Search

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious mood disorder and leading cause of disability. Despite treatment advances, approximately 30% of individuals with MDD do not achieve adequate clinical response. Better understanding the biological mechanism(s) underlying clinical response to specific psychopharmacological interventions may help fine tune treatments in order to further modulate their underlying mechanisms of action. However, little is known regarding the effect of non-pharmacological treatments (NPTs) on candidate molecular biomarker levels in MDD. This review aims to identify molecular biomarkers that may elucidate NPT response for MDD. Methods We performed a systematic review and a multilevel linear mixed-effects meta-analyses, and a meta-regression. Searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO in October 2020 and July 2021. Results From 1387 retrieved articles, 17 and six studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analyses, respectively. Although there was little consensus associating molecular biomarker levels with symptomology and/or treatment response, brain metabolites accessed via molecular biomarker-focused neuroimaging techniques may provide promising information on whether an individual with MDD would respond positively to NPTs. Furthermore, non-invasive brain stimulation interventions significantly increased the expression of neurotrophic factors (NTFs) compared to sham/placebo, regardless of add-on pharmacological treatment. Conclusions NTFs are candidate biomarkers to fine-tune NIBS for MDD treatment. published

The ability to empathize with another person's inner experience is believed to be a central element of our social interactions. Previous research has focused on cognitive (e.g., theory of mind) and emotional (e.g., emotional contagion) empathy, and less on behavioral factors (i.e., the ability to respond empathically). Recent studies suggest that the Default Mode Network (DMN) mediates individual variability in distinct empathy-related behaviors. However, little is known about DMN activity during actual empathic responses, understood in this study as the ability to communicate our understanding of the others' experience back to them. This study used an empathy response paradigm with 28 participants (22-37 years old) to analyze the relationship between the quality of empathic responses to 14 empathy-eliciting vignettes and patterns of attenuation in the DMN. Overall, the results suggest that high levels of empathic response, are associated with sustained activation of the DMN when compared with lower levels of empathy. Our results demonstrate that the DMN becomes increasingly involved in empathy-related behavior, as our level of commitment to the other's experience increases. This study represents a first attempt to understand the relation between the capacity for responding in a supportive way to others' needs and the intra-individual variability of the pattern of the DMN attenuation. Here we underline the critical role that the DMN plays in high-level social cognitive processes and corroborate the DMN role in different psychiatric disorders associated with a lack of empathy.

The online version of this article(https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00264-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users., Functional connectivity (FC) is typically altered in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients, the relationship between brain FC, tissue integrity and cognitive impairment is still unclear as contradictory findings have been documented. In this exploratory study we compared both the whole brain connectome and resting state networks (RSNs) FC of twenty-one RRMS and seventeen healthy controls (HCs), using combined network based statistics and independent component analyses. The total white matter (WM) lesion volume and information processing efficiency were also correlated with FC in the RRMS group. Both whole brain connectome and individual RSNs FC were diminished in patients with RRMS compared to HC. Additionally, the reduction in FC was found to be a function of the total WM lesion volume, with greatest impact in those harboring the largest lesion volume. Finally, a positive correlation between FC and information processing efficiency was observed in RRMS. This complimentary whole brain and RSNs FC approach can contribute to clarify literature inconsistencies regarding FC alterations and provide new insights on the white matter structural damage in explaining functional abnormalities in RRMS., This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC) and PIC/IC/83290/2007.

Attention is a complex cognitive process that selects specific stimuli for further processing. Previous research suggested the existence of three attentional networks: alerting, orienting and executive. However, one important topic is how to enhance the efficiency of attentional networks. In this context, understanding how this system behaves under two different modulatory conditions, namely transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS), will provide important insights towards the understanding of the attention network system. Twenty-seven healthy students took part on a randomized single-blinded crossover study, testing the effects that involved three modalities of unilateral stimulation (tRNS, anodal tDCS, and sham) over the DLPFC, during the performance of the attention network test (ANT) in three different conditions: standard, speed and accuracy. Results showed that tRNS was able to increase attention during more complex situations, namely by increasing alerting and decreasing conflict effect in the executive network. Under the Speed condition, tRNS increased efficiency of the alerting network, as well as under the more demanding conflict network, tRNS overall increased the performance when comparing to sham. No statistical significant effects of tDCS were observed. These results are compatible with the attention requiring the synchronization of pre-existing networks, rather the reinforcement or creation of new pathways. AL is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds, and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). OFG and SC were supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653) and along with JL were also funded through the grants: PTDC/PSI-ESP/30280/2017 and PTDC/PSI-ESP/29701/2017, SC was also funded by the individual Grant IF/00091/2015. FF is supported by a NIH grant (1R01AT009491-01A1). This work was partially supported by National Funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and co-funded through COMPETE 2020 – PO Competitividade e Internacionalização/Portugal 2020/União Europeia, FEDER (Fundos Europeus Estruturais e de Investimento – FEEI) under the number:PTDC/PSI-ESP/30280/2017. published

