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The main aim of this study was to investigate the long-lasting influences of World War II (WWII) trauma in a national sample of Poles, based on Danieli's (1998) survivors' post-trauma adaptational styles (fighter, numb, victim) and their link with current post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and embodiment level among participants. We also sought to investigate whether the level of knowledge about WWII trauma among ancestors could moderate that association. The study was conducted among a representative sample of 1598 adult Poles obtained from an external company. Participants filled out the Danieli Inventory of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma, the knowledge about traumatic World War II experiences in the family questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale-5, and the Experience of Embodiment Scale. We observed a positive relationship between all survivors' post-trauma adaptational styles and current levels of PTSD symptoms among participants. In addition, PTSD level mediated the relationships between those adaptational styles and embodiment intensity; that mediation was additionally moderated by a lack of knowledge about WWII trauma among ancestors in our participants. Our study adds to the literature on intergenerational trauma by highlighting the importance of evaluating embodiment in understanding the mechanisms of trauma transmission. Furthermore, it highlights the moderating effect of knowledge of family history in this mechanism and the need to share family histories with subsequent generations., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

The main objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between selected sociodemographic factors (i.e. sexual orientation, gender and AIDS status), and the level of HIV/AIDS stigma among people living with HIV (PLWH). The participants were 663 adults with a medically confirmed diagnosis of HIV infection, undergoing antiretroviral treatment. Their level of HIV/AIDS stigma was assessed with the Berger HIV Stigma Scale, and relevant sociodemographic and clinical data were obtained using a self-report survey. The main effect was revealed only for sexual orientation and total stigma; those with heterosexual orientation declared higher levels of total stigma than those with other sexual orientations. For the subscales, significant results were obtained only for disclosure concerns. Namely, for the interaction of gender and sexual orientation, the highest level of disclosure stigma was declared by heterosexual women, while there was no such relationship for men. This result was further modified when AIDS diagnosis was added to the interaction. There is a cumulative effect of PLWH minority statuses, rather than main effects of each status individually. Thus, each minority status should be analysed from at least two perspectives, general (i.e., compared to the general population) and relative (i.e., compared to the population in question)., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Ukraine has been embroiled in an increasing war since February 2022. In addition to Ukrainians, the Russo-Ukraine war has affected Poles due to the refugee crisis and the Taiwanese, who are facing a potential crisis with China. We examined the mental health status and associated factors in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. The data will be used for future reference as the war is still ongoing. From March 8 to April 26, 2022, we conducted an online survey using snowball sampling techniques in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DASS)-21 item scale; post-traumatic stress symptoms by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and coping strategies by the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE). We used multivariate linear regression to identify factors significantly associated with DASS-21 and IES-R scores. There were 1626 participants (Poland: 1053; Ukraine: 385; Taiwan: 188) in this study. Ukrainian participants reported significantly higher DASS-21 (p < 0.001) and IES-R (p < 0.01) scores than Poles and Taiwanese. Although Taiwanese participants were not directly involved in the war, their mean IES-R scores (40.37 ± 16.86) were only slightly lower than Ukrainian participants (41.36 ± 14.94). Taiwanese reported significantly higher avoidance scores (1.60 ± 0.47) than the Polish (0.87 ± 0.53) and Ukrainian (0.91 ± 0.5) participants (p < 0.001). More than half of the Taiwanese (54.3%) and Polish (80.3%) participants were distressed by the war scenes in the media. More than half (52.5%) of the Ukrainian participants would not seek psychological help despite a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress. Multivariate linear regression analyses found that female gender, Ukrainian and Polish citizenship, household size, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping were significantly associated with higher DASS-21 and IES-R scores after adjustment of other variables (p < 0.05). We have identified mental health sequelae in Ukrainian, Poles, and Taiwanese with the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war. Risk factors associated with developing depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms include female gender, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping. Early resolution of the conflict, online mental health interventions, delivery of psychotropic medications, and distraction techniques may help to improve the mental health of people who stay inside and outside Ukraine., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Human memory is prone to errors in many everyday activities but also when cultivating hobbies such as traveling and/or learning a new language. For instance, while visiting foreign countries, people erroneously recall foreign language words that are meaningless to them. Our research simulated such errors in a modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm for short-term memory with phonologically related stimuli aimed at uncovering behavioral and neuronal indices of false memory formation with regard to time-of-day, a variable known to influence memory. Fifty-eight participants were tested in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner twice. The results of an Independent Component Analysis revealed encoding-related activity of the medial visual network preceding correct recognition of positive probes and correct rejection of lure probes. The engagement of this network preceding false alarms was not observed. We also explored if diurnal rhythmicity influences working memory processes. Diurnal differences were seen in the default mode network and the medial visual network with lower deactivation in the evening hours. The GLM results showed greater activation of the right lingual gyrus, part of the visual cortex and the left cerebellum in the evening. The study offers new insight into the mechanisms associated with false memories, suggesting that deficient engagement of the medial visual network during the memorization phase of a task results in short-term memory distortions. The results shed new light on the dynamics of working memory processes by taking into account the effect of time-of-day on memory performance., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Many consider moral decisions to follow an internal "moral compass", resistant to social pressures. Here we examine how social influence shapes moral decisions under risk, and how it operates in different decision contexts. We employed an adapted Asian Disease Paradigm where participants chose between certain losses/gains and probabilistic losses/gains in a series of moral (lives) or financial (money) decisions. We assessed participants' own risk preferences before and after exposing them to social norms that are generally risk-averse or risk-seeking. Our results showed that participants robustly shifted their own choices towards the observed risk preferences. This conformity holds even after a re-testing in three days. Interestingly, in the monetary domain, risk-averse norms have more influence on choices in the loss frame, whereas risk-seeking norms have more influence in the gain frame, presumably because norms that contradict default behavior are most informative. In the moral domain, risk-averse as opposed to risk-seeking norms are more effective in the loss frame but in the gain frame different norms are equally effective. Taken together, our results demonstrate conformity in risk preferences across contexts and highlight unique features of decisions and conformity in moral and monetary domains., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Recent cross-cultural and neuro-hormonal investigations have suggested that love is a near universal phenomenon that has a biological background. Therefore, the remaining important question is not whether love exists worldwide but which cultural, social, or environmental factors influence experiences and expressions of love. In the present study, we explored whether countries' modernization indexes are related to love experiences measured by three subscales (passion, intimacy, commitment) of the Triangular Love Scale. Analyzing data from 9474 individuals from 45 countries, we tested for relationships with country-level predictors, namely, modernization proxies (i.e., Human Development Index, World Modernization Index, Gender Inequality Index), collectivism, and average annual temperatures. We found that mean levels of love (especially intimacy) were higher in countries with higher modernization proxies, collectivism, and average annual temperatures. In conclusion, our results grant some support to the hypothesis that modernization processes might influence love experiences., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Individuals who have the disposition to identify with all humanity declare feeling close to people all over the world, caring about them, and perceiving them as an ingroup. However, never before were such declarations verified by measures of intergroup attitudes less direct than questionnaires, such as approach/avoidance tendencies or dynamical systems methods. Since individuals with higher dispositional identification with all humanity (IWAH) perceive people all over the world as ingroup members, we expected differences in the dynamic of inter-ethnic interactions (spatial distance, coordination, coupling, and leading), depending on a participant's level of IWAH. 227 participants fulfilled the IWAH scale, and those with the highest and lowest scores took part in a laboratory study, performing a task in inter-ethnic dyads. For the first time, an approach that combines a state-of-the-art tracking algorithm with a dynamical systems method was applied in such a context. Our results showed that those higher in IWAH kept a smaller distance from a partner, took a more leading role, and showed better coordination than those lower in IWAH. We found a similar trend for coupling. The results demonstrated the importance of IWAH for inter-ethnic relations and how it may shape non-verbal behaviors. Limitations are discussed., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

