Linlin Fan

University of Macau · Department of Psychology

Background: Some research suggests that schizotypal and autistic traits can produce opposing effects on the mentalizing domain of social cognition. Although such findings support a diametrical model proposing that psychotic and autistic traits represent opposite extremes of the social brain continuum, results from recent studies have been more inco...

Background Residential mobility, or moving to a different city, can negatively affect mental health through stress and disrupted social networks. Emerging literature, however, indicates the potential benefits of residential mobility through increased motivation to develop social ties. Therefore, this study examined how residential mobility affects...

Background Recent studies have begun to examine the role of self-compassion in maintaining and developing paranoia. Although preliminary findings imply that self-compassion may provide resiliency to paranoia, further experimental investigation is warranted to reveal the causal relationships. Methods A sample of college students were randomly assig...

Background Paranoid ideation is a core feature of psychosis and is associated with impaired social functioning. Severity of paranoia can fluctuate across time as symptoms wax and wane; however, no study has systematically investigated how this intra-individual variability in paranoia may relate to social impairments and social functioning. Methods...

Maintaining healthy eating habits requires self-control and this process can become unsuccessful in certain stressful situations (e.g., economic scarcity). This study tested whether self-compassion can buffer the negative impacts of economic scarcity on healthy eating behaviors and self-control. In the correlational Study 1 (n = 304) based on self-...

Objective: Schizophrenia is a heterogenous psychiatric disease, and deficit schizophrenia (DS) is a clinical subgroup with primary and enduring negative symptoms. Although previous neuroimaging studies have identified functional connectome alterations in schizophrenia, the modular organizations in DS and nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS) remains poorl...

Background: Social cognition deficits are central to both psychotic disorders and autism spectrum disorders, and previous research suggests opposing effects between psychosis and autistic traits on social cognition. However, whether such effects are present in emotion recognition still remains unclear. Methods: A community sample (n=791) complete...

Background: Social cognition deficits are central to both psychotic disorders and autism spectrum disorders, and previous research suggests opposing effects between psychosis and autistic traits on social cognition. However, whether such effects are present in emotion recognition still remains unclear. Methods: A community sample (n=791) complete...

Objectives Future-oriented coping and self-compassion have demonstrated promising benefits for psychological well-being, but the effects of self-compassion interventions have not been adequately examined in Chinese samples. Moreover, the role of self-compassion in enhancing future-oriented coping remains unclear. This study aimed to test the effect...

Background: Paranoia significantly contributes to social impairments across clinical diagnoses, and amygdala dysfunction has been identified as a neurobiological marker of paranoia among individuals with schizophrenia. Therefore, we aimed to investigate amygdala functional connectivity (FC) in paranoia across diagnoses. Methods: Forty-five patie...

Background: Paranoia significantly contributes to social impairments across clinical diagnoses, and amygdala dysfunction has been identified as a neurobiological marker of paranoia among individuals with schizophrenia. Therefore, we aimed to investigate amygdala functional connectivity (FC) in paranoia across diagnoses. Methods: Forty-five patient...

Background : Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) tend to worry exaggeratedly and uncontrollably about various daily routines. Previous studies have demonstrated that the GAD patients exhibited widespread alternations in both functional networks (FN) and structural networks (SN). However, the simultaneous alternations of the topologi...

To investigate the heterogeneity of children with psychopathic tendencies, this study identified heterogenous subgroups among a community sample of children based on their callous-unemotional (CU) traits, conduct problems (CP), and anxiety. A latent profile analysis classified 1861 primary school students (age 6–14) into four subgroups based on par...

Background Previous studies have suggested that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) would show inefficient whole-brain communication and dysconnectivity in the fronto-parietal-subcortical sub-networks in the white matter (WM) structural network. However, these hypotheses have yet to be tested. Methods Individual WM structural netwo...

Objectives Self-compassionate mindfulness is an important component of self-compassion and has been viewed as an essential factor contributing to well-being. With current advances in social neuroscience highlighting the neurogenetic basis of human behaviors, the present study aimed to investigate the neurogenetic foundation of self-compassionate mi...

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive and uncontrollable worry about everyday life. Prior neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that GAD is associated with disruptions in specific brain regions; however, little is known about the global functional connectivity maps in adolescents with GAD. Here, first-episode, medication...

Loneliness results from lacking satisfied social connections. However, little is known how trait loneliness, which is a stable personal characteristic, is influenced by different types of social support (i.e., emotional and instrumental support) through the brain activity associated with loneliness. To explore these questions, data of resting state...

Mindfulness has been demonstrated to have positive effects on children’s emotional functioning, and adaptive parenting practices are associated with fewer emotional problems. However, the association between mindful parenting and adolescent emotional problems has not been studied much. In the current study, the indirect path from mindful parenting...

Independent versus interdependent self-construal is a concept that reflects how people perceive the relationship between self and other people, which has been extensively examined across disciplines. However, little evidence on the whole-brain functional connectivity pattern of independent versus interdependent self-construal has been reported. Her...

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of the mindful parenting intervention program in Chinese parents. Methods: Thirty-three mothers of middle school adolescents were recruited in the mindful parenting program. Mothers self-reported their levels of mindful parenting, parenting practice, and mental health outcomes. Moreover,...