Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40240429›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Climate trauma from wildfire exposure impacts cognitive decision-making.

Jason Nan, Satish Jaiswal, Dhakshin Ramanathan, Mathew C Withers, Jyoti Mishra

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Jason NanNeural Engineering and Translation Labs (NEATLabs), University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0737, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA. janan@ucsd.edu.
Satish JaiswalNeural Engineering and Translation Labs (NEATLabs), University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0737, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Dhakshin RamanathanNeural Engineering and Translation Labs (NEATLabs), University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0737, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Mathew C WithersDepartment of Psychology, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA.
Jyoti MishraNeural Engineering and Translation Labs (NEATLabs), University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0737, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Climate trauma refers to the chronic mental health sequalae of climate disaster events. We have previously shown evidence for such trauma with accompanying anxiety and depression symptoms after California's 2018 Camp Fire wildfire. Here, we investigate whether this climate trauma also impacts cognitive decision-making and its neural correlates. One year after the wildfire, we recruited three groups - those directly exposed (n = 27), indirectly exposed (community members who witnessed the wildfire but not directly exposed, n = 21), versus non-exposed controls (n = 27). Participants performed a decision-making task that led to immediate and cumulative point rewards on each trial with simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. We evaluated Win-Stay behavior in choosing to stay with the greater expected value (cumulative reward) option. Directly-exposed individuals showed significantly reduced Win-Stay behavior relative to the other groups. EEG analyses showed significantly greater parietal alpha activity for the selected choice and ensuing rewards in directly fire-exposed individuals, with an underlying cortical source of this activity in posterior cingulate cortex. Overall, these findings suggest that climate trauma may significantly impact neuro-cognitive processing in the context of value-based decision-making, which may serve as a useful biomarker target for future mental health interventions in climate change impacted communities.

Indexed as

CognitionDecision MakingWildfiresAdultElectroencephalographyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRewardYoung AdultAlphaDecision-makingEEGPosterior cingulate cortexReward

Identifiers

PMID40240429
PMCPMC12003910

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.