I checked 4 preprints servers on Tuesday, December 02, 2025 using the Open Science Foundation API. For the period November 25 to December 01, I found 301 new paper(s).

MetaArxiv

Effects of Publication Bias on the Moderator Effect in Meta-Analysis
Franziska Frauke RĂŒffer; Marcel A. L. M. van Assen; Jelte M. Wicherts; Robbie Cornelis Maria van Aert
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Moderator analyses in meta-analysis are crucial for identifying study characteristics that predict the strength of associations and effects, such as contextual factors, that render interventions more or less effective. While unbiased estimation of moderator effects is required to draw valid conclusions for theory and practice and to steer future research efforts in the right direction, publication bias could invalidate moderator analysis. The effect of publication bias on the meta-analytic mean effect is well understood, but how it affects parameter estimates in fixed and mixed-effects meta-regression models is currently unclear. We assess analytically and using illustrative examples, how publication bias can distort moderator effect estimates and how this depends on the true effect sizes, the primary study sample sizes, and the publication bias severities at each moderator level. We demonstrate that a true moderator effect can be obscured and that a non-existent moderator effect can be induced when publication bias is present. Furthermore, we provide recommendations for identifying combinations of publication bias, primary study sample sizes, residual heterogeneity, and effect sizes that tend to hide existing or induce artificial moderator effects. Since the bias in moderator effects due to publication bias depends heavily on the characteristics of the meta-analysis, we also introduce a Shiny web application that applied researchers can use for sensitivity analyses.
Characteristics and Practices of Predatory Journals and Publishers: Protocol for A Scoping Review
Amani Khalil Abushaheen; Sara Schroter; Maurice Zeegers; Helen Macdonald; Melissa L. Rethlefsen; William White; Lauren Adkins; Lex Bouter
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Introduction: Early definitions describe predatory publishers as outlets that “publish counterfeit journals to exploit the open-access model in which the author pays” and that are “dishonest and lack transparency.” Predatory journals adapt quickly and apply different tactics to avoid flagging and measures designed to stop them, which is an implicit limitation to any static definition and fixed checklist to identify them. This adaptive behavior necessitates that our understanding of predatory characteristics be continually revised and modified. Moreover, a previous scoping review of the characteristics of predatory journals excluded non-empirical insights. Also, the proliferation of AI tools has substantially eased the creation of fraudulent scientific papers, aligning perfectly with the nature of predatory publishers, thereby contributing to the surge in predatory journals. Thus, our scoping review aims to identify the characteristics and practices of predatory publishers/journals and to develop a draft taxonomy of predatory journals' characteristics. Methods: A scoping review will be conducted by searching MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, Academic Search Premier, ProQuest, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, complemented by searching grey literature, white papers, and websites of key organizations and publishers. Articles published between 2010–2025 in any language will be included, encompassing empirical, non-empirical, opinion, and commentary sources describing characteristics of predatory journals. A two-stage screening process will be conducted using Covidence. Data extraction will capture bibliographic details, study type, reported characteristics, and proposed definitions. Bibliographic information, study characteristics, context, and predatory publishing details will be categorized and summarized using quantitative analysis. Quantitative data will be summarized descriptively, while thematic analysis will be used to draft a taxonomy of predatory publishing practices. Ethics and dissemination: No ethics approval is required as this review uses published articles. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal and conference.
The Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) at ten: a retrospective analysis of the diversity of contributions to published research output
Liz Allen; Veronique Kiermer; Simon Porter; Ruth Whittam
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The Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) was introduced in 2015 to improve transparency, accountability, and recognition in scholarly authorship by standardizing the description of contributor roles. This study aims to provide the first comprehensive retrospective system-wide analysis of global adoption of CRediT. A key challenge is that while support for CRediT has grown organically, among authors and publishers, implementation has been inconsistent across publishers, making systematic data collection difficult. To overcome this challenge, we used the Dimensions database and applied a multi-stage text-extraction method. Our analysis identified more than 3.2 million roles articles, preprints and conference papers including CRediT, from 2015 to 2024. Our results show accelerating adoption, with CRediT appearing in 22.5% of all 2024 publications with available full text. All 14 CRediT roles are now widely used, with notable growth in roles reflecting evolving research practices such as Software and Data Curation. Adoption spans disciplines and geographies, dominated by STEM but expanding into social sciences, and are strongly shaped by publisher policies, system integrations and disciplinary focus. We discuss the drivers of CRediT’s organic expansion, its role in strengthening research integrity and assessment, and the need for coordinated governance and infrastructure support as the taxonomy enters its next decade. Updates and standards of implementations will be important to ensure that CRediT remains relevant and valuable for its multiple use cases and aligned with how research itself is evolving.
