Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Time-shifting oriented balanced time perspective in college students with dysphoria: An exploration with the text reading and writing tasks
No full textWith a predominant focus on static dimension scores (general health orientation) in existing Balanced Time Perspective (BTP) empirical studies, there remains a deficiency in addressing the flexible shifting between TP dimensions (time-shifting orientation). In the present study, we developed two tasks to measure the time-shifting oriented BTP and investigated whether dysphoria college students would experience difficulty in shifting from maladaptive TP to adaptive TP. Twenty-six dysphoria participants and 29 control participants completed the two tasks: (1) The text reading task measuring the shifting process, in which participants were required to immerse themselves in stories containing TP narratives and to recognize the embedded probe words after the shifting sentence. (2) The writing task measuring the shifting outcome, in which participants wrote the TP narratives of their personal experience before and after TP shifting. Results showed that the text reading task and the writing task could measure TP shifting process and outcome respectively. In addition, the dysphoria group exhibited a trend of difficulty in TP shifting process, but no differences in shifting outcome compared with the control group.</p
A comparative study of blood and hippocampal D-serine change patterns in drug-naïve patients and animal models of depression
No full textThe dysfunction of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) has been implicated in depression, and D‑serine, an endogenous co-agonist of NMDAR, plays a critical role in its function. However, the pattern and relationship of alterations in central and peripheral D‑serine concentrations in depression remain unclear. In this study, we conducted two parallel cross-sectional studies to investigate D‑serine alterations in depression. In the clinical study, we recruited drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and age and sex-matched healthy controls to assess peripheral D‑serine levels in serum. In the preclinical study, a chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) mouse model of depression was used to measure both peripheral and hippocampal D‑serine levels, given the hippocampus's key role in depression. Our results revealed significantly higher levels of D‑serine and the D‑serine/L‑serine ratio in the serum of MDD patients compared to controls, while L‑serine levels showed no significant differences. Similarly, in the CSDS mouse model, serum D‑serine levels were also increased. However, hippocampal D‑serine and L‑serine levels were decreased in depressed mice compared to controls, with no significant correlation observed between blood and hippocampal D‑serine levels. These findings suggest a potential pattern of D‑serine concentrations between peripheral blood and the hippocampus in depression. However, the clinical implications of contrasting changes in D‑serine in the peripheral and central systems, as well as the underlying mechanisms, require further investigation.</p
The Time-Space Frame in Road Signs Affects Pathfinding Driving Performance: Results From Bayesian Networks
No full textThe time-space frame affects individuals' travel preference by modifying the way information is presented, but its impact on driving behavior during travel remains unknown. The present study examined whether road sign under either time or space frames affects driving performance, using a simulated driving pathfinding experiment. A total of 53 participants took part in the experiment, each completing seven pathfinding tasks. The study found that road signs under the space frame created a longer psychological distance compared to those under the time frame, demonstrating the presence of the time-space framing effect. Bayesian Networks showed that the probability of risky driving under the space frame was higher than under the time frame. Male drivers showed a higher probability of risky driving under the space frame. These results suggest that longer psychological distances can lead to more dangerous driving behaviors. Driving safety can be enhanced by presenting drivers with information framed in different ways.</p
Parental Marital Quality and School Bullying Victimization: A Moderated Mediation Model of Parent-Child Attachment and Child Gender
No full textBackground/Objectives: School bullying is a significant issue that negatively impacts children's well-being, emphasizing the need to identify family-related factors contributing to bullying victimization. This study explored the potential link between parental marital quality and school bullying victimization by employing a moderated mediation model. Methods: Parent-child attachment, measured separately as father-child and mother-child attachment, was tested as a mediator, with child gender included as a moderator. Data were collected from both children and their mothers, comprising 358 mother-child pairs recruited from three primary schools in suburban Beijing, China. Results: Results revealed that greater parental marital quality was associated with a lower risk of bullying victimization, with father-child attachment mediating this relationship. Furthermore, child gender moderated the mediating effect of father-child attachment, such that the indirect pathway from parental marital quality to bullying victimization through father-child attachment was statistically significant for girls but not for boys. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of father-child attachment in preventing bullying victimization and suggest that gender-sensitive implications may be necessary.</p
Current state and future directions of biomarkers for bipolar disorder: A systematic review of studies from 2013 to 2025