It is crucial to understand why people comply with measures to contain viruses and their effects during pandemics. We provide evidence from 35 countries (N total  = 12,553) from 6 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2021 and 2022) obtained via cross-sectional surveys that the social perception of key protagonists on two basic dimensions-warmth and competence-plays a crucial role in shaping pandemic-related behaviors. Firstly, when asked in an open question format, heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were universally identified as key protagonists across countries. Secondly, multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses revealed that warmth and competence perceptions of these and other protagonists differed significantly within and between countries. Thirdly, internal meta-analyses showed that warmth and competence perceptions of heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were associated with support and opposition intentions, containment and prevention behaviors, as well as vaccination uptake. Our results have important implications for designing effective interventions to motivate desirable health outcomes and coping with future health crises and other global challenges., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In recent years the association between video games, cognition, and the brain has been actively investigated. However, it is still unclear how individual predispositions, such as brain structure characteristics, play a role in the process of acquiring new skills, such as video games. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate whether acquisition of cognitive-motor skills from the real-time strategy video game (StarCraft II) is associated with pre-training measures of brain white matter integrity. Results show that higher white matter integrity in regions (anterior limb of internal capsule, cingulum/hippocampus) and tracts (inferior longitudinal fasciculus) related with motoric functions, set shifting and visual decision making was associated with better Star Craft II performance. The presented findings inline with previous results and suggest that structural brain predispositions of individuals are related to the video game skill acquisition. Our study highlights the importance of neuroimaging studies that focus on white matter in predicting the outcomes of intervention studies and has implications for understanding the neural basis of the skill learning process., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Recent research has shown that moral character judgments are prone to the liking bias-well-liked people are seen as morally superior to disliked or neutral ones. However, whether moral information about their past behavior would moderate the liking bias is still an open empirical question addressed in present studies. In Study 1 (N = 653), participants updated their biased moral character impressions when moral information about the target was introduced after the liking induction. In preregistered Study 2 (N = 601), when moral information about the target was presented before the liking induction, moral information had a stronger impact on moral character judgments than liking. Study 3 (N = 398) showed that moral character impression updating was three times greater when moral information was presented after (vs. before) the attitude induction. Further analyses of changes in participants' moral judgments certainty revealed that moral information reduced their uncertainty stronger than attitudes. In effect, the latter were more amenable to updating than information-based judgments. Thus, we present evidence that moral information updates moral character impressions biased by liking. Nevertheless, liking also, but to a lesser extent, updates moral character impressions initially grounded on moral information. We propose that certainty about others' moral character explains when and how moral information limits the impact of attitudinal influences on moral character judgments., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The study aimed to determine the relationship between the millisecond timing, measured by visual temporal order threshold (TOT), i.e. a minimum gap between two successive stimuli necessary to judge a before-after relation, and resting-state fMRI functional connectivity (rsFC). We assume that the TOT reflects a relatively stable feature of local internal state networks and is associated with rsFC of the temporal parietal junction (TPJ). Sixty five healthy young adults underwent the visual TOT, fluid intelligence (G f ) and an eyes-open resting-state fMRI examination. After controlling for the influence of gender, the higher the TOT, the stronger was the left TPJ's rsFC with the left postcentral and the right precentral gyri, bilateral putamen and the right supplementary motor area. When the effects of G f and TOT × G f interaction were additionally controlled, the TOT-left TPJ's rsFC relationship survived for almost all above regions with the exception of the left and right putamen. This is the first study demonstrating that visual TOT is associated with rsFC between the areas involved both in sub-second timing and motor control. Current outcomes indicate that the local neural networks are prepared to process brief, rapidly presented, consecutive events, even in the absence of such stimulation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The aim of this study was to examine cross-cultural differences, as operationalized by Schwartz's refined theory of basic values, in burnout levels among psychotherapists from 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We focused on the multilevel approach to investigate if individual- and country-aggregated level values could explain differences in burnout intensity after controlling for sociodemographic, work-related characteristics and COVID-19-related distress among participants. 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Survey, the revised version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and a survey questionnaire on sociodemographic, work-related factors and the COVID-19 related distress. In general, the lowest mean level of burnout was noted for Romania, whereas the highest mean burnout intensity was reported for Cyprus. Multilevel analysis revealed that burnout at the individual level was negatively related to self-transcendence and openness-to-change but positively related to self-enhancement and conservation values. However, no significant effects on any values were observed at the country level. Male sex, younger age, being single, and reporting higher COVID-19-related distress were significant burnout correlates. Burnout among psychotherapists may be a transcultural phenomenon, where individual differences among psychotherapists are likely to be more important than differences between the countries of their practice. This finding enriches the discussion on training in psychotherapy in an international context and draws attention to the neglected issue of mental health among psychotherapists in the context of their professional functioning., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Enhancing emotion regulation among previously depressed people is crucial for improving their resilience and reducing relapse. Therefore, emphasis is placed on determining effective regulation strategies, particularly those that, besides down-regulating negative emotions, also up-regulate positive emotions. One promising strategy, with great potential in both these respects, is humor. It is unclear, however, what type of humor is most adaptive in remitted depression. This study compared two distinct humor-based strategies: stress-related humor and stress-unrelated humor. Outpatients with remitted depression (N = 94) participated in a randomized experiment evoking personal stress and the subsequent application of stress-related humor, stress-unrelated humor, or a non-humorous regulation. They repeatedly reported positive and negative emotions (at four time points) and experienced distress (at three time points). There were also assessments of selective attention, subsequent performance, effort, and intrusive thoughts. Unlike non-humorous regulation, humor-based strategies had adaptive consequences, both immediately and after a delay; however, stress-unrelated humor was most beneficial and was the only effective strategy when attention deficits were present. Humor, especially if unrelated to stressors, might broaden the repertoire of powerful emotion regulation strategies in remitted depression. Humorous focusing on distress can be detrimental for patients with attention impairment.Clinical trial registration: The study was registered under the number ISRCTN86314628 (20/09/2021)., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Planning is a fundamental mental ability related to executive functions. It allows to select, order and execute subgoals to achieve a goal. Studies have indicated that these processes are characterised by a specific temporal dynamics reflected in temporal information processing (TIP) in some tens of millisecond domain. Both planning and TIP decline with age but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The novel value of the present study was to examine these mechanisms in young (n = 110) and elderly (n = 91) participants in Tower of London task, considering two structural properties of problems: search depth related to static maintenance in working memory, and goal ambiguity reflecting dynamic cognitive flexibility. Results revealed that TIP predicted planning accuracy both directly and indirectly (via preplanning) but only in young participants in problems characterised by high goal ambiguity. Better planning is related to longer preplanning and more efficient TIP. This result demonstrates for the first time age-related differences in the contribution of TIP to planning. In young participants TIP contributed to dynamic cognitive flexibility, but not to static maintenance processes. In elderly such relation was not observed probably because the deficient planning might depend on working memory maintenance rather than on cognitive flexibility., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

