation of a reward increased subsequent memory formation. Mesolimbic activity preceding encoding predicted memory performance for high-reward stimuli. Connectivity between mesolimbic areas and the medial temporal lobe was increased for recognized high-reward items. While the work of Adcock et al. has shaped our understanding of motivated memory formation fundamentally, to date, no direct replications exist. We conducted a preregistered replication following the Small Telescope Principle (2.5 times the sample size of the original study; N = 30). Participants studied pictures in the MRI, associated with either a high (2 €) or a low (0.04 €) reward, which was paid out for recognizing the picture in an old/new recognition test 24 h later. While we replicate VTA activity preceding high-reward memory formation, we do not find evidence for the proposed VTA-hippocampal-NAcc circuit that orchestrates selective, motivated learning. We conclude that effects of anticipatory mesolimbic reward activity on high-reward memory formation must be smaller than previously assumed. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the results can also be explained by a different theoretical account: Mesolimbic activity before encoding might not represent preferential memory formation, but instead source memory formation, which is used at retrieval to inform decision strategies.

Recent research suggests that the interaction between subjective stress experience, behavioral stress expression, and physiological stress responses may be associated with the development of depressive disorders. Initial studies in children and adolescents indicate that a non-coherent stress response pattern—characterized by high subjective stress experience and expression combined with low physiological cortisol reactivity—is linked to more severe depressive symptoms. The aim of the present study is to investigate this relationship in a sample of adult men diagnosed with depressive disorders (n = 55). The Trier Social Stress Test was used to induce a standardized psychosocial stress situation. In addition to established physiological measures such as cortisol and heart rate, social performance was assessed as an additional indicator. Subsequently, a cluster analysis was conducted to identify subgroups based on individual patterns of stress experience, expression, and physiological response. These groups were then compared with regard to depressive symptom severity and other relevant psychological variables.

Two distinct clusters emerged. One group was characterized by higher subjective stress experience and greater behavioral stress expression, despite comparable levels of cortisol reactivity. This group also exhibited more severe depressive symptoms, increased use of maladaptive stress coping strategies, higher levels of social anxiety, and greater chronic stress compared to the other group.

These findings suggest that a non-coherent stress response pattern may also be associated with psychopathological characteristics in adult populations.

Language processing relies on predictive mechanisms that integrate prior expectations with sensory input, a process thought to be altered across the schizophrenia spectrum. We asked how sentence-level semantic entropy and sensory degradation shape neural prediction error (PE) signals during speech comprehension and how these processes are modulated by psychotic-like experiences (PLE).

Forty-nine healthy participants (24 low PLE, 25 high PLE) completed a predictive language comprehension task in which semantic predictability (entropy) and sensory evidence (noise-vocoding channels) were simultaneously manipulated. We modelled behaviour using a Bayesian belief updating framework to estimate trial-wise prediction error and applied representational similarity analysis (RSA) to fMRI data in language-relevant regions to link neural representations with model-derived prediction error.

Preliminary results show correspondence between behavioural prediction error representations and neural similarity structure in auditory and higher-order language regions, with entropy-related effects in the inferior temporal gyrus and sensory degradation effects in Heschl’s gyrus. Consistent with predictive coding accounts of speech perception, we found greater representational similarity for higher sensory clarity conditions and entropy-dependent modulation of prediction error. Furthermore, individuals with lower PLEs show stronger correspondence between behavioural and neural representations across both early auditory cortex and higher-level language regions compared to those with higher PLEs, aligning with evidence for overweighted semantic priors in schizotypy.

These findings provide mechanistic insight into how sentences with different levels of entropy and sensory degradation are processed across brain regions, and suggest that altered weighting of priors and sensory evidence may underlie variability in language processing along the psychosis spectrum.

Experiences shape preferences. This is particularly the case when they deviate from our expectations and thus elicit prediction errors. Here we show that prediction errors do not only occur in response to actual events – they also arise endogenously in response to merely imagined events. Specifically, people repeatedly chose between different acquaintances and then imagined interacting with them. Our results show that they acquired a preference for acquaintances with whom they had pictured unexpectedly pleasant events. This learning can best be accounted for by a computational model that calculates prediction errors based on these rewarding experiences. Using functional MRI, we show that the prediction error is mediated via striatal activity. This activity, in turn, seems to update preferences about the individuals by updating their cortical representations. Our findings demonstrate that imaginings can violate our own expectations and thus drive endogenous learning by coopting a neural system that implements reinforcement learning.

Musical free improvisation - characterised by rejecting pre-given structures – requires musicians to attune themselves closely to one another’s playing and may therefore resemble processes of physiological alignment between interacting individuals. We investigated physiological synchrony in improvisation, and how physiological synchrony relates to subjective experiences of connectedness and aesthetic ratings. 30 improvisation dyads freely improvised for 10 minutes while heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) were continuously recorded. Physiological synchrony was captured using a window cross-correlation and compared across 3 phases (baseline, improvisation, rating), and related to subjective ratings of connectedness and musical aesthetics. In addition, we exploratively examined associations between musical characteristics and both physiological synchrony and subjective ratings. Results showed significantly higher HR synchrony during improvisation and rating phases compared to baseline, suggesting increased interpersonal coordination during active joint performance and shared stimuli. In contrast, EDA synchrony was highest during baseline compared to rating and improvisation. Physiological synchrony was not significantly related to self-reported connectedness or aesthetic, although HR synchrony was more strongly associated with subjective evaluations than EDA synchrony, suggesting that the alignment of arousing and calming moments—associated with heart rate synchrony—may contribute more strongly to the impression of connectedness and the aesthetic experience. Exploratory analyses further indicated that moments of highly “aggressive” music were rated higher but were not associated to physiological synchrony. Overall, the findings indicate that HR synchrony captures meaningful aspects of interpersonal engagement during musical improvisation and is closely related to subjective experiences of connectedness and aesthetics.

The Moral Foundations Theory (MFT; Haidt, 2007) posits that moral decision making follows intuition rather than logical reasoning. The initial MFT proposes five moral dimensions that people consider in moral reasoning: harm, fairness, authority, loyalty, and purity. Findings show that politically left-oriented individuals mainly tend to rely on questions of harm and fairness when making moral evaluations. Contrarily, conservative individuals additionally take authority, loyalty, and purity into account. First studies show that there is a neuronal basis for the MFT. The present study aimed to replicate and extend these findings.

In an MRI experiment, we presented N = 83 participants with short vignettes that described behavior violating one of the five distinct moral foundations. Participants were asked to imagine observing the respective behavior. Trials of each dimension were contrasted against control vignettes describing norm violating behavior unrelated to moral aspects. Before the MRI session, participants filled in the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ; Graham et al., 2011) and provided self-report on political orientation (from “left“ to “right“).

