Teams in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments face many risks to behavioral health, social dynamics, and team performance. Complex long-duration ICE operational settings such as ...spaceflight and military deployments are largely closed systems with tightly coupled components, often operating as autonomous microsocieties within isolated ecosystems. As such, all components of the system are presumed to interact and can positively or negatively influence team dynamics through direct or indirect pathways. However, modern team science frameworks rarely consider inputs to the team system from outside the social and behavioral sciences and rarely incorporate biological factors despite the brain and associated neurobiological systems as the nexus of input from the environment and necessary substrate for emergent team dynamics and performance. Here, we provide a high-level overview of several key neurobiological systems relevant to social dynamics. We then describe several key components of ICE systems that can interact with and on neurobiological systems as individual-level inputs influencing social dynamics over the team life cycle-specifically food and nutrition, exercise and physical activity, sleep/wake/work rhythms, and habitat design and layout. Finally, we identify opportunities and strategic considerations for multidisciplinary research and development. Our overarching goal is to encourage multidisciplinary expansion of team science through (1) prospective horizontal integration of variables outside the current bounds of team science as significant inputs to closed ICE team systems and (2) bidirectional vertical integration of biology as the necessary inputs and mediators of individual and team behavioral health and performance. Prospective efforts to account for the behavioral biology of teams in ICE settings through an integrated organizational neuroscience approach will enable the field of team science to better understand and support teams who work, live, serve, and explore in extreme environments.
Bilingualism represents an interesting model of possible experience-dependent alterations in brain structure. The current study examines whether interhemispheric adaptations in brain structure are ...associated with bilingualism. Corpus callosum volume and cortical thickness asymmetry across 13 regions of interest (selected to include critical language and bilingual cognitive control areas) were measured in a sample of Spanish-English bilinguals and age- and gender-matched monolingual individuals (N = 39 per group). Cortical thickness asymmetry of the anterior cingulate region differed across groups, with thicker right than left cortex for bilinguals and the reverse for monolinguals. In addition, two adjacent regions of the corpus callosum (mid-anterior and central) had greater volume in bilinguals. The findings suggest that structural indices of interhemispheric organization in a critical cognitive control region are sensitive to variations in language experience.
•Thickness asymmetry of anterior cingulate is reversed for bilingual vs monolinguals.•Rightward asymmetry for bilinguals, leftward for monolinguals.•Mid-anterior/central corpus callosum volume greater for bilinguals.•Brain structure in a cognitive control region varies with language experience.•Differing interhemispheric organization in brain structure for bilinguals.
In recent years there has been considerable debate about the presence or absence of a bilingual advantage in tasks that involve cognitive control. Our previous work has established evidence of ...differences in brain activity between monolinguals and bilinguals in both word learning and in the avoidance of interference during a picture selection task. Recent models of cognitive control have highlighted the importance of a set of neural structures that may show differential tuning due to exposure to two languages. There is also evidence that genetic factors play a role in the availability of dopamine in neural structures involved in cognitive control. Thus, it is important to investigate whether there are interactions effects generating variability in language acquisition when attributed to genetic (e.g., characteristics of dopamine turnover) and environmental (e.g., exposure to two languages) factors. Here preliminary results from genotyping of a sample of bilingual and monolingual individuals are reported. They reveal different distributions in allele frequencies of the DRD2/ANKK1 taq1A polymorphism. These results bring up the possibility that bilinguals may exhibit additional flexibility due to differences in genetic characteristics relative to monolinguals. Future studies should consider genotype as a possible contributing factor to the development of cognitive control across individuals with different language learning histories.
•Bilingualism and genetics both previously found to affect cognitive control.•31% of monolinguals and 69% of bilinguals in college student sample carry allele of interest.•Holistic view of the effects of genes and environment on cognitive control is outlined.
Bilingual language control may involve cognitive control, including inhibition and switching. These types of control have been previously associated with neural activity in the inferior frontal gyrus ...(IFG) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In previous studies, the DRD2 gene, related to dopamine availability in the striatum, has been found to play a role in neural activity during cognitive control tasks, with carriers of the gene’s A1 allele showing different patterns of activity in inferior frontal regions during cognitive control tasks than non-carriers. The current study sought to extend these findings to the domain of bilingual language control. Forty-nine Spanish-English bilinguals participated in this study by providing DNA samples through saliva, completing background questionnaires, and performing a language production task (picture-naming), a non-verbal inhibition task (Simon task), and a non-verbal switching task (shape-color task) in the fMRI scanner. The fMRI data were analyzed to determine whether variation in the genetic background or bilingual language background predicts neural activity in the IFG and ACC during these three tasks. Results indicate that genetic and language background variables predicted neural activity in the IFG during English picture naming. Variation in only the genetic background predicted neural activity in the ACC during the shape-color switching task; variation in only the language background predicted neural activity in the ACC and IFG during the Simon task. These results suggest that variation in the DRD2 gene should not be ignored when drawing conclusions about bilingual verbal and non-verbal cognitive control.
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•Bilingual language control is associated with activity in the inferior frontal gyrus.•Non-verbal control is associated with activity in the anterior cingulate cortex.•Specific genotypes predict fMRI activity during language control and task switching.•Bilingual experience predicts fMRI activity during language control and inhibition.
The present work examined the influence of drinking motives on hookah use frequency among individuals reporting both alcohol and hookah use (multi-substance users). Despite growing documentation of ...cross-substance effects between motives and substance use, limited research has examined these relationships specifically with respect to hookah use. Participants were 134 (75.37 % female) hookah and alcohol users, aged 18–47 years (
M
= 22.17,
SD
= 3.66) who completed measures of substance use, drinking motives, and reported demographic information. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to investigate the predictive value of drinking motives on hookah use frequency, age taken into account. Findings showed that hookah use was negatively associated with age (
β
= − .22,
p
≤ . 01). The model regressing hookah use on the four drinking motives provided adequate fit (
χ
2
= 314.31,
df
= 180,
p
< .05, CFI = .92, RMSEA = .075 95 % CI, .06–.09). Hookah use was associated negatively with social motives (
β
= − .43,
p
≤ . 001) and positively with conformity motives (
β
= .24,
p
≤ . 05). These findings are consistent with multi-substance use literature suggesting that drinking motives are associated with the use of other substances, including increased hookah use frequency. Additional examinations of cross-substance cognitive processes are needed, particularly with respect to understanding whether hookah use among multi-substance users may be contingent in part on individual factors including negative affectivity.
This study investigated vicarious effort-based decision-making in 50 adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to 32 controls using the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task. ...Participants made choices to win money for themselves or for another person. When choosing for themselves, the ASD group exhibited relatively similar patterns of effort-based decision-making across reward parameters. However, when choosing for another person, the ASD group demonstrated relatively decreased sensitivity to reward magnitude, particularly in the high magnitude condition. Finally, patterns of responding in the ASD group were related to individual differences in consummatory pleasure capacity. These findings indicate atypical vicarious effort-based decision-making in ASD and more broadly add to the growing body of literature addressing social reward processing deficits in ASD.
•Brain inflammation has been observed in individuals with autism.•Brain inflammation impacts reward-related behaviors and dopamine functioning.•This review suggests that brain inflammation impairs ...reward processing in autism.•This linkage, suggests anti-inflammatory treatments should be investigated to treat autism.
Accumulating evidence suggests that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be conceptualized within a framework of reward processing impairments. The Social Motivation Theory of Autism posits that reduced motivation to interact with people and decreased pleasure derived from social interactions may derail typical social development and contribute to the emergence of core social communication deficits in ASD. Neuroinflammation may disrupt the development of mesolimbic dopaminergic systems that are critical for optimal functioning of social reward processing systems. This neuroinflammation-induced disturbance of mesolimbic dopaminergic functioning has been substantiated using maternal immune activation rodent models whose offspring show aberrant dopaminergic corticostriatal function, as well as behavioral characteristics of ASD model systems. Preclinical findings are in turn supported by clinical evidence of increased mesolimbic neuroinflammatory responses in individuals with ASD. This review summarizes evidence for reward processing deficits and neuroinflammatory impairments in ASD and examines how immune inflammatory dysregulation may impair the development of dopaminergic mesolimbic circuitry in ASD. Finally, future research directions examining neuroinflammatory effects on reward processing in ASD are proposed.
The chronic mental health consequences of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) are a leading cause of disability. This is surprising given the expectation of significant recovery after mild TBI, which ...suggests that other injury-related factors may contribute to long-term adverse outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine how number of prior injuries, gender, and environment/context of injury may contribute to depressive symptoms after mild TBI among deployed United States service members and veterans (SMVs). Data from the Long-term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium Prospective Longitudinal Study was used to assess TBI injury characteristics and depression scores previously measured on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) among a sample of 1456 deployed SMVs. Clinical diagnosis of mild TBI was defined via a multi-step process centered on a structured face-to-face interview. Logistical and linear regressions stratified by gender and environment of injury were used to model depressive symptoms controlling for sociodemographic and combat deployment covariates. Relative to controls with no history of mild TBI (
= 280), the odds ratios (OR) for moderate/severe depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) were higher for SMVs with one mild TBI (
= 358) OR: 1.62 (95% confidence interval CI 1.09-2.40,
= 0.016) and two or more mild TBIs (
= 818) OR: 1.84 (95% CI 1.31-2.59,
< 0.001). Risk differences across groups were assessed in stratified linear models, which found that depression symptoms were elevated in those with a history of multiple mild TBIs compared with those who had a single mild TBI (
< 0.001). Combat deployment-related injuries were also associated with higher depression scores than injuries occurring in non-combat or civilian settings (
< 0.001). Increased rates of depression after mild TBI persisted in the absence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Both men and women SMVs separately exhibited significantly increased depressive symptom scores if they had had combat-related mild TBI. These results suggest that contextual information, gender, and prior injury history may influence long-term mental health outcomes among SMVs with mild TBI exposure.
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