Brain and Behavior
May 1, 2026
Alessandro Bombaci, Alessandra Giordano, Ilaria Lavalle et al.
People with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) have dreams that differ from those of healthy individuals, with notable differences between men and women. In a study of 68 ALS patients who recorded 127 dreams, men reported fewer friends, anatomical elements, aggression, friendship, and sexuality in their dreams, but more family members, familiar settings, and situations where they initiated aggression. Women reported fewer friends, aggressive and friendly elements, sex-related content, and misfortune, but more animal content. These dream patterns may reflect how patients internalize their condition and could help clinicians better support them.
Brain and Behavior
February 1, 2026
Burçin Ün, Zeki Akarsakarya, Özlem Yorulmaz Özü et al.
THC induces anxiety-like behavior in mice, and this effect involves an interaction between the brain's adenosinergic and cannabinoidergic systems. Gene expression patterns showed that THC's effects were partially modulated by changes in the expression of both CB1R and A2A receptors. The data suggest that THC plays a predominant role in this molecular interplay, highlighting the importance of receptor cross talk in modulating anxiety.
Brain and Behavior
January 1, 2026
Filipa Alves Da Silva, Rita Avelar, Bernardo Peixoto et al.
A pilot study tested ketamine infusions combined with psychotherapy in nine patients with treatment-resistant depression at a Portuguese general hospital. After eight weeks, all participants showed reduced depression severity, with median PHQ-9 scores dropping from severe to moderate. 44% of participants had a response to treatment, defined as at least a 50% reduction in score. Among those with suicidal ideation, slightly over half experienced remission of these thoughts. In follow-up, only 29% of outpatients had mood deterioration within three months. The findings suggest that combining ketamine with psychotherapy may improve depressive symptoms even in severe, treatment-resistant cases.
Brain and Behavior
June 1, 2025
Chenyi Wan, Menghua Li, Yanyan Yu et al.
Cytotoxic lesions of the corpus callosum (CLOCCs) are a rare brain condition that can occur with COVID-19. Among eight patients with confirmed COVID-19 who had brain MRIs, most had fever before neurological symptoms appeared. Neurological findings included altered consciousness, headache, cognitive and behavioral disturbances, ataxia, dysarthria, pyramidal signs, and visual impairments. Blood markers of inflammation and cell damage changed with disease progression. One patient had elevated cerebrospinal fluid protein. Treatment with glucocorticoids and antivirals led to complete recovery, and follow-up MRIs in seven patients showed radiological improvement within days to weeks. The condition has a favorable prognosis and distinct MRI features, emphasizing the need to consider CLOCCs in COVID-19 patients.
Brain and Behavior
June 1, 2025
Alessandro Agostini, Sara Ventura, Silvia Tempia Valenta et al.
Crohn's disease (CD) is linked to psychological disorders and insecure attachment styles, but the brain mechanisms underlying attachment in CD are not well understood. In an fMRI study of 19 CD patients and 18 healthy controls, attachment style questionnaire scores were similar between groups. However, resting-state brain scans revealed opposite patterns in the default mode network (DMN): in healthy controls, higher attachment insecurity scores correlated with reduced DMN connectivity, while in CD patients they correlated with increased DMN connectivity, particularly in the superior frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate, and orbitofrontal regions. These DMN changes may reflect altered self-monitoring and relational processing, potentially contributing to psychological stress and reduced mentalization in CD. The findings suggest attachment dimensions should be considered in inflammatory bowel disease treatment and encourage mentalization-based psychotherapeutic approaches.
Brain and Behavior
November 1, 2024
Jules S Mitchell, Toomas E Anijärv, Adem T. Can et al.
Subanesthetic doses of ketamine show promise for treating suicidality, but predictive biomarkers are lacking. This study examined EEG-derived complexity measures—Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) and multiscale entropy (MSE)—in 31 participants receiving six weekly oral doses of racemic ketamine (0.5-3 mg/kg). Responders, defined by a ≥50% reduction in Beck Suicide Scale score or a score ≤6, showed elevated baseline eyes-open complexity compared to nonresponders, which decreased from baseline to post-treatment. Elevated baseline eyes-open LZC in responders was localized to the left frontal lobe. EEG complexity metrics may serve as sensitive biomarkers for predicting and evaluating oral ketamine treatment response.
Brain and Behavior
April 1, 2026
Livio Tarchi, Lorenzo Lasagni, Leonardo Ubaldi et al.