The current literature provides substantial evidence of brain alterations associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms (eg, checking, cleaning/decontamination, counting compulsions; harm or sexual, symmetry/exactness obsessions), and emotional problems (eg, defensive/appetitive emotional imbalance, disgust, guilt, shame, and fear learning/extinction) and cognitive impairments associated with this disorder (eg, inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility). Building on this evidence, new clinical trials can now target specific brain regions/networks. Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) was introduced as a new therapeutic tool for the self-regulation of brain-mind. In this review, we describe initial trials testing the use of rtfMRI to target brain regions associated with specific OCD symptoms (eg, contamination), and other mind-brain processes (eg, cognitive -working memory, inhibitory control, emotional - defensive, appetitive systems, fear reduction through counter-conditioning) found impaired in OCD patients. While this is a novel topic of research, initial evidence shows the promise of using rtfMRI in training the self-regulation of brain regions and mental processes associated with OCD. Additionally, studies with healthy populations have shown that individuals can regulate brain regions associated with cognitive and emotional processes found impaired in OCD. After the initial "proof-of-concept" stage, there is a need to follow up with controlled clinical trials that could test rtfMRI innovative treatments targeting brain regions and networks associated with different OCD symptoms and cognitive-emotional impairments., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Background/Aims: One of the components of working memory is the ability to respond to unexpected demands and rapidly shifting attention between tasks. Previous studies have used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in order to modulate task and set shifting ability over the prefrontal cortex. However, set shifting/task switching ability requires a left-lateralized fronto-parietal network. In this study, we aimed to assess if delivering active cross-hemispheric tDCS over the parietal cortex - right anodal/-left-cathodal (pRA-LC) and right cathodal/-left anodal (pRC-LA), as compared to sham tDCS, is able to modulate task switching ability in healthy volunteers. Methods: A total of 17 college students who volunteered (age: 21.65 ± 4.42, 14 females) participated in this pilot study in which the effects of three different single session tDCS conditions over the parietal cortex on task switching ability were assessed. Results: There were significant differences in terms of switch costs F (2,28) = 4,01, p < .05 dependent on stimulation. Bonferroni pairwise comparisons showed that the Response Time (RT) of the Switch Cost increased significantly (M = 102.84, SD = 18.24) for the pRA-LC condition, when compared with the sham condition (M = 49.44, SD = 17.84) (p = .03, d=2.96) Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the importance of studying the role of the parietal cortex in task switching ability. An activity shift towards the right parietal hemisphere (i.e., pRA-LC) impaired task switching performance, which is consistent with the role of the left parietal cortex on endogenous preparation and adjustment of goal directed behaviors. Future studies should focus on exploring the electrophysiological and neuroimaging correlates associated with the tDCS effects over the parietal, as well as exploring the usefulness of multi-site stimulation., OFG and SC were supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653) and along with JL were also funded through the grants: PTDC/PSIESP/30280/2017 and PTDC/PSI-ESP/29701/2017, SC was also funded by the individual grant IF/00091/2015.

Background: Mind wandering is a prevalent phenomenon. However, the concept of mind wandering is associated with distinct and often orthogonal concepts, and researchers are still debating the best strategies to gain access to mind-wandering processes. Nonetheless, there is a progressive acknowledgment that mind wandering is a multidimensional and heterogeneous construct. We argue that to fully understand mind wandering, we need to look at dimensions assessing the process (i.e., perceptual decoupling), dynamics (i.e., mental improvisation), and content (i.e., mental navigation). Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a self-report measure of mind wandering—the Mind Wandering Inventory (MWI)—to capture the heterogeneity of mind wandering in terms of process, dynamic, and content components. Method: Five language versions of the MWI were administered to an international sample of 1,162 individuals. Results: Results showed that the MWI had good levels of internal consistency. In terms of internal structure, we found a first factor to index perceptual decoupling, a second to index mental improvisation, and a third to index mental navigation. Additionally, a study of concurrent validity with Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind Wandering scales suggested that MWI has significant correlations with previous mind-wandering scales and that factors 1 (perceptual decoupling) and 2 (mental improvisation) seemed to be more closely associated with spontaneous than deliberate mind wandering. Finally, individuals coming from sciences major background reported increased levels of mind wandering when compared with participants from both health, social and human sciences background., (undefined)

