Scientific Reports
September 13, 2026
Gabriele Vercelli, Sofia Ciccarone, Anand Rai et al.
Alterations in interoception have been implicated in several neurological and psychiatric conditions, including those involving dissociative tendencies. Thus, investigating the link between interoception and dissociation may shed light on the mechanisms supporting self-consciousness and its disturbances. Here, we investigated whether interoception was associated with trait and experimentally...
Scientific Reports
September 11, 2026
Pedro J. Teixeira, Aaron D. Cherniak, Matthias Forstmann
While some studies suggest that psychedelic use may be linked to positive environmental attitudes and health behaviors, the relationship between these factors remains underexplored. This study investigates the associations between lifetime use of psilocybin and LSD, environmental attitudes, and dietary behaviors using data from two UK birth cohort studies: the 1958 National Child Development...
Scientific Reports
September 5, 2026
Merrisa Lin, Nairán Ramírez‐Esparza, Natalie J. Shook
Despite experiencing more negative life events, older adults often report better emotional well-being than younger adults, a phenomenon known as the well-being paradox. Although socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that age-related shifts toward present-moment goals may contribute to this pattern, the psychological factors underlying these age differences remain unclear. In particular,...
Scientific Reports
August 29, 2026
Alejandro Luis Callara, Mohammad Hadi Azarabad, Laura Sebastiani et al.
Meditation has long been associated with improvements in mental well-being, emotional regulation, and attentional control. However, the diversity of meditative techniques and variability in participant expertise across studies have hindered the systematic identification of their neurophysiological correlates. To address this challenge, we investigated the neurophysiological signatures of...
Scientific Reports
August 26, 2026
Qin Sun, Hongcheng Zhang, Xuan Wang et al.
Response inhibition is a core component of executive function and is closely associated with various mental disorders. Yoga meditation and daytime napping are two different rest strategies believed to improve cognitive function, but their immediate effects on response inhibition and the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. This study compared the immediate effects of a 15‑min yoga...
Scientific Reports
August 26, 2026
Guiqing Zheng, Yandie He, Shuqing Liu et al.
Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a major public health concern that substantially raises the risk of adolescent school bullying. While mindfulness alleviates trauma-related distress by enhancing emotional regulation, its mediating effect on the link between maltreatment and bullying remains poorly understood. This cross-sectional study recruited 27,530 adolescents aged 10–17 years. Multilevel...
Scientific Reports
August 15, 2026
Morio Aki, Naoya Oishi, Sayaka Yoshimura et al.
Increasing multiculturalism and globalization have increased the discrepancies between socially-shared norms and personal values. This study examined whether the association between Cultural Estrangement (CE) and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the default mode network (DMN) is moderated by self-esteem (SE). In total, 170 healthy Japanese adults (20–70 years) were recruited, 70 of...
Scientific Reports
August 13, 2026
Sara Sorella, Alessio Matiz, Cristiano Crescentini
Focused meditation involves a dynamic cycle of four mental states: mind-wandering (MW), awareness of distraction (AWARE), shifting attention back (SHIFT), and sustained attentional focus (FOCUS). Meta-awareness of these processes is trained during mindfulness meditation, possibly improving mental health. This study investigated heart rate (HR) and ocular movements during breath-focused...
Scientific Reports
July 29, 2026
E. V. Mikhaylets, A. М. Razorenova, Е.к. Карелина et al.
Meditation offers a naturalistic paradigm for studying introspection, yet the neural dynamics of advanced tantric practices remain largely unexplored. Buddhist Highest Yoga Tantra (BHYT) comprises a sequence of eight dissolution stages culminating in the “clear light” state. We recorded EEG during eyes-closed BHYT meditation performed in monasteries and hermitages (51 sessions from 36 male...
Scientific Reports
July 22, 2026
Abdulrahman Sumayli, Saad M. Alshahrani, Jawaher Abdullah Alamoudi
Abstract Given the psychoactive effects of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), classified as a Schedule I drug, developing diagnostic methods is essential. In this computational study, we investigate the adsorption and sensing behavior of DMT on pristine C 20 fullerene and its beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), and calcium (Ca) doped derivatives using density functional theory (DFT), time-dependent DFT...
Scientific Reports
July 19, 2026
Ayato Imai, Masayuki Hara, Noriaki Kanayama
Embodiment of external objects has been widely studied to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of human body perception, whereas disembodiment has received only limited attention despite its importance. To address this gap, we designed a sensorimotor feedback paradigm using virtual reality to induce bodily disappearance, referred to here as the sense of body loss. Participants wearing a...
Scientific Reports
July 15, 2026
Shunta Maeda, Ren Fujisawa, Takumi Uchiyama et al.
This study investigated the efficacy of a two-week online audio-guided loving-kindness meditation (LKM) program compared with mindfulness meditation (MF) and an active control (AC) group in a healthy university population. The study consisted of an overarching trial (N = 130), with a nested laboratory stress testing (N = 50). The full-sample subjective outcomes involved psychological distress,...
