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Children with elevated behavioural inhibition (BI) show context‐inappropriate fear and dysregulated RSA across stressor tasks. However, few studies have examined dynamic RSA within tasks and relations to parent and child anxiety. Using piecewise growth modelling and multimethod baseline data from an intervention study of 151 3.5–5‐year‐old children and their parents, we examined relations between child social anxiety (SA), parent anxiety and their interaction in predicting children's RSA across social stressor tasks (e.g. learning about unfamiliar peers, Trier Social Stress). Within the sample, 49.63% of children were reported to be White, non‐Hispanic/Latine (n = 67), 22% multiracial (n = 31), 14.81% Asian/Pacific Islander (n = 20) and 12.59% Black/African‐American (n = 17). Furthermore, 64.44% of the parents were reported to be White, non‐Hispanic/Latine (n = 87), 20% Asian/Pacific Islander (n = 27), 13.33% Black/African‐American (n = 18) and 2.22% multiracial (n = 3). Children showed differentiated RSA reactivity and recovery within an anticipatory social learning task based on their level of clinically appraised SA. Relations between child SA and RSA across tasks was moderated by parent anxiety, specifically for dyads matched in anxiety. Findings provide support for the potential influence of both child and parent anxiety on children's parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) responses across specific self‐regulatory tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is robust evidence implicating inhibitory deficits as a fundamental behavioural phenotype in children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, prior studies have not directly investigated the role in which white matter properties within the fronto‐basal‐ganglia circuit may play in the development of inhibitory control deficits in this group. Combining recent advancements in brain‐behavioural modelling, we mapped the development of stop‐signal task (SST) performance and fronto‐basal‐ganglia maturation in a longitudinal sample of children aged 9–14 with and without ADHD. In a large sample of 135 ADHD and 138 non‐ADHD children, we found that the ADHD group had poorer inhibitory control (i.e., longer stop‐signal reaction times) across age compared to non‐ADHD controls. When applying the novel parametric race model, this group effect was driven by higher within‐subject variability (sigma) and higher number of extreme responses (tau) on stop trials. The ADHD group also displayed higher within‐subject variability on correct responses to go stimuli. Moreover, we observed the ADHD group committing more task‐based failures such as responding on stop trials (trigger failures) and omissions on go trials (go failures) compared to non‐ADHD controls, suggesting the contribution of attentional lapses to poorer response inhibition performance. In contrast, longitudinal modelling of fixel‐based analysis measures revealed no significant group differences in the maturation of fronto‐basal‐ganglia fibre cross‐section in a subsample (74 ADHD and 73 non‐ADHD children). Finally, brain‐behavioural models revealed that age‐related changes in fronto‐basal‐ganglia morphology (fibre cross‐section) were significantly associated with reductions in the variability of the correct go‐trial responses (sigma.true) and skew of the stop‐trial distribution (tauS). However, this effect did not differ between ADHD and typically developing children. Overall, our findings support the growing consensus suggesting that attentional deficits subserve ADHD‐related inhibitory dysfunction. Furthermore, we show novel evidence suggesting that while children with ADHD are consistently performing worse on the SST than their non‐affected peers, they appear to have comparable rates of neurocognitive maturation across this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although personality traits are assumed to have biological/physiological foundations, research has yielded mixed evidence regarding the relationship between personality and physiological stress responses. Moreover, the field has often overlooked the contemporary neuroscience-based personality approach, known as the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) of Personality, in stress research. Method: The present study examined the relationship between the revised RST's personality dimensions and heart rate and skin conductance level (SCL) in response to the Trier Social Stress Test in a sample of 61 healthy university students. Results: Piecewise latent growth curve analysis controlling for the participants' current life stress, smoking use, and caffeine intake revealed that individuals with higher behavioral inhibition exhibited higher physiological reactivity, whereas those with high reward sensitivity showed smaller heart rate reactivity. The behavioral disengagement facet of the behavioral inhibition scale was associated with reduced sympathetic arousal during the stress task. Additionally, reward