Personality Traits Induce Different Brain Patterns When Processing Social and Valence Information.

This paper shows the brain correlates of Cloninger's personality model during the presentation of social scenarios under positive or negative valence situations. Social scenarios were constructed when participants played the Dictator game with two confederates that had two opposites roles as the cooperator (Coop) and non-cooperator (NoCoop). Later the same day during a fMRI scanning session, participants read negative (Neg) and positive (Pos) situations that happened to confederates in the past. Participants were asked to think "how do you think those people felt during that situation?" A dissimilarity matrix between stimuli were obtained from fMRI results. Results shown that Harm Avoidance trait people make use of right middle frontal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop. Cooperation as a trait makes use of the right superior temporal gyrus and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in positive social scenarios. Finally, Self-directedness trait people make use of the right inferior parietal lobe to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in negative social scenarios and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and Strangers. An intuitive link between discrimination findings and behavioral patterns of those personality traits is proposed.

Conserved and divergent expression dynamics during early patterning of the telencephalon in mouse and chick embryos.

The mammalian and the avian telencephalon are nearly indistinguishable at early embryonic vesicle stages but differ substantially in form and function at their adult stage. We sequenced and analyzed RNA populations present in mouse and chick during the early stages of embryonic telencephalon to understand conserved and lineage-specific developmental differences. We found approximately 3000 genes that orchestrate telencephalon development. Many chromatin-associated epigenetic and transcription regulators show high expression in both species and some show species-specific expression dynamics. Interestingly, previous studies associated them to autism, intellectual disabilities, and mental retardation supporting a causal link between their impaired functions during telencephalon development and brain dysfunction. Strikingly, the conserved up-regulated genes were differentially enriched in ontologies related to development or functions of the adult brain. Moreover, a differential enrichment of distinct repertoires of transcription factor binding motifs in their upstream promoter regions suggest a species-specific regulation of the various gene groups identified. Overall, our results reveal that the ontogenetic divergences between the mouse and chick telencephalon result from subtle differences in the regulation of common patterning signaling cascades and regulatory networks unique to each species at their very early stages of development.

Neural correlates of the natural observation of an emotionally loaded video.

Studies based on a paradigm of free or natural viewing have revealed characteristics that allow us to know how the brain processes stimuli within a natural environment. This method has been little used to study brain function. With a connectivity approach, we examine the processing of emotions using an exploratory method to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. This research describes our approach to modeling stress paradigms suitable for neuroimaging environments. We showed a short film (4.54 minutes) with high negative emotional valence and high arousal content to 24 healthy male subjects (36.42 years old; SD = 12.14) during fMRI. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to identify networks based on spatial statistical independence. Through this analysis we identified the sensorimotor system and its influence on the dorsal attention and default-mode networks, which in turn have reciprocal activity and modulate networks described as emotional.

Correlation between corpus callosum sub-segmental area and cognitive processes in school-age children.

We assessed the relationship between structural characteristics (area) and microstructure (apparent diffusion coefficient; ADC) of the corpus callosum (CC) in 57 healthy children aged 7.0 to 9.1 years, with diverse cognitive and academic abilities as well as executive functions evaluated with a neuropsychological battery for children. The CC was manually delineated and sub-segmented into six regions, and their ADC and area were measured. There were no significant differences between genders in the callosal region area or in ADC. The CC area and ADC, mainly of anterior regions, correlated with different cognitive abilities for each gender. Our results suggest that the relationship between cognitive abilities and CC characteristics is different between girls and boys and between the anterior and posterior regions of the CC. Furthermore, these findings strenghten the idea that regardless of the different interhemispheric connectivity schemes per gender, the results of cognitive tasks are very similar for girls and boys throughout childhood.

Versión computarizada para la aplicación del Listado de Síntomas 90 (SCL 90) y del Inventario de Temperamento y Carácter (ITC)

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Summary: Psychometric tests are effective to measure psychological characteristics, including personality, motivation, intellectual abilities and psychopathological traits. The Psychopathological diagnostic could be supported on some of these psychometric tests, which ideally should be of simple and fast application. Two of the most common tests are the Symptom Check List 90 (SCL 90) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). SCL 90, developed by Derogatis, Lipman and Covi in 1973, is a 90-item self-report inventory that assesses the level of distress experienced by the subject. Items are comprised in nine dimensions: somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism. The SCL 90 has been translated into several languages and has been successfully applied in Argentina and Spain. In Mexico, Cruz-Fuentes et al. and Lara et al. considered that this test can be well used as a psychometric instrument in clinical research. Due to its efficiency and brief time to response (12-15 min.), the SCL 90 has been administered to support psicopathological diagnostics and to complement the research of epilepsy, social-behavior disorders, physical disorders, pharmacological treatment and for the comparison of psychological features in crosscultural studies. The TCI is a self-applied test that describes personality according to Clonninger's psychobiological model. In this model temperament is described as highly heritable and stable during lifetime, and it is divided in four dimensions: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence. Character is described as being determined by the individual's experience and is modifiable during life-time. It is divided in to three dimensions self-directedness, cooperativeness and self-transcendence. The TCI has been used to correlate personality features to genetics variability and to complement clinical studies that involves psychiatric disorder, such as, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression. This test has been translated and administered in American, French, German, Korean and Spanish populations. In Mexico, Sánchez-Carmona, Páez, López and Nicolini considered that the TCI constitute a psychometric test that can be used to develop the clinical research in Mexican populations. In recent years, research and clinical evaluation in several countries, such as United States and France, have successfully designed and applied computerized versions of the SCL 90 and TCI. These versions provide a quicker rate of testing and a permanent storage of data. In this work, we analyze the validity of viability to apply a computerized version of the SCL 90 and the TCI in Spanish. This computerized version was previously developed at the Instituto de Neurobiología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. This version involves a computer program in Java language, which give an easy access to the users and is compatible with any computational environment. The sequence to answer the computerized version involves five steps: a) accessing the main control program, b) writing the user's identification data, c) answering SCL 90 test, d) answering TCI test, e) forming the database. The formats employed in these computerized versions are similar to those in paper-and-pencil original versions. Its rate sequences were formed according to the SCL 90 and the TCI's application manuals. The information stored in the computerized program of SCL 90 and TCI, can be imported to the Excel program. By this way, it is possible to import the results to any database in any statistical analysis program. Method. Computerized versions of the SCL 90 and the TCI were administered in different sessions for two 30 participants sample (15 men, 15 women, mean= 30, S.D. 8 years old). Paper-and-pencil versions of both tests were administered, in two different sessions, to a sample within the same sex and age range. Samples were formed by students of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro. Statistical analysis involved a Student's t test to identify differences between data obtained in computerized and paper-and-pencil versions. Graphic comparisons were made to show the similarity of the results obtained in computerized versions and those of reference samples published in Mexico by Cruz-Fuentes et al. (2005), Lara et al. (2005) and Sánchez de Carmona et al. (1996). Results. The average time invested in both computerized and paper-pencil version for SCL 90 was 15 min. and 25 min. for TCI. No significant differences were founded in the items at any dimensions of the SCL 90 and TCI between the computerized and the paper-and-pencil versions. Graphic distribution of data in SCL 90 and central tendencies measures in the TCI, were similar in both computerized and pa-per-and-pencils reference samples versions. Discussion. The average of time invested to response the computerized versions of both test was similar to that reported in paper-and-pencil versions: 15 min. for SCL 90 and 35 min. for TCI. So, then the time required to administer computerized versions is not higher than required in paper-and pencil versions. The results sustain that the computerized administration of the SCL 90 and TCI in Spanish do not differs from the original paper-and-pencils Spanish versions in any of the test's dimensions. Besides, there are equivalent results in computerized versions and results showed in the reference samples. This allows us to consider that computerized versions of SCL 90 and TCI evaluate the features what were designed for. Even the complete evaluation through SCL 90 and TCI requires a final individualized interpretation, the automatically rating trough computerized version, could decrease human mistakes during the account of answers and items. It allows the elaboration of permanent and extensive database that can be easily used to compare epidemiological and longitudinal behavioral research. Furthermore it could complement neurobiological studies, for example, to evaluate population in neuroimaging studies such functional magnetic resonance studies. We conclude that computerized versions of the Symptom Check List 90 and Temperament and Character Inventory show a good validity to be useful as a psychometric tool.