Sample Of Healthy Young Adults Research Articles

Schizotypal traits and their relationship to reading abilities in healthy adults

Schizotypal traits (i.e., personality characteristics that range from mild eccentricities to more pronounced schizophrenia-like perceptions, thought patterns, and behaviours) have been associated with a variety of cognitive impairments, including difficulties in language processing. Although these difficulties span several aspects of language (e.g., semantic processing, verbal fluency, visual word recognition), it is unclear whether reading abilities are also affected. Thus, the current study employed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) – Brief (Raine and Benishay, 1995) to examine how schizotypal traits impact both word-level and text-level reading skills (using a battery of standardized assessments) in a sample of healthy young adults. We found some evidence that higher schizotypal traits, specifically, increased Disorganized factor scores (reflecting aberrant thinking, communication patterns, and behaviour), were associated with reduced word-level reading abilities. However, this finding did not remain significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Overall, our study suggests that reading may be another aspect of language affected by schizotypal traits, although additional research (with greater power) is needed to further explore and confirm this finding.

Social safeness and eating disorder symptoms: a correlational study exploring associations of social safeness, eating disorder symptoms, social support and shame in a non-clinical young adult sample

BackgroundA greater experience of “social safeness” in social relationships has been associated with reduced general psychopathology. This association appears to be independent of the perceived level of actual social support. The tripartite model of emotion suggests that experiences of social safeness may be associated with increased activation of the ‘soothing system’, inhibiting the experience of threat and shame. Associations of eating disorder (ED) pathology and shame have been well established. This study aims to answer the questions: Is there an association with experience of social safeness and ED symptoms in a non-clinical sample? Are any associations independent of perceived or received social support?MethodsA non-clinical sample of 80 young adults (aged 18–25) completed an online survey. The survey included measures of ED symptoms, social safeness, perceived and received social support and shame. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to explore cross-sectional associations between variables.ResultsIncreased sense of social safeness was strongly correlated with reduced ED symptoms. Social safeness explained unique variance in ED symptoms independent of received and perceived social support. Shame and ED symptoms were positively correlated, while shame and safeness were negatively correlated.ConclusionsThis study presents evidence of an association between the experience of social safeness and ED symptoms. The impact of the emotional experience of social safeness appears independent of current social support, and may be associated with increased activation of the soothing system, and reduced activation of the threat system and experiences of shame, as in the tripartite model of EDs. Further research could explore these associations in clinical populations and explore whether reduced social safeness is a risk factor for the development / maintenance of EDs, or could be a useful target for ED interventions.Plain english summaryThis study looked for a possible link between having a greater general experience of ‘safeness’ in social relationships, and reduced eating disorder symptoms, in a healthy young adult sample. Eighty young adult participants completed online questionnaire measures of eating disorder symptoms, social safeness, social support, and shame. Having a greater sense of ‘social safeness’ was strongly correlated with having lower eating disorder symptoms. This effect seemed to exist independently of the level of social support someone reported. Shame was positively correlated with ED symptoms and negatively correlated with social safeness. These findings are consistent with the ‘tripartite model’ of emotion: the emotional experience of social safeness may be linked with increased activation of the soothing system and reduced activation of shame. A link between reduced experience of ‘social safeness’ and eating disorder symptoms may have useful implications for understanding and intervening with eating disorders.

Neural correlates of retrieval success and precision: an fMRI study.

Prior studies examining the neural mechanisms underlying retrieval success and precision have yielded inconsistent results. Here, their neural correlates were examined using a memory task that assessed precision for spatial location. A sample of healthy young adults underwent fMRI scanning during a single study-test cycle. At study, participants viewed a series of object images, each placed at a randomly selected location on an imaginary circle. At test, studied images were intermixed with new images and presented to the participants. The requirement was to move a cursor to the location of the studied image, guessing if necessary. Participants then signaled whether the presented image as having been studied. Memory precision was quantified as the angle between the studied location and the location selected by the participant. A precision effect was evident in the left angular gyrus, where BOLD activity covaried across trials with location accuracy. Multi-voxel pattern analysis also revealed a significant item-level reinstatement effect for high-precision trials. There was no evidence of a retrieval success effect in the angular gyrus. BOLD activity in the hippocampus was insensitive to both success and precision. These findings are partially consistent with prior evidence that success and precision are dissociable features of memory retrieval.