We aimed to investigate whether psychological intervention (single mental simulation) among women after cesarean surgery (CC) can affect their willingness to verticalize, actual verticalization, and the duration of the first mobilization. In this prospective randomised, controlled study, 150 women after CC were divided into 3 groups: experimental group with process-simulation with elements of relaxation, experimental group with outcome-simulation with elements of relaxation and control group with elements of relaxation only. After a 5-h stay in the post-operative room, women listened to a recording with a stimulation. Pain and anxiety of verticalization were measured before and after listening to the recording and after verticalization. Almost 12% more patients verticalized in the process-simulation group than in the control group. Percentages of mobilized patients were: 39.4% the process-simulation group; 32.8% in the outcome-simulation group; 27.7% controls (p = 0.073). Mobilization was 5 min longer in the process-simulation group then in control (p < 0.01). Anxiety after the simulation was a significant covariate of the willingness to verticalize, actual verticalization and time spent in mobilization. We conclude that a single mental simulation can effectively motivate patients for their first verticalization after CC. Perceived anxiety before verticalization may affect the effectiveness of interventions, so we recommend to check it at the postoperative care.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04829266., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The novel Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, impacting the lifestyles, economy, physical and mental health of individuals globally. This study aimed to test the model triggered by physical symptoms resembling COVID-19 infection, in which the need for health information and perceived impact of the pandemic mediated the path sequentially, leading to adverse mental health outcomes. A cross-sectional research design with chain mediation model involving 4612 participants from participating 8 countries selected via a respondent-driven sampling strategy was used. Participants completed online questionnaires on physical symptoms, the need for health information, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The results showed that Poland and the Philippines were the two countries with the highest levels of anxiety, depression and stress; conversely, Vietnam had the lowest mean scores in these areas. Chain mediation model showed the need for health information, and the perceived impact of the pandemic were sequential mediators between physical symptoms resembling COVID-19 infection (predictor) and consequent mental health status (outcome). Excessive and contradictory health information might increase the perceived impact of the pandemic. Rapid COVID-19 testing should be implemented to minimize the psychological burden associated with physical symptoms, whilst public mental health interventions could target adverse mental outcomes associated with the pandemic.

