Biological Psychology最新文献

{"title":"Insufficient cognitive resources allocation with compensatory sensory enhancement in children with attention difficulties","authors":"Siyuan Zhang ,&nbsp;Lixia Liang ,&nbsp;Shuting Yu ,&nbsp;Xuebing Li","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109176","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109176","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A subset of children exhibits ADHD symptoms without meeting full diagnostic criteria. These children demonstrate behavioral difficulties and functional impairments but often lack access to evidence-based interventions. This study examined the neural mechanisms underlying the ADHD symptoms in these children by using classic and modified oddball paradigms that incorporated novel stimuli and rare repetitive distractors and analyzed event-related potential (ERP) components across different stages of visual attentional processing. Forty-six children participated in the study and were categorized into a group with normal visual attention (Group 1) and a group with attention difficulties (Group 2) by the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA-CPT). Behavioral results revealed that Group 2 children had lower accuracy rates in both tasks, though no interaction emerged between stimulus condition and group. Reaction times did not differ significantly between groups. ERP results indicated that Group 2 exhibited reduced N2 amplitudes and prolonged N2 latencies across all conditions. In the modified task, they also showed attenuated P3 amplitudes to target stimuli. Additionally, Group 2 displayed shorter P2 latencies across conditions. These findings suggest deficits in top-down attention and early bottom-up sensory processing in children with ADHD symptoms. Furthermore, we propose a compensatory mechanism wherein heightened early sensory sensitivity may partially counteract deficient neural resource allocation in later attentional stages. Together, these results imply that training programs targeting cognitive abilities could help alleviate behavioral symptoms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 109176"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145726810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of emotional spillover and exposure to interparental psychological aggression on momentary physiological linkage during naturalistic couple conflicts","authors":"K.E. Carta ,&nbsp;G.A. Jumonville ,&nbsp;J.B. Duong ,&nbsp;S.N. Walters ,&nbsp;A.S. Carrasco ,&nbsp;D.N. Romero ,&nbsp;I.P. Khurd ,&nbsp;T. Chaspari ,&nbsp;S.C. Han ,&nbsp;Y. Kim ,&nbsp;S. Narayanan ,&nbsp;G. Margolin ,&nbsp;A.C. Timmons","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109191","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109191","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research demonstrates that physiological activity in romantic partners is interdependent, fluctuates with emotional states, and is closely tied to relationship functioning. This coordination, known as physiological linkage, can manifest as in-phase (partners’ responses rise and fall together) or anti-phase (one rises as the other falls). Although previous research has linked physiological linkage to relationship functioning, less is known about how proximal emotional states and distal developmental stressors shape these patterns in everyday life. This study examined how stress and anger experienced in the hour preceding conflict, as well as childhood exposure to psychological interparental aggression (PIA), shape real-time electrodermal activity linkage during naturally occurring couple conflicts. Romantic couples (<em>N</em> = 73) participated in an at-home study involving continuous physiological monitoring, audio-recorded daily interactions, and hourly mood surveys. Multilevel models showed that higher levels of men’s self-reported pre-conflict stress and anger were associated with greater in-phase linkage, whereas lower levels were associated with anti-phase linkage. In contrast, greater women’s childhood exposure to PIA was linked to more in-phase linkage, whereas lower exposure was linked to anti-phase linkage. These findings highlight how both proximal mood states and early-life adversity dynamically shape interpersonal physiological processes, offering insight into stress regulation and relationship functioning in naturalistic contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 109191"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145949428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Targeted neuromodulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex alleviates altered affective response evaluation in lonely individuals","authors":"Szymon Mąka,&nbsp;Marta Chrustowicz,&nbsp;Łukasz Okruszek","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109175","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109175","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Loneliness has been suggested to be linked to increased bottom-up appraisal processes of social threat coupled with top-down emotion regulation mechanisms. We have recently found a partial confirmation for such mechanisms in our large scale study (<span><span>Mąka et al., in press</span></span>), thus, in this preregistered double-blind study, we tested the effects of noninvasive brain stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on emotional response and regulation in lonely individuals. 