Stair Climbing Improves Cognitive Switching Performance and Mood in Healthy Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial

Although stair-climbing intervals provide a simple mode of physical activity that can be easily carried out in naturalistic settings and incorporated into the daily lives of a significant proportion of the global population, addressing physical inactivity issues, very little research has focused on the psychological benefits of stair climbing. To address this, the current prospectively registered randomized controlled crossover trial tested whether brief bouts of stair climbing (6 × 1 min intervals) elicit immediate subsequent improvements in cognitive performance and mood in a sample of healthy young adults (final sample: n = 52, 50% female, age range 18–24 years), with consideration of sex, physical activity habits, and exercise intensity as potentially relevant variables. Compared to a no-exercise control session, following the stair climbing participants exhibited superior cognitive switching performance and reported feeling more energetic and happy. In addition, linear regression analyses linked higher stair-climbing intensity (indicated by heart-rate data) to faster response latencies. None of the effects depended on sex or physical activity habits, which implies that males and females can benefit irrespective of their current physical activity habits. Collectively, these results demonstrate that interval stair climbing can confer immediate psychological benefits, providing further evidence in support of stair climbing as a promising means to address physical inactivity issues. TRN: ACTRN12619000484145, Date of registration: 25/03/2019.

High cadence cycling not high work rate, increases gait velocity post-exercise

ABSTRACT Gait velocity, or walking speed, has been referred to as the sixth vital sign, and research suggests that it is highly sensitive to change. Previous research has demonstrated the utility of cycling to improve gait parameters and in particular gait velocity in a variety of populations. However, it is unclear if the benefits from cycling to gait velocity stem from increased cadence, increased work rate, or the interaction between them. Therefore, the objective of the current research was to explicitly test the relationship between cycling work rate, cycling cadence, and gait velocity. 45 recreationally active young adults were randomly assigned to cycle at a normalised cadence and work rate, a higher cadence, or a higher work rate (CONTROL, FAST, HARD). All participants completed two ten-metre walk tests (10 MWT) pre- and post-cycling intervention. There was a significant interaction between group and time and post hoc comparisons showed that the FAST group walked significantly faster than the HARD group post-cycling. These results support the hypothesis that cycling at a cadence greater than the comfortable walking cadence, and not cycling at an increased work rate, increased gait velocity post-exercise for all members of our sample of healthy young adults.

Balancing Act: Acute and Contextual Vestibular Sensations of Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation Using Survey and Sensor Outcomes in a Non-Clinical Sample.

Cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) delivers low-intensity electrical currents to the brain to treat anxiety, depression, and pain. Though CES is considered safe and cost-effective, little is known about side effects emerging across different contexts. Our objective was to investigate how varying physical and cognitive demands impact the frequency and intensity of CES vestibular sensations in a sample of healthy young adults. We used a 2 (stimulation: sham, active) × 2 (physical demand: static sway, dynamic sit-to-stand) × 2 (cognitive demand: single-task remain silent, dual-task count backward) repeated measures design. Vestibular sensations were measured with surveys and wearable sensors capturing balance changes. Active stimulation did not influence reported vestibular sensations. Instead, high physical demand predicted more sensation reports. High cognitive demand, but not active stimulation, predicted postural sway unsteadiness. Significant effects of active stimulation on balance were observed only during the dynamic sit-to-stand transitions. In summary, CES induces vestibular sensations only for a specific outcome under certain circumstances. Our findings imply that consumers can safely maximize the benefits of CES while ensuring they are taking steps to minimize any potential side effects by considering their context and circumstances.

Sleep quality and executive function in a diverse sample of healthy young adults

Few studies examine the relationship between sleep and executive function in diverse samples of young adults. Our research aims to fill this gap by analyzing how self-reported sleep quality is related to informant-rated executive function as a whole and its working memory component in a diverse sample of 29 healthy college students. Using the self-report measure, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), we divided our sample into two groups based on cutoff criteria (score ≥5: poor sleep): good sleep quality (n = 11) and poor sleep quality (n = 18). Participants were on average 20.86 years old. Informants rated participants’ executive functioning and working memory using the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). Individuals in the poor sleep quality group were reported as having significantly worse executive function and working memory scores. Young adult college students who report less than 7 hours of sleep per night have lower scores on informant measures of working memory and executive function. This study raises awareness about how self-reported sleep experiences are related to other’s observation of cognitive abilities in everyday life in a diverse young adult sample.

