Self-Referential Processing in Unipolar Depression: Distinct Roles of Subregions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex
In this study, we aimed to explore the neural basis of self-referential processing in depressive patients and the activation-deactivation patterns of subregions of the MPFC. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - March 2, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Yu Li, Xia Kong, Dongtao Wei, Xue Du, Jiangzhou Sun, Jiang Qiu Source Type: research

Cortical complexity in bipolar disorder applying a spherical harmonics approach
Recent studies using surface-based morphometry of structural magnetic resonance imaging data have suggested that some changes in bipolar disorder (BP) might be neurodevelopmental in origin. We applied a novel analysis of cortical complexity based on fractal dimensions in high-resolution structural MRI scans of 18 bipolar disorder patients and 26 healthy controls. Our region-of-interest based analysis revealed increases in fractal dimensions (in patients relative to controls) in left lateral orbitofrontal cortex and right precuneus, and decreases in right caudal middle frontal, entorhinal cortex, and right pars orbitalis, a...
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 20, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Igor Nenadic, Rachel A. Yotter, Maren Dietzek, Kerstin Langbein, Heinrich Sauer, Christian Gaser Source Type: research

Neural Correlates of Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels Predict Smoking Cessation Relapse
Exposure to graphic warning labels (GWLs) on cigarette packaging has been found to produce heightened activity in brain regions central to emotional processing and higher-order cognitive processes. The current study extends this literature by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activation in response to GWLs and use it to predict relapse in an evidence-based smoking cessation treatment program. Participants were 48 treatment-seeking nicotine-dependent smokers who completed an fMRI paradigm in which they were exposed to GWLs, text-only warning labels (TOLs), and matched control stimuli. ...
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 15, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Max M. Owens, James MacKillop, Joshua C. Gray, Brittany E. Hawkshead, Cara M. Murphy, Lawrence H. Sweet Source Type: research

A functional connectivity comparison between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder in medication-na ïve adolescents with mood fluctuation and attention problems
In order to compare patterns of connectivity between affective and attention networks in adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), we investigated differences in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between these populations. Study participants were medication-na ïve adolescents (aged 13–18 years) with BD (N=22) or ADHD (N=25) and age- and sex-matched healthy adolescents (healthy controls [HC]) (N=22). Forty-seven adolescents with mood fluctuation and attention problems showed increased functional correlation (FC) between two pairs of regions within the a ffectiv...
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 15, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Young Don Son, Doug Hyun Han, Sun Mi Kim, Kyung Joon Min, Perry F. Renshaw Source Type: research

Effect of Maternal Rumination and Disengagement during Childhood on Offspring Neural Response to Reward in Late Adolescence
Maternal rumination is a cognitive-affective trait that could influence offspring's ability to respond flexibly to positive and negative events, depending on the quality of maternal problem-solving behaviors with which rumination co-occurs. As reward circuitry is sensitive to stressors and related to risk for depression, reward circuitry is an appropriate candidate mechanism for how maternal characteristics influence offspring. We evaluated the independent and combined effect of maternal rumination and disengagement on adolescent neural response to reward win and loss. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Judith K. Morgan, Daniel S. Shaw, Rachel H. Jacobs, Sarah E. Romens, Stephanie L. Sitnick, Erika E. Forbes Source Type: research

Task-dependent modulation of amygdala connectivity in social anxiety disorder
In this study, we measured 15 SAD patients and 15 healthy controls during an affective counting Stroop task with emotional faces to assess the interaction of affective stimuli with a cognitive task in SAD, as well as to investigate the causal interactions between the amygdala and the medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) using dynamic causal modeling (DCM). (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Lora Minkova, Ronald Sladky, Georg S. Kranz, Michael Woletz, Nicole Geissberger, Christoph Kraus, Rupert Lanzenberger, Christian Windischberger Source Type: research

Abnormal Fear Circuitry in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Controlled Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
We examined whether non-traumatized subjects with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have dysfunctional activation in brain structures mediating fear extinction, possibly explaining the statistical association between ADHD and other disorders characterized by aberrant fear processing such as PTSD. Medication na ïve, non-traumatized young adult subjects with (N=27) and without (N=20) ADHD underwent a 2-day fear conditioning and extinction protocol in a 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Andrea E. Spencer, Marie-France Marin, Mohammed R. Milad, Thomas J. Spencer, Olivia E. Bogucki, Amanda L. Pope, Natalie Plasencia, Brittany Hughes, Edward F. Pace-Schott, Maura Fitzgerald, Mai Uchida, Joseph Biederman Source Type: research

Neural Activity during Production of Rorschach Responses: An fMRI Study
Recently, a lot of effort has been made to ground Rorschach interpretations to their evidence base. To date, however, no studies have yet described, via fMRI, what brain areas get involved when one takes the Rorschach. To fill this gap in the literature, we administered the ten-inkblot stimuli to 26 healthy volunteers during fMRI. Analysis of BOLD signals revealed that, compared to fixating a cross, looking at the Rorschach inkblots while thinking of what they might be associated with higher temporo-occipital and fronto-parietal activations, and with greater activity in some small, sub-cortical regions included in the limb...
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Luciano Giromini, Donald J. Viglione, Alessandro Zennaro, Franco Cauda Source Type: research

