Perceptions of President Donald Trump’s Personality Disorder Traits: The relative strength of the traits associated with the disorders (sadistic, narcissistic, antisocial, & passive-aggressive) was highly similar between conservatives & liberals

Voter Perceptions of President Donald Trump’s Personality Disorder Traits: Implications of Political Affiliation. Jacob A. Fiala et al. Clinical Psychological Science, March 3, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619885399

Abstract: The short form of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (SCATI) was used to measure traits associated with 14 personality disorders (according to essential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria) in Donald Trump shortly after the fall 2016 election. Liberal or conservative participants (N = 219, mean age = 38.20 years, range = 18–79 years) were randomly assigned to view a positive or negative compilation of official campaign videos depicting Trump and then completed the SCATI. The general hypothesis was supported: Respondents’ political affiliation related with personality perceptions (although campaign video compilations did not). Despite differences in magnitude, the relative strength of the traits associated with the disorders was highly similar between conservatives and liberals (intraclass correlation coefficient = .76, p < .001). On the basis of overall rankings (independent of respondent’s party affiliation), Trump’s personality was collectively perceived to be at or above the 99th normative percentile for traits associated with four personality disorders (sadistic, narcissistic, antisocial, and passive-aggressive).

Keywords: personality, Trump, political psychology, narcissistic, sadistic

Beliefs about religious evil remain a strong and consistent predictor of attitudes about issues involving sexuality, including abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, extramarital sex, and pornography use

The Flesh and The Devil: Belief in Religious Evil and Views of Sexual Morality. Joseph O. Baker, Andrea Molle & Christopher D. Bader. Review of Religious Research, March 3 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13644-020-00403-4

Abstract: We examine an understudied connection between religion and sexuality: beliefs about the reality of supernatural evil (Satan, hell, and demons). After controlling for multiple other aspects of religiosity, beliefs about religious evil remain a strong and consistent predictor of attitudes about issues involving sexuality, including abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, extramarital sex, and pornography use. Further, the effects of religious service attendance on attitudes about sexuality are contingent upon beliefs about religious evil. Moral condemnation of non-traditional sexuality is significantly higher among regular religious participants who believe strongly in religious evil compared to actively religious people who disbelieve in religious evil, as well as compared to people who do not attend religious services. Beliefs about religious evil are therefore central to understanding the empirical connections between religion and support for conservative, traditional views of sexual morality.

Female threespine sticklebacks: Consistent individual differences in neuroendocrine correlates of personality traints, and in activity, sociability and risk taking after an opportunity to mate

Personality traits change after an opportunity to mate. Chloe Monestier, Alison Bell. bioRxiv, March 03, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.02.973693

Abstract: There is growing evidence that personality traits can change throughout the life course in humans and nonhuman animals. However, the proximate and ultimate causes of personality trait change are largely unknown, especially in adults. In a controlled, longitudinal experiment, we tested whether a key life event for adults - mating - can cause personality traits to change in female threespine sticklebacks. We confirmed that there are consistent individual differences in activity, sociability and risk taking, and then compared these personality traits among three groups of females: 1) control females; 2) females that physically mated; 3) females that socially experienced courtship but did not mate. Both the physical experience of mating and the social experience of courtship caused females to become less willing to take risks and less social. To understand the proximate mechanisms underlying these changes, we measured levels of excreted steroids. Both the physical experience of mating and the social experience of courtship caused levels of dihydroxyprogesterone (17α,20β-P) to increase, and females with higher 17α,20β-P were less willing to take risks and less social. These results provide experimental evidence that personality traits and their underlying neuroendocrine correlates are influenced by formative social and life-history experiences well into adulthood.