We found the expected associations between moral foundations and political ideology. The results further show overlapping neuronal activation for the different moral foundations in the superior temporal sulcus, angular gyrus, precuneus, and medial frontal gyrus. In line, with our findings, these brain regions have been associated with social cognition, moral reasoning, and theory of mind processes in past studies. Preliminary analyses did not find associations between foundation specific activation and self-reported political orientation.

Exposure with response prevention (ERP) is a crucial component in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. While its efficacy is well established, the underlying mechanisms of change remain insufficiently understood. Existing theoretical models emphasize learning processes, suggesting that therapeutic outcomes depend on emotional engagement during exposure and that neutralization strategies are detrimental. Given the limitations of self-report measures in capturing emotional dynamics, event-related potentials provide a promising alternative. In particular, the late positive potential (LPP) has been widely used to investigate emotional processes, as it indexes sustained neural processing of affective stimuli and is sensitive to both stimulus type and emotion regulation manipulations.

The present project aims to develop and validate an experimental paradigm for the psychophysiological investigation of emotional processes during ERP. The paradigm models key elements of contamination-related exposure in a controlled laboratory setting. Participants with elevated contamination-related obsessive–compulsive symptoms complete an experimental ERP analogue task involving exposure to a neutral (non-contaminated) and a potentially contaminated object. Following each exposure, participants view contamination-related threat statements under different emotion regulation instructions. The paradigm includes three within-subject conditions: (1) a neutral reading condition, (2) a confrontation condition encouraging emotional engagement, and (3) a neutralization condition promoting avoidance-based regulation. EEG and ECG recordings are combined with repeated subjective ratings to capture neural, physiological, and psychological indices of emotional reactivity.

The poster will present the study protocol and pilot EEG data demonstrating the feasibility of investigating emotional processes during exposure. We will discuss the methodological rationale, future avenues and clinical implementation.

The Two-Step Task (Daw et al., 2011) is a standard paradigm for investigating decision-making in healthy and clinical populations. However, the task has been criticised because the reward for model-based planning is too low to justify its cognitive cost and the task structure is difficult to learn, often failing to elicit model-based behaviour even in healthy subjects. We implemented four task versions to enhance model-based control alongside the original Two-Step Task in 102 healthy individuals. The tasks manipulated transition structure and reward contrast, and included (1) Easy (high reward contrast), (2) Difficult (low reward contrast), (3) Reward Reversals, and (4) the Akam version (no second-stage choice; Akam et al., 2015). Behaviour was analysed using hierarchical Bayesian modelling and Bayesian statistics. Furthermore, 48 individuals with psychosis completed the Easy and Akam tasks, which promoted model-based dominance in healthy participants. Compared with the standard Two-Step Task, healthy individuals in both Akam and Easy tasks showed greater reliance on model-based than model-free behaviour and reduced choice stochasticity. In individuals with psychosis, the Akam task similarly elicited increased model-based behaviour, while the Easy task showed greater model-free control and reduced choice consistency, despite comparable reward rates across cohorts. In the clinical group higher perseveration correlated positively with psychotic and depressive symptoms. These results indicate that systematic modifications of reward structure, transition dynamics, and second-stage choice can enhance model-based control in the Two-Step Task. Notably, reducing second-stage choice in the Akam task also increases model-based behaviour in individuals with psychosis.

Emotion regulation is a key mechanism for controlling affective experiences and maintaining mental health. Various approaches have been used to investigate how different regulation strategies influence physiological components of emotional responses, such as brain activity. In a systematic review, we synthesized the current evidence on electrophysiological correlates of emotion regulation. We included studies that used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the effects of different regulation strategies on components of event-related potentials (ERPs). Following PRISMA guidelines, 890 studies were screened and 63 included in the final review. The synthesis covered study characteristics and findings, including samples, methods, and ERP effects. The review indicates a constantly increasing number of studies since 2013, predominantly conducted with young female participants. Regarding regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal was most frequently investigated, followed by suppression and distraction. Most studies focused on the downregulation of negative emotional responses to visual stimuli. Regarding ERP components, analyses predominantly targeted the late positive potential (LPP), for which regulation effects were most consistently reported. In contrast, earlier ERP components, such as the P200, EPN and N100, showed less consistent effects. Moderate convergence was observed in preprocessing (e.g., baseline correction, filtering), whereas other aspects of analyses showed substantial variability. Overall, the review shows a narrow focus on LPP effects during the downregulation of negative emotions via cognitive reappraisal. It provides guidance for selecting parameters for EEG recording and analyses and highlights research gaps, particularly regarding positive emotion regulation and more diverse samples, which may inform future research.

Memory replay is a central mechanism for memory consolidation. While clearly characterized in rodents, detecting replay from human non-invasive imaging data remains challenging. Temporally Delayed Linear Modeling (TDLM) is a new approach that detects the sequential reinstatement of stimulus-specific neural patterns. However, recent research suggests that TDLM may not be sensitive enough to reliably capture replay during non-task periods like rest. To address this, we conducted a behavioral pilot to refine a paradigm specifically designed to elicit high replay rates and enhance subsequent detection power.

In an online experiment (N=50), participants learned two 14-item linear sequences of images representing distinct conceptual categories. Initially, participants studied overlapping pairs from Sequence 1. To optimize for future replay detection, each learning run was immediately followed by a 5-second "micro-rest" break, at a timepoint where high replay densities are expected. Learning runs were interleaved with retrieval questions requiring participants to infer the underlying sequence structure rather than individual pairs to further encourage replay.

In the second phase, a new sequence used novel exemplars of the same categories in a different order. Interleaving both sequences allows investigating how interference modulates sequence replay across different stages of learning.

The current dataset validates the behavioral task, providing benchmarks for learning rates and inference performance. Furthermore, we present preliminary iEEG data from a small sample, providing initial evidence of the paradigm’s suitability for replay detection. These behavioral and electrophysiological results establish the foundation for a follow-up MEG study to test and refine TDLM-based replay detection in humans.

Memory replay, the temporally compressed reactivation of sequential neural patterns present during encoding, has gained a lot of traction in non-spatial human memory research in recent years. However, its role in working memory and retrieval of material unrelated to the learning episode remains unclear. Furthermore, it has not been examined in the context of stress. Here, for the first time, we examined replay of a stressful episode and how it affects different memory functions. Participants underwent a stressful episode with a fixed sequential structure in the MRI. Subsequently, they completed a working memory task, followed by a working memory task and a retrieval task of stressor-unrelated material. We observed replay in visual and medial temporal areas during the stressful episode. Consistent with prior research, replay enhanced episodic memory, but strikingly, only in participants with strong neuroendocrine stress responses. Furthermore, we found evidence of replay of the stressful episode in an unrelated retrieval task, but not during a working memory task. Crucially, brain areas actively involved during the retrieval task showed reduced activity as a function of replay in these areas, highlighting its cognitive and mechanistic relevance. Furthermore, higher replay was associated with a retrieval impairment. Together, our results compliment prior research by showing that the positive effects of replay on episodic memory are selective towards strong neuroendocrine stress responses. Importantly, we also show that this replay comes at the expanse of other tasks, namely retrieval of unrelated material.

Early detection of adolescents at heightened risk for psychosis remains a major challenge in clinical neuroscience, as neurodevelopmental variability can obscure emerging vulnerability markers. To address this, we develop and evaluate a multimodal machine learning framework that integrates commonly established risk markers across structural neuroimaging, white matter microstructure, and cognitive performance.

Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort, we examine psychosis risk at baseline, year 2, and year 4. Risk groups were defined using the Prodromal Psychosis Scale (PPS). Low-risk controls were rigorously matched on age, sex, and ethnicity, and screened for minimal KSADS symptom load across all available timepoints to ensure a clean comparison.

Neuroimaging features included cortical thickness, cortical volume, surface area, and subcortical volumes, alongside white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). Cognitive performance was quantified using NIH Toolbox age-corrected scores. Multiple machine learning algorithms were implemented within a stratified cross-validation framework using harmonised preprocessing pipelines. Model performance was evaluated using area under the curve (AUC).

Preliminary findings indicate that multimodal integration improves risk prediction performance compared to unimodal approaches, with combined models achieving approximately 10% higher AUC. However, overall classification performance remains moderate, suggesting that current multimodal markers are not yet sufficient for reliable individual-level prediction. These findings highlight both the promise and current limitations of multimodal approaches and support continued efforts to refine predictive models for early psychosis detection in adolescent populations.

Aggression is associated with deficits in cognitive control, particularly in high-risk groups such as violent offenders and patients with substance use disorders (SUD), who show reduced cognitive control and increased aggression levels. Previous studies have used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate aggression by altering the resting membrane potential of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is associated with cognitive control. However, prior findings are inconsistent, and meta-analyses suggest no overall effect of tDCS on aggression. This highlights the need for repetitive tDCS to induce lasting neural changes and more robust effects. This study aims to examine the effects of repetitive tDCS over the right and left DLPFC on aggression in violent offenders, SUD patients, and healthy controls. Participants were randomly assigned to right (F4), left (F3), or sham stimulation and completed three consecutive tDCS sessions with a concurrent Eriksen Flanker Task. Aggression was assessed before and after stimulation using the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP). A linear mixed-effects model was used to investigate the effects of provocation, tDCS condition, group, and session. A significant interaction suggested that tDCS over the right DLPFC was associated with an increase in aggression, as reflected by the change from pre- to post-stimulation. Left and sham tDCS were not associated with changes in aggression. Due to small sample sizes, violent offenders and SUD patients were combined into a high-risk group, limiting the assessment of group-specific effects. Contrary to our expectation, right DLPFC stimulation increased aggression, highlighting careful examination of expected lateralization effects of tDCS.

Drug cue reactivity (DCR) is a central paradigm in addiction neuroscience, yet its clinical translation and predictive utility remain limited. Here, we integrate findings from two neuroimaging meta-analyses examining neural responses to drug cues. The first identified regions showing greater activation to drug versus control cues in a within-subject design (k= 92; N= 3,647), while the second was based on the case-control equivalent comparing individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) and non-affected controls (k= 25; N= 794). Across the two meta-analyses based on largely non-overlapping samples, we found convergent evidence for a cluster in the ventromedial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex (vmPFC/ACC) across both within-subject (drug > control) and case-control contrasts (SUD > controls), indicating a robust and replicable involvement in neural DCR. Meta-analytic associations revealed systematic modulation by variables indexing subjective salience and clinical context: Within-subject findings of DCR showed decreasing vmPFC/ACC contributions with increasing substance use severity, a pattern that was further amplified by higher motivation to cease consumption and by using natural reinforcers as control conditions. Complementing this, case-control contrasts demonstrated that the vmPFC/ACC regions may respond more broadly to reward history and that, with protracted abstinence, DCR effects in these regions approach those of non-affected controls. Together, these findings frame vmPFC/ACC DCR as dynamic, as state-dependent, as well as shaped by motivational contingencies and prior reward learning. The results highlight its potential as a biomarker for prediction, prognosis, and treatment monitoring in SUD, while complicating its utility for diagnostic classification.

The role of the primary somatosensory cortices (SI) is still controversially discussed. Early studies suggested that neural substrates for empathizing with others include brain areas such as the anterior insula but not SI. In contrast to this view, recent studies suggest a contribution of the somatosensory cortices at least in in picture-based empathy tasks. However, the exact roles of the somatosensory cortices remain unclear. Here we report fMRI results of a pain empathy task. One hundred participants viewed painful and non-painful images depicting hands and feet and were asked to rate the observed pain. Consistent with previous research the contrast painful relative to non-painful images engaged the anterior insula, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and left SI. The contrast non-painful > painful images revealed activation predominantly in right SI. ROI analyses confirmed this striking hemispheric dissociation within the SI cortices. To examine whether this pattern merely reflected the right-sided body parts shown in the stimuli, we conducted a repeated-measures ANOVA comparing painful > baseline and non-painful > baseline responses across left and right SI. This analysis yielded a significant hemisphere × condition interaction, indicating that the lateralization pattern differed fundamentally between painful and non-painful picture processing. These findings extend previous work by suggesting that SI involvement during pain observation is not simply expressed as an increase in SI activity but may follow a condition dependent hemispheric organization. Rather than reflecting a purely global empathic response, recruitment may be shaped by an interaction between pain-related processing and body-specific stimulus representations.

We present a HD-tDCS experiment investigating visuomotor adaption processes and the involvement of the occipital cortex in adaption accuracy in a virtual reality-based, continuous hand-target phase matching task. Participants had to synchronize the movements of a virtual hand, controlled via a data glove on their occluded real hand, to the phasic size changes of a target dot. To introduce visuomotor conflict, we implemented trials of delayed virtual hand movement varying within ten delay levels from 300 ms to 750 ms that alternated trials of no delay, which required participants to (de)adapt.

For the duration of the task, HD-tDCS was positioned in a multichannel montage over the occipital cortex, administering anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation in a within-subject design.

After recent completion of data collection, full analysis will proceed in the next weeks.

Preliminary analyses show an overall effect of delay on adaption performance, as well as an improved performance in delayed hand-target matching under anodal stimulation, indicating a possible beneficial effect of anodal stimulation on visuomotor adaption.

Dynamically dividing attention between several moving objects is a key ability for many daily tasks. Whether driving a car, participating in team sports or engaging in social interactions in crowded situations, attentional allocation modulates how and what we perceive. In those situations, not all relevant events occur at visual fixation but also in the peripheral visual field.

