Cognitive predictors of mental health trajectories are mediated by inferior frontal and occipital development during adolescence
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Smartwatch- and smartphone-based remote assessment of brain health and detection of mild cognitive impairment
Consumer-grade mobile devices are used by billions worldwide. Their ubiquity provides opportunities to robustly capture everyday cognition. ‘Intuition’ was a remote observational study that enrolled 23,004 US adults, collecting 24 months of longitudinal multimodal data via their iPhones and Apple Watches using a custom research application that captured routine device use, self-reported health information and cognitive assessments. The study objectives were to classify mild cognitive impairment (MCI), characterize cognitive trajectories and develop tools to detect and track cognitive health at scale. The study addresses sources of bias in current cognitive health research, including limited representativeness (for example, racial/ethnic, geographic) and accuracy of cognitive measurement tools. We describe study design and provide baseline cohort characteristics. Next, we present foundational proof-of-concept MCI classification modeling results using interactive cognitive assessment data. Initial findings support the reliability and validity of remote MCI detection and the usefulness of such data in describing at-risk cognitive health trajectories in demographically diverse aging populations. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05058950.
Boredom signals deviation from a cognitive homeostatic set point
Boredom is the feeling of wanting but failing to engage the mind and can be conceived as one among many signals of suboptimal utilization of cognitive and neural resources. Using homeostasis as an analogy, this perspective argues that boredom represents a signal indicating deviation from optimal engagement—that is, deviation from a cognitive homeostatic set point. Within this model, allostasis accounts for chronic boredom (i.e., trait boredom proneness), according to which faulty internal models are responsible for why the highly boredom prone may set unrealistic expectations for engagement. In other words, the model characterizes boredom as a dynamic response to both internal and external exigencies, leading to testable hypotheses for both the nature of the state and the trait disposition. Furthermore, this perspective presents the broader notion that humans strive to optimally engage with their environs to maintain a kind of cognitive homeostatic set-point.
Relationships of eating behaviors with psychopathology, brain maturation and genetic risk for obesity in an adolescent cohort study
Unhealthy eating, a risk factor for eating disorders (EDs) and obesity, often coexists with emotional and behavioral problems; however, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are poorly understood. Analyzing data from the longitudinal IMAGEN adolescent cohort, we investigated associations between eating behaviors, genetic predispositions for high body mass index (BMI) using polygenic scores (PGSs), and trajectories (ages 14–23 years) of ED-related psychopathology and brain maturation. Clustering analyses at age 23 years (N = 996) identified 3 eating groups: restrictive, emotional/uncontrolled and healthy eaters. BMI PGS, trajectories of ED symptoms, internalizing and externalizing problems, and brain maturation distinguished these groups. Decreasing volumes and thickness in several brain regions were less pronounced in restrictive and emotional/uncontrolled eaters. Smaller cerebellar volume reductions uniquely mediated the effects of BMI PGS on restrictive eating, whereas smaller volumetric reductions across multiple brain regions mediated the relationship between elevated externalizing problems and emotional/uncontrolled eating, independently of BMI. These findings shed light on distinct contributions of genetic risk, protracted brain maturation and behaviors in ED symptomatology.
Cognitive reserve is associated with education, social determinants, and cognitive outcomes among older American Indians in the Strong Heart Study
Cognitive reserve, a component of resilience, may be conceptualized as the ability to overcome accumulating neuropathology and maintain healthy aging and function. However, research measuring and evaluating it in American Indians is needed. We recruited American Indians from 3 regional centers for longitudinal examinations (2010-13, n = 818; 2017-19, n = 403) including MRI, cognitive, clinical, and questionnaire data. We defined cognitive reserve by measuring the residual from individual regressions of cognitive tests over imaged brain volumes, adjusted for age and sex. Analyses examined three different metrics of cognitive reserve against sociodemographic, clinical, and longitudinal cognitive data in causal mediation models. Better cognitive reserve was significantly associated with more education, higher income, lower prevalence of depression, lower prevalence of diabetes, and lower prevalence of kidney disease, but we found no statistically significant evidence for an association with plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, APOE e4 carrier status, alcohol use, body mass, or hypertension. Better cognitive reserve was associated with better cognitive function over mean 6.7 years follow-up (range 4-9 years); and the association for education with cognition over time was mediated in part (15-24%) by cognitive reserve. Cognitive reserve, although challenging to measure, appears important for understanding the range of cognitive aging in American Indians.
Dynamic effects of psychiatric vulnerability, loneliness and isolation on distress during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on mental health is challenging to quantify because pre-existing risk, disease burden and public policy varied across individuals, time and regions. Longitudinal, within-person analyses can determine whether pandemic-related changes in social isolation impacted mental health. We analyzed time-varying associations between psychiatric vulnerability, loneliness, psychological distress and social distancing in a US-based study during the first year of the pandemic. We surveyed 3,655 participants about psychological health and COVID-19-related circumstances every 2 weeks for 6 months. We combined self-reports with regional social distancing estimates and a classifier that predicted probability of psychiatric diagnosis at enrollment. Loneliness and psychiatric vulnerability both impacted psychological distress. Loneliness and distress were also linked to social isolation and stress associated with distancing, and psychiatric vulnerability shaped how regional distancing affected loneliness across time. Public health policies should address loneliness when encouraging social distancing, particularly in those at risk for psychiatric conditions.
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