PUBLICATION
Optimistic and pessimistic cognitive judgement bias modulates the stress response and cancer progression in zebrafish
- Authors
- Espigares, F., Alvarado, M.V., Abad-Tortosa, D., Varela, S.A.M., Sobral, D., Faísca, P., Paixão, T., Oliveira, R.F.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-250401-10
- Date
- 2025
- Source
- Translational psychiatry 15: 111111 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Neoplasms/psychology
- Pituitary-Adrenal System/physiopathology
- Judgment*
- Optimism*/psychology
- Decision Making/physiology
- Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System/physiopathology
- Behavior, Animal/physiology
- Stress, Psychological*/psychology
- Animals
- Zebrafish*
- Pessimism*/psychology
- Disease Progression
- PubMed
- 40157919 Full text @ Transl Psychiatry
Citation
Espigares, F., Alvarado, M.V., Abad-Tortosa, D., Varela, S.A.M., Sobral, D., Faísca, P., Paixão, T., Oliveira, R.F. (2025) Optimistic and pessimistic cognitive judgement bias modulates the stress response and cancer progression in zebrafish. Translational psychiatry. 15:111111.
Abstract
Cognitive judgement bias in decision-making under ambiguity occurs both in animals and humans, with some individuals interpreting ambiguous stimulus as positive (optimism) and others as negative (pessimism). We hypothesize that judgement bias is a personality trait and that individuals with a pessimistic bias would be more reactive to stressors and therefore more susceptible to stress-related diseases than optimistic ones. Here, we show that zebrafish judgment bias is a consistent behavioral trait over time, and that pessimistic and optimistic fish express phenotype-specific neurogenomic responses to stress. Furthermore, both phenotypes show differential activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal axis in response to chronic stress, suggesting that optimists have a lower stress reactivity. Accordingly, optimists seem to be more resilient to disease than pessimists, as shown by a lower tumorigenesis in a zebrafish melanoma line [Tg(mtifa:HRAS-GFP)]. Together these results indicate that judgement bias is paralleled by differences in the stress response with implications for disease resilience.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping