Scholarly Publications - Psychology

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Open Access
A contextualized emotion perception assessment relates to personal and social well-being
(Academic Press, 2025-02) Kafetsios, Konstantinos; Hess, Ursula; Dostal, Daniel; Seitl, Martin; Hypsova, Petra; Hareli, Shlomo; Alonso-Arbiol, Itziar; Schütz, Astrid; Gruda, Dritjon; Campbell, Kelly; Chen, Bin-Bin; Held, Marco J.; Kamble, Shanmukh; Kimura, Takuma; Kirchner-Häusler, Alexander; Livi, Stefano; Mandal, Eugenia; Ochnik, Dominika; Sakman, Ezgi; Sümer, Nebi; Theodorou, Annalisa; Uskul, Ayse K.
Emotion Recognition Accuracy (ERA) is vital for social functioning and social relationships, yet empirical support for a positive link with well-being has been sparse. In three studies, we show that the Assessment of Contextualized Emotions (ACE) which distinguishes between accurately perceiving intended emotions and bias due to perceiving additional, secondary emotions, consistently predicted personal and social well-being. Across thirteen world cultures, accuracy was associated with higher well-being and life satisfaction, and bias linked to loneliness. A social interaction study in Czech Republic found accuracy (bias) was positively (negatively) associated with social well-being. The effects of accuracy and bias on well-being were partially mediated by social interaction quality in a third study. These findings further our understanding of ERA’s social functions.
Open Access
A guided-ensembling approach for cell counting in fluorescence microscopy images
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2024-12-16) Dedeagac, C. Emre; Koyuncu, Can F.; Adams, Michelle M.; Edemen, Cagatay; Ugurdag, Berk C.; Ardıç-Avcı, N. Ilgım; Ugurdag, H. Fatih
Although deep learning and computer vision based approaches have demonstrated success in the field of cell counting and detection in microscopic images, they continue to have certain limitations. More specifically, they experience an overall increase in false positives when dealing with cell populations that show high density and heterogeneity. Existing approaches require the reselection of parameters for each new dataset to improve the accuracy of cell counting. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the fundamental models for each new microscopic image. This study introduces a novel neural network-based method that eliminates the need for retraining by combining the pretrained Cellpose and Stardist models. The accuracy of our proposed approach was evaluated on a variety of microscopic images. Despite variations in cell densities, our proposed approach demonstrated a notably improved cell counting performance in comparison to solely utilizing the Cellpose and Stardist models.
Open Access
A large video set of natural human actions for visual and cognitive neuroscience studies and its validation with fMRI
(MDPI, 2022-12-29) Ürgen, Burcu Ayşen; Nizamoğlu, Hilal; Eroğlu, Aslı; Orban, G. A.
The investigation of the perception of others’ actions and underlying neural mechanisms has been hampered by the lack of a comprehensive stimulus set covering the human behavioral repertoire. To fill this void, we present a video set showing 100 human actions recorded in natural settings, covering the human repertoire except for emotion-driven (e.g., sexual) actions and those involving implements (e.g., tools). We validated the set using fMRI and showed that observation of the 100 actions activated the well-established action observation network. We also quantified the videos’ low-level visual features (luminance, optic flow, and edges). Thus, this comprehensive video set is a valuable resource for perceptual and neuronal studies.
Open Access
A multinational study to test the hypotheses of the physical activity adoption and maintenance model (PAAM)
(Human Kinetics Publ Inc, 2023-05) Jekauc, D.; Gürdere, Ceren; Englert, C.; Strobach, T.; Bottesi, G.; Bray, S.; Brown, D.; Fleig, L.; Ghisi, M.; Graham, J.; Martinasek, M.; Tamulevicius, N.; Pfeffer, I.