interest was associated with a larger recovery of SCL. Conclusion: Results were generally in line with the revised theory. The study findings were discussed within the paradigm of the approach-avoidance conflict and highlighted the importance of reward sensitivity in stress resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social play behaviour is a rewarding activity that can entail risks, thus allowing young individuals to test the limits of their capacities and to train their cognitive and emotional adaptability to challenges. Here, we tested in rats how opportunities for risk‐taking during play affect the development of cognitive and emotional capacities and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function, a brain structure important for risk‐based decision making. Male and female rats were housed socially or social play‐deprived (SPD) between postnatal day (P)21 and P42. During this period, half of both groups were daily exposed to a high‐risk play environment. Around P85, all rats were tested for cognitive performance and emotional behaviour after which inhibitory currents were recorded in layer 5 pyramidal neurons in mPFC slices. We show that playing in a high‐risk environment altered cognitive flexibility in both sexes and improved behavioural inhibition in males. High‐risk play altered anxiety‐like behaviour in the elevated plus maze in males and in the open field in females, respectively. SPD affected cognitive flexibility in both sexes and decreased anxiety‐like behaviour in the elevated plus maze in females. We found that synaptic inhibitory currents in the mPFC were increased in male, but not female, rats after high‐risk play, while SPD lowered prefrontal cortex (PFC) synaptic inhibition in both sexes. Together, our data show that exposure to risks during play affects the development of cognition, emotional behaviour and inhibition in the mPFC. Furthermore, our study suggests that the opportunity to take risks during play cannot substitute for social play behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious and complex psychiatric disorder yet treatment results are suboptimal. Insight into the etiology of this illness is much needed. Research highlights the implication of anxiety-related traits in the development and maintenance of AN. This study investigates firstly, behavioural inhibition and intolerance for uncertainty (IU) in adolescents with and without AN, and secondly relations between these traits. In a cross-sectional study, 165 adolescent girls (AN = 94, HC = 71) completed questionnaires measuring behavioural inhibition, IU and trait anxiety. ANOVAs tested differences between AN and HC groups, and mediation models with IU as a mediator between behavioural inhibition and trait anxiety were run. AN adolescents reported significantly higher levels of behavioural inhibition, IU and trait anxiety compared to their peers. In both AN and HC, a direct and a total effect of behavioural inhibition on trait anxiety was found. However, only in the AN group IU partially mediated the relation between behavioural inhibition and trait anxiety. Data is cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are required. A mean illness duration of nearly 2 years may mean early effects of malnourishment and habituation and future studies should include patients with shorter illness duration. Results highlight that behavioural inhibition and IU may contribute to anxiety in AN whilst their peers may have developed better executive and social-emotional skills to manage uncertainty. Adolescents with AN may benefit from interventions targeting behavioural inhibition and IU. • Underlying mechanisms of the anxiety inherent to anorexia nervosa (AN) are poorly understood. • Behavioural inhibition (BI) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) underlie anxiety disorders. • Adolescents with AN have higher levels BI and IU than their non-affected peers. • In AN adolescents, but not in their non-affected peers, did IU mediate the relationship between BI and anxiety. • Adolescents with AN may benefit from treatments targeting BI and IU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dopamine axons are the only axons known to grow during adolescence. Here, using rodent models, we examined how two proteins, Netrin-1 and its receptor, UNC5C, guide dopamine axons toward the prefrontal cortex and shape behaviour. We demonstrate in mice (Mus musculus) that dopamine axons reach the cortex through a transient gradient of Netrin-1-expressing cells – disrupting this gradient reroutes axons away from their target. Using a seasonal model (Siberian hamsters; Phodopus sungorus) we find that mesocortical dopamine development can be regulated by a natural environmental cue (daylength) in a sexually dimorphic manner – delayed in males, but advanced in females. The timings of dopamine axon growth and UNC5C expression are always phase-locked. Adolescence is an ill-defined, transitional period; we pinpoint neurodevelopmental markers underlying this period.

