ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1229-9401
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 27-08-2015
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291714001925
Abstract: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is an important regulator of synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity underlying learning. However, a relationship between circulating BDNF levels and brain activity during learning has not been demonstrated in humans. Reduced brain BDNF levels are found in schizophrenia and functional neuroimaging studies of probabilistic association learning in schizophrenia have demonstrated reduced activity in a neural network that includes the prefrontal and parietal cortices and the caudate nucleus. We predicted that brain activity would correlate positively with peripheral BDNF levels during probabilistic association learning in healthy adults and that this relationship would be altered in schizophrenia. Twenty-five healthy adults and 17 people with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder performed a probabilistic association learning test during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Plasma BDNF levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We found a positive correlation between circulating plasma BDNF levels and brain activity in the parietal cortex in healthy adults. There was no relationship between plasma BDNF levels and task-related activity in the prefrontal, parietal or caudate regions in schizophrenia. A direct comparison of these relationships between groups revealed a significant diagnostic difference. This is the first study to show a relationship between peripheral BDNF levels and cortical activity during learning, suggesting that plasma BDNF levels may reflect learning-related brain activity in healthy humans. The lack of relationship between plasma BDNF and task-related brain activity in patients suggests that circulating blood BDNF may not be indicative of learning-dependent brain activity in schizophrenia.
Publisher: Springer New York
Date: 28-07-2013
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 02-02-2023
Abstract: Climate anxiety, which is prominent among young people in particular, describes a state of heightened distress about the (future) effects of climate change. Despite evidence of a link between engagement in climate change issues and heightened climate anxiety, there is a dearth of knowledge on how this affects emerging professionals preparing for careers in the environmental sector, how they are coping with their thoughts and feelings about climate change, and the extent to which this affects their future plans. The aim of this project was to understand the occurrence and personal management of climate anxiety in UK university students through an online questionnaire. We find that environmental degree students (n = 249) report greater levels of climate anxiety, more frequent employment of all three examined coping strategies and are more likely to factor climate change into their career plans, as compared to their non-environmental degree counterparts (n = 224). Problem-focused coping was the most commonly endorsed strategy, although the prior literature on coping suggests that this may not be sustainable for in idually intractable problems. Highly climate-anxious students were more likely to consider climate change in all five decision-making domains, including family planning, long-term habitation, career, financial and travel decisions. This study has identified a need to communicate effective climate anxiety coping strategies to environmental practitioners, university students and educators. Additional research is required to validate the study findings and investigate what motivates students to incorporate climate change into future plans.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 16-09-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.3847782
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.13335
Abstract: Environmental decisions are often deferred to groups of experts, committees, or panels to develop climate policy, plan protected areas, or negotiate trade-offs for bio ersity conservation. There is, however, surprisingly little empirical research on the performance of group decision making related to the environment. We examined ex les from a range of different disciplines, demonstrating the emergence of collective intelligence (CI) in the elicitation of quantitative estimates, crowdsourcing applications, and small-group problem solving. We explored the extent to which similar tools are used in environmental decision making. This revealed important gaps (e.g., a lack of integration of fundamental research in decision-making practice, absence of systematic evaluation frameworks) that obstruct mainstreaming of CI. By making judicious use of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, CI can be harnessed effectively to improve decision making in conservation and environmental management. To elicit reliable quantitative estimates an understanding of cognitive psychology and to optimize crowdsourcing artificial intelligence tools may need to be incorporated. The business literature offers insights into the importance of soft skills and ersity in team effectiveness. Environmental problems set a challenging and rich testing ground for collective-intelligence tools and frameworks. We argue this creates an opportunity for significant advancement in decision-making research and practice.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-02-2014
DOI: 10.1038/TP.2013.125
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2019
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.12957