Men reported higher levels of extradyadic behaviors and sexual desire, gave more importance to physical attractiveness, and perceived their current relationship as having less quality than women

Extradyadic Behaviors and Gender: How Do They Relate With Sexual Desire, Relationship Quality, and Attractiveness. Joana Arantes, Fátima Barros and Helena M. Oliveira. Front. Psychol., March 3 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02554

Abstract: Recent years have seen an increasing number of studies on relationship extradyadic behaviors (Pinto and Arantes, 2016; Pazhoohi et al., 2017; Silva et al., 2017; Fisher, 2018). However, much is still to learn about the impact of these extradyadic behaviors on subsequent relationships that an individual may have. Our main goal was to study the association between past extradyadic behaviors – inflicted and suffered – and current relationship quality, sexual desire and attractiveness. Specifically, we aimed to: (i) Understand if past extradyadic behaviors are related to current relationship quality, sexual desire, and self-perceived and partner’s attractiveness; (ii) Identify possible gender differences in these variables. For that, 364 participants (251 females and 113 males) were recruited through personal and institutional e-mails, online social networks (e.g., Facebook), and the website of the Evolutionary Psychology Group from the University of Minho. All participants completed a demographic and relationship questionnaire, followed by questions related to extradyadic behaviors and self-perceived attractiveness, the Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) Inventory, the Sex Drive Scale (SDQ), and the Importance of Partner’s Physical Attractiveness Scale (IPPAS). For those currently involved in a relationship, results suggested that extradyadic behaviors (both suffered or inflicted) are linked with current low relationship quality and high sexual desire in the present. In addition, individuals who perceived themselves as being more attractive tended to have a higher sexual desire and higher relationship quality. Overall, men reported higher levels of extradyadic behaviors and sexual desire, gave more importance to physical attractiveness, and perceived their current relationship as having less quality than women. These results add to the literature by focusing on different variables that play an important role in romantic relationships, and have important implications.

Discussion

The primary goal of the present study was to examine the association between past extradyadic behaviors – both inflicted and suffered – on current romantic relationships. Results from our data showed that men have higher levels of extradyadic behaviors, higher levels of sexual desire, gave more importance to physical attractiveness and perceived their current relationship as having less quality compared to women. These results confirmed our first hypothesis. Findings are consistent with the existent literature (Ostovich and Sabini, 2004; Galperin and Haselton, 2010; Pinto and Arantes, 2016). For example, previous studies have showed that females tend to have fewer extradyadic behaviors (Pinto and Arantes, 2016). One possible explanation is that there are stereotypes and gender roles that have been internalized about women being good wifes (Bittman et al., 2003; Ellemers, 2018). Another possible explanation – based on an evolutionary perspective – is the greater maternal investment required for pregnancy and subsequent child care (Hill and Hill, 1990; Bjorklund and Shackelford, 1999). However, Wiederman and Hurd (1999) suggested that the differences in extradyadic behaviors obtained may be due to underreporting of extradyadic behaviors by women rather than real sex differences – due to the existent double sexual standard.

Those participants that have betrayed in the past are significantly more likely to perceive the quality of their current relationship as being lower and to have a higher sexual desire in the present. These results are consistent with our second hypothesis. Interestingly, Owen et al. (2013) found that both men and women who reported more thoughtful decision-making processes regarding their romantic relationship tended to report higher satisfaction with the relationship and fewer extradyadic behaviors.

Previous research has shown that individuals that have stronger sexual interest levels tended to have more extradyadic behaviors (Treas and Giesen, 2000). In addition, individuals who have betrayed in the past tend to report more unrestricted sociosexuality (Rodrigues et al., 2017). When we analyzed the association between having betrayed and the PRQC and SDR we found similar results. More specifically, individuals that had been betrayed by a partner tend to have higher sexual desire, and to perceive their romantic relationship has having lower quality. These results are consistent with our third hypothesis. These results may be explained due to the fact that those individuals that tend to betrayal also tend to be betrayed. These findings are consistent with Shaw et al. (2013) prospective study, that showed that partner’s extradyadic behaviors is a predictor of extradyadic relationships. More specifically, they found in a large, nationally representative sample of unmarried couples that factors such as lower relationship satisfaction, negative communication, and partner’s extradyadic behaviors (actual or suspected) were predictors of extradyadic sexual interaction. Research has shown that when men believe their partners are more likely to betray them, they feel more attracted to other women possibly to increase the likelihood of genetic transmission (Shaw et al., 2013).