Disgust sensitivity refers to how unpleasant a disgusting experience is to an individual and is involved in the development of many psychiatric conditions. Given its link with food ingestion, there is an interest in understanding how an individual’s susceptibility to disgust relates to dietary habits. One possible mechanism giving rise to this association is through the effects negative emotions have on high-order cognitive processes, but few studies take this model into account. The aim of this study was to characterize general disgust sensitivity in a clinical binge eating disorder (BED) population, and explore whether disgust sensitivity relates to inhibitory control and eating pathology. Following a case-controlled study design, our results show that: (1) disgust sensitivity and its subscales do not differ between BED and healthy controls, (2) higher disgust sensitivity in BED relates to greater behavioural inhibition, (3) inhibitory control reaction times relate to aspects of eating pathology, and (4) inhibitory control does not mediate relationships between disgust sensitivity and BMI among participants with BED. Understanding the role of disgust sensitivity in BED may allow us to understand how negative emotion systems maintain dysregulated eating behaviours with the potential to inform emotion-regulation treatment approaches. Level of evidence: Level III: Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive flexibility, the ability to modify one's decision rules to adapt to a new situation, has been extensively studied in many species. In fish, though, data on cognitive flexibility are scarce, especially in the wild. We studied a lekking species of cichlid fish in Lake Tanganyika, Aulonocranus dewindti. Males create sand bowers as spawning sites and maintain them by removing any objects falling into it. In the first part of our experiment, we investigated the existence of spontaneous decision rules for the maintenance of the bowers. We showed that if a snail shell and a stone are placed in their bower, fish prefer to remove the shell first. In the second phase of our experiment, we took advantage of this spontaneous decision rule to investigate whether this rule was flexible. We tested five individuals in a choice against preference task, in which the fish had to modify their preference rule and remove the stone first to be allowed to then remove the shell and have a clean bower. While there was no overall trend towards flexibility in this task, there was variation at an individual level. Some individuals increased their preference for removing the shell first, deciding quickly and with little exploration of the objects. Others were more successful at choosing against preference and showed behaviours suggesting self-regulatory inhibition abilities. Bower-building cichlids could therefore be a promising model to study cognitive flexibility, and other aspects of animal cognition in the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impulsive buying is considered to be an emotional and unplanned decision-making behaviour. Because this type of purchasing rate has fairly increased in recent years, examining the determinants of impulsive buying is important to understand which intervention programs should be designed. In the current study, it was aimed to develop a model in which impulsive buying tendency is predicted by variables such as personality traits, affect and cognitive factors (problem solving skills and cognitive flexibility). Overall, 300 young adults (198 female and 102 male), took part in the study. The mean age of the participants for the current study was as 21.29 years (SD=2.95). Impulsive buying tendency, personality traits, affect, problem solving skills and cognitive flexibility variables were measured via Consumer Buying Impulsivity Scale (CBI), Behavioural Inhibition/Activation System Scales (BIS/BAS), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) and Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFI), respectively. The results indicated that personality traits in the behavioral activation system (reward system) could be an important determinant of impulsive buying tendency when examined together with other variables. In sum, high reward responsiveness may result in impulsive buying. Furthermore, affective factors (both negative and positive affect) rather than cognitive factors may be a triggering factor for impulsive buying.

Studies of the general population suggest that the risk for mental health difficulties conferred by dispositional behavioural inhibition (BI) may be modified by self-regulation; however, this possibility has not been explored in the context of autism. This study investigated the moderating effects of attentional-, activation-, and inhibitory control on the relationship between childhood BI and anxiety and depression among 47 autistic youths (55% male, Mage = 19.09 years, SD = 2.23). Childhood BI was associated with anxiety at low but not high levels of attentional- and activation control, and depression at low but not high levels of attentional control. However, there were no moderating effects of inhibitory control. These preliminary findings are partially consistent with those from the general population and point to avenues for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internalising problems are common within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); early intervention to support those with emerging signs may be warranted. One promising signal lies in how individual differences in temperament are shaped by parenting. Our longitudinal study of infants with and without an older sibling with ASD investigated how parenting associates with infant behavioural inhibition (8–14 months) and later effortful control (24 months) in relation to 3-year internalising symptoms. Mediation analyses suggest nondirective parenting (8 months) was related to fewer internalising problems through an increase in effortful control. Parenting did not moderate the stable predictive relation of behavioural inhibition on later internalising. We discuss the potential for parenting to strengthen protective factors against internalising in infants from an ASD-enriched cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have implicated the basal ganglia in the suppression of action impulses ('stopping'). Here, we discuss recent neurophysiological evidence that distinct hypothesized processes involved in action preparation and cancellation can be mapped onto distinct basal ganglia cell types and pathways. We examine how movement-related activity in the striatum is related to a 'Go' process and how going may be modulated by brief epochs of beta oscillations. We then describe how, rather than a unitary 'Stop' process, there appear to be separate, complementary 'Pause' and 'Cancel' mechanisms. We discuss the implications of these stopping subprocesses for the interpretation of the stop-signal reaction time-in particular, some activity that seems too slow to causally contribute to stopping when assuming a single Stop processes may actually be fast enough under a Pause-then-Cancel model. Finally, we suggest that combining complementary neural mechanisms that emphasize speed or accuracy respectively may serve more generally to optimize speed-accuracy trade-offs.This article is part of the themed issue 'Movement suppression: brain mechanisms for stopping and stillness'.

