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Social cognition allows humans to understand and predict other people’s behavior by inferring or sharing their emotions, intentions and beliefs. Few studies have investigated the impact of one’s own emotional state on understanding others. Here, we tested the effect of being in an angry state on empathy and theory of mind (ToM). In a between-groups design we manipulated anger status with different paradigms in three studies (autobiographical recall (N = 45), negative feedback (N = 49), frustration (N = 46)) and checked how this manipulation affected empathic accuracy and performance in the EmpaToM. All paradigms were successful in inducing mild anger. We did not find the expected effect of anger on empathy or ToM performance but observed small behavioral changes. Together, our results validate the use of three different anger induction paradigms and speak for rather weak behavioral effects of mild state anger on empathy and ToM.

Background The characterisation of circulating nucleic acid biomarkers in liquid biopsy based diagnostics holds great potential to transform the landscape of early cancer detection and screening. These tests are increasingly incorporating information beyond the primary sequence, to include epigenetic, fragmentomic, and other chemical properties to boost performance. Chemical modifications of RNA offer a rich, and currently underutilised source of biomarker signal. We aimed to develop a single-molecule method to profile 2′-O-methylation of a ribosomal RNA fragment previously linked to lung cancer, and to evaluate its diagnostic value in blood. Methods We have designed a targeted capture strategy that ligates structure-guided adapters to a ~22-nucleotide ribosomal RNA fragment to enable sequencing of native molecules on a nanopore platform. Raw ionic-current signals were used to train and validate machine-learning classifiers to detect methylation states of synthetic oligonucleotides and cell culture derived ribosomal RNA fragments. Finally, we applied these methods to liquid biopsy samples collected from a 43-patient cohort of individuals undergoing investigation for suspected lung cancer. Results Here we show that single molecules of the target fragment are sequenced, and their methylation states can be accurately (92%) and quantitatively (Pearson r = 0.997) measured. In clinical liquid biopsy samples, it reveals a differential pattern of methylation in lung cancer that yields a diagnostic classifier with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.84. Conclusions This approach enables direct, single-molecule methylation profiling of small RNAs in blood and identifies a lung cancer–associated methylation pattern with diagnostic potential. It is readily compatible with multi-modal liquid biopsy assays to enhance performance. Plain language summary Blood tests for the early detection of cancer show great promise. These rely on the analysis of millions of molecules in the blood and the detection of differences that indicate the presence of cancer. RNA molecules are typically assessed by reading the letters of their genetic code (A, U, C, G), however we now realise that these letters can undergo chemical modifications, akin to changing their font. We have built a method that can read these molecules and identify their font using artificial intelligence. We used this method to investigate one RNA molecule in blood samples and found a difference between the fonts used in healthy compared to patients with lung cancer. This method could add a new layer to blood-based cancer tests and may help us find lung cancer earlier. Sanchez-Delgado, Frank et al. develop a method for single molecule, single nucleotide profiling of small RNA biomarker methylation status. They apply this method to lung cancer liquid biopsy samples to identify a differential pattern of methylation of a ribosomal RNA fragment with diagnostic potential.

Motor and vocal tics are the main symptom of Gilles de la Tourette-syndrome (GTS). A particular complex vocal tic comprises the utterance of swear words, termed coprolalia. Since taboo words are socially inappropriate, they are normally suppressed by people, which implies cognitive control processes. To investigate the control of the unintentional pronunciation of taboo words and the associated processes of conflict monitoring, we used the \"Spoonerisms of Laboratory Induced Predisposition\" (SLIP) paradigm. Participants read multiple inductor word pairs with the same phonemes, followed by pronouncing a target pair with inverse phonemes. This led to a conflict between two competing speech plans: the correct word pair and the word pair with inverted phonemes. Latter speech error, a spoonerism, could result in a neutral or taboo word. We investigated 19 patients with GTS and 23 typically developed controls (TDC) and measured participants' electroencephalography (EEG) during the SLIP task. At the behavioral level less taboo than neutral word spoonerisms occurred in both groups without significant differences. Event-related brain potentials (ERP) revealed a difference between taboo and neutral word conditions in the GTS group at the midline electrodes in a time range of 250-400 ms after the speech prompt, which was not found in the TDC group. The extent of this effect depended on the number of inductor word pairs, suggesting an increasing level of cognitive control in the GTS group. The differences between taboo and neutral word conditions in patients with GTS compared to TDC suggest an altered recruitment of cognitive control processes in GTS, likely enlisted to suppress taboo words.

Motivational influences on cognitive control play an important role in shaping human behavior. Cognitive facilitation through motivators such as prospective reward or punishment is thought to depend on regions from the dopaminergic mesocortical network, primarily the ventral tegmental area (VTA), inferior frontal junction (IFJ), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, how interactions between these regions relate to motivated control remains elusive. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we used dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to investigate effective connectivity between left IFJ, ACC, and VTA in a task‐switching paradigm comprising three distinct motivational conditions (prospective monetary reward or punishment and a control condition). We found that while prospective punishment significantly facilitated switching between tasks on a behavioral level, interactions between IFJ, ACC, and VTA were characterized by modulations through prospective reward but not punishment. Our DCM results show that IFJ and VTA modulate ACC activity in parallel rather than by interaction to serve task demands in reward‐based cognitive control. Our findings further demonstrate that prospective reward and punishment differentially affect neural control mechanisms to initiate decision‐making. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) in functional magnetic resonance imaging data was applied to investigate effective connectivity between left IFJ, ACC, and VTA in a task‐switching paradigm comprising three distinct motivational conditions (prospective monetary reward or punishment and a control condition). Prospective punishment significantly facilitated switching between tasks on a behavioral level, while interactions between IFJ, ACC, and VTA were characterized by modulations through prospective reward. Our DCM results show that IFJ and VTA modulate ACC activity in parallel rather than by interaction to serve task demands in reward‐based cognitive control.