Our data showed that there was no significant difference between those who had betrayed and had not betrayed regarding their self-perceived attractiveness. The same was true when we compared those who had been betrayed and had not been betrayed. These results are inconsistent with our second and third hypothesis. One possible explanation for these results is that because participants that have been betrayed are also more likely to have betrayed (Shaw et al., 2013), any possible differences were minimized.

Our results showed that, overall, those who perceive themselves as being more attractive tend to have a higher sexual desire and higher relationship quality. These confirm our fourth hypothesis. There are however, further gender differences. Specifically, women who perceived themselves as being relatively more attractive had a tendency to report a higher sexual desire than those who perceived themselves as being relatively less attractive. This result was not obtained for men. Previous research has shown that women who consider themselves physically attractive show a greater preference for masculinity and symmetry, suggesting that these women may attempt to maximize phenotypic quality in potential partners, whereas women of low mate value may maximize reproductive success by searching males most likely to invest (Little et al., 2001). Also, women (and not men) who perceived their relationship as high quality tended to give less importance to the partner’s physical attractiveness compared with those women who rated their relationship quality as low. This finding is consistent with an evolutionary perspective, suggesting that those women who are in a secure and committed relationship which provides good resources for themselves and the children are more likely to disregard physical attractiveness (Penton-Voak et al., 2003). Finally, men that perceived their relationship has having high quality were more likely to perceive themselves as more attractive.

Limitations

First, even though we propose that past extradyadic behaviors history has an impact on the experience of current romantic relationships, our data were correlational and consequently we cannot make strong inferences. It is possible that someone with an overall high sexual desire and that tends to perceive the quality of intimate relationships to be low, will have a higher tendency to betray their partners during the course of their lives. Therefore, it would be very interesting to test which path is the most likely to occur by doing a prospective, longitudinal study. Second, we did not have an equal number of males and females’ participants that have betrayed/been betrayed. This unequal sample sizes may have affected the results (Keppel, 1993). Third, we did not ask participants about their perception of extradyadic behaviors, nor to specify the extradyadic behaviors them have suffered and/or inflicted. This may have affected the results. Fourth, we did not ask participants if they were in sexually non-monogamous relationships (SNMR), defined as those relationships in which “individuals are each other’s primary partners and have consensually agreed upon extradyadic sex” (Rodrigues et al., 2016). Research has shown that individuals in SNMR do not perceive extradyadic sex as a transgressive behavior or extradyadic behaviors (Mogilski et al., 2017). Therefore, having extradyadic sex does not seem to affect, for example, the quality of the relationships in SNMR (Mogilski et al., 2017), which may have affected our results. Fifth, research has shown that self-perceived attractiveness seems to be related with both face and body features, and that with ratings of attractiveness given by independent evaluators (Muñoz-Reyes et al., 2015). Nevertheless, it is possible that some participants may have confounded between face and body attractiveness. Sixth, all obtained correlation coefficients were low, and therefore strong inferences should not be done. Seventh, the age of the majority of our participants ranged from 18 to 40. It would be interesting to investigate if the same pattern of results would be obtained with an older sample. Finally, to evaluate some of our variables (e.g., extradyadic behaviors) we developed specific questions that have not been used in previous studies, which may have also affected our results.

