Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria
September 29, 2025
Xiaotong Wang, Tao Huang, H. Lei et al.
Objective: To investigate, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques, the immediate and sustained effects of acupuncture on functional connectivity (FC) within the default mode network (DMN) and external FC. Methods: Thirty healthy participants received acupuncture needle stimulation at Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (GV29) and underwent resting-state fMRI scans in three phases:...
Universität Zürich, ZORA
September 29, 2025
Klemens Egger, Daniel Meling, Firuze Polat et al.
Both meditation and psychedelics are widely studied for their therapeutic potential in mental health. Recent research suggests potential synergies between mindfulness practice and psychedelics, though empirical studies have primarily focused on psilocybin. This study investigates the distinct and combined effects of mindfulness practice and an ayahuasca-inspired formulation containing...
arXiv (Cornell University)
September 23, 2025
Victor Oswald, Karim Jerbi, Corine Sombrun et al.
preprint
Non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOC) provide an opportunity to experience highly intense, unique, and perceptually rich subjective states. The neural mechanisms supporting these experiences remain poorly understood. This study examined brain activity associated with a self-induced, substance-free NOC known as Auto-Induced Cognitive Trance (AICT). Twenty-seven trained participants...
bioRxiv
September 19, 2025
Hengda He, B. G. Yazdi, Amir Sedaghat et al.
preprint
While the hemodynamic response function (HRF) of the positive blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) signal is well characterized in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) field, studies investigating the shape and properties of the negative BOLD HRF, often observed in the default mode network (DMN) regions, are rare. In this study, we first investigated the linearity of the...
Neurobiology of Stress
September 12, 2025
Zi-Ni Chen, Chanyu Wang, T. Toulopoulou et al.
The psychological benefits of exposure to natural environments are well established. However, whether simply viewing nature images produce similar restorative effects and the brain mechanisms involved remain unclear. For study purposes, we recruited 131 healthy university students and randomly assigned them to a nature image viewing group (NG) or a city image viewing group (CG), with 49...
European Journal of Cancer
September 12, 2025
Zhuo-Nan Wang, Gui-Hua Tian, Jie-Rui Ding et al.
OBJECTIVE To use functional MRI to assess the effect of acupuncture on brain resting-state functional connectivity in breast cancer patients with hot flashes. METHODS A total of 24 breast cancer patients experiencing hot flashes (BC-HF) underwent 5 weeks of acupuncture treatment and follow-up at 4-6 months after therapy. The control groups included 35 patients with breast cancer without hot...
Sensors
September 12, 2025
Kei Suzuki, Midori Sugaya
Alexithymia is regarded as one of the risk factors for several prevalent mental disorders, and there is a growing need for convenient and objective methods to assess alexithymia. Therefore, this study proposes a method for constructing models to assess alexithymia using machine learning and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The explanatory variables for the models were functional connectivity...
Developmental Psychobiology
September 1, 2025
O. Allison, Caroline M. Kelsey, Tobias Grossmann
Abstract The current study used functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate whether and how individual differences in positive social engagement among 5‐month‐old (N = 109; N = 35 final sample) infants relate to variability in functional connectivity in the human brain's Default‐Mode Network (DMN). Neuroimaging results showed that on average infants displayed greater functional...
Cerebral Cortex
September 1, 2025
Alexander Skowron, Julian Q. Kosciessa, Robert Lorenz et al.
Abstract To make optimal decisions, intelligent agents must learn latent environmental states from discrete observations. Bayesian frameworks argue that integration of evidence over time allows us to refine our state belief by reducing uncertainty about alternate possibilities. How is this increasing belief precision during learning reflected in the brain? We propose that temporal neural...
Hawai'i journal of health & social welfare
September 1, 2025
Ira D Zunin, Alexander J Ring, Audrey M Sakamoto et al.