We investigated attentional selection using the multiple object tracking (MOT) paradigm in which participants divide attention between moving objects. EEG recordings of frequency-tagged steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) allowed us to concurrently measure the allocation of attention to tracked targets and ignored distractors. Participants tracked targets in two bilaterally symmetric fields whose eccentricity was manipulated across conditions.

Behavioural data showed that tracking performance decreases with increasing in eccentricity. The recorded SSVEPs showed that the processing of tracked targets was consistently amplified compared with the processing of the distractors. This amplification was nearly constant across eccentricity conditions, but overall amplitudes decreased with increasing eccentricity.

The results of the present study demonstrate that enhanced signals for tracked items in the early visual cortex are directly linked to better performance, thus revealing attention's flexible yet limited nature. Our study provides evidence for the critical role of spatial location in multiple object tracking. Behavioural performance is strongly affected by stimulus position in the visual field, even when attentional allocation remains constant.

Using olfactory stimuli in Pavlovian conditioning provides a valuable approach to investigate the development of disgust associations, since odors can presumably act as primary reinforcers. However, administering aversive olfactory unconditioned stimuli (UCS) may affect respiration patterns and, via modulation of the autonomic nervous system, other markers of conditioned responding, such as heart period (HP) responses. Based on data from a recent differential conditioning study using individualized aversive odors as UCS, the present analysis aimed to clarify this question. In addition to self-report (valence, disgust, arousal, and expectancy ratings), psychophysiological measures (HP, skin conductance response [SCR], and pupil dilation [PD]) were assessed, while additionally examining the influence of onset latency in breathing during conditioned stimulus (CS) presentation. In total, 69 participants (52 women) completed two conditioning sessions, varying (within-subjects) in the temporal contiguity of CS and UCS (delay conditioning: 2s overlap between UCS and CS; trace conditioning: 4s gap interval between CS offset and UCS onset). For most self-report measures, differential conditioned responses emerged regardless of temporal contiguity. As expected, respiratory latency was modulated by CS type, but only in delay conditioning. Controlling for this effect did not abolish significant differentiation effects in autonomic measures (SCR: main effect of CS type; HP: Time*CS type interaction). Overall, our results support the feasibility of autonomic markers as established in fear conditioning research for the use in olfactory conditioning experiments as well.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being progressively integrated into daily routines, offering easily accessible support in cognitively and affectively demanding situations. Seeking such support can be particularly appealing when internal cognitive resources are reduced. Thus far, research is lacking on whether certain psychobiological states linked to reduced cognitive resources, specifically arousal, and fatigue following poor sleep, are associated with increased occurrence of AI use in naturalistic settings.

During four consecutive days N = 80 healthy adults (18-40 years) filled out ecological momentary assessment surveys on their smartphone, while wearing Fitbit Alta HR wristbands at night and partly during daytime. Study design and measures were preregistered. The measures include heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), sleep scores and self-reported arousal and fatigue. Additionally, frequency as well as purpose and perceived quality of AI use were reported. Using a multilevel model approach, we investigate within- and between-person relationships between psychobiological indicators of arousal and fatigue and AI use.

This research presents early findings on how the psychobiological states of arousal and fatigue can trigger and shape AI use, investigating its potential role as a cognitive offloading mechanism in demanding everyday life situations under reduced cognitive resources.

Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) uses cues during sleep to modify memories, but its effect on weakening fear memory generalization remains unclear. This study investigates whether TMR during slow-wave sleep (SWS) reduces fear generalization by selectively enhancing memory specificity. Sixty participants will be randomly assigned to a nap group (90-minute SWS) or a wake group (quiet rest). Fear conditioning pairs two geometric shapes (circles and triangles) with distinct odors (leather or metal), fully counterbalanced across participants. Within each set, the most extreme shapes serve as CS+ (partially reinforced with shocks) and CS− (never reinforced). Critically, in the nap group using TMR, one odor is re-presented during SWS (i.e., the target), while the other remains unreactivated (i.e., the nontarget). Sleep- EEG and fMRI will be used to monitor SWS and evaluate activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, and vmPFC, respectively. We hypothesize that TMR during SWS will selectively reduce generalization only for reactivated stimuli), evidenced by diminished fear responses to non-reinforced, intermediate sizeds shapes, alongside reduced amygdala activation and enhanced vmPFC-hippocampal connectivity for target-related memories. In contrast, nontarget-associated fear of unreactivated stimuli will show comparable generalization in both groups. By disentangling sleep-dependent memory precision from wakeful extinction, this design clarifies how TMR during SWS weakens fear overgeneralization through targeted neural replay, offering a novel strategy to mitigate relapse in disorders where maladaptive generalization persists, such as addiction or PTSD.

Psychosocial stress is widespread and associated with an increased risk of mental and physical diseases like depression and diabetes mellitus. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process remain incompletely understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in stress reactivity and may contribute to disease pathogenesis through altered expression profiles. This pre-registered systematic review (CRD42024590242) aims to summarize the existing evidence on psychosocial stress-related changes in miRNA expression in humans and their relevance to stress-associated diseases, with a particular focus on metabolic disorders. We conducted a systematic literature search across four databases (EBSCO, PSYNDEX, PubMed, Web of Science), to identify (1) peer-reviewed studies (2) investigating miRNA expression (3) in response to psychosocial stress (4) in adults. The methodological quality of all included studies was assessed.

In total, 12 studies comprising N = 490 participants (aged 18-84 years) were included in the review. Various methods were used to induce and assess acute/chronic psychosocial stress, including laboratory paradigms (e.g., Trier Social Stress Test), naturalistic stressors (e.g., exams), self-report scales, and biomarkers (e.g., cortisol). miRNAs were extracted from various biological samples like blood or saliva across multiple timepoints. We identified over 30 differentially expressed miRNAs associated with psychosocial stress exposure. An exploratory, non-systematic analysis further linked several of these miRNAs to metabolic diseases using HMDD v4.0 data.

However, most identified miRNAs were reported in a single study only, and substantial methodological heterogeneity limits direct comparisons, as will be discussed. Nevertheless, elucidating stress-associated miRNA alterations holds promise for improving future prevention and treatment strategies for stress-related diseases.

