Background: Alcohol use disorder is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, and it is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. It has been demonstrated previously that people with alcohol use disorder are less sensitive to the negative outcomes of their actions and less able to use negative feedback to guide and adjust their ongoing behaviour. However, far less is known about the aberrant processing of negative feedback before the onset of alcohol use disorder. In this study, we investigated the theoretical claim that sensitivity to negative feedback -as a stable and enduring behavioural trait -can predict vulnerability to the development of compulsive alcohol consumption in rats. Methods: We trained and tested rats in a series of probabilistic reversal learning tests, and based on this "negative feedback sensitivity screening," we classified each rat as more or less sensitive to negative feedback. Then, in the intermittent-access 2-bottle choice paradigm, we measured alcohol consumption in the animals classified above. In the next step, using the instrumental second-order chained schedule of alcohol reinforcement task, we examined the influence of sensitivity to negative feedback on the development of compulsive alcohol seeking behaviour. Finally, we measured how trait sensitivity to negative feedback affected the extinction and reinstatement of alcohol seeking after a period of abstinence. Results: Trait sensitivity to negative feedback predicted the vulnerability of rats to the development of compulsive alcohol seeking and consumption. We also found significant differences between the more sensitive and less sensitive groups in their propensity to extinguish alcohol seeking behaviours when the alcohol was no longer available. Limitations:The findings from our study did not answer the question of whether individual differences in sensitivity to negative feedback have a genetic basis or develop in response to postnatal experiences. Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that negative feedback sensitivity screening could be used to evaluate individual vulnerability to the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder.

This selective review aims to summarize the recent advances in understanding the neuromolecular underpinnings of biased cognition in depressive disorder. We begin by considering the cognitive correlates of depressed mood and the key brain systems implicated in its development. We then review the core findings across two domains of biased cognitive function in depression: pessimistic judgment bias and abnormal response to negative feedback. In considering their underlying substrates, we focus on the neurochemical mechanisms identified by genetic, molecular and pharmacological challenge studies. We conclude by discussing experimental approaches to the treatment of depression, which are derived largely from an improved understanding of its cognitive substrates.

In this study, we explore the Late Pleistocene (LP) vertebrate fauna diversity in south-eastern Lesser Caucasus based on morphological and genetic identification of fossil bones from Karin Tak cave. For the first time in this under-studied region, we used a bulk bone metabarcoding genetic approach to complement traditional morphology-based taxonomic identification hampered by highly fragmented fossil bones. Excellent ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation allowed for a successful species identification of many bone remains and improved paleoenvironmental interpretations for the region. The identification of fossil bones revealed a high diversity of animal taxa inhabiting the region between ca. > 42,000 and 25,683-24,803 calibrated years before present (cal. BP).The reconstructed taxonomic assemblage comprises 29 taxa, including 11 mammalian and three avian families currently inhabiting the region, together with a few taxa that are regionally extinct today. Despite limited temporal resolution, the taxonomic assemblage identified points to faunal continuity in the study region during the LP. This suggests that the transition between warm and humid Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and cold and arid MIS 2 did not cause a dramatic change in the faunal makeup of the region.