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'A measurement tool to assess systematic reviews, version 2' (AMSTAR2) is a 16-item tool to critically appraise systematic reviews (SRs) of healthcare interventions. This study aimed to assess the methods and outcomes of AMSTAR2 appraisals in overviews of SRs of interventions for mental and behavioural disorders. The cross-sectional study was conducted using 32 overviews of SRs selected from three electronic databases in January 2021. Data items included overview and SR characteristics and AMSTAR2 appraisal methods and outcomes. Data were extracted by two authors independently and narratively synthesised using descriptive statistics (means ± SD and relative frequencies). SR characteristics were compared based on AMSTAR2 appraisal outcomes using chi-square tests. The 32 overviews appraised SRs of predominantly non-pharmacological interventions for mental disorders. AMSTAR2 appraisals were reported as confidence ratings in 25/32 overviews or individual item scores in 24/32 overviews. Most SRs/overview were non-Cochrane (mean = 94%), included RCTs only (mean = 77%) and were published before AMSTAR2 release (mean = 79%). The confidence ratings derived in 25 overviews for 349 SRs were predominantly critically low (68%). Confidence ratings were similar for SRs with RCTs only versus RCTs+non-RCTs or SRs published before versus after AMSTAR2 release, while Cochrane SRs received more high+moderate than low+critically low confidence ratings (p < 0.01). Confidence ratings derived based on AMSTAR2 do not differentiate among SRs of healthcare interventions except for Cochrane SRs that fulfil the criteria for high confidence ratings. AMSTAR2 items should be consulted to avoid common weaknesses in future SRs.

Students' sense of belonging presents an essential resource for academic and health outcomes, whereas social exclusion at school negatively impacts students' well-being and academic performance. Aiming to understand how feelings of school-related belonging and exclusion shape the "structural" brain development, this study applied longitudinal questionnaire-based data and MRI data from 71 adolescent students (37 females, M[subscript age] at t1 = 15.0; t2 = 16.1 years). All were white participants from Germany. Voxel-based morphometry revealed only an association of social exclusion (and not of belonging) and gray matter volume in the left anterior insula: From t1 to t2, there was less gray matter decrease, the more social exclusion students perceived. School-related social exclusion and disturbed neurodevelopment are thus significantly associated.

Conducting high‐quality overviews of reviews (OoR) is time‐consuming. Because the quality of systematic reviews (SRs) varies, it is necessary to critically appraise SRs when conducting an OoR. A well‐established appraisal tool is A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2, which takes about 15–32 min per application. To save time, we developed two fast‐and‐frugal decision trees (FFTs) for assessing the methodological quality of SR for OoR either during the full‐text screening stage (Screening FFT) or to the resulting pool of SRs (Rapid Appraisal FFT). To build a data set for developing the FFT, we identified published AMSTAR 2 appraisals. Overall confidence ratings of the AMSTAR 2 were used as a criterion and the 16 items as cues. One thousand five hundred and nineteen appraisals were obtained from 24 publications and divided into training and test data sets. The resulting Screening FFT consists of three items and correctly identifies all non‐critically low‐quality SRs (sensitivity of 100%), but has a positive predictive value of 59%. The three‐item Rapid Appraisal FFT correctly identifies 80% of the high‐quality SRs and correctly identifies 97% of the low‐quality SRs, resulting in an accuracy of 95%. The FFTs require about 10% of the 16 AMSTAR 2 items. The Screening FFT may be applied during full‐text screening to exclude SRs with critically low quality. The Rapid Appraisal FFT may be applied to the final SR pool to identify SR that might be of high methodological quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been an increasing quest in improving our understanding of the neurocognitive deficits underlying adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Current statistical manuals of psychiatric disorders emphasize inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, but empirical studies have also shown consistent alterations in inhibitory control. To date, there is no established neuropsychological test to assess inhibitory control deficits in adult ADHD. A common paradigm for assessing response inhibition is the stop-signal task (SST). Following PRISMA-selection criteria, our systematic review and meta-analysis integrated the findings of 26 publications with 27 studies examining the SST in adult ADHD. The meta-analysis, which included 883 patients with adult ADHD and 916 control participants, revealed reliable inhibitory control deficits, as expressed in prolonged SST response times, with a moderate effect size g = 0.51 (95% CI: 0.376–0.644, p < 0.0001). The deficits were not moderated by study quality, sample characteristics or clinical parameters, suggesting that they may be a phenotype in this disorder. The analyses of secondary outcome measures revealed greater SST omission errors and reduced go accuracy in patients, indicative of altered sustained attention. However, only few (N < 10) studies were available for these measures. Our meta-analysis suggests that the SST, in conjunction with other tests and questionnaires, could become a valuable tool for assessing inhibitory control deficits in adult ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mid-adolescence is a critical time for the development of stress-related disorders and it is associated with significant social vulnerability. However, little is known about normative neural processes accompanying psychosocial stress at this time. Previous research found that emotion regulation strategies critically influence the relationship between stress and the development of psychiatric symptoms during adolescence. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined neural responses to acute stress and analyzed whether the tendency to use adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies is related to neural and autonomic stress responses. Results show large linear activation increases from low to medium to high stress levels mainly in medial prefrontal, insulae and temporal areas. Caudate and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, neural areas related to reward and affective valuations, showed linearly decreasing activation. In line with our hypothesis, the current adolescent neural stress profile resembled social rejection and was characterized by pronounced activation in insula, angular and temporal cortices. Moreover, results point to an intriguing role of the anterior temporal gyrus. Stress-related activity in the anterior temporal gyrus was positively related to maladaptive regulation strategies and stress-induced autonomic activity. Maladaptive coping might increase the social threat and reappraisal load of a stressor, relating to higher stress sensitivity of anterior temporal cortices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'A measurement tool to assess systematic reviews, version 2' (AMSTAR2) is a 16‐item tool to critically appraise systematic reviews (SRs) of healthcare interventions. This study aimed to assess the methods and outcomes of AMSTAR2 appraisals in overviews of SRs of interventions for mental and behavioural disorders. The cross‐sectional study was conducted using 32 overviews of SRs selected from three electronic databases in January 2021. Data items included overview and SR characteristics and AMSTAR2 appraisal methods and outcomes. Data were extracted by two authors independently and narratively synthesised using descriptive statistics (means ± SD and relative frequencies). SR characteristics were compared based on AMSTAR2 appraisal outcomes using chi‐square tests. The 32 overviews appraised SRs of predominantly non‐pharmacological interventions for mental disorders. AMSTAR2 appraisals were reported as confidence ratings in 25/32 overviews or individual item scores in 24/32 overviews. Most SRs/overview were non‐Cochrane (mean = 94%), included RCTs only (mean = 77%) and were published before AMSTAR2 release (mean = 79%). The confidence ratings derived in 25 overviews for 349 SRs were predominantly critically low (68%). Confidence ratings were similar for SRs with RCTs only versus RCTs+non‐RCTs or SRs published before versus after AMSTAR2 release, while Cochrane SRs received more high+moderate than low+critically low confidence ratings (p < 0.01). Confidence ratings derived based on AMSTAR2 do not differentiate among SRs of healthcare interventions except for Cochrane SRs that fulfil the criteria for high confidence ratings. AMSTAR2 items should be consulted to avoid common weaknesses in future SRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the relational-developmental systems approach, this three-wave study examines whether acute stress (T2) mediates the relationship between the development of personality traits from the beginning of 8th grade (T1, M age = 15.63, SD = 0.59; 22 girls) to the end of 9th grade (T3). Using the Montréal Imaging Stress Task, which is a task that provokes acute social stress by negative social feedback, this study combined the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), heart rate, and longitudinal survey data of 41 adolescents. Mediation analysis revealed that stress-induced left insula activation partially mediates the longitudinal stability of conscientiousness. These results highlight the impact of negative social feedback during stress on students' personality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' sense of belonging presents an essential resource for academic and health outcomes, whereas social exclusion at school negatively impacts students' well‐being and academic performance. Aiming to understand how feelings of school‐related belonging and exclusion shape the structural brain development, this study applied longitudinal questionnaire‐based data and MRI data from 71 adolescent students (37 females, Mage at t1 = 15.0; t2 = 16.1 years). All were white participants from Germany. Voxel‐based morphometry revealed only an association of social exclusion (and not of belonging) and gray matter volume in the left anterior insula: From t1 to t2, there was less gray matter decrease, the more social exclusion students perceived. School‐related social exclusion and disturbed neurodevelopment are thus significantly associated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present interdisciplinary study explored whether perceived loneliness is