Beyond regulating cerebral metabolic homeostasis through gas exchange, respiration directly shapes brain activity by modulating rhythmic neural dynamics. Previous research has shown that respiration entrains both the occurrence and coordination of the two hallmark Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep-related oscillations – namely, slow oscillations (SOs) and spindles – which are central to systems-level memory consolidation. However, the mechanisms underlying this modulation remain unclear. It has been proposed that nasal airflow stimulates mechanoreceptors in olfactory sensory neurons, generating breathing-locked oscillations that propagate to regions involved in the emergence of SOs and spindles. Meanwhile, these sleep oscillations may also be modulated by respiratory rhythm generators in the brainstem. To disentangle the contributions of these two pathways in coordinating SOs and spindles, we experimentally manipulated the breathing route during sleep by selectively blocking nasal airflow. After an associative memory task, participants slept either with their mouths taped, such that nasal breathing was maintained, or with the nasal airway blocked, requiring mouth breathing. EEG and respiration were recorded throughout sleep. We will next examine whether the integrity of the nasal route influences the coordination of sleep oscillations and memory consolidation. Slow oscillations and spindles will be detected offline; their coupling to respiratory phase will be quantified. If nasal breathing is critical, its absence should weaken the coupling between respiration, SOs, and spindles. It should also impair the behavioural expression of memory consolidation. This study aims to elucidate how respiration shapes neural dynamics during sleep, contributing to our understanding of brain-body interactions in cognitive and neurophysiological processes.

Both sensory input and prior knowledge both shape speech perception. Previous work suggests that older adults rely more heavily on prior knowledge during speech perception. Is this shift primarily driven by the age-related sensory decline while verbal knowledge keeps accumulating, or is it also indicative of reduced flexibility in integrating prior knowledge with sensory information? Here, we address these possibilities by examining predictors and modulators of this lexical bias.

In an ongoing behavioural study (N=58, younger: n = 40, 18–45 y.; older: n=18, 53-79 y.), participants categorized the initial phoneme of speech stimuli varying in voice-onset time embedded in German word and pseudoword contexts (Bund–*Pund; *Bunkt–Punkt). As expected, multiple regression analysis revealed that older adults showed a greater lexical bias than younger adults, replicating previous findings.

To identify potential drivers of this age-related difference, we examined whether objective (pure tone average) vs. subjective (SSQ Quality of Speech) hearing ability or the personality trait of conscientiousness (BFI-2) moderated the observed age effect. None of the interactions reached significance. Critically, the null effect of hearing thresholds suggests that peripheral hearing loss alone does not account for older adults increased lexical bias, pointing instead to a reduced cognitive ability to flexibly update prior knowledge in the face of competing sensory information. To directly test this hypothesis, in an on-going fMRI extension of this study, we introduce explicit probabilistic cues prior that selectively strengthen or compromise the reliability of prior linguistic knowledge.

Value-based sequential decision-making requires individuals to integrate choice-outcome associations across multiple steps in order to maximize future outcomes. Previous studies had revealed individual and age-related differences in such tasks, but how brain structural differences may also contribute to such individual variability has not been addressed. Foresight decision-making in particular depends on the formation of internal representations of action-outcome contingencies and the flexible use of this information to guide future choices – processes closely linked to prefrontal function. In the current study, we investigate the relationship between cortical thickness and behavioural performance in a 3-stage Markov decision-making task in a sample of healthy young adults (22-40 years, N = 20). Cortical thickness estimates are derived from structural MRI data, and analyses focus on distributed brain networks implicated in cognitive control and reinforcement learning, with particular emphasis on prefrontal contributions relevant for this task. To assess the specificity of potential associations, additional regions outside these networks (e.g., visual and sensorimotor areas) are included as control regions. By linking the regional brain structure to individual differences in sequential decision-making, this study aims to provide initial insight into the structural brain properties of value-based sequential decision-making. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of how structural variability in cognitive control networks relates to complex, multi-step decision-making.

Observational learning enables individuals to acquire threat associations without direct exposure, thereby reducing personal risk. Beyond fear responses, avoidance behavior can likewise be learned by observing others’ actions and their consequences. Such observed avoidance may provide important information about controllability or safety, possibly influencing the observers’ responses during subsequent exposure to the same cues. In a between-subject design, a preliminary sample of 30 participants first received verbal contingency instructions and then observed a demonstrator completing a fear-conditioning paradigm in which electric shocks (US) were paired with one symbol (CS+), but not with another (CS−). During a subsequent observational learning phase, participants either observed the demonstrator aiming to avoid the shock by pressing a button, which was only successful in 50% of trials (avoidance group) or they observed a demonstrator without any avoidance option (no avoidance group), resulting in 50% of reinforced CS+ trials. Then, all participants completed a direct avoidance test during which they were exposed to the same symbols and were instructed that they could press the button to avoid shocks. Finally, participants were exposed to the same symbols but were instructed that the avoidance option was no longer available (response prevention). Preliminary subjective, behavioral, and psychophysiological data converged in showing group differences in CS+/CS-discrimination. Moreover, observing avoidance behavior in the demonstrator seemed to be facilitated differential learning as compared to when no such behavior was observed, which was reflected in both ratings and avoidance behavior.

Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) have been shown to differ in their judgments of causality to healthy controls (HC), but the decision mechanism underlying this difference remains unclear. Here, we reanalyse behavioural data from Wende et al. (2015), where 38 participants (19 SZ, 19 HC) completed a launching event task with a physical and social condition, including both causality judgment and direction (control) tasks with systematic time and angle deviations. We applied drift diffusion modelling (DDM) to characterise latent decision parameters and examined how task and condition modulated these processes across groups.

Model comparison revealed that the models for SZ and HC mainly differed in the drift rate ‘v’ parameter: For the social-causality task (all comparisons are to physical-causality), the drift rate was reduced for HC (favouring causality judgments), but increased for SZ. There were no differences between groups in the social–direction task. A further significant interaction was in the starting point bias ‘z’; while SZ showed a decrease in the social-causality task (favouring causality judgments), it increased for HC. These factors could explain the findings in Wende et al. (2015), where they found SZ to give higher ratings of causality for physical stimuli, and HC for social stimuli. While SZ appear to assume causality more readily in the social-causality context (lower starting point), an increased drift rate leads them to make fewer causality judgments nonetheless (and the inverse for physical-causality). Together, these findings indicate dissociable alterations in decision components underlying social-causality judgments in schizophrenia.

Smoking cessation is associated with high relapse rates, emphasizing the need for improved interventions for tobacco use disorder (TUD). Building on prior work suggesting a role of cognitive control in treatment success, this study focuses on cognitive mechanisms relevant for cessation. Sleep, a critical factor in memory consolidation and cognitive function, plays a role in both smoking behavior and cessation. Accordingly, we examine the combined contributions of cognitive training, physical exercise (HIIT, targeting sleep quality), and sleep to smoking cessation outcomes.

Participants are recruited toward a target sample of N = 132; however, the present report focuses on preliminary observations from a smaller subset of the sample. The intervention combines chess-based cognitive remediation training (CB-CRT) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Sleep is assessed using polysomnography, and wearable fitness trackers to capture both laboratory-based and real-world sleep patterns.