Open Access
A naturalistic laboratory setup for real-world HRI studies
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-03-11) Pekçetin, T.N.; Evsen, Şeyda; Pekçetin, S.; Karaduman, Tuvana Dilan; Acarturk, C.; Ürgen, Burcu Ayşen
We present our novel naturalistic laboratory setup that facilitates the presentation of real-world live-action stimuli by physically present actors in a controlled manner. Participants observe liveaction stimuli through a screen, which is surrounded by curtains, akin to a theatre experience, and promptly evaluate them when the screen turns to its opaque mode. Additionally, we introduce key components of the setup, including curtains, an actor PC, a security camera, and a bell, and the insights we gained during the task development. This innovative setup holds promise for advancing real-world investigations in Human-Robot Interaction.
Open Access
A naturalistic setup for presenting real people and live actions in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience studies
(Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2023-08-04) Pekçetin, Tuğçe Nur; Evsen, Şeyda; Pekçetin, Serkan; Acarturk, Cengiz; Ürgen, Burcu A.
Perception of others' actions is crucial for survival, interaction, and communication. Despite decades of cognitive neuroscience research dedicated to understanding the perception of actions, we are still far away from developing a neurally inspired computer vision system that approaches human action perception. A major challenge is that actions in the real world consist of temporally unfolding events in space that happen "here and now" and are actable. In contrast, visual perception and cognitive neuroscience research to date have largely studied action perception through 2D displays (e.g., images or videos) that lack the presence of actors in space and time, hence these displays are limited in affording actability. Despite the growing body of knowledge in the field, these challenges must be overcome for a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of the perception of others' actions in the real world. The aim of this study is to introduce a novel setup to conduct naturalistic laboratory experiments with live actors in scenarios that approximate real-world settings. The core element of the setup used in this study is a transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen through which participants can watch the live actions of a physically present actor while the timing of their presentation is precisely controlled. In this work, this setup was tested in a behavioral experiment. We believe that the setup will help researchers reveal fundamental and previously inaccessible cognitive and neural mechanisms of action perception and will be a foundation for future studies investigating social perception and cognition in naturalistic settings.
Embargo
A worldwide test of the predictive validity of ideal partner preference matching
(American Psychological Association, 2025-01) Eastwick, Paul W.; Sparks, Jehan; Finkel, Eli J.; Meza, Eva M.; Adamkovic, Matus; Adu, Peter; Ai, Ting; Akintola, Aderonke A.; Al-Shawaf, Laith; Apriliawati, Denisa; Arriaga, Patricia; Aubert-Teillaud, Benjamin; Banik, Gabriel; Barzykowski, Krystian; Batres, Carlota; Baucom, Katherine J.; Beaulieu, Elizabeth Z.; Behnke, Maciej; Butcher, Natalie; Charles, Deborah Y.; Chen, Jane Minyan; Cheon, Jeong Eun; Chittham, Phakkanun; Chwilkowska, Patrycja; Cong, Chin Wen; Copping, Lee T.; Corral-Frias, Nadia S.; Adoric, Vera Cubela; Dizon, Mikaela; Du, Hongfei; Ehinmowo, Michael I.; Escribano, Daniela A.; Espinosa, Natalia M.; Exposito, Francisca; Feldman, Gilad; Freitag, Raquel; Armenta, Martha Frias; Gallyamova, Albina; Gillath, Omri; Gjoneska, Biljana; Gkinopoulos, Theofilos; Grafe, Franca; Grigoryev, Dmitry; Groyecka-Bernard, Agata; Gunaydin, Gul; Ilustrisimo, Ruby; Impett, Emily; Kacmar, Pavol; Kim, Young-Hoon; Kocur, Miroslaw; Kowal, Marta; Krishna, Maatangi; Labor, Paul Danielle; Lu, Jackson G.; Lucas, Marc Y.; Malecki, Wojciech P.; Malinakova, Klara; Meissner, Sofia; Meier, Zdenek; Misiak, Michal; Muise, Amy; Novak, Lukas; Jiaqing, O.; Ozdogru, Asil A.; Park, Haeyoung Gideon; Paruzel, Mariola; Pavlovic, Zoran; Puski, Marcell; Ribeiro, Gianni; Roberts, S. Craig; Roer, Jan P.; Ropovik, Ivan; Ross, Robert M.; Sakman, Ezgi; Salvador, Cristina E.; Selcuk, Emre; Skakoon-Sparling, Shayna; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Sorokowski, Piotr; Spasovski, Ognen; Stanton, Sarah C. E.; Stewart, Suzanne L. K.; Swami, Viren; Szaszi, Barnabas; Takashima, Kaito; Tavel, Peter; Tejada, Julian; Tu, Eric; Tuominen, Jarno; Vaidis, David; Vally, Zahir; Vaughn, Leigh Ann; Villanueva-Moya, Laura; Wisnuwardhani, Dian; Yamada, Yuki; Yonemitsu, Fumiya; Zidkova, Radka; Zivna, Kristyna; Coles, Nicholas A.