Rolf Degen summarizing: Less than half of all parents manage to transmit their partisan identities to their children

The Role of Child Perception and Motivation in Political Socialization. Peter K. Hatemi, Christopher Ojeda. British Journal of Political Science, February 28 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123419000516

Abstract: Most of what is known regarding political socialization treats parent–child concordance as evidence of transmission. This direct-transmission approach remains agnostic regarding how socialization occurs, whether traits have a role in a child's ability to identify and understand their parent's values or their motivation to adopt their parents’ values. This article advances a perception-adoption approach to unpack these microprocesses of socialization. The authors test their model using three independent studies in the United States that together comprise 4,852 parent–child dyads. They find that the transmission of partisan orientations from parent to child occurs less than half the time, which is qualitatively different from the generally held view. More importantly, the findings provide a greater understanding of how key predictors facilitate the political socialization process. Specifically, politicization improves child perception, but has no role in the child's motivation to adopt parental values. Closeness and parental value strength influence children to want to be like their parents, but do nothing to improve children's ability to recognize their parents' values. And education, previously thought to have little role in transmission, does not influence a child's ability to understand their parent's affiliation, but appears to make children more likely to reject whatever they believe it to be.

Aversiveness to both the tendency of male infants to produce more expiratory phonations when crying, as well as their visual appearance when crying, may contribute to their increased vulnerability to abuse

Perception of male and female infant cry aversiveness by adult men. Lynnet Richey, Ting Li & James K. Rilling. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, Mar 2 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2020.1732896

ABSTRACT
Objective: The study aimed to determine why male infants are abused more frequently than female infants.

Background: Infant crying is a well-known trigger for Shaken Baby Syndrome or Abusive Head Trauma (SBS/AHT). For unknown reasons, male infants are more often victims of SBS/AHT than female infants. We hypothesised that this sex difference in victimisation was attributable to either acoustic or movement differences between male and female infants when crying, or to gender stereotypes about infant crying (e.g. ‘boys don’t cry’).

Methods: Adult male participants rated auditory and video cry stimuli from male and female infants for aversiveness. Each infant was rated while wearing both blue and pink clothing to denote male or female gender.

Results: In two experiments, male infants spent more time producing expiratory phonations than did female infants, and this variable was positively correlated with aversiveness ratings. Including visual stimuli increased male but not female infant cry aversiveness compared with audio stimuli alone. Finally, dressing infants in blue did not increase cry aversiveness.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that both the tendency of male infants to produce more expiratory phonations when crying, as well as their visual appearance when crying, may contribute to their increased vulnerability to abuse.

KEYWORDS: Cry, infant, abuse, sex, gender

Severity and the number of common cold symptoms: Women were expected to report more symptoms & a higher severity; no differences found between men and women in their reports

From 2019... Sex differences in the severity and number of common cold symptoms. Eva Lutgerink. Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Theses, Utrecth Univ. Jun 2019. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/392930

Abstract: It is commonly believed that men tend to exaggerate the severity of their illness when infected with a respiratory virus. On the contrary, on literature in health, it seems that women are generally the ones who are “sicker”. In the literature there is still a debate on whether men or women tend over-report minor health problems. Therefore, this study examines the effect of sex on the severity and number of common cold symptoms. Hypotheses were derived from literature building on a social constructionist perspective of gender and health. Women were expected to report more symptoms and a higher severity of their symptoms. Also, the effects were expected to be mediated by stress. The results show that there are no differences between men and women in their reports on the severity and the number of common cold symptoms.

Author keywords: sex differences; gender; health; common cold; symptoms

Rosy memories: Mainly in autobiographical memory & particularly for self-relevant information, positive memory biases emerge from the operation of powerful mechanisms aimed at maintaining the individual’s well-being

Chapter 7 - A “rosy view” of the past: Positive memory biases. Orly Adler, Ainat Pansky. In Cognitive Biases in Health and Psychiatric Disorders - Neurophysiological Foundations. 2020, Pages 139-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816660-4.00007-6

Abstract: The positivity bias in memory is a prevalent phenomenon. People tend to remember more pleasant than unpleasant events, to remember events more favorably than they actually were, and to view their past through rosy glasses overall. Apparent mainly in autobiographical memory and particularly for self-relevant information, positive memory biases emerge from the operation of powerful mechanisms aimed at maintaining the individual’s well-being. In the current chapter, we review these mechanisms and the various techniques by which they operate. Manifestation of the bias in clinical populations and the manner in which it is reflected in neural activations are described, alongside methodological limitations and directions for future research.