The purpose of our study was to elucidate the association between obstetric and psychological factors and fear of childbirth (FOC) during the third trimester of pregnancy and to identify women at risk of severe FOC in Poland. An additional goal of the study was to verify the Polish version of the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (W-DEQ) and to establish its psychometric characteristics. Cross-sectional study with a total of 359 women recruited during routine visits to an antenatal clinic in Poland during the third trimester (≥ 27 weeks gestation). The survey included obstetric details (parity, obstetric history and preferred mode of delivery), and standardized psychological measures: the W-DEQ (fear of childbirth) and the EPDS (depressive symptoms). We demonstrated the satisfactory psychometric properties of the Polish version of the W-DEQ. Our findings confirm the one-factor structure found by the authors of the original version of the scale. A greater FOC was reported by women with unplanned pregnancies, women whose preferred mode of delivery was a cesarean section, and women who had previously undergone psychiatric treatment. The risk factors for severe FOC were depression, unplanned pregnancy or parity, and disagreement with the birth plan proposed by the obstetrician. The W-DEQ is a widely used, valid instrument for the assessment of FOC in pregnant women and can be used in Poland. Findings support the key role of obstetric and psychological variables in predicting fear of childbirth.

Preliminary evidence concerning emotional intelligence (EI) and working memory (WM) showed that the relationship between them is dependent on the emotional content ('hot' or 'cool') of tasks involving WM. In this paper, we continue investigating the relationship between EI and WM, focusing on a crucial function of WM, i.e., the efficacy of updating its content. WM updating shows substantial correlations with general fluid intelligence (gF) and seems to be a significant predictor of cognitive performance and achievement. We assume that if updating is important for a wide range of higher-order processes, updating emotional content in WM could be essential for emotionally intelligent behavior. To test this hypothesis, we constructed two parallel versions of a task that requires WM updating: one with neutral and the other with emotional stimuli. In addition, performance-based measures of both gF and EI were used in the research. Using the structural equation approach, we sought to demonstrate that gF is dependent on the efficiency of WM updating for both emotional and neutral stimuli, whereas EI might depend only on the updating efficacy in the emotional context. The results are discussed in terms of the domain specificity of EI and the domain generality of gF. The main constraint of the study is its limited sample size (n = 123 for intelligence measures, n = 69 for WM updating tasks). Moreover, the study was based on a female sample; thus, the conclusions can be extrapolated only to women.

Procrastination is a self-regulatory problem of voluntarily and destructively delaying intended and necessary or personally important tasks. Previous studies showed that procrastination is associated with executive dysfunctions that seem to be particularly strong in punishing contexts. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study a monetary version of the parametric Go/No-Go task was performed by high and low academic procrastinators to verify the influence of motivational context (reward vs. punishment expectation) and task difficulty (easy vs. hard) on procrastination-related executive dysfunctions. The results revealed increased post-error slowing along with reduced P300 and error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes in high (vs. low) procrastination participants-effects that indicate impaired attention and error-related processing in this group. This pattern of results did not differ as a function of task difficulty and motivation condition. However, when the task got more difficult executive attention deficits became even more apparent at the behavioral level in high procrastinators, as indexed by increased reaction time variability. The findings substantiate prior preliminary evidence that procrastinators show difficulties in certain aspects of executive functioning (in attention and error processing) during execution of task-relevant behavior, which may be more apparent in highly demanding situations.

The ability to detect food plays an indispensable role in our survival and wellbeing. Previous psychological studies have revealed that food is detected more rapidly than non-food items. However, whether the detection of food could be modulated by cultural factors remains unknown. We investigated this issue in the present study using a visual search paradigm with Polish and Japanese participants. Photographs of international fast food, domestic Japanese food, or kitchen tools were presented alongside images of non-food distractors (cars). Participants were asked to judge whether the stimuli were all identical or not. The reaction time data showed that participants from both cultures detected food more rapidly than kitchen tools. Japanese participants detected fast food more rapidly than Japanese food, whereas Polish participants did not display such differences between food types. These results suggest that rapid detection of food is universal, but is modulated by cultural experiences.

