scholarly journals Large-Scale Societal Dynamics are Reflected in Human Mood and Brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Lebedev ◽  
Christoph Abe ◽  
Kasim Acar ◽  
Gustavo Deco ◽  
Morten L. Kringelbach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transitions ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Size Estimation ◽  
Stock Market Index ◽  
Effect Size Estimation

Abstract The stock market is a bellwether of socio-economic changes that may directly affect individual well-being. Using large-scale UK-biobank data generated over 14 years, we applied specification curve analysis to rigorously identify significant associations between the local stock market index (FTSE100) and 479,791 UK residents’ mood, as well as their alcohol intake and blood pressure adjusting the results for a large number of potential confounders, including age, sex, linear and non-linear effects of time, research site, other stock market indexes. Furthermore, we found similar associations between FTSE100 and volumetric measures of affective brain regions in a subsample (n = 39,755; measurements performed over 5.5 years), which were particularly strong around phase transitions characterized by maximum volatility in the market. The main findings did not depend on applied effect-size estimation criteria (linear methods or mutual information criterion) and were replicated in two independent US-based studies (Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative; n = 424; performed over 2,5 years and MyConnectome; n = 1; 81 measurements over 1,5 years). Our results suggest that phase transitions in the society, indexed by stock market, exhibit close relationships with human mood, health and the affective brain from an individual to population level.

scholarly journals Temporal stock market dynamics are related to fluctuations in population mood and brain morphometry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Lebedev ◽  
Christoph Abe ◽  
Kasim Acar ◽  
Martin Ingvar ◽  
Predrag Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Global Dynamics ◽  
Stock Market Index ◽  
Scale Free

SummaryA number of previous studies have indicated that market and population well-being are related. Using UK-biobank data we first identified a significant association between a local stock market index (FTSE100) and mood of 479,791 subjects and demonstrated that FTSE100 exhibits significant associations with volumetric measures of the brain regions involved in affective processing in 39,755 subjects with more distant markets exhibiting a weaker relation to these regions. These effects were primarily observed in the low-frequency band and were magnified over larger time-scales. The main results survived adjustments for seasonal effects, demographic confounders and effects of non-UK markets. The magnitude of these associations was also related to the strength of UK’s social and economic ties to other countries. Finally, the main finding was replicated in an independent set of individuals from a different country. After identifying scale-free properties in the stock market time-series, we show that 1/f pink noise explains a large proportion of the market-brain variance. However, all results withstood the adjustment for the scale-free noise. Taken together, our results suggest how global dynamics in the society generalise to population mood and large-scale biological data.

Good Days, Bad Days: Stock Market Fluctuation and Taxi Tipping Decisions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiqiang Tan ◽  
Jian Zhang
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Stock Market Index ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Market Index ◽  
Elasticity Estimate ◽  
Taxi Industry ◽  
The Impact

Using taxicab tipping records in New York City (NYC), we develop a novel measure of real-time utility and quantitatively assess the impact of wealth change on the well-being of individuals based on the core tenet of prospect theory. The baseline estimate suggests that a one-standard-deviation increase in the stock market index is associated with a 0.3% increase in the daily average tipping ratio, which translates to an elasticity estimate of 0.3. The impact is short-lived and in line with the wealth effect interpretation. Consistent with loss aversion, we find that the impact is primarily driven by wealth loss rather than gain. We exploit Global Positioning System and timestamp information and design two difference-in-differences tests to establish causal inference. Exploitation of the characteristics of individual stocks suggests that the effect of wealth change on real-time utility is more pronounced in the stocks of firms with large market capitalization. Finally, our aggregate estimate suggests that annual tip revenue in the NYC taxi industry is associated with stock market fluctuations, ranging from −$17.5 million to $12.9 million. This paper was accepted by Tyler Shumway, finance.

scholarly journals E-Cannula reveals anatomical diversity in sharp-wave ripples as a driver for the recruitment of distinct hippocampal assemblies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Liu ◽  
Satoshi Terada ◽  
Jeonghoon Kim ◽  
Yichen Lu ◽  
Mehrdad Ramezani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Technical Difficulty ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cell Assemblies ◽  
Sharp Wave ◽  
Wave Patterns ◽  
Scale Population

The hippocampus plays a critical role in spatial navigation and episodic memory. However, research on in vivo hippocampal activity dynamics has mostly relied on single modalities such as electrical recordings or optical imaging, with respectively limited spatial and temporal resolution. This technical difficulty greatly impedes multi-level investigations into network state-related changes in cellular activity. To overcome these limitations, we developed the E-Cannula integrating fully transparent graphene microelectrodes with imaging-cannula. The E-Cannula enables the simultaneous electrical recording and two-photon calcium imaging from the exact same population of neurons across an anatomically extended region of the mouse hippocampal CA1 stably across several days. These large-scale simultaneous optical and electrical recordings showed that local hippocampal sharp wave ripples (SWRs) are associated with synchronous calcium events involving large neural populations in CA1. We show that SWRs exhibit spatiotemporal wave patterns along multiple axes in 2D space with different spatial extents (local or global) and temporal propagation modes (stationary or travelling). Notably, distinct SWR wave patterns were associated with, and decoded from, the selective recruitment of orthogonal CA1 cell assemblies. These results suggest that the diversity in the anatomical progression of SWRs may serve as a mechanism for the selective activation of the unique hippocampal cell assemblies extensively implicated in the encoding of distinct memories. Through these results we demonstrate the utility of the E-Cannula as a versatile neurotechnology with the potential for future integration with other optical components such as green lenses, fibers or prisms enabling the multi-modal investigation of cross-time scale population-level neural dynamics across brain regions.

scholarly journals Cultivating Affective Resilience: Proof-of-Principle Evidence of Translational Benefits From a Novel Cognitive-Emotional Training Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanda Dolcos ◽  
Yifan Hu ◽  
Christian Williams ◽  
Paul C. Bogdan ◽  
Kelly Hohl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Training Intervention ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Post Traumatic Growth ◽  
Imaging Results ◽  
Proof Of Principle

Available evidence highlights the importance of emotion regulation (ER) in psychological well-being. However, translation of the beneficial effects of ER from laboratory to real-life remains scarce. Here, we present proof-of-principle evidence from a novel cognitive-emotional training intervention targeting the development of ER skills aimed at increasing resilience against emotional distress. This pilot intervention involved training military veterans over 5–8 weeks in applying two effective ER strategies [Focused Attention (FA) and Cognitive Reappraisal (CR)] to scenarios presenting emotional conflicts (constructed with both external and internal cues). Training was preceded and followed by neuropsychological, personality, and clinical assessments, and resting-state functional MRI data were also collected from a subsample of the participants. Results show enhanced executive function and psychological well-being following training, reflected in increased working memory (WM), post-traumatic growth (PTG), and general self-efficacy (GSE). Brain imaging results showed evidence of diminished bottom-up influences from emotional and perceptual brain regions, along with evidence of normalized functional connectivity in the large-scale functional networks following training. The latter was reflected in increased connectivity among cognitive and emotion control regions and across regions of self-referential and control networks. Overall, our results provide proof-of-concept evidence that resilience and well-being can be learned through ER training, and that training-related improvements manifested in both behavioral change and neuroplasticity can translate into real-life benefits.

scholarly journals No evidence that polygynous marriage is a harmful cultural practice in northern Tanzania

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (45) ◽  
pp. 13827-13832 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Lawson ◽  
Susan James ◽  
Esther Ngadaya ◽  
Bernard Ngowi ◽  
Sayoki G. M. Mfinanga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Population Policy ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Poor Child ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
Polygynous Marriage

Polygyny is cross-culturally common and a topic of considerable academic and policy interest, often deemed a harmful cultural practice serving the interests of men contrary to those of women and children. Supporting this view, large-scale studies of national African demographic surveys consistently demonstrate that poor child health outcomes are concentrated in polygynous households. Negative population-level associations between polygyny and well-being have also been reported, consistent with the hypothesis that modern transitions to socially imposed monogamy are driven by cultural group selection. We challenge the consensus view that polygyny is harmful, drawing on multilevel data from 56 ethnically diverse Tanzanian villages. We first demonstrate the vulnerability of aggregated data to confounding between ecological and individual determinants of health; while across villages polygyny is associated with poor child health and low food security, such relationships are absent or reversed within villages, particularly when children and fathers are coresident. We then provide data indicating that the costs of sharing a husband are offset by greater wealth (land and livestock) of polygynous households. These results are consistent with models of polygyny based on female choice. Finally, we show that village-level negative associations between polygyny prevalence, food security, and child health are fully accounted for by underlying differences in ecological vulnerability (rainfall) and socioeconomic marginalization (access to education). We highlight the need for improved, culturally sensitive measurement tools and appropriate scales of analysis in studies of polygyny and other purportedly harmful practices and discuss the relevance of our results to theoretical accounts of marriage and contemporary population policy.