PHAENIX-1: A Nation-Scale Dataset of Brazilian Theses and Dissertations for Language Modeling and Scientific Metaresearch
Andrew MaranhĂŁo Ventura D'addario
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A significant volume of scholarly knowledge, particularly non-English "grey literature" like theses and dissertations, is systematically excluded from the datasets driving modern AI and scientometrics. This omission introduces profound linguistic and cultural biases and results in a skewed understanding of global scientific output. To address this critical gap, we introduce PHAENIX-1, a nation-scale dataset of Brazilian academic works. The dataset comprises 902,186 theses and dissertations defended between 2013 and 2025, harvested and structured from the official Brazilian CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) catalog. Each record includes rich metadata alongside Portuguese and English abstracts. PHAENIX-1 provides a high-quality, large-scale corpus of decorrelated scientific knowledge, representing a vital resource for the development of Portuguese-language AI models grounded in factual, academic text. Furthermore, it enables an unprecedented, unbiased meta-analysis of a national research ecosystem, offering insights into research trends and policy impacts. By making this previously inaccessible corpus available, PHAENIX-1 aims to rescue a significant body of Global South knowledge, fostering more equitable AI and a more comprehensive science of science.

PsyArxiv

The Task Space: An Integrative Framework for Team Research
Xinlan Emily Hu; Mark E Whiting; Linnea Gandhi; Duncan J Watts; Abdullah Almaatouq
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Research on teams spans many contexts, but integrating knowledge from heterogeneous sources is challenging because studies typically examine different tasks that cannot be directly compared. Most investigations involve teams working on just one or a handful of tasks, and researchers lack principled ways to quantify how similar or different these tasks are from one another. We address this challenge by introducing the “Task Space,” a multidimensional space in which tasks—and the distances between them—can be represented formally, and use it to create a “Task Map” of 102 crowd-annotated tasks from the published experimental literature. We then demonstrate the Task Space’s utility by performing an integrative experiment that addresses a fundamental question in team research: when do interacting groups outperform individuals? Our experiment samples 20 diverse tasks from the Task Map at three complexity levels and recruits 1,231 participants to work either individually or in groups of three or six (180 experimental conditions). We find striking heterogeneity in group advantage, with groups performing anywhere from three times worse to 60% better than the best individual working alone, depending on the task context. Critically, the Task Space makes this heterogeneity predictable: it significantly outperforms traditional typologies in predicting group advantage on unseen tasks. Our models also reveal theoretically meaningful interactions between task features; for example, group advantage on creative tasks depends on whether the answers are objectively verifiable. We conclude by arguing that the Task Space enables researchers to integrate findings across different experiments, thereby building cumulative knowledge about team performance.