Ideal partner preferences (i.e., ratings of the desirability of attributes like attractiveness or intelligence) are the source of numerous foundational findings in the interdisciplinary literature on human mating. Recently, research on the predictive validity of ideal partner preference matching (i.e., Do people positively evaluate partners who match vs. mismatch their ideals?) has become mired in several problems. First, articles exhibit discrepant analytic and reporting practices. Second, different findings emerge across laboratories worldwide, perhaps because they sample different relationship contexts and/or populations. This registered report-partnered with the Psychological Science Accelerator-uses a highly powered design (N = 10,358) across 43 countries and 22 languages to estimate preference-matching effect sizes. The most rigorous tests revealed significant preference-matching effects in the whole sample and for partnered and single participants separately. The "corrected pattern metric" that collapses across 35 traits revealed a zero-order effect of beta = .19 and an effect of beta = .11 when included alongside a normative preference-matching metric. Specific traits in the "level metric" (interaction) tests revealed very small (average beta = .04) effects. Effect sizes were similar for partnered participants who reported ideals before entering a relationship, and there was no consistent evidence that individual differences moderated any effects. Comparisons between stated and revealed preferences shed light on gender differences and similarities: For attractiveness, men's and (especially) women's stated preferences underestimated revealed preferences (i.e., they thought attractiveness was less important than it actually was). For earning potential, men's stated preferences underestimated-and women's stated preferences overestimated-revealed preferences. Implications for the literature on human mating are discussed.
Open Access
About individual differences in vision
(Pergamon Press, 2017) Grzeczkowski, L.; Clarke, A. M.; Francis, G.; Mast, F. W.; Herzog, M. H.
In cognition, audition, and somatosensation, performance strongly correlates between different para-digms, which suggests the existence of common factors. In contrast, visual performance in seeminglyvery similar tasks, such as visual and bisection acuity, are hardly related, i.e., pairwise correlationsbetween performance levels are low even though test-retest reliability is high. Here we show similarresults for visual illusions. Consistent with previous findings, we found significant correlations betweenthe illusion magnitude of the Ebbinghaus and Ponzo illusions, but this relationship was the only signif-icant correlation out of 15 further comparisons. Similarly, we found a significant link for the Ponzo illu-sion with both mental imagery and cognitive disorganization. However, most other correlations betweenillusions and personality were not significant. The findings suggest that vision is highly specific, i.e., thereis no common factor. While this proposal does not exclude strong and stable associations between certainillusions and between certain illusions and personality traits, these associations seem to be the exceptionrather than the rule.
Open Access
Adolescent risk-taking as a function of prenatal cocaine exposure and biological sex
(Elsevier Inc., 2014) Allen, J. W. P.; Bennett, D. S.; Carmody, D. P.; Wang Y.; Lewis, M.
Objective: To examine the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and biological sex on adolescent risk-taking while controlling for early environmental risk. Methods: Adolescents (n. = 114, mean age. = 16) were grouped according to high and low risk-taking propensity as measured by the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Prenatal cocaine exposure was assessed at birth, while environmental risk was assessed at three points during early childhood. Results: A binary regression analysis indicated that males were 3.5 times more likely than females to be high risk-takers. Biological sex and prenatal cocaine exposure interacted such that exposed males were most likely to be high risk-takers while exposed females were the least likely to be high risk-takers. This pattern held after controlling for prenatal alcohol exposure and early environmental risk. Early environmental risk did not predict adolescent risk-taking. Conclusions: These findings complement and extend earlier research demonstrating that prenatal cocaine exposure interacts with biological sex in domains related to inhibitory control, emotion regulation, antisocial behavior, and health risk behaviors during preadolescence.