Further Validation of a Self‐administered Smartphone‐based Verbal Learning and Memory Assessment

AbstractBackgroundThe International Shopping List test (ISLT) is a verbal word list learning test set within a realistic shopping list context, supporting ease of cultural adaptation, and addressing content validity and patient relevance. Improvements to and the wide adoption of natural language processing (NLP) software has enabled the possibility for self‐administered tests of verbal learning. LilaTM a self‐administered, smartphone‐application (app) was developed, using the virtual assistant and NLP. We have previously reported acceptability and usability data from qualitative analysis of concept elicitation interviews. We now seek to provide preliminary validation data around its use.MethodA convenience sample of healthy young adults (n = 40), M(SD)age = 35 (16), were invited to install and complete one assessment of the LilaTM app. A usability survey was also administered to explore participants’ experiences. The sample was predominantly female (70%) and of Asian ethnicity (62.5%). Data were collected in Australia, using an English word pool developed for the USA.ResultAcceptability was generally high with N = 38 completing immediate recall rounds and N = 32 completing the delayed recall round. Eight‐two percent found it extremely or somewhat easy to hear and understand what items were on the shopping list and 95% indicated that it was extremely or somewhat easy to understand what they had to do to complete the assessment. Scoring accuracy was 88% at the word item level, with reprocessing to address accent, context setting, and other NLP approaches to improve accuracy underway e.g., homophones biased to the grocery item.ConclusionWhilst acceptability was high, the importance of localization of test stimuli was confirmed as well as the need for additional data processing options to account for accent. Continued optimization of data processing to score participant responses and word item pools to reduce ambiguity is expected to further improve accuracy e.g., accounting for regional accents and consideration of homophones and compound words. However, specific characteristics of speech including in those for whom English may be a second/foreign language will be an area of focus for future development.

Further Validation of a Self‐administered Smartphone‐based Verbal Learning and Memory Assessment

AbstractBackgroundThe International Shopping List test (ISLT) is a verbal word list learning test set within a realistic shopping list context, supporting ease of cultural adaptation, and addressing content validity and patient relevance. Improvements to and the wide adoption of natural language processing (NLP) software has enabled the possibility for self‐administered tests of verbal learning. LilaTM a self‐administered, smartphone‐application (app) was developed, using the virtual assistant and NLP. We have previously reported acceptability and usability data from qualitative analysis of concept elicitation interviews. We now seek to provide preliminary validation data around its use.MethodA convenience sample of healthy young adults (n = 40), M(SD)age = 35 (16), were invited to install and complete one assessment of the LilaTM app. A usability survey was also administered to explore participants’ experiences. The sample was predominantly female (70%) and of Asian ethnicity (62.5%). Data were collected in Australia, using an English word pool developed for the USA.ResultAcceptability was generally high with N = 38 completing immediate recall rounds and N = 32 completing the delayed recall round. Eight‐two percent found it extremely or somewhat easy to hear and understand what items were on the shopping list and 95% indicated that it was extremely or somewhat easy to understand what they had to do to complete the assessment. Scoring accuracy was 88% at the word item level, with reprocessing to address accent, context setting, and other NLP approaches to improve accuracy underway e.g., homophones biased to the grocery item.ConclusionWhilst acceptability was high, the importance of localization of test stimuli was confirmed as well as the need for additional data processing options to account for accent. Continued optimization of data processing to score participant responses and word item pools to reduce ambiguity is expected to further improve accuracy e.g., accounting for regional accents and consideration of homophones and compound words. However, specific characteristics of speech including in those for whom English may be a second/foreign language will be an area of focus for future development.

The moderating effect of resting heart rate variability on the relationship between pain catastrophizing and depressed mood: an empirical study

Previous research indicated that pain catastrophizing—a negative emotional and cognitive response toward actual or anticipated pain—could contribute to pain intensity and could be associated with depressive symptoms not just in chronic pain patients but in healthy population as well. Accumulated evidence suggests that resting heart rate variability (HRV) as a putative proxy of emotion regulation could moderate the association of self-reported pain catastrophizing and depressed mood. In the present cross-sectional study, we investigated these associations in a healthy young adult sample controlling for the effect of trait rumination. Seventy-two participants (58 females, mean age = 22.2 ± 1.79 years ranging from 19 to 28 years old) completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and the Ruminative Response Scale. Resting HRV was measured by time domain metric of HRV, the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD). The results showed that the relationship between pain catastrophizing and depressive symptoms is significantly moderated by resting HRV (indexed by lnRMSSD). Specifically, in participants with higher resting HRV there was no significant relationship between the two investigated variables, while in participants with relatively low or medium HRV pain catastrophizing and depressed mood showed significant positive association. The relationship remained significant after controlling for sex, age and trait rumination. These results might indicate that measuring pain catastrophizing and depressive symptoms is warranted in non-clinical samples as well and higher resting HRV could have a buffer or protective role against depressive symptoms.

