{"title":"Alcohol-Induced Changes in Brain Microstructure: Uncovering Novel Pathophysiological Mechanisms of AUD Using Translational DTI in Humans and Rodents.","authors":"Wolfgang H Sommer, Santiago Canals","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_585","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Alcohol use disorder (AUD) induces significant structural alterations in both gray and white matter, contributing to cognitive and functional impairments. This chapter presents a translational neuroimaging approach using diffusion-weighted MRI in humans and rodents to uncover novel pathophysiological mechanisms underlying AUD. Our studies demonstrate that increased mean diffusivity (MD) in gray matter reflects microglial reactivity and reduced extracellular space tortuosity, leading to enhanced volume neurotransmission. In white matter, fractional anisotropy (FA) reductions indicate progressive deterioration of key tracts, particularly the fimbria/fornix, linked to impaired cognitive flexibility. Importantly, longitudinal analyses reveal that white matter degeneration continues during early abstinence, suggesting that neuroinflammation and demyelination persist beyond alcohol cessation. Finally, we discuss how neuromodulatory interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), may promote recovery by enhancing myelin plasticity. These findings provide crucial insights into AUD's neurobiological underpinnings and highlight potential therapeutic targets for improving treatment outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143990809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sensory and Multisensory Processing Changes and Their Contributions to Autism and Schizophrenia.","authors":"Sarah G Vassall, Mark T Wallace","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_589","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Natural environments are typically multisensory, comprising information from multiple sensory modalities. It is in the integration of these incoming sensory signals that we form our perceptual gestalt that allows us to navigate through the world with relative ease. However, differences in multisensory integration (MSI) ability are found in a number of clinical conditions. Throughout this chapter, we discuss how MSI differences contribute to phenotypic characterization of autism and schizophrenia. Although these clinical populations are often described as opposite each other on a number of spectra, we describe similarities in behavioral performance and neural functions between the two conditions. Understanding the shared features of autism and schizophrenia through the lens of MSI research allows us to better understand the neural and behavioral underpinnings of both disorders. We provide potential avenues for remediation of MSI function in these populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143974717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Personal and Scientific Introduction to the Work of A.D. (Bud) Craig on Interoception and the Insular Cortex.","authors":"Irina A Strigo, Alan N Simmons, Marc Wittmann","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_583","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A.D. (Bud) Craig was best known to us colloquially as Bud Craig; his groundbreaking work has advanced our understanding of the neuroanatomical basis of the bodily self, emotion, and subjective time. His research elucidated the intricate pathways of interoception - the brain's processing of internal body signals - and highlighted the insula's pivotal role in integrating these signals. Craig's pioneering insights demonstrated that bodily sensations, such as pain and temperature, are deeply intertwined with emotional experiences and homeostatic needs. By mapping the thalamocortical pathways and emphasizing the insula's function in predicting future bodily states, he provided a comprehensive framework that connects physiological states to emotional and temporal experiences. This fundamental work has profoundly influenced a new generation of scientists and inspired the current volume. In this book, we have invited researchers influenced by Craig's theories to explore the neural correlates of emotion, pain, interoception, and time. In this chapter, we present how the editors of this book were directly influenced by Craig's findings and lay the groundwork for the large collective contribution of the authors of the subsequent chapters that continue to explore this ever-evolving scientific landscape.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143989845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Traumatic Psychedelic Experiences.","authors":"Abigail E Calder, Vincent J Diehl, Gregor Hasler","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_579","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_579","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Psychedelic experiences involving extreme feelings of horror, helplessness, and perceived threats can be traumatizing. Traumatic psychedelic experiences are a rare, extreme, and largely preventable form of challenging experience which can arise due to frightening psychedelic drug effects, unsafe settings, and emergence of pre-existing trauma. Some people recover quickly, but others develop prolonged anxiety, sleep disturbances, derealization, or other potentially trauma-related symptoms. This chapter discusses the causes, phenomenology, and potential outcomes of traumatic psychedelic experiences, as well as how to prevent them and minimize their negative impact.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143968643","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interoception in Adolescence: Impacts on Mental Health and Adaptive Functioning.","authors":"April C May, Susan Tapert","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_580","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Interoception plays a critical role in emotion regulation and mental health during adolescence, a critical period marked by profound biological, cognitive, and emotional changes. Variability in interoceptive processing during adolescence is shaped by biological, hormonal, and psychosocial factors, with implications for both resilience and vulnerability to affective disorders such as anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and substance use. This chapter reviews the trajectory of interoceptive development in adolescence, emphasizing its role in shaping emotional and behavioral outcomes. Interventions aimed at improving interoceptive awareness, including mindfulness practices and body-awareness training, are also reviewed as promising strategies to support emotional resilience and mental well-being during this formative stage. Understanding the complexities of interoception in adolescence provides a foundation for advancing research and interventions that promote adaptive functioning and long-term mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143991483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sensing the Self: The Role of the Insula and Interoception in Body Image.","authors":"Emily M Choquette, Sahib S Khalsa","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_581","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This chapter explores the insula's role in shaping body image through interoception - the neural process of sensing, interpreting, and integrating internal bodily signals to facilitate a coherent sense of self. Drawing on A.D. (Bud) Craig's hierarchical model, which emphasizes the insula's integration of sensory input into higher-order self-representations, we examine how disruptions in interoceptive processing may contribute to body image disturbance. This framework is applied to mental health conditions such as anorexia nervosa, body dysmorphic disorder, as well as physical health conditions including phantom limb pain and cancer, highlighting evidence for impaired interoceptive signaling and altered insular cortex function. We propose a mechanistic model describing how such disruptions can affect both sensory processing and the subjective experience of the body, leading to distorted body perception. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions and the potential for interoception-based therapeutic interventions targeting body image disturbance.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143771593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disturbances in Auditory and Visual Perceptual Function in Schizophrenia: Patterns, Causes, and Consequences.","authors":"Daniel C Javitt","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_582","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2025_582","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder and a leading cause of global disability. Increasing evidence ties impairments in both auditory and visual perceptual processing to impaired functional outcomes. In the auditory system, deficits are observed in the ability to process changes in tonality, leading to deficits in the detection of nonverbal aspects of auditory communication, including emotion and sarcasm. In the auditory sytem, these deficits are indexed by impaired generation of mismatch negativity (MMN), which has become a widely utilized index of auditory perceptual dysfunction. In the visual system, deficits are especially observed in functions related to the magnocellular visual pathway, which projects preferentially to the dorsal visual stream. Dorsal stream dysfunction, in turn, contributes to impairments in processes such as fragmented object recognition, face emotion recognition, and social cognition. Indices of visual perceptual dysfunction include visual P1 responses to magnocellular-biased stimuli, as well as fMRI activation levels within the dorsal and ventral streams. Perceptual level deficits are tied most directly to impaired function of N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptors (NMDAR) and thus may serve both as pathophysiologically based nosological biomarkers and as targets for neuromodulatory and pharmacological treatment development.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143763369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intergenerational Effects of Stress - A Focus on Learning and Memory.","authors":"L S Vasquez, S Stack, W W Taylor, B G Dias","doi":"10.1007/7854_2025_578","DOIUrl":"10.1007/7854_2025_578","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stress is a ubiquitous facet of life. Ranging in form (e.g., psychosocial, physical, nutritional, economic) and longevity (e.g., acute, chronic), stressors affect the biology of those directly in their line of attack. As is becoming increasingly appreciated, the pernicious effects of stress echo across generations (Dias et al. 2015; Yehuda and Lehrner 2018; Jawaid et al. 2021; Dion et al. 2022; Zhou and Ryan 2023; Dias 2024). With a focus on learning and memory, this chapter addresses how stressors derail learning and memory in the generation directly exposed to them andin future generations. To do so, with a specific emphasis on associative fear conditioning in humans and rodents, we touch upon the relevance of extinction training in the aftermath of such conditioning and the recall of such extinction training as windows into normative and disrupted learning. Next, we briefly discuss underlying neuroanatomical substrates mediating these processes. We then draw attention to influences of postnatal, in utero, and pre-conceptional stress on learning and memory across generations. Finally, we briefly outline biological factors that underlie how learning and memory is derailed by these stressors.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143676928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Life and Legacy of Arthur D. Craig, Jr.: A Pioneer in Interoception.","authors":"Anders Blomqvist, Jonathan O Dostrovsky","doi":"10.1007/7854_2024_574","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2024_574","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A.D. (Bud) Craig (1951-2023) redefined the concept of interoception and provided a novel, revolutionary understanding of the neural basis for human awareness. In unsurpassed anatomical-physiological studies in monkeys, Craig showed that the insular cortex is the primary sensory cortex for interoception, or the image of the \"material me\" that provides a homeostatic representation of the physiological condition of the body. He showed that the insula contains a postero-anteriorly organized somatotopic map of the interoceptive sensations, and that it encodes both the localization and the intensity discrimination of interoceptive sensations. In seminal work in humans, he demonstrated that the interoceptive feelings are re-represented, and multimodally integrated, in anterior portions of the insula in sequence of increasingly homeostatically efficient representations that integrate all salient neural activity. He further showed that subjective awareness is associated with activation of the anterior insular cortex and suggested that this brain region also is critical for fluid intelligence and the perception of time. His work has led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of interoception and how interoceptive sensations underlie consciousness, a topic that long has been considered elusive, or even beyond our comprehension.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143656326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Body, Self, and Time: Bud Craig's Global Emotional Moments Theory.","authors":"Julian Kiverstein","doi":"10.1007/7854_2024_575","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2024_575","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The topic of my chapter will be Bud Craig's theory of \"global emotional moments\" (henceforth the GEMs theory) and the relationship of GEMs to the experience of time. I connect three ideas prominent in Craig's writings: interoception, emotion, and time. Craig held that each GEM has as its neural substrate a large-scale network with the anterior insula cortex (AIC) serving as its central processing hub. This network integrates interoceptive signals that keep track of changes arising in the autonomic nervous system with hedonic and motivational signals based on the organism's sensory perception of its environment. Craig argued that GEMs function as moving windows of time within which \"a phenomenal self\" is experienced. By the \"phenomenal self,\" I mean a material, embodied self that forms an organism's subjective point of view on the world. Craig proposed what he called a \"cinemascopic\" theory of GEMs. GEMs are combined over time to form a stream of consciousness, which Craig compared to a movie, with each GEM corresponding to a single snapshot of this movie. I will argue that Craig's cinemascopic theory has implications for our understanding of what I will call the \"phenomenal now.\" There are three main theories of the phenomenal now in the philosophical literature. One point of contention between these theories is whether the phenomenal now has duration or temporal depth. I will argue that GEMs have duration and therefore count against so-called \"cinematic\" theories of the phenomenal now that take the contents of experience to be of discrete points or instances in time. However, there are different views within philosophy of how the phenomenal now can have duration. I end my chapter by considering how Craig's GEMs theory might bear on this debate.</p>","PeriodicalId":11257,"journal":{"name":"Current topics in behavioral neurosciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143604286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}