Hatha yoga, Qigong, Tai Chi, all ancient practices of the mind, continue to be studied and recognized for their mental and spiritual benefits. However, Tummo meditation and Niguma yoga, ancient practices with origins in the 8th and 11th centuries from the Himalayan Vajrayana tradition, remain obscure and have yet to be disseminated and studied. Previously only practiced by Vajrayana monks...
bioRxiv
August 24, 2025
Yinan Xu, C. Prat, Florian Sense et al.
preprint
Despite the importance of memories in everyday life and the progress made in understanding how they are encoded and retrieved, the neural processes by which declarative memories are maintained or forgotten remain elusive. Part of the problem is that it is empirically difficult to measure the rate at which memories fade, even between repeated presentations of the source of the memory. Without...
Imaging Neuroscience
August 14, 2025
Radek Ptak, Naz Doganci, Emilie Marti et al.
Abstract Mental transformations, such as mental rotation, rely on motor representations and engage neural processes similarly to physical actions. Neuroimaging studies reveal that mental rotation activates the occipito-parietal cortex and motor-related areas, with differences based on whether stimuli are bodily or non-bodily. These findings emphasize the role of frontoparietal networks in...
Galen Medical Journal
August 5, 2025
Shingo Ueda
Recent advances in neuroscience have revealed a significant interplay between the neuropeptide oxytocin and the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN), suggesting a pivotal role in modulating attachment and self-referential processing. This review synthesizes current findings from neuroimaging, behavioral studies, and clinical research to explore the “oxytocin-DMN axis” and its impact on social...
Scientific Reports
August 4, 2025
Sandrine Cremona, Achille Gillig, Emmanuel Mellet et al.
Cognitive functions emerge from the dynamic interplay of distributed, large-scale brain networks. Functional connectivity (FC) reflects stable brain organization and general cognitive abilities, while also capturing individual variations in transient cognitive states. Analyzing data from 1,717 participants, we show that rich and diverse spontaneous thought profiles align with distinct patterns...
Journal of Ginseng Research
August 1, 2025
Youngeun Shim, Young-Seob Lee, Yejin Kim et al.
Background Recent research has increasingly focused on the potential role of white ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer, PGC) in alleviating psychological conditions. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PGC in reducing stress and tension over a 12-week period, employing a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial design. Methods A total of 86 participants reporting...
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
August 1, 2025
Tal Ohad, Yohay Zvi, Y. Yeshurun
The default mode network (DMN) has been linked to self-reflection and theory of mind, suggesting that it facilitates understanding others by reflecting on ourselves. This raises the question of whether shared (synchronized) DMN responses are associated with mutual understanding. The current paper reviews studies on DMN synchronization during shared understanding of external events, regarding...
PLoS Biology
August 1, 2025
A. Rezaei, Corson N. Areshenkoff, Daniel J. Gale et al.
An often-desired feature of motor learning is that it generalizes to untrained scenarios. Yet, how this is supported by brain activity remains poorly understood. Here we show, using human functional MRI and a sensorimotor adaptation task involving the transfer of learning from the trained to untrained hand, that the transfer phase of adaptation re-instantiates a highly similar large-scale...
JMIR Formative Research
July 17, 2025
Satish Jaiswal, Jason Nan, Seth Dizon et al.
5 citations
Depression in children is a concerning societal issue and can be associated with poor academic performance, school dropout, and poor overall quality of life. Additionally, child depression is often associated with parallel stress and depression in parents. This scenario highlights the urgent need for the development and implementation of accessible and scalable solutions that may cobenefit...
EJNMMI Research
July 11, 2025
Chun-Qing Zhou, Xueying Wang, Mei-Chao Men et al.
This study delineates brain metabolic signatures underlying neuroendocrine-psychosocial interactions in Kallmann syndrome (KS), a rare genetic disorder characterized by congenital hypogonadism and anosmia. In this prospective case-control study, 30 KS patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent brain [18F]FDG PET scans, sex hormone assays, and standardized neuropsychological...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
July 1, 2025
Mami Shibata, Kosuke Tsurumi, Kei Kobayashi et al.
IntroductionAlthough a number of neuroimaging studies on problematic internet use (PIU) have been conducted, few studies on non-problematic internet use (non-PIU) are available; therefore, the influences of non-PIU on brain function are unclear. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) could be an appropriate tool to investigate subclinical samples, such as non-PIU, to capture the...