Recently, research has begun to pay more attention to the cognitive functions associated with auditory perception. In this study, two tests are performed to investigate the correlation between the ability to recognise speech-in-noise and the performance of sensory memory, as well as to investigate whether the performance would improve during the sensory memory test. For measuring speech-in-noise, the Hagerman test was used. A random noise test to detect deviant noises was used to measure sensory memory. In total 16 participantstook part in the study (mean age=24.8125, SD=3.14), half of the group began with the Hagerman test, and the other half with the random noise test. Two different statistical analyses were performed on the data. For examining the correlation between the performance on the Hagerman test and the random noise test, a Pearson correlation was used. The results were as follows: p = 0.4962, r = -0.1835734. Observing the results, the tests did indicate a slight negative correlation regarding the r-value, but not a significant correlation. Thus, the analysis did not derive any significant results. The second analysis was a dependent t-test to examine whether there was an improvement in performance during the random noise test, as it was divided into four separate blocks. The analysis showed the following results: t = 1.0266, df = 28.943, p = 0.3131. These results were not significant, though observing the block graph might indicate a tendency for improvement. For further studies, the random noise test should perhaps be modified into an easier version. This is based upon the data, as many of the participants merely got a score above, or even below, chance. Further studiesshould also use a higher number of participants as well to increase the chance of receiving significant results from the tests.

Panic disorder (PD) is a debilitating anxiety disorder that often reduces the quality of life and some of its symptoms are physical distress and fear. PD is often comorbid with other anxiety disorders and depressive disorders and also cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are the two most common treatment options for people with PD. A standard type of pharmacotherapy is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) which in short work by increasing the level of serotonin in the brain and has been shown to be efficacious and safe. A vital brain structure that is closely linked to PD is the amygdala, and some of its functions are learning, emotional processing, and memory. There seems to be a functional and structural abnormality in the amygdala for people with PD compared to healthy individuals, for example, a smaller volume of gray matter and increased activity. The aim of the thesis is to conduct a systematic review on the effect of SSRIs on the functional alterations of the amygdala in patients suffering from PD. The present systematic review will try to answer the question: If SSRIs affect amygdala activation for PD patients compared to healthy individuals who are currently not undergoing any kind of pharmacotherapy. The results showed opposite findings; one study did not detect activation changes in the amygdala for PD patients using SSRIs, one detected higher activity in the right amygdala, whereas the other two showed a decrease in the left amygdala (one study did not specify left, bilateral, or right). More research regarding amygdala activation in PD patients using SSRIs is needed due to the small scale of studies currently available.

Extensive research has been conducted on the relationship between brain activity and personality traits, and several theories propose a lateralization of specific personality qualities. A prominent model suggests frontal lateralization of motivational direction, specifically, the behavioral inhibition and activation systems (BIS/BAS), with greater right frontal activity linked to behavioral inhibition and greater left frontal activity linked to behavioral activation. Recent studies have presented contrasting findings in the absence of this correlation. With the present study I aimed to investigate the link between frontal lateralization and the BIS/BAS. I further examined the test-retest reliability of resting-state frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), and of the BIS/BAS scale. Resting-state frontal EEG asymmetry and participants’ responses to the BIS/BAS scale were collected from University of Skövde students on multiple occasions. FAA were obtained from electrode sites F4-F3, F6-F5, and F8-F7 over three sessions, two weeks apart, along with BIS/BAS scores from the first and third sessions. Within-subject FAA showed variability over time, suggesting FAA to be a less reliable measure of personality traits. Only two out of the four BIS/BAS subscales demonstrated consistent scores, raising doubts about the reliability of using it to assess personality traits. BAS Drive correlated negatively with FAA, contrary to the expected direction, but no other significant correlation was observed between resting-state FAA and BIS/BAS. Verifying FAA as an indicator of BIS and BAS is important for drawing meaningful associations between them. Future research should consider employing a repeated measures design and a larger sample size to enhance the understanding of this relationship.

Whilst studies on rhythm-keeping and error-related negativity have been conducted, previous studies have given participants auditory or visual cues to indicate the rhythm they are meant to be maintaining. In this electroencephalography study, a novel experiment called the Human Metronome Task was introduced, using healthy university students as participants. The Human Metronome Task tested the participants by having them tap in synchrony with a beat, and then having the beat be removed, with the participants still being supposed to maintain the same beat with their taps, now without any auditory or visual aids. The purpose was to see if deviations in unassisted rhythm keeping are sufficient to elicit error-related negativity. When comparing different deviations of the tap-timing of each participant to their average tap-timing, no significant differences in electroencephalography amplitude were found. It was concluded that the Human Metronome Task is unable to elicit error-related negativity in participants. It seems plausible that this is due to the ambiguity of whether responses are erroneous or accurate. Thus, it seems as if it is necessary for more indications of whether a response is erroneous or not for the elicitation of error-related negativity than was present in the Human Metronome Task.