120 individuals received active (2 mA) or sham transcranial direct current stimulation over the left or right dlPFC in separate sessions. Participants were asked to passively watch negative or neutral stimuli or to reinterpret negative stimuli to decrease their affective response. Overt behavioral responses (valence and arousal self-response) and covert physiological markers (event-related potentials) of the affective response in each group were analyzed separately for stimuli with and without social content. Active dlPFC stimulation enhanced neural modulation during the reappraisal of social stimuli, as reflected in a larger difference in late positive potential between reappraised and passively viewed negative images. However, the valence rating difference between these conditions suggested less effective reappraisal under active stimulation. Anodal stimulation of the left dlPFC selectively decreased self-reported emotional reactivity during the passive viewing of social stimuli in highly lonely individuals. However, this effect occurred without corresponding changes in ERP markers. These results confirm that loneliness may primarily impair the self-monitoring of affective responses rather than that of regulatory mechanisms. Furthermore, targeted non-invasive brain stimulation of dlPFC can alleviate loneliness-related difficulties in this domain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 109175"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145679413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing traits, and epigenetic summary scores: A scoping review","authors":"Erin B. Ware ,&nbsp;Joshua A. Goode ,&nbsp;Uma N. Hornish ,&nbsp;Devin P. McNulty ,&nbsp;Thomas Karadimas ,&nbsp;Gillian Acedo ,&nbsp;Jaedyn Birchmier ,&nbsp;Abigail Histed ,&nbsp;Rachel Hsu ,&nbsp;Natasha Jones ,&nbsp;Ryan Tung ,&nbsp;Farah Ammous ,&nbsp;Edward D. Huntley ,&nbsp;Helen CS. Meier ,&nbsp;Colter M. Mitchell","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109164","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109164","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To better understand the relationship between DNA methylation summary measures and childhood behavioral and emotional problems, this scoping review synthesizes current research on the associations between DNA methylation and internalizing or externalizing traits or behaviors in children and adolescents. By identifying which psychological phenotypes are most consistently linked to DNA methylation summary measures and contextualizing research practices, this review highlights key methodological trends and gaps in the literature. Future research should include diverse and representative samples to enhance the generalizability and robustness of findings. Careful control for genetic ancestry, potential confounders, and adoption of standardized methodologies are important for improving the precision and interpretability of results. Additionally, a comprehensive examination of literature employing alternative DNA methylation methodologies, including epigenome-wide studies and pathway-based analytical approaches oriented toward mechanistic investigation, would afford greater insight into the interplay between DNAm and internalizing and externalizing symptomatology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109164"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145543997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of voice attractiveness and emotional semantics in spoken word processing: An ERP Study","authors":"Hang Zhang ,&nbsp;Junchen Shang ,&nbsp;Jin Gao ,&nbsp;Werner Sommer ,&nbsp;Weijun Li","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109142","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109142","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attractive voices can capture listeners’ attention and evoke positive emotions. However, our understanding of how the brain integrates voice attractiveness and emotional semantic information in speech, and the temporal unfolding of this process, remains limited. The present study explored this question using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants listened to disyllabic Chinese adjectives of different emotional semantic valence (positive, e.g., mature; negative, e.g., despicable; neutral, e.g., obvious), recited by speakers with voices that had been selected for high or low attractiveness in a previous study Participants performed separate voice attractiveness and semantic valence judgments on these voice stimuli. The early N1 component of the recorded ERPs revealed an early interaction between voice attractiveness, semantic valence, and task. At later stages, voice attractiveness and semantic valence were processed independently, showing distinct effects in specific time windows during the valence judgment task. These findings suggest that the integration of emotional semantics and voice attractiveness occurs mainly at an early stage, followed by more independent processing later on.