ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2018
The gut microbiome as a driver of individual variation in cognition and functional behaviour.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Association ofFrontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- A randomized, placebo-controlled trial investigating the acute and chronic benefits of American Ginseng (Cereboost®) on mood and cognition in healthy young adults, including in vitro investigation of gut microbiota changes as a possible mechanism of action.European journal of nutrition · 2022Trial
- A defined community of core gut microbiota members promotes cognitive performance in honey bees.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Short-Chain Fatty Acids Regulate Poultry Feed Intake via the Hypothalamus: Receptor-Mediated and Epigenetic Mechanisms.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- Epigenetics in Captivity: Restoring Wild Phenotypes in Captive-Reared Salmonids.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Associations between gut microbiota and personality traits: insights from a captive common marmoset (Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- How the gut microbiome shapes learning and memory: A comprehensive review.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2025Review
- Age-Dependent Gut Microbiota Dynamics and Their Association with Male Life-History Traits in Drosophila melanogaster.Microbial ecology · 2025Article
- A Narrative Hypothesis: The Important Role of Gut Microbiota in the Modulation of Effort Tolerance in Endurance Athletes.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Living on the edge: the evolution of spatial cognition in food-caching chickadees.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Exploring Childhood Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS), Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and the Microbiome-A Systematic Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Gut microbiota diversity affects fish behaviour and is influenced by host genetics and early rearing conditions.Open biology · 2025Article
- Functional Insights Into the Effect of Feralisation on the Gut Microbiota of Cats Worldwide.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Article
- Early life microbiome disbalance impacts neuroendocrine outcomes in pre-pubertal mice in a sexually dimorphic manner.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Exogenous GABA Alleviates Tourette Syndrome-Like Behavior in Sprague-Dawley Rats by Altering Gut Microbiota and Striatum Metabolism.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- Evolutionary medicine and bioastronautics: an innovative approach in addressing adverse mental health effects to astronauts during long term space missions.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Manipulating a host-native microbial strain compensates for low microbial diversity by increasing weight gain in a wild bird population.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Zebrafish (Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Microbial DNA extraction method for avian feces and preen oil from diverse species.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Research into proximate and ultimate mechanisms of individual cognitive variation in animal populations is a rapidly growing field that incorporates physiological, behavioural and evolutionary investigations. Recent studies in humans and laboratory animals have shown that the enteric microbial community plays a central role in brain function and development. The 'gut-brain axis' represents a multi-directional signalling system that encompasses neurological, immunological and hormonal pathways. In particular it is tightly linked with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), a system that regulates stress hormone release and influences brain development and function. Experimental examination of the microbiome through manipulation of diet, infection, stress and exercise, suggests direct effects on cognition, including learning and memory. However, our understanding of these processes in natural populations is extremely limited. Here, we outline how recent advances in predominantly laboratory-based microbiome research can be applied to understanding individual differences in cognition. Experimental manipulation of the microbiome across natal and adult environments will help to unravel the interplay between cognitive variation and the gut microbial community. Focus on individual variation in the gut microbiome and cognition in natural populations will reveal new insight into the environmental and evolutionary constraints that drive individual cognitive variation.This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'.
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