Learning to avoid threats often occurs by observing others. Most previous research on observational fear learning (OFL) in humans has used pre-recorded standardized video of an actor and thus lacked ecological validity. Here, we aimed to enhance ecological validity of the OFL by engaging participants in a real-time observational procedure (35 pairs of healthy male friends, age 18-27). One of the participants watched the other undergo a differential fear conditioning task, in which a conditioned stimulus (CS+) was paired with an aversive electric shock and another stimulus (CS-) was always safe. Subsequently, the CS+ and CS- were presented to the observer to test the OFL. While the friend's reactions to the shock elicited strong skin conductance responses (SCR) in all observers, subsequent differential SCRs (CS+ > CS-) were found only when declarative knowledge of the CS+/US contingency (rated by the participants) was acquired. Contingency-aware observers also showed elevated fear potentiated startle responses during both CS+ and CS- compared to baseline. We conclude that our real-time procedure can be effectively used to study OFL. The procedure allowed for dissecting two components of the OFL: an automatic emotional reaction to the response of the demonstrator and learning about stimulus contingency.

Neuropharmacological and human clinical studies have suggested that the brain dopaminergic system is substantively involved in normal and pathological phenotypes of attention. Dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3) was proposed as a candidate gene for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We investigated the effect of the SLC6A3 variants on cognitive performance in ADHD and healthy children and teenagers. Participants completed cognitive tasks measuring attentional switching, selective and sustained attention, and effectiveness of alerting, orienting and executive attention. We estimated the effects of 40 bp variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism located in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) (9-repeat vs 10-repeat allele) of the SLC6A3 gene, ADHD diagnosis, age, and their interactions as predictors of cognitive performance. ADHD children demonstrated deficits in most of the examined attention processes, persistent within the examined age range (9-16 years). No significant effects were observed for the interaction of ADHD and the SLC6A3 polymorphism, but the results revealed a significant main effect of SLC6A3 genotype in the entire research sample. Subjects carrying 9R allele performed the switching task significantly worse in comparison to children with 10R/10R or 10R/11R genotype. SLC6A3 polymorphism moderated age-related improvements in orienting and attentional switching. Results suggest that SLC6A3 genotype influence these attentional/cognitive functions which deficits are not the key symptoms in ADHD.

Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world. We combine this large cross-cultural sample with agent-based models to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets. Across cultures, people higher in mate value appear to experience greater power of choice on the mating market in that they set higher ideal standards, better fulfill their preferences in choice, and pair with higher mate value partners. Furthermore, we find that this cross-culturally universal pattern of mate choice is most consistent with a Euclidean model of mate preference integration.

Procrastination is a self-regulatory failure in which people voluntarily but irrationally delay important tasks. Trait procrastination is estimated to affect 15-20% of the total population and leads to a significant decrease in performance, satisfaction with achievements, and quality of life. Procrastination is related to impulsivity and reduced executive control, especially in the domain of inhibition. Moreover, procrastinatory tendencies seem to increase with negative affect, suggesting impaired emotion regulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuronal mechanisms of inhibition, error processing, and behavioral control under pressure of punishment in procrastinators. Non-student subjects recruited to low (LP) and high procrastination (HP) groups performed an fMRI monetary Go/No-go task. HP showed significantly lower error-related activity in ACC than LP. There was also a significant group by condition interaction in the ACC and right DLPFC suggesting increase of control during the punishment condition in LP but not HP group. These results suggest that procrastinators have impaired error processing mechanisms which may add to the persistence of procrastination through difficulties in correction of faulty behaviors. Procrastination also seems to be related to a decreased ability to intensify self-control in more demanding situations and/or impaired coping in the context of negative situations.

Human decision making often involves outcomes that are both risky and delayed. In such delayed lottery scenarios, the question of how such prospects are evaluated arises. An individual can arrive at their choice by following three different subjective value elicitation paths: (1) a direct path by considering the delay and risk of an outcome simultaneously; (2) a delay-probability path by first considering the delay and then the risk of an outcome; and (3) a probability-delay path by first considering the probability and then the delay of an outcome. Using a discounting framework, we conducted an experiment to investigate whether individual choices are path dependent, i.e., if the three paths elicit different subjective values of risky and delayed gains or losses. The experiment included an arbitrary selection of delays and individual probability estimates corresponding to each delay, obtained in an additional delay-probability trade-off task. Such approach ensured the equal individual decision factor strength of each outcome delay and probability. Our findings demonstrate that the human choice of risky and delayed gains or losses is indeed path dependent, which contrasts with the normative view. Furthermore, we present evidence that human choice more closely follows the delay-probability elicitation path than the probability-delay path in the domain of gains.