No full textBackground and objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental disorder whose diagnosis heavily relies on subjective symptomatic assessments, thus a need for an objective tool to assist in the timely identification and treatment of BD. Methods: We systematically reviewed the performance of objective diagnostic biomarkers for classification of BD that presented sensitivity and specificity values. A search on Ovid MEDLINE (R) ALL, PubMed, as well as manual searching were performed for literature dating from December 2013 to February 2025. Results: Sixty-one studies were included in the review. Twenty-four of them reported mainly molecular, fluid-based biomarkers, twenty-five reported neurophysiological examinations as biomarkers, and six reported other forms of biomarkers. The most accurate biomarkers included voice features, apoptosis-related long non-coding RNAs, PIK3R1 (Phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 1) and FYN mRNAs, electroencephalography (EEG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and serum VGF protein, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) or accuracy values of greater than 0.93. The majority (thirty-six) of the studies utilized machine learning-based classification algorithms. Conclusions: The results have been promising and replicated for some biomarkers, but these results still need to be validated in larger samples. Future studies should focus on constructing larger cohorts of specific clinical subtypes of BD, predictive utility studies for BD patients initially diagnosed as major depressive disorder (MDD), and utilization of multimodal assessment and machine learning techniques
Treatment of insomnia in alcohol use disorder: a meta-analysis of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions
No full textInsomnia is common and persistent in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), however, treatment of insomnia within this population remains a challenge. There is a need for careful assessment of the currently used methods to improve the effectiveness of the chosen intervention. Therefore, this study reviewed and assessed the effectiveness of the most common pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments on sleep quality in AUD individuals with insomnia. The databases PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Google Scholar, and PsycINFO were explored in January 2023 to find relevant research. A random effect model was used to merge the data. The difference between the pre-post mean changes of the groups (intervention vs. control) considered the effect size. The analysis included 14 studies, with 8 using pharmacological treatment. The pharmacological group showed a significantly higher mean change in sleep efficiency compared to the control group. For other sleep variables assessed, including total sleep time, sleep onset latency, wakefulness after sleep onset, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, no significant differences were observed. Similarly, the 6 studies using psychotherapeutic interventions did not show significant effects on sleep variables, except for insomnia severity. This meta-analysis demonstrates that both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions are limited in their effectiveness in treating insomnia in individuals with AUD. They can improve only a few aspects of sleep quality in AUD individuals with insomnia. The best outcome with pharmacological intervention was obtained for sleep efficiency, whereas psychotherapeutic interventions lowered insomnia severity. However, further studies are needed to improve our understanding of this topic
The influence of audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages
No full textThe aim of this study was to investigate the influence of an audience's regulatory focus on the persuasive effect of different pro-vaccine messages. Study 1 (N = 169) examined attitude changes among audiences with different regulatory focus after reading pro-vaccine messages, and Study 2 (N = 201) added the exploration of message persuasiveness and vaccination intentions as well. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 showed that both high promotion fucus and high prevention focus could facilitate the attitude change elicited by messages emphasizing vaccine safety, official position and credibility. Meanwhile, high-promotion individuals were also more easily influenced by messages highlighting the benefits of vaccination, while high-prevention individuals were more receptive to messages focusing on the personal responsibility. Similar results also appeared when measuring perceived persuasiveness as dependent variable. However, these impacts of regulatory focus did not remain statistically significant on behavioral intention for most messages, except for the messages emphasizing vaccine effectiveness. The behavioral intention changes after reading these messages were significantly promoted by high promotion focus. Our findings could shed some light on the mechanism underlying personalized persuasion as well as more targeted vaccination promotion strategies
Associations between child maltreatment and depressive symptoms among deaf and hearing adolescent students: A moderated mediation model
No full textBackground: Childhood maltreatment is a well-established risk factor for adolescent mental health issues, particularly depressive symptoms. Deaf adolescents face heightened vulnerability due to unique challenges such as communication barriers and social exclusion. However, little is known about how social exclusion mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depression in this population, or how emotion regulation strategies moderate these effects. Objective: This study aimed to examine the associations between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms in deaf and hearing adolescents, with a focus on the mediating role of social exclusion and the moderating effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Participants and setting: A total of 2008 adolescent students (622 deaf, 1386 hearing) aged 12-23 years were recruited from six schools in China, including both mainstream and special education institutions. Methods: Participants completed self-report measures assessing childhood maltreatment, social exclusion, emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), and depressive symptoms. Correlation analysis was conducted to examine variable associations, and an exploratory network analysis supplemented the main analyses by visualizing group-specific relationships. The core hypothesis was tested using a moderated mediation model to examine whether social exclusion mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms and whether emotion regulation moderated these pathways. Results: Deaf adolescents reported significantly higher levels of childhood maltreatment, social exclusion, expressive suppression, and depressive symptoms compared to their hearing peers (all p < .001). Social exclusion mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms in both groups, with a stronger indirect effect among deaf students than hearing students. Expressive suppression moderated this relationship differently in the two groups: it exacerbated depressive symptoms among deaf students (beta = 0.14, p = .002) but had a buffering effect among hearing students (beta = -0.04, p = .04). Cognitive reappraisal showed limited protective effects in either group. Conclusions: These findings highlight social exclusion as a key mediator linking childhood maltreatment to depressive symptoms, particularly among deaf adolescents. Expressive suppression exacerbated depressive symptoms in deaf students but buffered symptoms among hearing peers, suggesting that interventions should specifically aim to reduce reliance on expressive suppression in deaf adolescents. Although cognitive reappraisal showed limited protective effects in the current study, it remains an important strategy warranting further exploration in targeted interventions
