#brain-imaging — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #brain-imaging, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: July 3, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain imaging reveals what makes professional visual artists unique
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-imaging-reveals-what-makes-professional-visual-artists-unique/
Professional visual artists have distinctive patterns of brain structure and activity that appear to support the vivid mental imagery needed for creating art, according to a study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Most people can draw, paint, or sketch to some extent, but only a small number develop the expertise needed to become professional artists. Scientists have long been interested in creativity, yet relatively little is known about how years of artistic training affect the brain. Previous studies have identified brain networks involved in generating and refining ideas, but most research has focused on creativity in the general population rather than professional artists.
To address this gap, researchers wanted to investigate whether professional visual artists possess unique brain characteristics that distinguish them from people without artistic training. Rather than examining a single brain measure, they combined several types of brain imaging to build a more complete picture of the artist’s brain.
Led by Erdem Taskiran from the University of Trento in Italy, the research team studied 24 adults, including 12 professional visual artists and 12 matched non-artists. The sample consisted of 14 men and 10 women, with artists averaging about 31 years of age and controls averaging about 30 years.
Participants completed three different magnetic resonance imaging brain scans that measured brain structure, communication pathways, and resting brain activity. They also completed a questionnaire measuring how vividly they could imagine visual scenes in their minds. The researchers then used a machine learning method to identify patterns shared across the different brain scans.
The analysis revealed one combined brain pattern that clearly distinguished artists from non-artists. Compared with the control group, artists had greater amounts of gray matter volume in several brain regions involved in planning, visual processing, and memory. They also showed stronger white matter connections to areas responsible for visual processing, executive control, and fine motor skills, as well as greater synchronization in the cerebellum and basal ganglia. These are brain regions that help coordinate movement, learning, and habit formation.
Importantly, participants who showed this brain pattern also reported more vivid mental imagery, suggesting these brain differences may support the ability to mentally visualize artistic ideas before putting them onto paper or canvas.
As the authors summarized, “Our findings advance understanding of artistic creativity by showing that professional expertise extends beyond traditional creativity networks to encompass cerebellar, sensorimotor, and subcortical systems.”
The researchers caution that the study has several important limitations. For instance, the small sample size requires that the findings be replicated in larger groups. The study also compared artists and non-artists at a single point in time, and thus cannot determine whether years of artistic training resulted in these brain differences or whether people with naturally different brains are more likely to become artists.
The study, “The Artists’ Brain: A Data Fusion Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Professional Visual Artists,” was authored by Erdem Taskiran, Francesca Bacci, David Melcher, Alessandro Grecucci, and Nicola De Pisapia.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-imaging-reveals-what-makes-professional-visual-artists-unique/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainImaging #ProfessionalArtists #NeuralBasesOfCreativity #ArtisticImagery #GrayMatter #WhiteMatter #CerebellumBasalGanglia #VisualProcessing #SensorimotorCreativity #Neuroaesthetics
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DATE: July 3, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain imaging reveals what makes professional visual artists unique
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-imaging-reveals-what-makes-professional-visual-artists-unique/
Professional visual artists have distinctive patterns of brain structure and activity that appear to support the vivid mental imagery needed for creating art, according to a study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Most people can draw, paint, or sketch to some extent, but only a small number develop the expertise needed to become professional artists. Scientists have long been interested in creativity, yet relatively little is known about how years of artistic training affect the brain. Previous studies have identified brain networks involved in generating and refining ideas, but most research has focused on creativity in the general population rather than professional artists.
To address this gap, researchers wanted to investigate whether professional visual artists possess unique brain characteristics that distinguish them from people without artistic training. Rather than examining a single brain measure, they combined several types of brain imaging to build a more complete picture of the artist’s brain.
Led by Erdem Taskiran from the University of Trento in Italy, the research team studied 24 adults, including 12 professional visual artists and 12 matched non-artists. The sample consisted of 14 men and 10 women, with artists averaging about 31 years of age and controls averaging about 30 years.
Participants completed three different magnetic resonance imaging brain scans that measured brain structure, communication pathways, and resting brain activity. They also completed a questionnaire measuring how vividly they could imagine visual scenes in their minds. The researchers then used a machine learning method to identify patterns shared across the different brain scans.
The analysis revealed one combined brain pattern that clearly distinguished artists from non-artists. Compared with the control group, artists had greater amounts of gray matter volume in several brain regions involved in planning, visual processing, and memory. They also showed stronger white matter connections to areas responsible for visual processing, executive control, and fine motor skills, as well as greater synchronization in the cerebellum and basal ganglia. These are brain regions that help coordinate movement, learning, and habit formation.
Importantly, participants who showed this brain pattern also reported more vivid mental imagery, suggesting these brain differences may support the ability to mentally visualize artistic ideas before putting them onto paper or canvas.
As the authors summarized, “Our findings advance understanding of artistic creativity by showing that professional expertise extends beyond traditional creativity networks to encompass cerebellar, sensorimotor, and subcortical systems.”
The researchers caution that the study has several important limitations. For instance, the small sample size requires that the findings be replicated in larger groups. The study also compared artists and non-artists at a single point in time, and thus cannot determine whether years of artistic training resulted in these brain differences or whether people with naturally different brains are more likely to become artists.
The study, “The Artists’ Brain: A Data Fusion Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Professional Visual Artists,” was authored by Erdem Taskiran, Francesca Bacci, David Melcher, Alessandro Grecucci, and Nicola De Pisapia.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-imaging-reveals-what-makes-professional-visual-artists-unique/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainImaging #ProfessionalArtists #NeuralBasesOfCreativity #ArtisticImagery #GrayMatter #WhiteMatter #CerebellumBasalGanglia #VisualProcessing #SensorimotorCreativity #Neuroaesthetics
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DATE: June 29, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cold-blooded planning of a murder is linked to reduced amygdala volume
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cold-blooded-planning-of-a-murder-is-linked-to-reduced-amygdala-volume/
A recent brain imaging study provides evidence that individuals accused of murder tend to have smaller volumes in specific brain regions related to emotion and decision-making. The research suggests that these physical brain differences are closely tied to psychopathic personality traits, particularly in people who methodically plan out their crimes. These findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.
The human brain has specialized areas that help regulate emotions and guide social behavior. The amygdala is a small structure located deep in the brain that plays a major role in processing emotions. It helps people recognize fear, learn from negative experiences, and make moral decisions. A poorly functioning amygdala might prevent someone from feeling normal emotional responses during social interactions.
Another important area is the orbitofrontal cortex, located in the front of the brain just above the eyes. This region is involved in weighing risks and rewards. It helps people control their impulses and understand the negative consequences of their actions. Past criminal psychology literature links these brain areas to aggressive and antisocial behaviors.
Adrian Raine, a professor of criminology, psychiatry, and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to explore these structures in an unstudied group. Raine, who is also the author of the book The Anatomy of Violence, helped conduct the research to fill a gap in the scientific literature. “We had previously published the first-ever functional brain imaging study on murderers back in 1994, but since then there has been only one other small-scale imaging study on pre-trial murderers, and none that investigated structural imaging,” Raine said.
The collaboration for the project began rather organically during a trip abroad. “The study came about unexpectedly,” Raine noted. “I happened to have dinner with Chenbo Han when I was visiting Nanjing and we exchanged interests.”
Han evaluated all forensic cases in the Jiangsu Province, which made it possible to recruit subjects. “Chenbo was the lead forensic psychiatrist in Nanjing and we realized we had a lot of interests in common,” Raine said. “Sometimes research studies are planned, but other times they take place a bit by chance.”
Most prior brain imaging studies looked at people who had already been convicted and who had spent years in prison. Spending time in a restrictive and stressful prison environment can actually alter brain structure over time. To avoid this complicating factor, the authors focused on suspects who were awaiting trial.
The timing of the brain scans was another important factor. For post-trial prisoners, there is usually a delay of several years between the time of the homicide and the brain scan. These extra years can add significant errors to the imaging data. In this pre-trial sample, the delay was relatively short, typically just a few months, which provides a more accurate snapshot of the brain.
These scientific findings are increasingly relevant to the emerging field of neurolaw. Neurolaw examines how brain science intersects with the legal system. Brain imaging is sometimes introduced during the sentencing phase of death penalty cases to argue for reduced punishments.
Raine highlighted the real-world impact of this type of biological data. “Murderers have a different brain structure to the rest of us their brains are physically different in a way that predisposes them to violence,” Raine said. “These findings have potential forensic implications in the court room.”
Medical evidence of this nature creates a complex legal dilemma for judges and juries. “If murderers have brain impairments that predispose them to violence, are they truly responsible for their actions?” Raine asked. “On the one hand that might lead us to be more lenient in sentencing.”
However, acknowledging these deep-seated physical traits could also work against the defendant. “But on the other hand, if we cannot treat their brain impairments, should this lead us to longer sentences to protect society?” Raine explained. Establishing a reliable scientific baseline for brain function in offenders helps the legal system evaluate these medical claims objectively.
The study included 87 participants from the Jiangsu Province of China. The sample consisted of 37 people accused of murder who were undergoing forensic psychiatric evaluation while waiting for their trials. The control group included 50 non-violent individuals from the exact same community who had no history of criminal offending. All participants were of Han ethnicity, and both male and female subjects were included in the research.
All participants underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. This type of MRI scanner creates highly detailed, static pictures of the brain’s anatomy. A computer program was used to measure the exact size of the lateral and medial sections of the orbitofrontal cortex. Two trained technicians manually traced the boundaries of the right and left amygdala to calculate their total volume.
Forensic psychiatrists evaluated the participants to measure their personality traits. They used the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, which is a standard interview assessment designed to measure psychopathy. Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by a lack of empathy, shallow emotions, impulsivity, and a failure to feel guilt.
For the murder suspects, the psychiatrists also reviewed police files and family reports to rate the degree of planning involved in the crimes. The rating scale ranged from one for a completely impulsive act to four for a completely planned homicidal act. To make sure their results were accurate, the scientists controlled for several outside variables. These variables included age, gender, head injuries, substance use, broken homes, cognitive functioning, and overall skull size.
The researchers found measurable brain differences between the two groups. The murder suspects had a smaller lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which is the outer section of this frontal brain area. They showed a 4.9 percent volume reduction in this region compared to the non-violent control group. The medial orbitofrontal cortex, which is closer to the center of the brain, did not show any size differences.
The scientists did not anticipate this specific anatomical difference in the outer frontal cortex. “We had not expected to see volume reductions in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, but we were intrigued to find two studies showing that when healthy individuals accidentally kill an innocent victim in a video game, they show increased activation in this very same brain region,” Raine said. This area seems to process the emotional weight of causing harm.
A physical reduction in this specific section might limit a person’s ability to feel remorse for harming innocent people. “Furthermore, those who feel most guilty about their wrongful killing showed the greatest activation,” Raine continued. “So it seems that when this brain region is structurally impaired, it might make people feel less guilty about wrongfully killing someone, and this may take the brake off killing someone.”
The murder suspects also displayed smaller overall amygdala volumes. Their amygdalas were 5.9 percent smaller than those of the control group. This size variation was especially prominent in the left hemisphere of the brain. The scientists used advanced surface mapping to look closer at the exterior structure of the left amygdala.
They found that the physical shrinkage was localized to specific internal clusters known as the central, lateral, and basolateral nuclei. These amygdala sections are biologically essential for learning from fear and avoiding painful outcomes. Underdevelopment in these zones is often linked to aggressive and disruptive behavior problems in children and adults.
The data provides evidence that the level of preparation involved in a crime relates to brain anatomy. Murder suspects who planned their homicides had a 14.3 percent smaller amygdala than those whose crimes were mostly impulsive. Planned crimes are generally considered to be calculated and less driven by sudden bursts of emotion.
The connection between careful preparation and brain size stood out to the research team. “Similarly, we were struck by the fact that it’s the murderers who planned their homicides who had the reduced amygdala volumes so it’s the more ‘cold-blooded’ murderers who have blunted emotions as indicated by this volume reduction,” Raine said.
The researchers observed strong connections between brain volume and psychopathic traits. Higher scores on the psychopathy assessment were associated with smaller amygdala sizes in both the left and right hemispheres. “Perhaps not surprisingly, murderers with high scores on psychopathy were most likely to have a volume reduction in the amygdala,” Raine noted.
This relationship was most pronounced for the affective features of psychopathy. Affective features reflect the emotional shallowness and lack of remorse typically seen in psychopathic behavior. The researchers performed follow-up tests to see if these patterns held true for all participants.
A significant portion of the participants had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Because of this, the researchers included schizophrenia diagnosis as a controlled variable in their statistical models to ensure it did not skew the results. They separated the murder suspects into those with and without schizophrenia.
In both sets of murder suspects, higher psychopathy scores still predicted reduced amygdala sizes. “We were surprised that the findings for the amygdala were quite strong and appeared robust, replicating from murderers with a comorbid diagnosis of schizophrenia to murderers lacking this diagnosis,” Raine said. This indicates that schizophrenia was not the cause of the brain variations.
The scientists applied the exact same rigorous testing to the non-violent control group. They checked if psychopathic traits predicted brain size in everyday citizens who had no history of violence. The researchers found a similar trend linking affective psychopathic traits to left amygdala reductions in typical individuals. This highlights that the relationship between brain structure and personality exists even outside of criminal populations.
The authors also ran statistical tests to see what was driving the main group differences. They found that the higher levels of psychopathy in the murder group explained the smaller brain structures. When the researchers mathematically adjusted the results to equalize psychopathy scores across everyone, the brain differences between the murderers and the control group vanished. This suggests that the brain size reduction is primarily linked to psychopathic traits rather than the legal act of murder itself.
Readers should avoid assuming that these anatomical differences are a definite cause of criminal action. Brain imaging provides statistical group trends, but it cannot predict or explain exactly what any individual person will do in the real world. Many people with small amygdalas never commit crimes, and not all criminals have brain differences. These structural variations simply act as one potential risk factor for aggressive behavior.
The study has a few acknowledged limitations. The total sample size of 87 people is relatively small. Also, the researchers used a standard 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner. This equipment produces less detailed images than newer, stronger scanning devices, meaning the exact boundaries of the tiny sub-sections within the amygdala are only approximations.
The geographic focus is another factor to consider. “This is a study on murderers from China and at the present time findings, while suggestive, cannot as yet be generalized to other countries,” Raine said. “The sample was not large, but it is quite typical of forensic brain imaging samples and findings are consistent with theoretical expectations.”
In this specific Chinese sample, the overall severity of psychopathy was relatively low. The current findings apply to individual differences in general psychopathic traits, rather than to extreme or clinical forms of psychopathy. Future studies should aim to include larger numbers of female murder suspects, which would allow scientists to see if the anatomical patterns differ between genders.
The long-term goal of this science is to find ways to reduce violence. “I’m really interested in how we can change the brain to change behavior in a benign way in samples like this,” Raine explained. Nutrition might offer one pathway.
“For example we have conducted randomized controlled trials showing that omega-3 supplementation can reduce aggression by about 30%, and that this applies all the way from prisoners to children in the community,” he said. “Biology is not destiny, and we can change the brain to change violent behavior,” Raine concluded.
The study, “Reduced amygdala and lateral orbitofrontal volumes in pre-trial murderers: The role of psychopathy,” was authored by Adrian Raine, Jules Dugre, Chenbo Han, Robert Schug, and Jianghong Liu.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cold-blooded-planning-of-a-murder-is-linked-to-reduced-amygdala-volume/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Amygdala #OrbitofrontalCortex #Psychopathy #PreTrialMurderers #Neurocriminology #BrainImaging #ViolentBehavior #Neurolaw #Aggression #AmidalaVolumeReduction
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DATE: June 29, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cold-blooded planning of a murder is linked to reduced amygdala volume
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cold-blooded-planning-of-a-murder-is-linked-to-reduced-amygdala-volume/
A recent brain imaging study provides evidence that individuals accused of murder tend to have smaller volumes in specific brain regions related to emotion and decision-making. The research suggests that these physical brain differences are closely tied to psychopathic personality traits, particularly in people who methodically plan out their crimes. These findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.
The human brain has specialized areas that help regulate emotions and guide social behavior. The amygdala is a small structure located deep in the brain that plays a major role in processing emotions. It helps people recognize fear, learn from negative experiences, and make moral decisions. A poorly functioning amygdala might prevent someone from feeling normal emotional responses during social interactions.