associated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) activation during self‐ and social judgments (friends and teachers) in adolescents. Moreover, we examined how vMPFC activity is related to the academic self‐concept (ASC). Results of manifest path analysis indicated that high perceived loneliness was related to lower neural response to self‐judgments. In turn, high neural response to self‐judgments was positively associated with the ASC, whereas there was a trendwise negative association between high neural response to teacher‐related judgments and ASC. This study reveals associations between perceived loneliness and neural processing of the self, underlining the idea that feeling isolated from others may hinder self‐insight and, by extension, the formation of a stable academic self‐concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence is a critical maturation period for human cognitive control and executive function. In this study, a large sample of adolescents ( n = 85) performed a reversal learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We analyzed behavioral data using a reinforcement learning model to provide individually fitted parameters and imaging data with regard to reward prediction errors ( PE). Following a model-based approach, we formed two groups depending on whether individuals tended to update expectations predominantly for the chosen stimulus or also for the unchosen one. These groups significantly differed in their problem behavior score obtained using the child behavior checklist ( CBCL) and in a measure of their developmental stage. Imaging results showed that dorsolateral striatal areas covaried with PE. Participants who relied less on learning based on task structure showed less prefrontal activation compared with participants who relied more on task structure. An exploratory analysis revealed that PE-related activity was associated with pubertal development in prefrontal areas, insula and anterior cingulate. These findings support the hypothesis that the prefrontal cortex is implicated in mediating flexible goal-directed behavioral control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amygdala is essential for processing emotions, including the processing of aversive faces. The aim of this multimethodological study was to relate the amygdala reactivity of students ( N = 88) toward teachers' fearful and angry faces, to students' relationship with their teachers. Furthermore, students' neural responses during the perception of teachers' faces were tested as predictors of test anxiety (controlling for neuroticism as a potential trait anxiety effect). Multiple regression analysis revealed that students reporting high-quality teacher-student relationships showed stronger amygdala activity toward fearful faces, which was related to worry. Furthermore, students with high levels of neuroticism tended to perceive their teachers as motivators and showed higher amygdala activity toward angry faces, which was related to the measures of emotionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As indicated by previous research, aging is associated with a decline in working memory (WM) functioning, related to alterations in fronto-parietal neural activations. At the same time, previous studies showed that WM training in older adults may improve the performance in the trained task (training effect), and more importantly, also in untrained WM tasks (transfer effects). However, neural correlates of these transfer effects that would improve understanding of its underlying mechanisms, have not been shown in older participants as yet. In this study, we investigated blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes during n-back performance and an untrained delayed recognition (Sternberg) task following 12 sessions (45 min each) of adaptive n-back training in older adults. The Sternberg task used in this study allowed to test for neural training effects independent of specific task affordances of the trained task and to separate maintenance from updating processes. Thirty-two healthy older participants (60–75 years) were assigned either to an n-back training or a no-contact control group. Before (t1) and after (t2) training/waiting period, both the n-back task and the Sternberg task were conducted while BOLD signal was measured using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in all participants. In addition, neuropsychological tests were performed outside the scanner. WM performance improved with training and behavioral transfer to tests measuring executive functions, processing speed, and fluid intelligence was found. In the training group, BOLD signal in the right lateral middle frontal gyrus/caudal superior frontal sulcus (Brodmann area, BA 6/8) decreased in both the trained n-back and the updating condition of the untrained Sternberg task at t2, compared to the control group. fMRI findings indicate a training-related increase in processing efficiency of WM networks, potentially related to the process of WM updating. Performance gains in untrained tasks suggest that transfer to other cognitive tasks remains possible in aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multi-methodological study applied functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neural activation in a group of adolescent students (N D 88) during a probabilistic reinforcement learning task. We related patterns of emerging brain activity and individual learning rates to