Negative Cues Research Articles

Remembering the blues: negative emotion during encoding improve memory recall in major depressive Disorder

ABSTRACT Substantial research indicates that individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) remember more negative information compared to neutral and positive information. This phenomenon is commonly attributed to attentional biases toward negative over neutral and positive information. A recent attentional resources model suggests that in MDD, negative cues not only capture attention, but also lead to deeper processing of subsequent information, irrespective of its content. This study aimed to replicate findings supporting this attentional resources model and go beyond it by investigating the effect of negative cues on encoding and retrieval processes. Forty-one participants with MDD and no comorbid diagnoses, and 42 healthy-controls completed the emotional recall task with negative or positive videos presented during encoding and retrieval stages of a neutral word-list memory test. During encoding, only the MDD group exhibited a difference between negative and positive videos, such that for negative videos memory recall was improved and for positive words it was reduced. Emotional videos had no effect when presented during retrieval. These results suggest that in MDD, encountering emotional cues not only biases retrieval processes toward recalling more negative content, but rather fundamentally alters the depth of information processing, while not leading to a broad-spectrum recruitment of cognitive resources.

Changes in P300 amplitude to negative emotional stimuli correlate with treatment responsiveness to sertraline in adolescents with depression

ObjectiveAdolescents with depression is characterized by high rates of recurrence and functional impairment, with a significant association with suicide risk. Antidepressants are commonly prescribed to treat depression, yet few reproducible neurobiological markers for depression and antidepressant treatment response have been identified. Therefore, discovering a stable and reliable neurobiological marker holds significant value for both the clinical diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents. MethodsOne hundred and seven patients with major depressive disorder (MDD group, 30 males, 77 females, mean age: 14.80 years), and 25 healthy subjects (HC group, 13 males, 12 females, mean age: 15.72 years) were recruited to perform a two-choice oddball task related to negative emotional cues. All participants completed a self-administered questionnaire to gather demographic information. A trained psychiatrist administered the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17) to assess depression severity. Of the 107 adolescents with depression, 61 received antidepressant medication for 8 weeks, and 61 of these patients were followed up. Multichannel EEG was recorded continuously from 64 scalp electrodes using the Curry 8 system. EEG signal preprocessing and analysis was performed offline using the EEGLAB toolbox in MATLAB. The ERP component characteristics associated with emotional processing were extracted from the difference waves and statistically analyzed. ResultsAdolescents with depression exhibited significantly larger P300 amplitudes than healthy controls in response to both neutral and negative emotional cues. Following sertraline treatment, both depression scores and P300 amplitudes decreased significantly in adolescents with depression. Moreover, a strong positive correlation was observed between changes in depression scores and changes in P300 amplitude in response to negative emotional cues before and after treatment. ConclusionsChanges in neural reactivity to negative emotional stimuli among adolescents with depression can be selectively modulated by sertraline and are significantly associated with improvements in depressive symptoms. SignificanceChanges in P300 amplitude to negative emotional stimuli significantly correlate with treatment responsiveness to sertraline in adolescents with depression.

Modeling competing guidance on evacuation choices under time pressure using virtual reality and machine learning

Efficient emergency guidance in buildings is essential for the safe evacuation of occupants. However, occupants may be exposed to contradictory information from signage and other sources of information. This study presents a set of forced-choice VR experiments and a machine learning approach to investigate the effect of competing or conflicting guidance on exit choice in simulated scenarios. In the VR study, participants chose between two potential exits under time pressure in each trial. Attracting cues (“EXIT” signs, audio instructions) and repelling cues (“DO NOT ENTER” signs, traffic cones) were placed in front of the two exits, either individually or in combination. In total, 2,125 datapoints were recorded from 20 participants. To model exit choice, machine learning (random forest, RF) models were applied to predict and interpret the guidance on evacuation choices. The tuned-hyperparameters RF model proposed in this study showed above 75% accuracy to predict evacuation choices facing conflict cues and was superior to default RF and logistic regression models. Interestingly, repelling cues such as “DO NOT ENTER” signs had a stronger impact on exit choice than attracting cues like “EXIT” signs when people have to make choices. Overall, the study offers valuable data and insights into exit choices, revealing that negative cues are more influential than positive ones in emergencies. These findings can significantly inform the design and optimization of egress guidance systems. This bias towards negative information under pressure suggests that evacuation systems should prioritize clear and prominent negative cues to guide occupants effectively.

