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The pervasive use of information technologies (IT) has tremendously benefited our daily lives. However, unpredicted technical breakdowns and errors can lead to the experience of stress, which has been termed technostress. It remains poorly understood how people dynamically respond to unpredicted system runtime errors occurring while interacting with the IT systems on a behavioral and neuronal level. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying such processes, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which 15 young adults solved arithmetic problems of three difficulty levels (easy, medium and hard) while two types of system runtime errors (problem errors and feedback errors) occurred in an unexpected manner. The problem error condition consisted of apparently defective displays of the arithmetic problem and the feedback error condition involved erroneous feedback. We found that the problem errors positively influenced participants' problem-solving performance at the high difficulty level (i.e., hard tasks) at the initial stage of the session, while feedback errors disturbed their performance. These dynamic behavioral changes are mainly associated with brain activation changes in the posterior cingulate and the default mode network, including the posterior cingulate cortex, the mPFC, the retrosplenial cortex and the parahippocampal gyrus. Our study illustrates the regulatory role of the posterior cingulate in coping with unpredicted errors as well as with dynamic changes in the environment., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

It has remained unclear whether individuals with psychiatric disorders involving altered visual processing employ similar neuronal mechanisms during perceptual learning of a visual task. We investigated this question by training patients with body dysmorphic disorder, a psychiatric disorder characterized by distressing or impairing preoccupation with nonexistent or slight defects in one's physical appearance, and healthy controls on a visual detection task for human faces with low spatial frequency components. Brain activation during task performance was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging before the beginning and after the end of behavioral training. Both groups of participants improved performance on the trained task to a similar extent. However, neuronal changes in the fusiform face area were substantially different between groups such that activation for low spatial frequency faces in the right fusiform face area increased after training in body dysmorphic disorder patients but decreased in controls. Moreover, functional connectivity between left and right fusiform face area decreased after training in patients but increased in controls. Our results indicate that neuronal mechanisms involved in perceptual learning of a face detection task differ fundamentally between body dysmorphic disorder patients and controls. Such different neuronal mechanisms in body dysmorphic disorder patients might reflect the brain's adaptations to altered functions imposed by the psychiatric disorder., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is one of the most important clinical therapies for neurological disorders. DBS also has great potential to become a great tool for clinical neuroscience research. Recently, the National Engineering Laboratory for Neuromodulation at Tsinghua University held an international Deep Brain Stimulation Initiative workshop to discuss the cutting-edge technological achievements and clinical applications of DBS. We specifically addressed new clinical approaches and challenges in DBS for movement disorders (Parkinson's disease and dystonia), clinical application toward neurorehabilitation for stroke, and the progress and challenges toward DBS for neuropsychiatric disorders. This review highlighted key developments in (1) neuroimaging, with advancements in 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging DBS compatibility for exploration of brain network mechanisms; (2) novel DBS recording capabilities for uncovering disease pathophysiology; and (3) overcoming global healthcare burdens with online-based DBS programming technology for connecting patient communities. The successful event marks a milestone for global collaborative opportunities in clinical development of neuromodulation to treat major neurological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a chronic and severe psychiatric illness associated with limited therapeutic options. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising therapy for TRD patients. However, its safety and efficacy are still unclear. Here we reported the safety and efficacy of lateral habenula (LHb) DBS for a TRD patient who had failed medical, psychological, electroconvulsive, and ketamine therapy. The DBS system is compatible with 3T magnetic resonance imaging along with local field potential (LFP) streaming. Two DBS electrodes were implanted at the bilateral LHb without any complication. The patient showed acute stimulation effects and achieved long-term improvements in his depression, anxiety, and sleep with left LHb 160 Hz frequency stimulation, accompanying the change of LFPs. These results provided clinical evidence toward the safety and efficacy and electrophysiological basis of LHb DBS for TRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Developing more effective strategies to prevent relapse remains one of the major challenges of treating substance dependence. Previous studies have identified brain abnormalities in abstinent alcoholics. However, whether these persistent brain deficits in abstinence could predict early relapse to alcohol use has not been well established. This study aimed to identify biomarkers of relapse vulnerability by investigating persistent brain abnormalities in abstinent alcohol-dependent patients. Methods: Brain imaging and impulsive behavior data were collected from 56 abstinent alcohol-dependent male inpatients and 33 age-matched male healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate the differences of grey matter volume between the groups. The resting-state functional connectivity was examined using brain areas with gray matter deficits as seed regions. A preliminary prospective study design was used to classify patients into abstainers and relapsers after a 62-day average abstinence period. Results: Compared with healthy controls, both relapsers and abstainers exhibited significantly reduced gray matter volume in the cuneus. Functional connectivity analysis revealed that relapsers relative to abstainers demonstrated increased cuneus-centered negative functional connectivity within a network of brain regions which are involved in executive control and salience. Abnormal gray matter volume in the left cuneus and the functional connectivity between the right cuneus and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could successfully predict relapse during the 3-month follow-up period. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the abnormal gray matter volume in the cuneus and resting-state cuneus-prefrontal functional connectivity may play an important role in poor treatment outcomes in alcoholics and serve as useful neural markers of relapse vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have documented that heightened impulsivity likely contributes to the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorders. However, there is still a lack of studies that comprehensively detected the brain changes associated with abnormal impulsivity in alcohol addicts. This study was designed to investigate the alterations in brain structure and functional connectivity associated with abnormal impulsivity in alcohol dependent patients. Methods: Brain structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data as well as impulsive behavior data were collected from 20 alcohol dependent patients and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls respectively. Voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate the differences of grey matter volume, and tract-based spatial statistics was used to detect abnormal white matter regions between alcohol dependent patients and healthy controls. The alterations in resting-state functional connectivity in alcohol dependent patients were examined using selected brain areas with gray matter deficits as seed regions. Results: Compared with healthy controls, alcohol dependent patients had significantly reduced gray matter volume in the mesocorticolimbic system including the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex and the putamen, decreased fractional anisotropy in the regions connecting the damaged grey matter areas driven by higher radial diffusivity value in the same areas and decreased resting-state functional connectivity within the reward network. Moreover, the gray matter volume of the left medial prefrontal cortex exhibited negative correlations with various impulse indices. Conclusions: These findings suggest that chronic alcohol dependence could cause a complex neural changes linked to abnormal impulsivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]