Abstract Winners are commonly assumed to compete more aggressively than losers. Here, we find overwhelming evidence for the opposite. We first demonstrate that low-ranking teams commit more fouls than they receive in top-tier soccer, ice hockey and basketball men’s leagues. We replicate this effect in the laboratory, showing that male participants deliver louder sound blasts to a rival when placed in a low-status position. Using neuroimaging, we characterize brain activity patterns that encode competitive status as well as those that facilitate status-dependent aggression in healthy young men. These analyses reveal three key findings. First, anterior hippocampus and striatum contain multivariate representations of competitive status. Second, interindividual differences in status-dependent aggression are linked with a sharper status differentiation in the striatum and with greater reactivity to status-enhancing victories in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Third, activity in ventromedial, ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with trial-wise increases in status-dependent aggressive behaviour. Taken together, our results run counter to narratives glorifying aggression in competitive situations. Rather, we show that those in the lower ranks of skill-based hierarchies are more likely to behave aggressively and identify the potential neural basis of this phenomenon.

In mediated interactions (e.g. video calls), less information is available about the other. To investigate how this affects our empathy for one another, we conducted an EEG study, in which thirty human participants observed one of 5 targets undergoing painful electric stimulation, once in a direct interaction and once in a live, video-mediated interaction. We found that observers were as accurate in judging others' pain and showed as much affective empathy via video as in a direct encounter. While mu suppression, a common neural marker of empathy, was not sensitive to others' pain, theta responses to others' pain as well as skin conductance coupling between participants were reduced in the video-mediated condition. We conclude that physical prox-imity with its rich social cues is important for nuanced physiological resonance with the other's experience. More studies are warranted to confirm these results and to understand their behavioural significance for re-mote social interactions.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.Footnotes* Methodological details were clarified and the order of sections was changed.

Persons with Tourette syndrome (TS) show altered social behaviors, such as echophenomena and increased personal distress in emotional situations. These symptoms may reflect an overactive mirror neuron system (MNS), causing both increased automatic imitation and a stronger tendency to share others' emotions. To test this, we measured the individual level of echophenomena with a video protocol and experimentally induced empathy for pain in 25 participants with TS and 25 matched controls. In the empathy for pain paradigm, pictures of hands and feet in painful or neutral situations were presented, while we measured participants' EEG and skin conductance response (SCR). Changes in somatosensory mu suppression during the observation of the pictures, as well as pain ratings and SCR were compared between groups and correlated with the occurrence of echophenomena, self-reported empathy and clinical measures. Our TS sample showed significantly more echophenomena than controls, but the groups showed no behavioral differences in empathic abilities. However, controls, but not patients with TS, showed the predicted increased mu suppression when watching painful compared to neutral actions. While echophenomena were present in all persons with TS, the hypothesis of an overactive MNS in TS could not be substantiated. On the contrary, the TS group showed a noticeable lack of mu attenuation in response to pain stimuli, questioning the normal functioning of the MNS in empathy for pain situations. In conclusion, the MNS remains an important area of study for TS, but overactivity of the system could not explain echophenomena and social symptoms of TS.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.

Winners are commonly assumed to compete more aggressively than losers. Here, we find overwhelming evidence for the opposite. We first demonstrate that low-ranking teams commit more fouls than they receive in top-tier soccer, ice hockey, and basketball men’s leagues. We replicate this effect in the laboratory, showing that male participants deliver louder sound blasts to a rival when placed in a low-status position. Using neuroimaging, we characterize brain activity patterns that encode competitive status as well as those that facilitate status-dependent aggression in healthy young men. These analyses reveal three key findings. First, anterior hippocampus and striatum contain multivariate representations of competitive status. Second, interindividual differences in status-dependent aggression are linked with a sharper status differentiation in the striatum and with greater reactivity to status-enhancing victories in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Third, activity in ventromedial, ventrolateral, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with trial-wise increases in status-dependent aggressive behavior. Taken together, our results run counter to narratives glorifying aggression in competitive situations. Rather, we show that those in the lower ranks of skill-based hierarchies are more likely to behave aggressively and identify the potential neural basis of this phenomenon.

Winners are commonly assumed to compete more aggressively than losers. Here, we find overwhelming evidence for the opposite. We first demonstrate that low-ranking teams commit more fouls than they receive in top-tier soccer, ice hockey, and basketball leagues. We replicate this effect in the laboratory, showing that participants deliver louder sound blasts to a rival when placed in a low-status position. Using neuroimaging, we characterize brain activity patterns that encode competitive status as well as those that facilitate status-dependent aggression. These analyses reveal three key findings. First, anterior hippocampus and striatum contain multivariate representations of competitive status. Second, interindividual differences in status-dependent aggression are linked with a sharper status differentiation in the striatum and with greater reactivity to status-enhancing victories in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Third, activity in ventromedial, ventrolateral, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with trial-wise increases in status-dependent aggressive behavior. Taken together, our results run counter to narratives glorifying aggression in competitive situations. Rather, we show that those in the lower ranks of skill-based hierarchies are more likely to behave aggressively and identify the potential neural basis of this phenomenon. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes * https://osf.io/2jvx4/