Using Psychological Reactance and Bandwagon Cues to Explain High School Sports Coaches’ Resistance to Concussion Communication Policies

Sport-related concussions (SRC) are a significant health risk for athletes amalgamated by issues with underreporting. Coaches play a pivotal role in promoting safety and health, but coach-player SRC communication efforts have been insufficient at improving players’ reporting behaviors. This study considers coaches’ responses to a proposed mandate to engage in SRC communication with athletes via psychological reactance theory (PRT), with bandwagoning cues positioned as a form of social proof that heightens or mitigates persuasion. Two hundred five coaches from 20 distinct sports were exposed to one of four messages addressing a proposed SRC management policy mandating biweekly coach-player communication about SRCs. The message variations incorporated different bandwagon cues (positive, negative, absent, mixed), manipulated through user comments and emoji reactions on a simulated social media environment. Results demonstrate direct and mediated relationships between exposure to negative bandwagon cues, bandwagon perceptions, freedom threat, reactance, and opposition intentions. Our findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of coaches’ attitudes towards SRC communication in a social media context, bridging gaps in the literature and introducing PRT to the SRC domain.

Evaluating the Link between Visual Attention Bias and Emotion Dysregulation of Young Children.

The ability to regulate emotions is vital to successful social interactions. This study explores whether visual attention bias is associated with emotion dysregulation (ED) in early childhood. Parental reports of child ED (Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL)andTemper Tantrum Scale) wereexamined in relation to child visual attention bias whilst viewing emotional faces. Results indicated that the level of eye gaze fixation towards emotional images and faces was associated with ED when social function (measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale), gender, age, and attention problems (measured from the CBCL subscale), were adjusted. The modifying effect on visual attention bias was evaluated using interaction analysis in the generalized linear model. The level of visual attention bias, indicated by the proportion of eye gaze fixation time on areas of interest (AOIs) in images displaying unpleasant emotions (such as anger), was inversely associated with the level of externalising problem behaviours (p = .014). Additionally, the association of eye gaze fixation time for AOIs displaying negative emotional cues with the level of externalising problem behaviours varied by age (p = .04), with younger children (aged < 70months) demonstrating a stronger association than older children (aged 70months). Findings suggest that young children with greater ED symptoms look less at unpleasant emotional cues. However, this relationship is attenuated as children become older. Further research to identify objective biomarkers that incorporate eye-tracking tasks may support prediction of ED-related mental health issues in the early years.

Effects of Internal, External, and Neutral Attentional Allocation on Post-Event Processing in Social Anxiety

Abstract Purpose Excessive attentional allocation towards threats has been theorized to play a maintaining role in social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, it is unclear if both heightened attentional focus towards internal threats (i.e., interoceptive signals of anxiety) and external threats (i.e., negative social-evaluative cues) are pathogenic. Further, evidence for the causal pathways by which biased attention maintains SAD is limited. The present study tested the effects of experimentally induced internally and externally oriented attention towards threats relative to a neutral control on state anxiety and post-event processing (PEP) in a highly socially anxious sample. Methods During an impromptu speech task, participants (N = 123) were randomized to allocating their attention to their own thoughts, actions, or body sensations (internal condition; n = 41), to an audience member’s reactions and evaluations (external condition; n = 42), or to a neutral object (control condition; n = 40). State anxiety and PEP were assessed immediately following the speech and 24 h later. Results Although no differences between the control condition and the external and internal conditions were observed, participants in the internal condition reported significantly higher state anxiety immediately after the speech and higher PEP 24 h later compared to the external condition. State anxiety immediately after the speech mediated heightened PEP 24 h later among the internal condition compared to the external condition. Conclusions Findings support the theorized maladaptive role of self-focused attention in the maintenance of SAD and suggest that attending internally may be more harmful than attending externally, despite the presence of socio-evaluative threats in the environment.

Why are some individuals better at using negative attentional templates to suppress distractors? Exploration of interindividual differences in cognitive control efficiency.

