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Prior Expectations of Volatility Following Psychotherapy for Delusions: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
IMPORTANCE: Persecutory delusions are common, distressing, and difficult to treat. Testing computational neuroscience models of delusions can identify new therapeutic targets. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether change in delusion severity is associated with a corresponding change in volatility priors and brain activation estimated during a belief updating task. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This randomized clinical trial was conducted from April 9, 2021, to December 5, 2023, within the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Psychiatric Hospital and at a community mental health center in Nashville, Tennessee. Participants were adults (aged between 18 and 65 years) with schizophrenia spectrum or delusional disorder and an active, persistent (≥3 months) persecutory delusion with strong conviction (>50%). Participants were randomly assigned 1:1 to either cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp)-based intervention or befriending therapy. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed from June 1 to October 31, 2024. INTERVENTION: The CBTp was a manualized intervention targeting persecutory delusions. The befriending therapy involved engaging in conversations and activities focused on neutral topics. Both interventions were provided in person, lasted for 8 weeks, and included standard care. Standard care consisted of medication management and ancillary services. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes were volatility priors (ie, prior expectations of volatility) derived from a 3-option probabilistic reversal learning task; persecutory delusion severity measured by the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS delusion subscale; score range: 0-16, with the highest score indicating severe preoccupation, distress, conviction, and functioning impact); and brain activation in the striatum and prefrontal cortex measured by blood oxygenation level-dependent signal change. Associations between volatility priors, clinical improvement, and change in neural activation were examined. RESULTS: Sixty-two participants (median [range] age, 31 [19-63] years; 38 males [61%]) were randomly assigned to the CBTp (n = 32) or befriending therapy (n = 30) arms. A subgroup of 35 participants (57%) completed functional magnetic resonance imaging. Volatility priors decreased following treatment (F1,112 = 7.7 [P = .006]; Cohen d = 0.52 [95% CI, 0.15-0.90]), as did delusion severity (F1,112 = 59.7 [P
Moving from exploratory to confirmatory network analysis: An evaluation of structural equation modeling fit indices and cutoff values in network psychometrics.
Network models are well-suited for phenomena detection, and most empirical network studies have been exploratory so far. Yet, due to the close connections between (Gaussian) networks and structural equation modeling (SEM), confirmatory testing and SEM fit indices are readily applicable to network modeling as well. However, no study to date has evaluated how SEM fit indices perform in confirmatory network analysis (CNA), and what criteria should be applied. This study examined the applicability of SEM fit indices and their conventional cutoff values in CNA. We employed a panel graphical autoregressive model for its generalizability to network models in both cross-sectional (Gaussian graphical models) and N = 1 time-series cases (graphical autoregressive models). Using simulations, we analyzed the performance of fit indices to test hypothesized network structures and evaluate stationarity, under varying number of variables (nodes), sample sizes, and measurement waves. Most fit indices performed well, except that Type I incremental fit indices showed high false rejection rates. Conventional SEM cutoffs are largely generalizable to CNA as preliminary assessment criteria when dynamical cutoffs are unavailable. However, we recommend stricter cutoff values (e.g., 0.03/0.04 for the root-mean-square error of approximation [RMSEA] and 0.96/0.97 for incremental fit indices) in hypothesis testing or direct replication studies if researchers aim for more precise testing or exact replications. For detecting network structure non-stationarity, stricter RMSEA cutoffs (0.03/0.04) are advised. This study validates the use of SEM fit criteria for confirmatory network psychometrics and encourages theory-testing and replication studies in network research, providing practical recommendations for using SEM fit indices in confirmatory network testing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Urban-rural differences in anxiety and depression in the UK, New Zealand, and Norway.
As the global urban population surpasses 50 %, understanding the impact of urban environments on mental health is crucial. This study examines the relationship between urbanicity and the prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders in the United Kingdom (UK; N = 449,232), New Zealand (N = 33,042), and Norway (N = 13,238). This paper addresses a central limitation of previous research, which relied on dichotomous and varying definitions of urbanicity, by employing a continuous measure of urbanicity consistently across our three samples. Results revealed country-specific patterns: in the UK, a non-linear pattern showed a minimum in semi-urban areas but increased prevalences of anxiety and depression in both urban and rural regions; in New Zealand, only urban living was linked to a higher prevalence of anxiety, while depression rates remained consistent across settings; in Norway, increased mental health problems were associated with rural residency. These relationships were robust across various sensitivity analyses. Overall, the results underscore that there is no universal association between urbanicity and mental health; rather, the urban-rural gradient operates differently across countries. Future research should explore cross-national variation in urban environments toward identifying aspects of urban life that serve as favorable versus detrimental to mental health.
Technology Matters: Online Support and Intervention (OSI) for child anxiety problems - an example of the journey from research to practice.
Childhood anxiety problems are prevalent and impairing, yet many children are unable to access evidence-based treatment (i.e. cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT). Digitally augmented psychological interventions represent one way to help increase access to CBT for children with mental health problems, as these interventions can substantially reduce the amount of therapist time required to deliver the intervention, as well as bringing a range of other potential advantages for therapists and families. Online Support and Intervention (OSI) is an example of a brief digitally augmented, therapist-supported, parent-led CBT intervention for child anxiety problems that is now being commissioned and delivered in child mental health services. This article outlines the journey of OSI from research to implementation into routine clinical practice and highlights key considerations for translating digitally augmented mental health interventions into routine care in child mental health services.
Dorsal raphe nucleus controls motivation-state transitions in monkeys.
The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is an important source of serotonin in the brain, but fundamental aspects of its function remain elusive. Here, we present a combination of minimally invasive recording and disruption studies to show that DRN brings about changes in motivation states. We use recently developed methods for identifying temporal patterns in behavior to show that monkeys change their motivation depending on the availability of rewards in the environment. Distinctive patterns of DRN activity occur when monkeys transition between a high-motivation state occupied when rewards are abundant, to a low-motivation state engendered by reward scarcity. Disrupting DRN diminishes sensitivity to the reward environment and perturbs transitions in motivational states.
Not all verbal labels grease the wheels of odor categories
Language is known to play a crucial role in influencing how humans perceive and categorize sensory stimuli, including odors. This study investigated the impact of linguistic labeling on odor categorization among bilingual participants proficient in Chinese (L1) and English (L2). We hypothesized that L1-like linguistic labels would more robustly propel the learning of new olfactory categories compared to a condition without language, and more familiar labels would better support odor category learning. The analysis focused on comparing learning trajectories and odor categorization performance of four groups, three in which odors were paired with different sets of verbal labels and a control group that categorized odors without any verbal labeling. Following four days of intensive training, the results showed that the groups with verbal labels numerically outperformed the control group, and that the less familiar the labels sounded the more successful categorization became. However, between-group differences did not reach statistical significance. These findings, while not conclusively supporting our hypotheses, provide insights into the complex relationship between linguistic familiarity and odor category formation. The results are nested within Ad Hoc Cognition, highlighting that variations in linguistic familiarity may not induce robust enough contextual changes to differentially affect how odor categories are formed.
Gender is conceptualized in different ways across cultures
Gender can be considered an embodied social concept encompassing biological and cultural components. In this study, we explored whether the concept of gender varies as a function of different cultural and linguistic norms by comparing communities that vary in their social treatment of gender-related issues and linguistic encoding of gender. In Study 1, Italian, Dutch, and English-speaking participants completed a free-listing task, which showed Italians and Dutch were the most distinct in their conceptualization of gender: Italian participants focused more on socio-cultural features (e.g., discrimination, politics, and power), whereas Dutch participants focused more on the corporeal sphere (e.g., hormones, breasts, and genitals). Study 2 replicated this finding focusing on Italian and Dutch and using a typicality rating task: socio-cultural and abstract features were considered as more typical of gender by Italian than Dutch participants. Study 3 addressed Italian and Dutch participants' explicit beliefs about gender with a questionnaire measuring essentialism and constructivism, and consolidated results from Studies 1 and 2 showing that Dutch participants endorsed more essentialist beliefs about gender than Italian participants. Consistent with socio-cultural constructivist accounts, our results provide evidence that gender is conceptualized differently by diverse groups and is adapted to specific cultural and linguistic environments.