Corpus callosum volumes in bipolar disorders and suicidal vulnerability
Reduced size of the corpus callosum (CC) has been associated with bipolar disorders and suicidality. Here, we aimed at investigating the relative independence of these associations in a large sample of patients. Two samples of males and females totaling 209 euthymic participants were recruited, including 72 patients with major depressive disorder, 64 with bipolar disorders and 73 healthy controls. Among patients, 61 had a history of suicide attempt and 75 had none. Structural scans were acquired with 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Anthony J. Gifuni, Emilie Oli é, Yang Ding, Fabienne Cyprien, Emmanuelle le Bars, Alain Bonafé, Philippe Courtet, Fabrice Jollant Source Type: research

The association of sleep and physical activity with integrity of white matter microstructure in bipolar disorder patients and healthy controls
We investigate how the sleep disruptions and irregular physical activity levels that are prominent features of bipolar disorder (BD) relate to white matter microstructure in patients and controls. Diffusion tension imaging (DTI) and 14-day actigraphy recordings were obtained in 51 BD I patients and 55 age-and-gender-matched healthy controls. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used for voxelwise analysis of the association between fractional anisotropy (FA) and sleep and activity characteristics in the overall sample. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sanne Verkooijen, Remi Stevelink, Lucija Abramovic, Christiaan H. Vinkers, Roel A. Ophoff, Ren é S. Kahn, Marco P.M. Boks, Neeltje E.M. van Haren Source Type: research

Altered olfactory processing and increased insula activity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: an fMRI study
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients show increased insula activation to disgust-inducing images compared to healthy controls (HC). We explored whether this disgust reactivity was also present in the olfactory domain by conducting the first fMRI study of olfaction in OCD. Neural activation in response to pleasant and unpleasant odors (vs. unscented air) was investigated in 15 OCD and 15 HC participants using fMRI. OCD participants (vs. HC) had increased left anterior insula activation to unpleasant odors (vs. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 7, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Heather A. Berlin, Emily R. Stern, Johnny Ng, Sam Zhang, David Rosenthal, Rachel Turetzky, Cheuk Tang, Wayne Goodman Source Type: research

Association of Medial Prefrontal Resting State Functional Connectivity and Metacognitive Capacity in Early Phase Psychosis
Metacognition is a term referring to a wide range of mental activities which involve some form of reflection about one's own mental states or the mental states of others. Since its introduction in the 1970s, metacognition has been increasingly used to describe a spectrum of activities ranging from the consideration of discrete mental experiences, such as a specific thought or emotion, the synthesis of discrete perceptions and integration of the representations of self and others as unique agents in the world (Dimaggio et al., 2013; Lysaker et al., 2013; Semerari et al., 2003). (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 7, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Michael M Francis, Tom A Hummer, Bethany L Leonhardt, Jenifer L Vohs, Matt G Yung, Nicole F Mehdiyoun, Paul H Lysaker, Alan Breier Source Type: research

Increased white matter radial diffusivity is associated with prefrontal cortical folding deficits in schizophrenia
The neuronal underpinnings of cortical folding alterations in schizophrenia remain unclear. Theories on the physiological development of cortical folds stress the importance of white matter fibers for this process and disturbances of fiber tracts might be relevant for cortical folding alterations in schizophrenia. Nine-teen patients with schizophrenia and 19 healthy subjects underwent T1-weighted MRI and DTI. Cortical folding was computed using a surface based approach. DTI was analyzed using FSL and SPM 5. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - February 3, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: C. Christoph Schultz, Gerd Wagner, Claudia Schachtzabel, J ürgen R. Reichenbach, Ralf G.M. Schlösser, Heinrich Sauer, Kathrin Koch Source Type: research

Within-session effect of repeated stress exposure on extinction circuitry function in social anxiety disorder
Anxiety reduction following repeated exposure to stressful experiences is generally held to depend on neural processes involved in extinction of conditioned fear. We predicted that repeated exposure to stressful experiences would change activity throughout the circuitry serving extinction, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the hippocampus and the amygdala. To test this prediction, 36 participants diagnosed with SAD performed two successive speeches in front of an observing audience while regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was recorded using positron emission tomography. (Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging)
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - January 26, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fredrik Åhs, Malin Gingnell, Tomas Furmark, Mats Fredrikson Source Type: research

Evaluations of hemodynamic changes during neuropsychological test batteries using near-infrared spectroscopy in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a relatively common, and frequently debilitating, neuropsychiatric disorder that affects approximately 2% of the population (Ruscio et al., 2010). It is characterized by repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that are intrusive and unwanted. The obsessions and compulsions are time-consuming or cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning (DSM-5). Individuals with OCD often have a variety of psychopathology including autistic traits (Cadman et al., 2015; Krebs and Heyman, 2015; Mito et al., 201...
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - January 26, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Keiichiro Mukai, Naomi Matsuura, Akihiro Nakajima, Yoshinobu Yanagisawa, Yoshikazu Yoshida, Kensei Maebayashi, Kazuhisa Hayashida, Hisato Matsunaga Source Type: research