Social interactions require the capacity to understand both our and other’s internal states. These semi-independent skills, the ability to understand oneself and others, seem to rely on the same type of representations and recruit similar brain areas. In this study, we looked at the neural basis of self and other processing in the context of an interaction with a significant other. Fourty-two participants in a monogamous relationship completed an fMRI task in which they watched a set of video-vignettes of his/her romantic partner expressing emotional contents. Participants were asked to elaborate on his/her spouse´s experience (other condition) and on his/her own experience when watching the video-vignettes (self-condition). The results showed a significant overlap in the brain activation for both conditions (e.g. anterior insula, posterior cingulate/precuneus, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule). In addition, the self-condition recruited brain areas associated with interoceptive processing and affect sharing (e.g., posterior insula), whereas the other-condition engaged brain areas involved in the cognitive representation of another’s internal states and self-other distinction (e.g., fusiform, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus and temporoparietal junction)., This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [UID/CEC/00319/2019].

Previous studies about romantic relationships have shown that the reciprocal influence between partners occurs not only at the behavioral and socio-emotional levels, but also at the psychophysiological level. This reciprocal influence is expressed in a pattern of physiological synchrony between partners (i.e., coordinated dynamics of the physiological time series). The main aim of the present study was to explore the presence of a pattern of physiological synchrony in electrodermal activity (EDA) during a couple interaction task. A second objective was to compare the synchrony levels during a negative interaction condition versus a positive interaction condition. Finally, we analyzed the association between synchrony and self-perception of empathy, dyadic empathy, and relationship satisfaction. Thirty-two couples (64 individuals) participated in this study. Each couple performed a structured interaction task while the EDA of both partners was being registered. The quantification of synchrony was based on the cross-correlation of both members' EDA time-series. In order to control for coincidental synchrony, surrogate datasets were created by repeatedly shuffling the original data of spouses X and Y of a dyad and computing synchronies on the basis of the shuffled data (pseudosynchrony values). Our results confirmed the presence of significant EDA synchrony during the interaction. We also found that synchrony was higher during the negative interactions relative to the positive interactions. Additionally, physiological synchrony during positive interaction was higher for those couples in which males scored higher in dyadic empathy. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed., This study was funded by BIAL Foundation (Grant number 87/12); by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through National Funds and cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-007653).

Affective touch has been associated with affiliative behavior during early stages of infant development; however, its underlying brain mechanisms are still poorly understood. This study used fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to examine both affective and discriminative touch in 7-month-old infants (n = 35). Infants were provided affective stimuli on the forearm for 10 sec followed by a 20 sec rest period. The protocol was repeated for discriminative touch, and both affective and discriminative stimuli were given in a counterbalanced order. Brain activation (oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin levels) in the somatosensory and temporal regions was registered during administration of the stimuli. There was an increase in oxy-hemoglobin and decrease in deoxyhemoglobin only in the somatosensory region in response to both affective and discriminative touch. No other activations were found. Seven-month-old infants' brain activation in the somatosensory cortex was similar for both discriminative and affective touch, but the stimuli did not elicit any activation in the temporal region/pSTS. Our study is the first to suggest that 7-month-old infants do not yet recruit socio-emotional brain areas in response to affective touch., (undefined)

Binge Drinking (BD) is a pattern of excessive alcohol consumption highly prevalent among college students, and has been associated with structural and functional alterations of brain networks. Recent advances in the resting-state connectivity analysis have boosted the research of the network-level connectivity disturbances associated with many psychiatric and neurological disorders, including addiction. Accordingly, atypical functional connectivity patterns in resting-state networks such as the Executive Control Network (ECN) have been found in substance users and alcohol-dependent individuals. In this study, we assessed for the first time the ECN functional and structural connectivity in a group of 34 college students, 20 (10 women) binge drinkers (BDs) in comparison with a group of 14 (8 women) alcohol abstinent controls (AACs).Overall, our findings documented increased resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the BDs left middle frontal cortex of the left ECN in comparison to the AACs, while no structural connectivity differences were observed between groups. Pearson correlations revealed a positive association between the left middle frontal gyrus rsFC and the frequency of BD episodes per month, in the BD group.These findings suggest that maintaining a pattern of acute and intermittent alcohol consumption during important stages of brain development, as the transition from adolescence to adulthood, is associated with impaired ECN rsFC despite no group differences being yet noticed in the ECN structural connectivity., This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC); and was partially supported by the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028672, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). SSS was supported by the SFRH/BD/88628/2012, Doctoral Fellowship of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, co-financed by POPH/FSE through QREN. Eduardo Lopez-Caneda and Alberto Crego were supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, through the national funds, within the scope of the Transitory Disposition of the Decrete No. 57/2016, of 29th of August, amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July.