Self-face Advantage Processing and Its Mechanisms
No full textSelf-face is a unique and highly distinctive stimulus, not shared with others, and serves as a reliable marker of self-awareness. Compared to other faces, self-face processing exhibits several advantages, including the self-face recognition advantage, self-face attention advantage, and self-face positive processing advantage. The self-face recognition advantage manifests as faster and more accurate identification across different orientations and spatial frequency components, supported by enhanced early event-related potential (ERP) components, such as N170. Attentional biases toward self-face are evident in target detection during spatial tasks and the attentional blink effect in temporal paradigms. However, measurement sensitivity, perceptual load, and task demands contribute to some mixed findings. Positive biases further characterize the self-face processing advantage, with individuals perceiving their faces as more attractive or trustworthy than objective representations. These biases even extend to self-similar others, influencing social behaviors such as trust and voting preferences. Self-face processing advantages have been observed at an unconscious level and are regulated by several factors, including self-esteem, cultural differences, and multisensory integration. Cultural and individual differences play a crucial role in shaping self-face advantages. Individuals from Western cultures, which emphasize independent selfconstrual, exhibit stronger self-face biases compared to those from East Asian collectivist contexts. Self-esteem also modulates self-face advantages: high-self-esteem individuals generally maintain their self-face recognition advantage despite interference, exhibit attentional prioritization of self-faces, and demonstrate enhanced positive associations with subliminal self-faces. In contrast, low-self-esteem individuals display recognition vulnerabilities to social cues, show context-dependent attentional divergence (prioritizing others' faces in task-oriented settings while prioritizing self-face in free-viewing tasks), and exhibit reversed positive associations with subliminal selffaces. Multisensory integration, such as synchronized visual-tactile cues, enhances self-face advantages and induces perceptual plasticity. This phenomenon is exemplified by the enfacement illusion, in which synchronous visual and tactile inputs update the mental representation of the self-face, leading to assimilation with another face. Neuroanatomically, self-face processing is predominantly lateralized to the right hemisphere and involves a network of brain regions, including the occipital lobe, temporal lobe, frontal lobe, insula, and cingulate gyrus. Disruptions in these networks are linked to self-face processing deficits in socio-cognitive disorders. For instance, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia are associated with attenuated self-face advantages and abnormal neural activity in regions such as the right inferior frontal gyrus, insula, and posterior cingulate cortex. These findings suggest that self-face processing could serve as a potential biomarker for the early diagnosis and intervention of such disorders. In recent years, researchers have proposed various theoretical explanations for selfface processing and its advantage effects. However, some studies have reported no significant behavioral or neural advantages of self-faces over familiar faces, leaving the specificity of self-face a subject of debate.
Further elucidation of self-face specificity requires the adoption of a face association paradigm, which controls for facial familiarity and helps determine whether qualitative differences exist between self-faces and familiar faces. Given the close relationship between self-face processing advantages and socio-cognitive disorders (e. g., ASD, schizophrenia), a deeper understanding of self-face specificity has the potential to provide critical insights into the early identification, classification, and intervention of these disorders. This research holds both theoretical significance and substantial social value
Development and evaluation of LLM-based suicide intervention chatbot
No full textIntroduction Suicide accounts for over 720,000 deaths globally each year, and many more individuals experiencing suicidal ideation; thus, implementing large-scale, effective suicide intervention is vital for reducing suicidal behaviors. Traditional suicide intervention methods are hampered by shortages of qualified practitioners, variability in clinical competence, and high service costs. This study leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to develop an effective suicide intervention chatbot, which provides early, large-scale, rapid self-help interventions.Methods First, according to existing psychological crisis intervention methods, we fine-tuned ChatGPT-4 via prompt engineering to develop a chatbot that promptly responds to the needs of individuals experiencing suicidal ideation. Then, we implemented a self-help web-based dialogue platform powered by this chatbot and conducted the evaluations of its usability and intervention efficacy.Results We found that the self-help suicide intervention chatbot achieved high effectiveness and quality in terms of user interface operability, interaction experience, emotional support, intervention efficacy, safety and privacy, and overall satisfaction.Discussion These findings demonstrate that the suicide intervention chatbot can provide effective emotional support and therapeutic intervention to a large cohort experiencing suicidal ideation.</p
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