Scientific Reports
July 15, 2026
Mohammad Asif Sheikh, Thaddeus Alfonso
Abstract This randomized controlled trial examined whether mindfulness-based exposure and response prevention (MB-EX/RP) improves outcomes for adults with comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and major depressive disorder (M, addressing cognitive rigidity and emotion dysregulation that can limit standard exposure and response prevention. Fifty-four participants were assigned to MB-EX/RP...
Scientific Reports
July 11, 2026
Monnica T. Williams, Sonya C. Faber, Jordan Sloshower et al.
This preliminary study explored the effects of MDMA-assisted therapy on trauma symptoms related to discrimination, as measured by the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS). A total of five diverse participants, who experienced multiple types of discrimination (e.g., gender, racial/ethnic, social class, age, sexual orientation), were assessed before and after treatment. A paired-samples...
Scientific Reports
July 10, 2026
Pandit Rupesh, Sony Kumari, Parul Dubey et al.
Creativity is a cornerstone of adaptive problem-solving and innovation, yet its neural basis remains insufficiently understood in real-world entrepreneurial contexts. This randomized controlled study investigated the influence of Guided Moving Meditation (GMM) on creative cognition and neural coordination in adult agri-entrepreneurs. Fifty-four right-handed male agri-entrepreneurs (25-45 years)...
Scientific Reports
July 5, 2026
Mahgol Nasr-Esfahani, Fatemeh Ghaedi-Heidari
Abstract Mindfulness, a psychological capacity, is often diminished in patients with breast cancer. This decline can negatively impact mental and physical health, behavioral regulation, and interpersonal relationships. Consequently, interventions to enhance mindfulness are crucial. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of logotherapy on mindfulness levels in patients with mastectomized breast...
Scientific Reports
June 24, 2026
Hanjui Chang, J Y Li, Daewon Kang et al.
The association between near-death experiences (NDEs) and physiological indicators remains an unsolved mystery, which hinders in-depth understanding of the essence of consciousness and life processes. Traditional single-indicator analysis methods have limitations, and a comprehensive multi-modal research approach is urgently needed to advance relevant explorations in the fields of medicine,...
Scientific Reports
June 14, 2026
Bar Eilat Yogev, Gal Levi, Noa Efroni et al.
Alcohol consumption before trauma is a prevalent but understudied risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study investigated whether acute ethanol exposure prior to trauma modulates PTSD-like symptom development in rats, identified hippocampal mechanisms involved, and tested an early post-trauma intervention. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received ethanol (1.6 g/kg, 40% v/v,...
Scientific Reports
June 12, 2026
Derek H. Arnold, Loren N Bouyer, Merlin Monzel
Aphantasia was initially characterised as a pictorial imaginative deficit, but many people with Aphantasia also report having imaginative inabilities for other sensory modalities, such as for imagined sensations of audition, taste, smell, touch, and of body movements. Moreover, patterns of imaginative inability across different types of imagined experience are individually specific to different...
Scientific Reports
June 5, 2026
Amaury C Mengin, Julie Rolling, Walid Oulehri et al.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) hospitalizations confront individuals with imminent death and may cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In contrast, traumatic events may lead to positive psychological outcomes such as post-traumatic growth. As consciousness is altered, near-death experiences (NDEs) may occur and be associated with post-traumatic growth. Our cross-sectional, monocentric study...
Scientific Reports
May 21, 2026
Amy Z Wang, Carissa W Tomas, Sarah Stevens et al.
Research has identified functional connectivity abnormalities in the default mode network (DMN), a functional brain network theorized to be involved in self-referential processes, among trauma survivors. Event centrality (EC) is an important cognitive component of posttrauma stress disorder (PTSD) development that heavily involves self-referential processing and autobiographical memory....
Scientific Reports
May 20, 2026
Guan-Jie She, Wei-Chi Li, Chun-Hsiang Chou et al.
Emerging evidence shows that ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, can produce rapid anti-suicidal effects in treatment-resistant depression, yet its underlying neuropharmacological mechanisms remain elusive. The present study aimed at investigating the therapeutic effect of ketamine infusion on suicidal ideation by examining hemodynamic response changes in resting-state...
Scientific Reports
May 19, 2026
Karin Matko, Cate Bailey, Julieta Galante et al.
Abstract Contemplative practices (including meditation and yoga) are increasingly popular worldwide, especially as alternatives and/or complements to mental health treatment. However, nationally representative samples that allow for accurate estimates of prevalence and relation to mental health are scarce. We conducted a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey in Australia and New...
Scientific Reports
May 18, 2026
Estelle T. Higgins, William W. Busse, Danika R. Klaus et al.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can improve symptoms of chronic inflammation; in asthma, improving asthma control and reducing airway inflammation. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying these salubrious outcomes could help identify neuroimmune phenotypes and personalize interventions. Adults with asthma were randomized to 8 weeks of MBSR (n = 38) or a wait-list group (n =...
Scientific Reports
May 11, 2026
Salman Khan, Minseo Baek, Jeong-Hoon Jang et al.
Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists constitute a prominent class of new psychoactive substances (NPS), in which minor structural modifications can markedly influence in vivo pharmacological outcomes. In this study, methoxy-substituted derivatives of JWH-018 were synthesized to examine the effect of substitution position on behavioral activity. JWH-018–5-OMe and JWH-018–6-OMe were evaluated...