Neuroimaging studies in social neuroscience have largely relied on functional connectivity (FC) methods to characterize the functional integration between different brain regions. However, these methods have limited utility in social-cognitive studies that aim to understand the directed information flow among brain areas that underlies complex psychological processes. In this study we combined functional and effective connectivity approaches to characterize the functional integration within the Default Mode Network (DMN) and its role in self-perceived empathy. Forty-two participants underwent a resting state fMRI scan and completed a questionnaire of dyadic empathy. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) showed that higher empathy scores were associated with an increased contribution of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to the DMN spatial mode. Dynamic causal modelling (DCM) combined with Canonical Variance Analysis (CVA) revealed that this association was mediated indirectly by the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) via the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL). More specifically, in participants with higher scores in empathy, the PCC had a greater effect on bilateral IPL and the right IPL had a greater influence on mPFC. These results highlight the importance of using analytic approaches that address directed and hierarchical connectivity within networks, when studying complex psychological phenomena, such as empathy., This study was funded by BIAL Foundation (Grant number 87/12); by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653); by the postdoctoral scholarship UMINHO/BPD/18/2017 and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science Doctoral scholarship (PD/BD/105963/2014). This work was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho.

BackgroundExtinction-based procedures are often used to inhibit maladaptive fear responses. However, because extinction procedures show efficacy limitations, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been suggested as a promising add-on enhancer.ObjectiveIn this study, we tested how cathodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects extinction and tried to unveil the processes at play that boost the effectiveness of extinction procedures and its translational potential to the treatment of anxiety disorders.MethodsWe implemented a fear conditioning paradigm whereby 41 healthy women (mean age = 20.51 +/- 5.0) were assigned to either cathodal tDCS (n = 27) or sham tDCS (n = 16). Fear responses were measured with self-reports, autonomic responses, and implicit avoidance tendencies.ResultsCathodal tDCS shows no statistically significant effect in extinction, according to selfreports, and seems to even negatively affect fear conditioned skin conductance responses. However, one to three months after the tDCS session and extinction, we found a group difference in the action tendencies towards the neutral stimuli (F (1, 41) = 12.04, p =.001,.p2 =.227), with the cathodal tDCS group (as opposed to the sham group) showing a safety learning (a positive bias towards the CS-), with a moderate effect size. This suggests that cathodal tDCS may foster stimuli discrimination, leading to a decreased generalization effect.DiscussionCathodal tDCS may have enhanced long-term distinctiveness between threatening cues and perceptively similar neutral cues through a disambiguation process of the value of the neutral stimuli-a therapeutic target in anxiety disorders. Future studies should confirm these results and extend the study of cathodal tDCS effect on short term avoidance tendencies., AGA is supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal and Programa COMPETE [grants numbers SFRH/BD/80945/2011, PTDC/MHC-PAP/5618/2014 (POCI-01-0145FEDER-016836); http://www.poci-compete2020.pt/].JA is supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal and Programa COMPETE [grants numbers PTDC/MHC-PAP/5618/2014 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016836), PTDC/MHC-PCN/3575/2012, PTDC/MHC-PCN/0522/2014, PTDC/MHC-PCN/6805/2014; https://www.fct.pt/index.phtml.en].The Cognitive and Behavioral Center for Research and Intervention of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement [UID/PSI/01662/2013; https://www.portugal2020.pt].The Psychology Research Centre of the University of Minho is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER007653). The Proaction Laboratory and the PTDC/MHC-PAP/5618/2014 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER016836) directly supported this research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Central to the developmental psychopathology perspective is the claim that studying normal and atypical development are related. In this article, we argue that studying a naturally occurring genetic condition—Williams syndrome—provides insight into social behavior in typically developing children. Toward this end, we describe the social phenotype of Williams syndrome, then offer three insights regarding biological and environmental factors that account for variability in social behavior in individuals who are developing typically and individuals with the syndrome. In so doing, we illuminate genetic, neural, and environmental processes that likely influence typical social development as informed by Williams syndrome., The preparation of this article was supported by grants from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/PSI-PCL/1116897/2010, PTDC/PSI-PCL/115316/2009, and PTDC/PSI-PCL/101506/2008). The study described in the article was partially conducted at Psychology Research Centre, University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and, when applicable, cofinanced by the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013)., info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Previous studies showed the efficacy of a single session real-time electroencephalogram (rtEEG) protocols in sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) or Theta up-training. However, the impact of this training on sustained or mind-wandering attention was only modest. This could be explained by the lack of specificity in distinct rtEEG training protocols given their limitation in inhibiting or decreasing the amplitude of down-trained bands. Additionally, multiple sessions of rtEEG in up-training/down-training SMR (sensorimotor rhythm) and Theta along with better ways of tracking sustained and mind-wandering attention protocols may be required to achieve consistent effects. Here we describe the effects of a 10-session trial of up-training/down-training SMR or Theta (SMR⇑Theta⇓; Theta⇑SMR⇓), looking at the effects of 2 rtEEG training protocols in 2 n of 1 subject designs. We also tested to impact of this training in sustained and mind-wandering attention during the course of a Sustained Attention Response Task (SART). The present trial confirmed the potentiality of a multi-session protocol in up-training Theta or SMR and, as consequence, increasing sustained attention (Theta up-training) and mind-wandering attention (SMR up-training). However, the simultaneous increase of the Theta amplitude in the SMR⇑Theta⇓ (and the more modest increase of the SMR amplitude in Theta⇑SMR⇓) reduced the specificity of the rtEEG training. Future studies should build on the potentiality of extended rtEEG protocols on this attention paradigm but increasing the specificity of the trained EEG bands choosing less tedious/more motivating feedback instruments (SMR⇑Theta⇓) and conducting the Theta⇑SMR⇓ training eyes closed.