Open Access
Adolescents’ expectations for types of victim retaliation following direct bullying
(Springer, 2022-11-23) Marlow, C.; Gönültaş, Seçil; Mulvey, K. L.
Little is known about adolescents’ expectations around how victims of bullying might retaliate following victimization. These expectations are important as they may inform adolescent’s own behaviors, particularly intervention behaviors, in regard to bullying and potential retaliation. This study investigated adolescents’ retaliation expectations and expected bystander reactions to retaliation following physical and social bullying. Participants included 6th grade (N = 450, Mage = 11.73 years, SD = 0.84) and 9th grade (N = 446, Mage = 14.82 years) adolescents (50.2% female, 63.3% European American, 22.9% African American, 3.9% Latino/a, 7% Multiracial, 2.9% Other) from middle-to-low-income U.S. public schools. Participants responded to open-ended prompts about victim responses to bullying, rating retaliation acceptability, and likelihood of engaging in bystander behaviors. ANOVAs were conducted to examine differences in retaliation expectation by type of aggression. Further, linear regressions were used to explore what factors were related to participants’ expectations regarding bystander intervention. Participants expected victims to retaliate by causing harm and expected the type of retaliation to match the type of bullying. Younger participants were more specific and males were more likely to expect physical harm than females. Finally, acceptability of retaliation predicted bystander interventions. Adolescents expect aggressive retaliation suggesting that intervention might focus on teaching them ways to respond when they are bullied or observe bullying.
Open Access
Age 4 transitions: Reflection as a domain-general development for explicit reasoning
(Elsevier Ltd, 2021-07) Allen, Jedediah W. P.; Çelik, Bartuğ; Bichard, M. H.
The literature provides many examples of important developments across different social and cognitive domains at around age 4. Based on an action-based approach to cognition - interactivism - we argue that the changes across different domains can be explained by the development of a domain-general cognitive enabling: reflection. The interactivist model’s claim about reflection was empirically supported on the basis of a novel object-reasoning task called Leaning Blocks (LB) developed by Allen and Bickhard (2018). In the current study, there were three aims. First, to replicate the age 4 shift on the LB task in a non-western sample. Second, to explore the LB task’s relations with Executive Functioning skills (working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control) in order to test alternative interpretations of performance on LB. Third, to diversify the measurement of reflective reasoning with two new tasks based on Piaget’s categorization of mental imagery. The results showed a replication of Allen and Bickhard’s 2018 findings on the LB task and failed to show any relations with the EF measures after controlling for age. One of the new reflection tasks (Candy Monster) showed both the age 4 transition and a correlation with LB (before-and-after controlling for age and the EF measures). Overall, as in Allen and Bickhard (2018) the current study’s results support the interactivist model’s claim that the development of reflection is responsible for the transitions in performance across domains in a “stage-like” fashion.
Open Access
Age-related synapse loss in hippocampal CA3 is not reversed by caloric restriction
(Pergamon Press, 2010) Adams, Michelle M.; Donohue, H. S.; Linville, M. C.; Iversen, E. A.; Newton, I. G.; Bechtold, J. K. B.