The aim of this study was to look at the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the hippocampus, specifically any variations in volume between individuals with PTSD and a control group. Two databases, PubMed and Web of Science, were utilised to locate literature, with a focuson recent (5-year) articles. These were the study's inclusion requirements: (1) inclusion of adults with PTSD; (2) MRI as a method of studying changes in the brain ; (3) Comparison of outcomes with a control group with or without trauma. This studys exclusion criteria were: (1) non-English language papers, (2) non- adults participants, and (3) other imaging method than MRI. These criteria were intended to ensure the selection of appropriate articles and the uniformity of the systematic review. All the studies looked at MRI to investigate structural changes in the volume of the hippocampus. In the end I investigated 10 studies with a total of 3,826 participants and the findings of these investigations revealed that some studies shown dicreasing of hippocampal volume between patients with PTSD and the control group, whereas others found no such changes as the result of the investigation. These disparate findings show a lack of agreement in the available literature on the influence of PTSD on hippocampus volume. The selection of only recent (5 years) papers and the limited number of studies were the constraints. However, due to a lack of time, broader research could not be done, which made it difficult to draw more accurate conclusions from the study.

This systematic review aims to evaluate which effects nature exposure has on stress in women and get a more objective viewpoint using measurements of physiological markers of stress to complement the many studies using subjective questionnaires. A search was done on Scopus, Medline EBSCO, and Web of Science for peer-reviewed, published, and original research. Five studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The outcome measurements included were activity in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) measured with heart-rate variability (HRV) and cerebral activity measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). With the definition of Shinrin-Yoku in mind, nature exposure was walking in or watching the natural environment, compared to walking in or watching an urban environment. In this systematic review, four of five studies found significant results that nature exposure alleviated stress in women compared to an urban environment. These findings contribute to a growing body of evidence suggesting that nature is valuable in reducing stress-related illnesses in women. On the individual level, these findings show that nature exposure can be used as an evidence-based intervention to reduce stress in women. Furthermore, these findings clarify the benefits of including elements from nature in urban environments on a societal level.

Psychosis has intrigued and confused neuroscientists for many years, yet there seems to be no clear explanation for why and how it occurs. There is also not just one disorder of psychosis, such as schizophrenia, some epileptic patients experience the same symptoms.That is called schizophrenia-like psychosis of epilepsy (SLPE), which is similar to primary schizophrenia but also very different. This systematic review will explain SLPE as a disorder in itself, compare it to other psychotic disorders, provide research findings and conclude what we can learn from better understanding psychosis in general.

When it comes to cell types, the cerebral cortex is one of the most diverse regions in the mammalian brain. Mouse cortical neurons are generated during development from radial glial cells (RGCs). But how these stem cells generate the different neuronal subtypes is still an open question. In the adult, transcription factors, specially homeobox genes, have been identified as determinants of neuronal types throughout the animal kingdom. Thus, in this study, we hypothesise that different subpopulations of neuronal progenitors (RGCs) give rise to subsequent subtypes of neurons in the cortex, and these populations can be defined by homeobox gene expression. Starting from a scRNA- seq analysis, we identified differentially expressed genes across different progenitor populations in the developing cortex: Adnp2, Homez and Hmbox1. We characterised their mRNA and protein expression across cortical layers in postnatal mice and found that these genes are also differentially expressed among layers. We also find discordances between scRNA-seq data, mRNA expression, and protein expression data that could indicate specific post-transcriptional regulation of these genes. Altogether, these results point to a role of homeobox genes in neuronal identity.

Life satisfaction is a key aspect of subjective well-being (SWB) and is often referred to as an individual’s cognitive assessment of their overall life. Measured by tools such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), life satisfaction is crucial for reliably assessing SWB. It serves as a stable measure, reflecting long-term judgements of SWB - unlike affect measures that capture more short-term judgements influenced by situational variability. While the SWLS demonstrates internal consistency, the neural correlates of life satisfaction remain largely unknown, limiting our comprehension of SWB’s cognitive dimension. This systematic review aims to bridge the gap by comprehensively examining relevant literature, emphasizing resting-state neuroimaging studies. Despite methodological differences, the authors discovered relationships between brain structures and life satisfaction, revealing a spectrum of associations ranging from positive to negative, alongside correlations with varying strengths. These structures include the left SFG, bilateral MFG, frontoinsular cortex, and other areas correlated with microstructural connections, including the SPL, IPL and TPJ. Considering the novelty and limited establishment of this subject, ongoing research is crucial for uncovering the precise neural correlates of life satisfaction.

Grapheme-color synesthesia, wherein achromatic graphemes are experienced as chromatic, presents insights into how the brain integrates subjective experiences. The neural correlates of grapheme-color synesthesia are highly debated, with the field full of inconsistent results. To compile the existing functional magnetic resonance imaging literature on grapheme-color synesthesia, the present thesis combined a systematic review with two coordinate-based Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analyses. Two separate analyses were conducted to see whether investigating synesthesia through chromatic stimuli and incongruency effects would lead to the same activation patterns as investigating it through achromatic stimuli. Therefore, the main analysis included ten studies and more heterogeneity through chromatic stimuli, while the strict analysis had five studies but only achromatic stimuli and thus less heterogeneity. These analyses found convergent activation in the parietal lobe in the main analysis and the frontal lobe in the strict analysis. Although only limited interpretations of the results can be made, the present meta-analyses provided insights into the current state of research on grapheme-color synesthesia. Because the lack of comparability and methodological consensus in the field of synesthesia is evident, further research efforts are encouraged for the field to reach a state where truly convergent findings can be detected.