Highlights of some of our recent research findings
Linda van Leijenhorst, PhD student in the Child and Adolescent Brain and Development Laboratory, discovered that adolescent show different neural responses when anticipating and winning money, even when they are simple performing a passive gambling task. These results indicate that at the basic level, the balance between cognitive and affective brain system is still fragile in adolescence, making them more vulnerable towards responding to reward stimuli. These results were recently published in Cerebral Cortex. A pdf version of the manuscript can be downloaded.
Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg and Marinus Van IJzendoorn recently discovered that oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and serotonin transporter (5-HTT) genes are associated with observed parenting. Both oxytocin and serotonin modulate affiliative responses to partners and offspring. The authors therefore examined the role of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genes in explaining differences in sensitive parenting in a community sample of 159 Caucasian, middle-class mothers with their 2-year-old toddlers at risk for externalizing behavior problems, taking into account maternal educational level, maternal depression and the quality of the marital relationship. The results showed that parents with the possibly less efficient variants of the serotonergic (5-HTT ss) and oxytonergic (AA/AG) system genes showed lower levels of sensitive responsiveness to their toddlers. This first study on the role of both OXTR and 5-HTT genes in human parenting points to molecular genetic differences that may be implicated in the production of oxytocin explaining differences in sensitive parenting. These results were recently published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. A pdf version of the manuscript can be downloaded.
Sophie van Rijn and Hanna Swaab recently discovered cognitive mechanisms underlying disorganization of thought in a genetic syndrome [47,XXY]. The aim of this study was to identify cognitive mechanisms that may contribute to disorganization of thought in XXY men. The findings indicate that executive impairments in the domains of inhibition and mental flexibility play a role in the increased vulnerability for disorganized thought in the XXY group. In addition, reduced lateralization of verbal information processing indicated non-optimal cerebral specialization in the XXY group, especially in XXY men with high levels of disorganization. This observation fitted nicely with their earlier functional MRI findings of reduced lateralization of neural activation in the temporal lobe in XXY, which was related to more disorganized thought and language. The authors speculate that the underlying mechanisms of thought disorder probably are deficit specific rather than disorder specific. These results were recently published in Schizophrenia Research. A pdf version of the manuscript can be downloaded.
Paul van den Broek and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota, USA, investigated the cognitive processes of proficient and struggling readers in elementary and beginning secondary school. Using eye-tracking and think-aloud methodologies as well as standardized testing, patterns of processes such as inference generation, executive functioning, semantic knowledge access, and eye movements were identified. The results show that struggling readers fall into distinct subgroups, each with a unique profile of cognitive processes during reading. Moreover, the reading comprehension of each subgroup improved significantly following intervention that was specifically targeted towards that groups’ processing profile. In addition, the results revealed systematic developmental patterns in cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension. Results were published in Scientific Studies of Reading
Research
Linda van Leijenhorst, PhD student in the Child and Adolescent Brain and Development Laboratory, discovered that adolescent show different neural responses when anticipating and winning money, even when they are simple performing a passive gambling task. These results indicate that at the basic level, the balance between cognitive and affective brain system is still fragile in adolescence, making them more vulnerable towards responding to reward stimuli. These results were recently published in Cerebral Cortex. A pdf version of the manuscript can be downloaded.
Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg and Marinus Van IJzendoorn recently discovered that oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and serotonin transporter (5-HTT) genes are associated with observed parenting. Both oxytocin and serotonin modulate affiliative responses to partners and offspring. The authors therefore examined the role of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genes in explaining differences in sensitive parenting in a community sample of 159 Caucasian, middle-class mothers with their 2-year-old toddlers at risk for externalizing behavior problems, taking into account maternal educational level, maternal depression and the quality of the marital relationship. The results showed that parents with the possibly less efficient variants of the serotonergic (5-HTT ss) and oxytonergic (AA/AG) system genes showed lower levels of sensitive responsiveness to their toddlers. This first study on the role of both OXTR and 5-HTT genes in human parenting points to molecular genetic differences that may be implicated in the production of oxytocin explaining differences in sensitive parenting. These results were recently published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. A pdf version of the manuscript can be downloaded.
Sophie van Rijn and Hanna Swaab recently discovered cognitive mechanisms underlying disorganization of thought in a genetic syndrome [47,XXY]. The aim of this study was to identify cognitive mechanisms that may contribute to disorganization of thought in XXY men. The findings indicate that executive impairments in the domains of inhibition and mental flexibility play a role in the increased vulnerability for disorganized thought in the XXY group. In addition, reduced lateralization of verbal information processing indicated non-optimal cerebral specialization in the XXY group, especially in XXY men with high levels of disorganization. This observation fitted nicely with their earlier functional MRI findings of reduced lateralization of neural activation in the temporal lobe in XXY, which was related to more disorganized thought and language. The authors speculate that the underlying mechanisms of thought disorder probably are deficit specific rather than disorder specific. These results were recently published in Schizophrenia Research. A pdf version of the manuscript can be downloaded.
Paul van den Broek and his colleagues at the