socio-motivational (in-)dependence manifested in four different motivation types (MTs): (1) peer-dependent MT, (2) teacher-dependent MT, (3) peer-and-teacher-dependent MT, (4) peer-and-teacher-independent MT. A multinomial regression analysis revealed that the individual learning rate predicts students' membership to the independent MT, or the peer-and-teacher-dependent MT. Additionally, the striatum, a brain region associated with behavioral adaptation and flexibility, showed increased learning-related activation in students with motivational independence. Moreover, the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in behavioral control, was more active in students of the peer-and-teacher-dependent MT. Overall, this study offers new insights into the interplay of motivation and learning with (1) a focus on inter-individual differences in the role of peers and teachers as source of students' individual motivation and (2) its potential neurobiological basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with decreased ventral-striatal responsiveness during reward anticipation. However, previous research mostly focused on adults with heterogeneous ADHD subtype and divers drug treatment status while studies in children with ADHD are sparse. Moreover, it remains unclear to what degree ADHD is characterized by a delay of normal brain structure or function maturation. We therefore attempt to determine whether results from structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are associated with childhood and adult ADHD combined subtype (ADHD-CT). This study used fMRI to compare VS structure and function of 30 participants with ADHD-CT (16 adults, 14 children) and 30 controls (20 adults, 10 children), using a monetary incentive delay task. Joint analyses of structural and functional imaging data were conducted with Biological Parametric Mapping. Reward anticipation elicited decreased ventral-striatal responsiveness in adults but not in children with ADHD-CT. Children and adults with ADHD showed reduced ventral-striatal volume. Taking these gray matter differences into account, the results remained the same. These results suggest that decreased ventral-striatal responsiveness during reward anticipation is present in adults but not in children with ADHD-CT, irrespective of structural characteristics. The question arises whether ventral-striatal hypoactivity is an ADHD correlate that develops during the course of illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games contain elaborate reinforcement and reward schedules that have the potential to maximize motivation. Neuroimaging studies suggest that video games might have an influence on the reward system. However, it is not clear whether reward-related properties represent a precondition, which biases an individual toward playing video games, or if these changes are the result of playing video games.Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study to explore reward-related functional predictors in relation to video gaming experience as well as functional changes in the brain in response to video game training. Fifty healthy participants were randomly assigned to a video game training (TG) or control group (CG). Before and after training/control period, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted using a non-video game related reward task. At pretest, both groups showed strongest activation in ventral striatum (VS) during reward anticipation. At posttest, the TG showed very similar VS activity compared to pretest. In the CG, the VS activity was significantly attenuated. This longitudinal study revealed that video game training may preserve reward responsiveness in the VS in a retest situation over time.We suggest that video games are able to keep striatal responses to reward flexible, a mechanism which might be of critical value for applications such as therapeutic cognitive training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the domain of working memory (WM), a sigmoid-shaped relationship between WM load and brain activation patterns has been demonstrated in younger adults. It has been suggested that age-related alterations of this pattern are associated with changes in neural efficiency and capacity. At the same time, WM training studies have shown that some older adults are able to increase their WM performance through training. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging during an n-back WM task at different WM load levels was applied to compare blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses between younger and older participants and to predict gains inWMperformance after a subsequent 12-sessionWMtraining procedure in older adults. We show that increased neural efficiency and capacity, as reflected by more "youth-like" brain response patterns in regions of interest of the frontoparietal WM network, were associated with better behavioral training outcome beyond the effects of age, sex, education, gray matter volume, and baseline WM performance. Furthermore, at low difficulty levels, decreases in BOLD response were found afterWMtraining. Results indicate that both neural efficiency (i.e., decreased activation at comparable performance levels) and capacity (i.e., increasing activation with increasing WMload) of a WM-related network predict plasticity of theWMsystem, whereasWMtraining may specifically increase neural efficiency in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]