During infancy, cardiac vagal modulation has been associated with attentional and social engagement behaviors. While studies have shown that infants display a behavioral repertoire that enables them to interact with others by being able to regulate themselves in order to attend to and to discriminate emotional and social cues, vagal modulation to sensory stimuli and its association with behavioral outcomes at early ages remains to be addressed. In this study, we analyzed the cardiac vagal response of 1-month-old infants to two auditory stimuli intensities and whether vagal response was associated with social interactive and self-regulatory abilities. Therefore, we recorded cardiac and respiratory physiological responses in 28 infants using a Biopac System. Neurobehavioral assessment was performed using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. We observed increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) amplitude to both auditory stimuli intensities when compared to baseline. No intensity effect was found for the RSA response. Additionally, we observed that higher RSA amplitude to both auditory stimuli was positively correlated with adjusted self-regulatory behaviors, suggesting a convergence between multiple measures assessing infants’ state regulation. Results are discussed in light of 1-month-old infants’ auditory stimuli processing and its implications for regulatory behaviors and the emergent social-like behaviors., Foremost, we thank all the families and infants who participated in this study. We would like to thank Pedro Hispano Hospital, particularly to Dr. J. Lopes dos Santos, for all the kindness throughout the time that we were there for the data collection process. We thank Maria de Gois-Eanes for all the help and knowledge and Santiago Galdo-Alvarez for the contributions to this study. Furthermore, we thank Associaç ~ao Viver a Ciencia for the Sim- ^ biontes prize in 2013. This work was supported by Fundaç~ao Bial (grant number 42/08) and financed by Fundaç~ao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) under a PhD grand (reference SFRH/BD/68263/2010)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This study examined the effects of bihemispheric and unihemispheric transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) on proactive control. Sixteen participants were randomized to receive (i) bihemispheric tDCS, with a 35cm2 anodal electrode of the right IFG and a 35cm2 cathode electrode of left IFG or (ii) unihemispheric tDCS, with a 35cm2 anodal electrode of the right IFG and a 100cm2 electrode of the left IFG or (iii) sham tDCS, while performing a prepotent inhibition task. There were significant speed-accuracy tradeoff effects in terms of switch costs: unihemispheric tDCS significantly decreased the accuracy when compared to bihemispheric, and sham tDCS, while increased response time when comparing to bihemispheric and sham tDCS. The computational model showed a symmetrical field intensity for the bihemispheric tDCS montage, and an asymmetrical for the unihemispheric tDCS montage. This study confirms that unihemispheric tDCS over the rIFG has a significant impact on response inhibition. The lack of results of bihemispheric tDCS brings two important findings for this study: (i) left IFG seems to be also critically associated with inhibitory response control, and (ii) these results highlight the importance of considering the dual effects of tDCS when choosing the electrode montage., JL, SC, OFG are members of CIPSi, supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653); and also through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology PTDC/MHC-PCN/3950/2014. FF is funded by the following NIH grants: R21HD079048, R01HD082302, 1R44NS080632-01, 1R44AT008637, HD069776. SC is funded by the following Portuguese Fondation for Science and Technology (FCT) grant IF/00091/2015., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Previous studies looking at how Mind Wandering (MW) impacts performance in distinct Focused Attention (FA) systems, using the Attention Network Task (ANT), showed that the presence of pure MW thoughts did not impact the overall performance of ANT (alert, orienting and conflict) performance. However, it still remains unclear if the lack of interference of MW in the ANT, reported at the behavioral level, has a neurophysiological correspondence. We hypothesize that a distinct cortical processing may be required to meet attentional demands during MW. The objective of the present study was to test if, given similar levels of ANT performance, individuals predominantly focusing on MW or FA show distinct cortical processing. Thirty-three healthy participants underwent an EEG high-density acquisition while they were performing the ANT. MW was assessed following the ANT using an adapted version of the Resting State Questionnaire (ReSQ). The following ERP's were analyzed: pN1, pP1, P1, N1, pN, and P3. At the behavioral level, participants were slower and less accurate when responding to incongruent than to congruent targets (conflict effect), benefiting from the presentation of the double (alerting effect) and spatial (orienting effect) cues. Consistent with the behavioral data, ERP's waves were discriminative of distinct attentional effects. However, these results remained true irrespective of the MW condition, suggesting that MW imposed no additional cortical demand in alert, orienting, and conflict attention tasks., Acknowledgements Óscar F. Gonçalves was funded by the Brazilian National Counsel for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) as a Special Visiting Researcher of the Science Without Borders program (401143/2014-7). Paulo S Boggio was funded by a CNPq researcher fellowship (311641/2015-6). Olivia Morgan Lapenta and Tatiana Conde were supported by two postdoctoral grants from CNPq (150249/2017-9 and 152358/2016-1). Sandra Carvalho was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) with the grant