Sensory Modality of Input Influences the Encoding of Motion Events in Speech But Not Co-Speech Gestures
Visual and auditory channels have different affordances and this is mirrored in what information is available for linguistic encoding. The visual channel has high spatial acuity, whereas the auditory channel has better temporal acuity. These differences may lead to different conceptualizations of events and affect multimodal language production. Previous studies of motion events typically present visual input to elicit speech and gesture. The present study compared events presented as audio-only, visual-only, or multimodal (visual+audio) input and assessed speech and co-speech gesture for path and manner of motion in Turkish. Speakers with audio-only input mentioned path more and manner less in verbal descriptions, compared to speakers who had visual input. There was no difference in the type or frequency of gestures across conditions, and gestures were dominated by path-only gestures. This suggests that input modality influences speakers’ encoding of path and manner of motion events in speech, but not in co-speech gestures.
VERBS OF PERCEPTION: A QUANTITATIVE TYPOLOGICAL STUDY
Previous studies have proposed that the lexicalization of perception verbs is constrained by a biologically grounded hierarchy of the senses. Other research traditions emphasize conceptual and communicative factors instead. Drawing on a balanced sample of perception verb lexicons in 100 languages, we found that vision tends to be lexicalized with a dedicated verb, but that nonvisual modalities do not conform to the predictions of the sense-modality hierarchy. We also found strong asymmetries in which sensory meanings colexify. Rather than a universal hierarchy of the senses, we suggest that two domain-general constraints—conceptual similarity and communicative need— interact to shape lexicalization patterns.
Word formation patterns in the perception domain: A typological study of cross-modal semantic associations
The lexicalization of perception verbs has been of widespread interest as a route into understanding the relationship between language and cognition. A recent study finds global biases in colexification patterns, suggesting recurrent conceptual associations between sensory meanings across languages. In this paper, drawing on a balanced sample of 100 languages, we examine cross-modal semantic associations in word formation. Confirming earlier proposals, we find derived verbs are lower on a proposed Sense Modality Hierarchy (sight > hearing > touch > taste, smell) than the source perception verbs on which they are based. We propose these findings can be explained by verb frequency asymmetries and the general tendency for sources of derivations to be more frequent than their targets. Moreover, it appears certain pairings (e.g., hear-smell) are recurrently associated via word formation, but others are typologically rare. Intriguingly, the typological patterning partially diverges from the patterning reported for colexification in the same domain. We suggest that while colexification is driven by conceptual resemblance between sensory meanings, cross-modal word formations tend to arise from grammaticalization processes of lexical specification, where additional material (e.g., a sensory noun) is collocated to a polysemous verb in order to disambiguate it in context. Together, these processes can account for the typological similarities and divergences between the two phenomena. More generally, this study highlights the need to consider conceptual, communicative and diachronic factors together in the mapping between words and meanings.
Driving cognitive change: a guide to behavioural experiments in cognitive therapy for anxiety disorders and PTSD.
Behavioural experiments are experiential exercises used in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to drive cognitive change by testing patients' idiosyncratic, emotionally linked beliefs. In this paper, we provide clinical guidance on how to deliver effective behavioural experiments that maximise cognitive change based on lessons learnt over the last 30 years from our work using Cognitive Therapy to treat Panic Disorder (CT-PD), Social Anxiety Disorder (CT-SAD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CT-PTSD). We describe key steps for setting up and carrying out powerful experiments, including common blocks and barriers patients and therapists come across when using them.
What we mean when we say semantic: Toward a multidisciplinary semantic glossary.
Tulving characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, "concept" has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate semantic theories remain underspecified and/or opaque. Weak construct specificity is among the leading causes of the replication crisis now facing psychology and related fields. Term ambiguity hinders cross-disciplinary communication, falsifiability, and incremental theory-building. Numerous cognitive subdisciplines (e.g., vision, affective neuroscience) have recently addressed these limitations via the development of consensus-based guidelines and definitions. The project to follow represents our effort to produce a multidisciplinary semantic glossary consisting of succinct definitions, background, principled dissenting views, ratings of agreement, and subjective confidence for 17 target constructs (e.g., abstractness, abstraction, concreteness, concept, embodied cognition, event semantics, lexical-semantic, modality, representation, semantic control, semantic feature, simulation, semantic distance, semantic dimension). We discuss potential benefits and pitfalls (e.g., implicit bias, prescriptiveness) of these efforts to specify a common nomenclature that other researchers might index in specifying their own theoretical perspectives (e.g., They said X, but I mean Y).