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Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember and complete planned tasks in the future, which relies on working memory (WM) for encoding and maintaining the intention. Implementation intention is a useful strategy for improving PM function in adults. Yet the effect of implementation intentions in children, and whether factors such as age, gender, and WM capacity could modulate its effect remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effect of implementation intentions on PM in 154 children at 7-11 years of age. The standard group received standard instructions on PM task, whereas the implementation intention group received additional PM instruction, which comprised the "if . . . then . . ." format and guided visual imagery of the PM scenario. Participants completed the computer-based PM tasks (tapping into focal event-, time-, and activity-based PM) and the WM tests. The results showed that the two groups exhibited similar focal event-, time-, and activity-based PM performance. Although age and gender did not modulate the effect of implementation intentions on PM, WM capacity moderated the implementation intention effect on time-based PM. Specifically, higher WM capacity predicted higher implementation intention benefit. These findings suggest that children with higher WM capacity may have higher chance to benefit from the implementation intention strategy.

Interoceptive accuracy has been widely measured using the Heartbeat Tracking Test (HTT). We devised the novel paradigm of Interoception-Exteroception Synchronicity Judgement (IESJ) task to assess participants' interoceptive accuracy, exteroceptive accuracy, and the balancing score which reflected the ability to allocate attentions between interoceptive and exteroceptive signals. This study administered the behavioural paradigms of the HTT and the IESJ as well as other self-report scales to 119 typically-developing youths. Individuals with lower autistic traits (n = 30) showed comparable interoceptive accuracy, exteroceptive accuracy, and balancing scores as their higher autistic traits counterparts (n = 33). Taken together, the high autistic traits subgroup exhibited higher levels of alexithymia but not empathy or interoception than the low autistic traits subgroup.

Interoception is believed to underlie socio-cognitive functions which are often impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this study, Experiment 1 examined in a sample of 114 neurotypical college students the associations among autistic traits, alexithymia, and interoceptive accuracy (IA), which was assessed by a novel paradigm "Eye-tracking Interoceptive Accuracy Task (EIAT). In Experiment 2, EIAT and the Autism Spectrum Quotient were administered to 52 preschool children, 50 adolescents, and 50 adults. Experiment 1 supported the association between autistic traits and alexithymia, but failed to support their association with multidimensional interoception. Experiment 2 strongly supported the association between age and IA. We conclude that cardiac IA differs between neurotypical age groups, but shows limited relationship with autistic traits.

Atypical sensory processing has recently gained much research interest as a key domain of autistic symptoms. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties in processing the temporal aspects of sensory inputs, and show altered behavioural responses to sensory stimuli (i.e., sensory responsiveness). The present study examined the relation between sensory responsiveness (assessed by the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile) and audiovisual temporal integration (measured by unisensory temporal order judgement (TOJ) tasks and audiovisual simultaneity judgement (SJ) tasks) in typically-developing adolescents (n = 94). We found that adolescents with higher levels of autistic traits exhibited more difficulties in separating visual stimuli in time (i.e., larger visual TOJ threshold) and showed a stronger bias to perceive sound-leading audiovisual pairings as simultaneous. Regarding the associations between different measures of sensory function, reduced visual temporal acuity, but not auditory or multisensory temporal processing, was significantly correlated with more atypical patterns of sensory responsiveness. Furthermore, the positive correlation between visual TOJ thresholds and sensory avoidance was only found in adolescents with relatively high levels of autistic traits, but not in those with relatively low levels of autistic traits. These findings suggest that reduced visual temporal acuity may contribute to altered sensory experiences and may be linked to broader behavioural characteristics of ASD.