 Publication called “Trait-level somatic anxiety modulates functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neural synchrony to naturalistic stimuli” by Klamer et al., 2024, published in Behavioral Neuroscience, was selected as the Featured Research Article in the Neuroscience Newsletter at the University of Lethbridge
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 Congratulations to Sara Asadi!
Congratulations to Sara Asadi, a Master's student in the Ekstrand Lab, on being awarded the TrainBioData NSERC CREATE Scholarship. We are eager to see how this opportunity will shape your research journey!  Keva Klamer, PhD student was selected as the focus of the Grad Star Spotlight in the Neuroscience Newsletter at the University of Lethbridge!
 Publication called “Trait-level somatic anxiety modulates functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neural synchrony to naturalistic stimuli” by Klamer et al., 2024, published in Behavioral Neuroscience, was selected by the American Psychological Association to be a featured publication in their Kudos Showcase.
Link: https://www.growkudos.com/publications/10.1037%25252Fbne0000615/reader Klamer et al., 2024, published in Behavioral Neuroscience: Somatic anxiety refers to the tendency to perceive situations as threatening, resulting in heightened physiological arousal. Symptoms often include an increased awareness of heartbeat, difficulty breathing, and palpitations, reflecting autonomic arousal and heightened threat perception. Somatic anxiety is often associated with increased stimulus-driven attention; however, its impact on neural synchrony during complex audiovisual experiences, measured through intersubject correlations (ISC), is not well understood. This study uses fMRI data from the Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database to investigate how different levels of somatic anxiety influence neural synchrony during audiovisual stimuli, using ISC and intersubject representational similarity analyses. It was hypothesized that individuals with higher somatic anxiety would show increased ISC in regions associated with stimulus-driven attention, such as the superior parietal lobule, supplementary motor area, and precentral gyrus. Findings revealed that higher levels of somatic anxiety were associated with widespread heightened ISC, particularly in areas related to perceptual processing and stimulus-driven attention, while lower levels were linked to neural synchrony in regions associated with higher-level visual processing. These results highlight the importance of measuring and controlling for somatic anxiety in naturalistic fMRI studies, as it significantly influences synchronous brain activity during complex stimuli processing.  Klamer et al., 2024, published in Neuropsychologia: Psychological well-being (PWB) encompasses self-acceptance, purpose in life, personal growth, positive relationships, and autonomy, and is closely linked to both physical and mental health. Previous research using resting-state fMRI and static images has pointed to brain regions such as the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), insula, and thalamus as being associated with PWB. However, findings across studies have been inconsistent, lacking in both strength and direction, leaving a clear model of PWB’s impact on brain function undefined. Naturalistic stimuli, such as audiovisual films offer a more realistic representation of everyday experiences and may evoke neural responses that are better suited to studying PWB. This study uses fMRI data from the Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database to investigate how varying levels of PWB influence neural synchrony in response to an audiovisual film. Results show that higher PWB levels are linked to increased neural synchrony in the bilateral OFC and left PCC, while lower PWB levels are associated with increased synchrony in the right temporoparietal junction and left superior parietal lobule, areas involved in narrative processing. Taken together, this research confirms the validity of several regions in association with PWB and suggests that varying levels of PWB produce differences in the processing of a narrative during complex audiovisual processing.  Image citation: Li, 2021
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