It is thought horses lack the prospection and brain architecture required for goal-directed, reflective model-based learning which considers future states. We investigate whether horses can use model-based strategy in an inhibitory task. Twenty subjects were trained for three sessions of a Stop-Signal paradigm using positive reinforcement (+R) for correct responding. All twenty failed to reach learning criterion. Subjects continued to touch in "Stop" contingencies indicating horses either: cannot complete Stop-Signal tasks; need further consolidation; or are utilising model-based cost-benefit analysis. Subjects underwent a further three sessions with the addition of negative punishment (+R/-P) as a cost for errors of emission (EE). If horses lack the ability to complete Stop-Signal tasks, EE would remain high across both treatments. If horses found Stop-Signal difficult but the introduction of cost aided their learning, EE would gradually decrease throughout the +R/-P condition. If horses built a cognitive model of the task but developed a strategy of indiscriminate responding in the +R condition, EE would suddenly decrease with the introduction of cost. A significant, immediate reduction in EE was observed when cost was introduced (p=0.02) that remained stable throughout the +R/-P condition providing evidence consistent with model-based cost-benefit analysis in horses. • Model-based learning investigated in horses during a Stop-Signal inhibitory control task. • Horses trained to inhibit touch response to a target when a light cue was present, using positive reinforcement (+R). • Horses responded indiscriminately to stimuli during initial 3 sessions of Stop-Signal. • A further 3 sessions with positive reinforcement plus negative punishment (+R/-P). • Immediate reduction in errors was observed (p=0.02), providing evidence consistent with model-based cost-benefit analysis in horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorder in children and young people. They can be prevented in those at risk, but families do not always take up opportunities to participate in prevention programmes. This qualitative study aimed to understand what families with children who were at prospective risk of anxiety disorders perceived to be the barriers to access to targeted anxiety prevention programmes, and to explore what would help facilitate access. We used Information Power to determine our sample size, and individually interviewed seven young people (14–17 years) who had anxiety disorders and their mothers, each of whom had pre-natal anxiety disorders. We transcribed all interviews and thematically analyzed them to identify perceived barriers and facilitators to targeted anxiety prevention programmes. Perceived potential barriers to access included possible negative consequences of anxiety prevention, difficulties in identifying anxiety as a problem and concerns about how professions would respond to raising concerns about anxiety. Possible facilitators included promoting awareness of anxiety prevention programmes and involvement of schools in promotion and delivery of prevention. Our findings illustrate that implementation of targeted anxiety prevention could be improved through (i) the provision of tools for parents to recognize anxiety in their children as a problem, (ii) promotion of awareness, as well as delivery, of anxiety prevention via schools and (iii) the involvement of parents and possibly adolescents in the intervention programme, but not younger children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early behavioural inhibition, a temperamental characteristic defined by fearful, overly-sensitive, avoidant, or withdrawn reactions to the unknown, is a predictor of later social anxiety. However, not all behaviourally inhibited children develop anxiety problems, and attentional bias to threat has been proposed to moderate the relation between behavioural inhibition and anxiety. The current study aimed to further specify the relation between early behavioural inhibition and later social anxiety by testing this potentially moderating role of childhood attentional bias to threat. Behavioural inhibition was assessed during toddlerhood (age 2.5 years) using laboratory observations of children's behaviours in response to unknown objects and situations. When children were 7.5 years old, attentional bias was measured in 86 children (46 girls) using both a visual probe task and a visual search task with angry and happy faces. Child social anxiety was measured using questionnaires completed by the child and both parents, and clinical interviews conducted with both parents. Our results showed that while early behavioural inhibition was related to later social anxiety, there was no evidence for a moderation of this relation by attentional bias, suggesting that the relation between early fearful temperament and later social anxiety holds across children, independent of their attentional biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has linked parenting practices to the development of internalising symptoms in children. However, parenting practices cannot fully explain the evolution of internalising symptoms, as other factors seem to influence this process. Two specific factors identified in separate lines of research are victimisation and child behavioural inhibition. The current study examined moderated-mediation models to investigate the respective effects of victimisation and behavioural inhibition on the relationship between parenting practices and internalising symptoms. The study included 374 children and their parents. The children completed the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, the Behavioural Inhibition Instrument, and the Parental Bonding Instrument. Their parents completed the Child Behaviour Checklist. The study results highlighted that behavioural inhibition moderates the mediating effect of victimisation on the relationship between parenting practices and internalising symptoms. The study findings contribute to the existing literature and advance our understanding of children's internalising symptoms development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dopamine axons are the only axons known to grow during adolescence. Here, using rodent models, we examined how two proteins, Netrin-1 and its receptor, UNC5C, guide dopamine axons toward the prefrontal cortex and shape behaviour. We demonstrate in mice ( Mus musculus ) that dopamine axons reach the cortex through a transient gradient of Netrin-1-expressing cells - disrupting this gradient reroutes axons away from their target. Using a seasonal model (Siberian hamsters; Phodopus sungorus ) we find that mesocortical dopamine development can be regulated by a natural environmental cue (daylength) in a sexually dimorphic manner - delayed in males, but advanced in females. The timings of dopamine axon growth and UNC5C expression are always phase-locked. Adolescence is an ill-defined, transitional period; we pinpoint neurodevelopmental markers underlying this period., Competing Interests: DH, RK, SS, DM, RA, EE, AH, TO, AD, CP, JZ, KS, LL, QC, GL, MP, CF No competing interests declared, (© 2023, Hoops et al.)