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 15-02-2023
Abstract: Replication is an important “credibility control” mechanism for clarifying the reliability of published findings. However, replication is costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions from experts or novices could accelerate credibility assessment and improve allocation of replication resources for important and uncertain findings. We elicited judgments from experts and novices on 100 claims from preprints about an emerging area of research (COVID-19 pandemic) using a new interactive structured elicitation protocol and we conducted 35 new replications. Participants’ average estimates were similar to the observed replication rate of 60%. After interacting with their peers, novices updated both their estimates and confidence in their judgements significantly more than experts and their accuracy improved more between elicitation rounds. Experts’ average accuracy was 0.54 (95% CI: [0.454, 0.628]) after interaction and they correctly classified 55% of claims novices’ average accuracy was 0.55 (95% CI: [0.455, 0.628]), correctly classifying 61% of claims. The difference in accuracy between experts and novices was not significant and their judgments on the full set of claims were strongly correlated (r=.48). These results are consistent with prior investigations eliciting predictions about the replicability of published findings in established areas of research and suggest that expertise may not be required for credibility assessment of some research findings.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-05-2015
DOI: 10.1038/MP.2015.11
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-02-2012
DOI: 10.1038/MP.2012.1
Publisher: Medknow
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.4103/CS.CS_19_163
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-05-2018
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12459
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.BANDC.2008.10.003
Abstract: Priming studies have demonstrated that an object's intrinsic and extrinsic qualities (size, orientation) influence subsequent motor behavior thus suggesting that these object qualities 'afford' actions that are congruent with the prime. We present four experiments that aim to evaluate the relative effect of conceptual and physical object qualities on action priming. In Experiment 1 equally graspable known and unknown tools are presented as primes. In Experiment 2 the primes depict high versus low graspable unfamiliar tools, and in Experiments 3 and 4 we present simple graspable shapes versus high graspable unfamiliar or familiar tools respectively. In all experiments the (unrelated) task consists of a timed motor response to the direction of a centrally placed arrow that is superimposed on the prime. Whereas tool familiarity reveals no significant difference on reaction time (Exp 1), responses to high graspable unfamiliar tools (Exp 2) and simple graspable shapes (Exps 3 and 4) are significantly faster. We conclude that motor affordances are most readily determined by object qualities that depend on the object's physical appearance provided by visual information. Conceptual information about the stimuli, such as semantic category or stored knowledge about its function and associated movements, does not appear to produce detectable effects of action priming in this paradigm.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-08-2009
DOI: 10.1038/NPP.2009.103
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIOPSYCH.2009.11.017
Abstract: Schizophrenia has been conceptualized as a disorder of integration of neural activity across distributed networks. However, the relationship between specific symptom dimensions and patterns of functional connectivity remains unclear. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVH), a particularly prevalent and clinically relevant symptom in schizophrenia, and functional connectivity of the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 27 schizophrenia patients with AVH and 27 matched control subjects. We calculated correlations reflecting functional connectivity between a priori defined regions-of-interest and the bilateral TPJ seed regions, comprising the neural network involved in inner speech processes and AVH. Compared with healthy control subjects, schizophrenia patients showed reduced functional connectivity between left TPJ and the right homotope of Broca. Within the patient group, more severe AVH were associated with reduced neural coupling between left TPJ and bilateral anterior cingulate as well as the bilateral amygdala. In schizophrenia patients with chronic hallucinations, the left TPJ-a critical node in the speech perception/AVH network-shows reduced functional connectivity with brain areas involved in the attribution of agency, self-referent processing, and attentional control.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 23-03-2021
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0249051
Abstract: Groups have access to more erse information and typically outperform in iduals on problem solving tasks. Crowdsolving utilises this principle to generate novel and/or superior solutions to intellective tasks by pooling the inputs from a distributed online crowd. However, it is unclear whether this particular instance of “wisdom of the crowd” can overcome the influence of potent cognitive biases that habitually lead in iduals to commit reasoning errors. We empirically test the prevalence of cognitive bias on a popular crowdsourcing platform, examining susceptibility to bias of online panels at the in idual and aggregate levels. We then investigate the use of the Cognitive Reflection Test, notable for its predictive validity for both susceptibility to cognitive biases in test settings and real-life reasoning, as a screening tool to improve collective performance. We find that systematic biases in crowdsourced answers are not as prevalent as anticipated, but when they occur, biases are lified with increasing group size, as predicted by the Condorcet Jury Theorem. The results further suggest that pre-screening in iduals with the Cognitive Reflection Test can substantially enhance collective judgement and improve crowdsolving performance.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 22-02-2021
Abstract: Replication is a hallmark of scientific research. As replications of in idual studies are resource intensive, techniques for predicting the replicability are required. We introduce a new technique to evaluating replicability, the repliCATS (Collaborative Assessments for Trustworthy Science) process, a structured expert elicitation approach based on the IDEA protocol. The repliCATS process is delivered through an underpinning online platform and applied to the evaluation of research claims in social and behavioural sciences. This process can be deployed for both rapid assessment of small numbers of claims, and assessment of high volumes of claims over an extended period. Pilot data suggests that the accuracy of the repliCATS process meets or exceeds that of other techniques used to predict replicability. An important advantage of the repliCATS process is that it collects qualitative data that has the potential to assist with problems like understanding the limits of generalizability of scientific claims. The repliCATS process has potential applications in alternative peer review and in the allocation of effort for replication studies.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 23-03-2012
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 26-07-2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 13-05-2015
DOI: 10.1093/SCAN/NSV057
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.PNPBP.2017.04.017
Abstract: Efficacy of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) targeting the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) for the treatment of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) remains under debate. We assessed the influence of a 1Hz rTMS treatment on neural networks involved in a cognitive mechanism proposed to subserve AVH. Patients with schizophrenia (N=24) experiencing medication-resistant AVH completed a 10-day 1Hz rTMS treatment. Participants were randomized to active stimulation of the left or bilateral TPJ, or sham stimulation. The effects of rTMS on neural networks were investigated with an inner speech task during fMRI. Changes within and between neural networks were analyzed using Independent Component Analysis. rTMS of the left and bilateral TPJ areas resulted in a weaker network contribution of the left supramarginal gyrus to the bilateral fronto-temporal network. Left-sided rTMS resulted in stronger network contributions of the right superior temporal gyrus to the auditory-sensorimotor network, right inferior gyrus to the left fronto-parietal network, and left middle frontal gyrus to the default mode network. Bilateral rTMS was associated with a predominant inhibitory effect on network contribution. Sham stimulation showed different patterns of change compared to active rTMS. rTMS of the left temporo-parietal region decreased the contribution of the left supramarginal gyrus to the bilateral fronto-temporal network, which may reduce the likelihood of speech intrusions. On the other hand, left rTMS appeared to increase the contribution of functionally connected regions involved in perception, cognitive control and self-referential processing. These findings hint to potential neural mechanisms underlying rTMS for hallucinations but need corroboration in larger s les.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 26-01-2023
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0274429
Abstract: As replications of in idual studies are resource intensive, techniques for predicting the replicability are required. We introduce the repliCATS (Collaborative Assessments for Trustworthy Science) process, a new method for eliciting expert predictions about the replicability of research. This process is a structured expert elicitation approach based on a modified Delphi technique applied to the evaluation of research claims in social and behavioural sciences. The utility of processes to predict replicability is their capacity to test scientific claims without the costs of full replication. Experimental data supports the validity of this process, with a validation study producing a classification accuracy of 84% and an Area Under the Curve of 0.94, meeting or exceeding the accuracy of other techniques used to predict replicability. The repliCATS process provides other benefits. It is highly scalable, able to be deployed for both rapid assessment of small numbers of claims, and assessment of high volumes of claims over an extended period through an online elicitation platform, having been used to assess 3000 research claims over an 18 month period. It is available to be implemented in a range of ways and we describe one such implementation. An important advantage of the repliCATS process is that it collects qualitative data that has the potential to provide insight in understanding the limits of generalizability of scientific claims. The primary limitation of the repliCATS process is its reliance on human-derived predictions with consequent costs in terms of participant fatigue although careful design can minimise these costs. The repliCATS process has potential applications in alternative peer review and in the allocation of effort for replication studies.
Publisher: Springer New York
Date: 16-11-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.BBR.2015.03.020
Abstract: Growing evidence suggests that testosterone may play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia given that testosterone has been linked to cognition and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Here, we determine the extent to which serum testosterone levels are related to neural activity in affective processing circuitry in men with schizophrenia. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal changes as 32 healthy controls and 26 people with schizophrenia performed a facial emotion identification task. Whole brain analyses were performed to determine regions of differential activity between groups during processing of angry versus non-threatening faces. A follow-up ROI analysis using a regression model in a subset of 16 healthy men and 16 men with schizophrenia was used to determine the extent to which serum testosterone levels were related to neural activity. Healthy controls displayed significantly greater activation than people with schizophrenia in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). There was no significant difference in circulating testosterone levels between healthy men and men with schizophrenia. Regression analyses between activation in the IFG and circulating testosterone levels revealed a significant positive correlation in men with schizophrenia (r=.63, p=.01) and no significant relationship in healthy men. This study provides the first evidence that circulating serum testosterone levels are related to IFG activation during emotion face processing in men with schizophrenia but not in healthy men, which suggests that testosterone levels modulate neural processes relevant to facial emotion processing that may interfere with social functioning in men with schizophrenia.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2011.06.021
Abstract: Schizophrenia is associated with heterogeneity in symptoms, cognition and treatment response. Probabilistic association learning, involving a gradual learning of cue-outcome associations, activates a frontal-striatal network in healthy adults. Studies of probabilistic association learning in schizophrenia have shown frontal-striatal dysfunction although considerable heterogeneity in performance has also been reported. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has been shown to improve probabilistic association learning in healthy adults. The aim of the current study was to determine the extent to which anodal tDCS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex would reverse probabilistic association learning deficits in schizophrenia. Prior to tDCS, 20 people with schizophrenia performed an initial baseline assessment without stimulation. Anodal tDCS was administered continuously for 20 min at an intensity of 2.0 mA to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in a single-blind, counterbalanced, sham-controlled, cross-over design while participants performed 150 trials of a probabilistic association learning test. Although anodal tDCS failed to improve probabilistic association learning based on the whole s le performance, greater variance in the active relative to the sham conditions suggested a subset of people may respond to treatment. Further correlation, regression and cluster analyses revealed differential effects of baseline performance on active tDCS and sham treatment and that there was a subset of people with schizophrenia who displayed improvement with tDCS suggesting that anodal tDCS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may facilitate access to existing prefrontal cortex neural reserves in people with schizophrenia who show adequate capacity to learn at baseline.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-04-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S13104-022-06016-0
Abstract: Journal peer review regulates the flow of ideas through an academic discipline and thus has the power to shape what a research community knows, actively investigates, and recommends to policymakers and the wider public. We might assume that editors can identify the ‘best’ experts and rely on them for peer review. But decades of research on both expert decision-making and peer review suggests they cannot. In the absence of a clear criterion for demarcating reliable, insightful, and accurate expert assessors of research quality, the best safeguard against unwanted biases and uneven power distributions is to introduce greater transparency and structure into the process. This paper argues that peer review would therefore benefit from applying a series of evidence-based recommendations from the empirical literature on structured expert elicitation. We highlight in idual and group characteristics that contribute to higher quality judgements, and elements of elicitation protocols that reduce bias, promote constructive discussion, and enable opinions to be objectively and transparently aggregated.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2009.07.013
Abstract: Neuroimaging findings implicate bilateral superior temporal regions in the genesis of auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVH). This study aimed to investigate whether 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the bilateral temporo-parietal region would lead to increased effectiveness in the management of AVH, compared to left rTMS or placebo. 38 patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) and medication-resistant AVH were randomly assigned to 1 Hz rTMS treatment of the left temporo-parietal region, bilateral temporo-parietal regions, or placebo. Stimulation was conducted over 6 days, twice daily for 20 min, at 90% of the motor threshold. Effect measures included the Auditory Hallucination Rating Scale (AHRS), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and a score for hallucination severity obtained from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). All groups showed some improvement on the total AHRS. Hallucination frequency was significantly reduced in the left rTMS group only. The bilateral rTMS group demonstrated the most remarkable reduction in self-reported affective responsiveness to AVH. A modest, but significant decrease on the PANSS hallucination item was observed in the combined rTMS treatment group, whereas no change occurred in the placebo group. The left rTMS group showed a significant reduction on the general psychopathology subscale. Compared to bilateral or sham stimulation, rTMS of the left temporo-parietal region appears most effective in reducing auditory hallucinations, and additionally may have an effect on general psychopathology. Placebo effects should however not be ruled out, since sham stimulation also led to improvement on a number of AVH parameters.
Publisher: CMA Joule Inc.
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1503/JPN.110088
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-11-2018
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 07-01-2019
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-06-2010
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.13629
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 13-12-2007
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291707002437
Abstract: It has recently been suggested that auditory hallucinations are the result of a criterion shift when deciding whether or not a meaningful signal has emerged. The approach proposes that a liberal criterion may result in increased false-positive identifications, without additional perceptual deficit. To test this hypothesis, we devised a speech discrimination task and used signal detection theory (SDT) to investigate the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Schizophrenia patients with and without auditory hallucinations and a healthy control group completed a speech discrimination task. They had to decide whether a particular spoken word was identical to a previously presented speech stimulus, embedded in noise. SDT was used on the accuracy data to calculate a measure of perceptual sensitivity (Az) and a measure of response bias (β). Thresholds for the perception of simple tones were determined. Compared to healthy controls, perceptual thresholds were higher and perceptual sensitivity in the speech task was lower in both patient groups. However, hallucinating patients showed increased sensitivity to speech stimuli compared to non-hallucinating patients. In addition, we found some evidence of a positive response bias in hallucinating patients, indicating a tendency to readily accept that a certain stimulus had been presented. Within the context of schizophrenia, patients with auditory hallucinations show enhanced sensitivity to speech stimuli, combined with a liberal criterion for deciding that a perceived event is an actual stimulus.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2019.112487
Abstract: Most transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) trials of schizophrenia administer few sessions and do not assess transfer effects to other cognitive domains. In a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel groups trial, we determined the extent to which 4-weeks of 2 mA tDCS at 20 min/day totalling 20 tDCS sessions administered during a spatial working memory test, with anodal right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and cathodal left tempo-parietal junction (TPJ) placement, as an adjunct to antipsychotics reduced auditory hallucinations and improved cognition in 12 outpatients with schizophrenia. Anodal tDCS significantly improved language-based working memory after 2 weeks and verbal fluency after 2 and 4 weeks. Thus, four weeks of tDCS appears to be safe and elicits transfer benefits to other prefrontal-dependent cognitive abilities in schizophrenia.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-05-2016
DOI: 10.1038/TP.2016.59
Abstract: Estrogen has been implicated in the development and course of schizophrenia with most evidence suggesting a neuroprotective effect. Treatment with raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, can reduce symptom severity, improve cognition and normalize brain activity during learning in schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia are especially impaired in the identification of negative facial emotions. The present study was designed to determine the extent to which adjunctive raloxifene treatment would alter abnormal neural activity during angry facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia. Twenty people with schizophrenia (12 men, 8 women) participated in a 13-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of adjunctive raloxifene treatment (120 mg per day orally) and performed a facial emotion recognition task during functional magnetic resonance imaging after each treatment phase. Two-s le t -tests in regions of interest selected a priori were performed to assess activation differences between raloxifene and placebo conditions during the recognition of angry faces. Adjunctive raloxifene significantly increased activation in the right hippoc us and left inferior frontal gyrus compared with the placebo condition (family-wise error, P 0.05). There was no significant difference in performance accuracy or reaction time between active and placebo conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence suggesting that adjunctive raloxifene treatment changes neural activity in brain regions associated with facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia. These findings support the hypothesis that estrogen plays a modifying role in schizophrenia and shows that adjunctive raloxifene treatment may reverse abnormal neural activity during facial emotion recognition, which is relevant to impaired social functioning in men and women with schizophrenia.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2013.02.007