‘Hanger’ and beyond: measuring hunger-related mood dysregulation and its links with mental health, functioning and task-based mood induction
Miranda Copps; Pablo Vidal-Ribas; Layla Sadek; Clare Llewellyn; Moritz Herle; Gerome Breen; Karina Allen; Anna Carnegie; Lu Qi; Rosemary Chandler-Wilde
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Background Some people experience mood changes when hungry. However, the relevance of this phenomenon to clinical conditions, such as depression and eating disorders, is understudied. Therefore, we devised a questionnaire to measure hunger-related mood dysregulation. Methods We developed and validated the Mood, Emotions and Appetite List (MEAL) using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in adults and adolescents in the community, and adults with a history of mental health disorder (N = 1,119). We examined the association of MEAL scores with happiness, frustration and boredom during the frustration-inducing mood drift task, in which participants wait for six minutes and rate their mood every 30 seconds. Results The MEAL showed good psychometric properties, capturing three factors for hunger-related ‘irritability’, ‘low mood’ and ‘somatic feelings’ (RMSEA = 0.03 in community adults, 0.05 in community adolescents, 0.08 in adults with mental health disorder history). Quantitative and qualitative responses evidenced that hunger-related mood dysregulation impacts relationships, work and other activities. MEAL scores were associated with irritability, depression, anxiety and menstrual symptoms. In the mood drift task, the irritability subscale (MEAL-i) demonstrated a significant interaction with time, such that individuals with higher MEAL-i scores reported steeper decreases in happiness (B = -0.11; 95% CI: -0.16–-0.06) and steeper increases in boredom (B = 0.06; 95% CI: 0.00–0.12) and frustration (B = 0.12; 95% CI: 0.05–0.19). Conclusions The MEAL measures individual differences in hunger-related mood dysregulation, is associated with mental health, self-reported functioning, and predicts faster worsening of mood during experimentally induced frustration.
Developing and Validating a Competence Level Model for Elementary Algebra at the Transition to Higher Education
Carolin Wosch; Ricarda Holland; Jessica Hoth; Tobias Rolfes
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Elementary algebra is a critical prerequisite for mathematics-intensive degree programs, yet many students continue to struggle with it at the transition to higher education. While conceptual models of algebra exist, empirically validated competence levels remain scarce. This study addresses this gap by developing and validating a competence level model for elementary algebra, grounded in a three-aspect conceptualization that integrates three content areas (expressions, equations, functions), three algebraic activities (generational, transformational, global/meta-level activity, Kieran, 2007), and three tiers of task demand. In accordance with an item development matrix, items covering elementary algebra were constructed and administered online to 726 university students across mathematics-intensive programs. Responses were scaled and 150 items extracted using a Rasch model to derive empirically grounded competence levels. This competence model encompasses six distinct levels and captures both procedural and conceptual activities across content areas. The competence level model provides a fine-grained framework for diagnostic assessment and targeted instructional support, contributing to means of supporting the critical transition to higher education in mathematics.
Lay Beliefs About Artificial Versus Artificial Intelligence: Rethinking Theory of Machine
Tobias R. Rebholz
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Research on augmented judgment and decision-making—where users retain responsibility for the final decision but receive input from algorithms prior to or during the judgment process—has largely contrasted human and algorithmic sources of judgment. Accordingly, Logg’s (2022) “Theory of Machine” is a conceptual framework for describing and analyzing people’s lay theories about how human and algorithmic judgment differ. Indeed, people often treat humans and algorithms as different kinds, that is, functionally distinct ontological entities. Therefore, I propose to complement the predominant human-centric lens on algorithmic judgment with an explicit algorithm-centric one, focusing on people’s lay theories about how different algorithms differ. Put differently, the core psychological claim of Theory of Machine 2.0 is that lay perceivers also differentiate among various AI systems. The first main contribution is the synthesis of capability contrasts across AI systems. People’s perceptions of these contrasts may be formed and shaped by personal experience and media exposure. Most importantly, their expectations and beliefs are supposed to consequentially guide their downstream user behavior—such as system trust, algorithmic advice weighting, and accountability attribution. The second main contribution is the proposal of testable research questions and designs for more algorithm-centric future research on people’s augmented judgment and decision-making. The theoretical perspective proposed in this article clarifies how people form and use lay theories about different AI systems and offers practical levers for the design, deployment, and evaluation of algorithmic decision-support systems.