Many species of insects have sex-specific and species-specific cuticular lipid profiles that help regulate mate recognition and courtship behaviour. However, in adult butterflies, little is known about cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), the main component of the lipid profile, and their function in mating. Here, we investigated whether Papilio polytes males use cuticular lipids and major CHCs in mate discrimination. When males were presented with freshly killed female and male specimens, copulation attempts were more frequent after contact with the females. Upon removal of the cuticular lipid with solvent washes, the ratios of copulation attempts were similar for both male and female specimens. When male or female cuticular lipid extracts of P. polytes or Papilio protenor (a sympatric and related species) were applied to washed female specimens, males displayed less interest in specimens treated with extracts other than that of the conspecific females. Chemical analysis of the extracts revealed that the CHC profiles, especially the C23–C25 range, differed greatly between the sexes of the two species. Of the identified major hydrocarbons, authentic chemicals 7-tricosene (characteristic of P. polytes males) and 9-pentacosene (characteristic of P. protenor females) greatly reduced the ratio of male copulation attempts with the treated female models. Hence, P. polytes males use the CHC profile of their partner for mate discrimination, and particular alkenes probably play important roles in the prevention of interspecific and same-sex courtships. • Papilio polytes males use cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) for mate discrimination. • The CHCs of males and heterospecific females suppress male copulation attempts. • Certain cuticular alkenes serve as behavioural inhibitors of male copulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Autonomic hyperarousal has been proposed as a dispositional risk factor for anxiety disorders (ADs). Therefore, we studied physiological arousal in offspring of fathers and mothers with and without ADs and whether infant hyperarousal predicts subsequent fearful temperament. Methods: Infants (N = 128; age = 4 months) did a novel stimuli task (exposure to visual, olfactory, and acoustic stimuli and an unfamiliar male) and a habituation task (exposure to a repeated acoustic stimulus). Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during baseline, stimuli and post‐stimuli rest. Parents' AD status and severity were measured using a diagnostic interview and their fearful temperament using a questionnaire. Child fearful temperament was measured at 4 months, 1 year and 2.5 years with observations during structured tasks. Results: Parents' fearful temperament (significant in the habituation task), AD status (significant in the novel stimuli task) and AD severity (significant in both tasks) predicted a higher HR in their infants. Infants' higher HR reactivity to novel stimuli and diminished HR recovery at 4 months predicted a more fearful temperament during infancy and toddlerhood. Infants' higher HR at 4 months predicted a more fearful temperament at 2.5 years. Conclusions: Parental prenatal anxiety (disorders) predicted infants' autonomic arousal, which in turn predicted later fearful temperament in children. Outcomes suggest that autonomic hyperarousal is a dispositional risk factor of ADs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The defining character of tics is that they can be transiently suppressed by volitional effort of will, and at a behavioural level this has led to the concept that tics result from a failure of inhibition. However, this logic conflates the mechanism responsible for the production of tics with that used in suppressing them. Volitional inhibition of motor output could be increased to prevent the tic from reaching the threshold for expression, although this has been extensively investigated with conflicting results. Alternatively, automatic inhibition could prevent the initial excitation of the striatal tic focus-a hypothesis we have previously introduced. To reconcile these competing hypotheses, we examined different types of motor inhibition in a group of 19 patients with primary tic disorders and 15 healthy volunteers. We probed proactive and reactive inhibition using the conditional stop-signal task, and applied transcranial magnetic stimulation to the motor cortex, to assess movement preparation and execution. We assessed automatic motor inhibition with the masked priming task. We found that volitional movement preparation, execution and inhibition (proactive and reactive) were not impaired in tic disorders. We speculate that these mechanisms are recruited during volitional tic suppression, and that they prevent expression of the tic by inhibiting the nascent excitation released by the tic generator. In contrast, automatic inhibition was abnormal/impaired in patients with tic disorders. In the masked priming task, positive and negative compatibility effects were found for healthy controls, whereas patients with tics exhibited strong positive compatibility effects, but no negative compatibility effect indicative of impaired automatic