Initial descriptive analyses indicate variability in sleep architecture, particularly in NonREM sleep, within the current subsample. Exploratory observations from wearable devices suggest potential changes in sleep parameters in relation to smoking behavior (e.g., before versus after reduction/ abstinence), although these findings are based on limited data and require further validation.

Adherence to CB-CRT and HIIT, along with smoking-related questionnaire measures (e.g., dependence, craving, motivation), are being evaluated to assess feasibility and engagement. Ongoing analyses will further investigate whether sleep-related processes may support cognitive improvements and behavioral outcomes.

These preliminary findings highlight the importance of considering sleep in the context of smoking cessation and underscore the need for further analyses in the full sample.

Allostatic load (AL) reflects the cumulative physiological dysregulation in response to chronic stress. Unfortunately, its operationalization is often limited by heterogeneous biomarker selection. DNA methylation-based signatures offer a promising, standardized approach to capture stress-related biological dysregulation and may help to investigate pathways linking stress exposure to health outcomes. In this study, we calculated methylation-based allostatic load signature (methAL) in a subsample of the Dresden Burnout Study and examined its role in the association of work-related stress and long-term glucocorticoid output with mental health outcomes.

Genome-wide DNA methylation was assessed using EPIC arrays in whole blood samples (N = 300). The methAL signature was calculated based on previously published coefficients. Burnout (MBI-GS) and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), as well as hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations were assessed at baseline and one-year follow-up. Work-related stress was operationalized using the effort-reward imbalance ratio. Associations were assessed using cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation analyses.

Work-related stress robustly predicted burnout and depressive symptoms cross-sectionally and longitudinally. MethAL was not associated with work-related stress or mental health outcomes and did not mediate these relationships (p>.05). In addition, while methAL was associated with hair glucocorticoids, it did not mediate their associations with burnout or depressive symptoms. Additional sex-stratified analyses yielded comparable results.

Although methAL was not a relevant intermediary in this context, these findings contribute to the ongoing evaluation of epigenetic markers as indicators of stress-related biological processes and highlight the need for further research integrating multi-system and longitudinal approaches to better capture the biological embedding of stress.

Language is a complex, dynamic sequence, yet the human brain processes it effortlessly. A prominent account of this capacity is predictive processing: the language system uses statistical regularities to anticipate upcoming words and encodes only the prediction error when the next word appears. Surprisal, -logP(w|context), is widely used to quantify this prediction error and has been proposed as a causal bottleneck underlying predictive representations. Consistent with this view, many studies report robust behavioral and neural responses to surprisal, often dissociable from other linguistic variables such as frequency.

We hypothesize that extensive language exposure induces frequency-dependent efficiencies that shape prediction error updating. For words matched in surprisal, higher-frequency words may elicit reduced surprisal responses because they rely on lower-cost representations (efficient representation), and/or earlier surprisal responses because lexical access and associated error signals propagate more rapidly (efficient propagation).

We test these hypotheses in natural speech processing using four large-scale neural datasets spanning ECoG and MEG recordings of English- and Mandarin-language narratives. Across datasets, we replicate a classical N400-like response to surprisal. Critically, lexical frequency modulates this response: low-frequency words show amplified surprisal response, and the lowest-frequency words additionally exhibit delayed peak latencies. This joint pattern supports the coexistence of efficient representation and efficient propagation mechanisms.

Together, these findings indicate frequency-based efficiencies in prediction-error updating, suggesting that surprisal alone does not fully account for predictive processing. The convergent evidence across languages and neural modalities highlights the value of large, naturalistic datasets for testing mechanistic theories of language processing.

Action representation is fundamental to cognition and relies on the hierarchical organization of action elements. This study examined how preschool children process action structure and whether underlying neural mechanisms parallel those involved in language processing. To increase ecological validity, we used dynamic video stimuli rather than static images.

Thirty-nine children (4–6 years) viewed familiar action sequences while EEG was recorded. Actions appeared either in the correct order or with two adjacent steps temporally reversed. Stimuli depicted everyday actions (e.g., preparing an apple spritzer) which requires opening a water bottle before pouring. By manipulating the order of action steps, we tested whether violations of action structure elicit neural responses comparable to those observed in language processing.

Event-related potential analyses showed that structurally incorrect sequences elicited a bilateral late anterior negativity at violation onset. This pattern contrasts with prior findings that report positivities associated with repair processes. Instead, the observed effect may reflect higher-order integrative processing of unexpected action steps.

We interpret these responses as reflecting predictive monitoring: structural violations during ongoing actions may be processed as prediction errors rather than as repairable syntactic anomalies. Similar to the N400 in language and action comprehension, the observed negativity may index prediction mismatch and integration processes.

Overall, the findings suggest that dynamic action sequences engage predictive mechanisms in early childhood and support domain-general parallels between action and language processing.

A well-documented asymmetry in expectation updating holds that people adjust expectations more substantially following desirable than undesirable feedback, a tendency commonly explained as motivated reasoning. We investigated whether this pattern is driven by different assessments of feedback reliability, and shaped by personal relevance and tolerance of ambiguity. A preregistered online study (N = 252) had participants estimate the probability of personal and societal future events, receive directional feedback, rate its reliability, and revise their estimates. Updating behavior was evaluated against a Bayesian benchmark derived from participants' own reliability judgments. Desirable feedback prompted stronger updating and was simultaneously judged as more reliable. Reliability ratings strongly predicted updating strength, and mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect pathway from desirability to updating through reliability. Once reliability estimates were used to compute the Bayesian benchmark, the desirability advantage in updating disappeared, indicating differences in credibility evaluation rather than biased evidence integration as the driving mechanism. Personal relevance attenuated both updating and perceived reliability, with the latter partially accounting for the former. Tolerance of ambiguity had no moderating influence on the desirability effect. Together, these results indicate that optimistic updating may originate prior to evidence integration, through systematic biases in how people assess the credibility of confirming versus disconfirming information.

Dopamine is known to play a central role in decision-making, including the arbitration of effort and rewards. This arbitration is critical for motivation and has been found to be impaired in motivational disorders, such as depression. Critically, the arbitration shows substantial intra-individual fluctuations that are related to motivation (Hewitt et al., 2025), yet its mechanistic underpinnings remain unclear. Here, we investigate whether such fluctuations in the effort-reward arbitration may be due to endogenous fluctuations in the dopaminergic midbrain. Building on our prior work, we speculate that intrinsic fluctuations in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area (SN/VTA) influences this arbitration. To test this hypothesis, we use a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) approach in the SN/VTA to trigger effort-based decision-making trials based on these fluctuations, allowing us to mechanistically understand the role that these ongoing fluctuations have on behaviour. We will present the first results of our new rt-fMRI imaging framework, an evaluation of our task and first results on the impact of fluctuations on behaviour. We believe this study will shed light onto the importance of endogenous fluctuations on effort-reward arbitration.