Caloric restriction (CR) is a reduction of total caloric intake without a decrease in micronutrients or a disproportionate reduction of any one dietary component. While CR attenuates age-related cognitive deficits in tasks of hippocampal-dependent memory, the cellular mechanisms by which CR improves this cognitive decline are poorly understood. Previously, we have reported age-related decreases in key synaptic proteins in the CA3 region of the hippocampus that are stabilized by lifelong CR. In the present study, we examined possible age-related changes in the functional microcircuitry of the synapses in the stratum lacunosum-moleculare (SL-M) of the CA3 region of the hippocampus, and whether lifelong CR might prevent these age-related alterations. We used serial electron microscopy to reconstruct and classify SL-M synapses and their postsynaptic spines. We analyzed synapse number and size as well as spine surface area and volume in young (10 months) and old (29 months) ad libitum fed rats and in old rats that were calorically restricted from 4 months of age. We limited our analysis to SL-M because previous work demonstrated age-related decreases in synaptophysin confined to this specific layer and region of the hippocampus. The results revealed an age-related decrease in macular axo-spinous synapses that was not reversed by CR that occurred in the absence of changes in the size of synapses or spines. Thus, the benefits of CR for CA3 function and synaptic plasticity may involve other biological effects including the stabilization of synaptic proteins levels in the face of age-related synapse loss. © 2010 IBRO.
Open Access
Aging alters the molecular dynamics of synapses in a sexually dimorphic pattern in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
(Elsevier, 2017-06) Karoglu, Elif Tugce; Halim, Dilara Ozge; Erkaya, Bahriye; Altaytas, Ferda; Arslan-Ergul, Ayca; Konu, Ozlen; Adams, Michelle M.
The zebrafish has become a popular model for studying normal brain aging due to its large fecundity, conserved genome, and available genetic tools; but little data exists about neurobiological age-related alterations. The current study tested the hypothesis of an association between brain aging and synaptic protein loss across males and females. Western blot analysis of synaptophysin (SYP), a presynaptic vesicle protein, and postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) and gephyrin (GEP), excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic receptor-clustering proteins, respectively, was performed in young, middle-aged, and old male and female zebrafish (Danio rerio) brains. Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that PSD-95 significantly increased in aged females and SYP significantly decreased in males, but GEP was stable. Thus, these key synaptic proteins vary across age in a sexually dimorphic manner, which has been observed in other species, and these consequences may represent selective vulnerabilities for aged males and females. These data expand our knowledge of normal aging in zebrafish, as well as further establish this model as an appropriate one for examining human brain aging.
Open Access
Aging, neurogenesis, and caloric restriction in different model organisms
(International Society on Aging and Disease, 2013) Ergul, A. A.; Ozdemir A.T.; Adams, M. M.
Brain aging is a multifactorial process that is occurring across multiple cognitive domains. A significant complaint that occurs in the elderly is a decrement in learning and memory ability. Both rodents and zebrafish exhibit a similar problem with memory during aging. The neurobiological changes that underlie this cognitive decline are complex and undoubtedly influenced by many factors. Alterations in the birth of new neurons and neuron turnover may contribute to age-related cognitive problems. Caloric restriction is the only non-genetic intervention that reliably increases life span and healthspan across multiple organisms although the molecular mechanisms are not well-understood. Recently the zebrafish has become a popular model organism for understanding the neurobiological consequences but to date very little work has been performed. Similarly, few studies have examined the effects of dietary restriction in zebrafish. Here we review the literature related to memory decline, neurogenesis, and caloric restriction across model organisms and suggest that zebrafish has the potential to be an important animal model for understanding the complex interactions between age, neurobiological changes in the brain, and dietary regimens or their mimetics as interventions.
Embargo
Analyzing language ability in first-episode psychosis and their unaffected siblings: a diffusion tensor imaging tract-based spatial statistics analysis study
(Elsevier Ltd, 2024-11) Çabuk, Tuğçe; Çevik, Didenur Şahin; Çakmak, Işık Batuhan; Kafalı, Helin Yilmaz; Şenol, Bedirhan; Avcı, Hanife; Oğuz, Kader Karlı; Toulopoulou, Timothea
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a highly heritable mental disorder, and language dysfunctions play a crucial role in diagnosing it. Although language-related symptoms such as disorganized speech were predicted by the polygenic risk for SZ which emphasized the common genetic liability for the disease, few studies investigated possible white matter integrity abnormalities in the language-related tracts in those at familial high-risk for SZ. Also, their results are not consistent. In this current study, we examined possible aberrations in language-related white matter tracts in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP, N = 20), their siblings (SIB, N = 20), and healthy controls (CON, N = 20) by applying whole-brain Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and region-of-interest analyses. We also assessed language ability by Thought and Language Index (TLI) using Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) pictures and verbal fluency to see whether the scores of these language tests would predict the differences in these tracts. We found significant alterations in language-related tracts such as inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and uncinate fasciculus (UF) among three groups and between SIB and CON. We also proved partly their relationship with the language test as indicated by the significant correlation detected between TLI Impoverished thought/language sub-scale and ILF. We could not find any difference between FEP and CON. These results showed that the abnormalities, especially in the ILF and UF, could be important pathophysiological vulnerability indexes of schizophrenia. Further studies are required to understand better the role of language as a possible endophenotype in schizophrenia with larger samples.
