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Behavioral Sciences
Special Issues
Diet, Lifestyle and Neurobehaviors
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Diet, Lifestyle and Neurobehaviors

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Psychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 August 2026 | Viewed by 1045

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lina Begdache

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Health and Wellness Studies Department, Binghamton University, Vestal, NY 13850, USA
Interests: diet quality; exercise; substance use; sleep and brain functions; including mental distress; psychological stress; resilience; addiction and motivation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The brain is influenced by multiple environmental and behavioral factors, and these can either enhance or detract from mental health and cognitive performance. Research in this area has increasingly highlighted the profound role of diet and lifestyle choices in shaping brain structure and function across the human lifespan. This Special Issue thus explores the critical relationship between diet, lifestyle, and neurobehaviors, such as mental distress, stress, resilience, and motivation, focusing on how factors such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, substance use, and mental well-being contribute to psychological stress, resilience, and emotional regulation.

This Special Issue will cover a broad spectrum of topics, including the impact of nutrition on brain aging, the influence of physical exercise on cognitive resilience, and the role of sleep in emotional regulation and memory consolidation. Additionally, this Issue will explore the intricate connections between mental distress, psychological stress, and brain health, with a focus on how chronic stress and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression can alter brain function. The intersection of addiction, motivation, and brain health will also be examined, highlighting how substance use disorders affect neural circuits and behavioral outcomes.

The aim of this Special Issue is to foster interdisciplinary discussions and provide evidence-based insights into the ways in which a holistic approach to lifestyle and diet can improve brain health, prevent cognitive decline, and promote mental well-being. We encourage contributions from diverse fields, including neuroscience, psychology, nutrition, and public health, to advance our understanding of how the complex interactions between diet, lifestyle, and brain function shape human health.

Dr. Lina Begdache
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • brain health
  • nutrition
  • cognitive function
  • exercise
  • resilience
  • sleep
  • mental health
  • psychological stress
  • motivation
  • brain–body connection

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 2680 KB  
Article
Interpreting fMRI Studies in Populations with Cerebrovascular Risk: The Use of a Subject-Specific Hemodynamic Response Function
by Ian M. McDonough, Andrew R. Bender, Lawrence Patihis, Elizabeth A. Stinson, Sarah K. Letang and William S. Miller, Jr.
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(11), 1457; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15111457 - 26 Oct 2025
Viewed by 150
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is commonly used to investigate the neural bases of aging and psychological disorders. However, the BOLD signal captured by fMRI is affected by many factors that are non-neural in origin. We tested how vascular health risks, which often [...] Read more.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is commonly used to investigate the neural bases of aging and psychological disorders. However, the BOLD signal captured by fMRI is affected by many factors that are non-neural in origin. We tested how vascular health risks, which often go unmeasured in neuroimaging studies, and aging interact to modify the shape and/or timing of the HRF, which then affect the differences in patterns of brain activity in a task-evoked memory encoding paradigm. Adult participants (aged 20–74) answered questions about their health and underwent two fMRI tasks: viewing a flashing checkerboard and a memory encoding task. Aging and vascular risk had the largest impacts on the maximum peak value of the HRF. Using a subject-specific HRF resulted in a dampening of brain activity in task-positive and task-negative regions. Across three vascular risk factors, using a subject-specific HRF resulted in more consistent brain regions that reached significance and larger effect sizes compared with the canonical HRF. These findings serve as a cautious tail when interpreting task-evoked fMRI activity, especially in populations experiencing alterations to brain vasculature including many older adults and people with neurocognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet, Lifestyle and Neurobehaviors)
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17 pages, 608 KB  
Article
The Role of Self-Objectification and Physical Exercise in Social Appearance Anxiety and Restrained Eating Among Female College Students
by Chang Hu, Wen Zhang and Wenying Huang
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(10), 1300; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15101300 - 23 Sep 2025
Viewed by 614
Abstract
This study aims to explore the relationship and underlying mechanisms between social appearance anxiety (SAA) and restrained eating (RE) among female college students. Although previous studies have shown a correlation between SAA and RE, the internal pathways remain unclear. Based on social comparison [...] Read more.
This study aims to explore the relationship and underlying mechanisms between social appearance anxiety (SAA) and restrained eating (RE) among female college students. Although previous studies have shown a correlation between SAA and RE, the internal pathways remain unclear. Based on social comparison theory and objectification theory, this study constructs a model that includes self-objectification (SO) as a mediating variable and physical exercise (PE) as a moderating variable to analyze the impact mechanisms of SAA on RE. Adopting a cross-sectional online survey design, this study collected data from 2161 female college students in China. The results showed that SAA was significantly positively related to SO (β = 0.37, p < 0.001) and RE (β = 0.34, p < 0.001). SO partially mediated the relationship between SAA and RE (β = 0.125, 95% CI [0.104, 0.149]). Moreover, PE moderates the relationship between SAA and RE (β = −0.15, p < 0.001). However, PE’s moderating effect is insignificant in the relationship between SO and RE. These findings offer valuable insights and suggest that interventions targeting SAA and SO, as well as promoting PE, may help improve RE among female college students. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet, Lifestyle and Neurobehaviors)
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