Association of nut consumption with insulin resistance and blood lipid profile in Spanish university students

AimsTo examine whether nut consumption was associated with insulin resistance and blood lipid parameters in a sample of young healthy adults. Material and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted involving 306 first-year students (aged 18–30 years) from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Biochemical variables related to insulin resistance and blood lipid profile (glucose, insulin, HbA1c, total cholesterol (total-c), LDL-c, HDL-c, and triglycerides) were determined from morning fasting blood samples. Nut consumption was estimated using a 137-item Food-Frequency Questionnaire. The associations of walnuts, other nuts and total nut intakes with insulin resistance and lipid profile variables and surrogates were assessed by linear regression analysis. Differences in insulin resistance and lipid profiles between participants meeting or not meeting the nut consumption recommendations were examined by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Logistic regressions were used to analyze the likelihood of having higher levels of blood lipids or insulin resistance in participants who met or did not meet the recommended intake of nuts. ResultsThere was no association found between nut consumption, whether walnuts or other nut varieties, and insulin resistance and lipid profile variables. Additionally, there were no significant differences in insulin resistance or blood lipid profile variables between university students meeting or not meeting nut consumption recommendations. Finally, stratified analyses based on sex were consistent and did not substantially modify our estimates in the fully adjusted models. ConclusionsIn conclusion, our results suggest that walnuts, other types of nuts, and total nut consumption did not adversely influence metabolic or lipid profile variables among healthy young adults. Although nuts are recommended among healthy dietary patterns, our findings showed that nut consumption has a null effect on the cardiometabolic risk parameters explored in young healthy adults.

Alcohol consumption and oral microbiome composition in a sample of healthy young adults.

The oral microbiomes of 24 healthy adults (50% female; mean age = 24.3) were examined using 16s ribosomal RNA sequencing and compared between light and heavy drinkers. Beta diversity was related at the trend level to drinking group, and light drinkers had significantly higher abundances of key oral taxa such as Lactobacillales. These preliminary results may offer insight into early effects of heavy drinking on the composition of the oral microbiome.

Relationship between chronotype and pain threshold in a sample of young healthy adults.

Chronotype indicates the biological preference for timing of activity and sleep. Being a late chronotype (ie, having a tendency for late sleep times) is associated with several mental and physical health problems. Previous studies found that late chronotypes are also more susceptible to chronic pain, but the relationship between chronotype and pain sensitivity remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between chronotype and heat pain threshold (as an indicator of pain sensitivity) in a sample of young healthy adults. We analyzed data from 316 young healthy adults participating in 4 different studies run at the Medical Faculty of the University of Augsburg. In all studies, chronotype and other sleep variables (eg, sleep duration) were assessed using the micro Munich ChronoType Questionnaire. Heat pain threshold was assessed with the method of adjustment. Chronotype was not significantly associated with the heat pain threshold. Entering the other sleep variables in separate regression models did also not significantly explain variance in heat pain threshold. Our null findings are in contrast with previous notions that late chronotypes might be more sensitive to pain and more susceptible to chronic pain. Given the scarcity of the literature on this topic, more studies are needed to clarify the relationship between chronotype and pain sensitivity in different age populations, while also considering distinct pain modalities or other types of pain tests.

Cerebral Oxygenation Responses to Standing in Young Patients with Vasovagal Syncope.

Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is common in young adults and is attributed to cerebral hypoperfusion. However, during active stand (AS) testing, only peripheral and not cerebral hemodynamic responses are measured. We sought to determine whether cerebral oxygenation responses to an AS test were altered in young VVS patients when compared to the young healthy controls. A sample of young healthy adults and consecutive VVS patients attending a Falls and Syncope unit was recruited. Continuous beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP), heart rate, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)-derived tissue saturation index (TSI), and changes in concentration of oxygenated/deoxygenated Δ[O2Hb]/Δ[HHb] hemoglobin were measured. BP and NIRS-derived features included nadir, peak, overshoot, trough, recovery rate, normalized recovery rate, and steady-state. Multivariate linear regression was used to adjust for confounders and BP. In total, 13 controls and 27 VVS patients were recruited. While no significant differences were observed in the TSI and Δ[O2Hb], there was a significantly smaller Δ[HHb] peak-to-trough and faster Δ[HHb] recovery rate in VVS patients, independent of BP. A higher BP steady-state was observed in patients but did not remain significant after multiple comparison correction. Young VVS patients demonstrated a similar cerebral circulatory response with signs of altered peripheral circulation with respect to the controls, potentially due to a hyper-reactive autonomic nervous system. This study sets the grounds for future investigations to understand the role of cerebral regulation during standing in VVS.

Individual differences in inhibitory control are not related to downregulation of negative emotion via distancing.

Evidence suggests that cognitive control and emotional control share partly the same cognitive processes. For example, downregulation of negative emotions requires inhibiting or limiting the expression of a prepotent appraisal of a situation in favor of selecting an alternative appraisal. Although inhibitory control seems to be a particularly relevant process in emotion regulation (ER), previous studies reported inconsistent findings on their relationship, likely because of the application of single task measures in relatively small samples. Therefore, this study implemented a battery of six commonly used inhibitory control tasks in a large sample of young healthy adults (N = 190) and investigated whether inhibitory control is associated with the downregulation of negative emotion. ER was measured via self-reported reappraisal and suppression use and via a laboratory ER task where participants had to distance themselves from emotions in response to negative and neutral pictures. The ER task was accompanied by concurrent physiological measurements of corrugator electromyography (EMG), skin conductance response (SCR), and heart period (HP). Frequentist and Bayesian analyses indicated that inhibitory control was neither associated with self-reported reappraisal and suppression use, nor with successful downregulation of negative emotion via distancing. Compared with HP and SCR, corrugator EMG was the only peripheral physiological measure that was indicative of regulatory success. The findings question the view that inhibitory control represents an underlying process in emotion regulation via distancing, at least at the behavioral level. Further studies should investigate the generalizability of these findings to other ER strategies, tactics, paradigms, and participant groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The non-human animal reading the mind in the eyes test (NARMET): A new measure for the assessment of social cognition.

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET) is a widely applied test of social cognition, based on mental state judgments in response to photographs of human eyes, which can elicit impairment in patients with numerous psychiatric and neurological disorders. However, interpretation of task performance is limited without the use of appropriate control tasks. In addition to a matched task requiring age judgments of the RMET stimuli, it was recently shown that a mental state judgment task of comparable difficulty, could be developed using photographs of domestic cat eyes. The current study aimed to further develop a Non-human Animal RMET (NARMET) by testing additional stimuli in the form of photographs of domestic dog eyes. A variety of additional tasks were used alongside the eyes test stimuli in a large sample of healthy young adults, to explore how alexithymia, schizotypal features, and autistic tendencies may differentially influence mental state attribution in response to cat, dog, and human eyes test stimuli. The resulting NARMET features both cat and dog trials, depicting a similar range of complex mental states to the human RMET. It shows favorable psychometric properties as well as being well matched to the RMET in terms of linguistic variables, length and difficulty. However, reading measures predicted performance on the RMET, but not on the NARMET. Although further testing is required in samples with a higher proportion of males, future application of the NARMET in neuropsychiatric populations exhibiting cognitive and behavioral difficulties could offer enhanced assessment of social cognitive skills.

A machine learning-derived neuroanatomical pattern predicts delayed reward discounting in the Human Connectome Project Young Adult sample.

Delayed reward discounting (DRD) is defined as the extent to which person favors smaller rewards that are immediately available over larger rewards available in the future. Higher levels of DRD have been identified in individuals with a wide range of clinical disorders. Although there have been studies adopting larger samples and using only gray matter volume to characterize the neuroanatomical correlates of DRD, it is still unclear whether previously identified relationships are generalizable (out-of-sample) and how cortical thickness and cortical surface area contribute to DRD. In this study, using the Human Connectome Project Young Adult dataset (N=1038), a machine learning cross-validated elastic net regression approach was used to characterize the neuroanatomical pattern of structural magnetic resonance imaging variables associated with DRD. The results revealed a multi-region neuroanatomical pattern predicted DRD and this was robust in a held-out test set (morphometry-only R2 = 3.34%, morphometry + demographics R2 =6.96%). The neuroanatomical pattern included regions implicated in the default mode network, executive control network, and salience network. The relationship of these regions with DRD was further supported by univariate linear mixed effects modeling results, in which many of the regions identified as part of this pattern showed significant univariate associations with DRD. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that a machine learning-derived neuroanatomical pattern encompassing various theoretically relevant brain networks produces robustly predicts DRD in a large sample of healthy young adults.