Open Access
Architecture and mental disorders: A systematic study of peer-reviewed literature
(Sage Publications, 2020) Aljunaidy, Mais M.; Adi, Mohamad Nadim
Objectives: To perform a systematic study about the contribution of architecture and interior design researchers in studying the effect of physical environment on mental disorders. Background: Mental disorders are a major health problem worldwide and related to severe distress, functional disabilities, and heavy economical burdens. Studies propose that physical environment design can trigger or reduce mental disorder symptoms. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the extent of architectural design research contribution to all types of mental disorder prevention or intervention. Methods: A team of cross-disciplinary researchers gathered information from peer-reviewed manuscripts about the effect of architectural design on enhancing or reducing mental disorder symptoms. Data were collected from manuscripts published between 2008 and 2020 (research related to the topic became clearer in quality and quantity then). Keywords including architecture, interior design, physical environment, and mental disorders were used in the systematic search. Databases were collected using online resources. Numerical data collected from quantitative studies were organized in tables. Results: Our data showed that there were a lot of studies about dementia and autism; few studies about schizophrenia, anxiety, stress-related disorders, and depressive disorders; and no studies about the rest of the mental disorders. General environment followed by housing facility design were the most assessed physical environments for mental disorders. Conclusions: As all mental disorders can have a significant impact on the society, we conclude that architectural studies should focus more on improving or preventing the symptoms of all types of mental disorders through the design of physical environments.
Open Access
Assessment of whole-brain white matter by DTI in autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of charlevoix-saguenay
(American Society of Neuroradiology, 2013) Oguz, K. K.; Haliloglu, G.; Temucin, C.; Gocmen, R.; Has, A. C.; Doerschner, K.; Dolgun, A.; Alikasifoglu, M.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Extension and characteristics of WM involvement other than the brain stem remain inadequately investigated in ARSACS. The aim of this study was to investigate whole-brain WM alterations in patients with ARSACS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine Turkish unrelated patients with ARSACS and 9 sex- and age-matched healthy control participants underwent neurologic examination, molecular studies, electrophysiologic studies, and DTI of the brain. TBSS was used for whole-brain voxelwise analysis of FA, AD, RD, mean diffusivity of WM. Tractographies for the CST and TPF were also computed. RESULTS: Molecular studies revealed 8 novel mutations (3 nonsense, 4 missense, and 1 frameshift insertion) and a missense variation in the SACS gene. Thick TPF displaced and compressed the CST in the pons. The TPF had increased FA, decreased RD, and increased AD, which may be attributed to hypertrophy and/or hypermyelination. Widespread decreased FA and increased RD, suggesting demyelination, was found in the limbic, commissural, and projection fibers. In addition to demyelination, CST coursing cranial and caudal to the pons also showed a marked decrease in AD, suggesting axonal degeneration. Electrophysiologic studies revealed findings that concur with demyelination and axonal involvement. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to developmental changes of the TPF and their effects on the CST in the brain stem, axonal degeneration mainly along the pyramidal tracts and widespread demyelination in WM also occur in patients with ARSACS. Widespread tissue damage may be associated with extensive loss of sacsin protein in the brain and may explain a wide range of progressive neurologic abnormalities in patients with ARSACS.
