Narrative identity hinges on the construction of a coherent life story. While the cognitive and neural bases of past-oriented narratives are well documented, much less is known about their future-oriented counterparts. This study investigates whether autobiographical reasoning-defined as reflecting on the personal meaning of events-operates similarly or differently depending on temporal orientation. In Study 1, we assessed the narrative content and functions of autobiographical reasoning. For both past and future events, autobiographical reasoning involved linking represented events to other personal experiences and characteristics. However, past-oriented reasoning relied more on personal characteristics, whereas future-oriented reasoning included more references to personal goals. In Study 2, participants evoked the concrete content of past and future self-defining experiences, or engaged in autobiographical reasoning for the same events, during fMRI scanning. Autobiographical reasoning showed a consistent neural signature across temporal orientations, involving the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and lateral temporal cortex. These findings highlight both shared and distinct aspects of autobiographical reasoning across the past and future. Overall, autobiographical reasoning appears to draw primarily on semantic processing and conceptual self-knowledge, enabling individuals to derive meaning and value from personal events by linking them to other experiences, goals, and traits.

Relationships between cognitive impairment and regional brain activity induced by central neurotoxicity of FOLFOX and FOLFIRI in colorectal cancer patients: a resting-state fMRI study.

Understanding how brain activation relates to the content of our thoughts under stress is essential for linking cognitive processes to neural mechanisms. The Think Aloud Paradigm (TAP) offers a unique, real-time method to capture verbalized cognition, enabling researchers to assess the qualitative nature of ruminative thinking. In this study, the TAP was administered prior to and following the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to investigate whether verbalized ruminative thought content is associated with prefrontal hypoactivation during stress. Participants' transcripts were rated on four scales: (1) rehashing bad performance, (2) speculating about negative consequences, (3) focus on negative affect, and (4) reflection. Dichotomized change scores were used as group-level predictors of neural activation. Results showed that rehashing bad performance and speculating about negative consequences were significantly associated with differential activation patterns in the bilateral Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) and left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC). Interestingly, this association shows opposing patterns for each hemisphere: Specifically, participants who less frequently engage in rehashing bad performance and speculating about negative consequences show increased recruitment of the left IFG and left DLPFC under stress, whereas those who do show prefrontal hypoactivation. Participants who rehashed their poor performance further showed decreased activation in the right IFG over time, while those who did not showed no significant changes in the right IFG. These findings suggest that ruminative thought content, as captured through TAP, is associated with reduced prefrontal engagement during stress. Future research should investigate this relationship in clinical populations to evaluate its potential for diagnostic or intervention purposes.

Cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation highlights the functional role of the cortical pathway from the right inferior frontal gyrus to the primary motor cortex in motor inhibition.

An investigation of the effectiveness of bihemispheric tDCS on speech fluency in individuals with stuttering.

Function-specific repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation enhances motor strategy adaptation when combined with motor practice.

Prediction of early neurological deterioration using quantitative susceptibility mapping in small artery occlusion ischemic stroke.

The characteristics of fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation among first-episode and drug-naive individuals with depressive disorder combined with internet addiction.

Identifying neuroimaging-based biomarkers for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A resting-state fMRI and machine learning study in patients and unaffected first-degree relatives.

Relationship between regional homogeneity changes and cognitive dysfunction in patients with first-episode drug-naïve bipolar II disorder in the depressive phase.

We conducted coordinate-based anisotropy effect size signed differential mapping (AES-SDM) meta-analyses to identify task-general and domain-specific (working memory, reward, and emotion processing) activation abnormalities in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). We systematically searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that compared patients with MDD with healthy controls (HCs) up to December 3, 2024. Differences in brain activity were evaluated using AES-SDM software across all task types, including emotion-processing, working memory, and reward-processing domains, to compare MDD patients with HCs. Forty-six studies (11 on working memory, 12 on reward processing, and 23 on emotion processing) involving 1,558 patients with MDD and 1,468 HCs were included. Across all task types, patients with MDD showed greater activation in the left lenticular nucleus/putamen, right rolandic operculum, left anterior cingulate/paracingulate gyri, and right inferior frontal gyrus. In the emotion-processing domains, MDD was associated with hyperactivation in the right amygdala and left striatum. No clusters survived the primary corrected threshold in the working memory or reward-processing domains. Jackknife analyses supported the robustness of the main clusters, and Egger's test did not indicate significant publication bias (all p > 0.05). Meta-regression did not reveal significant effects of age or illness duration on the results. This meta-analysis demonstrated task-general hyperactivation across salience/control-related regions in patients with MDD and domain-specific hyperactivation in the amygdala-striatal circuitry during emotion processing. The absence of corrected findings in working memory and reward processing highlights the need for more standardized paradigms and larger datasets to clarify domain-specific abnormalities. Not applicable.