Integrated information decomposition of resting-state fMRI data from 72 people with schizophrenia and 74 healthy controls revealed that redundancy in brain connectivity was positively correlated with IQ across both groups. Within patients, information metrics were positively correlated with stereotyped thinking, preoccupation, and positive symptoms. Diagnostic accuracy reached 84.93% balanced accuracy (area under the curve = 92.30%) using redundancy. These preliminary findings suggest that information metrics may offer clinically relevant, interpretable biomarkers for schizophrenia.
Brain and Behavior
September 1, 2025
Maliheh Fallah, Hamidreza Mohajerani, Abdullah Omidi et al.
Body awareness psychotherapy (BAP) reduces internet addiction, boredom, and decision-making deficits while improving time perception and executive functions in university students diagnosed with internet addiction disorder. Improvements in cognitive flexibility, impulse control, response inhibition, and emotion regulation mediated the reduction in internet addiction. A randomized controlled trial with 60 students aged 18-30 found BAP significantly outperformed general psychological discussions over 8 weeks.
Brain and Behavior
May 24, 2023
Hannah Ellerbroek, I. Hanssen, Karen Lathouwers et al.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) appears feasible for patients with both chronic noncancer pain and opioid use disorder (OUD), though data are limited. This qualitative study explored the process of change during MBCT in this specific population. Participants reported that the intervention helped them relate differently to pain and cravings, suggesting MBCT may be a promising treatment for this dual-diagnosis group.
Brain and Behavior
December 1, 2021
Jiwei Jiang, Xiuli Shang, Xiaoting Wang et al.
Recreational nitrous oxide (N2O) abuse can cause neurological damage in young people, often overlooked clinically. In 63 patients (average age 22.6 years), the main symptoms were sensory disturbance, followed by gait problems and pyramidal tract damage. Lower initial vitamin B12 levels correlated with more severe clinical impairment, though this link weakened after adjusting for other factors. Spinal MRI abnormalities were not tied to clinical severity but were independently associated with less than six months between first N2O use and hospitalization. Anxiety and depression affected 60% and 63% of patients, respectively, and their severity increased with higher clinical scores and serum homocysteine levels.
Brain and Behavior
August 1, 2021
Noriki Yamaya, Kenji Tsuchiya, Ibuki Takizawa et al.
A single 15-minute session of focused attention meditation (FAM) increased working memory capacity (WMC) in meditation novices, while a control condition of mind-wandering decreased it. The FAM group showed activation of the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during the intervention, and across all participants the increase in WMC correlated with DLPFC activation. The findings suggest that top-down attention control during FAM can activate the bilateral DLPFC and improve WMC.
Brain and Behavior
December 18, 2020
Zainab Sandhu, Onur Tanglay, I. Young et al.
The default mode network (DMN) mediates passive states of mind, with multiple cortical areas—including the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and lateral parietal lobe—implicated in this processing, though prior knowledge of network connectivity lacked tractographic specificity.
Brain and Behavior
April 23, 2020
Masoomeh Zarenejad, Mansooreh Yazdkhasti, Mitra Rahimzadeh et al.
A randomized controlled trial assigned 70 pregnant women to either a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) group or a control group receiving routine care. The intervention group attended six MBSR sessions. Anxiety scores decreased significantly over time in the intervention group compared with the control group. However, self-efficacy in coping with childbirth did not differ significantly between the two groups. The authors conclude that mindfulness training can reduce anxiety during pregnancy and recommend that healthcare providers and pregnant women learn such programs.
Brain and Behavior
April 1, 2018
Anna-Lena Lumma, Sofie L. Valk, Anne Böckler et al.
Training that improves perspective-taking can change how people describe themselves emotionally, and those changes are linked to structural brain changes. In a large longitudinal study, participants who increased their use of emotional words in self-descriptions after socio-cognitive training showed thickening in the right medial prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, regions involved in self-referential thinking and cognitive control. Increased use of negative emotional words was associated with thickening in the left pars orbitalis and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that restructuring the emotional self-concept, including reappraisal of negative aspects, relates to cortical plasticity, which could inform psychological interventions targeting the self-concept.
Brain and Behavior
July 1, 2015
Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Meytal Wilf, Roni Kahana et al.
Repeating a single word silently for a short period reduces brain activity broadly, especially in the default mode network, which is linked to self-related thoughts. This reduction occurred without the usual compensatory increase in other brain networks. A behavioral test confirmed that participants experienced fewer spontaneous thoughts during the repetition task compared to rest. The findings suggest that simple repetitive speech can trigger a global inhibitory effect in the brain, which may explain the calming effects reported in mantra meditation practices.