Negative templates are based on foreknowledge of distractor features and can lead to more efficient visual search at the group level. However, large individual differences exist in the size of benefits induced by negative cues. The cognitive factors underlying these interindividual differences remain unknown. Previous research has suggested higher engagement of proactive control for negative templates compared to positive templates. We thus hypothesized that interindividual differences in proactive control efficiency may explain the large variability in negative cue benefits. A large data set made up of data from two previously published studies was reanalyzed (N = 139), with eye movements recorded in 36 participants. Individual proactive control efficiency was measured through reaction time (RT) variability. Participants with higher proactive control efficiency exhibited larger benefits after negative cues across two critical measures: Individuals with higher proactive control showed larger RT benefits following negative compared to neutral cues; similarly, individuals with higher proactive control exhibited lower first saccades to cued distractor items. No such relationship was observed for positive cues. Our results confirmed the existence of large interindividual differences in the benefits induced by negative attentional templates. Critically, we show that proactive control drives these interindividual differences in negative template use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A Neural Signature for Reappraisal as an Emotion Regulation Strategy: Relationship to Stress-Related Suicidal Ideation and Negative Affect in Major Depression

BackgroundImpaired emotion regulation (ER) contributes to major depression and suicidal ideation and behavior. ER is typically studied by explicitly directing participants to regulate, but this may not capture spontaneous tendencies of individuals with depression to engage ER in daily life. MethodsIn 82 participants with major depressive disorder, we examined the relationship of spontaneous engagement of ER to real-world responses to stress. We used a machine learning–derived neural signature reflecting neural systems that underlie cognitive reappraisal (an ER strategy) to identify reappraisal-related activity while participants recalled negative autobiographical memories under the following conditions: 1) unstructured recall; 2) distanced recall, a form of reappraisal; and 3) immersed recall (comparison condition). Participants also completed a week of ecological momentary assessment measuring daily stressors, suicidal ideation, and negative affect. ResultsHigher reappraisal signature output for the unstructured period, a proxy for the spontaneous tendency to engage ER, was associated with greater increases in suicidal ideation following stressors (b = 0.083, p = .041). Higher signature output for distanced recall, a proxy for the capacity to engage ER when directed, was associated with lower negative affect following stressors (b = −0.085, p = .029). Output for the immerse period was not associated with ecological momentary assessment outcomes. ConclusionsFindings suggest that in major depressive disorder, the spontaneous tendency to react to negative memories with attempts to reappraise may indicate greater reactivity to negative cues, while intact capacity to use reappraisal when directed may be associated with more adaptive responses to stress. These data have implications for understanding stress-related increases in suicide risk in depression.

Similar Quality of Visual Working Memory Representations between Negative and Positive Attentional Templates.

Visual working memory (VWM) plays an important role during visual search, with some theories suggesting an equivalence between working memory representations and guidance from attentional templates. However, recent work has shown that participants can also use 'negative templates', the foreknowledge of distractor-features stored in VWM, to guide attention away from distractors during visual search. These negative templates must also be represented in working memory, but the question remains whether the quality of the working memory representations underlying negative and positive templates are similar, in spite of their opposite impacts on attention. In this study, participants (N = 33) engaged in a visual search task for a shape-defined target after receiving a positive cue (target color), negative cue (distractor color) or neutral cue (non-informative). In 20% of the trials, a color-wheel probe was presented instead of a search array to measure the quality of the cue representation stored in VWM. Our results revealed that participants were more likely to guess in response to neutral cues than negative cues. Yet, the comparison between positive and negative cues showed no significant differences. However, we found no difference in memory precision for the three cue types. More interestingly, the more the VWM quality is boosted by the negative cue, the greater the ability to guide attention away from distractors. Such a pattern of results might map to recent evidence of between-individuals differences in utilization of negative cues. These findings highlight the distinction between attentional templates and simple maintenance in working memory.

Contextual Ambiguity Framework for Enhanced Sentiment Analysis

Negation is a universal linguistic phenomenon that affects the performance of Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications, especially opinion mining data. Many words exists in sentences that have multiple interpretations or sentiments depending on how they are placed with respect to the negation word in the sentence. A cutting-edge framework is designed to tackle the nuanced challenge of detecting contextual ambiguity through negation in sentiment analysis. The approach uniquely combines advanced natural language processing techniques with deep linguistic insights, enabling the accurate interpretation of sentiment in complex sentences where negation plays a key role. The framework identifies negation cues and their scope, then assesses their impact on sentiment, considering contextual dependencies and word semantics. The model's innovation lies in context-sensitive algorithms that adeptly handle different sentence structures and idiomatic expressions, a notable advancement over traditional sentiment analysis tools. Particularly effective in interpreting sarcastic or ironic statements, the framework significantly outperforms existing models in accuracy, especially in negation-heavy contexts. This advancement enhances sentiment analysis applications like social media monitoring and customer feedback analysis, offering a more nuanced understanding of public opinion.