Open Access
The Association between familial risk and brain abnormalities Is disease specific: an ENIGMA-relatives study of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
(Elsevier, 2019) Zwarte, S. M. C.; Brouwer, R. M.; Agartz, I.; Alda, M.; Aleman, A.; Alpert, K. I.; Bearden, C. E.; Bertolino, A.; Bois, C.; Bonvino, A.; Bramon, E.; Buimer, E.; Cahn, W.; Cannon, D. M.; Cannon, T. D.; Caseras, X.; Castro-Fornieles, J.; Chen, Q.; Serna, E.; Giorgio, A. D.; Doucet, G.; Eker, M. C.; Erk, S.; Fears, S.; Foley, S.; Frangou, S.; Frankland, A.; Fullerton, J.; Glahn, D.; Goghari, V.; Goldman, A.; Gonul, A.; Gruber, O.; Haan, L.; Hajek, T.; Hawkins, E.; Heinz, A.; Hillegers, M.; Pol, H.; Hultman, C.; Ingvar, M.; Johansson, V.; Jönsson, E.; Kane, K.; Kempton, M.; Koenis, M.; Kopecek, M.; Krabbendam, L.; Krämer, B.; Lawrie, S.; Lenroot, R.; Marcelis, M.; Marsman, J-B; Mattay, V.; McDonald, C.; Meyer-Lindenberg, A.; Michielse, S.; Mitchell, P.; Moreno, D.; Murray, R.; Mwangi, B.; Najt, P.; Neilson, E.; Newport, J.; Os, J.; Overs, B.; Özerdem, A.; Picchioni, M.; Richter, A.; Roberts, G.; Aydoğan, A. S.; Schofield, P.; Şimşek, F.; Soares, J.; Sugranyes, G.; Toulopoulou, Timothea; Tronchin, G.; Walter, H.; Wang, L.; Weinberger, D.; Whalley, H.; Yalın, N.; Andreassen, O.; Ching, C.; Erp, T.; Turner, J.; Jahanshad, N.; Thompson, P.; Kahn, R.; Haren, N.
Abstract Background Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share genetic liability, and some structural brain abnormalities are common to both conditions. First-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (FDRs-SZ) show similar brain abnormalities to patients, albeit with smaller effect sizes. Imaging findings in first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder (FDRs-BD) have been inconsistent in the past, but recent studies report regionally greater volumes compared with control subjects. Methods We performed a meta-analysis of global and subcortical brain measures of 6008 individuals (1228 FDRs-SZ, 852 FDRs-BD, 2246 control subjects, 1016 patients with schizophrenia, 666 patients with bipolar disorder) from 34 schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder family cohorts with standardized methods. Analyses were repeated with a correction for intracranial volume (ICV) and for the presence of any psychopathology in the relatives and control subjects. Results FDRs-BD had significantly larger ICV (d = +0.16, q < .05 corrected), whereas FDRs-SZ showed smaller thalamic volumes than control subjects (d = −0.12, q < .05 corrected). ICV explained the enlargements in the brain measures in FDRs-BD. In FDRs-SZ, after correction for ICV, total brain, cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, cerebellar gray and white matter, and thalamus volumes were significantly smaller; the cortex was thinner (d < −0.09, q < .05 corrected); and third ventricle was larger (d = +0.15, q < .05 corrected). The findings were not explained by psychopathology in the relatives or control subjects. Conclusions Despite shared genetic liability, FDRs-SZ and FDRs-BD show a differential pattern of structural brain abnormalities, specifically a divergent effect in ICV. This may imply that the neurodevelopmental trajectories leading to brain anomalies in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are distinct.