Politics Embodied: How Politics Shapes and Is Shaped by the Bodily Experience of Emotion
Andrea Vik; Alejandro Galvez-Pol; Sohee Park; Manos Tsakiris
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Political emotions are widely acknowledged as key drivers of political participation and polarization. Yet while it is well established that political emotions matter, far less is known about how they are felt and represented in the body. Across a preregistered, nationally representative study (N = 992), we introduce an embodied approach to political emotion using the validated emBODY tool, which allows participants to map where in the body they experience sensations when feeling canonical emotions (e.g., anger) and their political counterparts (e.g., “political anger”). Specifically, we address three questions: (1) how political emotions are embodied and differ from their non-political counterparts, (2) whether political dispositions influence how these political emotions are embodied, and (3) how their embodied experience interacts with political dispositions in explaining political attitudes and behavior. Pixelwise bodily sensation maps and aggregated “embodied impact” metrics show that political anger, anxiety, hope, and disgust do not merely mirror their canonical forms, but take on distinct bodily patterns. Political ideology, but not political sophistication, shapes these bodily experiences, with Democrat-leaning participants reporting more intense sensations for negative political emotions, suggesting the presence of “ideological bodies”. Crucially, political participation is not explained by how intensely people report feeling emotions, but is instead closely linked to how strongly these emotions are embodied in the body. Together, our findings underscore the body’s central role in democratic engagement by showing how political contexts shape embodied emotional experience and how these embodied experiences shape politics and democracy.
Retrieval Stopping in Delayed Fear Extinction
Maike Bersch; Stephanie M. Ashton; Conny W.E.M. Quaedflieg
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Intrusive thoughts following traumatic experiences are common and may be conditioned responses to trauma cues. Fear extinction reduces these responses. The timing of extinction influences its underlying mechanisms, with delayed extinction facilitating inhibitory learning. Recent models suggest that active retrieval stopping contributes to extinction via inhibitory control mechanisms. Using a modified Extinction-Think/No-Think paradigm to target the inhibitory retrieval mechanism of extinction, this study examines whether retrieval stopping enhances delayed fear extinction. Fifty-nine healthy participants learned aversive object-scene pairs followed by a fear acquisition phase. After 24 hours, participants underwent extinction whilst practising retrieval stopping. We hypothesised greater reductions in unconditioned stimulus (US) expectancy for objects following retrieval stopping (No-Think) than standard extinction (View) over time. The results showed that US expectancy decreased during extinction, though retrieval stopping was not superior to standard extinction. These findings support the view that intentional retrieval stopping is not a superior alternative to standard extinction. Further research should investigate the long-term effects of retrieval stopping on fear recovery and generalisation.
Predictors of insomnia in Peruvian college students: A regression analysis from a Bayesian approach
Pedro Cieza-Liza; Reyniel Salas-Silva
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This study aimed to determine the prevalence, associated factors, and predictors of insomnia in Peruvian college students. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 501 students aged 18 to 27 years (56.7% women). The Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS-5) was used, and descriptive analyses, chi-square tests, and a Bayesian ordinal logistic regression model were performed. The overall prevalence of insomnia was 82.8%, with 25.95% of cases at a high level, 56.89% at a moderate level, and 17.16% at a minimal level. The variables significantly associated with the level of insomnia were age, academic year, time spent using electronic devices, perceived stress level, and time of day when studying. In the regression model, perceived stress and preference for studying at night were significant predictors. It is concluded that these two predictors increase the likelihood of higher levels of insomnia.
Is the secrecy of the parametric configuration of slot machines rationally justified? The exposure of the mathematical facts of games of chance as an ethical obligation
Catalin Barboianu
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Slot machines gained a high popularity despite a specific element that could limit their appeal: non-transparency with respect to mathematical parameters. The PAR sheets, exposing the parameters of the design of slot machines and probabilities associated with the winning combinations are kept secret by game producers, and the lack of data regarding the configuration of a machine prevents people from computing probabilities and other mathematical indicators. In this article, I argue that there is no rational justification for this secrecy by giving two reasons, one psychological and the other mathematical. For the latter, I show that mathematics provides us with some statistical methods of retrieving the missing data, which are essential for the numerical probability computations in slots. The slots case raises the problem of the exposure of the parametric configuration and mathematical facts of any game of chance as an ethical obligation.