inhibition. Patients also made more errors on the masked priming task than healthy control subjects and the types of errors were consistent with impaired automatic inhibition. Errors associated with impaired automatic inhibition were positively correlated with tic severity. We conclude that voluntary movement preparation/generation and volitional inhibition are normal in tic disorders, whereas automatic inhibition is impaired-a deficit that correlated with tic severity and thus may constitute a potential mechanism by which tics are generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Elevated behavioural impulsivity has been shown to be a core feature of bipolar disorder. However, no study has so far investigated impulsivity-related brain activation in patients with BD during acute versus remitted phase. To address the question whether elevated behavioural impulsivity and its differential neural pathways is a state or trait marker of BD, we employed a combined stop signal-go/no-go task in 30 controls, and 37 depressed and 15 remitted patients who were retested. Methods: Frontal brain activation was recorded using near-infrared spectroscopy. Results: Behaviourally, we found increased impulsivity as indexed by higher stop signal reaction time for patients in their depressed phase while remitted patients did not differ from controls in any measure. In contrast, brain activation measurements revealed an opposite pattern: compared to controls, depressed patients did not show significant differences, while the remitted group displayed significantly decreased activation in bilateral prefrontal cortex during successful inhibition. Analysis of the remaining conditions (go, no-go, unsuccessful inhibition) did not reveal significant differences. Conclusions: Therefore, behavioural impulsivity and prefrontal hypoactivation do not seem to be a trait marker of BD. As only successful inhibition differentiated between groups, a specific dysfunction of this inhibitory process and its neural pathway may be postulated in BD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) cause great suffering in patients and their families. Phenomenology can help clarify the diagnosis and propose some new therapeutic responses using Daseinsanalyse. Separation issues understood using the phenomenological description of the melancholic type (MT) by Tellenbach may further shed light on our understanding of depression in dementia.Subject and Methods: In a 90-year-old woman presenting with advanced (Clinical Dementia Rating 3) mixed dementia and BPSD in the form of vocally disruptive behaviour (VDB), we discuss separation anxiety as the aetiopathogenic hypothesis. Depression and BPSD were assessed using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Cornell scale, and Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale to confirm our second phenomenological diagnostic hypothesis, ie, melancholy. The Big Five Inventory scale filled in by a proxy was also used to evaluate the patient's premorbid personality. We then propose an explanatory frame of VDB and depression through the standard phenomenological assessment of its relation to time, space, self, and other.Results: Confirming MT, we found an inhibited temperament and low openness to experience in the patient, as well as a symbiotic relationship with a close relative (the other).Conclusion: Separation anxiety may well explain the patient's MT expressed by VDB. Melancholic type and her symbiotic relationship led to a situation unbearable to the patient and her close relative unable to delegate care to a specialized team.Running Head: Phenomenology in vocally disruptive behaviour in dementia. We have found new explanations in similar clinical cases in dementia as follows. A patient presenting with vocally disruptive behaviour has a melancholic type, a behavioural-inhibited temperament, and marital violence in the past. Phenomenology may help explain this profile with neurobiological disorders. The life trajectory, from childhood into older age, must be taken into account to understand behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study's main objective was to determine whether the five-step theory of mind scale is associated with responses to behavioural inhibition tasks. The data collected for this were the responses to the scale given by 65 Chilean children aged three to five from medium-low socioeconomic levels, and were derived from the changing locations, happy-sad Stroop, day-night and Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) tasks they carried out. Results showed that there was a significant association between the five-step theory of mind scale and behavioural inhibition (r =.28) and behavioural inhibition with the false belief task (r =.31), controlling for age, sex and language. These data support the emergence model as the best model to describe the relationship between theory of mind and behavioural inhibition. Finally, the results are discussed and future lines of study in this subject are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIMS – We examined the effects of temperamental dispositions, friends using alcohol and parental monitoring on grade 7 students’ alcohol use patterns.