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of a mindfulness-based family psychoeducation (MBFPE) intervention on caregivers and the young adults with first-episode psychosis in mental health care. Methods: Sixty-five caregivers were randomly assigned to the MBFPE program (n = 33) or an ordinary family psychoeducation (FPE) program (n = 32). Eighteen young adults in recovery (YAIR) also participated in the study. All of the participants completed the assessments before participating in the intervention (T1), after the intervention (T2), and at 9-month follow-up (T3). Results: Intention-to-treat analyses were conducted. The caregivers reported a significant and large effect size on positive caregiving experiences based on a Time × Group analysis (g = 0.862, p = 0.006). Among the YAIR participants, between-group differences were significant in their perceptions of caregivers' expressed emotions, including large effect sizes of perceived criticism (g = 1.396, p = 0.049) and hostility (g = 1.444, p = 0.043). Caregiver demographics, including age, education level, socioeconomic status, and number of family members, were found to moderate the effect sizes of the variables studied. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of the effects of MBFPE programs on the outcomes of caregivers and the young adults with first-episode psychosis in their care. Specifically, the MBFPE program in this study played a greater role in promoting positive caregiving experiences and changing caregivers' expressed emotions, especially their expressed criticism of YAIR, compared with the regular FPE program. Therefore, the application of mindfulness training to promote family care and YAIR recovery should be encouraged. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier NCT03688009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the effects of a mindfulness-based family psychoeducation (MBFPE) intervention on caregivers and the young adults with first-episode psychosis in mental health care. Methods: Sixty-five caregivers were randomly assigned to the MBFPE program (n = 33) or an ordinary family psychoeducation (FPE) program (n = 32). Eighteen young adults in recovery (YAIR) also participated in the study. All of the participants completed the assessments before participating in the intervention (T1), after the intervention (T2), and at 9-month follow-up (T3). Results: Intention-to-treat analyses were conducted. The caregivers reported a significant and large effect size on positive caregiving experiences based on a Time × Group analysis (g = 0.862, p = 0.006). Among the YAIR participants, between-group differences were significant in their perceptions of caregivers' expressed emotions, including large effect sizes of perceived criticism (g = 1.396, p = 0.049) and hostility (g = 1.444, p = 0.043). Caregiver demographics, including age, education level, socioeconomic status, and number of family members, were found to moderate the effect sizes of the variables studied. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of the effects of MBFPE programs on the outcomes of caregivers and the young adults with first-episode psychosis in their care. Specifically, the MBFPE program in this study played a greater role in promoting positive caregiving experiences and changing caregivers' expressed emotions, especially their expressed criticism of YAIR, compared with the regular FPE program. Therefore, the application of mindfulness training to promote family care and YAIR recovery should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research using the Empathic Accuracy Task (EAT) has suggested that schizophrenia patients and people with schizotypal personality disorder exhibit lower empathic accuracy than healthy people. However, empathic accuracy in a subclinical sample with high levels of schizotypy has seldom been studied. Our study aimed to investigate empathy in a subclinical sample using the Chinese version of the EAT and a self‐report empathy measure. Forty participants with high levels of schizotypy (HS participants) and 40 with low levels of schizotypy (LS participants), as measured by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), were recruited. All participants completed the Chinese version of the EAT and the self‐report Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy. Empathic accuracy (EA) scores and the intra‐individual variability of EA scores were calculated. Independent samples t tests and Pearson correlation analyses were performed to examine group differences in empathy and the relationship between empathy and schizotypy respectively. HS participants exhibited reduced EA for both positive and negative videos, and larger intra‐individual variability of EA for negative videos than LS participants. However, HS and LS participants did not differ in self‐report cognitive empathy. Moreover, the interpersonal dimension of the SPQ was negatively correlated with EAT performance and self‐report cognitive empathy in LS participants. Individuals with HS show poorer performance‐based EA but relatively intact self‐report cognitive empathy. This study provides empirical evidence for the ontogeny of empathy deficits in subclinical populations at risk of developing schizophrenia, supporting early interventions for social cognitive deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reward motivation in individuals with high levels of negative schizotypal traits (NS) has been found to be lower than that in their counterparts. But it is unclear that whether their reward motivation adaptively changes with external effort-reward ratio, and what resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is associated with this change. Thirty-five individuals with high levels of NS and 44 individuals with low levels of NS were recruited. A 3T resting-state functional brain scan and a novel reward motivation adaptation behavioural task were administrated in all participants. The behavioural task was manipulated with three conditions (effort > reward condition vs. effort < reward condition vs. effort = reward condition). Under each condition were rated 'wanting' and 'liking' for rewards. The seed-based voxel-wise rsFC analysis was conducted to explore the rsFCs associated with the 'wanting' and 'liking' ratings in individuals with high levels of NS. 