Can you tell me more about that? An examination of self-disclosure in videoconference and face-to-face psychological interviewing.

Videoconference psychotherapy (VCP) is a crucial component of many health care systems, allowing for remote delivery of services. However, little is known about the mechanisms of change within VCP. Previous research has suggested that self-disclosure may be greater in VCP than face-to-face modalities and was investigated in the current study. Young adults aged 18-25 years (N = 57) were randomly allocated to face-to-face or VCP interview conditions, with measures completed pre- and post-interview. Participants completed an autobiographical memory task, requiring them to describe specific memories in response to positive and negative valence cue words. Measures included self-reported self-disclosure, blind observer-rated self-disclosure, memory specificity, and mean number of words per response. No significant differences were found between conditions with regard to self-reported self-disclosure, capacity to recall specific memories, or words uttered per response. However, observer-rated depth of self-disclosure was significantly higher for participants in the face-to-face than VCP condition. Self-disclosure and memory specificity were also significantly greater for negative than positive valence cue words, regardless of condition. The findings indicate that whilst participants may be able to draw on memories with equal ease regardless of interview modality, in VCP, emotional processing of these memories may require increased support and guidance from the therapist.

Negation handling for sentiment analysis task: approaches and performance analysis

Negation plays an essential role in sentiment analysis within natural language processing (NLP). Its integration involves two key aspects: identifying the scope of negation and incorporating this information into the sentiment model. Before delving into scope detection, the specific negation cue must be identified, with explicit and implicit negation cues being the two main types. Various methodologies, such as rule-based, machine learning, and hybrid approaches, address the negation scope detection challenge. Strategies for leveraging negation information in sentiment models encompass heuristic polarity modification, feature space augmentation, end-to-end approach, and hierarchical multi-task learning. Notably, there is a need for more studies addressing implicit negation cue detection, even within the state-of-the-art bidirectional encoder representation for transformers (BERT) approach. Some studies have employed reinforcement learning and hybrid techniques to address the implicit negation problem. Further exploration, particularly through a hybrid and multi-task learning approach, is warranted to make potential contributions to the nuanced challenges of handling negation in sentiment analysis, especially in complex sentence structures.

Construct validity and reliability of a French-Canadian translation of the eating in the absence of hunger questionnaire for children and adolescents.

Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) has been associated with overweight and obesity during childhood. The gold standard to assess this behavior is a laboratory-based protocol, but a questionnaire to assess EAH more efficiently in children and adolescents has been developed and validated in English. We assessed construct validity (structural and convergent validity) and reliability (internal consistency and temporal stability) of a French translation of the EAH Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents among French-Canadian youths. We recruited participants in Montreal (Canada) aged 7-15 years old, who completed the questionnaire and provided anthropometric data. We asked participants to complete the questionnaire a second time ∼4 weeks later. The questionnaire consists of 14 questions and 3 subscales that assess EAH due to negative affect, fatigue/boredom, and external cues. We performed an exploratory factor analysis to test the factor structure and we calculated Cronbach alpha coefficients and intra-class correlations to assess internal consistency and temporal stability, respectively. We assessed associations between EAH and BMI z-score using Pearson correlations. We included 196 participants (50% girls; mean (SD) 11.9 (2.3) years old) for the first completion and 153 for the second completion. The exploratory factor analysis generated the same three subscales as the original questionnaire: negative affect (α=0.86; ICC=0.78), fatigue/boredom (α=0.75; ICC=0.70), and external cues (α=0.68; ICC=0.54). Participant's BMI z-scores were positively associated with the average scores from the negative affect subscale (r=0.19; ρ = 0.009). Our results suggest that this questionnaire has an adequate construct validity, internal consistency, and temporal stability.

Information-based TMS to mid-lateral prefrontal cortex disrupts action goals during emotional processing

The ability to respond to emotional events in a context-sensitive and goal-oriented manner is essential for adaptive functioning. In models of behavioral and emotion regulation, the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is postulated to maintain goal-relevant representations that promote cognitive control, an idea rarely tested with causal inference. Here, we altered mid-LPFC function in healthy individuals using a putatively inhibitory brain stimulation protocol (continuous theta burst; cTBS), followed by fMRI scanning. Participants performed the Affective Go/No-Go task, which requires goal-oriented action during affective processing. We targeted mid-LPFC (vs. a Control site) based on the individualized location of action-goal representations observed during the task. cTBS to mid-LPFC reduced action-goal representations in mid-LPFC and impaired goal-oriented action, particularly during processing of negative emotional cues. During negative-cue processing, cTBS to mid-LPFC reduced functional coupling between mid-LPFC and nodes of the default mode network, including frontopolar cortex—a region thought to modulate LPFC control signals according to internal states. Collectively, these results indicate that mid-LPFC goal-relevant representations play a causal role in governing context-sensitive cognitive control during emotional processing.