It is widely accepted that people differ in memory performance. The ability to control one's memory depends on multiple factors, including the emotional properties of the memorized material. While it was widely demonstrated that emotion can facilitate memory, it is unclear how emotion modifies our ability to suppress memory. One of the reasons for the lack of consensus among researchers is that individual differences in memory performance were largely neglected in previous studies. We used the directed forgetting paradigm in an fMRI study, in which subjects viewed neutral and emotional words, which they were instructed to remember or to forget. Subsequently, subjects' memory of these words was tested. Finally, they assessed the words on scales of valence, arousal, sadness and fear. We found that memory performance depended on instruction as reflected in the engagement of the lateral prefrontal cortex (lateral PFC), irrespective of emotional properties of words. While the lateral PFC engagement did not differ between neutral and emotional conditions, it correlated with behavioural performance when emotional - as opposed to neutral - words were presented. A deeper understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms is likely to require a study of individual differences in cognitive abilities to suppress memory.

The prevalence and long-term consequences of dyslexia make it crucial to look for effective and efficient ways of its therapy. Action video games (AVG) were implied as a possible remedy for difficulties in reading in Italian and English-speaking children. However, the studies examining the effectiveness of AVG application in dyslexia suffered from significant methodological weaknesses such as small sample sizes and lack of a control group with no intervention. In our study, we tested how two forms of training: based on AVG and on phonological non-action video games (PNAVG), affect reading in a group of fifty-four Polish children with dyslexia. Both speed and accuracy of reading increased in AVG as much as in PNAVG group. Moreover, both groups improved in phonological awareness, selective attention and rapid naming. Critically, the reading progress in the two groups did not differ from a dyslexic control group which did not participate in any training. Thus, the observed improvement in reading in AVG and PNAVG can be attributed either to the normal reading development related to schooling or to test practice effect. Overall, we failed to replicate previous studies: Neither AVG nor PNAVG remedy difficulties in reading in school children.

The self-face has a prioritized status in the processing of incoming visual inputs. As the self-face changes over the lifespan, this stimulus seems to be well-suited for investigation of the self across time. Here, steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP, oscillatory responses to periodic stimulation with a frequency that mirrors the frequency of stimulation) were used to investigate this topic. Different types of faces (present self, past self, close-other's, unknown, scrambled) flickered four times per second in two types of stimulation ('identical', with the same image of a given type of face; 'different', with different images of the same type of face). Each of the 10 stimulation sessions lasted 90 seconds and was repeated three times. EEG data were recorded and analyzed in 20 participants. In general, faces evoked higher SSVEP than scrambled faces. The impact of identical and different stimulation was similar for faces and scrambled faces: SSVEP to different stimuli (faces, scrambled faces) was enhanced in comparison to identical ones. Present self-faces evoked higher SSVEP responses than past self-faces in the different stimulation condition only. Thus, our results showed that the physical aspects of the present and past selves are differentiated on the neural level in the absence of an overt behavior.

The effect of free mate choice on the relative magnitude of fitness benefits has been examined among various species. The majority of the data show significant fitness benefits of mating with partners of an individual's own choice, highlighting elevated behavioral compatibility between partners with free mate choice. Similarities between humans and other species that benefit from free mate choice led us to hypothesize that it also confers reproductive benefits in Homo sapiens. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a study among three indigenous societies-the Tsimane', Yali, and Bhotiya-who employ natural birth control. In all three samples, we compared the marriages arranged by parents with the non-arranged ones in terms of number of offspring. Here, we show that there were no significant relationships between type of marriage and the total number of alive children and number of dead children among the three sampled groups. The presented study is the first to date to examine the fitness benefits of free mate choice in humans. In discussion we present limitations of our research and discuss the possibility of love having a beneficial influence in terms of the number of offspring.