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Although the link between alcohol involvement and behavioral phenotypes (e.g. impulsivity, negative affect, executive function [EF]) is well-established, the directionality of these associations, specificity to stages of alcohol involvement, and extent of shared genetic liability remain unclear. We estimate longitudinal associations between transitions among alcohol milestones, behavioral phenotypes, and indices of genetic risk.
Data came from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (n = 3681; ages 11–36). Alcohol transitions (first: drink, intoxication, alcohol use disorder [AUD] symptom, AUD diagnosis), internalizing, and externalizing phenotypes came from the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism. EF was measured with the Tower of London and Visual Span Tasks. Polygenic scores (PGS) were computed for alcohol-related and behavioral phenotypes. Cox models estimated associations among PGS, behavior, and alcohol milestones.
Externalizing phenotypes (e.g. conduct disorder symptoms) were associated with future initiation and drinking problems (hazard ratio (HR)⩾1.16). Internalizing (e.g. social anxiety) was associated with hazards for progression from first drink to severe AUD (HR⩾1.55). Initiation and AUD were associated with increased hazards for later depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation (HR⩾1.38), and initiation was associated with increased hazards for future conduct symptoms (HR = 1.60). EF was not associated with alcohol transitions. Drinks per week PGS was linked with increased hazards for alcohol transitions (HR⩾1.06). Problematic alcohol use PGS increased hazards for suicidal ideation (HR = 1.20).
Behavioral markers of addiction vulnerability precede and follow alcohol transitions, highlighting dynamic, bidirectional relationships between behavior and emerging addiction.
Exercise is associated with higher cognitive function and is a promising intervention to reduce the risk of dementia. With advancing age, there are changes in the vasculature that have important clinical implications for brain health and cognition. Primary aging and vascular risk factors are associated with increases in arterial stiffness and pulse pressure, and reductions in peripheral vascular function.
The purpose is to discuss the epidemiological, observational, and mechanistic evidence regarding the link between age-related changes in vascular health and brain health.
We performed a literature review and integrated with our published data.
Epidemiological evidence suggests a link between age-related increases in arterial stiffness and lower cognitive function, which may be mediated by cerebral vascular function, including cerebral vasoreactivity and cerebral pulsatility. Age-associated impairments in central arterial stiffness and peripheral vascular function have been attenuated or reversed through lifestyle behaviors such as exercise. Greater volumes of habitual exercise and higher cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with beneficial effects on both peripheral vascular health and cognition. Yet, the extent to which exercise directly influences cerebral vascular function and brain health, as well as the associated mechanisms remains unclear.
Although there is evidence that exercise positively impacts cerebral vascular function, more research is necessary in humans to optimize experimental protocols and address methodological limitations and physiological considerations. Understanding the impact of exercise on cerebral vascular function is important for understanding the association between exercise and brain health and may inform future intervention studies that seek to improve cognition.
The ability to design studies that are free from confounded variables is an acquired skill that separates the true psychological scientist from a layperson. The latter might be quite capable of generating interesting questions that could be addressed by psychological research; turning these questions into a study that cleanly tests the hypotheses, however, can be quite a challenge. It is this topic that the present chapter addresses.
Consider the fundamental goal of psychological research: to discover the causes and consequences of behavior. The only way to make such discoveries is to be able to examine data from a study that is free from alternative explanations. Such alternative explanations most often arise when an experiment contains confounded variables. Confounded variables involve the “simultaneous variation of a second variable with an independent variable of interest so that any effect on the dependent variable cannot be attributed with certainty to the independent variable” (Elmes, Kantowitz, & Roediger, 2003, p. 436). A well-designed study is one in which the researcher has carefully considered potential alternative explanations and designed the study so that these alternative explanations are no longer viable.
Psychological research can be categorized into two broad classes: experimental studies and correlational studies. In the former case, the researcher manipulates the variable of interest (the independent variable) and observes its effects on the dependent variable. The latter involves examining variation that occurs naturally (e.g., the variation between emotional awareness and happiness) and attempts to draw conclusions regarding this relationship.
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