IF/00091/2015. Gabriel Rêgo was supported by a PhD grant from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP-2015/18713-9). This work was partially supported by FEDER funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (P2020-PTDC/MHC-PCN/3950/2014)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The ability to discriminate self- and non-self voice cues is a fundamental aspect of self-awareness and subserves self-monitoring during verbal communication. Nonetheless, the neurofunctional underpinnings of self-voice perception and recognition are still poorly understood. Moreover, how attention and stimulus complexity influence the processing and recognition of one's own voice remains to be clarified. Using an oddball task, the current study investigated how self-relevance and stimulus type interact during selective attention to voices, and how they affect the representation of regularity during voice perception. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 18 right-handed males. Pre-recorded self-generated (SGV) and non-self (NSV) voices, consisting of a nonverbal vocalization (vocalization condition) or disyllabic word (word condition), were presented as either standard or target stimuli in different experimental blocks. The results showed increased N2 amplitude to SGV relative to NSV stimuli. Stimulus type modulated later processing stages only: P3 amplitude was increased for SGV relative to NSV words, whereas no differences between SGV and NSV were observed in the case of vocalizations. Moreover, SGV standards elicited reduced N1 and P2 amplitude relative to NSV standards. These findings revealed that the self-voice grabs more attention when listeners are exposed to words but not vocalizations. Further, they indicate that detection of regularity in an auditory stream is facilitated for one's own voice at early processing stages. Together, they demonstrate that self-relevance affects attention to voices differently as a function of stimulus type., This work was supported by Grants IF/00334/2012 and PTDC/ MHC-PCN/0101/2014 funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER (Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional) through the European programs QREN (Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional), and COMPETE (Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade), awarded to A.P.P., and a by a FCT Postdoctoral Grant (SFRH/BPD/117187/2016) awarded to T.C. This work received additional support from Grant BIAL 238/16 funded by BIAL Foundation, awarded to A.P.P, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Several studies have documented the high prevalence of psychopathology and behavior problems in Williams syndrome (WS). However, the links between cognitive development and such symptoms need further clarification. Our study aims to expand current knowledge on levels of behavior problems and its links to cognition in a sample of Brazilian individuals with WS. A total of 25 children and adolescents with WS and their parents participated in this study. The participants' IQs were assessed with the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (for children or adults) and parental reports of psychopathology/behavior problems were collected using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The presence of clinically significant attention problems was a main feature in our sample of children and adolescents with WS. In the children, higher IQ scores were found to be significantly associated with less externalizing problems, while in the adolescents cognitive abilities were found to be associated with less internalizing symptoms. These results provide further insight into the links between psychopathology and behavior problems and cognitive abilities in WS, and suggest the need to take age into consideration when analyzing such relationships., This work was supported by CAPES [grant numbers BEX 1551/08-6 and BEX 9573/11-9]; CNPq [grant numbers 308540/2012-3 and 487188/2013-6]; and FEDER through the Competitive Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE) and national funds from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [grant number PTDC/PSI-PCL/115316/2009]., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The objective of the present study was to research the patterns of Default Mode Network (DMN) deactivation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in the transition between a resting and a non-rest emotional condition. Twenty-seven participants, 15 diagnosed with OCD and 12 healthy controls (HC), underwent a functional neuroimaging paradigm in which DMN brain activation in a resting condition was contrasted with activity during a non-rest condition consisting in the presentation of emotionally pleasant and unpleasant images. Results showed that HC, when compared with OCD, had a significant deactivation in two anterior nodes of the DMN (medial frontal and superior frontal) in the non-rest pleasant stimuli condition. Additional analysis for the whole brain, contrasting the resting condition with all the non-rest conditions grouped together, showed that, compared with OCD, HC had a significantly deactivation of a widespread brain network (superior frontal, insula, middle and superior temporal, putamen, lingual, cuneus, and cerebellum). Concluding, the present study found that OCD patients had difficulties with the deactivation of DMN even when the non-rest condition includes the presentation of emotional provoking stimuli, particularly evident for images with pleasant content., The first author was funded by the Brazilian National Counsel for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) as a Special Visiting Researcher of the Science Without Borders program (grant number: 401143/20147). This study was partially conducted at the Neuropsychophysiology Lab from the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145FEDER-007653)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