Check also The Many Faces of Forgetting: Toward a Constructive View of Forgetting in Everyday Life. Jonathan M.Fawcett, Justin C. Hulbert. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, January 21 2020. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/forgetfulness-contributes-to.html

Middle- and old-aged individuals: Moderate lifetime alcohol intake was associated with lower cerebral beta amyloid deposition compared to a lifetime history of not drinking

Association of moderate alcohol intake with in vivo amyloid-beta deposition in human brain: A cross-sectional study. Jee Wook Kim et al. PLOS, February 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003022

Abstract
Background: An emerging body of literature has indicated that moderate alcohol intake may be protective against Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia. However, little information is available regarding whether moderate alcohol intake is related to reductions in amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition, or is protective via amyloid-independent mechanisms in the living human brain. Here we examined the associations of moderate alcohol intake with in vivo AD pathologies, including cerebral Aβ deposition, neurodegeneration of AD-signature regions, and cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in the living human brain.

Methods and findings: The present study was part of the Korean Brain Aging Study for Early Diagnosis and Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease (KBASE), an ongoing prospective cohort study that started in 2014. As of November 2016, 414 community-dwelling individuals with neither dementia nor alcohol-related disorders (280 cognitively normal [CN] individuals and 134 individuals with mild cognitive impairment [MCI]) between 56 and 90 years of age (mean age 70.9 years ± standard deviation 7.8; male, n [%] = 180 [43.5]) were recruited from 4 sites (i.e., 2 university hospitals and 2 public centers for dementia prevention and management) around Seoul, South Korea. All the participants underwent comprehensive clinical assessments comprising lifetime and current histories of alcohol intake and multimodal brain imaging, including [11C] Pittsburgh compound B positron emission tomography (PET), [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Lifetime and current alcohol intake were categorized as follows: no drinking, <1 standard drink (SD)/week, 1–13 SDs/week, and 14+ SDs/week. A moderate lifetime alcohol intake (1–13 SDs/week) was significantly associated with a lower Aβ positivity rate compared to the no drinking group, even after controlling for potential confounders (odds ratio 0.341, 95% confidence interval 0.163–0.714, p = 0.004). In contrast, current alcohol intake was not associated with amyloid deposition. Additionally, alcohol intake was not related to neurodegeneration of AD-signature regions or cerebral WMH volume. The present study had some limitations in that it had a cross-sectional design and depended on retrospective recall for alcohol drinking history.

Conclusions: In this study, we observed in middle- and old-aged individuals with neither dementia nor alcohol-related disorders that moderate lifetime alcohol intake was associated with lower cerebral Aβ deposition compared to a lifetime history of not drinking. Moderate lifetime alcohol intake may have a beneficial influence on AD by reducing pathological amyloid deposition rather than amyloid-independent neurodegeneration or cerebrovascular injury.

Discussion

In this study, we observed that lifetime alcohol intake of 1–13 SDs/week (moderate drinking) was associated with lower cerebral Aβ deposition compared to the no drinking group in these middle- and old-aged individuals with neither dementia nor alcohol-related disorders.
The present finding of an association between moderate alcohol intake and lower Aβ deposition is in line with results from previous studies using animal or cultured cell models, which indicated that moderate alcohol intake exerts a protective effect via attenuating Aβ accumulation [17,20]. Many clinical and epidemiological studies have reported an inverse association between moderate alcohol intake and the risk of AD dementia [3,9–13], and the present findings regarding the association between moderate alcohol intake and decreased cerebral Aβ positivity may explain this inverse association.
While moderate lifetime alcohol intake had a significant association with Aβ deposition, moderate current intake did not. This difference indicates that the protective effects of moderate alcohol intake against Aβ pathology involve the chronic effects associated with long-term exposure rather than an acute effect. The significant finding for lifetime intake only also suggests that the protective association for moderate alcohol intake is not due to the inclusion of forced abstainers, i.e., those who stopped using alcohol owing to other health concerns related to problem drinking, among the reference group (i.e., non-drinkers). Forced abstainers were classified as drinkers for lifetime alcohol intake status, whereas they were classified as non-drinkers for current alcohol intake status.
Unlike for Aβ deposition, there were no associations between moderate alcohol intake and neurodegeneration or WMHs. Similarly, previous human MRI studies did not observe an association between moderate alcohol intake and cerebral gray matter volume [29] or total brain volume [30]. However, several preclinical and human studies reported that moderate alcohol intake has protective effects against vascular changes and atrophy in the brain. Studies using cultured cell or animal models showed that moderate alcohol intake is protective against ischemic brain injury [24,27], and human MRI studies have suggested that moderate alcohol intake is protective against damage to cerebral gray [23] and white [21,22] matter. These discrepancies may be related to methodological differences between studies. However, as suggested in a systematic review of the chronic effects of moderate alcohol intake on the structural and functional properties of the brain [53], the present findings based on both structural MRI (cortical thickness and WMHs) and FDG PET (cerebral glucose metabolism) measures support that moderate alcohol intake did not exert its protective effects directly through neurodegenerative or vascular mechanisms.
Although excessive alcohol intake has been related with an increased risk of cognitive decline [1–4], and U- or J-shaped association has been implied together with the decreased risk of cognitive impairment with moderate alcohol intake [3,5–16], we did not find any association between higher alcohol intake and increased AD pathologies. Alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) [54] was suggested as an umbrella term for conditions including Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, alcohol-related dementia, and other forms of persistent alcohol-related cognitive impairment. ARBD encompasses a range of clinical presentations that manifest as impairments in memory, executive functioning, and judgement, which are related to frontal brain function. Several brain imaging studies also reported damage of the frontal lobe in individuals with alcoholism [55], while AD-CT and AD-CM measures mainly include temporo-parietal degeneration. Therefore, we additionally analyzed the association between alcohol intake and frontal lobe state (i.e., glucose metabolism, cortical thickness, and WMH volume of the frontal region) in order to find out if there was any ARBD-like damage with alcohol intake. As shown in S9 Table, however, we did not find any significant results from those analyses. These null findings may be because individuals with alcohol-related disorders were excluded and, as a result, heavy drinkers (14+ SDs/week) in the present study consisted of individuals without alcoholism or other severe alcohol problems.
The investigation of the influence of age on the association between moderate alcohol intake and Aβ positivity revealed that the protective effect of moderate alcohol intake on Aβ positivity was more prominent in older individuals (≥75 years) than younger ones. This finding may be due in part to age-associated increases in the Aβ positivity rate in individuals without dementia [56]. In the present study, the Aβ positivity rate was 24.5% (n = 62) in the younger age group and 37.3% (n = 57) in the older group. The relatively small proportion of Aβ+ individuals in the younger group might decrease the likelihood of detecting a significant difference. It is also possible, as mentioned above, that these age-related differences are related to the chronic effects associated with long-term alcohol exposure. In contrast, sex, APOE4, and clinical diagnosis did not have any moderating effect on the association between moderate alcohol intake and Aβ positivity.
The present study had a couple of strengths. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to show the association of moderate alcohol intake with Aβ accumulation in the living human brain. The study included a relatively large number of participants who were well-characterized through comprehensive clinical assessments including systematic interview for detailed alcohol drinking history and multimodal brain imaging for in vivo AD pathologies and WMHs. In addition, various potential confounders were systematically evaluated and controlled in the statistical models in order to reveal the association between alcohol intake and brain pathologies as clearly as possible. Even after controlling for all potential confounders, the findings did not change. The results were also confirmed by sensitivity analyses conducted after excluding binge or former drinkers.
Nevertheless, the present study also had several limitations that should be considered. First, because this was a cross-sectional study, causal relationships cannot be inferred from the findings. Second, in terms of lifetime alcohol intake, underestimation of drinking or retrospective recall bias may have affected the results in older individuals. However, it is unlikely that underestimation of alcohol intake was significant because harmful drinkers and individuals with a history of alcohol use disorder were excluded from the analyses, and moderate drinkers have no reason to underestimate their alcohol intake. Moreover, to reduce recall bias, information was obtained from reliable informants as well as the study participants. Additionally, a review of self-report bias in the assessment of alcohol intake suggested that this recall bias is not greater in older individuals than in the general population [57]. Third, about one-third of the study participants were diagnosed with MCI, which may also raise some concern about the accuracy of self-report for alcohol intake. However, although individuals with MCI have some problems with their recent memory, their remote memory is very well preserved [58]: It is not likely that individuals with MCI reported their history for alcohol intake more erroneously, because the self-report for lifetime alcohol intake mainly depends on remote memory rather than recent memory. In addition, even when we controlled for clinical diagnosis (CN versus MCI) as an additional covariate in Model 3 (Tables 2, 3, and S2–S7), the results were still very similar. Fourth, there are quite different alcohol intake patterns regarding the frequency and regularity of intake, and the amount of alcohol consumed in a single session, within the moderate drinking category. Although we obtained similar findings after excluding binge drinkers in sensitivity analyses, a more detailed understanding of the influence of drinking patterns is needed. Finally, although we did not find any significant association between alcohol intake and neurodegeneration or WMHs, the lack of association may reflect a lack of statistical power given the sample size.
Although further long-term follow-up investigations in larger populations with heterogeneous alcohol intake patterns are still needed, the association of moderate alcohol intake with reduced risk of pathological Aβ deposition (about one-third of the risk for no drinking) observed in the present study may suggest that moderate lifetime alcohol intake may be beneficial in preventing AD dementia or related cognitive decline.
In conclusion, the present findings from middle- and old-aged individuals with neither dementia nor alcohol-related disorders suggest that moderate lifetime alcohol intake may have some beneficial influence on AD by reducing pathological amyloid deposition rather than amyloid-independent neurodegeneration or cerebrovascular injury.

It seems people selectively attend to moral stimuli; moral content might be prioritized in conscious awareness after an initial perceptual encoding but before subsequent memory processing or action preparation

From 2019... Gantman, Ana P., Sayeed Devraj-Kizuk, Peter Mende-Siedlecki, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Kyle E. Mathewson. 2019. “The Time-course of Moral Perception: An Electroencephalography Investigation.” PsyArXiv. August 26. doi:10.31234/osf.io/72dxa

Abstract: Humans are highly attuned to perceptual cues about their values. A growing body of evidence suggests that people selectively attend to moral stimuli. However, it is unknown whether morality is prioritized early in perception or much later in cognitive processing. We use a combination of behavioral methods and electroencephalography to investigate how early in perception moral words are prioritized relative to non-moral words. The behavioral data replicate previous research indicating that people are more likely to correctly identify moral than non-moral words in a modified lexical decision task. The electroencephalography data reveal that words are distinguished from non-words as early as 200 milliseconds after onset over frontal brain areas, and moral words are distinguished from non-moral words 100 milliseconds later over left-posterior cortex. Further analyses reveal that differences in brain activity to moral vs. non-moral words cannot be explained by differences in arousal associated with the words. These results suggest that moral content might be prioritized in conscious awareness after an initial perceptual encoding but before subsequent memory processing or action preparation. This work offers a more precise theoretical framework for understanding how morality impacts vision and behavior.

Keywords: morality, EEG, social neuroscience, conscious awareness, vision