Another important area is the orbitofrontal cortex, located in the front of the brain just above the eyes. This region is involved in weighing risks and rewards. It helps people control their impulses and understand the negative consequences of their actions. Past criminal psychology literature links these brain areas to aggressive and antisocial behaviors.
Adrian Raine, a professor of criminology, psychiatry, and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to explore these structures in an unstudied group. Raine, who is also the author of the book The Anatomy of Violence, helped conduct the research to fill a gap in the scientific literature. “We had previously published the first-ever functional brain imaging study on murderers back in 1994, but since then there has been only one other small-scale imaging study on pre-trial murderers, and none that investigated structural imaging,” Raine said.
The collaboration for the project began rather organically during a trip abroad. “The study came about unexpectedly,” Raine noted. “I happened to have dinner with Chenbo Han when I was visiting Nanjing and we exchanged interests.”
Han evaluated all forensic cases in the Jiangsu Province, which made it possible to recruit subjects. “Chenbo was the lead forensic psychiatrist in Nanjing and we realized we had a lot of interests in common,” Raine said. “Sometimes research studies are planned, but other times they take place a bit by chance.”
Most prior brain imaging studies looked at people who had already been convicted and who had spent years in prison. Spending time in a restrictive and stressful prison environment can actually alter brain structure over time. To avoid this complicating factor, the authors focused on suspects who were awaiting trial.
The timing of the brain scans was another important factor. For post-trial prisoners, there is usually a delay of several years between the time of the homicide and the brain scan. These extra years can add significant errors to the imaging data. In this pre-trial sample, the delay was relatively short, typically just a few months, which provides a more accurate snapshot of the brain.
These scientific findings are increasingly relevant to the emerging field of neurolaw. Neurolaw examines how brain science intersects with the legal system. Brain imaging is sometimes introduced during the sentencing phase of death penalty cases to argue for reduced punishments.
Raine highlighted the real-world impact of this type of biological data. “Murderers have a different brain structure to the rest of us their brains are physically different in a way that predisposes them to violence,” Raine said. “These findings have potential forensic implications in the court room.”
Medical evidence of this nature creates a complex legal dilemma for judges and juries. “If murderers have brain impairments that predispose them to violence, are they truly responsible for their actions?” Raine asked. “On the one hand that might lead us to be more lenient in sentencing.”
However, acknowledging these deep-seated physical traits could also work against the defendant. “But on the other hand, if we cannot treat their brain impairments, should this lead us to longer sentences to protect society?” Raine explained. Establishing a reliable scientific baseline for brain function in offenders helps the legal system evaluate these medical claims objectively.
The study included 87 participants from the Jiangsu Province of China. The sample consisted of 37 people accused of murder who were undergoing forensic psychiatric evaluation while waiting for their trials. The control group included 50 non-violent individuals from the exact same community who had no history of criminal offending. All participants were of Han ethnicity, and both male and female subjects were included in the research.
All participants underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. This type of MRI scanner creates highly detailed, static pictures of the brain’s anatomy. A computer program was used to measure the exact size of the lateral and medial sections of the orbitofrontal cortex. Two trained technicians manually traced the boundaries of the right and left amygdala to calculate their total volume.
Forensic psychiatrists evaluated the participants to measure their personality traits. They used the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, which is a standard interview assessment designed to measure psychopathy. Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by a lack of empathy, shallow emotions, impulsivity, and a failure to feel guilt.
For the murder suspects, the psychiatrists also reviewed police files and family reports to rate the degree of planning involved in the crimes. The rating scale ranged from one for a completely impulsive act to four for a completely planned homicidal act. To make sure their results were accurate, the scientists controlled for several outside variables. These variables included age, gender, head injuries, substance use, broken homes, cognitive functioning, and overall skull size.
The researchers found measurable brain differences between the two groups. The murder suspects had a smaller lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which is the outer section of this frontal brain area. They showed a 4.9 percent volume reduction in this region compared to the non-violent control group. The medial orbitofrontal cortex, which is closer to the center of the brain, did not show any size differences.
The scientists did not anticipate this specific anatomical difference in the outer frontal cortex. “We had not expected to see volume reductions in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, but we were intrigued to find two studies showing that when healthy individuals accidentally kill an innocent victim in a video game, they show increased activation in this very same brain region,” Raine said. This area seems to process the emotional weight of causing harm.
A physical reduction in this specific section might limit a person’s ability to feel remorse for harming innocent people. “Furthermore, those who feel most guilty about their wrongful killing showed the greatest activation,” Raine continued. “So it seems that when this brain region is structurally impaired, it might make people feel less guilty about wrongfully killing someone, and this may take the brake off killing someone.”
The murder suspects also displayed smaller overall amygdala volumes. Their amygdalas were 5.9 percent smaller than those of the control group. This size variation was especially prominent in the left hemisphere of the brain. The scientists used advanced surface mapping to look closer at the exterior structure of the left amygdala.
They found that the physical shrinkage was localized to specific internal clusters known as the central, lateral, and basolateral nuclei. These amygdala sections are biologically essential for learning from fear and avoiding painful outcomes. Underdevelopment in these zones is often linked to aggressive and disruptive behavior problems in children and adults.
The data provides evidence that the level of preparation involved in a crime relates to brain anatomy. Murder suspects who planned their homicides had a 14.3 percent smaller amygdala than those whose crimes were mostly impulsive. Planned crimes are generally considered to be calculated and less driven by sudden bursts of emotion.
The connection between careful preparation and brain size stood out to the research team. “Similarly, we were struck by the fact that it’s the murderers who planned their homicides who had the reduced amygdala volumes so it’s the more ‘cold-blooded’ murderers who have blunted emotions as indicated by this volume reduction,” Raine said.
The researchers observed strong connections between brain volume and psychopathic traits. Higher scores on the psychopathy assessment were associated with smaller amygdala sizes in both the left and right hemispheres. “Perhaps not surprisingly, murderers with high scores on psychopathy were most likely to have a volume reduction in the amygdala,” Raine noted.
This relationship was most pronounced for the affective features of psychopathy. Affective features reflect the emotional shallowness and lack of remorse typically seen in psychopathic behavior. The researchers performed follow-up tests to see if these patterns held true for all participants.
A significant portion of the participants had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Because of this, the researchers included schizophrenia diagnosis as a controlled variable in their statistical models to ensure it did not skew the results. They separated the murder suspects into those with and without schizophrenia.
In both sets of murder suspects, higher psychopathy scores still predicted reduced amygdala sizes. “We were surprised that the findings for the amygdala were quite strong and appeared robust, replicating from murderers with a comorbid diagnosis of schizophrenia to murderers lacking this diagnosis,” Raine said. This indicates that schizophrenia was not the cause of the brain variations.
The scientists applied the exact same rigorous testing to the non-violent control group. They checked if psychopathic traits predicted brain size in everyday citizens who had no history of violence. The researchers found a similar trend linking affective psychopathic traits to left amygdala reductions in typical individuals. This highlights that the relationship between brain structure and personality exists even outside of criminal populations.
The authors also ran statistical tests to see what was driving the main group differences. They found that the higher levels of psychopathy in the murder group explained the smaller brain structures. When the researchers mathematically adjusted the results to equalize psychopathy scores across everyone, the brain differences between the murderers and the control group vanished. This suggests that the brain size reduction is primarily linked to psychopathic traits rather than the legal act of murder itself.
Readers should avoid assuming that these anatomical differences are a definite cause of criminal action. Brain imaging provides statistical group trends, but it cannot predict or explain exactly what any individual person will do in the real world. Many people with small amygdalas never commit crimes, and not all criminals have brain differences. These structural variations simply act as one potential risk factor for aggressive behavior.
The study has a few acknowledged limitations. The total sample size of 87 people is relatively small. Also, the researchers used a standard 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner. This equipment produces less detailed images than newer, stronger scanning devices, meaning the exact boundaries of the tiny sub-sections within the amygdala are only approximations.
The geographic focus is another factor to consider. “This is a study on murderers from China and at the present time findings, while suggestive, cannot as yet be generalized to other countries,” Raine said. “The sample was not large, but it is quite typical of forensic brain imaging samples and findings are consistent with theoretical expectations.”
In this specific Chinese sample, the overall severity of psychopathy was relatively low. The current findings apply to individual differences in general psychopathic traits, rather than to extreme or clinical forms of psychopathy. Future studies should aim to include larger numbers of female murder suspects, which would allow scientists to see if the anatomical patterns differ between genders.
The long-term goal of this science is to find ways to reduce violence. “I’m really interested in how we can change the brain to change behavior in a benign way in samples like this,” Raine explained. Nutrition might offer one pathway.
“For example we have conducted randomized controlled trials showing that omega-3 supplementation can reduce aggression by about 30%, and that this applies all the way from prisoners to children in the community,” he said. “Biology is not destiny, and we can change the brain to change violent behavior,” Raine concluded.
The study, “Reduced amygdala and lateral orbitofrontal volumes in pre-trial murderers: The role of psychopathy,” was authored by Adrian Raine, Jules Dugre, Chenbo Han, Robert Schug, and Jianghong Liu.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cold-blooded-planning-of-a-murder-is-linked-to-reduced-amygdala-volume/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Amygdala #OrbitofrontalCortex #Psychopathy #PreTrialMurderers #Neurocriminology #BrainImaging #ViolentBehavior #Neurolaw #Aggression #AmidalaVolumeReduction
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DATE: June 28, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain scans reveal how uneven intelligence scores relate to attention deficits in children
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who possess a distinct split between their verbal and nonverbal intelligence face greater challenges with self-control and focus. These mental gaps line up with lower blood flow in the front of the brain during tasks that require impulse management. The results were published in the journal NeuroImage.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions in school-age children. Its primary traits include an inability to maintain focus, physical restlessness, or impulsive behavior. These symptoms often stem from weaknesses in executive function. Executive function acts as the brain’s management system, organizing thoughts, regulating emotions, and guiding planned behavior.
Psychologists frequently evaluate cognitive abilities using comprehensive assessments that divide intelligence into two main categories. Verbal intelligence involves language-based problem-solving, vocabulary, and accumulated factual knowledge. Performance intelligence deals with visual processing, spatial reasoning, and hands-on tasks like arranging blocks or recognizing patterns.
In typical development, a child’s scores in these verbal and performance categories are usually somewhat balanced. However, some children exhibit a wide split between the two scores, a condition described as an intelligence quotient discrepancy. Previous research has indicated that large splits between verbal and performance skills are unusually common among children who have attention issues.
Some theorists propose that verbal scores measure academic achievement and acquired information, while performance scores measure the raw ability to process new variables simultaneously. A gap between the two might reflect an underlying disruption in how different regions of the brain communicate. Xin Chen, a researcher at Fujian Children’s Hospital in China, and colleagues designed an experiment to see how this intelligence gap impacts day-to-day behavior.
The research team recruited 114 children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. All participants were between the ages of six and twelve and had general intelligence test scores of 70 or higher. None of the children were currently taking medication for their attention symptoms.
Examiners administered a standard cognitive test to measure each child’s verbal and performance abilities. Based on the results, the investigators divided the children into two roughly matched groups. One group possessed a large gap between their verbal and performance scores. The other group had relatively balanced profiles without an intelligence gap.
To measure real-world skills, the research team asked the children’s parents to complete a standardized behavioral survey. The questionnaire asked caregivers to rate how often their child struggled with daily tasks. It covered specific categories like emotional control, physical organization, working memory, and task initiation.
The children also completed a computerized test to gauge their ability to process sights and sounds. The software required participants to click a mouse when they saw or heard the number one. They were instructed to hold back completely when they encountered the number two. This allowed the researchers to measure both raw reaction times and the ability to suppress an incorrect response.
To understand the biological mechanisms behind these behaviors, the scientists selected a random subset of 46 children. This smaller group underwent brain imaging while performing a second computerized assessment. The researchers utilized a noninvasive imaging technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy uses a specialized cap fitted with small light sensors. These sensors project harmless beams of near-infrared light through the scalp and skull. By measuring how the light scatters and bounces back, the system can detect changes in the concentration of oxygenated blood. Active brain tissue requires more oxygen, so tracking blood flow allows researchers to map out which brain areas are working the hardest.
While wearing the sensor cap, the subset of children played a game meant to trigger their impulse control. The screen displayed images of different animals in quick succession. The children were told to press a button as fast as possible when they saw a cat or a dog.
At random intervals, the game switched its rules. When an image of a chicken appeared, the children had to press the button. When an image of a duck appeared, they had to entirely stop themselves from reacting.
The overall results revealed a distinct pattern among the children who possessed an intelligence gap. On the parent surveys, this group scored worse on overall executive function compared to the children with balanced intelligence. Caregivers reported that children with an intelligence gap struggled the most with starting new tasks and shifting smoothly between different activities.
Similar outcomes appeared during the computerized visual and auditory tests. The group with an intelligence gap recorded slower overall reaction times. They had particular difficulty with the visual portions of the test, committing more errors when trying to hold back a mouse click.
When researchers looked back at the original intelligence tests, they noticed the biggest difference between the two groups came down to arithmetic scores. Arithmetic requires a child to hold numbers in their working memory and manipulate them mentally. The scientists suggest that this specific weakness heavily influences how severe a child’s attention symptoms might appear.
The brain imaging data provided a biological reflection of these behavioral struggles. During the animal game, the children with an intelligence gap showed reduced blood flow to the right medial prefrontal cortex. This brain area is heavily involved in regulating emotions, maintaining motivation, and making decisions.
The researchers found a direct relationship between the severity of a child’s attention deficits and the lack of blood flow in that specific frontal region. Children whose parents reported the highest levels of daily distractibility showed the lowest levels of oxygenated blood in the medial prefrontal cortex. Conversely, the results were not statistically significant when the researchers looked at the left prefrontal cortex or the temporal lobes.
Through statistical modeling, the team also identified a behavioral trait known as monitoring as a primary indicator for hyperactivity and scattered attention. Monitoring is the mental ability to supervise one’s own work to ensure a goal is met. Children who lack this supervisory skill are highly prone to careless errors in school and social settings.
The study authors listed several caveats to their findings. The project relied on older, revised editions of standard intelligence and behavioral assessments. Relying on these older formats might make it difficult to compare the current data against research conducted with newly updated testing standards.
Additionally, the participant pool was limited exclusively to Chinese children. Behaviors and test outcomes can be influenced by cultural or educational environments, meaning the results might not automatically apply to other populations. The study design also grouped all types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder together, rather than separating children who are mostly hyperactive from those who just struggle to focus.
The investigators also did not include a control group of typically developing children. Having a baseline comparison would help isolate whether the blood flow patterns are unique to the intelligence gap or a broader feature of attention deficits. Future projects will need to incorporate larger sample sizes and different types of cognitive tasks.
Brain imaging technology also has inherent limitations. The light sensors can pick up noise from superficial blood flow in the scalp, which can sometimes blur the deeper brain signals. The authors suggest that subsequent experiments should use advanced equipment channels to filter out surface-level interference.
The study, “Effect of Intelligence Quotient Discrepancy on Attention and Executive Function in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: An fNIRS Study,” was authored by Xin Chen, Liang-liang Chen, Jing-rong Wang, Ying-ying Cai, and Xiao-dan Yu.
-------------------------------------------------
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-
DATE: June 28, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain scans reveal how uneven intelligence scores relate to attention deficits in children
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who possess a distinct split between their verbal and nonverbal intelligence face greater challenges with self-control and focus. These mental gaps line up with lower blood flow in the front of the brain during tasks that require impulse management. The results were published in the journal NeuroImage.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions in school-age children. Its primary traits include an inability to maintain focus, physical restlessness, or impulsive behavior. These symptoms often stem from weaknesses in executive function. Executive function acts as the brain’s management system, organizing thoughts, regulating emotions, and guiding planned behavior.
Psychologists frequently evaluate cognitive abilities using comprehensive assessments that divide intelligence into two main categories. Verbal intelligence involves language-based problem-solving, vocabulary, and accumulated factual knowledge. Performance intelligence deals with visual processing, spatial reasoning, and hands-on tasks like arranging blocks or recognizing patterns.
In typical development, a child’s scores in these verbal and performance categories are usually somewhat balanced. However, some children exhibit a wide split between the two scores, a condition described as an intelligence quotient discrepancy. Previous research has indicated that large splits between verbal and performance skills are unusually common among children who have attention issues.
Some theorists propose that verbal scores measure academic achievement and acquired information, while performance scores measure the raw ability to process new variables simultaneously. A gap between the two might reflect an underlying disruption in how different regions of the brain communicate. Xin Chen, a researcher at Fujian Children’s Hospital in China, and colleagues designed an experiment to see how this intelligence gap impacts day-to-day behavior.
The research team recruited 114 children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. All participants were between the ages of six and twelve and had general intelligence test scores of 70 or higher. None of the children were currently taking medication for their attention symptoms.
Examiners administered a standard cognitive test to measure each child’s verbal and performance abilities. Based on the results, the investigators divided the children into two roughly matched groups. One group possessed a large gap between their verbal and performance scores. The other group had relatively balanced profiles without an intelligence gap.
To measure real-world skills, the research team asked the children’s parents to complete a standardized behavioral survey. The questionnaire asked caregivers to rate how often their child struggled with daily tasks. It covered specific categories like emotional control, physical organization, working memory, and task initiation.
The children also completed a computerized test to gauge their ability to process sights and sounds. The software required participants to click a mouse when they saw or heard the number one. They were instructed to hold back completely when they encountered the number two. This allowed the researchers to measure both raw reaction times and the ability to suppress an incorrect response.
To understand the biological mechanisms behind these behaviors, the scientists selected a random subset of 46 children. This smaller group underwent brain imaging while performing a second computerized assessment. The researchers utilized a noninvasive imaging technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy uses a specialized cap fitted with small light sensors. These sensors project harmless beams of near-infrared light through the scalp and skull. By measuring how the light scatters and bounces back, the system can detect changes in the concentration of oxygenated blood. Active brain tissue requires more oxygen, so tracking blood flow allows researchers to map out which brain areas are working the hardest.
While wearing the sensor cap, the subset of children played a game meant to trigger their impulse control. The screen displayed images of different animals in quick succession. The children were told to press a button as fast as possible when they saw a cat or a dog.
At random intervals, the game switched its rules. When an image of a chicken appeared, the children had to press the button. When an image of a duck appeared, they had to entirely stop themselves from reacting.
The overall results revealed a distinct pattern among the children who possessed an intelligence gap. On the parent surveys, this group scored worse on overall executive function compared to the children with balanced intelligence. Caregivers reported that children with an intelligence gap struggled the most with starting new tasks and shifting smoothly between different activities.
Similar outcomes appeared during the computerized visual and auditory tests. The group with an intelligence gap recorded slower overall reaction times. They had particular difficulty with the visual portions of the test, committing more errors when trying to hold back a mouse click.
When researchers looked back at the original intelligence tests, they noticed the biggest difference between the two groups came down to arithmetic scores. Arithmetic requires a child to hold numbers in their working memory and manipulate them mentally. The scientists suggest that this specific weakness heavily influences how severe a child’s attention symptoms might appear.
The brain imaging data provided a biological reflection of these behavioral struggles. During the animal game, the children with an intelligence gap showed reduced blood flow to the right medial prefrontal cortex. This brain area is heavily involved in regulating emotions, maintaining motivation, and making decisions.
The researchers found a direct relationship between the severity of a child’s attention deficits and the lack of blood flow in that specific frontal region. Children whose parents reported the highest levels of daily distractibility showed the lowest levels of oxygenated blood in the medial prefrontal cortex. Conversely, the results were not statistically significant when the researchers looked at the left prefrontal cortex or the temporal lobes.
Through statistical modeling, the team also identified a behavioral trait known as monitoring as a primary indicator for hyperactivity and scattered attention. Monitoring is the mental ability to supervise one’s own work to ensure a goal is met. Children who lack this supervisory skill are highly prone to careless errors in school and social settings.
The study authors listed several caveats to their findings. The project relied on older, revised editions of standard intelligence and behavioral assessments. Relying on these older formats might make it difficult to compare the current data against research conducted with newly updated testing standards.
Additionally, the participant pool was limited exclusively to Chinese children. Behaviors and test outcomes can be influenced by cultural or educational environments, meaning the results might not automatically apply to other populations. The study design also grouped all types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder together, rather than separating children who are mostly hyperactive from those who just struggle to focus.
The investigators also did not include a control group of typically developing children. Having a baseline comparison would help isolate whether the blood flow patterns are unique to the intelligence gap or a broader feature of attention deficits. Future projects will need to incorporate larger sample sizes and different types of cognitive tasks.
Brain imaging technology also has inherent limitations. The light sensors can pick up noise from superficial blood flow in the scalp, which can sometimes blur the deeper brain signals. The authors suggest that subsequent experiments should use advanced equipment channels to filter out surface-level interference.
The study, “Effect of Intelligence Quotient Discrepancy on Attention and Executive Function in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: An fNIRS Study,” was authored by Xin Chen, Liang-liang Chen, Jing-rong Wang, Ying-ying Cai, and Xiao-dan Yu.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #IQDiscrepancy #ADHDinChildren #AttentionDeficitHyperactivityDisorder #ExecutiveFunction #VerbalVsPerformanceIQ #fNIRS #BrainImaging #PrefrontalCortex #ChildCognition #NeuroImageResearch
-
DATE: June 27, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists discover deep brain stimulation physically reshapes the brain’s information superhighway
Deep brain stimulation is an emerging treatment for severe depression, but exactly how it alters the brain to relieve symptoms has remained somewhat of a mystery. A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience provides evidence that this therapy reshapes the physical structure of the brain’s wiring and alters communication across major neural networks. These findings suggest that the long-term benefits of the treatment might stem from physical remodeling of the brain rather than just immediate changes in electrical activity.
Deep brain stimulation is a surgical procedure that involves implanting small wires, called electrodes, into specific areas of the brain. These electrodes connect to a device placed in the chest, which sends mild electrical impulses to the brain. Doctors frequently use this therapy to manage movement conditions like Parkinson’s disease. In recent years, the medical field has adapted the procedure to treat psychiatric conditions, particularly depression that does not respond to medication or therapy.
When treating movement conditions, the electrodes target gray matter, which is the brain tissue made mostly of cell bodies. For depression, doctors instead target white matter. White matter consists of the bundles of nerve fibers, or axons, that connect different parts of the brain and allow them to communicate. You can think of white matter as the brain’s information superhighway, carrying signals rapidly from one region to another.
The authors designed this study to see if electrical stimulation could physically change the microscopic structure of white matter. They also wanted to understand how these potential physical changes might influence how different regions of the brain communicate with one another.
“The idea for the project came when Dr. Helen Mayberg joined Mount Sinai about eight years ago,” explained Peter H. Rudebeck, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Satoka H. Fujimoto, a researcher at the institution. “Dr. Mayberg works with patients with depression who have not been helped by any of the other treatments that are available such as anti-depressants and cognitive behavioral therapy.”
“Twenty years ago she pioneered a new approach to help treat these patients where deep brain stimulation (DBS) was directed to a part of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) called the subcallosal ACC,” the researchers noted. “DBS works by focally delivering electrical impulses to a piece of the brain, causing activity in that area to be altered.”
“In recent clinical trials, DBS to the subcallosal ACC is effective at improving 70 to 80 percent of patients’ depression and in some cases people were completely free from depression,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto said. “Dr. Mayberg noticed that in her patients that had been successfully treated with DBS, that their recovery from depression was not immediate. Instead, after an initial rapid improvement there was a prolonged period of improvement that spanned many weeks or months.”
“The rapid improvement made sense in light of what was known about how electrical impulses change brain activity, but the longer term improvement was not,” the researchers explained. “Thus, the study was motivated by a desire to figure out what mechanisms in the brain underlie these fast and slow responses to DBS and how these help people to recover from depression.”
To carry out the experiment, the scientists worked with macaque monkeys. The main experimental group included three adult male monkeys between seven and nine years old. Two of the animals received the active deep brain stimulation treatment, while the third monkey underwent the surgery but did not receive any electrical stimulation, acting as a control subject.
The team also used functional brain imaging data from three additional monkeys that did not undergo any surgery. This second control group helped the authors verify that any changes in brain communication over time were genuinely linked to the electrical stimulation. Including these unoperated animals provided a baseline for normal brain network fluctuations.
For the two monkeys in the active treatment group, the researchers implanted a miniaturized electrode into a specific intersection of three white matter pathways. One of these pathways is the cingulum bundle, which serves as a major communication route for the brain’s emotional centers. Identifying the precise convergence of these three tracts requires advanced mapping techniques, as individual brain anatomy can vary.
After a four-week recovery period, the treatment group monkeys received continuous electrical stimulation for six weeks. This timeline mirrors the approach taken in human clinics. It also matches the period when human patients typically begin to show significant symptom improvement.
The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging, commonly known as MRI, to scan the monkeys’ brains before the electrode implantation and immediately after the six weeks of stimulation. They specifically looked at a measure called fractional anisotropy. This metric helps scientists evaluate the physical integrity and organization of white matter tracts in a living brain.
Fractional anisotropy is a mathematical value derived from how water molecules diffuse through tissue. In healthy, well-organized white matter, water tends to move smoothly along the direction of the nerve fibers. An increase in this metric suggests that the nerve fibers have become more structurally sound, densely packed, or better insulated.
The MRI data revealed that six weeks of stimulation led to a distinct increase in white matter integrity in the cingulum bundle. This pathway connects different areas of the brain involved in emotion and mood regulation. Interestingly, this physical change occurred in a section of the pathway that was somewhat distant from the actual stimulation site.
Following the MRI scans, the team examined the brain tissue at a microscopic level. They used specialized microscopes to look at the cellular structure of the white matter fibers. The scientists specifically counted the number of oligodendrocytes, which are specialized cells that produce myelin.
Myelin is a fatty substance that wraps around nerve fibers, acting like insulation on an electrical wire to help signals travel faster. The researchers found a higher number of myelin-producing oligodendrocytes in the exact same region where the MRI showed increased white matter integrity.
They also used an advanced technique called electron microscopy to measure the exact thickness of this myelin sheath in the targeted brain regions. The myelin sheaths surrounding the nerve fibers in this area were thicker compared to the unstimulated side of the brain. This allowed them to see structural changes that are invisible to a standard MRI.
“We were surprised to find evidence of white matter remodeling after a relatively short period of stimulation, only six weeks,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto said. “In particular, we found that myelin, the insulating sheath around neural fibers that supports efficient information transfer, had become thicker as a result of DBS.”
“What made this especially interesting was where this change occurred,” they noted. “The structural change was localized to the mid-cingulate bundle, a white matter pathway located away from the stimulation site. Importantly, this pathway helps link the stimulation site with key regions of the default mode network, a brain network strongly implicated in depression.”
“This was unexpected because it suggests that DBS may influence not only local brain activity near the electrode, but also the structure of distant, connected brain pathways,” the researchers explained. “One way to think about this is that DBS may not only adjust the activity of important ‘cities’ in the brain, but may also help reshape the ‘roads’ that connect those cities, allowing the broader network to function more effectively.”
The researchers also monitored the animals’ basic behaviors to ensure the stimulation was having a biological effect. They found that the stimulated monkeys spent more time moving and foraging in their home cages after the treatment started. They did not observe any negative neurological deficits or signs of motor impairment.
The control monkey that received the implant without any stimulation did not show these behavioral or structural improvements. In fact, the surgical insertion of the electrode without electrical stimulation tended to cause a slight decrease in white matter integrity. This detail indicates that the physical remodeling of the brain was a direct result of the electrical impulses.
Beyond the physical changes, the authors examined functional connectivity, which refers to how well different parts of the brain synchronize their activity. They found that the localized white matter changes were accompanied by widespread shifts in communication across the entire brain. The deep brain stimulation tended to decrease overall communication between outer cortical areas while increasing communication between deeper subcortical regions.
Most notably, the stimulation altered how the targeted area communicated with the default mode network. The default mode network is a group of interconnected brain regions that becomes highly active when a person is resting, daydreaming, or ruminating. In humans, depression is often associated with hyperactivity and altered connectivity in this specific network.
The deep brain stimulation tended to decrease the communication between the stimulation site and the default mode network. This suggests a potential rebalancing of brain activity in pathways that manage mood and attention. At the same time, the treatment increased communication between the stimulation site and sensory and motor networks.
Brain networks are known to dynamically rebalance themselves to optimize inputs and outputs between different areas. The localized structural changes in the white matter appear to support much larger functional shifts across the whole brain. This fits with previous evidence that a small number of structural connections can maintain wide-reaching communication networks.
“The main takeaway is that DBS may do more than adjust brain activity, it actually rewires the brain,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto summarized. “Specifically, our study provides evidence that stimulation of brain circuits relevant to depression can induce structural changes in white matter, the fiber pathways that connect different brain regions and transmit neural information.”
“These changes were accompanied by functional changes in brain networks, particularly in the default mode network, which has been strongly implicated in depression,” they said. “This means that our findings indicate that the recovery from depression requires rewiring the brain to promote recovery.”
While the study provides strong evidence for brain remodeling, it does have some limitations. The research relied on a small sample size of monkeys, which is common in non-human primate studies but requires caution when applying the findings to larger human populations. Additionally, the subjects were healthy animals without depression.
“Our study was not conducted in the human brain but used healthy animals so that we could uncover the cellular mechanisms that are engaged by DBS in the absence of pathology related to depression,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto explained. “Such a level of analysis could not have been obtained in patients who received DBS.”
A brain affected by a psychiatric condition might respond to stimulation differently, or on a different timeline, than a healthy brain. The researchers also conducted the MRI scans while the animals were under mild anesthesia to prevent movement. Although they used a low dose designed to preserve normal brain network activity, anesthesia can still subtly alter functional connectivity patterns.
Another limitation involves the removal of the electrode before the final MRI scans. The researchers had to extract the device to prevent it from distorting the brain images and causing tissue damage in the scanner. Removing the device meant the stimulation was turned off during the scan, which could have allowed some brain networks to experience a rapid rebound effect.
Future research will need to explore whether these exact structural changes occur in human patients undergoing the therapy for depression. Scientists also plan to study how different stimulation frequencies or intensities might impact white matter remodeling. Understanding these biological mechanisms could help doctors optimize treatment settings and perhaps develop new, non-surgical methods to encourage the brain to repair its own white matter.
“Now, Dr. Mayberg and her team at the Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics are now working to see if fMRI measures of white matter structure are changed in people who receive DBS,” the researchers added. “This has been made possible by new approaches that allow people with implanted DBS devices to be scanned using MRI.”
“One of the things that still puzzles us about the results is that the location in the brain that shows the biggest change in response to DBS is not close to the location where stimulation is delivered,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto said. “We don’t know why this is, but it is probably important.”
“We are now working to figure that out with a number of different approaches in animals,” they noted. “If we can figure that out it may be possible to make DBS even better than it is as well as potentially unlock new ways to try to treat depression.”
The study, “Deep brain stimulation induces white matter remodeling and functional changes to brain-wide networks,” was authored by Satoka H. Fujimoto, Atsushi Fujimoto, Catherine Elorette, Adela Seltzer, Emma Andraka, Keondre Herbert, Gaurav Verma, William G. M. Janssen, Lazar Fleysher, Davide Folloni, Ki Sueng Choi, Brian E. Russ, Helen S. Mayberg, and Peter H. Rudebeck.
-------------------------------------------------
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DeepBrainStimulation #WhiteMatterRemodeling #BrainNetworks #DefaultModeNetwork #Neuroscience #BrainImaging #MyelinRemodeling #MD-to-BrainConnections #DepressionTreatment #Neurotech
-
DATE: June 27, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists discover deep brain stimulation physically reshapes the brain’s information superhighway
Deep brain stimulation is an emerging treatment for severe depression, but exactly how it alters the brain to relieve symptoms has remained somewhat of a mystery. A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience provides evidence that this therapy reshapes the physical structure of the brain’s wiring and alters communication across major neural networks. These findings suggest that the long-term benefits of the treatment might stem from physical remodeling of the brain rather than just immediate changes in electrical activity.
Deep brain stimulation is a surgical procedure that involves implanting small wires, called electrodes, into specific areas of the brain. These electrodes connect to a device placed in the chest, which sends mild electrical impulses to the brain. Doctors frequently use this therapy to manage movement conditions like Parkinson’s disease. In recent years, the medical field has adapted the procedure to treat psychiatric conditions, particularly depression that does not respond to medication or therapy.
When treating movement conditions, the electrodes target gray matter, which is the brain tissue made mostly of cell bodies. For depression, doctors instead target white matter. White matter consists of the bundles of nerve fibers, or axons, that connect different parts of the brain and allow them to communicate. You can think of white matter as the brain’s information superhighway, carrying signals rapidly from one region to another.
The authors designed this study to see if electrical stimulation could physically change the microscopic structure of white matter. They also wanted to understand how these potential physical changes might influence how different regions of the brain communicate with one another.
“The idea for the project came when Dr. Helen Mayberg joined Mount Sinai about eight years ago,” explained Peter H. Rudebeck, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Satoka H. Fujimoto, a researcher at the institution. “Dr. Mayberg works with patients with depression who have not been helped by any of the other treatments that are available such as anti-depressants and cognitive behavioral therapy.”
“Twenty years ago she pioneered a new approach to help treat these patients where deep brain stimulation (DBS) was directed to a part of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) called the subcallosal ACC,” the researchers noted. “DBS works by focally delivering electrical impulses to a piece of the brain, causing activity in that area to be altered.”
“In recent clinical trials, DBS to the subcallosal ACC is effective at improving 70 to 80 percent of patients’ depression and in some cases people were completely free from depression,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto said. “Dr. Mayberg noticed that in her patients that had been successfully treated with DBS, that their recovery from depression was not immediate. Instead, after an initial rapid improvement there was a prolonged period of improvement that spanned many weeks or months.”
“The rapid improvement made sense in light of what was known about how electrical impulses change brain activity, but the longer term improvement was not,” the researchers explained. “Thus, the study was motivated by a desire to figure out what mechanisms in the brain underlie these fast and slow responses to DBS and how these help people to recover from depression.”
To carry out the experiment, the scientists worked with macaque monkeys. The main experimental group included three adult male monkeys between seven and nine years old. Two of the animals received the active deep brain stimulation treatment, while the third monkey underwent the surgery but did not receive any electrical stimulation, acting as a control subject.
The team also used functional brain imaging data from three additional monkeys that did not undergo any surgery. This second control group helped the authors verify that any changes in brain communication over time were genuinely linked to the electrical stimulation. Including these unoperated animals provided a baseline for normal brain network fluctuations.
For the two monkeys in the active treatment group, the researchers implanted a miniaturized electrode into a specific intersection of three white matter pathways. One of these pathways is the cingulum bundle, which serves as a major communication route for the brain’s emotional centers. Identifying the precise convergence of these three tracts requires advanced mapping techniques, as individual brain anatomy can vary.
After a four-week recovery period, the treatment group monkeys received continuous electrical stimulation for six weeks. This timeline mirrors the approach taken in human clinics. It also matches the period when human patients typically begin to show significant symptom improvement.
The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging, commonly known as MRI, to scan the monkeys’ brains before the electrode implantation and immediately after the six weeks of stimulation. They specifically looked at a measure called fractional anisotropy. This metric helps scientists evaluate the physical integrity and organization of white matter tracts in a living brain.
Fractional anisotropy is a mathematical value derived from how water molecules diffuse through tissue. In healthy, well-organized white matter, water tends to move smoothly along the direction of the nerve fibers. An increase in this metric suggests that the nerve fibers have become more structurally sound, densely packed, or better insulated.
The MRI data revealed that six weeks of stimulation led to a distinct increase in white matter integrity in the cingulum bundle. This pathway connects different areas of the brain involved in emotion and mood regulation. Interestingly, this physical change occurred in a section of the pathway that was somewhat distant from the actual stimulation site.
Following the MRI scans, the team examined the brain tissue at a microscopic level. They used specialized microscopes to look at the cellular structure of the white matter fibers. The scientists specifically counted the number of oligodendrocytes, which are specialized cells that produce myelin.
Myelin is a fatty substance that wraps around nerve fibers, acting like insulation on an electrical wire to help signals travel faster. The researchers found a higher number of myelin-producing oligodendrocytes in the exact same region where the MRI showed increased white matter integrity.
They also used an advanced technique called electron microscopy to measure the exact thickness of this myelin sheath in the targeted brain regions. The myelin sheaths surrounding the nerve fibers in this area were thicker compared to the unstimulated side of the brain. This allowed them to see structural changes that are invisible to a standard MRI.
“We were surprised to find evidence of white matter remodeling after a relatively short period of stimulation, only six weeks,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto said. “In particular, we found that myelin, the insulating sheath around neural fibers that supports efficient information transfer, had become thicker as a result of DBS.”
“What made this especially interesting was where this change occurred,” they noted. “The structural change was localized to the mid-cingulate bundle, a white matter pathway located away from the stimulation site. Importantly, this pathway helps link the stimulation site with key regions of the default mode network, a brain network strongly implicated in depression.”
“This was unexpected because it suggests that DBS may influence not only local brain activity near the electrode, but also the structure of distant, connected brain pathways,” the researchers explained. “One way to think about this is that DBS may not only adjust the activity of important ‘cities’ in the brain, but may also help reshape the ‘roads’ that connect those cities, allowing the broader network to function more effectively.”
The researchers also monitored the animals’ basic behaviors to ensure the stimulation was having a biological effect. They found that the stimulated monkeys spent more time moving and foraging in their home cages after the treatment started. They did not observe any negative neurological deficits or signs of motor impairment.
The control monkey that received the implant without any stimulation did not show these behavioral or structural improvements. In fact, the surgical insertion of the electrode without electrical stimulation tended to cause a slight decrease in white matter integrity. This detail indicates that the physical remodeling of the brain was a direct result of the electrical impulses.
Beyond the physical changes, the authors examined functional connectivity, which refers to how well different parts of the brain synchronize their activity. They found that the localized white matter changes were accompanied by widespread shifts in communication across the entire brain. The deep brain stimulation tended to decrease overall communication between outer cortical areas while increasing communication between deeper subcortical regions.
Most notably, the stimulation altered how the targeted area communicated with the default mode network. The default mode network is a group of interconnected brain regions that becomes highly active when a person is resting, daydreaming, or ruminating. In humans, depression is often associated with hyperactivity and altered connectivity in this specific network.
The deep brain stimulation tended to decrease the communication between the stimulation site and the default mode network. This suggests a potential rebalancing of brain activity in pathways that manage mood and attention. At the same time, the treatment increased communication between the stimulation site and sensory and motor networks.
Brain networks are known to dynamically rebalance themselves to optimize inputs and outputs between different areas. The localized structural changes in the white matter appear to support much larger functional shifts across the whole brain. This fits with previous evidence that a small number of structural connections can maintain wide-reaching communication networks.
“The main takeaway is that DBS may do more than adjust brain activity, it actually rewires the brain,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto summarized. “Specifically, our study provides evidence that stimulation of brain circuits relevant to depression can induce structural changes in white matter, the fiber pathways that connect different brain regions and transmit neural information.”
“These changes were accompanied by functional changes in brain networks, particularly in the default mode network, which has been strongly implicated in depression,” they said. “This means that our findings indicate that the recovery from depression requires rewiring the brain to promote recovery.”
While the study provides strong evidence for brain remodeling, it does have some limitations. The research relied on a small sample size of monkeys, which is common in non-human primate studies but requires caution when applying the findings to larger human populations. Additionally, the subjects were healthy animals without depression.
“Our study was not conducted in the human brain but used healthy animals so that we could uncover the cellular mechanisms that are engaged by DBS in the absence of pathology related to depression,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto explained. “Such a level of analysis could not have been obtained in patients who received DBS.”
A brain affected by a psychiatric condition might respond to stimulation differently, or on a different timeline, than a healthy brain. The researchers also conducted the MRI scans while the animals were under mild anesthesia to prevent movement. Although they used a low dose designed to preserve normal brain network activity, anesthesia can still subtly alter functional connectivity patterns.
Another limitation involves the removal of the electrode before the final MRI scans. The researchers had to extract the device to prevent it from distorting the brain images and causing tissue damage in the scanner. Removing the device meant the stimulation was turned off during the scan, which could have allowed some brain networks to experience a rapid rebound effect.
Future research will need to explore whether these exact structural changes occur in human patients undergoing the therapy for depression. Scientists also plan to study how different stimulation frequencies or intensities might impact white matter remodeling. Understanding these biological mechanisms could help doctors optimize treatment settings and perhaps develop new, non-surgical methods to encourage the brain to repair its own white matter.
“Now, Dr. Mayberg and her team at the Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics are now working to see if fMRI measures of white matter structure are changed in people who receive DBS,” the researchers added. “This has been made possible by new approaches that allow people with implanted DBS devices to be scanned using MRI.”
“One of the things that still puzzles us about the results is that the location in the brain that shows the biggest change in response to DBS is not close to the location where stimulation is delivered,” Rudebeck and Fujimoto said. “We don’t know why this is, but it is probably important.”
“We are now working to figure that out with a number of different approaches in animals,” they noted. “If we can figure that out it may be possible to make DBS even better than it is as well as potentially unlock new ways to try to treat depression.”
The study, “Deep brain stimulation induces white matter remodeling and functional changes to brain-wide networks,” was authored by Satoka H. Fujimoto, Atsushi Fujimoto, Catherine Elorette, Adela Seltzer, Emma Andraka, Keondre Herbert, Gaurav Verma, William G. M. Janssen, Lazar Fleysher, Davide Folloni, Ki Sueng Choi, Brian E. Russ, Helen S. Mayberg, and Peter H. Rudebeck.
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DATE: June 15, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychopathic traits linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in men
Higher levels of psychopathic personality traits mirror a reduction in the thickness of the outer layer of the brain across multiple regions. This structural relationship holds true in adult men regardless of whether they have a history of domestic violence or possess no criminal record at all. The findings were recently published in the scientific journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.
Psychopathy is a psychological condition characterized by a specific set of personality traits and behaviors. Individuals who score high in these traits often display a profound lack of empathy, a tendency to manipulate others, and a diminished capacity for feeling guilt or remorse. Psychologists typically divide the condition into two separate categories to better understand it.
The first category involves interpersonal and emotional features, such as superficial charm, grandiosity, and a failure to form deep emotional bonds. The second category features antisocial lifestyle behaviors, including high impulsivity, a need for stimulation, and a history of rule-breaking or delinquency. People with an abundance of these traits are at a higher risk of engaging in persistent anger and repeated violence.
Intimate partner violence is one such form of violence, involving physical, psychological, or sexual harm against a partner. Researchers are trying to map the biological foundations of psychopathy to better understand its connection to continuous aggressive behavior. While previous studies have looked at the brain structures of people with psychopathic traits, very few have specifically focused on men convicted of violence against their female partners.
Ángel Romero-Martínez, a researcher in the Department of Psychobiology at the University of Valencia, led a team to investigate how the physical anatomy of the brain correlates with these personality traits. The research team included colleagues from the University of Valencia and the La Fe Health Research Institute in Spain. They wanted to see if the physical structure of the brain associated with psychopathic traits differed between domestic violence perpetrators and non-violent men.
Before conducting their own experiment, Romero-Martínez and his colleagues completed a systematic review of the existing scientific literature. They analyzed 29 published studies to see which areas of the brain were most frequently linked to psychopathy in adult men. This initial phase allowed them to focus on regions that consistently showed physical differences, such as reduced volume or thinner layers of tissue.
The brain is covered by a folded outer layer known as the cerebral cortex, which is packed with the bodies of nerve cells, often called gray matter. The thickness of this gray matter varies across different regions of the brain and changes in response to aging, genetics, and environment. Variations in cortical thickness are associated with how well specific parts of the brain execute their functions, ranging from memory to impulse control.
The initial literature review pointed the researchers to specific frontal and temporal zones of the brain. The orbitofrontal cortex, a region situated just behind the eyes, appeared especially relevant because it helps integrate internal emotional signals and guides decision-making behavior. The insula, a region buried deep within the brain folds that aids in adopting other people’s perspectives, also surfaced repeatedly in the scientific literature.
Armed with these specific areas of interest, the researchers recruited 125 male participants for a physical brain scanning study. The sample included 67 men who had been convicted of intimate partner violence and were enrolled in a mandatory psychological intervention program. They also recruited 58 control participants from the surrounding community through advertisements and social media.
The researchers screened the control participants heavily to ensure they had no criminal records and no history of any form of intimate partner aggression. All participants in both groups were required to have no history of severe brain trauma, physical illnesses, or major psychiatric disorders outside the scope of the study. The men then took part in structured interviews to evaluate their psychopathic traits using an instrument known as the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised.
During these interviews, experienced specialists rated the men on the two main categories of psychopathy based on their answers and verified background information. Following the behavioral evaluation, the participants visited a hospital to undergo magnetic resonance imaging scans of their brains. The imaging machine used strong magnetic fields to create high-resolution, three-dimensional maps of each participant’s brain structure.
The researchers let automated software calculate the average thickness of the gray matter in the specific regions they had previously identified. They then ran mathematical models to see if there was a direct association between a participant’s score on the psychopathy checklist and the thickness of their brain regions. They factored in variables like age, educational level, head size, and drug or alcohol use to ensure these outside elements did not skew the results.
Across all 125 men, higher total scores in psychopathic traits mathematically correlated with a thinner cerebral cortex in several key areas. The left orbitofrontal cortex, the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, and the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex all showed reduced thickness in men with higher traits. This pattern of reduced thickness was also present in the left insula and the right anterior cingulate cortex.
These inverse relationships were mostly driven by the first category of psychopathy, which deals with emotional detachment and interpersonal manipulation. The second category, which deals with antisocial lifestyle choices, only correlated with a thinner left superior frontal gyrus. Reduced tissue in these specific frontal and deep-brain regions could explain why individuals with high psychopathic traits struggle with emotional restraint, behavioral anticipation, and recognizing the feelings of others.
The researchers then tested whether being a convicted domestic violence perpetrator moderated this relationship between brain structure and personality traits. Including the participant’s group status in the statistical models did not significantly increase the amount of explained variance in the data. The biological relationship connecting high psychopathic traits to a thinner cortex was similar in the control group and the group of violent offenders. A non-violent man with an elevated psychopathy score exhibited the same structural brain profile as an offender with a similar score.
The authors noted several limitations regarding their study. Because the research took place at a single point in time, the results cannot prove that a thinner cortex directly causes psychopathic traits or violent behavior. The study also relied on a specific population of mostly Spanish men without severe mental health disorders, meaning the findings might not apply to women or other cultural groups.
Future initiatives should examine wider populations of people and incorporate technology that measures brain activity in real time, rather than just anatomical structure. This type of ongoing biology research helps psychologists build more accurate profiles of individuals prone to violent behavior. By combining neuroimaging results with standard psychological evaluations, professionals hope to eventually improve therapeutic interventions and lower the rates of domestic violence recidivism.
The study, “Reduced cortical thickness in fronto-temporo-parietal regions associated with high psychopathic traits: conclusions of a review and an empirical study with intimate partner violence perpetrators,” was authored by Ángel Romero-Martínez, María Beser-Robles, Leonor Cerdá-Alberich, Fernando Aparici, Luis Martí-Bonmatí, Carolina Sarrate-Costa, Marisol Lila, and Luis Moya-Albiol.
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DATE: June 15, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychopathic traits linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in men
Higher levels of psychopathic personality traits mirror a reduction in the thickness of the outer layer of the brain across multiple regions. This structural relationship holds true in adult men regardless of whether they have a history of domestic violence or possess no criminal record at all. The findings were recently published in the scientific journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.
Psychopathy is a psychological condition characterized by a specific set of personality traits and behaviors. Individuals who score high in these traits often display a profound lack of empathy, a tendency to manipulate others, and a diminished capacity for feeling guilt or remorse. Psychologists typically divide the condition into two separate categories to better understand it.
The first category involves interpersonal and emotional features, such as superficial charm, grandiosity, and a failure to form deep emotional bonds. The second category features antisocial lifestyle behaviors, including high impulsivity, a need for stimulation, and a history of rule-breaking or delinquency. People with an abundance of these traits are at a higher risk of engaging in persistent anger and repeated violence.
Intimate partner violence is one such form of violence, involving physical, psychological, or sexual harm against a partner. Researchers are trying to map the biological foundations of psychopathy to better understand its connection to continuous aggressive behavior. While previous studies have looked at the brain structures of people with psychopathic traits, very few have specifically focused on men convicted of violence against their female partners.
Ángel Romero-Martínez, a researcher in the Department of Psychobiology at the University of Valencia, led a team to investigate how the physical anatomy of the brain correlates with these personality traits. The research team included colleagues from the University of Valencia and the La Fe Health Research Institute in Spain. They wanted to see if the physical structure of the brain associated with psychopathic traits differed between domestic violence perpetrators and non-violent men.
Before conducting their own experiment, Romero-Martínez and his colleagues completed a systematic review of the existing scientific literature. They analyzed 29 published studies to see which areas of the brain were most frequently linked to psychopathy in adult men. This initial phase allowed them to focus on regions that consistently showed physical differences, such as reduced volume or thinner layers of tissue.
The brain is covered by a folded outer layer known as the cerebral cortex, which is packed with the bodies of nerve cells, often called gray matter. The thickness of this gray matter varies across different regions of the brain and changes in response to aging, genetics, and environment. Variations in cortical thickness are associated with how well specific parts of the brain execute their functions, ranging from memory to impulse control.
The initial literature review pointed the researchers to specific frontal and temporal zones of the brain. The orbitofrontal cortex, a region situated just behind the eyes, appeared especially relevant because it helps integrate internal emotional signals and guides decision-making behavior. The insula, a region buried deep within the brain folds that aids in adopting other people’s perspectives, also surfaced repeatedly in the scientific literature.
Armed with these specific areas of interest, the researchers recruited 125 male participants for a physical brain scanning study. The sample included 67 men who had been convicted of intimate partner violence and were enrolled in a mandatory psychological intervention program. They also recruited 58 control participants from the surrounding community through advertisements and social media.
The researchers screened the control participants heavily to ensure they had no criminal records and no history of any form of intimate partner aggression. All participants in both groups were required to have no history of severe brain trauma, physical illnesses, or major psychiatric disorders outside the scope of the study. The men then took part in structured interviews to evaluate their psychopathic traits using an instrument known as the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised.
During these interviews, experienced specialists rated the men on the two main categories of psychopathy based on their answers and verified background information. Following the behavioral evaluation, the participants visited a hospital to undergo magnetic resonance imaging scans of their brains. The imaging machine used strong magnetic fields to create high-resolution, three-dimensional maps of each participant’s brain structure.
The researchers let automated software calculate the average thickness of the gray matter in the specific regions they had previously identified. They then ran mathematical models to see if there was a direct association between a participant’s score on the psychopathy checklist and the thickness of their brain regions. They factored in variables like age, educational level, head size, and drug or alcohol use to ensure these outside elements did not skew the results.
Across all 125 men, higher total scores in psychopathic traits mathematically correlated with a thinner cerebral cortex in several key areas. The left orbitofrontal cortex, the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, and the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex all showed reduced thickness in men with higher traits. This pattern of reduced thickness was also present in the left insula and the right anterior cingulate cortex.
These inverse relationships were mostly driven by the first category of psychopathy, which deals with emotional detachment and interpersonal manipulation. The second category, which deals with antisocial lifestyle choices, only correlated with a thinner left superior frontal gyrus. Reduced tissue in these specific frontal and deep-brain regions could explain why individuals with high psychopathic traits struggle with emotional restraint, behavioral anticipation, and recognizing the feelings of others.
The researchers then tested whether being a convicted domestic violence perpetrator moderated this relationship between brain structure and personality traits. Including the participant’s group status in the statistical models did not significantly increase the amount of explained variance in the data. The biological relationship connecting high psychopathic traits to a thinner cortex was similar in the control group and the group of violent offenders. A non-violent man with an elevated psychopathy score exhibited the same structural brain profile as an offender with a similar score.
The authors noted several limitations regarding their study. Because the research took place at a single point in time, the results cannot prove that a thinner cortex directly causes psychopathic traits or violent behavior. The study also relied on a specific population of mostly Spanish men without severe mental health disorders, meaning the findings might not apply to women or other cultural groups.
Future initiatives should examine wider populations of people and incorporate technology that measures brain activity in real time, rather than just anatomical structure. This type of ongoing biology research helps psychologists build more accurate profiles of individuals prone to violent behavior. By combining neuroimaging results with standard psychological evaluations, professionals hope to eventually improve therapeutic interventions and lower the rates of domestic violence recidivism.
The study, “Reduced cortical thickness in fronto-temporo-parietal regions associated with high psychopathic traits: conclusions of a review and an empirical study with intimate partner violence perpetrators,” was authored by Ángel Romero-Martínez, María Beser-Robles, Leonor Cerdá-Alberich, Fernando Aparici, Luis Martí-Bonmatí, Carolina Sarrate-Costa, Marisol Lila, and Luis Moya-Albiol.
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DATE: June 14, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain scan study reveals physical links to PTSD’s most distressing symptoms
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scan-study-reveals-physical-links-to-ptsds-most-distressing-symptoms/
The degree to which unwanted traumatic memories force their way into a person’s consciousness—and the intensity with which sufferers feel they are reliving the experience—may be shaped by the physical condition of specific brain connections. This new research was published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Trauma-related intrusive memories are among the most distressing symptoms experienced by people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These memories can appear unexpectedly, often accompanied by intense emotions, vivid mental images, and a powerful sensation that the traumatic event is happening again in the present. Although intrusive memories are considered a defining feature of PTSD, researchers still know relatively little about the brain mechanisms that influence why some people experience these memories more intensely than others.
Previous studies have highlighted the importance of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory, as well as visual processing areas and networks involved in recalling personal experiences. However, how the physical white matter pathways connecting these areas contribute to intrusive memory experiences remained unclear. White matter refers to the brain’s physical “cabling”—the bundles of nerve fibers that carry signals between brain regions.
To address this question, researchers led by Steven J. Granger of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School examined 114 trauma-exposed adults (87 women, average age ~33 years) who experienced symptoms of PTSD and at least two trauma-related intrusive memories per week. Participants completed smartphone-based surveys three times a day over a two-week period, allowing researchers to assess the specific properties of intrusive memories as they occurred in everyday life. The team also conducted advanced MRI scans to examine the integrity of white matter pathways in the brain.
The researchers focused on two major pathways. The first, known as the parahippocampal-parietal cingulum, connects memory-related regions of the brain with areas involved in internally directed thought and autobiographical memory. The second, the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, links memory-related temporal regions with visual processing areas. The team examined whether the quality (measured by fractional anisotropy) of these pathways was associated with five different aspects of intrusive memories: vividness, visual detail, reliving, emotional intensity, and intrusiveness.
The findings revealed that participants with lower structural integrity in the parahippocampal-parietal cingulum reported far more intrusive trauma memories. This association was the most consistent result across multiple statistical approaches. Granger’s team proposed that lower integrity of this connection may reflect a compromised ability of the brain’s memory and attention systems to communicate effectively—potentially making it harder to suppress unwanted memories before they burst into consciousness.
In contrast, lower structural integrity in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus was linked primarily to stronger feelings of *reliving* the traumatic event (and, to a lesser extent, vividness). Granger and colleagues suggested that damage to this visual-memory link might blur the brain’s ability to keep past perceptions clearly separated from present ones. As they write, “Lower [inferior longitudinal fasciculus] integrity may reflect diminished segregation of perceptual and mnemonic information, potentially contributing to the ‘here-and-now’ quality of reliving experiences.”
Interestingly, the researchers also tested a third white matter tract (the frontal-parietal cingulum) as a control and found no associations between its integrity and intrusive memories. This strengthens the argument that the observed relationships are specific to memory-related brain circuits rather than reflecting general differences in overall brain structure.
Some limitations are to be noted. For example, the findings do not establish cause and effect. Because the brain scans were collected at only one point in time, it cannot be determined whether lower white matter integrity is a pre-existing vulnerability that causes intense memories, or if repeated traumatic intrusions physically degrade the white matter over time.
The study, “Microstructural Integrity of Hippocampal-Posterior Cortical White Matter is Associated with Phenomenological Properties of Trauma-Related Intrusive Memories,” was authored by Steven J. Granger, Boyu Ren, Kevin J. Clancy, Yara Pollmann, Justin T. Baker, and Isabelle M. Rosso.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scan-study-reveals-physical-links-to-ptsds-most-distressing-symptoms/
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DATE: June 14, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain scan study reveals physical links to PTSD’s most distressing symptoms
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scan-study-reveals-physical-links-to-ptsds-most-distressing-symptoms/
The degree to which unwanted traumatic memories force their way into a person’s consciousness—and the intensity with which sufferers feel they are reliving the experience—may be shaped by the physical condition of specific brain connections. This new research was published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Trauma-related intrusive memories are among the most distressing symptoms experienced by people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These memories can appear unexpectedly, often accompanied by intense emotions, vivid mental images, and a powerful sensation that the traumatic event is happening again in the present. Although intrusive memories are considered a defining feature of PTSD, researchers still know relatively little about the brain mechanisms that influence why some people experience these memories more intensely than others.
Previous studies have highlighted the importance of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory, as well as visual processing areas and networks involved in recalling personal experiences. However, how the physical white matter pathways connecting these areas contribute to intrusive memory experiences remained unclear. White matter refers to the brain’s physical “cabling”—the bundles of nerve fibers that carry signals between brain regions.
To address this question, researchers led by Steven J. Granger of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School examined 114 trauma-exposed adults (87 women, average age ~33 years) who experienced symptoms of PTSD and at least two trauma-related intrusive memories per week. Participants completed smartphone-based surveys three times a day over a two-week period, allowing researchers to assess the specific properties of intrusive memories as they occurred in everyday life. The team also conducted advanced MRI scans to examine the integrity of white matter pathways in the brain.
The researchers focused on two major pathways. The first, known as the parahippocampal-parietal cingulum, connects memory-related regions of the brain with areas involved in internally directed thought and autobiographical memory. The second, the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, links memory-related temporal regions with visual processing areas. The team examined whether the quality (measured by fractional anisotropy) of these pathways was associated with five different aspects of intrusive memories: vividness, visual detail, reliving, emotional intensity, and intrusiveness.
The findings revealed that participants with lower structural integrity in the parahippocampal-parietal cingulum reported far more intrusive trauma memories. This association was the most consistent result across multiple statistical approaches. Granger’s team proposed that lower integrity of this connection may reflect a compromised ability of the brain’s memory and attention systems to communicate effectively—potentially making it harder to suppress unwanted memories before they burst into consciousness.
In contrast, lower structural integrity in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus was linked primarily to stronger feelings of *reliving* the traumatic event (and, to a lesser extent, vividness). Granger and colleagues suggested that damage to this visual-memory link might blur the brain’s ability to keep past perceptions clearly separated from present ones. As they write, “Lower [inferior longitudinal fasciculus] integrity may reflect diminished segregation of perceptual and mnemonic information, potentially contributing to the ‘here-and-now’ quality of reliving experiences.”
Interestingly, the researchers also tested a third white matter tract (the frontal-parietal cingulum) as a control and found no associations between its integrity and intrusive memories. This strengthens the argument that the observed relationships are specific to memory-related brain circuits rather than reflecting general differences in overall brain structure.
Some limitations are to be noted. For example, the findings do not establish cause and effect. Because the brain scans were collected at only one point in time, it cannot be determined whether lower white matter integrity is a pre-existing vulnerability that causes intense memories, or if repeated traumatic intrusions physically degrade the white matter over time.
The study, “Microstructural Integrity of Hippocampal-Posterior Cortical White Matter is Associated with Phenomenological Properties of Trauma-Related Intrusive Memories,” was authored by Steven J. Granger, Boyu Ren, Kevin J. Clancy, Yara Pollmann, Justin T. Baker, and Isabelle M. Rosso.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scan-study-reveals-physical-links-to-ptsds-most-distressing-symptoms/
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DATE: June 11, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Dark triad personality traits carry distinct physical signatures in the brain
People with traits like narcissism and psychopathy show both shared and distinct physical differences in brain regions linked to empathy and social cognition. These anatomical variations suggest that while abrasive personality traits share biological roots, they also carry unique signatures in the human brain. The research was published in the Journal of Neural Transmission.
Psychologists frequently group certain abrasive personality traits under a single banner known as the dark triad. This conceptual grouping includes machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. Researchers have debated how best to classify these traits because they frequently overlap in real-world behaviors and interpersonal conflicts.
Each trait in the dark triad carries a recognized psychological profile. Machiavellianism represents a tendency toward manipulative behaviors, a cynical worldview, and a preference for strategic calculation over honesty. Subclinical narcissism involves grandiosity, heavily seated entitlement, and a constant need for external validation from peers. Subclinical psychopathy is characterized by severe impulsivity, thrill-seeking habits, and a distinct lack of empathy or remorse for negative actions.
The term subclinical means these unique traits are present in the general population but do not meet the strict diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric disorder. Even in a subclinical context, individuals displaying these traits can cause immense social and emotional disruption in the lives of the people around them. This capacity for harm has driven psychologists to better understand the underlying biological mechanisms of these behaviors.
Some experts suggest that because these three traits share a core of emotional coldness and interpersonal malevolence, they should be viewed as a single underlying factor of a dark personality. Others argue the traits are distinct enough in their presentation and origin to remain theoretically separated. Most of the evidence informing this debate has previously come from self-reported survey data and behavioral observations.
Physical brain data on the dark triad remains relatively scarce in the modern scientific literature. Previous neurobiological studies have frequently focused on only one trait at a time or relied on highly specific clinical populations, such as convicted criminal offenders. This makes it difficult to separate the specific effects of everyday personality variations from the massive disruptions caused by severe psychiatric conditions or environmental traumas.
Lead author Emilia L. Mielke, a researcher at the University of Heidelberg, and her colleagues sought to address this knowledge gap. They wanted to determine if the proposed psychological overlap of the dark triad traits is mirrored in the physical structure of the human brain. They focused on a sample of healthy men to specifically examine trait-related variations without the confounding variables of clinical or forensic settings.
The research team recruited participants from the general population using online advertisements in their local community. Volunteers took an initial survey called the Short Dark Triad questionnaire, which ranks respondents on their baseline levels of machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Out of the hundreds who applied, the researchers selected twenty-four men who scored in the highest mathematical tier of these combined traits. They additionally selected a comparison group of twenty-seven men who scored in the lowest tier.
All chosen participants underwent a rigorous psychological screening process through standardized medical interviews. This screening allowed the researchers to securely rule out any clinical psychiatric illnesses or recognizable personality disorders. The volunteers then entered a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which uses strong magnetic fields to map the internal structures of the body in high resolution. The researchers used the resulting scans to acquire exact physical volume measurements of the participants’ brain tissue.
The team specifically analyzed gray matter volume using a technique called voxel-based morphometry. Gray matter is the darker tissue of the brain composed mostly of nerve cell bodies, which handles the processing of information. A voxel is akin to a three-dimensional pixel that represents a microscopic cube of human brain tissue. By comparing these voxels, specialized software calculates precise tissue volume differences across the entire brain.
When comparing the high-scoring group to the low-scoring group, the researchers found several shared anatomical physical differences. The group with elevated dark triad traits had specifically reduced gray matter volume in a brain area called the right precentral gyrus. This region is primarily known by medical texts for planning and executing voluntary physical body movements.
Contemporary theories of brain function suggest the precentral gyrus also plays a major part in routine action observation and internal imitation. Some models of human empathy propose that we understand the deep emotions of others by internally simulating their subtle physical expressions. A reduction in functioning tissue in this specific area might relate to the reduced emotional responsiveness frequently observed in manipulative or highly callous individuals.
The high-scoring group also displayed smaller gray matter volume in a part of the cerebellum known as crus II. The cerebellum sits at the very back of the brain and coordinates movement, but specific zones like crus II are deeply involved in social cognition and recognizing facial expressions. The group differences additionally extended into the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a massive region behind the forehead that manages abstract reasoning and the cognitive control of emotions.
After finding these shared anatomical differences, the researchers looked exclusively at the high-scoring group to isolate the unique signatures of each separate trait. They used a statistical model that allowed them to evaluate one trait while holding the mathematical influence of the other two constant. This revealed a nuanced mapping where each dark triad component linked to heavily specific and separated brain regions.
Machiavellianism was uniquely associated with reduced gray matter in the left superior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This specific brain area is often engaged during complex moral decision-making tasks in laboratory environments. Damage or dysfunction in this sector has been historically linked to a lack of moral concern and increased strategic manipulation.
Subclinical psychopathy shared a similar negative association with the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. It was additionally linked to lower gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex. This region, situated deep in the middle of the brain, acts as a primary neurological hub for processing affective empathy and integrating social information.
Subclinical narcissism showed the most widespread unique physical associations among the men profiled. Higher scores in narcissism correlated with reduced gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex and the medial orbitofrontal cortex. The orbitofrontal cortex rests just above the eyes and helps the brain learn the emotional or rewarding value of different stimuli.
Narcissism scores also charted negatively against gray matter volume in the superior temporal gyrus and the insula. The insula maps internal bodily sensations and is heavily activated when people experience empathy for another person’s immediate pain. Together, these frontal and temporal sections form a network that neuroscientists frequently link to the empathy deficits seen in highly narcissistic individuals.
The researchers caution against drawing overly sweeping behavioral conclusions from these static structural brain scans. The sheer size of an anatomical brain region does not automatically determine how effectively it functions in real time. The volume of gray matter can be influenced by many microscopic cellular factors, including the density of neurons and the abundance of supporting bodily tissues.
The study utilized a relatively small pool of participants, and some of the broader anatomical findings did not reach statistical significance after correcting for exploratory data analysis. The recruitment was also limited entirely to young adult men. Men generally score higher on dark triad assessments than women, but excluding women prevents the researchers from knowing if these biological patterns represent universal human traits or sex-specific variations.
Future investigations could use functional brain scanning, which actively measures blood flow in real time, to see how these brain structures behave while participants perform structured social tasks. Tracking these networks during active decision-making could clarify exactly how physical tissue differences translate into cold emotional interactions. Exploring these biological origins could eventually help behavioral experts manage the heavy interpersonal toll exacted by these complex traits.
The study, “Common and distinct morphometric correlates of the Dark Triad traits: machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy in a healthy male sample,” was authored by Emilia L. Mielke, Corinne Neukel, Corinna Roth, Katja Bertsch, Friederike Nüssel, and Sabine C. Herpertz.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DarkTriad #Narcissism #Psychopathy #Machiavellianism #BrainImaging #GrayMatter #PrecentralGyrus #DorsolateralPFC #Empathy #Neuroscience
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DATE: June 11, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Dark triad personality traits carry distinct physical signatures in the brain
People with traits like narcissism and psychopathy show both shared and distinct physical differences in brain regions linked to empathy and social cognition. These anatomical variations suggest that while abrasive personality traits share biological roots, they also carry unique signatures in the human brain. The research was published in the Journal of Neural Transmission.
Psychologists frequently group certain abrasive personality traits under a single banner known as the dark triad. This conceptual grouping includes machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. Researchers have debated how best to classify these traits because they frequently overlap in real-world behaviors and interpersonal conflicts.
Each trait in the dark triad carries a recognized psychological profile. Machiavellianism represents a tendency toward manipulative behaviors, a cynical worldview, and a preference for strategic calculation over honesty. Subclinical narcissism involves grandiosity, heavily seated entitlement, and a constant need for external validation from peers. Subclinical psychopathy is characterized by severe impulsivity, thrill-seeking habits, and a distinct lack of empathy or remorse for negative actions.
The term subclinical means these unique traits are present in the general population but do not meet the strict diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric disorder. Even in a subclinical context, individuals displaying these traits can cause immense social and emotional disruption in the lives of the people around them. This capacity for harm has driven psychologists to better understand the underlying biological mechanisms of these behaviors.
Some experts suggest that because these three traits share a core of emotional coldness and interpersonal malevolence, they should be viewed as a single underlying factor of a dark personality. Others argue the traits are distinct enough in their presentation and origin to remain theoretically separated. Most of the evidence informing this debate has previously come from self-reported survey data and behavioral observations.
Physical brain data on the dark triad remains relatively scarce in the modern scientific literature. Previous neurobiological studies have frequently focused on only one trait at a time or relied on highly specific clinical populations, such as convicted criminal offenders. This makes it difficult to separate the specific effects of everyday personality variations from the massive disruptions caused by severe psychiatric conditions or environmental traumas.
Lead author Emilia L. Mielke, a researcher at the University of Heidelberg, and her colleagues sought to address this knowledge gap. They wanted to determine if the proposed psychological overlap of the dark triad traits is mirrored in the physical structure of the human brain. They focused on a sample of healthy men to specifically examine trait-related variations without the confounding variables of clinical or forensic settings.
The research team recruited participants from the general population using online advertisements in their local community. Volunteers took an initial survey called the Short Dark Triad questionnaire, which ranks respondents on their baseline levels of machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Out of the hundreds who applied, the researchers selected twenty-four men who scored in the highest mathematical tier of these combined traits. They additionally selected a comparison group of twenty-seven men who scored in the lowest tier.
All chosen participants underwent a rigorous psychological screening process through standardized medical interviews. This screening allowed the researchers to securely rule out any clinical psychiatric illnesses or recognizable personality disorders. The volunteers then entered a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which uses strong magnetic fields to map the internal structures of the body in high resolution. The researchers used the resulting scans to acquire exact physical volume measurements of the participants’ brain tissue.
The team specifically analyzed gray matter volume using a technique called voxel-based morphometry. Gray matter is the darker tissue of the brain composed mostly of nerve cell bodies, which handles the processing of information. A voxel is akin to a three-dimensional pixel that represents a microscopic cube of human brain tissue. By comparing these voxels, specialized software calculates precise tissue volume differences across the entire brain.
When comparing the high-scoring group to the low-scoring group, the researchers found several shared anatomical physical differences. The group with elevated dark triad traits had specifically reduced gray matter volume in a brain area called the right precentral gyrus. This region is primarily known by medical texts for planning and executing voluntary physical body movements.
Contemporary theories of brain function suggest the precentral gyrus also plays a major part in routine action observation and internal imitation. Some models of human empathy propose that we understand the deep emotions of others by internally simulating their subtle physical expressions. A reduction in functioning tissue in this specific area might relate to the reduced emotional responsiveness frequently observed in manipulative or highly callous individuals.
The high-scoring group also displayed smaller gray matter volume in a part of the cerebellum known as crus II. The cerebellum sits at the very back of the brain and coordinates movement, but specific zones like crus II are deeply involved in social cognition and recognizing facial expressions. The group differences additionally extended into the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a massive region behind the forehead that manages abstract reasoning and the cognitive control of emotions.
After finding these shared anatomical differences, the researchers looked exclusively at the high-scoring group to isolate the unique signatures of each separate trait. They used a statistical model that allowed them to evaluate one trait while holding the mathematical influence of the other two constant. This revealed a nuanced mapping where each dark triad component linked to heavily specific and separated brain regions.
Machiavellianism was uniquely associated with reduced gray matter in the left superior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This specific brain area is often engaged during complex moral decision-making tasks in laboratory environments. Damage or dysfunction in this sector has been historically linked to a lack of moral concern and increased strategic manipulation.
Subclinical psychopathy shared a similar negative association with the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. It was additionally linked to lower gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex. This region, situated deep in the middle of the brain, acts as a primary neurological hub for processing affective empathy and integrating social information.
Subclinical narcissism showed the most widespread unique physical associations among the men profiled. Higher scores in narcissism correlated with reduced gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex and the medial orbitofrontal cortex. The orbitofrontal cortex rests just above the eyes and helps the brain learn the emotional or rewarding value of different stimuli.
Narcissism scores also charted negatively against gray matter volume in the superior temporal gyrus and the insula. The insula maps internal bodily sensations and is heavily activated when people experience empathy for another person’s immediate pain. Together, these frontal and temporal sections form a network that neuroscientists frequently link to the empathy deficits seen in highly narcissistic individuals.
The researchers caution against drawing overly sweeping behavioral conclusions from these static structural brain scans. The sheer size of an anatomical brain region does not automatically determine how effectively it functions in real time. The volume of gray matter can be influenced by many microscopic cellular factors, including the density of neurons and the abundance of supporting bodily tissues.
The study utilized a relatively small pool of participants, and some of the broader anatomical findings did not reach statistical significance after correcting for exploratory data analysis. The recruitment was also limited entirely to young adult men. Men generally score higher on dark triad assessments than women, but excluding women prevents the researchers from knowing if these biological patterns represent universal human traits or sex-specific variations.
Future investigations could use functional brain scanning, which actively measures blood flow in real time, to see how these brain structures behave while participants perform structured social tasks. Tracking these networks during active decision-making could clarify exactly how physical tissue differences translate into cold emotional interactions. Exploring these biological origins could eventually help behavioral experts manage the heavy interpersonal toll exacted by these complex traits.
The study, “Common and distinct morphometric correlates of the Dark Triad traits: machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy in a healthy male sample,” was authored by Emilia L. Mielke, Corinne Neukel, Corinna Roth, Katja Bertsch, Friederike Nüssel, and Sabine C. Herpertz.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DarkTriad #Narcissism #Psychopathy #Machiavellianism #BrainImaging #GrayMatter #PrecentralGyrus #DorsolateralPFC #Empathy #Neuroscience
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DATE: June 10, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Trauma-related mental illness is linked to altered thalamus size
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-trauma-and-depression-alter-the-thalamus/
Following a traumatic event, some individuals develop mental health conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder or clinical depression, and these conditions may be connected to the size of a brain region called the thalamus. A recent study found that specific parts of the thalamus vary in volume depending on a person’s exact psychiatric diagnosis, the severity of their symptoms, and the type of childhood adversity they experienced. The research was published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Up to 85 percent of the general population will experience a traumatic event at some point in their lives. While many people recover naturally over time, a large number of individuals develop chronic mental health conditions in the aftermath. Two of the most common conditions following trauma exposure are posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.
Medical researchers have spent decades studying how traumatic events alter the physical structure of the human brain. Much of this past work focused on regions known to manage fear and memory, such as the amygdala and the hippocampus. The thalamus has historically received much less attention in the context of psychiatric conditions. This is changing as scientists learn more about its wide-ranging functions.
The thalamus sits deep in the center of the brain. It is often described as the central relay station for the human nervous system. Almost all sensory information travels through the thalamus before reaching the outer layers of the brain for full processing. It acts as a traffic director for sights, sounds, and physical sensations.
The thalamus is not a single uniform lump of tissue. It is actually composed of many smaller subdivisions called nuclei. Each of these tiny nuclei has a specialized job within the brain. Some nuclei wire directly into the sensory and motor systems, while others connect deeply to the brain’s emotion and memory centers.
Previous studies assessing thalamus size in trauma survivors produced a confusing mix of results. Some older studies suggested that trauma relates to a smaller thalamus, while others found a larger thalamus among affected patients. Most of these earlier projects relied on relatively small groups of participants. Small sample sizes often lead to statistical variations and results that are hard to reproduce.
Lead author Nick Steele, a researcher at Duke University and the Department of Veterans Affairs, wanted to clarify these conflicting records. Steele worked alongside an international team of scientists connected to the ENIGMA posttraumatic stress disorder working group. This collaboration allowed the team to pool brain scans and patient evaluations from 20 different research facilities around the globe.
The team analyzed structural magnetic resonance imaging brain scans from 2,058 participants. This imaging technology uses strong magnetic fields to map the exact physical dimensions of brain tissue. The participant pool included 1,018 individuals who had experienced trauma but did not develop psychiatric conditions. The remaining 1,040 participants had developed posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, or a combination of both illnesses.
Around half of all patients diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder suffer from clinical depression at the same time. This combination typically leads to more severe behavioral symptoms and a much harder time finding effective medical treatments. Taking this combined group into account allowed the researchers to evaluate the worst cases of post-trauma mental illness.
The scientists used specific imaging software to measure the overall volume of the left and right thalamus in each scan. They also isolated and measured the volume of 25 distinct smaller nuclei within each side of the structure. The researchers compared these sizes across the different participant groups while adjusting for demographic variables. They accounted for the participants’ age, biological sex, and total skull size in their mathematical formulas.
Participants diagnosed solely with posttraumatic stress disorder tended to have smaller volumes in several thalamic nuclei compared to the control group. The affected regions in these patients are primarily involved in processing sensory and motor information. This structural difference might explain why people with trauma histories often display heightened or reduced physical reactivity to incoming sensory sights and sounds.
In contrast, individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder displayed smaller volumes in the mediodorsal nuclei. These specific subregions connect heavily to the hippocampus and are heavily involved in learning, memory, and emotional regulation. Participants burdened with combined posttraumatic stress disorder and depression also displayed smaller sizes in these same emotion-focused subregions.
The researchers noticed an unusual pattern when looking at overall symptom severity. Mild to moderate symptoms of both conditions correlated with a smaller overall thalamus size. People experiencing highly severe symptoms of both posttraumatic stress disorder and depression at the same time actually exhibited larger thalamic volumes.
This specific observation about severe symptoms helps explain the conflicting results of older studies. Mild psychiatric distress shrinks the expected volume measurements, but extreme distress combined with multiple diagnoses inflates the measurements. The researchers suggest that differing biological mechanisms might shape the brain as mental illness worsens.
Peeling apart the distinct symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder revealed mixed relationships as well. Symptoms categorized as re-experiencing the trauma or having persistent negative moods tracked alongside smaller thalamic volumes. Conversely, symptoms involving physical hyperarousal and the avoidance of trauma reminders tracked alongside larger thalamic volumes.
The team also evaluated the participants’ histories of childhood trauma. Childhood adversity is a known risk factor for developing psychiatric conditions during adulthood. The developing brain is highly sensitive to environmental stress and early life threats.
When they isolated different types of childhood trauma, the researchers found that abuse correlated with brain volume in opposite ways. A history of childhood physical abuse was associated with a larger left thalamus volume in adulthood. Meanwhile, a history of childhood emotional abuse was associated with a smaller left thalamus volume. The emotional abuse metric particularly tracked with smaller limbic nuclei, which run the brain’s emotional circuitry.
The researchers noted a few caveats regarding their observational work. The study lacked complete information regarding other underlying medical conditions across the patient pool. The team also did not have complete data on history of substance use or the use of psychiatric medications among the participants, though many of the individual research sites excluded drug users automatically.
The participant groups were also unequal in size, with heavily skewed numbers toward the healthy control group. The researchers did not possess a standardized measure to calculate the total lifetime trauma each person experienced. It remains possible that differences in the sheer quantity of traumatic events influenced the results rather than the psychiatric conditions alone.
Because the study looked at a single point in time, it remains unknown whether thalamus size acts as a pre-existing risk factor for mental illness or comes about as a result of the psychiatric symptoms themselves. Future investigations will need to track individuals over time to see how the brain changes in real time. Following patients as they receive treatment could clarify how the thalamus adapts to recovery.
The study, “Volumetric Differences of Thalamic Nuclei are Associated with Post-Trauma Psychopathology,” was authored by Nick Steele, Ahmed Hussain, C. Lexi Baird, Courtney C. Haswell, Delin Sun, Leonel Rangel-Jimenez, Chadi G. Abdallah, Michael Angstadt, Geoffrey May, Hannah Berg, Jennifer U. Blackford, Josh M. Cisler, Judith K. Daniels, Nicholas D. Davenport, Richard J. Davidson, Maria Densmore, Seth G. Disner, Wissam El-Hage, Amit Etkin, Negar Fani, Jessie L. Frijling, Evan M. Gordon, Daniel W. Grupe, Ryan J. Herringa, Anna R. Hudson, Neda Jahanshad, Tanja Jovanovic, Anthony King, Saskia B.J. Koch, Ruth Lanius, Amit Lazarov, Gen Li, Israel Liberzon, Shmuel Lissek, Guangming Lu, Antje Manthey, Adi Maron-Katz, Laura Nawijn, Steven M. Nelson, Yuval Neria, Richard W.J. Neufeld, Jack B. Nitschke, Bunmi O. Olatunji, Miranda Olff, Matthew Peverill, Yann Quidé, Orren Ravid, Gopalkumar Rakesh, Kerry Ressler, Marisa Ross, Kelly Sambrook, Anika Sierk, Scott R. Sponheim, Jennifer Stevens, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Jean Théberge, Sanne J.H. van Rooij, Mirjam van Zuiden, Dick J. Veltman, Robert R.J.M. Vermeiren, Henrik Walter, Li Wang, Xi Zhu, Ye Zhu, Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Christine Larson, Terri A. deRoon-Cassini, Carissa W. Tomas, Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald, Andrew S. Cotton, Erin N. O’Leary, Hong Xie, Xin Wang, Emily L. Dennis, David F. Tate, David X. Cifu, William C. Walker, Elisabeth A. Wilde, Paul M. Thompson, and Rajendra A. Morey.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-trauma-and-depression-alter-the-thalamus/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #trauma #PTSD #depression #thalamus #neuroscience #brainimaging #MDD #PTSDanddepression #neuropsychiatry #ENIGMA
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DATE: June 10, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Trauma-related mental illness is linked to altered thalamus size
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-trauma-and-depression-alter-the-thalamus/
Following a traumatic event, some individuals develop mental health conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder or clinical depression, and these conditions may be connected to the size of a brain region called the thalamus. A recent study found that specific parts of the thalamus vary in volume depending on a person’s exact psychiatric diagnosis, the severity of their symptoms, and the type of childhood adversity they experienced. The research was published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Up to 85 percent of the general population will experience a traumatic event at some point in their lives. While many people recover naturally over time, a large number of individuals develop chronic mental health conditions in the aftermath. Two of the most common conditions following trauma exposure are posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.
Medical researchers have spent decades studying how traumatic events alter the physical structure of the human brain. Much of this past work focused on regions known to manage fear and memory, such as the amygdala and the hippocampus. The thalamus has historically received much less attention in the context of psychiatric conditions. This is changing as scientists learn more about its wide-ranging functions.
The thalamus sits deep in the center of the brain. It is often described as the central relay station for the human nervous system. Almost all sensory information travels through the thalamus before reaching the outer layers of the brain for full processing. It acts as a traffic director for sights, sounds, and physical sensations.
The thalamus is not a single uniform lump of tissue. It is actually composed of many smaller subdivisions called nuclei. Each of these tiny nuclei has a specialized job within the brain. Some nuclei wire directly into the sensory and motor systems, while others connect deeply to the brain’s emotion and memory centers.
Previous studies assessing thalamus size in trauma survivors produced a confusing mix of results. Some older studies suggested that trauma relates to a smaller thalamus, while others found a larger thalamus among affected patients. Most of these earlier projects relied on relatively small groups of participants. Small sample sizes often lead to statistical variations and results that are hard to reproduce.
Lead author Nick Steele, a researcher at Duke University and the Department of Veterans Affairs, wanted to clarify these conflicting records. Steele worked alongside an international team of scientists connected to the ENIGMA posttraumatic stress disorder working group. This collaboration allowed the team to pool brain scans and patient evaluations from 20 different research facilities around the globe.
The team analyzed structural magnetic resonance imaging brain scans from 2,058 participants. This imaging technology uses strong magnetic fields to map the exact physical dimensions of brain tissue. The participant pool included 1,018 individuals who had experienced trauma but did not develop psychiatric conditions. The remaining 1,040 participants had developed posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, or a combination of both illnesses.
Around half of all patients diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder suffer from clinical depression at the same time. This combination typically leads to more severe behavioral symptoms and a much harder time finding effective medical treatments. Taking this combined group into account allowed the researchers to evaluate the worst cases of post-trauma mental illness.
The scientists used specific imaging software to measure the overall volume of the left and right thalamus in each scan. They also isolated and measured the volume of 25 distinct smaller nuclei within each side of the structure. The researchers compared these sizes across the different participant groups while adjusting for demographic variables. They accounted for the participants’ age, biological sex, and total skull size in their mathematical formulas.
Participants diagnosed solely with posttraumatic stress disorder tended to have smaller volumes in several thalamic nuclei compared to the control group. The affected regions in these patients are primarily involved in processing sensory and motor information. This structural difference might explain why people with trauma histories often display heightened or reduced physical reactivity to incoming sensory sights and sounds.
In contrast, individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder displayed smaller volumes in the mediodorsal nuclei. These specific subregions connect heavily to the hippocampus and are heavily involved in learning, memory, and emotional regulation. Participants burdened with combined posttraumatic stress disorder and depression also displayed smaller sizes in these same emotion-focused subregions.
The researchers noticed an unusual pattern when looking at overall symptom severity. Mild to moderate symptoms of both conditions correlated with a smaller overall thalamus size. People experiencing highly severe symptoms of both posttraumatic stress disorder and depression at the same time actually exhibited larger thalamic volumes.
This specific observation about severe symptoms helps explain the conflicting results of older studies. Mild psychiatric distress shrinks the expected volume measurements, but extreme distress combined with multiple diagnoses inflates the measurements. The researchers suggest that differing biological mechanisms might shape the brain as mental illness worsens.
Peeling apart the distinct symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder revealed mixed relationships as well. Symptoms categorized as re-experiencing the trauma or having persistent negative moods tracked alongside smaller thalamic volumes. Conversely, symptoms involving physical hyperarousal and the avoidance of trauma reminders tracked alongside larger thalamic volumes.
The team also evaluated the participants’ histories of childhood trauma. Childhood adversity is a known risk factor for developing psychiatric conditions during adulthood. The developing brain is highly sensitive to environmental stress and early life threats.
When they isolated different types of childhood trauma, the researchers found that abuse correlated with brain volume in opposite ways. A history of childhood physical abuse was associated with a larger left thalamus volume in adulthood. Meanwhile, a history of childhood emotional abuse was associated with a smaller left thalamus volume. The emotional abuse metric particularly tracked with smaller limbic nuclei, which run the brain’s emotional circuitry.
The researchers noted a few caveats regarding their observational work. The study lacked complete information regarding other underlying medical conditions across the patient pool. The team also did not have complete data on history of substance use or the use of psychiatric medications among the participants, though many of the individual research sites excluded drug users automatically.
The participant groups were also unequal in size, with heavily skewed numbers toward the healthy control group. The researchers did not possess a standardized measure to calculate the total lifetime trauma each person experienced. It remains possible that differences in the sheer quantity of traumatic events influenced the results rather than the psychiatric conditions alone.
Because the study looked at a single point in time, it remains unknown whether thalamus size acts as a pre-existing risk factor for mental illness or comes about as a result of the psychiatric symptoms themselves. Future investigations will need to track individuals over time to see how the brain changes in real time. Following patients as they receive treatment could clarify how the thalamus adapts to recovery.
The study, “Volumetric Differences of Thalamic Nuclei are Associated with Post-Trauma Psychopathology,” was authored by Nick Steele, Ahmed Hussain, C. Lexi Baird, Courtney C. Haswell, Delin Sun, Leonel Rangel-Jimenez, Chadi G. Abdallah, Michael Angstadt, Geoffrey May, Hannah Berg, Jennifer U. Blackford, Josh M. Cisler, Judith K. Daniels, Nicholas D. Davenport, Richard J. Davidson, Maria Densmore, Seth G. Disner, Wissam El-Hage, Amit Etkin, Negar Fani, Jessie L. Frijling, Evan M. Gordon, Daniel W. Grupe, Ryan J. Herringa, Anna R. Hudson, Neda Jahanshad, Tanja Jovanovic, Anthony King, Saskia B.J. Koch, Ruth Lanius, Amit Lazarov, Gen Li, Israel Liberzon, Shmuel Lissek, Guangming Lu, Antje Manthey, Adi Maron-Katz, Laura Nawijn, Steven M. Nelson, Yuval Neria, Richard W.J. Neufeld, Jack B. Nitschke, Bunmi O. Olatunji, Miranda Olff, Matthew Peverill, Yann Quidé, Orren Ravid, Gopalkumar Rakesh, Kerry Ressler, Marisa Ross, Kelly Sambrook, Anika Sierk, Scott R. Sponheim, Jennifer Stevens, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Jean Théberge, Sanne J.H. van Rooij, Mirjam van Zuiden, Dick J. Veltman, Robert R.J.M. Vermeiren, Henrik Walter, Li Wang, Xi Zhu, Ye Zhu, Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Christine Larson, Terri A. deRoon-Cassini, Carissa W. Tomas, Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald, Andrew S. Cotton, Erin N. O’Leary, Hong Xie, Xin Wang, Emily L. Dennis, David F. Tate, David X. Cifu, William C. Walker, Elisabeth A. Wilde, Paul M. Thompson, and Rajendra A. Morey.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-trauma-and-depression-alter-the-thalamus/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #trauma #PTSD #depression #thalamus #neuroscience #brainimaging #MDD #PTSDanddepression #neuropsychiatry #ENIGMA
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MIT develops self-organizing laser beam for faster 3D brain imaging
📰 Original title: MIT scientists turn chaotic laser light into powerful brain imaging tool
🤖 IA: It's not clickbait ✅
👥 Usuarios: It's not clickbait ✅View full AI summary: https://killbait.com/en/mit-develops-self-organizing-laser-beam-for-faster-3d-brain-imaging/?redirpost=6cdaa6f2-a99e-41ae-89c5-44c0411508fb
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MIT develops self-organizing laser beam for faster 3D brain imaging
📰 Original title: MIT scientists turn chaotic laser light into powerful brain imaging tool
🤖 IA: It's not clickbait ✅
👥 Usuarios: It's not clickbait ✅View full AI summary: https://killbait.com/en/mit-develops-self-organizing-laser-beam-for-faster-3d-brain-imaging/?redirpost=6cdaa6f2-a99e-41ae-89c5-44c0411508fb
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ggseg.extra now builds cortical brain atlases directly from the mesh geometry! A 150-region Destrieux atlas tok 9 seconds. No screenshots, no ImageMagick, no headless browser.
Same Destrieux atlas: 53,000 vertices before, 6,000 after. The borders are smoother with fewer vertices because the geometry is right from the start.
https://ggsegverse.github.io/ggseg.extra/
ggseg.extra is part of the #ggsegverse ecosystem for brain visualization in R. Dev version on GitHub.
-
ggseg.extra now builds cortical brain atlases directly from the mesh geometry! A 150-region Destrieux atlas tok 9 seconds. No screenshots, no ImageMagick, no headless browser.
Same Destrieux atlas: 53,000 vertices before, 6,000 after. The borders are smoother with fewer vertices because the geometry is right from the start.
https://ggsegverse.github.io/ggseg.extra/
ggseg.extra is part of the #ggsegverse ecosystem for brain visualization in R. Dev version on GitHub.
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More signs found that Mediterranean eating reduces brain disease risk
Greek yoghurt, fresh tomatoes and greens, fish so fresh it drips seawater, little by way of saturated fats or pro…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #MediterraneanFood #brainimaging #Cognitivedecline #eatingabalanceddiet #healthyfats #Mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #mediterraneanfood #ZhejiangUniversitySchoolofMedicine
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2567055/more-signs-found-that-mediterranean-eating-reduces-brain-disease-risk/ -
More signs found that Mediterranean eating reduces brain disease risk
Greek yoghurt, fresh tomatoes and greens, fish so fresh it drips seawater, little by way of saturated fats or pro…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #MediterraneanFood #brainimaging #Cognitivedecline #eatingabalanceddiet #healthyfats #Mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #mediterraneanfood #ZhejiangUniversitySchoolofMedicine
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2567055/more-signs-found-that-mediterranean-eating-reduces-brain-disease-risk/ -
More signs found that Mediterranean eating reduces brain disease risk https://www.diningandcooking.com/2567055/more-signs-found-that-mediterranean-eating-reduces-brain-disease-risk/ #BrainImaging #CognitiveDecline #EatingABalancedDiet #HealthyFats #Mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #ZhejiangUniversitySchoolOfMedicine
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More signs found that Mediterranean eating reduces brain disease risk https://www.diningandcooking.com/2567055/more-signs-found-that-mediterranean-eating-reduces-brain-disease-risk/ #BrainImaging #CognitiveDecline #EatingABalancedDiet #HealthyFats #Mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #ZhejiangUniversitySchoolOfMedicine
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New scientific data suggest three distinct types of ADHD.
Based on the analysis of brain imaging scans, the researchers concluded that there may be three distinct subtypes of ADHD, each with different profiles.
Read more: https://omniletters.com/new-scientific-data-suggest-three-distinct-types-of-adhd/
#ADHD #MentalHealth #Neuroscience #BrainResearch #ScientificDiscovery #Psychology #BrainImaging #HealthScience #Neurodiversity #ResearchUpdate
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New scientific data suggest three distinct types of ADHD.
Based on the analysis of brain imaging scans, the researchers concluded that there may be three distinct subtypes of ADHD, each with different profiles.
Read more: https://omniletters.com/new-scientific-data-suggest-three-distinct-types-of-adhd/
#ADHD #MentalHealth #Neuroscience #BrainResearch #ScientificDiscovery #Psychology #BrainImaging #HealthScience #Neurodiversity #ResearchUpdate
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4 Ways Childhood Trauma Physically Changes a Man’s Brain
Originally Published on January 13th, 2026 at 10:23 amIntroduction: More Than a Memory
It is widely understood that childhood trauma, particularly childhood sexual abuse (CSA), leaves deep and lasting psychological scars.
The experience can shape a person’s emotional landscape for a lifetime. It can lead to challenges like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. For many, the impact feels profound, but the injury itself can seem invisible.
But what if the damage wasn’t just psychological? What if the trauma left a physical, measurable imprint on the very structure of the brain? A new brain imaging study provides compelling evidence that this is exactly what happens.
The research focuses specifically on the long-term neurophysiological effects of CSA in men. We know this is a topic that remains heavily stigmatized and under-researched. Despite its prevalence, with approximately 1 in 25 men in Canada experiencing sexual abuse before age 15 (Heidinger, 2022), the physical toll it takes has been poorly understood until now.
This study begins to change that.
1. Childhood Trauma Physically Alters the Brain’s “Communication Highways”
The researchers used a specialized MRI technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). DTI looks deep inside the brain’s white matter.
You can think of white matter as the brain’s internal communication wiring or its information superhighways. White matter consists of bundles of nerve fibers that connect different brain regions and allow them to work together seamlessly.
The study measured a key property of this wiring called “fractional anisotropy” (FA). In simple terms, FA is a measure of the integrity and efficiency of these communication pathways.
Higher FA values indicate well-organized, healthy wiring. While lower values suggest the wiring may be less organized, frayed, or poorly insulated, leading to disrupted signaling.
The study’s core finding was unequivocal: the group of men with a history of CSA had significantly lower FA values in multiple key brain regions compared to the control group. This provides clear physical proof that the trauma fundamentally rewired the brain’s architecture.
2. The Damage Targets Critical Hubs for Emotion, Memory, and Executive Function
The study revealed that the structural changes were not random. They were concentrated in white matter tracts that are critical for regulating the very functions that many survivors struggle with.
The specific regions affected include:
- The Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF): This massive tract showed the largest effect. A finding with a statistical effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.902) so large it indicates a profound difference between the groups. The damage was most pronounced in a segment called SLF II. This connects key hubs for attention and memory to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a critical command center for executive function. This provides a direct neurobiological link explaining why a survivor might struggle with daily tasks like concentrating at work or managing complex projects.
- The Cingulum: As a key part of the brain’s limbic system, the cingulum is a hub for processing emotion, behavior, and memory. Damage here has been previously linked to PTSD and depression. This offers a biological reason for the persistent feelings of anxiety or the intrusive memories that can define a survivor’s experience.
- The Anterior Thalamic Radiation and Forceps Minor: These tracts are essential wiring for the frontal lobe, supporting executive functions like planning complex behaviors and impulse control. Compromised integrity in these pathways can help explain difficulties with emotional regulation and decision-making that survivors often report.
In short, the brain scans reveal a physical roadmap of the injury, showing that the damage isn’t random. It targets the very systems that survivors rely on to regulate emotion, process memory, and maintain focus.
Are you exploring your trauma? Do you feel your childhood experiences were detrimental to your current mental or physical health? Utilize this free, validated, self-report questionnaire to find out.
Take the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Questionnaire
3. Structural Damage from Childhood Trauma Helps Explain Real-World Cognitive Emotional Challenges
One of the most powerful aspects of this research is how it connects the brain’s physical structure to its real-time function.
Some of the same men who participated in this DTI study also took part in another study that used a functional MRI (fMRI) to see how their brains worked during a challenging mental task (Chiasson et al., 2021).
That fMRI study found that when performing an emotional working memory task, the men with CSA histories showed altered brain activation patterns.
Instead of relying on their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the brain’s executive control center, they showed increased activation in limbic areas, the brain’s emotional hub.
This new DTI study provides a compelling physical explanation for why. The structural damage to the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF II), the “highway” that leads directly to the dlPFC, helps explain why that executive control center was less active. The damaged road was unable to carry the traffic. It forced the brain to create functional “detours” through more emotional pathways. It directly links the physical brain changes to the functional difficulties survivors experience.
4. This Evidence is a Powerful Tool Against Stigma Around Male Childhood Trauma
For male survivors of CSA, stigma and shame often create immense barriers to seeking help. This research offers a powerful tool to fight that stigma.
Having objective, empirical evidence that trauma causes a tangible, neurophysiological injury helps reframe the survivor’s experience.
It is not “just in their head” or a sign of weakness; it is a physical injury that requires understanding and clinical support.
The study’s authors highlight this crucial implication in their conclusion:
“Raising awareness of the impact of CSA is crucial—not only to help destigmatize the topic and encourage more men to seek help, but also to equip clinicians with a better understanding of CSA’s neuro-physiological effects, ultimately contributing to more effective interventions and improved treatment outcomes.”
By demonstrating the physical reality of traumatic injury, this research helps move the conversation around male CSA away from silence and stigma and toward one of scientific understanding, compassion, and informed care.
Conclusion: A Deeper Understanding of Healing
This study offers a stark and clear message: childhood trauma is a profound event that can physically reshape the brain’s architecture.
For men who have survived childhood sexual abuse, this research provides concrete, scientific validation of their experience. It shows that the challenges they face are rooted in tangible changes to the brain’s white matter.
The findings underscore that healing from trauma is not merely a psychological exercise but a process that involves a brain that has been physically altered.
As we continue to uncover the deep nature of traumatic injury, it prompts a vital question for us all:
How might this change our approach to healing, compassion, and justice for survivors?
Does this ring true for you or someone you love? Share how this article shined a light on behaviors you hadn’t previously understood in the comments below.
Are you a professional looking to stay up-to-date with the latest information on, sex addiction, trauma, and mental health news and research? Or maybe you’re looking for continuing education courses? Then you should stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!
Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.
Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.
#ACEs #adverseChildhoodExperiences #anxiety #brainImaging #childhoodSexualAbuse #childhoodTrauma #complexTrauma #CSA #depression #diffusionTensorImaging #DTI #emotionalRegulation #executiveFunction #healingAndRecovery #maleSurvivors #menSMentalHealth #mentalHealthEducation #neurobiologyOfTrauma #neuroscience #PTSD #stigma #traumaAndTheBrain #traumaInformedCare #whiteMatter -
4 Ways Childhood Trauma Physically Changes a Man’s Brain
Originally Published on January 13th, 2026 at 10:23 amIntroduction: More Than a Memory
It is widely understood that childhood trauma, particularly childhood sexual abuse (CSA), leaves deep and lasting psychological scars.
The experience can shape a person’s emotional landscape for a lifetime. It can lead to challenges like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. For many, the impact feels profound, but the injury itself can seem invisible.
But what if the damage wasn’t just psychological? What if the trauma left a physical, measurable imprint on the very structure of the brain? A new brain imaging study provides compelling evidence that this is exactly what happens.
The research focuses specifically on the long-term neurophysiological effects of CSA in men. We know this is a topic that remains heavily stigmatized and under-researched. Despite its prevalence, with approximately 1 in 25 men in Canada experiencing sexual abuse before age 15 (Heidinger, 2022), the physical toll it takes has been poorly understood until now.
This study begins to change that.
1. Childhood Trauma Physically Alters the Brain’s “Communication Highways”
The researchers used a specialized MRI technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). DTI looks deep inside the brain’s white matter.
You can think of white matter as the brain’s internal communication wiring or its information superhighways. White matter consists of bundles of nerve fibers that connect different brain regions and allow them to work together seamlessly.
The study measured a key property of this wiring called “fractional anisotropy” (FA). In simple terms, FA is a measure of the integrity and efficiency of these communication pathways.
Higher FA values indicate well-organized, healthy wiring. While lower values suggest the wiring may be less organized, frayed, or poorly insulated, leading to disrupted signaling.
The study’s core finding was unequivocal: the group of men with a history of CSA had significantly lower FA values in multiple key brain regions compared to the control group. This provides clear physical proof that the trauma fundamentally rewired the brain’s architecture.
2. The Damage Targets Critical Hubs for Emotion, Memory, and Executive Function
The study revealed that the structural changes were not random. They were concentrated in white matter tracts that are critical for regulating the very functions that many survivors struggle with.
The specific regions affected include:
- The Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF): This massive tract showed the largest effect. A finding with a statistical effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.902) so large it indicates a profound difference between the groups. The damage was most pronounced in a segment called SLF II. This connects key hubs for attention and memory to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a critical command center for executive function. This provides a direct neurobiological link explaining why a survivor might struggle with daily tasks like concentrating at work or managing complex projects.
- The Cingulum: As a key part of the brain’s limbic system, the cingulum is a hub for processing emotion, behavior, and memory. Damage here has been previously linked to PTSD and depression. This offers a biological reason for the persistent feelings of anxiety or the intrusive memories that can define a survivor’s experience.
- The Anterior Thalamic Radiation and Forceps Minor: These tracts are essential wiring for the frontal lobe, supporting executive functions like planning complex behaviors and impulse control. Compromised integrity in these pathways can help explain difficulties with emotional regulation and decision-making that survivors often report.
In short, the brain scans reveal a physical roadmap of the injury, showing that the damage isn’t random. It targets the very systems that survivors rely on to regulate emotion, process memory, and maintain focus.
Are you exploring your trauma? Do you feel your childhood experiences were detrimental to your current mental or physical health? Utilize this free, validated, self-report questionnaire to find out.
Take the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Questionnaire
3. Structural Damage from Childhood Trauma Helps Explain Real-World Cognitive Emotional Challenges
One of the most powerful aspects of this research is how it connects the brain’s physical structure to its real-time function.
Some of the same men who participated in this DTI study also took part in another study that used a functional MRI (fMRI) to see how their brains worked during a challenging mental task (Chiasson et al., 2021).
That fMRI study found that when performing an emotional working memory task, the men with CSA histories showed altered brain activation patterns.
Instead of relying on their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the brain’s executive control center, they showed increased activation in limbic areas, the brain’s emotional hub.
This new DTI study provides a compelling physical explanation for why. The structural damage to the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF II), the “highway” that leads directly to the dlPFC, helps explain why that executive control center was less active. The damaged road was unable to carry the traffic. It forced the brain to create functional “detours” through more emotional pathways. It directly links the physical brain changes to the functional difficulties survivors experience.
4. This Evidence is a Powerful Tool Against Stigma Around Male Childhood Trauma
For male survivors of CSA, stigma and shame often create immense barriers to seeking help. This research offers a powerful tool to fight that stigma.
Having objective, empirical evidence that trauma causes a tangible, neurophysiological injury helps reframe the survivor’s experience.
It is not “just in their head” or a sign of weakness; it is a physical injury that requires understanding and clinical support.
The study’s authors highlight this crucial implication in their conclusion:
“Raising awareness of the impact of CSA is crucial—not only to help destigmatize the topic and encourage more men to seek help, but also to equip clinicians with a better understanding of CSA’s neuro-physiological effects, ultimately contributing to more effective interventions and improved treatment outcomes.”
By demonstrating the physical reality of traumatic injury, this research helps move the conversation around male CSA away from silence and stigma and toward one of scientific understanding, compassion, and informed care.
Conclusion: A Deeper Understanding of Healing
This study offers a stark and clear message: childhood trauma is a profound event that can physically reshape the brain’s architecture.
For men who have survived childhood sexual abuse, this research provides concrete, scientific validation of their experience. It shows that the challenges they face are rooted in tangible changes to the brain’s white matter.
The findings underscore that healing from trauma is not merely a psychological exercise but a process that involves a brain that has been physically altered.
As we continue to uncover the deep nature of traumatic injury, it prompts a vital question for us all:
How might this change our approach to healing, compassion, and justice for survivors?
Does this ring true for you or someone you love? Share how this article shined a light on behaviors you hadn’t previously understood in the comments below.
Are you a professional looking to stay up-to-date with the latest information on, sex addiction, trauma, and mental health news and research? Or maybe you’re looking for continuing education courses? Then you should stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!
Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.
Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.
#ACEs #adverseChildhoodExperiences #anxiety #brainImaging #childhoodSexualAbuse #childhoodTrauma #complexTrauma #CSA #depression #diffusionTensorImaging #DTI #emotionalRegulation #executiveFunction #healingAndRecovery #maleSurvivors #menSMentalHealth #mentalHealthEducation #neurobiologyOfTrauma #neuroscience #PTSD #stigma #traumaAndTheBrain #traumaInformedCare #whiteMatter -
They should have licensed one of @[email protected]'s images for this article... #BrainScience #BrainImaging #EveryDayShouldBeFluorescenceFriday
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ipnqgjcngbafxdo3bv3gamrx/post/3m7nd6vfzqn2k -
CW: Non-explicit mention of sex and women's anatomy
This is definitely the least boring research to come across my desk today:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11809681/
#sex #clitoris #science #meditation #research #brainimaging #PETimaging #neuroscience
-
CW: Non-explicit mention of sex and women's anatomy
This is definitely the least boring research to come across my desk today:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11809681/
#sex #clitoris #science #meditation #research #brainimaging #PETimaging #neuroscience
-
Neurophotonics gets a cool new cover! Inside, depth-resolved fiber photometry @ferruccio-phc.bsky.social and much more!
#Neurophotonics #Neuroscience #Neuroimaging #BrainImaging #OpticalImaging #Microscopy
#studyBRAIN -
Chris Xu talks to Neurophotonics about the 'toy land of optics' and how to channel positive vibes! Thank you Tianyu Wang for conducting this fantastic interview!
https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/neurophotonics/volume-12/issue-03/030402/Exploring-the-depths-of-light--a-conversation-with-Professor/10.1117/1.NPh.12.3.030402.full
#Neurophotonics #Neuroscience #Neuroimaging #BrainImaging #OpticalImaging #Microscopy -
Neurophotonics' Special Section on Voltage Imaging is open for submissions! Edited by Amanda Foust, Kai Wang, François St-Pierre and Ahmed Abdelfattah
https://spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/neurophotonics/call-for-papers#voltageimaging
#Neurophotonics #Neuroscience #OpticalImaging #Microscopy #Neuroimaging #BrainImaging -
Have you tried Brite Connect yet?
Our intuitive fNIRS data acquisition software works seamlessly with the entire Brite family of devices, making it easier than ever to collect high-quality data—whether you're measuring online or offline.
In our latest video, we show just how fast and simple it is to set up a session.🟡 Watch it now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uI5qcE7u_Cw
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Inside the Brain: The Role of Dopamine Receptors and Transporters in Mental Disorders
#BrainChemistry #Neurotransmitters #MentalHealthScience #Dopamine #Serotonin #NeuroPathways #BrainImaging #MentalHealthAwareness #Neuroscience #Psychiatry
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Scientists find abnormally slow neural dynamics in visual cortex of depressed individuals https://www.psypost.org/scientists-find-abnormally-slow-neural-dynamics-in-visual-cortex-of-depressed-individuals/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Neuroscience #Depression #MentalHealth #BrainImaging #VisualCortex
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Brain imaging study links reduced synaptic density to social challenges in autism https://www.psypost.org/brain-imaging-study-links-reduced-synaptic-density-to-social-challenges-in-autism/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Autism #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #BrainImaging #SynapticDensity
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#RobertBilder -# Neurosychology: #MentalHealth and #Illness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_JaJSUuFko
#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfPsychology #Psychology #Psychiatry #Medicine #NeuroPsychiatry #Syndromes #Diagnosis #Biology #MentalDisorder #MentalDisorders #Wellness #PsychoPathology #Brain #BrainImaging #Imaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfConsciousness #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn
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#RobertBilder -# Neurosychology: #MentalHealth and #Illness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_JaJSUuFko
#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfPsychology #Psychology #Psychiatry #Medicine #NeuroPsychiatry #Syndromes #Diagnosis #Biology #MentalDisorder #MentalDisorders #Wellness #PsychoPathology #Brain #BrainImaging #Imaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfConsciousness #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn
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DATE: November 12, 2024 at 07:30AM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Hyperfine gains CE mark for MRI brain imaging software
#medtech @Hyperfine #mri #brainimaging
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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-------------------------------------------------#healthcare #healthtech #healthcaretech #healthtechnology #medgadget #medicine #doctor #hospital #medtech
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DATE: November 12, 2024 at 07:30AM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Hyperfine gains CE mark for MRI brain imaging software
#medtech @Hyperfine #mri #brainimaging
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
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Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
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DATE: November 11, 2024 at 04:30PM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Hyperfine gains CE mark for MRI brain imaging software
#medtech @Hyperfine #mri #brainimaging
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
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Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
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-------------------------------------------------#healthcare #healthtech #healthcaretech #healthtechnology #medgadget #medicine #doctor #hospital #medtech
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DATE: November 11, 2024 at 04:30PM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Hyperfine gains CE mark for MRI brain imaging software
#medtech @Hyperfine #mri #brainimaging
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
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Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
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-------------------------------------------------#healthcare #healthtech #healthcaretech #healthtechnology #medgadget #medicine #doctor #hospital #medtech
-
Scientists find brain network is doubled in size in depressed people https://www.psypost.org/scientists-find-brain-network-is-doubled-in-size-in-depressed-people/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #depressionawareness #mentalhealth #brainimaging #neuroscience #salience
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DATE: August 30, 2024 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Telix submits NDA to FDA for radiopharma brain imaging agent
#medtech @TelixPharma @US_FDA @FDADeviceInfo #brainimaging
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Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
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Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
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DATE: August 30, 2024 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Telix submits NDA to FDA for radiopharma brain imaging agent
#medtech @TelixPharma @US_FDA @FDADeviceInfo #brainimaging
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Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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DATE: August 29, 2024 at 05:00PM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Telix submits NDA to FDA for radiopharma brain imaging agent
#medtech @TelixPharma @US_FDA @FDADeviceInfo #brainimaging
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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DATE: August 29, 2024 at 05:00PM
SOURCE: BioWorld MedTechDirect article link at end of text block below.
Telix submits NDA to FDA for radiopharma brain imaging agent
#medtech @TelixPharma @US_FDA @FDADeviceInfo #brainimaging
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.bioworld.com/topics/85-bioworld-medtech .
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-
New Maps Reveal the Individual Brain Changes Linked to Different Mental Illnesses
#health #medicine #psychology #neuroscience #mentalhealth #brain #brainimaging
-
recalling this book, before purchase, seems to have overly generic intro —from toc: unix git numpy pandas https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691222738/data-science-for-neuroimaging — but then #neuroImaging only covers #nipy #nibabel ?
1. alternative #neurobooks covering broader #neuroimaging #Neurotech ?
2. #brainimaging #neurotech software tools comparison table alternative update to this one ?
https://sidchop.shinyapps.io/braincode_selector/ -
Have some links for #complexsystems for #cogsci #neurotheory #brainimaging etc.
Albeit then also going forward to therapeutic interventions?
Quite rare, difficult to qualify & interpret!
Just learned:
''Sham stimulation'
as placebo effect equivalent —inactive, brief, or weak form of directed brainwaves— for:
#tDCS Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
#tACS Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation
#tRNS Transcranial Random Noise Stimulationcheck https://www.neuroelectrics.com/wiki/images/4/4d/HIVE-D1.1_State-of-the-art-V1.3withcovers-small.pdf
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The news today had a story about how someday computers will be able to decode our thoughts. I'm pretty sure I saw an identical story 5 years ago. Come to think of it, I saw the exact same story five years before that. I'm pretty sure I've seen that exact same story every 5 years for the last couple decades. The stories don't change, they just repeat.
Yet, I know hundreds of people who believe the Japanese can already make videos of our dreams. 🤷🏻
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Brain signatures of rare variants hint at cardiovascular risk
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/brain-signatures-of-rare-variants-hint-at-cardiovascular-risk/
#copynumbervariation #brainimaging #rarevariants #15q11-13 #16p11.2 #autism #22q11 #News -
Brain imaging do-over offers clues to field’s replication crisis
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/brain-imaging-do-over-offers-clues-to-fields-replication-crisis/
#brainimaging #biomarkers #autism #cortex #News #MRI -
Mapping genetic influences on the infant brain: A chat with Rebecca Knickmeyer
https://www.spectrumnews.org/opinion/q-and-a/mapping-genetic-influences-on-the-infant-brain-a-chat-with-rebecca-knickmeyer/
#diffusiontensorimaging #genetictesting #brainimaging #autism #GWAS #Q&A #MRI -
People’s perceptions of ‘social’ animations don’t always square with researchers’ labels
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/toolbox/peoples-perceptions-of-social-animations-dont-always-square-with-researchers-labels/
#prefrontalcortex #defaultnetwork #brainimaging #brainmapping #theoryofmind #Toolbox #autism #fMRI