scholarly journals A Pan-Canadian Data Resource for Monitoring Child Developmental Health: The Canadian Neighbourhoods Early Child Development (CanNECD) Database

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Janus ◽  
Jennifer Enns ◽  
Barry Forer ◽  
Rob Raos ◽  
Ashley Gaskin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Neighborhood Effects ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Child Development ◽  
Early Child ◽  
Developmental Health

The Canadian Neighbourhoods Early Child Development (CanNECD) database is a unique resource for research on child developmental health and well-being within the socioeconomic and cultural context of Canadian neighbourhoods. This paper describes the CanNECD database and highlights its potential for advancing research at the intersection of child development, social determinants of health, and neighborhood effects. The CanNECD database contains Pan-Canadian population-level child developmental health data collected through regional implementation of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), geo-coded information on residential neighbourhoods covering all of Canada, and socioeconomic and demographic variables from the Canada Census and Income Taxfiler database. The data are de-identified but linkable across datasets through use of common numeric sequences. The nearly 800,000 records spanning 2003-2014 and representing all Canadian provinces and territories (with the exception of Nunavut) are compiled in a secure electronic collection system at the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Early studies using the EDI demonstrated its utility as a tool for assessing child developmental health at a population level, and its potential for both community-level and large-scale monitoring of child populations. Research using the CanNECD database is now examining to what extent social determinants and the steepness of the social gradients of developmental health differ between geographical jurisdictions and between different sub-populations. We are also working to identify outlier neighbourhoods in which EDI scores are substantially higher or lower than predicted by a neighbourhood’s demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and exploring other potentially important determinants of children’s developmental health. Finally, we are examining the extent to which change-over-time in aggregate EDI scores vary geographically, and how well it coincides with changes in socioeconomic factors. Thus, the CanNECD database offers the opportunity for research that will inform national policies and strategies on child developmental health.

scholarly journals Associations between dimensions of behaviour, personality traits, and mental-health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Hampshire ◽  
Peter J. Hellyer ◽  
Eyal Soreq ◽  
Mitul A. Mehta ◽  
Konstantinos Ioannidis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health And Well Being

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic (including lockdown) is likely to have had profound but diverse implications for mental health and well-being, yet little is known about individual experiences of the pandemic (positive and negative) and how this relates to mental health and well-being, as well as other important contextual variables. Here, we analyse data sampled in a large-scale manner from 379,875 people in the United Kingdom (UK) during 2020 to identify population variables associated with mood and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to investigate self-perceived pandemic impact in relation to those variables. We report that while there are relatively small population-level differences in mood assessment scores pre- to peak-UK lockdown, the size of the differences is larger for people from specific groups, e.g. older adults and people with lower incomes. Multiple dimensions underlie peoples’ perceptions, both positive and negative, of the pandemic’s impact on daily life. These dimensions explain variance in mental health and can be statistically predicted from age, demographics, home and work circumstances, pre-existing conditions, maladaptive technology use and personality traits (e.g., compulsivity). We conclude that a holistic view, incorporating the broad range of relevant population factors, can better characterise people whose mental health is most at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals A Novel Machine Learning Strategy Based on Two-Dimensional Numerical Models in Financial Engineering

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingzhen Xu
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Future Trend ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Stock Market Index

Machine learning is the most commonly used technique to address larger and more complex tasks by analyzing the most relevant information already present in databases. In order to better predict the future trend of the index, this paper proposes a two-dimensional numerical model for machine learning to simulate major U.S. stock market index and uses a nonlinear implicit finite-difference method to find numerical solutions of the two-dimensional simulation model. The proposed machine learning method uses partial differential equations to predict the stock market and can be extensively used to accelerate large-scale data processing on the history database. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the prediction error and improves forecasting precision.

Immigrant Youth in Germany

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Frankenberg ◽  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Ruth Wagner ◽  
Stephan Bongard
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Sociocultural Adaptation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
German School ◽  
Transcultural Adaptation

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.

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