Abstract Understanding how attitudinal prosody is processed in a second language (L2) remains an open question, particularly regarding its neural mechanisms and the role of real-world experiences. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined how native Japanese learners processed attitudinal versus linguistic prosody in their L1 (Japanese) and L2 (English) during a forced-choice judgment task. Across languages, attitudinal and linguistic prosody engaged partially dissociable networks: attitudinal prosody recruited socio-cognitive regions involved in inferring speakers’ intentions, whereas linguistic prosody engaged phonological-motor regions. Critically, L2 attitudinal prosody elicited distinct frontal modulation, with the left inferior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus showing stronger prosody-type differentiation in English than in Japanese – indicating greater reliance on controlled interpretive and executive processes during non-native attitudinal prosody comprehension. Individual-difference analyses revealed that informal L2 exposure predicted enhanced activation in the thalamus and left hippocampus, as well as better attitudinal prosody identification. These converging neural and behavioral patterns suggest that socially grounded experience plays an important role in developing sensitivity to attitudinal prosody in an L2. Together, these findings provide novel neural evidence for how L2 learners interpret attitudinal prosody and show that L2 exposure is associated with differences in pragmatic prosody at cognitive and neural levels.

Longitudinal changes of BOLD-CSF coupling and its association with the clinical assessments in subcortical ischemic stroke.

Changes in neurovascular coupling of cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity strength in first-episode schizophrenia patients after antipsychotic treatment.

Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is characterized by persistent physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by structural abnormalities or laboratory findings. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of SSD remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate functional brain abnormalities in SSD patients presenting predominantly with chest pain using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). A total of 102 participants were prospectively enrolled, including 56 patients with SSD and 46 healthy controls (HCs). All participants underwent clinical assessments and structural MRI examinations, including T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), T1-weighted imaging (T1WI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), and rs-fMRI. The rs-fMRI metrics included regional homogeneity (ReHo), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), and fractional ALFF (fALFF). Group comparisons were conducted to identify differences in brain activity, and correlation analyses were performed to examine associations between brain activity and clinical symptoms. No significant differences were observed between the two groups in demographic variables, including age, gender, and education level. Clinical assessments revealed that SSD patients scored significantly higher than HCs on the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). ALFF, fALFF, and ReHo analyses demonstrated significant alterations in spontaneous neural activity in SSD patients compared with HCs. Specifically, increased activity was observed in the left inferior frontal gyrus and precuneus, whereas decreased activity was detected in the hippocampus and insula. Correlation analyses revealed significant associations between these abnormal brain activity patterns and clinical symptom severity in SSD patients. This study highlights regional functional brain abnormalities in SSD, particularly in regions associated with emotion regulation, memory, and sensory processing. These findings provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying SSD and suggest potential neuroimaging targets for therapeutic interventions that may help alleviate symptoms and improve patient outcomes.

Universal and differential effects of prefrontal transcranial electrical stimulation on convergent and divergent thinking.

Local hyperexcitability and long-range hypocommunication in the low-gamma band characterize major depressive disorder with mixed features.

Structural Brain Alterations Following Speed-Reading Training in Sinhala-Speaking Adults: A Voxel-Based Morphometry and Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study.

Alteration of fronto-thalamic-striatal and visual network activity to positive emotional stimuli in adolescent patients with bipolar disorder during a Go/No-Go task-based functional brain MRI.

Neural substrates of apathy in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review of structural and functional neuroimaging studies.