This paper describes the contribution of two infant temperamental biases to variation in behaviour and biology over the first 18 years in a sample of middle-class Caucasian children. One bias, called high reactive, is defined by frequent display of limb activity and crying in four-month-old infants to unexpected or unfamiliar events. The other, called low reactive, is defined by the opposite pair of behaviours to the same incentives. High reactive infants are likely to display cautious, avoidant responses and signs of an excitable amygdala to unexpected experiences. Low reactives are character- ized by a sociable, emotionally spontaneous profile to the same experiences and a minimally excitable amygdala. However, each bias is a better predictor of the future traits that are unlikely to develop than the ones that do. The final pattern of traits is a function of the person's temperaments, life history, and current circumstances. This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rats reared in social isolation exhibit various cognitive and behavioural abnormalities in adulthood. However, impulsivity following this treatment still remains unclear, especially in response to medications used in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, such as amphetamine. Methods: Using an isolation-rearing (IR) manipulation, the present study examined the effects of IR on impulsive action and impulsive choice when also treated with doses of d-amphetamine, by employing the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) and a temporal discounting of reward task (TDRT), respectively. Results: IR rats showed similar acquisition of the 5-CSRTT. Amphetamine increased premature responding in both groups; however, IR rats showed less responding overall. For the TDRT, IR rats revealed a greater preference for the large but delayed reward during task acquisition (i.e. were less impulsive) with a higher rate of nose poking during the delay, and exhibited a compressed dose-response function (i.e. reduced dose sensitivity) for amphetamine. Discussion: Impulsive action and impulsive choice were reduced in IR rats under certain conditions, and a blunted response to d-amphetamine was found on these measures. These reductions in impulsivity contrast with locomotor hyperactivity normally shown in IR rats and the findings have implications for the utility of IR as a model of psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has found an association between a smaller cerebellar volume and higher levels of neuroticism. The steroid hormone testosterone reduces stress responses and the susceptibility to negative mood. Together with in vitro studies showing a positive effect of testosterone on cerebellar gray matter volumes, we set out to explore the role of testosterone in the relation between cerebellar gray matter and neuroticism. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired, and indices of neurotic personality traits were assessed by administering the depression and anxiety scale of the revised NEO personality inventory and Gray’s behavioural avoidance in one hundred and forty-nine healthy volunteers between 12 and 27 years of age. Results demonstrated an inverse relation between total brain corrected cerebellar volumes and neurotic personality traits in adolescents and young adults. In males, higher endogenous testosterone levels were associated with lower scores on neurotic personality traits and larger cerebellar gray matter volumes. No such relations were observed in the female participants. Analyses showed that testosterone significantly mediated the relation between male cerebellar gray matter and measures of neuroticism. Our findings on the interrelations between endogenous testosterone, neuroticism and cerebellar morphology provide a cerebellum-oriented framework for the susceptibility to experience negative emotions and mood in adolescence and early adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence to suggest that impulsivity is predicted by socioeconomic background, with people from more deprived backgrounds tending to be more impulsive, and by current mood, with poorer mood associated with greater impulsivity. However, impulsivity is not a unitary construct, and previous research in this area has focused on measures of ‘waiting’ impulsivity rather than behavioural disinhibition. We administered a standard measure of behavioural disinhibition, the stop-signal task, to 58 adult participants from a community sample. We had measured socioeconomic background using participant postcode at age 16, and assigned participants to receive either a neutral or a negative mood induction. We found no effects of mood on behavioural disinhibition, but we found a significant effect of socioeconomic background. Participants who had lived in more deprived postcodes at age 16 showed longer stop-signal reaction times, and hence greater behavioural disinhibition. The pattern was independent of participant age and overall reaction time. Though caution is required inferring causality from correlation, it is possible that that experiencing socioeconomic deprivation in childhood and adolescence may lead to greater behavioural disinhibition in adulthood.

Leptin has been shown to affect energy homeostasis, learning and memory, and some models of anxiolytic action. However, leptin has produced inconsistent results in previous non-operant behavioural tests of anxiety. Here, we test the anxiolytic potential of leptin in an operant paradigm that has produced positive results across all classes of anxiolytic so far tested. Rats were tested in the Fixed Interval 60 Seconds (FI60) task following administration of 0/0.5/1.0 mg/kg (i.p.) leptin or an active anxiolytic control of 5 mg/kg (i.p.) chlordiazepoxide (CDP). By the end of the 14 days of testing in the FI60 task, 0.5 mg/kg leptin released suppressed responding in a manner similar to CDP, and 1.0 mg/kg leptin produced a relative depression in responding, a similar outcome pattern to previously tested 5HT-agonist anxiolytics. This suggests that leptin behaves similarly to established serotonergic anxiolytics such as buspirone and fluoxetine; with the delay in development of effect during testing, and the inverted-U dose–response curve explaining the inconsistent behaviour of leptin in behavioural tests of anxiety, as this type of pattern is common to serotonergic anxiolytics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-reward attractor theory of depression is proposed based on the operation of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and supracallosal cingulate cortex. The orbitofrontal cortex contains error neurons that respond to non-reward for many seconds in an attractor state that maintains a memory of the non-reward. The human lateral orbitofrontal cortex is activated by