Augmenting a Spanish clinical dataset for transformer-based linking of negations and their out-of-scope references

Abstract A negated statement consists of three main components: the negation cue, the negation scope, and the negation reference. The negation cue is the indicator of negation, while the negation scope defines the extent of the negation. The negation reference, which may or may not be within the negation scope, is the part of the statement being negated. Although there has been considerable research on the negation cue and scope, little attention has been given to identifying negation references outside the scope, even though they make up almost half of all negations. In this study, our goal is to identify out-of-scope references (OSRs) to restore the meaning of truncated negated statements identified by negation detection systems. To achieve this, we augment the largest available Spanish clinical dataset by adding annotations for OSRs. Additionally, we fine-tune five robust BERT-based models using transfer learning to address negation detection, uncertainty detection, and OSR identification and linking with their respective negation scopes. Our best model achieves state-of-the-art performance in negation detection while also establishing a competitive baseline for OSR identification (Macro F1 = 0.56) and linking (Macro F1 = 0.86). We support these findings with relevant statistics from the newly annotated dataset and an extensive review of existing literature.

Sex-Dependent Differences in the Neural Correlates of Cocaine and Emotional Cue-Reactivity in Regular Cocaine Users and Non-Drug-Using Controls: Understanding the Role of Duration and Severity of Use

Introduction: The development of cocaine use disorder in females is suggested to be more strongly related to neural mechanisms underlying stress-reactivity, whereas in males it is suggested to be more strongly related to neural mechanisms underlying drug cue-reactivity. Existing evidence, however, is based on neuroimaging studies that either lack a control group and/or have very small sample sizes that do not allow to investigate sex differences. Methods: The main objective of the current study was to investigate sex differences in the neural correlates of cocaine and negative emotional cue-reactivity within high-risk intranasal cocaine users (CUs: 31 males and 26 females) and non-cocaine-using controls (non-CUs: 28 males and 26 females). A region of interest (ROI) analysis was applied to test for the main and interaction effects of group, sex, and stimulus type (cocaine cues vs. neutral cocaine cues and negative emotional cues vs. neutral emotional cues) on activity in the dorsal striatum, ventral striatum (VS), amygdala, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Results: There were no significant sex or group differences in cocaine cue-reactivity in any of the ROIs. Results did reveal significant emotional cue-reactivity in the amygdala and VS, but these effects were not moderated by group or sex. Exploratory analyses demonstrated that emotional cue-induced activation of the dACC and VS was negatively associated with years of regular cocaine use in female CUs, while this relationship was absent in male CUs. Conclusions: While speculative, the sex-specific associations between years of regular use and emotional cue-reactivity in the dACC and VS suggest that, with longer years of use, female CUs become less sensitive to aversive stimuli, including the negative consequences of cocaine use, which could account for the observed “telescoping effect” in female CUs.

Ironic processes of concentration and suppression under pressure: A study on rifle shooting in Norwegian elite biathletes.

This study examined how priming attentional and negative cues affected participants' shooting performances toward ironic error targets under cognitive load conditions in Stroop task across two experiments. Semi-elite biathletes (Experiment 1, n = 10; Experiment 2, n = 9) participated in the study. The study used a within-subject quasi-experimental design, particularly a one-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance and a 2 × 2 fully repeated measures analysis of variance, to determine the participants' hit rates and shooting response times (RTs). In both experiments, the participants completed the reverse-Stroop-based target shooting performance under low- and high-cognitive load conditions while receiving frequent priming attentional and negative cues. The findings from Experiment 1 suggest that regulating repetitive priming attentional thoughts is efficacious in mitigating the likelihood of ironic performance errors and interference effects. The results of Experiment 2 show that repetitive priming negative cues resulted in negligible ironic error hit rates and slower RTs in target hits under high-cognitive load conditions. The Bayesian analyses provided evidence supporting the null hypotheses. Trying to control repetitive priming attentional and negative thoughts reduces ironic performance errors to a similar degree under cognitive load conditions among biathletes, regardless of interference effects. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of suppressing task-relevant negative instructions in reducing the likelihood of ironic performance errors under pressure.