Children’s ability to learn and form memories through direct experience and observation increases with age. However, the development of the underlying mechanisms - particularly prediction errors (PEs) - through which both learning modes influence memory remains unclear. This study employed an incidental memory paradigm to compare children (8–10 years) and young adults (18–30 years) in how reward PEs during experiential and observational reinforcement learning affect memory encoding. Adults showed better reward probability learning and gambling performance than children, as well as greater memory strength, consistent with age-related increases in recognition memory performance. Moreover, memory performance in both age groups was better following experiential compared to obervational learning. Finally, experienced and observed gambling during memory item presentation and temporally aligned positive reward PEs enhanced encoding in adults but not in children. These findings indicate developmental changes in the influence of PEs on memory formation, suggesting that mnemonic benefits of experienced and vicarious signed reward PEs develop between middle childhood and adulthood.

Interoception is often conceptualized as a general ability to perceive internal bodily signals across organ systems. Yet, these signals arise from different organ systems (i.e., cardiac or respiratory) and it remains unclear whether interoceptive abilities generalize across these systems or instead remain organ-specific. This study addressed this question by examining whether training-related improvement in one domain is accompanied by improvement in another. Healthy adults (N = 26) were randomly assigned to one of three training groups of perceptual learning: heartbeat perception training (HBPT), respiratory resistance detection accuracy training (RRDAT), or visual perception training (VPT; exteroceptive control). Cardiac and respiratory interoceptive accuracy (IAc) were assessed pre- and post-training using heartbeat counting/discrimination (HCT/HDT) and resistance detection (RRDT) tasks. To test whether training-related changes generalized across domains, we examined group-level pre–post change and the association between individual change in cardiac and respiratory IAc performance. We found a selective improvement in cardiac IAc following cardiac training, most clearly in the HCT and with a similar trend in the HDT, whereas respiratory IAc did not show any training-related increase. Importantly, changes in cardiac and respiratory IAc were not significantly correlated across individuals, suggesting that improvement in one domain was not systematically accompanied by improvement in the other. These findings challenge the assumption that interoception reflects a domain-general ability. Instead, they suggest that interoceptive performance may be organized in a domain-specific manner, with limited cross-domain transfer even following targeted training. Contemporary models of interoception should consider these findings. HBPT represents a suitable approach to enhance cardiac interoception.

Background: Accurate estimation of the pre-ejection period (PEP) from electrocardiography (ECG) and impedance cardiography (ICG) signals is central to psychophysiological research as a non-invasive index of cardiac sympathetic activity. However, automated beat-to-beat PEP extraction remains limited by ambiguities in fiducial point detection and the lack of standardized, reproducible evaluation frameworks.

Methods: We address this issue using a data-driven approach grounded in open and reproducible science. Our proposed PEPbench framework provides (i) publicly available, manually annotated datasets, (ii) a unified and extensible implementation of more than 15 published algorithms, and (iii) standardized, fully reproducible evaluation pipelines. Within this framework, we developed a novel, machine learning-based algorithm based on outputs from established signal processing algorithms and trained and validated it on more than 11,000 annotated cardiac cycles.

Results: Our machine learning model substantially improve B-point detection accuracy and robustness with a mean absolute error of 8.13 ± 12.12 ms, effectively reducing the mean absolute error by 54.7% and the standard deviation by 47.4% compared to the best-performing traditional approach.

Conclusion: Open, standardized benchmarking infrastructures enable cumulative, transparent method development. Integrating machine learning within this framework improves performance while preserving reproducibility and comparability. Our approach advances reliable, scalable beat-to-beat PEP extraction and is made directly usable via integration of the final model into PEPbench; datasets, code, and evaluation pipelines are publicly available to support independent validation and benchmarking. We encourage the community to contribute data, algorithms, and evaluations to further strengthen open and reproducible development of PEP extraction methods.

Background: Functional movement disorders (FMD) are multinetwork disorders manifesting as disabling motor symptoms. The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) has emerged as an area of interest in pathophysiological theories, as both altered responses and connectivity have been observed in patients. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation tool to investigate brain circuits, offering the possibility to specifically investigate connectivity between two brain areas. Therefore, this could be particularly suitable for investigating TPJ connectivity in FMD.

Methods: rTPJ-M1 connectivity, defined as the change in motor evoked potential (MEP) between stimulating the M1 alone and stimulating both M1 and rTPJ, was assessed with dual-coil TMS. 34 FMD patients and matched healthy controls were measured (22 female, mean age 46 years). Additionally, the magnetically induced electric fields (E-field) were simulated to assess any correlation of EF magnitude in different subdivisions of the TPJ, mapped with the HCP-MMP1 atlas, and rTPJ-M1 interaction.

Results: No difference between stimulating the M1 alone and stimulating both M1 and rTPJ was found between groups. The E-field magnitude showed a negative correlation of anterior TPJ areas and intrahemispheric rTPJ-M1 interaction in healthy controls, while the same areas show a positive correlation in FMD patients.

Conclusions: While the TMS data alone showed no group differences on average, the simulated E-field revelaed not only different relationships between the anterior and posterior TPJ subdivisions and rTPJ-M1 interactions in healthy controls, but also that these are altered in patients, indicating a change in functional network organization in FMD.

Recognizing a face and identifying a person are essential to our life. Here we tested how person knowledge modulates face processing. Participants were allocated randomly into two groups, and they were familiarized with faces, associated with artificial biographies. Crucially, while the faces were identical to both groups, the associated biographies were reversed for the two groups. We estimated cross-participant, leave-one-participant-out pairwise identity classifications from the EEG data within the two face-biography association groups and compared them to the those performed across the groups. We observed that face-biography knowledge associations led to robust familiarity signals from 300 ms, and to rapidly emerging identity representations starting from 80 ms. Importantly, the shared associations within participant groups led to a longer and stronger identity representation over left anterior and right posterior regions when compared to cross-group comparisons. The direct comparison of within and cross-group classifications showed that an early stage of identity representation (around 250 – 350 ms), is modulated by face-biography associations. Our findings suggest that person recognition memory modulates visual face identity representation already at an early processing stage and provides new insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of how conceptual, biographical knowledge modulates familiar face representation. Such an observation calls further studies investigating the role of different aspects of biographical information during face recognition and memory.

Successful foraging in complex environments requires allocating attention across space while weighing potential gains against possible costs. While visual foraging research has clarified how individuals search structured scenes, less is known about how spatially varying reward and threat are integrated when deciding where to sample. Here, we examined how gradients of reward and aversive stimuli influence attentional allocation and harvesting behavior during continuous visual foraging. Participants performed a grid-based task in which reward magnitude (1–5 points) and threat intensity (0–4) varied independently across a 20 × 20 display, forming orthogonal spatial gradients. In a baseline condition, rewards were uniform and no aversive stimuli were presented, whereas in a gradient condition both reward and threat were spatially structured. Participants freely explored multiple patches. Click responses were aggregated into 5 × 5 bins corresponding to different combinations of reward and threat levels.