Abstract: Sex steroids such as oestrogen and testosterone are potent neurodevelopmental hormones that also play a role in neuromodulation and neuroprotection of the mature brain. Sex steroid hormones may also be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia as reduced circulating sex steroid levels and changes in brain sex steroid receptors are found in people with schizophrenia compared to controls. In men with schizophrenia, recent studies have documented an inverse correlation between serum testosterone and negative symptoms. Our study sought to confirm whether men with schizophrenia had lower levels of testosterone relative to controls and to determine whether lower testosterone levels were related to higher symptom severity and impaired cognition. Circulating serum hormone levels (testosterone, oestrogen, and prolactin), cognitive function and symptoms were assessed in 29 chronically ill men with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Twenty healthy men were recruited as a comparison group. A series of regression analyses were performed to determine the extent to which circulating sex steroid hormone levels predict cognition and symptoms in men with schizophrenia. We did not find a significant difference in serum testosterone levels between groups. However, circulating testosterone levels significantly predicted performance on verbal memory, processing speed, and working memory in men with schizophrenia. With the exception of an effect of oestrogen on verbal memory, circulating sex steroid levels did not predict cognitive function in healthy men. Testosterone levels were not related to positive or negative symptom severity, but testosterone influenced excitement/hostility levels in our schizophrenia s le. The results suggest that circulating sex steroids may modulate cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 25-01-2023
Abstract: In this mixed methods study, which complements an earlier publication (0.1016/S2542-5196(22)00172-3), we delve deeper into the experience of ‘climate distress’ among UK residents aged 16-24 (N=539). We report on data collected from an online survey assessing general mental health, subjective wellbeing, and climate distress using existing psychometric scales. We also included novel questions assessing positive and negative life impacts of climate change, open-ended questions on aspirations and priorities for the future, and engagement in pro-environmental and climate actions. In addition to quantitative results, we analysed free-text responses to two open-ended questions about respondents' hopes for the future, and their experience with climate change and actions in response to it.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2011
DOI: 10.1038/MP.2011.75
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPSYCHIRES.2009.12.011
Abstract: Auditory-verbal hallucinations are a hallmark symptom of schizophrenia. In recent years, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting speech perception areas has been advanced as a potential treatment of medication-resistant hallucinations. However, the underlying neural processes remain unclear. This study aimed to assess whether 1 Hz rTMS treatment would affect functional connectivity of the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Resting state fMRI scans were obtained from 18 patients with schizophrenia. Patients were assessed before and after a 6 day treatment with 1 Hz rTMS to the left TPJ, or placebo treatment with sham rTMS to the same location. We assessed functional connectivity between a priori defined regions-of-interest (ROIs) comprising the putative AVH network and the bilateral TPJ seed regions, targeted with rTMS. Symptom improvement following rTMS treatment was observed in the left rTMS group, whereas no change at occurred in the placebo group. Although no corresponding changes were observed in the functional connections previously found to be associated with AVH severity, an increase in connectivity between the left TPJ and the right insula was observed in group receiving rTMS to the left TPJ. The placebo group conversely showed a decrease in connectivity between the left TPJ and left anterior cingulate. We conclude that application of 1 Hz rTMS to the left TPJ region may affect functional connectivity of the targeted region. However, the relationship between these functional changes during the resting state and the rate of clinical improvement needs further clarification.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 16-12-2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-01-2011
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-09-2022
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12919
Abstract: Conservation science practitioners seek to preempt irreversible impacts on species, ecosystems, and social–ecological systems, requiring efficient and timely action even when data and understanding are unavailable, incomplete, dated, or biased. These challenges are exacerbated by the scientific community's capacity to consistently distinguish between reliable and unreliable evidence, including the recognition of questionable research practices (QRPs, or “questionable practices”), which may threaten the credibility of research, including harming trust in well‐designed and reliable scientific research. In this paper, we propose a “toolkit” for open and pluralistic conservation science, highlighting common questionable practices and sources of bias and indicating where remedies for these problems may be found. The toolkit provides an accessible resource for anyone conducting, reviewing, or using conservation research, to identify sources of false claims or misleading evidence that arise unintentionally, or through misunderstandings or carelessness in the application of scientific methods and analyses. We aim to influence editorial and review practices and hopefully to remedy problems before they are published or deployed in policy or conservation practice.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-10-2013
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 24-05-2023
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 13-08-2019
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 20-10-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-08-2023
Abstract: As climate change continues unabated, research is increasingly focused on capturing and quantifying the lesser-known psychological responses and mental health implications of this humanitarian and environmental crisis. There has been a particular interest in the experiences of young people, who are more vulnerable for a range of reasons, including their developmental stage, the high rates of mental health conditions among this population, and their relative lack of agency to address climate threats. The different geographic and sociocultural settings in which people are coming of age afford certain opportunities and present distinct challenges and exposures to climate hazards. Understanding the ersity of lived experiences is vitally important for informing evidence-based, locally led psychosocial support and social and climate policies. In this Project Report we describe the design and implementation of the “Changing Worlds” study, focusing on our experiences and personal reflections as a transdisciplinary collaboration representing the UK, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, the Philippines, and the USA. The project was conceived within the planetary health paradigm, aimed at characterizing and quantifying the impacts of human-mediated environmental systems changes on youth mental health and wellbeing. With input from local youth representatives, we designed and delivered a series of locally adapted surveys asking young people about their mental health and wellbeing, as well as their thoughts, emotions, and perceived agency in relation to the climate crisis and the global COVID-19 pandemic. This project report outlines the principles that guided the study design and describes the conceptual and practical hurdles we navigated as a distributed and interdisciplinary research collaboration working in different institutional, social, and research governance settings. Finally, we highlight lessons learned, specify our recommendations for other collaborative research projects in this space, and touch upon the next steps for our work. This project explicitly balances context sensitivity and the need for quantitative, globally comparable data on how youth are responding to and coping with environmental change, inspiring a new vision for a global community of practice on mental health in climate change.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-02-2010
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 15-10-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2011.12.003
Abstract: Brain circuits involved in language processing have been suggested to be compromised in patients with schizophrenia. This does not only include regions subserving language production and perception, but also auditory processing and attention. We investigated resting state network connectivity of auditory, language and attention networks of patients with schizophrenia and hypothesized that patients would show reduced connectivity. Patients with schizophrenia (n = 45) and healthy controls (n = 30) underwent a resting state fMRI scan. Independent components analysis was used to identify networks of the auditory cortex, left inferior frontal language regions and the anterior cingulate region, associated with attention. The time courses of the components where correlated with each other, the correlations were transformed by a Fisher's Z transformation, and compared between groups. In patients with schizophrenia, we observed decreased connectivity between the auditory and language networks. Conversely, patients showed increased connectivity between the attention and language network compared to controls. There was no relationship with severity of symptoms such as auditory hallucinations. The decreased connectivity between auditory and language processing areas observed in schizophrenia patients is consistent with earlier research and may underlie language processing difficulties. Altered anterior cingulate connectivity in patients may be a correlate of habitual suppression of unintended speech, or of excessive attention to internally generated speech. This altered connectivity pattern appears to be present independent of symptom severity, and may be suggestive of a trait, rather than a state characteristic.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Ans Vercammen.