There is increasing evidence that both mind wandering (MW) and attention are influenced by culture. However, studies on the interference between MW and attention across cultures are virtually nonexistent. Here we researched how individuals from 2 cultures (Portuguese, Brazilian) differ in terms of type of thoughts and content of MW during the course of the attention network task (ANT). Additionally, we tested the existence of culture-specific associations between type of thoughts and content of mind wandering and each component of the attention network system (alert, orienting, executive). No statistically significant differences were found between Brazilian and Portuguese participants in terms of nature and content of mind-wandering thoughts. Both groups tended to be predominantly involved in task-related interference thoughts during the attention task. At the end of the task, both groups reported having been predominantly out of focus, dominated mostly by inner language thoughts. Despite the similarities, the type of thoughts and content of MW seemed to affect performance in the attention task differently in each group. First, and regarding ANT overall performance, only Portuguese had a significantly facilitating effect in response time associated with task-interfering thoughts. Second, regarding ANT network e ffects, Portuguese participants, when compared with Brazilians, seemed to be more sensitive to orientation cues in all thought conditions, benefited more from alerting cues when they reported on-task thoughts, and took better advantage of mind wandering to reduce attentional conflict., Uminho - Universidade do Minho(401143/2014-7), This study was partially conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 (Grant POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). Paulo S. Boggio is a CNPq researcher fellow (Grant 311641/2015-6). Gabriel Rêgo was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (PhD Grant FAPESP2015/18713-9)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Racial prejudice is associated with a fundamental distinction between "us" and "them"-a distinction linked to the perceived overlap between representations of the self and others. Implicit prejudice has been shown to reduce the intensity of White individuals' hand ownership sensation as induced by the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) with dark rubber hands. However, evidence for this link to implicit prejudice comes from self-report questionnaire data regarding the RHI. As an alternative, we assessed the onset time of the RHI. We hypothesized that onset time of the RHI would be higher for the black compared to the white RH, acting as the mediator between implicit prejudice and magnitude of the RH illusion and proprioceptive drift. As expected, participants took longer to incorporate the black RH and presented lower RH illusion magnitude and a smaller proprioceptive drift for the black RH. Mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of implicit racial bias on proprioceptive drift and magnitude of illusion through onset time to illusion only for the black RH. These findings further illuminate the connection between implicit prejudice and embodied perception, suggesting new perspectives on how implicit biases operate., This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq; grant numbers: 466922/2014-0 and 401143/2014-7)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

We evaluated the Portuguese version of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index 3 (ASI-3-PT). Results of a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 603; 65.3% women, M age = 28.55, SD = 10.42) confirmed multidimensionality of the construct and the receiver operating characteristic confirmed the discriminant capacity of the measure between clinical and nonclinical samples., This work was supported by a Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal and Programa COMPETE Doctoral Grant SFRH/BD/80945/2011 to Ana Ganho-Avila, and a Post-Doctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/87514/2012 to Mariana Moura-Ramos. This study was partially conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).

Although the integrity of the visual system is often affected in multiple sclerosis (MS), the potential relationship between the temporal dynamics of visual processing and performance on neuropsychological tests assessing processing speed (PS) remains relatively unexplored. Here, we test if a PS deficit is related to abnormalities within the visual system, rather than impaired higher-level cognitive function. Two groups of participants with MS (1 group with PS deficits and another without) and a healthy control group, matched for age and education, were included. To explore the temporal dynamics of visual processing, we used 2 psychophysical paradigms: attention enhancement/prioritization and rapid serial visual presentation. Visual PS deficits were associated with a decreased capability to detect visual stimuli and a higher limitation in visual temporal-processing capacity. These results suggest that a latent sensorial temporal limitation of the visual system is significantly associated to PS deficits in MS., This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal with a doctoral fellowship grant (No. SFRH/BD/455591/2008) to SLC. JA is supported by funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal Project Grants PTDC/PSI-PCO/114822/2009 and PTDC/MHC-PCN/3575/2012., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The resting state brain networks, particularly the Default Mode Network (DMN), have been found to be altered in several psychopathological conditions such as depression and anxiety. In this study we hypothesized that cortical areas of the DMN, particularly the anterior regions - medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex - would show an increased functional connectivity associated with both anxiety and depression. Twenty-four healthy participants were assessed using Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating Scales and completed a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Multiple regression was performed in order to identify which areas of the DMN were associated with anxiety and depression scores. We found that the functional connectivity of the anterior portions of DMN, involved in self-referential and emotional processes, was positively correlated with anxiety and depression scores, whereas posterior areas of the DMN, involved in episodic memory and perceptual processing were negatively correlated with anxiety and depression scores. The dissociation between anterior and posterior cortical midline regions, raises the possibility of a functional specialization within the DMN in terms of self-referential tasks and contributes to the understanding of the cognitive and affective alterations in depressive and anxiety states., This research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): PIC/IC/83290/2007, which is supported by FEDER (POFC - COMPETE). Joana Coutinho was funded by a FCT postdoctoral grant (number: SFRH/BPD/75014/2010)- POPH program and Bial Foundation (grant number 87/12)Liliana Maia is supported by the Competitive Factors Operational Programme-COMPETE-, by national funds from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grant PTDC/PSI-PCL/115316/2009)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

There is a common agreement on the existence of dysfunctional cortico-striatal–thalamus-cortical path-ways in OCD. Despite this consensus, recent studies showed that brain regions other than the CSTC loopsare needed to understand the complexity and diversity of cognitive and emotional deficits in OCD. Thisreview presents examples of research using functional neuroimaging, reporting abnormal brain pro-cesses in OCD that may underlie specific cognitive/executive (inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility,working memory), and emotional impairments (fear/defensive, disgust, guilt, shame). Studies duringresting state conditions show that OCD patients have alterations in connectivity not only within theCSTC pathways but also in more extended resting state networks, particularly the default mode networkand the fronto-parietal network. Additionally, abnormalities in brain functioning have been found inseveral cognitive and emotionally task conditions, namely: inhibitory control (e.g., CSTC loops, fronto-parietal networks, anterior cingulate); cognitive flexibility (e.g., CSTC loops, extended temporal, parietal,and occipital regions); working memory (e.g., CSTC loops, frontal parietal networks, dorsal anterior cin-gulate); fear/defensive (e.g., amygdala, additional brain regions associated with perceptual – parietal,occipital – and higher level cognitive processing – prefrontal, temporal); disgust (e.g., insula); shame(e.g., decrease activity in middle frontal gyrus and increase in frontal, limbic, temporal regions); and guilt(e.g., decrease activity anterior cingulate and increase in frontal, limbic, temporal regions). These find-ings may contribute to the understanding of OCD as both an emotional (i.e., anxiety) and cognitive (i.e.,executive control) disorder., The first author was funded by the Brazilian National Counselfor Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) as a SpecialVisiting Researcher of the Science Without Borders program (grantnumber: 401143/2014-7). This study was partially conducted atthe Neuropsychophysiology Lab from the Psychology ResearchCentre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supportedby the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology andthe Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and HigherEducation through national funds and co-financed by FEDERthrough COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement(POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007653). This work was also supportedby the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)and European Union (FSE-POPH) with two individual grants(SFRH/BPD/86041/2012 and SFRH/BPD/86027/2012)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion