Dead wood-associated fungi play an important role in wood degradation and the recycling of organic matter in the forest ecological system. Xenasmataceae is a cosmopolitan group of wood-rotting fungi ...that grows on tropical, subtropical, temperate, and boreal vegetation. In this study, a new fungal order, Xenasmatales, is introduced based on both morphology and multigene phylogeny to accommodate Xenasmataceae. According to the internal transcribed spacer and nuclear large subunit (ITS+nLSU) and nLSU-only analyses of 13 orders, Xenasmatales formed a single lineage and then grouped with orders Atheliales, Boletales, and Hymenochaetales. The ITS dataset revealed that the new taxon
Xenasmatella nigroidea
clustered into
Xenasmatella
and was closely grouped with
Xenasmatella vaga
. In the present study,
Xenasmatella nigroidea
collected from Southern China is proposed as a new taxon, based on a combination of morphology and phylogeny. Additionally, a key to the
Xenasmatella
worldwide is provided.
Rapid responses to emotional words play a crucial role in social communication. This study employed event-related potentials to examine the time course of neural dynamics involved in emotional word ...processing. Participants performed a dual-target task in which positive, negative and neutral adjectives were rapidly presented. The early occipital P1 was found larger when elicited by negative words, indicating that the first stage of emotional word processing mainly differentiates between non-threatening and potentially threatening information. The N170 and the early posterior negativity were larger for positive and negative words, reflecting the emotional/non-emotional discrimination stage of word processing. The late positive component not only distinguished emotional words from neutral words, but also differentiated between positive and negative words. This represents the third stage of emotional word processing, the emotion separation. Present results indicated that, similar with the three-stage model of facial expression processing; the neural processing of emotional words can also be divided into three stages. These findings prompt us to believe that the nature of emotion can be analyzed by the brain independent of stimulus type, and that the three-stage scheme may be a common model for emotional information processing in the context of limited attentional resources.
This study investigated the potential causes of anxious people's social avoidance. The classic ultimatum game was utilized in concert with electroencephalogram recording. Participants were divided ...into two groups according to levels of trait anxiety as identified by a self‐report scale. The behavioral results indicate that high‐anxious participants were more prone to reject human‐proposed than computer‐proposed unequal offers compared to their low‐anxious counterparts. The event‐related potential results indicate that the high‐anxious group showed a larger feedback‐related negativity when receiving unequal monetary offers than equal ones, and a larger P3 when receiving human‐proposed offers than computer‐proposed ones, but these effects were absent in the low‐anxious group. We suggest anxious people's social avoidance results from hypersensitivity to unequal distributions during interpersonal interactions.
Bacterial persister cells, a sub-population of dormant phenotypic variants highly tolerant to antibiotics, present a significant challenge for infection control. Investigating the mechanisms of ...antibiotic persistence is crucial for developing effective treatment strategies. Here, we found a significant association between tolerance frequency and previous infection history in bovine mastitis. Previous S. aureus infection led to S. aureus tolerance to killing by rifampicin in subsequent infection in vivo and in vitro. Actually, the activation of trained immunity contributed to rifampicin persistence of S. aureus in secondary infection, where it reduced the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment and increased disease severity. Mechanically, we found that S. aureus persistence was mediated by the accumulation of fumarate provoked by trained immunity. Combination therapy with metformin and rifampicin promoted eradication of persisters and improved the severity of recurrent S. aureus infection. These findings provide mechanistic insight into the relationship between trained immunity and S. aureus persistence, while providing proof of concept that trained immunity is a therapeutic target in recurrent bacterial infections involving persistent pathogens.
The decoding of social signals from nonverbal cues plays a vital role in the social interactions of socially gregarious animals such as humans. Because nonverbal emotional signals from the face and ...body are normally seen together, it is important to investigate the mechanism underlying the integration of emotional signals from these two sources. We conducted a study in which the time course of the integration of facial and bodily expressions was examined via analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs) while the focus of attention was manipulated. Distinctive integrating features were found during multiple stages of processing. In the first stage, threatening information from the body was extracted automatically and rapidly, as evidenced by enhanced P1 amplitudes when the subjects viewed compound face-body images with fearful bodies compared with happy bodies. In the second stage, incongruency between emotional information from the face and the body was detected and captured by N2. Incongruent compound images elicited larger N2s than did congruent compound images. The focus of attention modulated the third stage of integration. When the subjects' attention was focused on the face, images with congruent emotional signals elicited larger P3s than did images with incongruent signals, suggesting more sustained attention and elaboration of congruent emotional information extracted from the face and body. On the other hand, when the subjects' attention was focused on the body, images with fearful bodies elicited larger P3s than did images with happy bodies, indicating more sustained attention and elaboration of threatening information from the body during evaluative processes.
The effect of human-based advice on decision-making represents a “gain-loss asymmetry,” as people tend to conform to others’ advice in the loss than in the gain domain; however, it is unknown whether ...the same is true for automatically generated advice. To address a research gap in the literature created by ignoring the gain-loss dimension, we compared the utilization of human- and computer-based advices in the gain and loss domains, separately. Sixty-seven college volunteers were given an opportunity to change their initial decision in a gain- or loss-related context after receiving human- or computer-based advice. Event-related potentials were recorded including the N2 (reflecting psychological conflict) and P3 (reflecting subjective confidence) components. Behavioral data revealed a classic “gain-loss asymmetry” effect in the human-based condition, but not in the computer-based condition, indicating that computerized advice utilization remained prominent across different domains. Moreover, the human-based condition showed a larger option-evoked P3 in the gain than in the loss domain, but no difference was found for the computer-based condition; P3 latency was longer in the human-than in the computer-based condition. These findings support the “automation bias” hypothesis (i.e., automations are trusted more than humans), and may help develop automated advice systems.
•This study explored the impact of human/computer advice on decision-making in gain and loss domains.•We found a classic “gain-loss asymmetry” effect in the human condition but not in the computer condition.•Computer-based advice utilization remained prominent across different domains.•Only the human-based condition showed a larger option-evoked P3 in the gain than in the loss domain.•Our findings support the “automation bias” hypothesis that automations are trusted more than humans.
The process of outcome evaluation effectively navigates subsequent choices in humans. However, it is largely unclear how people evaluate decision outcomes in a sequential scenario, as well as the ...neural mechanisms underlying this process. To address this research gap, the study employed a sequential decision task in which participants were required to make a series of choices in each trial, with the option to terminate their choices. Based on participants' decisions, two outcome patterns were classified: the “reached” condition and the “unreached” condition, and the event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Further, in the unreached condition, we investigated how the distance (i.e., the position interval between the actual outcome and potential outcome) modulated outcome evaluation. Behavioral data showed a higher emotion rating when people got a reward rather than a loss (i.e., the reached condition), while the opposite was true in the unreached condition. ERP results showed a larger feedback-related negativity (FRN), a smaller P3, and a larger late positive potential (LPP) when people got a loss compared to a reward. Importantly, a hierarchical processing pattern was found in the unreached condition: people processed separately the potential outcome and the distance at the early stage, manifested in the FRN amplitude; subsequently, the brain focused on the distance—a lower distance elicited an enhanced P3 amplitude. Finally, the potential outcome and distance were processed interactively in the LPP amplitude. Overall, these findings shed light on the neural underpinnings of outcome evaluation in sequential decision-making.
•This study investigated the outcome evaluation of early termination and completed decisions in sequential decision-making.•We observed a classic ERP pattern of outcome evaluation in sequential decision-making when people reached the final potential outcome.•In premature sequential decision-making, our ERP findings reveal a hierarchical processing pattern.•Our findings emphasize the impact of the distance factor when people prematurely terminate their decisions.
•We investigated the neurobiological correlates of reading anxiety.•Functional connectivity of reading-related areas could predict reading anxiety.•Activation of reading-related areas cannot ...significantly predict reading anxiety.•Activation of the right putamen was also associated with reading anxiety.
Researchers have studied cognitive and linguistic skills in predicting reading abilities, but the impact of affective factors such as anxiety on reading at the neurobiological level is not well understood. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of reading anxiety in adult readers performing a semantic judgment task. The results showed that reading anxiety was significantly correlated with response time but not with accuracy. Neurobiologically, functional connectivity strength rather than activation level of semantic-related areas significantly predicted reading anxiety. Activation of regions (i.e., the right putamen and right precentral gyrus) external to the semantic-related areas positively correlated with reading anxiety levels. These findings suggest that reading anxiety influences adult reading by modulating functional connections of semantic-related areas and brain activation of semantic-unrelated areas. This study provides insights into the neural mechanisms underlying reading anxiety experienced by adult readers.
Volume of motor area predicts motor impulsivity Ai, Hui; Xin, Yuanyuan; Luo, Yue-jia ...
The European journal of neuroscience,
June 2019, 2019-06-00, 20190601, Letnik:
49, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Impulsivity is a personality trait associated with many maladaptive behaviors. Trait impulsivity is typically divided into three different dimensions, including attentional impulsiveness, motor ...impulsiveness, and non‐planning impulsiveness. In the present study, we examined the neuroanatomical basis of the multidimensional impulsivity trait. Eighty‐four healthy participants were studied with structural magnetic resonance imaging. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the score of motor impulsiveness was negatively correlated with gray matter volumes of the right supplementary motor area and paracentral lobule. A machine‐learning‐based prediction analysis indicated that decreased gray matter volumes of the supplementary motor area and paracentral lobule strongly predicted the decrease in motor impulsiveness control. Our findings provide insights into the predictive role of motor brain structures in motor impulsivity and inhibition control.
Gray matter volumes of the SMA/PCL strongly predict motor impulsivity.
The current literature has revealed mixed evidence on whether loss (vs. gain) context promotes or curtails human prosociality. The current study (N=96) aimed to address this issue by examining ...whether gain/loss context has distinct effects on different prosocial preferences combining computational modelling with Dictator Game and Message Game. These interactive games allow for dissociating preferences for generosity and honesty, which have been respectively associated with intuitive and deliberative systems. Our behavioural and computational modelling results indicate that loss context enhances concerns for generosity but reduces concerns for honesty. These findings support an account under the framework of dual process model asserting that loss facilitates intuitive responses during social decision‐making, regardless of whether they are prosocial or proself. The current findings reconcile previous debates on the relationship between loss‐gain context and human prosociality and shed light on the design of institutions to promote human prosocial behaviours.
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