Saturday, Jun 28: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Oral Sessions
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Room: M3 (Mezzanine Level)
We think that the abstracts 2287 and 1513 may be present in other session.
Presentations
Remembering personal past events (autobiographical memory), attributing meaning to memories and external stimuli (semantic cognition), and inferring the thoughts and feelings of others (mentalizing) share a common neural substrate, as demonstrated within participants performing each task (Balgova et al., 2022; Hughes et al., 2024; Tanguay et al., 2023) and in meta-analyses of independent task domains (Balgova et al., 2024; Spreng et al., 2009). However, the intrinsic functional organization of this shared neural substrate remains poorly understood. In this study, we use resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) to examine the shared functional neuroanatomy of these cognitive domains.
Presenter
Veronica Diveica, Montreal Neurological Institute Montreal, Quebec
Canada
Interpreting facial expressions can be complex, especially when signals are ambiguous, such as a smile paired with furrowed brows. For older adults, age-related cognitive decline amplifies these difficulties, affecting emotional processing and mental well-being (Dexter & Ossmy, 2023). The locus coeruleus (LC), a vital brainstem structure, regulates attention, arousal, memory, and stress (Poe et al., 2020). Its connections to the prefrontal cortex, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), help resolve ambiguity (Grueschow et al., 2020) and support mental well-being (Morris et al., 2020). Despite these insights, the role of LC activity and LC-prefrontal connectivity in processing emotional ambiguity remains unclear. This study investigates age-related differences in LC activity and LC-prefrontal connectivity during emotional ambiguity processing, along with its link to mental well-being in healthy aging.
Presenter
Arjun Dave, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience Trondheim
Norway
Understanding the influence of gender dimensions on long-term health remains elusive. Beyond gender identity, gender encompasses sociocultural expectations (gender roles), interindividual interactions (gender relations), and systemic interactions with societal structures (institutionalized gender; Tadiri et al., 2021). How each individual embodies the cultural definition of masculine and feminine gender roles varies along a continuous, non-binary spectrum. Yet, this dynamic has only been operationalized in a few studies using self-reported measures (Nielsen et al., 2021). As a result of these limitations, the impact of gendered lifestyles on brain health remains largely unexplored. Here, we developed a framework to estimate a continuous gender spectrum as expressed through lifestyle behaviors in an unbiased, data-driven manner.
Presenter
Olivier Parent, Douglas Mental Health University Institute Montreal, Quebec
Canada
Accumulating evidence highlights the cerebellum's critical role in social cognition, particularly in Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to infer the mental states of others (Frith & Frith, 2006). Recent findings indicate that functional changes in the posterior cerebellum around the fourth year of life are linked to the emergence of adult-like ToM abilities. However, precursors of ToM are already present much earlier: infants under two years exhibit ToM-related faculties, such as false-belief understanding (Scott & Baillargeon, 2017). Despite evidence linking cerebellar abnormalities in infancy to severe social-cognitive deficits (Olson et al., 2023), the cerebellum's role in early ToM development remains poorly understood. Here, we examined how cerebellar volumetric changes relate to ToM development in young children. We investigated two forms of ToM: (1) "explicit" (verbal), developing around age four, and (2) "implicit" (non-verbal), emerging earlier in life (Grosse Wiesmann et al., 2020). We hypothesized that distinct cerebellar regions would show volumetric increases as a function of children's implicit and explicit ToM abilities.
Presenter
Aikaterina Manoli, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Saxony
Germany
The ability to discern genuine from posed emotional expressions is crucial for social interactions, as it underpins trust, empathy, and relationship-building (Lange et al., 2022; Van Kleef & Côté, 2022). Facial expressions serve as a universal language of emotion (Ekman, 1993), but they can be deliberately manipulated, complicating interpretation (Crivelli et al., 2015). Misjudging posed expressions as genuine can result in adverse social consequences, including misunderstandings and reduced emotional well-being (Miles & Johnston, 2007). This highlights the importance of accurately interpreting emotion authenticity. Despite its relevance, research in this area has been limited, with an overreliance on posed stimuli that lack ecological validity (Dawel et al., 2017). This study leverages dynamic stimuli to examine the neural mechanisms underlying emotion authenticity recognition, addressing critical methodological gaps (Namba et al., 2018; Zinchenko et al., 2018).
Presenter
Alexa Schincariol, Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova Padova, Padova
Italy
Dysfunction in reward-related brain circuits, particularly involving the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and its projections to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), have been implicated in various psychopathologies, including depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ( Kujawa, 2019). The OFC is structurally, and functionally divided into the medial OFC (mOFC) and lateral OFC (lOFC), with the mOFC primarily involved in processing rewards and the lOFC associated with non-reward or punishment sensitivity (Rolls, 2019). These divisions influence goal-directed behavior and emotional regulation through their White Matter (WM) connectivity with the NAcc (Haber, 2012). Despite extensive functional imaging evidence, the structural underpinnings of these pathways remains unexplored. This study investigates the structural associations of lOFC-NAcc and mOFC-NAcc tracts to psychopathological scores, using diffusion MRI data from healthy subjects from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) (Van Essen, 2013).
Presenter
Santiago Mezzano, CHUV: Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois Lausanne, Vaud
Switzerland