Effects of Sex and Cuff Pressure on Physiological Responses during Blood Flow Restriction Resistance Exercise in Young Adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine the physiological responses resulting from an acute blood flow restriction resistance exercise bout with two different cuff pressures in young, healthy men and women. Thirty adults (18-30 yr) completed a bilateral leg extension blood flow restriction bout consisting of four sets (30-15-15-15 repetitions), with cuffs applied at pressures corresponding to 40% and 60% of the minimum arterial occlusion pressure (AOP) needed to completely collapse the femoral arteries. During each of these conditions (40% and 60% AOP), physiological measures of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and EMG amplitude (EMG AMP) were collected from the dominant or nondominant vastus lateralis. After each set, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were collected, whereas only at baseline and at the end of the bout, mean arterial pressure (MAP) was assessed. Separate mixed-factorial ANOVA models were used to examine mean differences in the change in EMG AMP and NIRS parameters during each set. The absolute RPE and MAP values were also examined with separate ANOVAs. A P value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Regardless of sex or cuff pressure, the change in EMG AMP was lower in set 1 (14.8%) compared with the remaining sets (22.6%-27.0%). The 40% AOP condition elicited the greatest changes in oxy[heme] and deoxy[heme], while also providing lower RPEs. For MAP, there was an effect for time such that MAP increased from preexercise (87.5 ± 4.3 mm Hg) to postexercise (104.5 ± 4.1 mm Hg). The major findings suggested that the 40% AOP condition permitted the greatest amount of recovery during the interset rest. In addition, there did not seem to be any meaningful sex-related difference in this sample of young healthy adults.

Brain Anatomy Alterations and Mental Health Challenges Correlate to Email Addiction Tendency.

Despite the widespread use of email, our knowledge regarding the consequences of email addiction is lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop an email addiction tendency scale to evaluate its correlation to behavior and brain structure. Following this, the validity and reliability of the developed scale was investigated. We used voxel-based morphometry, correlation, and univariate regression analysis to assess the relationships between email addiction tendency scores and regional gray and white matter volumes, depression, and nonverbal reasoning abilities in a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 1152; mean age, 20.69 ± 1.84 years). The content validity ratio, content validity index, principal component analysis, and confirmatory factorial analysis all showed that the email addiction tendency scale (EATS) has high validity. Additionally, the Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency and split-half reliability coefficient showed that the EATS has high reliability. We found that email addiction tendency scores were significantly negatively correlated with nonverbal reasoning. We also observed that the email addiction tendency scores were significantly and positively correlated with depression symptom severity and gray matter volume of the left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPC) in subjects. These results indicate that email addiction tendency is associated with lower mental health outcomes and increased GMV in the left RLPC.

Predictive models for social functioning in healthy young adults: A machine learning study integrating neuroanatomical, cognitive, and behavioral data

ABSTRACT Poor social functioning is an emerging public health problem associated with physical and mental health consequences. Developing prognostic tools is critical to identify individuals at risk for poor social functioning and guide interventions. We aimed to inform prediction models of social functioning by evaluating models relying on bio-behavioral data using machine learning. With data from the Human Connectome Project Healthy Young Adult sample (age 22–35, N = 1,101), we built Support Vector Regression models to estimate social functioning from variable sets of brain morphology to behavior with increasing complexity: 1) brain-only model, 2) brain-cognition model, 3) cognition-behavioral model, and 4) combined brain-cognition-behavioral model. Predictive accuracy of each model was assessed and the importance of individual variables for model performance was determined. The combined and cognition-behavioral models significantly predicted social functioning, whereas the brain-only and brain-cognition models did not. Negative affect, psychological wellbeing, extraversion, withdrawal, and cortical thickness of the rostral middle-frontal and superior-temporal regions were the most important predictors in the combined model. Results demonstrate that social functioning can be accurately predicted using machine learning methods. Behavioral markers may be more significant predictors of social functioning than brain measures for healthy young adults and may represent important leverage points for preventative intervention.