#brainimaging — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #brainimaging, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
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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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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCovid #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #LongCOVIDSymptoms #Neuroimaging #BrainHealth #MoodAndEmotion #ScientificStudy #COVID19Awareness #HealthNews
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DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCovid #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #LongCOVIDSymptoms #Neuroimaging #BrainHealth #MoodAndEmotion #ScientificStudy #COVID19Awareness #HealthNews
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DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCovid #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #LongCOVIDSymptoms #Neuroimaging #BrainHealth #MoodAndEmotion #ScientificStudy #COVID19Awareness #HealthNews
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DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCOVID #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #BrainActivity #InflammationDebunked #LongHaulCOVID #MoodAndEmotion #Neurology
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DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCOVID #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #BrainActivity #InflammationDebunked #LongHaulCOVID #MoodAndEmotion #Neurology
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DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCOVID #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #BrainActivity #InflammationDebunked #LongHaulCOVID #MoodAndEmotion #Neurology
-
DATE: May 28, 2026 at 01:44AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Scientists thought brain inflammation was driving long COVID but the scans told a different story
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260527023206.htm
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LongCOVID #BrainImaging #COVIDResearch #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #BrainActivity #InflammationDebunked #LongHaulCOVID #MoodAndEmotion #Neurology
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New Fathers Show Rapid Brain Changes in the First Six Weeks After Birth
Credit: Pexels Motherhood profoundly rewires the brain, causing structural and functional changes that enhance empathy, social cogniti…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Health #brainimaging #Caregiving #fatherhood #Fathers #graymatter #infantattachment #MRI #neuroplasticity #Neuroscience #newborns #Parenting #paternalbrain #postpartum #TranslationalPsychiatry
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/667671/ -
New Fathers Show Rapid Brain Changes in the First Six Weeks After Birth
Credit: Pexels Motherhood profoundly rewires the brain, causing structural and functional changes that enhance empathy, social cogniti…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Health #brainimaging #Caregiving #fatherhood #Fathers #graymatter #infantattachment #MRI #neuroplasticity #Neuroscience #newborns #Parenting #paternalbrain #postpartum #TranslationalPsychiatry
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/667671/ -
DATE: May 25, 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: Women who self-harm show altered brain responses to negative social media comments
Young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury demonstrate significantly different brain activity when receiving positive and negative social media feedback compared to healthy peers, with the severity of the brain differences mirroring the severity of their condition. This new research was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Self-harm without suicidal intent (known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) is surprisingly common among young people, affecting an estimated one in five adolescents globally, with higher rates in females. It involves deliberately hurting oneself, such as through cutting or burning, without the intention of ending one’s life. Social media exposure has been associated with a greater risk of self-harm among young people, particularly girls. Until now, the biological reasons for this vulnerability were not well understood.
Social media platforms are specifically designed to trigger reward responses: receiving a like or a positive comment activates the same brain regions involved in processing monetary rewards. Thus, researchers were particularly interested in whether the brain’s reward system—the network of structures that processes pleasure and reinforces behavior—might be altered in young women with NSSI during social media interactions.
Led by Stella Nicolaou of the University of Barcelona, the team recruited 91 young women aged 18 to 30, all of whom had active Instagram accounts. After excluding a few participants due to poor scan data or excessive head movement, the final analysis included 88 participants divided into three groups: a clinical group of 29 women diagnosed with both NSSI and borderline personality disorder, a subclinical group of 27 women who engaged in NSSI but had no other psychiatric diagnoses, and a healthy control group of 32 women with no history of self-harm.
Before the study, researchers followed the participants’ Instagram accounts and selected 15 of their personal photos to use as stimuli. Participants were told other volunteers would be rating their photos, and during the brain scan, they received comments—some positive, some negative—that they believed were genuine. All participants underwent brain imaging using functional MRI while completing this task, which simulated real-life Instagram interactions.
The results revealed a clear pattern linked to severity. The clinical group showed significantly dulled brain responses in key reward regions—including the nucleus accumbens, the caudate, and the medial frontal cortex—when receiving positive versus negative feedback. Strikingly, receiving negative comments actually triggered heightened activity in these same reward regions, suggesting that negative social feedback may feel more engaging for women with more severe self-harm histories.
The brain responses of the subclinical group fell in between those of the healthy controls and the clinical group, suggesting what the researchers describe as a “continuum of severity” mapped onto the reward system. These women responded to positive comments similarly to healthy controls but reacted to negative comments more like the clinical group—showing a selective vulnerability to negative online feedback. Behaviorally, the subclinical group also rated negative comments as significantly more unpleasant than controls did.
Importantly, all three groups reported similar overall levels of Instagram use and addiction, meaning the brain differences cannot simply be explained by how much time the participants spent on social media. However, the researchers discovered a crucial link: in both of the groups that engaged in NSSI, lower brain activity in the reward center was directly correlated with higher scores on the Instagram addiction test. This connection was entirely absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that problematic social media use in those with NSSI is tied to altered neural processing.
As the authors write: “These findings reflect a continuum of severity mapped on the reward system, highlighting potential intervention targets and emphasizing the need to address social media interactions in NSSI treatment.”
Several important limitations should be noted. For instance, the negative comments used in the experiment were intentionally mild due to ethical constraints, so the brain responses observed may underestimate what happens during real-world online cyberbullying. Furthermore, because the study focused exclusively on women and utilized Instagram, the results may not necessarily generalize to men or to users of other platforms, like TikTok.
The study, “Reward-related neural activation during social media exposure in young women with non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for a continuum of severity in the reward network,” was authored by Stella Nicolaou, Anna Julià, Daniela Otero, Carlos Schmidt, Juan Carlos Pascual, Joaquim Soler, Josep Marco-Pallarés, and Daniel Vega.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #NSSI #SelfHarmAwareness #SocialMediaImpact #RewardSystem #BrainImaging #fMRI #InstagramResearch #MentalHealthResearch #YouthMentalHealth #OnlineFeedback
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DATE: May 25, 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: Women who self-harm show altered brain responses to negative social media comments
Young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury demonstrate significantly different brain activity when receiving positive and negative social media feedback compared to healthy peers, with the severity of the brain differences mirroring the severity of their condition. This new research was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Self-harm without suicidal intent (known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) is surprisingly common among young people, affecting an estimated one in five adolescents globally, with higher rates in females. It involves deliberately hurting oneself, such as through cutting or burning, without the intention of ending one’s life. Social media exposure has been associated with a greater risk of self-harm among young people, particularly girls. Until now, the biological reasons for this vulnerability were not well understood.
Social media platforms are specifically designed to trigger reward responses: receiving a like or a positive comment activates the same brain regions involved in processing monetary rewards. Thus, researchers were particularly interested in whether the brain’s reward system—the network of structures that processes pleasure and reinforces behavior—might be altered in young women with NSSI during social media interactions.
Led by Stella Nicolaou of the University of Barcelona, the team recruited 91 young women aged 18 to 30, all of whom had active Instagram accounts. After excluding a few participants due to poor scan data or excessive head movement, the final analysis included 88 participants divided into three groups: a clinical group of 29 women diagnosed with both NSSI and borderline personality disorder, a subclinical group of 27 women who engaged in NSSI but had no other psychiatric diagnoses, and a healthy control group of 32 women with no history of self-harm.
Before the study, researchers followed the participants’ Instagram accounts and selected 15 of their personal photos to use as stimuli. Participants were told other volunteers would be rating their photos, and during the brain scan, they received comments—some positive, some negative—that they believed were genuine. All participants underwent brain imaging using functional MRI while completing this task, which simulated real-life Instagram interactions.
The results revealed a clear pattern linked to severity. The clinical group showed significantly dulled brain responses in key reward regions—including the nucleus accumbens, the caudate, and the medial frontal cortex—when receiving positive versus negative feedback. Strikingly, receiving negative comments actually triggered heightened activity in these same reward regions, suggesting that negative social feedback may feel more engaging for women with more severe self-harm histories.
The brain responses of the subclinical group fell in between those of the healthy controls and the clinical group, suggesting what the researchers describe as a “continuum of severity” mapped onto the reward system. These women responded to positive comments similarly to healthy controls but reacted to negative comments more like the clinical group—showing a selective vulnerability to negative online feedback. Behaviorally, the subclinical group also rated negative comments as significantly more unpleasant than controls did.
Importantly, all three groups reported similar overall levels of Instagram use and addiction, meaning the brain differences cannot simply be explained by how much time the participants spent on social media. However, the researchers discovered a crucial link: in both of the groups that engaged in NSSI, lower brain activity in the reward center was directly correlated with higher scores on the Instagram addiction test. This connection was entirely absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that problematic social media use in those with NSSI is tied to altered neural processing.
As the authors write: “These findings reflect a continuum of severity mapped on the reward system, highlighting potential intervention targets and emphasizing the need to address social media interactions in NSSI treatment.”
Several important limitations should be noted. For instance, the negative comments used in the experiment were intentionally mild due to ethical constraints, so the brain responses observed may underestimate what happens during real-world online cyberbullying. Furthermore, because the study focused exclusively on women and utilized Instagram, the results may not necessarily generalize to men or to users of other platforms, like TikTok.
The study, “Reward-related neural activation during social media exposure in young women with non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for a continuum of severity in the reward network,” was authored by Stella Nicolaou, Anna Julià, Daniela Otero, Carlos Schmidt, Juan Carlos Pascual, Joaquim Soler, Josep Marco-Pallarés, and Daniel Vega.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #NSSI #SelfHarmAwareness #SocialMediaImpact #RewardSystem #BrainImaging #fMRI #InstagramResearch #MentalHealthResearch #YouthMentalHealth #OnlineFeedback
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DATE: May 25, 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: Women who self-harm show altered brain responses to negative social media comments
Young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury demonstrate significantly different brain activity when receiving positive and negative social media feedback compared to healthy peers, with the severity of the brain differences mirroring the severity of their condition. This new research was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Self-harm without suicidal intent (known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) is surprisingly common among young people, affecting an estimated one in five adolescents globally, with higher rates in females. It involves deliberately hurting oneself, such as through cutting or burning, without the intention of ending one’s life. Social media exposure has been associated with a greater risk of self-harm among young people, particularly girls. Until now, the biological reasons for this vulnerability were not well understood.
Social media platforms are specifically designed to trigger reward responses: receiving a like or a positive comment activates the same brain regions involved in processing monetary rewards. Thus, researchers were particularly interested in whether the brain’s reward system—the network of structures that processes pleasure and reinforces behavior—might be altered in young women with NSSI during social media interactions.
Led by Stella Nicolaou of the University of Barcelona, the team recruited 91 young women aged 18 to 30, all of whom had active Instagram accounts. After excluding a few participants due to poor scan data or excessive head movement, the final analysis included 88 participants divided into three groups: a clinical group of 29 women diagnosed with both NSSI and borderline personality disorder, a subclinical group of 27 women who engaged in NSSI but had no other psychiatric diagnoses, and a healthy control group of 32 women with no history of self-harm.
Before the study, researchers followed the participants’ Instagram accounts and selected 15 of their personal photos to use as stimuli. Participants were told other volunteers would be rating their photos, and during the brain scan, they received comments—some positive, some negative—that they believed were genuine. All participants underwent brain imaging using functional MRI while completing this task, which simulated real-life Instagram interactions.
The results revealed a clear pattern linked to severity. The clinical group showed significantly dulled brain responses in key reward regions—including the nucleus accumbens, the caudate, and the medial frontal cortex—when receiving positive versus negative feedback. Strikingly, receiving negative comments actually triggered heightened activity in these same reward regions, suggesting that negative social feedback may feel more engaging for women with more severe self-harm histories.
The brain responses of the subclinical group fell in between those of the healthy controls and the clinical group, suggesting what the researchers describe as a “continuum of severity” mapped onto the reward system. These women responded to positive comments similarly to healthy controls but reacted to negative comments more like the clinical group—showing a selective vulnerability to negative online feedback. Behaviorally, the subclinical group also rated negative comments as significantly more unpleasant than controls did.
Importantly, all three groups reported similar overall levels of Instagram use and addiction, meaning the brain differences cannot simply be explained by how much time the participants spent on social media. However, the researchers discovered a crucial link: in both of the groups that engaged in NSSI, lower brain activity in the reward center was directly correlated with higher scores on the Instagram addiction test. This connection was entirely absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that problematic social media use in those with NSSI is tied to altered neural processing.
As the authors write: “These findings reflect a continuum of severity mapped on the reward system, highlighting potential intervention targets and emphasizing the need to address social media interactions in NSSI treatment.”
Several important limitations should be noted. For instance, the negative comments used in the experiment were intentionally mild due to ethical constraints, so the brain responses observed may underestimate what happens during real-world online cyberbullying. Furthermore, because the study focused exclusively on women and utilized Instagram, the results may not necessarily generalize to men or to users of other platforms, like TikTok.
The study, “Reward-related neural activation during social media exposure in young women with non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for a continuum of severity in the reward network,” was authored by Stella Nicolaou, Anna Julià, Daniela Otero, Carlos Schmidt, Juan Carlos Pascual, Joaquim Soler, Josep Marco-Pallarés, and Daniel Vega.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #NSSI #SelfHarmAwareness #SocialMediaImpact #RewardSystem #BrainImaging #fMRI #InstagramResearch #MentalHealthResearch #YouthMentalHealth #OnlineFeedback
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DATE: May 22, 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 scans shed light on why women develop romantic feelings for AI companions
Two studies in China found that female university students are most likely to become romantically interested in artificial intelligence agents that are both physically attractive and highly interactive. The perceived interactivity of a virtual agent also affected the patterns of brain activity the students displayed during their interactions. The paper was published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
Virtual agents are computer-based systems that can interact with people or digital environments in a partly independent way. They can answer questions, give instructions, make recommendations, perform tasks, or simulate conversation. Some appear as simple chat windows, while others feature a voice, an animated character, or a specific role inside a digital game or virtual world.
These systems use artificial intelligence to interpret text, speech, or other data to choose responses that fit a user’s request. Modern examples include customer service bots, virtual tutors, digital assistants like Siri, and video game characters. Unlike a simple script, an advanced virtual agent can adapt its behavior to different situations. However, it does not truly understand or feel emotions, as its actions rely entirely on its programming and training data.
As virtual agents become more sophisticated, users increasingly develop parasocial relationships with them. These connections are considered parasocial because they are completely one-sided. A person can develop deep feelings for a virtual agent, but the computer program cannot genuinely reciprocate those emotions. Recent years have seen a rise in romantic parasocial relationships with programs designed to simulate emotional companionship and intimacy.
Study author Siyu Jin and her colleagues note that previous researchers view these one-sided relationships as an extension of real-life bonds. This is because the human brain often struggles to distinguish between real and simulated social interactions on a neural level. To explore this further, the researchers conducted two separate experiments.
The first experiment aimed to explore how perceived interactivity and physical attractiveness affect female students’ romantic interest in a virtual agent. The participants were 117 female students from a university in central China. The researchers divided the students into four groups. Each group individually engaged in conversations with a male virtual character that featured a different combination of high or low physical attractiveness and interactivity.
The students interacted with a virtual agent designed to act as an empathetic former friend in scenarios involving mutual support and romantic confessions. In the low interactivity groups, participants simply read through written text. In the high interactivity groups, a sophisticated language model powered dynamic, responsive conversations. Afterward, the students rated the agent’s physical attractiveness, the quality of the interaction, and their romantic interest.
The second study included 42 female students who were currently in real-life romantic relationships. The goal was to record the brain activity linked to romantic feelings for a virtual agent. The researchers used highly attractive virtual characters with varying levels of interactivity, and they also used photos of each participant’s actual boyfriend as a real-world comparison. A specialized brain imaging technique tracked the students’ neural activity while they recalled memories of the agents and their boyfriends.
The first experiment showed that students developed the strongest romantic connections when the virtual agent was both physically attractive and highly interactive. When the character’s visual appeal was low, the quality of the conversation did not change the participants’ romantic interest. However, when the character was highly attractive, a responsive and dynamic conversation greatly increased the students’ romantic feelings.
The brain scans revealed that highly interactive artificial intelligence triggers neural patterns very similar to those produced by real-world romantic love. Interacting with a highly responsive virtual agent increased activity in brain regions associated with high-level thinking, emotion regulation, and social understanding. At the same time, this high interactivity suppressed activity in the supramarginal gyrus, a brain region that helps humans distinguish between their own emotions and the emotions of others.
Because advanced language models often mirror a user’s own inputs, the boundary between the human and the machine can blur. The researchers suspect that participants may have temporarily suspended their self-awareness, projecting their own feelings onto the program. This neural blurring effect could explain why highly interactive digital characters evoke such strong, human-like romantic attachments.
“In the current era of artificial intelligence, this research enhances our understanding of a novel form of romantic relationship,” the study authors concluded. They added that the findings provide a foundation for designing safer digital interactions, formulating ethical guidelines, and assessing the mental health impacts of virtual companions.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of how humans bond with modern technology. However, it only focused on short-term interactions driven by immediate surface-level features like physical attractiveness. Future studies focusing on long-term digital relationships might yield different findings about how these emotional connections evolve over time.
The paper, “Falling in love with AI virtual agents: the role of physical attractiveness and perceived interactivity in parasocial romantic relationships,” was authored by Siyu Jin, Fang Xu, Zihui Yuan, Gengfeng Niu, and Zongkui Zhou.
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AIromance #ParasocialRelationships #VirtualAgents #AIromanticConnections #NeuroscienceOfLove #InteractivityMatters #DigitalCompanions #BrainImaging #RomanticAI #TechEthics
-
DATE: May 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
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: Adults with better math skills rely less on the brain’s physical movement areas
A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that adults who are better at math tend to rely less on the brain areas associated with physical movement when processing numbers. These findings provide evidence that as people develop advanced math skills, their brains shift toward more automatic and abstract ways of thinking about numbers.
Number processing relies on multiple mental formats. Scientists describe a verbal format for number words, a visual format for written digits, and a semantic format for the actual meaning or quantity. In recent years, scientists have proposed that an embodied format also exists, where physical experiences like counting on fingers help shape how the brain understands quantities.
To explore how these mental formats interact at different life stages, the authors aimed to understand how physical representations of numbers relate to formal math competence in both children and adults. Xueying Ren, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, explained the motivation behind the research.
“While we know that number processing is foundational for mathematical competence, the underlying brain mechanisms have remained heavily debated,” Ren said. “Theories of embodied cognition suggest that our abstract understanding of math is initially rooted in physical, sensory, and motor experiences, like counting on our fingers in early childhood. We wanted to look closely at both children and adults using fMRI to see how the brain’s sensorimotor regions are recruited during number processing, and how that neural engagement actually tracks with real-world math abilities across different stages of development.”
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, is a type of brain scan that measures blood flow to detect active brain areas. To conduct the study, the researchers collected imaging data from 104 adults with an average age of about 23 years. They also tested 88 fourth-grade children with an average age of nearly 10 years.
While inside the scanner, participants completed a number comparison task and a sound-based task. During the tasks, participants looked at two types of images on a screen. One type was symbolic Arabic numerals, like the visual number four. The other type was embodied representations, which consisted of color photographs of human hands holding up different numbers of fingers.
In the number task, participants had to decide if the number shown on the screen was larger or smaller than a specific target number. The participants pushed buttons to answer as quickly as possible. In the sound-based phonological task, participants had to judge if the starting sound of the number matched the starting sound of a cartoon object, like a fan or a sun.
The researchers also measured the participants’ overall math abilities outside the scanner using a standardized assessment called the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement. This assessment included three specific math tests. The Calculation subtest measured basic computation skills across various types of math. The Math Fluency subtest measured how many simple arithmetic problems the participant could solve in three minutes.
Finally, the Applied Problems subtest measured the ability to analyze and solve spoken word problems. To ensure the brain activity was specifically linked to math, the scientists also tested basic reading skills. They used two reading subtests to measure letter identification and the ability to sound out unfamiliar words. By comparing the math scores and reading scores against the brain scans, the researchers could isolate the specific neural networks responsible for numerical cognition.
When looking at the brain scans, the scientists observed that adults engaged a widespread network of brain regions when processing numbers compared to processing sounds. These areas included the occipital, temporal, parietal, and insular regions of the brain. Children activated a smaller, more localized set of brain areas during the same tasks.
“What surprised us most was the dramatic shift in how the brain is recruited for number processing as we grow up,” Ren told PsyPost. “When looking at the overall brain maps, adults engage a much wider, more expansive network of regions across the brain compared to children.”
“Yet, within that broader adult network, individuals with higher math proficiency actually showed reduced activation across sensorimotor and attentional areas, a pattern completely absent in children. This reveals a fascinating paradox: as the brain gains years of experience, actual math proficiency becomes marked not by working the brain harder, but by a transition toward incredible neural efficiency and automaticity.”
In adults, lower activity in the somatosensory and motor cortices during the number task was associated with higher math skills. These cortices are the parts of the brain responsible for processing physical touch sensations and voluntary body movements. The authors also found that adults with better math skills showed reduced activation in the right insular cortex.
The insular cortex is a brain region that detects highly demanding cognitive tasks and signals the brain to apply more effort. Lower activation in this area suggests that mathematically proficient adults perceive basic number tasks as less mentally taxing. These adults operate on a sort of cognitive autopilot, requiring less conscious effort to process quantities.
“The core takeaway is that proficient math performance in adulthood is characterized by a fundamental neural shift toward efficiency and automaticity,” Ren said. “While children rely heavily on basic quantity processing and sensory grounding to make sense of numbers, adults with higher math skills actually show reduced activation in sensorimotor and attentional brain areas. This suggests that as we gain experience, higher math proficiency isn’t about working the brain harder, but rather about transitioning away from a physical ‘scaffold’ to more abstract, automated mental representations.”
The scientists also examined the left intraparietal sulcus, a brain region known for handling numerical quantities. For adults, less activity in this region correlated with better math performance, supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis. For children, the exact opposite was true. Higher activity in the left intraparietal sulcus predicted better math scores in the fourth graders, indicating that young learners still rely heavily on basic quantity processing to succeed in math.
None of these brain activity patterns correlated with the participants’ reading scores. This lack of correlation provides evidence that the reduced reliance on motor and quantity-processing regions is highly specific to mathematical skills. It does not simply reflect general intelligence or advanced reading comprehension.
A potential misinterpretation of these findings is that physical methods like finger counting are unhelpful for learning math. The authors note that physical representations often serve as a necessary scaffold for young learners as they grasp basic number concepts.
“An important caveat is that our findings do not imply that sensorimotor strategies, like a child using their fingers to count, are bad or should be abandoned early,” Ren said. “Sensorimotor experiences serve as an essential, adaptive scaffold when we first learn mathematical concepts. The key is that this relationship changes over time; while physical grounding is vital for early learning, our long-term math proficiency relies on the brain eventually learning to offload that effortful physical processing to achieve automaticity.”
A limitation of the study is that the data for adults and children were collected using two different brain scanners. This was partially due to scheduling constraints caused by the global pandemic. While scanner differences usually affect overall signal strength rather than specific behavioral correlations, future studies should use consistent equipment to rule out any potential interference.
“Because this study looked at separate groups of adults and fourth graders, one important next step is to utilize longitudinal designs to trace these neural transitions within the same individuals over time,” Ren said. “It would be interesting and critical to pinpoint exactly when and how the brain shifts away from its reliance on sensorimotor scaffolding. Ultimately, understanding this developmental trajectory can help us design better, more tailored educational strategies and interventions for individuals who face persistent challenges in learning math.”
These findings highlight a broader trend in brain development and cognition. “Overall, I think this study beautifully illustrates a broader principle in cognitive neuroscience: learning and high expertise are often marked by the brain doing less work, adaptively reducing activity as effortful control gives way to smooth automaticity,” Ren said.
The study, “Reduced dependence on sensorimotor processing in the brain is associated with higher math skills in adults,” was authored by Xueying Ren, Marc N. Coutanche, Julie A. Fiez, and Melissa E. Libertus.
-------------------------------------------------
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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
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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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MathSkills #CognitiveScience #NeuralEfficiency #EmbodiedCognition #Sensorimotor #Automaticity #BrainImaging #fMRI #NumericalProcessing #AdultMathematics
-
DATE: May 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
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: Adults with better math skills rely less on the brain’s physical movement areas
A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that adults who are better at math tend to rely less on the brain areas associated with physical movement when processing numbers. These findings provide evidence that as people develop advanced math skills, their brains shift toward more automatic and abstract ways of thinking about numbers.
Number processing relies on multiple mental formats. Scientists describe a verbal format for number words, a visual format for written digits, and a semantic format for the actual meaning or quantity. In recent years, scientists have proposed that an embodied format also exists, where physical experiences like counting on fingers help shape how the brain understands quantities.
To explore how these mental formats interact at different life stages, the authors aimed to understand how physical representations of numbers relate to formal math competence in both children and adults. Xueying Ren, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, explained the motivation behind the research.
“While we know that number processing is foundational for mathematical competence, the underlying brain mechanisms have remained heavily debated,” Ren said. “Theories of embodied cognition suggest that our abstract understanding of math is initially rooted in physical, sensory, and motor experiences, like counting on our fingers in early childhood. We wanted to look closely at both children and adults using fMRI to see how the brain’s sensorimotor regions are recruited during number processing, and how that neural engagement actually tracks with real-world math abilities across different stages of development.”
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, is a type of brain scan that measures blood flow to detect active brain areas. To conduct the study, the researchers collected imaging data from 104 adults with an average age of about 23 years. They also tested 88 fourth-grade children with an average age of nearly 10 years.
While inside the scanner, participants completed a number comparison task and a sound-based task. During the tasks, participants looked at two types of images on a screen. One type was symbolic Arabic numerals, like the visual number four. The other type was embodied representations, which consisted of color photographs of human hands holding up different numbers of fingers.
In the number task, participants had to decide if the number shown on the screen was larger or smaller than a specific target number. The participants pushed buttons to answer as quickly as possible. In the sound-based phonological task, participants had to judge if the starting sound of the number matched the starting sound of a cartoon object, like a fan or a sun.
The researchers also measured the participants’ overall math abilities outside the scanner using a standardized assessment called the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement. This assessment included three specific math tests. The Calculation subtest measured basic computation skills across various types of math. The Math Fluency subtest measured how many simple arithmetic problems the participant could solve in three minutes.
Finally, the Applied Problems subtest measured the ability to analyze and solve spoken word problems. To ensure the brain activity was specifically linked to math, the scientists also tested basic reading skills. They used two reading subtests to measure letter identification and the ability to sound out unfamiliar words. By comparing the math scores and reading scores against the brain scans, the researchers could isolate the specific neural networks responsible for numerical cognition.
When looking at the brain scans, the scientists observed that adults engaged a widespread network of brain regions when processing numbers compared to processing sounds. These areas included the occipital, temporal, parietal, and insular regions of the brain. Children activated a smaller, more localized set of brain areas during the same tasks.
“What surprised us most was the dramatic shift in how the brain is recruited for number processing as we grow up,” Ren told PsyPost. “When looking at the overall brain maps, adults engage a much wider, more expansive network of regions across the brain compared to children.”
“Yet, within that broader adult network, individuals with higher math proficiency actually showed reduced activation across sensorimotor and attentional areas, a pattern completely absent in children. This reveals a fascinating paradox: as the brain gains years of experience, actual math proficiency becomes marked not by working the brain harder, but by a transition toward incredible neural efficiency and automaticity.”
In adults, lower activity in the somatosensory and motor cortices during the number task was associated with higher math skills. These cortices are the parts of the brain responsible for processing physical touch sensations and voluntary body movements. The authors also found that adults with better math skills showed reduced activation in the right insular cortex.
The insular cortex is a brain region that detects highly demanding cognitive tasks and signals the brain to apply more effort. Lower activation in this area suggests that mathematically proficient adults perceive basic number tasks as less mentally taxing. These adults operate on a sort of cognitive autopilot, requiring less conscious effort to process quantities.
“The core takeaway is that proficient math performance in adulthood is characterized by a fundamental neural shift toward efficiency and automaticity,” Ren said. “While children rely heavily on basic quantity processing and sensory grounding to make sense of numbers, adults with higher math skills actually show reduced activation in sensorimotor and attentional brain areas. This suggests that as we gain experience, higher math proficiency isn’t about working the brain harder, but rather about transitioning away from a physical ‘scaffold’ to more abstract, automated mental representations.”
The scientists also examined the left intraparietal sulcus, a brain region known for handling numerical quantities. For adults, less activity in this region correlated with better math performance, supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis. For children, the exact opposite was true. Higher activity in the left intraparietal sulcus predicted better math scores in the fourth graders, indicating that young learners still rely heavily on basic quantity processing to succeed in math.
None of these brain activity patterns correlated with the participants’ reading scores. This lack of correlation provides evidence that the reduced reliance on motor and quantity-processing regions is highly specific to mathematical skills. It does not simply reflect general intelligence or advanced reading comprehension.
A potential misinterpretation of these findings is that physical methods like finger counting are unhelpful for learning math. The authors note that physical representations often serve as a necessary scaffold for young learners as they grasp basic number concepts.
“An important caveat is that our findings do not imply that sensorimotor strategies, like a child using their fingers to count, are bad or should be abandoned early,” Ren said. “Sensorimotor experiences serve as an essential, adaptive scaffold when we first learn mathematical concepts. The key is that this relationship changes over time; while physical grounding is vital for early learning, our long-term math proficiency relies on the brain eventually learning to offload that effortful physical processing to achieve automaticity.”
A limitation of the study is that the data for adults and children were collected using two different brain scanners. This was partially due to scheduling constraints caused by the global pandemic. While scanner differences usually affect overall signal strength rather than specific behavioral correlations, future studies should use consistent equipment to rule out any potential interference.
“Because this study looked at separate groups of adults and fourth graders, one important next step is to utilize longitudinal designs to trace these neural transitions within the same individuals over time,” Ren said. “It would be interesting and critical to pinpoint exactly when and how the brain shifts away from its reliance on sensorimotor scaffolding. Ultimately, understanding this developmental trajectory can help us design better, more tailored educational strategies and interventions for individuals who face persistent challenges in learning math.”
These findings highlight a broader trend in brain development and cognition. “Overall, I think this study beautifully illustrates a broader principle in cognitive neuroscience: learning and high expertise are often marked by the brain doing less work, adaptively reducing activity as effortful control gives way to smooth automaticity,” Ren said.
The study, “Reduced dependence on sensorimotor processing in the brain is associated with higher math skills in adults,” was authored by Xueying Ren, Marc N. Coutanche, Julie A. Fiez, and Melissa E. Libertus.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MathSkills #CognitiveScience #NeuralEfficiency #EmbodiedCognition #Sensorimotor #Automaticity #BrainImaging #fMRI #NumericalProcessing #AdultMathematics
-
DATE: May 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
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: Adults with better math skills rely less on the brain’s physical movement areas
A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that adults who are better at math tend to rely less on the brain areas associated with physical movement when processing numbers. These findings provide evidence that as people develop advanced math skills, their brains shift toward more automatic and abstract ways of thinking about numbers.
Number processing relies on multiple mental formats. Scientists describe a verbal format for number words, a visual format for written digits, and a semantic format for the actual meaning or quantity. In recent years, scientists have proposed that an embodied format also exists, where physical experiences like counting on fingers help shape how the brain understands quantities.
To explore how these mental formats interact at different life stages, the authors aimed to understand how physical representations of numbers relate to formal math competence in both children and adults. Xueying Ren, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, explained the motivation behind the research.
“While we know that number processing is foundational for mathematical competence, the underlying brain mechanisms have remained heavily debated,” Ren said. “Theories of embodied cognition suggest that our abstract understanding of math is initially rooted in physical, sensory, and motor experiences, like counting on our fingers in early childhood. We wanted to look closely at both children and adults using fMRI to see how the brain’s sensorimotor regions are recruited during number processing, and how that neural engagement actually tracks with real-world math abilities across different stages of development.”
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, is a type of brain scan that measures blood flow to detect active brain areas. To conduct the study, the researchers collected imaging data from 104 adults with an average age of about 23 years. They also tested 88 fourth-grade children with an average age of nearly 10 years.
While inside the scanner, participants completed a number comparison task and a sound-based task. During the tasks, participants looked at two types of images on a screen. One type was symbolic Arabic numerals, like the visual number four. The other type was embodied representations, which consisted of color photographs of human hands holding up different numbers of fingers.
In the number task, participants had to decide if the number shown on the screen was larger or smaller than a specific target number. The participants pushed buttons to answer as quickly as possible. In the sound-based phonological task, participants had to judge if the starting sound of the number matched the starting sound of a cartoon object, like a fan or a sun.
The researchers also measured the participants’ overall math abilities outside the scanner using a standardized assessment called the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement. This assessment included three specific math tests. The Calculation subtest measured basic computation skills across various types of math. The Math Fluency subtest measured how many simple arithmetic problems the participant could solve in three minutes.
Finally, the Applied Problems subtest measured the ability to analyze and solve spoken word problems. To ensure the brain activity was specifically linked to math, the scientists also tested basic reading skills. They used two reading subtests to measure letter identification and the ability to sound out unfamiliar words. By comparing the math scores and reading scores against the brain scans, the researchers could isolate the specific neural networks responsible for numerical cognition.
When looking at the brain scans, the scientists observed that adults engaged a widespread network of brain regions when processing numbers compared to processing sounds. These areas included the occipital, temporal, parietal, and insular regions of the brain. Children activated a smaller, more localized set of brain areas during the same tasks.
“What surprised us most was the dramatic shift in how the brain is recruited for number processing as we grow up,” Ren told PsyPost. “When looking at the overall brain maps, adults engage a much wider, more expansive network of regions across the brain compared to children.”
“Yet, within that broader adult network, individuals with higher math proficiency actually showed reduced activation across sensorimotor and attentional areas, a pattern completely absent in children. This reveals a fascinating paradox: as the brain gains years of experience, actual math proficiency becomes marked not by working the brain harder, but by a transition toward incredible neural efficiency and automaticity.”
In adults, lower activity in the somatosensory and motor cortices during the number task was associated with higher math skills. These cortices are the parts of the brain responsible for processing physical touch sensations and voluntary body movements. The authors also found that adults with better math skills showed reduced activation in the right insular cortex.
The insular cortex is a brain region that detects highly demanding cognitive tasks and signals the brain to apply more effort. Lower activation in this area suggests that mathematically proficient adults perceive basic number tasks as less mentally taxing. These adults operate on a sort of cognitive autopilot, requiring less conscious effort to process quantities.
“The core takeaway is that proficient math performance in adulthood is characterized by a fundamental neural shift toward efficiency and automaticity,” Ren said. “While children rely heavily on basic quantity processing and sensory grounding to make sense of numbers, adults with higher math skills actually show reduced activation in sensorimotor and attentional brain areas. This suggests that as we gain experience, higher math proficiency isn’t about working the brain harder, but rather about transitioning away from a physical ‘scaffold’ to more abstract, automated mental representations.”
The scientists also examined the left intraparietal sulcus, a brain region known for handling numerical quantities. For adults, less activity in this region correlated with better math performance, supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis. For children, the exact opposite was true. Higher activity in the left intraparietal sulcus predicted better math scores in the fourth graders, indicating that young learners still rely heavily on basic quantity processing to succeed in math.
None of these brain activity patterns correlated with the participants’ reading scores. This lack of correlation provides evidence that the reduced reliance on motor and quantity-processing regions is highly specific to mathematical skills. It does not simply reflect general intelligence or advanced reading comprehension.
A potential misinterpretation of these findings is that physical methods like finger counting are unhelpful for learning math. The authors note that physical representations often serve as a necessary scaffold for young learners as they grasp basic number concepts.
“An important caveat is that our findings do not imply that sensorimotor strategies, like a child using their fingers to count, are bad or should be abandoned early,” Ren said. “Sensorimotor experiences serve as an essential, adaptive scaffold when we first learn mathematical concepts. The key is that this relationship changes over time; while physical grounding is vital for early learning, our long-term math proficiency relies on the brain eventually learning to offload that effortful physical processing to achieve automaticity.”
A limitation of the study is that the data for adults and children were collected using two different brain scanners. This was partially due to scheduling constraints caused by the global pandemic. While scanner differences usually affect overall signal strength rather than specific behavioral correlations, future studies should use consistent equipment to rule out any potential interference.
“Because this study looked at separate groups of adults and fourth graders, one important next step is to utilize longitudinal designs to trace these neural transitions within the same individuals over time,” Ren said. “It would be interesting and critical to pinpoint exactly when and how the brain shifts away from its reliance on sensorimotor scaffolding. Ultimately, understanding this developmental trajectory can help us design better, more tailored educational strategies and interventions for individuals who face persistent challenges in learning math.”
These findings highlight a broader trend in brain development and cognition. “Overall, I think this study beautifully illustrates a broader principle in cognitive neuroscience: learning and high expertise are often marked by the brain doing less work, adaptively reducing activity as effortful control gives way to smooth automaticity,” Ren said.
The study, “Reduced dependence on sensorimotor processing in the brain is associated with higher math skills in adults,” was authored by Xueying Ren, Marc N. Coutanche, Julie A. Fiez, and Melissa E. Libertus.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MathSkills #CognitiveScience #NeuralEfficiency #EmbodiedCognition #Sensorimotor #Automaticity #BrainImaging #fMRI #NumericalProcessing #AdultMathematics
-
DATE: May 19, 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: Brain scans reveal how ibogaine alters neural networks in veterans with head trauma
Special Operations veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder experienced notable improvements in their symptoms after a single dose of the psychoactive drug ibogaine. Brain scans revealed that the therapy was associated with persistent increases in cerebral blood flow and the widespread reorganization of neural networks. The research was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Sudden blows to the head or intense blast exposures cause traumatic brain injuries. Combat zones expose soldiers to blast waves that send immense pressure through the skull, which can stretch or shear delicate nerve fibers. Chronic effects include severe anxiety, depression, and a reduced capacity to perform routine tasks.
Special Operations forces veterans experience incredibly high rates of both brain injuries and stress disorders compared to the civilian population. Standard medical treatments rely heavily on regular talk therapy and symptom management medications. Many veterans do not find relief through these traditional routes.
New, restorative medical approaches are actively sought by health agencies to help former service members regain their independence. Derived from a shrub native to Central Africa, ibogaine is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound. The substance has a long history of use in spiritual ceremonies by the Bwiti religion in Gabon.
In recent years, researchers have analyzed the drug as a potential treatment for addiction and psychiatric conditions. It represents a highly active field of study as psychologists seek alternative medicines for treatment-resistant patients. Once inside the body, ibogaine is rapidly converted into an active byproduct that lingers for an extended period.
This secondary chemical bathes the brain in small proteins over the course of several days. These particular proteins help the organ build fresh neural connections and repair damaged tissue. This physical remodeling process is known to scientists as neuroplasticity.
Severe impacts to the head often damage blood vessels, heavily reducing the local supply of energy across the cortex. Starvation at a cellular level often leads to cognitive decay well before physical tissue loss becomes obvious on a standard medical scan. Reversing this drop in blood supply is a primary physiological goal for recovering a healthy mind after a physical injury.
Lead authors Malvika Sridhar and Azeezat Azeez, along with senior authors Manish Saggar and Nolan R. Williams of Stanford University, wanted to see how the medicinal compound physically altered the human brain. They built on a previous trial wherein veterans showed extraordinary clinical improvements after receiving ibogaine combined with an intravenous dose of magnesium.
The magnesium was included to protect the cardiovascular system against rhythmic risks commonly associated with the psychedelic agent. While the veterans reported feeling much better mentally and physically after the trial therapy, the underlying brain changes remained a mystery.
To understand the biological mechanisms, the team tracked thirty male combat veterans who voluntarily enrolled at a clinic in Mexico. The participants all had mild to moderate head traumas. Most of the veterans also met the diagnostic criteria for severe posttraumatic stress disorder.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to capture detailed pictures of the participants’ brains. Participants were scanned at three different points in time. The first scan occurred before the treatment began, establishing a biological baseline.
The second brain scan took place immediately after the medication session ended. A final scan was administered a full month later to look for durable physiological effects. The overall imaging process utilized two distinct tracking techniques to map cerebral activity.
One scanning method tracked the flow of freshly oxygenated blood through the intricate vessels of the brain. The scientists achieved this by magnetically tagging the water molecules in the blood just before they reached the skull. Active brain cells require more oxygen, making localized blood flow a reliable indicator of healthy brain function.
The second imaging method measured how different regions of the organ communicate with one another. This was recorded while the veterans were resting quietly and staring blankly at a screen. When one region of the brain consistently consumes oxygen at the exact same rhythm as a distant region, scientists assume the two areas are tied together in a functional network.
The blood flow measurements yielded evidence of sustained metabolic changes. One month after the therapy, the veterans displayed gradual increases in blood flow across several key areas of the brain. The increases were particularly concentrated in the cortex, the striatum, and the limbic system.
The limbic system is an inner ring of brain tissue heavily involved in processing emotions and forming memories. These psychological functions are frequently disrupted by combat-related head trauma. The metabolic shifts hinted at a return to healthier neural states.
Specific spikes in blood flow were found in the anterior cingulate cortex and the left insula. The insula helps individuals process their internal physical states and plays a heavy role in personal motivation. Increased blood flow in these two regions directly corresponded to the veterans’ reported improvements in their daily living.
Psychologists quantified those improvements using an expansive symptom questionnaire designed by the World Health Organization. Veterans with the most blood flow directed to the insula experienced the greatest functional recovery. They reported enhanced ease with physical mobility and navigating regular domestic life activities.
The researchers also observed an extensive restructuring of functional brain networks. Communication patterns between different brain regions shifted substantially following the single dose of ibogaine. The modifications spread across networks responsible for attention, sensory processing, and idle thought.
A notable reduction in connectivity appeared between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex. The amygdala acts as the brain’s emotional core and fear center. In individuals traumatized by combat, hyperactive connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex are associated with emotional dysregulation.
The experimental therapy appeared to dampen this reactive circuitry, possibly reducing severe emotional responses to bad memories. Another shifting connection occurred between the hippocampus and the dorsal attention network.
The hippocampus coordinates memory consolidation, while the dorsal attention network helps maintain focused goals. Traumatic injuries commonly impair both memory retention and cognitive focus. The new communication pathway between these regions held steady a full month after the clinical treatment.
Other changes emerged across sensory processing areas of the organ. The putamen, a region which affects motor control and language, received a higher volume of blood flow. The salience network, responsible for filtering important emotional stimuli from background noise, also featured shifting connections.
The broader neuroscience community hypothesizes that psychedelic compounds relax the rigid control systems of the brain. Under this theoretical model, deeply ingrained patterns of thought are temporarily loosened. This liberation allows the brain to process old traumas from flexible perspectives, which might explain the widespread network reorganization seen in the data.
The study opens the door to deeper neurobiological investigations, but it has distinct limitations. The sample size was relatively small and consisted entirely of middle-aged male combat veterans. The lack of diversity means the findings may not apply to the wider public or to individuals with different types of head injuries.
The trial was observational and did not include a protective placebo component. All participants knew they were receiving the active substance, which can influence how they report their symptoms. The veterans also sustained multiple brain injuries over their combat careers, complicating efforts to pinpoint the exact physical origins of their trauma.
Evaluating these outcomes further requires larger numbers of participants and strict control groups. To verify these initial observations, scientists need to evaluate patients who receive an inactive placebo alongside those who receive the actual therapeutic drug. Until then, these early scans provide a foundational map of how ibogaine altered a severely injured human brain.
The study, “Neural Correlates of Ibogaine: Evidence From Functional Neuroimaging of Military Veterans,” was authored by Malvika Sridhar, Azeezat Azeez, Andrew D. Geoly, Jennifer I. Lissemore, Afik Faerman, Kirsten Cherian, Derrick M. Buchanan, Saron Hunegnaw, Jackob N. Keynan, Ian H. Kratter, Cammie Rolle, Manish Saggar, and Nolan R. Williams.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #IbogaineTherapy #TraumaticBrainInjury #PTSDRecovery #Neuroplasticity #BrainImaging #FunctionalMRI #CerebralBloodFlow #VeteransHealth #Neuroscience #MentalHealthResearch
-
DATE: May 19, 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: Brain scans reveal how ibogaine alters neural networks in veterans with head trauma
Special Operations veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder experienced notable improvements in their symptoms after a single dose of the psychoactive drug ibogaine. Brain scans revealed that the therapy was associated with persistent increases in cerebral blood flow and the widespread reorganization of neural networks. The research was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Sudden blows to the head or intense blast exposures cause traumatic brain injuries. Combat zones expose soldiers to blast waves that send immense pressure through the skull, which can stretch or shear delicate nerve fibers. Chronic effects include severe anxiety, depression, and a reduced capacity to perform routine tasks.
Special Operations forces veterans experience incredibly high rates of both brain injuries and stress disorders compared to the civilian population. Standard medical treatments rely heavily on regular talk therapy and symptom management medications. Many veterans do not find relief through these traditional routes.
New, restorative medical approaches are actively sought by health agencies to help former service members regain their independence. Derived from a shrub native to Central Africa, ibogaine is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound. The substance has a long history of use in spiritual ceremonies by the Bwiti religion in Gabon.
In recent years, researchers have analyzed the drug as a potential treatment for addiction and psychiatric conditions. It represents a highly active field of study as psychologists seek alternative medicines for treatment-resistant patients. Once inside the body, ibogaine is rapidly converted into an active byproduct that lingers for an extended period.
This secondary chemical bathes the brain in small proteins over the course of several days. These particular proteins help the organ build fresh neural connections and repair damaged tissue. This physical remodeling process is known to scientists as neuroplasticity.
Severe impacts to the head often damage blood vessels, heavily reducing the local supply of energy across the cortex. Starvation at a cellular level often leads to cognitive decay well before physical tissue loss becomes obvious on a standard medical scan. Reversing this drop in blood supply is a primary physiological goal for recovering a healthy mind after a physical injury.
Lead authors Malvika Sridhar and Azeezat Azeez, along with senior authors Manish Saggar and Nolan R. Williams of Stanford University, wanted to see how the medicinal compound physically altered the human brain. They built on a previous trial wherein veterans showed extraordinary clinical improvements after receiving ibogaine combined with an intravenous dose of magnesium.
The magnesium was included to protect the cardiovascular system against rhythmic risks commonly associated with the psychedelic agent. While the veterans reported feeling much better mentally and physically after the trial therapy, the underlying brain changes remained a mystery.
To understand the biological mechanisms, the team tracked thirty male combat veterans who voluntarily enrolled at a clinic in Mexico. The participants all had mild to moderate head traumas. Most of the veterans also met the diagnostic criteria for severe posttraumatic stress disorder.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to capture detailed pictures of the participants’ brains. Participants were scanned at three different points in time. The first scan occurred before the treatment began, establishing a biological baseline.
The second brain scan took place immediately after the medication session ended. A final scan was administered a full month later to look for durable physiological effects. The overall imaging process utilized two distinct tracking techniques to map cerebral activity.
One scanning method tracked the flow of freshly oxygenated blood through the intricate vessels of the brain. The scientists achieved this by magnetically tagging the water molecules in the blood just before they reached the skull. Active brain cells require more oxygen, making localized blood flow a reliable indicator of healthy brain function.
The second imaging method measured how different regions of the organ communicate with one another. This was recorded while the veterans were resting quietly and staring blankly at a screen. When one region of the brain consistently consumes oxygen at the exact same rhythm as a distant region, scientists assume the two areas are tied together in a functional network.
The blood flow measurements yielded evidence of sustained metabolic changes. One month after the therapy, the veterans displayed gradual increases in blood flow across several key areas of the brain. The increases were particularly concentrated in the cortex, the striatum, and the limbic system.
The limbic system is an inner ring of brain tissue heavily involved in processing emotions and forming memories. These psychological functions are frequently disrupted by combat-related head trauma. The metabolic shifts hinted at a return to healthier neural states.
Specific spikes in blood flow were found in the anterior cingulate cortex and the left insula. The insula helps individuals process their internal physical states and plays a heavy role in personal motivation. Increased blood flow in these two regions directly corresponded to the veterans’ reported improvements in their daily living.
Psychologists quantified those improvements using an expansive symptom questionnaire designed by the World Health Organization. Veterans with the most blood flow directed to the insula experienced the greatest functional recovery. They reported enhanced ease with physical mobility and navigating regular domestic life activities.
The researchers also observed an extensive restructuring of functional brain networks. Communication patterns between different brain regions shifted substantially following the single dose of ibogaine. The modifications spread across networks responsible for attention, sensory processing, and idle thought.
A notable reduction in connectivity appeared between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex. The amygdala acts as the brain’s emotional core and fear center. In individuals traumatized by combat, hyperactive connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex are associated with emotional dysregulation.
The experimental therapy appeared to dampen this reactive circuitry, possibly reducing severe emotional responses to bad memories. Another shifting connection occurred between the hippocampus and the dorsal attention network.
The hippocampus coordinates memory consolidation, while the dorsal attention network helps maintain focused goals. Traumatic injuries commonly impair both memory retention and cognitive focus. The new communication pathway between these regions held steady a full month after the clinical treatment.
Other changes emerged across sensory processing areas of the organ. The putamen, a region which affects motor control and language, received a higher volume of blood flow. The salience network, responsible for filtering important emotional stimuli from background noise, also featured shifting connections.
The broader neuroscience community hypothesizes that psychedelic compounds relax the rigid control systems of the brain. Under this theoretical model, deeply ingrained patterns of thought are temporarily loosened. This liberation allows the brain to process old traumas from flexible perspectives, which might explain the widespread network reorganization seen in the data.
The study opens the door to deeper neurobiological investigations, but it has distinct limitations. The sample size was relatively small and consisted entirely of middle-aged male combat veterans. The lack of diversity means the findings may not apply to the wider public or to individuals with different types of head injuries.
The trial was observational and did not include a protective placebo component. All participants knew they were receiving the active substance, which can influence how they report their symptoms. The veterans also sustained multiple brain injuries over their combat careers, complicating efforts to pinpoint the exact physical origins of their trauma.
Evaluating these outcomes further requires larger numbers of participants and strict control groups. To verify these initial observations, scientists need to evaluate patients who receive an inactive placebo alongside those who receive the actual therapeutic drug. Until then, these early scans provide a foundational map of how ibogaine altered a severely injured human brain.
The study, “Neural Correlates of Ibogaine: Evidence From Functional Neuroimaging of Military Veterans,” was authored by Malvika Sridhar, Azeezat Azeez, Andrew D. Geoly, Jennifer I. Lissemore, Afik Faerman, Kirsten Cherian, Derrick M. Buchanan, Saron Hunegnaw, Jackob N. Keynan, Ian H. Kratter, Cammie Rolle, Manish Saggar, and Nolan R. Williams.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #IbogaineTherapy #TraumaticBrainInjury #PTSDRecovery #Neuroplasticity #BrainImaging #FunctionalMRI #CerebralBloodFlow #VeteransHealth #Neuroscience #MentalHealthResearch
-
DATE: May 19, 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: Brain scans reveal how ibogaine alters neural networks in veterans with head trauma
Special Operations veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder experienced notable improvements in their symptoms after a single dose of the psychoactive drug ibogaine. Brain scans revealed that the therapy was associated with persistent increases in cerebral blood flow and the widespread reorganization of neural networks. The research was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Sudden blows to the head or intense blast exposures cause traumatic brain injuries. Combat zones expose soldiers to blast waves that send immense pressure through the skull, which can stretch or shear delicate nerve fibers. Chronic effects include severe anxiety, depression, and a reduced capacity to perform routine tasks.
Special Operations forces veterans experience incredibly high rates of both brain injuries and stress disorders compared to the civilian population. Standard medical treatments rely heavily on regular talk therapy and symptom management medications. Many veterans do not find relief through these traditional routes.
New, restorative medical approaches are actively sought by health agencies to help former service members regain their independence. Derived from a shrub native to Central Africa, ibogaine is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound. The substance has a long history of use in spiritual ceremonies by the Bwiti religion in Gabon.
In recent years, researchers have analyzed the drug as a potential treatment for addiction and psychiatric conditions. It represents a highly active field of study as psychologists seek alternative medicines for treatment-resistant patients. Once inside the body, ibogaine is rapidly converted into an active byproduct that lingers for an extended period.
This secondary chemical bathes the brain in small proteins over the course of several days. These particular proteins help the organ build fresh neural connections and repair damaged tissue. This physical remodeling process is known to scientists as neuroplasticity.
Severe impacts to the head often damage blood vessels, heavily reducing the local supply of energy across the cortex. Starvation at a cellular level often leads to cognitive decay well before physical tissue loss becomes obvious on a standard medical scan. Reversing this drop in blood supply is a primary physiological goal for recovering a healthy mind after a physical injury.
Lead authors Malvika Sridhar and Azeezat Azeez, along with senior authors Manish Saggar and Nolan R. Williams of Stanford University, wanted to see how the medicinal compound physically altered the human brain. They built on a previous trial wherein veterans showed extraordinary clinical improvements after receiving ibogaine combined with an intravenous dose of magnesium.
The magnesium was included to protect the cardiovascular system against rhythmic risks commonly associated with the psychedelic agent. While the veterans reported feeling much better mentally and physically after the trial therapy, the underlying brain changes remained a mystery.
To understand the biological mechanisms, the team tracked thirty male combat veterans who voluntarily enrolled at a clinic in Mexico. The participants all had mild to moderate head traumas. Most of the veterans also met the diagnostic criteria for severe posttraumatic stress disorder.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to capture detailed pictures of the participants’ brains. Participants were scanned at three different points in time. The first scan occurred before the treatment began, establishing a biological baseline.
The second brain scan took place immediately after the medication session ended. A final scan was administered a full month later to look for durable physiological effects. The overall imaging process utilized two distinct tracking techniques to map cerebral activity.
One scanning method tracked the flow of freshly oxygenated blood through the intricate vessels of the brain. The scientists achieved this by magnetically tagging the water molecules in the blood just before they reached the skull. Active brain cells require more oxygen, making localized blood flow a reliable indicator of healthy brain function.
The second imaging method measured how different regions of the organ communicate with one another. This was recorded while the veterans were resting quietly and staring blankly at a screen. When one region of the brain consistently consumes oxygen at the exact same rhythm as a distant region, scientists assume the two areas are tied together in a functional network.
The blood flow measurements yielded evidence of sustained metabolic changes. One month after the therapy, the veterans displayed gradual increases in blood flow across several key areas of the brain. The increases were particularly concentrated in the cortex, the striatum, and the limbic system.
The limbic system is an inner ring of brain tissue heavily involved in processing emotions and forming memories. These psychological functions are frequently disrupted by combat-related head trauma. The metabolic shifts hinted at a return to healthier neural states.
Specific spikes in blood flow were found in the anterior cingulate cortex and the left insula. The insula helps individuals process their internal physical states and plays a heavy role in personal motivation. Increased blood flow in these two regions directly corresponded to the veterans’ reported improvements in their daily living.
Psychologists quantified those improvements using an expansive symptom questionnaire designed by the World Health Organization. Veterans with the most blood flow directed to the insula experienced the greatest functional recovery. They reported enhanced ease with physical mobility and navigating regular domestic life activities.
The researchers also observed an extensive restructuring of functional brain networks. Communication patterns between different brain regions shifted substantially following the single dose of ibogaine. The modifications spread across networks responsible for attention, sensory processing, and idle thought.
A notable reduction in connectivity appeared between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex. The amygdala acts as the brain’s emotional core and fear center. In individuals traumatized by combat, hyperactive connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex are associated with emotional dysregulation.
The experimental therapy appeared to dampen this reactive circuitry, possibly reducing severe emotional responses to bad memories. Another shifting connection occurred between the hippocampus and the dorsal attention network.
The hippocampus coordinates memory consolidation, while the dorsal attention network helps maintain focused goals. Traumatic injuries commonly impair both memory retention and cognitive focus. The new communication pathway between these regions held steady a full month after the clinical treatment.
Other changes emerged across sensory processing areas of the organ. The putamen, a region which affects motor control and language, received a higher volume of blood flow. The salience network, responsible for filtering important emotional stimuli from background noise, also featured shifting connections.
The broader neuroscience community hypothesizes that psychedelic compounds relax the rigid control systems of the brain. Under this theoretical model, deeply ingrained patterns of thought are temporarily loosened. This liberation allows the brain to process old traumas from flexible perspectives, which might explain the widespread network reorganization seen in the data.
The study opens the door to deeper neurobiological investigations, but it has distinct limitations. The sample size was relatively small and consisted entirely of middle-aged male combat veterans. The lack of diversity means the findings may not apply to the wider public or to individuals with different types of head injuries.
The trial was observational and did not include a protective placebo component. All participants knew they were receiving the active substance, which can influence how they report their symptoms. The veterans also sustained multiple brain injuries over their combat careers, complicating efforts to pinpoint the exact physical origins of their trauma.
Evaluating these outcomes further requires larger numbers of participants and strict control groups. To verify these initial observations, scientists need to evaluate patients who receive an inactive placebo alongside those who receive the actual therapeutic drug. Until then, these early scans provide a foundational map of how ibogaine altered a severely injured human brain.
The study, “Neural Correlates of Ibogaine: Evidence From Functional Neuroimaging of Military Veterans,” was authored by Malvika Sridhar, Azeezat Azeez, Andrew D. Geoly, Jennifer I. Lissemore, Afik Faerman, Kirsten Cherian, Derrick M. Buchanan, Saron Hunegnaw, Jackob N. Keynan, Ian H. Kratter, Cammie Rolle, Manish Saggar, and Nolan R. Williams.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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
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
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
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #IbogaineTherapy #TraumaticBrainInjury #PTSDRecovery #Neuroplasticity #BrainImaging #FunctionalMRI #CerebralBloodFlow #VeteransHealth #Neuroscience #MentalHealthResearch
-
https://www.europesays.com/ie/461570/ Blood Test Predicts Alzheimer’s Progression in Cognitively Healthy Older Adults #Alzheimeru2019sDisease #AmyloidPETScan #BloodBiomarkers #BrainImaging #ClinicalResearch #CognitiveDecline #DiagnosticTesting #EarlyDiagnosis #Éire #Health #IE #Ireland #NeurodegenerativeDiseases #neurology #PlasmaBiomarkers #PredictiveMedicine #ProteinBiomarkers #pTau217
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
What Actually Happens to Your Brain When You Don’t Sleep Enough
I’ve always wondered what exactly happens inside my brain after a sleepless night. Why does everything feel harder—thinking…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Health #brainhemispheres #brainimaging #braintissue #sleeploss
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/596001/ -
What Actually Happens to Your Brain When You Don’t Sleep Enough
I’ve always wondered what exactly happens inside my brain after a sleepless night. Why does everything feel harder—thinking…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Health #brainhemispheres #brainimaging #braintissue #sleeploss
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/596001/ -
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 satura…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #brainimaging #Cognitivedecline #eatingabalanceddiet #healthyfats #Mediterranean #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 satura…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #brainimaging #Cognitivedecline #eatingabalanceddiet #healthyfats #Mediterranean #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
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
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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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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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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https://www.europesays.com/ie/330645/ AI algorithm enables tracking of vital white matter pathways | MIT News #AiInHealthCare #AIInMedicine #Alzheimer'sResearch #BrainDamage #BrainImaging #brainstem #BrainStemBundleTool(BSBT) #DiffusionMRIScans #Éire #EmeryN.Brown #Health #IE #Ireland #MarkOlchanyi #MITIMES #MITMedicalEngineeringAndMedicalPhysics #MITPicowerInstitute #MSResearch #Myelin #NeuralCircuits #Parkinson’sResearch #TraumaticBrainInjury #WhiteMatter
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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 -
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.
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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.
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