Open Access
Associations between psychosis endophenotypes across brain functional, structural, and cognitive domains
(Cambridge University Press, 2018) Blakey, R.; Ranlund, S.; Zartaloudi, E.; Cahn, W.; Calafato, S.; Colizzi, M.; Crespo-Facorro, B.; Daniel, C.; Díez-Revuelta, A.; Forti, M. D.; Iyegbe, C.; Jablensky, A.; Jones, R.; Hall, M. -H.; Kahn, R.; Kalaydjieva, L.; Kravariti, E.; Lin, K.; McDonald, C.; McIntosh, A. M.; Picchioni, M.; Powell, J.; Presman, A.; Rujescu, D.; Schulze, K.; Shaikh, M.; Thygesen, J. H.; Toulopoulou, Timothea; Haren, N. V.; Os, J. V.; Walshe, M.; Murray, R. M.; Bramon, E.
Background A range of endophenotypes characterise psychosis, however there has been limited work understanding if and how they are inter-related.Methods This multi-centre study includes 8754 participants: 2212 people with a psychotic disorder, 1487 unaffected relatives of probands, and 5055 healthy controls. We investigated cognition [digit span (N = 3127), block design (N = 5491), and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (N = 3543)], electrophysiology [P300 amplitude and latency (N = 1102)], and neuroanatomy [lateral ventricular volume (N = 1721)]. We used linear regression to assess the interrelationships between endophenotypes.Results The P300 amplitude and latency were not associated (regression coef.-0.06, 95% CI-0.12 to 0.01, p = 0.060), and P300 amplitude was positively associated with block design (coef. 0.19, 95% CI 0.10-0.28, p < 0.001). There was no evidence of associations between lateral ventricular volume and the other measures (all p > 0.38). All the cognitive endophenotypes were associated with each other in the expected directions (all p < 0.001). Lastly, the relationships between pairs of endophenotypes were consistent in all three participant groups, differing for some of the cognitive pairings only in the strengths of the relationships.Conclusions The P300 amplitude and latency are independent endophenotypes; the former indexing spatial visualisation and working memory, and the latter is hypothesised to index basic processing speed. Individuals with psychotic illnesses, their unaffected relatives, and healthy controls all show similar patterns of associations between endophenotypes, endorsing the theory of a continuum of psychosis liability across the population.
Open Access
Associations of psychotic symptom dimensions with clinical and developmental variables in twin and general clinical samples
(Cambridge University Press, 2024-10-30) Cardno, Alastair G.; Allardyce, Judith; Bakker, Steven C.; Toulopoulou, Timothea; Kravariti, Eugenia; Picchioni, Marco M.; Kane, Fergus; Rijsdijk, Fruhling V.; Mahmood, Tariq; Nasser el Din, Soumaya; du Toit, Deline; Jones, Lisa A.; Quattrone, Diego; Walters, James T. R.; Legge, Sophie E.; Holmans, Peter A.; Murray, Robin M.; Vassos, Evangelos
###### **Background:** Positive, negative and disorganised psychotic symptom dimensions are associated with clinical and developmental variables, but differing definitions complicate interpretation. Additionally, some variables have had little investigation. **Aims:** To investigate associations of psychotic symptom dimensions with clinical and developmental variables, and familial aggregation of symptom dimensions, in multiple samples employing the same definitions. **Method:** We investigated associations between lifetime symptom dimensions and clinical and developmental variables in two twin and two general psychosis samples. Dimension symptom scores and most other variables were from the Operational Criteria Checklist. We used logistic regression in generalised linear mixed models for combined sample analysis (n = 875 probands). We also investigated correlations of dimensions within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs concordant for psychosis (n = 96 pairs). **Results:** Higher symptom scores on all three dimensions were associated with poor premorbid social adjustment, never marrying/cohabiting and earlier age at onset, and with a chronic course, most strongly for the negative dimension. The positive dimension was also associated with Black and minority ethnicity and lifetime cannabis use; the negative dimension with male gender; and the disorganised dimension with gradual onset, lower premorbid IQ and substantial within twin-pair correlation. In secondary analysis, disorganised symptoms in MZ twin probands were associated with lower premorbid IQ in their co-twins. **Conclusions:** These results confirm associations that dimensions share in common and strengthen the evidence for distinct associations of co-occurring positive symptoms with ethnic minority status, negative symptoms with male gender and disorganised symptoms with substantial familial influences, which may overlap with influences on premorbid IQ.