non-reward during reward reversal, and by a signal to stop a response that is now incorrect. Damage to the human orbitofrontal cortex impairs reward reversal learning. Not receiving reward can produce depression. The theory proposed is that in depression, this lateral orbitofrontal cortex non-reward system is more easily triggered, and maintains its attractor-related firing for longer. This triggers negative cognitive states, which in turn have positive feedback top-down effects on the orbitofrontal cortex non-reward system. Treatments for depression, including ketamine, may act in part by quashing this attractor. The mania of bipolar disorder is hypothesized to be associated with oversensitivity and overactivity in the reciprocally related reward system in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and pregenual cingulate cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioural inhibition influences the development of behavioural regulation in early childhood. Previous studies have mainly focused on the relationship between inhibition and regulation in the Don't context (e.g., inhibitory control), while few have investigated this relationship in the Do context (e.g., task persistence). This longitudinal study examined the effect of temperamental inhibition on behavioural regulation during both the Do and Don't contexts in 112 Chinese preschoolers. At 3.5 years of age, children's behavioural inhibition was assessed by behavioural observation and parental report, and then at 4.5 years of age, their regulatory behaviours were measured in the following two challenging contexts: Do [locked box (LB)] and Don't [toy inhibition (TI)]. In each task, children were randomly assigned to either a high‐ or a low‐incentive condition designed to vary the value of a given goal. Results suggested that higher inhibition was associated with poorer regulation (lower task persistence) in both conditions of the Do context (LB), whereas in the Don't context (TI) highly inhibited children showed better regulation (less violation behaviours) in the low‐incentive condition than they did in the high‐incentive condition. The results highlight the context characteristics and goal incentive as important factors for behavioural regulation development in inhibited children in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored whether adults, who have symptoms of social anxiety or depression, or a temperamental tendency towards having a high behavioural inhibition system (BIS), will be more prone to developing online gaming addiction. Data were collected over a two-month period with a total of 186 participants completing all the online questionnaires (147 university students and 39 Second Life (SL) users), of whom 66 were male (M=34.6, SD=14.15) and 120 were female (M=33.32, SD=12.8). Results of a hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis indicated that combined, social anxiety, a high BIS and depression explained a small amount of variability (9.9 per cent) in gaming addiction, with social anxiety explaining the most variance in the model. Any effect of the BIS was mainly through its impact on social anxiety. Young adult (26-40 years) and middle adult (41-60 years) females represented a higher proportion of problematic gamers in this sample than males. Further research is required into risk factors for addictive gaming, particularly in adult female players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who exhibit elevated levels of the temperament trait behavioural inhibition (BI) across time may be at greatest risk for anxiety. However, little research has investigated the influence of other temperamental traits, particularly positive emotionality (PE), on the continuity of BI in childhood, nor whether parental overprotection influences associations between early and later child BI. To explore whether PE and overprotection shape associations between early and later BI, this longitudinal study of three-year-olds ( N = 446) followed up at age 6 included tasks tapping child temperament, and parental overprotection was assessed via interview ratings and parent-report. Lower levels of child PE and higher levels of caregiver overprotection at baseline predicted stronger associations between laboratory-assessed BI at ages 3 and 6. Findings elucidate influences shaping the developmental continuity of BI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While motivation to pursue goals is often assumed to be a trait-like characteristic, it is influenced by a variety of situational factors. In particular, recent experiences of success or failure, as well as cognitive responses to these outcomes, may shape subsequent willingness to expend effort for future rewards. To date, however, these effects have not been explicitly tested. In the present study, 131 healthy individuals received either failure or success feedback on a cognitive task. They were then instructed to either ruminate or distract themselves from their emotions. Finally, they completed the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task, a laboratory measure of reward motivation. Results indicate that participants who received failure feedback relied more strongly on the reward magnitude when choosing whether to exert greater effort to obtain larger rewards, though this effect only held under conditions of significant uncertainty about whether the effort would be rewarded. Further, participants with high levels of trait inhibition were less responsive to reward value and probability when choosing whether to expend greater effort, results that echo past studies of effort-based decision-making in psychological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Adolescence represents a period of development during which critical biological, as well as social and cognitive, changes occur that are necessary for the transition into adulthood. A number of researchers have suggested that the pattern of normative brain changes that occurs during this period not only predisposes adolescents to engage in risk behaviours, such as experimentation with drugs, but that they additionally make the adolescent brain more vulnerable to the direct pharmacological impact of substances of abuse. The neural circuits that we examine in this review involve cortico-basal-ganglia/limbic networks implicated in the processing of rewards, emotion regulation, and the control of behaviour, emotion and cognition. Findings and Conclusions We identify certain neurocognitive and personality/comorbidity-based risk factors for the onset of substance misuse during adolescence, and summarise the evidence suggesting that these risk factors may be further impacted by the direct effect of drugs on the underlying neural circuits implicated in substance misuse vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]