Compared to baseline, the gradient condition led to higher click rates, more hits and false alarms (FA), shorter patch durations, and reduced positive predictive value (PPV) for each click. Critically, these effects varied across space. In high-reward regions, observers produced more FAs and reduced PPV, while behavior in low-reward/low-threat regions remained relatively stable. These findings show that reward and threat jointly shape foraging decisions and spatial distribution of hits and errors. Rather than producing a global performance decrement, aversive stimuli seemed to make observers over-eager in high-value regions, reducing the efficiency of harvesting.

Several studies show that excessive alcohol consumption is associated with neuroadaptations, such as increased sensitivity to stress and stress-induced craving, but the exact relationships between stress responses and alcohol use are still not fully understood. In this project, we therefore aim to investigate the complex relationship between individual stress responses and alcohol consumption by inducing psychosocial stress in 102 participants with prob-lematic alcohol use while undergoing fMRI scanning. In the ScanSTRESS paradigm, participants will perform mental rotation and arithmetic tasks under time pressure while receiving negative social feedback from two experimenters. Control conditions involve completing less demanding versions of the same tasks without time pressure. We will assess subjective stress levels, alcohol craving, and cortisol levels before and after stress induction as a physiological stress marker. During a six-week follow-up period daily stress, craving, and real-life drinking behavior will be assessed using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) approach. In a subsequent part of the study that will be presented separately, participants will receive real-time neurofeedback with the aim of upregulating their subgenual ACC in order to downregulate stress responses.

With this part of the project, we aim to gain insight into how individual neural stress responses are associated with problematic alcohol use. Specifically, we expect activation in the thalamus and striatum to show positive associa-tions with craving and real-life drinking behavior, whereas deactivation in the ACC and vmPFC show negative asso-ciations. The poster provides an overview of the experimental design and project plan, including preliminary data.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive method utilizing near-infrared light to measure cortical neural activity. In the last decade, fNIRS has gained prominence as a portable and cheap alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Furthermore, fNIRS measurements are less intrusive than fMRI measurements which occur in a loud and confined environment. In the past, it has been argued that fNIRS allows for research environments similar to standard behavioral settings. However, so far, this claim has never formally been investigated. In this study, we tested participants’ attention (d2 sustained attention test), working memory capacity (spatial 2-back task), and cognitive inhibition ability (Simon task) either in a standard behavioral laboratory setting or in an fNIRS laboratory setting. Preliminary findings (N = 107/160) suggest that participants inhibitory performance was increased under fNIRS laboratory settings, while no effect on working memory or sustained attention was found. While this seems to confirm that fNIRS measurements do not disrupt cognitive processing, fNIRS settings still seem to alter how participants engage with experimental tasks. We argue that more elaborate experimental settings in neuropsychological investigations increase participants’ motivation and in turn can lead to higher performance in certain tasks.

The analysis of EEG (electroencephalography) data afford many defensible choices, creating substantial researcher degrees of freedom. While stimulus-locked components such as the N400 show wide methodological variability and incomplete reporting, it has been unclear whether this generalizes to the response-locked error-related negativity (ERN). We conducted a preregistered, PRISMA-guided systematic review of ERN studies published 1990 - 2025. From a chronologically stratified sample of 202 papers using standard response-conflict tasks, we extracted preprocessing and quantification choices, assessed reporting completeness, examined temporal trends, and tested predictors of pipeline decisions (e.g., montage size, amplifier, analysis software, task). ERN pipelines were highly heterogeneous, no two studies used the same workflow, and reporting gaps persisted. Several analytic decisions showed modest temporal shifts, yet overall diversity remained high. Sample sizes increased over time but remained insufficient for typical small-to-moderate sized effects, and detailed preregistrations were extremely rare. None of the 32 processing and analysis choices examined in more detail varied systematically by task, and only a subset was linked to recording parameters (e.g. montage size, amplifier, analysis software). The ERN literature shows limited convergence on best practices and substantial residual analytic flexibility, conditions that undermine replicability.

Sleep is known to support memory formation. Previous studies suggest that active systems consolidation during sleep involves the binding of concurrent representations of events and a learning context. However, whether and how sleep supports the formation of conjunctive representations of separate learning elements is not well understood. Here we used the Context Preexposure Facilitation Effect (CPFE) paradigm in mice to specifically dissociate the formation of a contextual representation from an aversive stimulus, providing a suitable framework to investigate how sleep contributes separately to the formation of contextual representations and the context-shock association. C57BL/6J mice were first pre-exposed to a chamber (Context A) to establish a stable contextual representation. On the following day, an immediate foot shock (2 seconds) was delivered to induce context-shock associative learning, after which animals either slept or remained awake for 3 hours. Fear memory was assessed 24 hours later by introducing the mice into both pre-exposed Context A and a novel chamber (Context B). Mice that slept after context-shock association learning elicited significant freezing behaviour in Context A, but not in Context B, suggesting discriminative contextual fear response. However, sleep-deprived mice significantly reduced freezing behaviour in Context A compared to the sleep group and showed no freezing in Context B. Our preliminary results indicate that sleep is required for the formation of conjunctive memory representations, binding together a single learning event and contextual information into a unitary memory representation.

Objective

Exteroception, defined as the perception of the body through external sensory channels, is a key component of bodily self-awareness and has been linked to various mental disorders. The Exteroceptive Body Awareness Questionnaire (EBA-Q) assesses individuals’ ability to perceive and evaluate bodily states based on exteroceptive signals. As no validated German-language version of the EBA-Q currently exists, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the instrument in a German sample.

Method

Data were collected in an online sample of N = 641 participants (n = 517 female, n = 113 male, n = 11 non-binary*/agender*). Factor structure, reliability, and validity were assessed. A subsample (n = 340) completed the questionnaire again after two weeks to evaluate test-retest reliability.

Results

The originally proposed bifactorial model was not supported. Instead, an alternative model with an orthogonal general factor and correlated group factors demonstrated acceptable fit. The visuo-tactile awareness subscale showed weak and partly inconsistent loadings. Multi-group analyses indicated measurement invariance across individuals with and without mental disorders. While no group differences emerged on the general factor, specific group factors differed significantly. Internal consistency was good, and test-retest reliability was acceptable. Construct validity was supported by associations with measures of public body awareness and self-consciousness.

Discussion

The German EBA-Q demonstrates overall adequate psychometric properties and appears suitable for both research and clinical use. However, the visuo-tactile subscale should be interpreted with caution.