The Effect of Elite Cues on Policy Attitudes through the Lens of Affective Polarization in Taiwan

The personalization of politics and elite polarization have attracted considerable scholarly attention. We conducted an online experimental survey on policy proposals and voters’ evaluations of candidates during the 2020 Taiwanese presidential election. We see an elite effect on voters’ policy attitudes when controlling for party-related factors. The effect shows up as a negative cue but not as a positive cue. Moreover, the negative effect varies by candidate. These findings suggest that in policy attitude formation, opposition to a candidate has a stronger effect than liking a candidate. Overall, this study extends our understanding of the elite effect from the perspective of personalized politics with evidence from the Taiwanese electoral context. This information is critical not only for understanding the political consequences of polarization but also for understanding how it relates to opinion formation among citizens.

Ca2+ affects the hyphal differentiation to sclerotia formation of Athelia rolfsii.

RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) and transcriptomic analyses have become powerful tools to study the developmental stages of fungal structures scuh as sclerotia. While RNA-Seq experiments have been set up for many important sclerotia- and microsclerotia-forming fungi, it has not been implemented to study Athelia rolfsii, which is one of the earliest fungi used in literature to uncover the roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in stimulating sclerotia formation. This study applied RNA-Seq to profile gene expression in four developmental stages of A. rolfsii sclerotia. Surprisingly, gene ontology and expression patterns suggested that most ROS-scavenging genes were not up-regulated in the stages from hyphal differentiation to the initial sclerotia stage. Using antioxidant and oxidant-amended culture assay, the results suggested none of the ascorbic acid, dithiothreitol (DTT), H2O2, or superoxide dismutase inhibitors [diethyldithiocarbamate (DETC), NaN3, and sodium dodecyl sulfate] affected the sclerotia number. Instead, only glutathione reduced the sclerotia number. Because glutathione has also been suggested to facilitate Ca2+ influx, therefore, glutathione culture assays with the combination of CaCl2, Ca2+-chelator egtazic acid, DETC, and H2O2 were tested on A. rolfsii, as well as two other fungi (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Macrophomina phaseolina) for comparison. Although the addition of CaCl2 caused sclerotia or microsclerotia reduction for all three fungi, the CaCl2-ROS interaction was only observed for S. sclerotiorum and M. phaseolina, but not A. rolfsi. Collectively, this study not only pointed out a conserved function of Ca2+ in suppressing fungal sclerotia and microsclerotia formation but also highlighted sclerotia formation of A. rolfsii being only sensitive to Ca2+ and independent of ROS stimuli.IMPORTANCEManagement for plant diseases caused by soil-borne fungal pathogens is challenging because many soil-borne fungal pathogens form sclerotia for long-term survival. Advanced understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of sclerotia formation may provide novel insights to prevent these fungal residues in fields. This study discovered that Ca2+ acts as a negative signal cue to suppress sclerotia and microsclerotia formation in three economically important fungal pathogens. Moreover, the southern blight fungus Athelia rolfsii appears to be only regulated by Ca2+ but not reactive oxygen species. Accordingly, A. rolfsii can be a useful system for studying the detailed mechanism of Ca2+, and the applicability of Ca2+ in reducing sclerotia could be further assessed for disease management.

Amplification of positivity for depression and anxiety: Neural prediction of treatment response

Psychosocial treatments targeting the positive valence system (PVS) in depression and anxiety demonstrate efficacy in enhancing positive affect (PA), but response to treatment varies. We examined whether individual differences in neural activation to positive and negative valence incentive cues underlies differences in benefitting from a PVS-targeted treatment. Individuals with clinically elevated depression and/or anxiety (N = 88, ages 18 to 55) participated in one of two randomized, waitlist-controlled trials of Amplification of Positivity (AMP; NCT02330627, NCT03196544), a cognitive and behavioral intervention targeting the PVS. Participants completed a monetary incentive delay (MID) task during fMRI acquisition at baseline measuring neural activation to the possibility of gaining or losing money. Change in PA from before to after treatment was assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. No significant associations were observed between baseline neural activation during gain anticipation and AMP-related changes in PA in regions of interest (striatum and insula) or whole-brain analyses. However, higher baseline striatal and insula activation during loss anticipation was associated with greater increases in PA post-AMP. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting neural reactivity to negative valence cues may inform who stands to benefit most from treatments targeting the PVS.