Associations between lifestyle, genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease, and longitudinal brain atrophy in UK Biobank (N=3224)
Yating You; Laura Lyall; Frederick K. Ho; Claire Hastie; Donald M Lyall
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Background and Objectives: Modifiable lifestyle behaviours associated with brain health include smoking, diet, alcohol intake, sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity. However, longitudinal evidence on their contributions to structural brain atrophy, considering APOE e4 risk, in populations living without dementia remains scarce. Methods: In the UK Biobank, lifestyle scores were calculated based on the above five lifestyle behaviours at initial MRI assessment. Participants were classified into unfavourable (0-3 ‘points’), moderate (4-6) and favourable (7-10) lifestyle groups. Structural change phenotypes were calculated from two brain MRI assessments over the median follow-up of 2.3 years (up to seven years). Linear regression models were applied to estimate associations between lifestyle and structural changes in 15 brain imaging markers, and their potential interactions with APOE e4 genotype. Results: Among 3224 participants living without dementia who underwent two scans (median follow-up = 2.25 years), unfavourable lifestyle was associated with 28.9 mm3 greater atrophy in the left hippocampus, equivalent to 0.041 standard deviations (SD) greater loss (P=0.048; versus ‘favourable’). APOE e4 carriers showed 24.7 mm3 greater left hippocampal atrophy (0.049 SDs, p(FDR)=0.030) and 195.3 mm3 greater grey matter loss in the frontal pole (0.050 SD, p(FDR)=0.030) versus non-carriers. Compared with high levels of physical activity, low (unstandardised beta=0.049, 0.038 SDs, P=0.038) and medium (unstandardised beta=0.054, 0.043 SDs, P=0.022) levels showed greater increase in white matter hyperintensities (WMH) volumes. No interactions were observed between lifestyle and APOE e4 on brain atrophy. Discussion: Lifestyle and genetic risk contribute to longitudinal brain atrophy, with unfavourable lifestyle, specifically less physical activity, and APOE e4 associated with greater hippocampal atrophy and WMH burden. Promoting a healthy lifestyle, particularly more physical activity, may help slow brain structural decline and delay cognitive ageing regardless of genetic risk.
A Megastudy of Behavioral Interventions to Increase Voter Registration Ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
Katherine Anne Mason; Kayley Okst; Don Green; Robb Willer; James Druckman; Jan G. Voelkel; Yash Patel; Claire Robertson; Wooyoung Choi; Jasmine Sanchez
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In the United States, in nearly all cases, one must register in order to vote—yet, a substantial portion of the eligible electorate remains unregistered. Despite this, relatively little is known about how to increase the likelihood that a voter registers. Here, we tested the impact of 10 expert-crowdsourced, theoretically-based psychological interventions on a sample of eligible, yet unregistered, U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election (N = 12,896). Eight of the interventions increased intentions to vote, and five led individuals to click on the voter registration website. Escalating Commitment, which sequentially employed several social pressure strategies, was the strongest intervention across these outcomes. However, none of the interventions had a significant effect on actual voter registration or voter turnout. The results highlight a substantial disconnect between voters’ intentions and their ultimate behaviors. We discuss potential structural and psychological barriers that undermine the translation of intent into action.
An Exploration into Whether the Silva Mind Control Method Impacts Stress and Performance Levels in Individuals Engaged in Physical Activity.
Ioannis Giannisis
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Abstract The Silva Mind Control Method (SMCM) is a mind–body practice that utilises deep relaxation, mental imagery, and positive affirmations to enhance stress management and performance by promoting an alpha brainwave state, associated with calm and focused attention. Although the Silva Method (SMCM) is popular, it has far less scientific evidence than well-known approaches like CBT or MBSR. This pilot quasi-randomised trial tested whether a brief SMCM session could reduce anxiety and improve performance in active adults. Twenty-six participants were assigned to either the SMCM group or a control group. Anxiety and performance were measured before and after using the GAD-7 and SPPS. Both groups showed lower anxiety and better performance afterwards, but there were no differences between them. This suggests that a single 20-minute SMCM session did not produce any unique effects beyond general expectations or simply taking part. Brief mental training may help people feel better, but a short SMCM session on its own is unlikely to offer specific benefits without more consistent, structured practice.