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109142"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145402864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Yawning to communicate? Yawn exposure increases both threat detection and subjective sleepiness","authors":"Chenyang Liu,&nbsp;Jinlong Su","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109162","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109162","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Yawning is widely observed in daily life. But its function has largely remained less explored. In the current study, we examined how yawning exposure affected threat detection in human adults and its potential mechanisms. We recruited 96 participants and manipulated the yawning exposure by letting participants viewing yawn videos or listening to yawn audios. Then they were asked to complete a threat-detection task as well as measures of subjective sleepiness and theory of mind (ToM). Results revealed that yawning exposure significantly enhanced both the speed and accuracy of detecting snakes from frogs but not vice versa in the visual modality (yawning videos exposure). In contrast, within the auditory modality (yawning audios exposure), yawning exposure also improved detection accuracy (rather than reaction time) for non-threatening frogs, indicating a possible modality-dependent pattern rather than a universal threat-specific enhancement. Besides, individual differences in ToM capacity likely played a role in the relationship between yawning exposure and threat detection: participants with higher ToM scores exhibited greater sensitivity in identifying snakes under the yawning condition, suggesting that the ability to infer others’ mental states might be critical for interpreting the informational content of yawning. Furthermore, yawning exposure increased subjective sleepiness and the increase in subjective sleepiness did not correlate with threat detection performance, indicating that the observed effects likely arise from domain-specific cognitive processes rather than generalized arousal modulation. These findings provided support for the communicative function of yawning and underscored the interplay between evolved nonverbal signals and modern cognitive capacities like ToM.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109162"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145520829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cross-modal semantic and non-semantic distraction impairs auditory working memory: Behavioral and ERP evidence","authors":"Jiahong Cui ,&nbsp;Nianqiu Shen ,&nbsp;Hongjun Chen ,&nbsp;Hongyu Zhou ,&nbsp;Lei Hu ,&nbsp;Wenbo Yu ,&nbsp;Zhihan Liu ,&nbsp;Daisuke Sawamura ,&nbsp;Yuxuan Wang ,&nbsp;Fengyu Cong","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109154","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109154","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Visual distraction often disrupts auditory working memory, but it remains unclear whether semantic and non-semantic distractors interfere through similar or distinct neural mechanisms. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the neural dynamics of semantic and non-semantic visual distractors during an auditory working memory task. Thirty nine healthy adults performed a paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) while exposed to either semantic (digits) or non-semantic (abstract symbols) visual distractors. Behavioral results showed that both distractor types impaired accuracy, with semantic distractors producing longer reaction times and higher omission rates. ERP analyses revealed that both distractor types elicited enhanced P200 amplitudes and prolonged N200 and P300 latencies, reflecting shared early attentional capture and delayed stimulus evaluation. Semantic distractors further induced stronger N200 negativity at frontal sites and shortened P200 latencies, suggesting rapid semantic access and increased conflict detection demands, whereas only non-semantic distractors reduced P300 amplitudes, indicating reactive resource reallocation. Importantly, greater reductions in P300 amplitude were associated with slower responses in the semantic distractor condition. These findings demonstrate that semantic and non-semantic distractors engage partially overlapping but functionally distinct neural processes, emphasizing the importance of distractor content and processing stage in models of cross-modal cognitive control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109154"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145427231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can working memory training improve working memory capacity in typically developing children?: Training methods reveal specific effects","authors":"Yan Hong ,&nbsp;Renlai Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109140","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109140","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aimed to investigate whether different working memory training (WMT) tasks differ in their effects on improving working memory, as well as their underlying cognitive neural mechanisms, from the perspective of training task characteristics. In the present study, we compared two tasks: adaptive running memory span (RMS) training and working memory animal span (WMAS) training. Eighty-four children were randomly assigned to one of the two training groups or the control group. All training protocols consisted of 20 sessions over approximately 4 weeks. Before and after training, the children completed a battery of cognitive tasks to examine the transfer of training effects to untrained measures: the backward digit span, which measured phonological WM storage; the change-detection task, which measured visual WM storage; and the n-back task with electroencephalogram (EEG), which assessed multi-item WM capacity. Compared with the control group, the two training groups showed distinct improvements in working memory capacity, which varied by training task: specifically, children in the RMS group exhibited gains in visual WM storage, updating ability, the mean amplitudes of P2 and P3, and theta power. In contrast, those in the WMAS group showed changes in the mean amplitude of P2 and alpha power. These findings provide evidence that WMT may enhance children’s working memory capacity; however, such near-transfer effects are modulated by the specific training task.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109140"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145420395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Controlling heart rate variability for respiratory effects in ambulatory psychophysiological measurements","authors":"Melisa Saygin ,&nbsp;Martin Gevonden ,&nbsp;Eco de Geus","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109171","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109171","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is the heart period variability observed in synchrony with respiration. RSA amplitude is widely used in psychophysiological research to non-invasively index cardiac vagal activity. However, RSA measures are significantly affected by respiratory behavior, even in the absence of changes in cardiac vagal activity. Fifty-to-sixty percent of the variation in RSA can be attributed to respiration rate and tidal volume. This poses a notable challenge for ambulatory RSA measurement where respiratory behavior cannot be experimentally controlled and can show substantial variation. This pre-registered two-day ambulatory study (<span><span>https://osf.io/57es4</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>) compared four approaches to control for respiratory influences on RSA, to make an empirical recommendation on how to best capture cardiac vagal activity in daily life. We evaluated how well the RSA metric of each approach predicted (1) Minute-to-minute heart period, assumed to be predominantly governed by cardiac vagal activity, and (2) Perceived stress, positive affect, negative affect, and safety—states expected to elicit fluctuations in cardiac vagal activity— at smartphone prompts. The tidal volume-normalized RSA approach was optimal, explaining 1.47 times as much within-individual variance in heart period as that explained by uncontrolled-RSA. The need to use respiratory-controlled RSA was further highlighted by results on safety. Perceived safety was associated with uncontrolled-RSA (<em>p</em> = .033) but not with any of the controlled-RSA metrics. This relationship was driven by higher respiration rate co-occurring with lower safety. We recommend using tidal volume-normalized RSA in ambulatory research to avoid reporting spurious within-individual correlations between psychological states and cardiac vagal activity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109171"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145643112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Psychosocial stressors, sleep quality, and hair cortisol concentrations among pregnant women","authors":"Rong Jiang ,&nbsp;Laura Etzel ,&nbsp;Lorrie Schmid ,&nbsp;Victoria Lee ,&nbsp;Sarah J. Short ,&nbsp;William Roger Mills-Koonce ,&nbsp;Cathi B. Propper ,&nbsp;Patricia Garrett-Peters","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109160","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109160","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Psychosocial stress and sleep disturbances are common during pregnancy and can contribute to heightened hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, potentially impacting maternal and fetal health. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) provide a measure of cumulative circulating cortisol over a period of months and serve as a marker of HPA-axis activity. Yet the interplay between psychosocial stress, sleep quality, and HCC during pregnancy remains unclear.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We conducted a secondary analysis of 141 pregnant women from the Brain and Early Experiences (BEE) Study. Two types of psychosocial stressors - financial strain and pregnancy-related anxiety - were assessed using the Economic Strain Questionnaire and the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire, respectively. Sleep quality was measured via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and HCC was analyzed from 3 cm of hair collected toward the end of the second trimester. Multivariable linear regression tested associations between psychosocial stressors, sleep quality, and HCC, adjusting for key covariates. Mediation analyses assessed whether sleep quality mediated associations between psychosocial stressors and HCC.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Financial strain was significantly associated with both poorer sleep quality (β=0.22, <em>P</em> = .02) and higher HCC (β=0.26, <em>P</em> = .006). Pregnancy-related anxiety was not linked to poorer sleep quality <em>P</em> = .23) or HCC (<em>P</em> = .17). Sleep quality did not mediate psychosocial stressors and HCC associations.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Findings suggest that financial strain may contribute to poorer sleep quality during pregnancy. Financial strain may also contribute to higher cortisol levels, independent of its association with sleep quality. Understanding these associations is critical for identifying intervention targets to mitigate stress-related health risks during pregnancy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 109160"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145514758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}