'Wanting' and 'liking' ratings of individuals with high levels of NS significantly declined in the effort > reward condition but did not rebound as high as their counterparts in the effort < reward condition. The rsFCs in NS group associated with these ratings were altered. The altered rsFCs in NS group involved regions in the prefrontal lobe, dopaminergic brain regions (ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra), hippocampus, thalamus and cerebellum. Individuals with high levels of NS manifested their reward motivation adaptation impairment as a failure of adjustment adaptively during effort-reward imbalance condition and altered rsFCs in prefrontal, dopaminergic and other brain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anhedonia is a transdiagnostic symptom found in patients with schizophrenia and depression. Current pharmacological interventions for anhedonia are unsatisfactory in a considerable proportion of patients. There has been growing interest in applying noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) to patients with anhedonia. However, evidence for the efficacy of NIBS for anhedonia remain inconsistent. This study systematically identified all studies that measured anhedonia and applied NIBS in patients with schizophrenia or depression. We conducted a search using the various databases in English (PubMed, EBSCOHost (PsycInfo/PsycArticles), Web of Science) and Chinese (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform) languages, and reviewed original research articles on NIBS published from January 1989 to July 2023. Our search had identified 15 articles for quantitative synthesis, with three concerning schizophrenia samples, 11 concerning samples with depression, and one concerning both clinical samples. We conducted a meta‐analysis based on the 15 included studies, and the results suggested that NIBS could improve anhedonia symptoms in schizophrenia patients and patients with depression, with a medium‐to‐large effect size. Our findings are preliminary, given the limited number of included studies. Future NIBS research should measure anhedonia as a primary outcome and should recruit transdiagnostic samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) advocates the dimensional approach in characterizing mental disorders. We followed RDoC to characterize children with ADHD using profiling based on the cognitive and psychopathological domains. We aimed to identify and validate ADHD subtypes with different clinical characteristics and functional impairments. We recruited 362 drug‐naïve children with ADHD and 103 typically developing controls. The cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups based on the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The subgroups' clinical characteristics and functional impairments were assessed using the WEISS Functional Impairment Rating Scale‐Parent Report (WFIRS‐P) and the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (PSQ). The cluster analysis yielded four subgroups: (1) ADHD with severe impairment in psychopathology and executive functions (EF), (2) ADHD with mild executive dysfunctions and normal‐level psychopathology, (3) ADHD with severe externalizing problems and (4) ADHD with severe executive dysfunctions. These subgroups showed different clinical characteristics and degrees of functional impairment. The EF impairment group displayed more serious learning problems and worse life skills than the externalizing group. The two groups with externalizing problems (i.e. the severe impairment group and the externalizing group) both exhibited higher rates of the combined subtype of ADHD and higher rates of comorbid ODD. Different subtypes of ADHD displayed different profiles of internalizing and externalizing problems and levels of executive dysfunctions. In particular, the subtype with severe impairment in EF exhibited more learning problems and worse life skills, suggesting EF is a critical target for intervention in children with ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applied two incentive delay tasks involving social and non‐social incentive types to 76 pairs of participants with high and low depressive symptoms. The results suggest that higher levels of depressive symptoms are correlated with abnormalities in social and non‐social reward processing even in the healthy populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]