Reversing the rubber hand illusion with demand characteristics
Peter Lush; Zoltan Dienes
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In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), participants report ownership of a fake hand which is stroked in synchrony with their own concealed hand, with lower ownership ratings for asynchronous stroking. This effect has been historically attributed to multisensory integration. However, such a pattern of results is consistent with experimental demand characteristics, and an alternative theory proposes that the RHI is an effect of phenomenological control (PC; the trait ability to change experience to satisfy goals). To date, support for a PC theory of the RHI has been limited to correlational evidence. Here we conduct a pre-registered causal test of the relative contribution of these two proposed mechanisms in RHI effects. XX high PC participants (top 10%) were tested in an RHI procedure and the classic effects of greater response for synchrony than asynchrony were/were not replicated. The procedure was then repeated following imaginative suggestions for a reversal of the classic effect (i.e. greater synchrony than asynchrony effects). Ratings of ownership and proprioceptive drift were/were not modulated by suggestion. Effects for ownership and drift were/were not reversed. Participant beliefs arising from demand characteristics do/do not dominate over multisensory mechanisms in RHI ownership of a fake hand and proprioceptive drift.
Living systematic reviews ensure evidence stays current
IngebjĂžrg Anjadatter Iversen; Daniel S Quintana
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Systematic reviews often guide policy, but they can become quickly outdated. Living systematic reviews (LSRs) that continuously integrate new evidence offer a solution, but their adoption has been limited. Here we suggest two approaches that can facilitate the uptake of LSRs: an extension of the Registered Reports format and field-specific LSR hubs.
Substance-general and substance-specific influences on adolescent vaping, smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use: context, inequalities, and determinants
Emma Thornton; Kathryn Mills-Webb; Patricia Irizar; Christopher Knowles; Jose Marquez; Neil Humphrey
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Background: Using substances before the age of 15 is a key risk for requiring substance use treatment later in life. Since the turn of the 21st century, adolescents' lives have changed considerably, potentially creating new patterns of risk and protection. Identifying determinant factors and contexts associated with specific substances among contemporary adolescents is therefore a key public health priority. Methods: We investigated vaping, smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use, in 30,920 adolescents aged 12-15 attending 100 schools and living across 1,539 neighbourhoods in the south of England. Cross-classified multi-level models were used to evaluate the relative importance of school and neighbourhood contexts, before investigating determinants of substance use. Results: The school-only context yielded the best model fit and explained the most variance across substances (ICC range 6% to 8.4%). Several patterns pertaining to inequalities in substance use emerged (e.g., increased age associated with amplified odds of any substance use, particularly illicit drugs), although the magnitude and direction of associations varied by substance and subgroup. Findings emphasised the importance of coping motives (e.g., internalising symptoms) as potential risk factors for vaping, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Strong parental and teacher relationships and school-based factors (e.g., strong sense of school belonging) were protective against all substances. Conclusion: Differences between schools matter more than differences between neighbourhoods for adolescent substance use. Our results reveal both substance-general and substance-specific determinants, highlighting the need for tailored approaches that target shared and unique drivers of use. Such strategies should also account for sociodemographic differences.
Beyond SES: Socio-Environmental Variables and Educational Outcomes in Preterm-Born Children – A Systematic Review
Jorn Othmer; Mariana Rajaosaraiva; Elke Baten; Petra Warreyn
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Educational outcomes in preterm-born (PTB) children are shaped by a complex interplay of genetic, perinatal, and social environmental factors. While socioeconomic status (SES) is a widely used indicator of the social environment, its correlation with other social variables suggests that focusing solely on SES may obscure the mechanisms through which the broader social environment influences educational trajectories. This systematic review examines the impact of social environment factors beyond SES on primary school educational outcomes— specifically math, reading, and spelling proficiency—in PTB children. Synthesizing evidence from 16 studies following PRISMA guidelines and a preregistered protocol, this review explores key socio-environmental influences, including parental characteristics, parent-child relationships, home environment stimulation, and neighborhood context. Findings indicate that supportive social environments, particularly high maternal responsiveness, are associated with improved academic achievement in PTB children. Moreover, interaction effects suggest that preterm-born children may be more sensitive to social environment factors, highlighting potential vulnerabilities that warrant further investigation. However, inconsistencies across studies underscore the need for more rigorous research into the role of parent-child interactions, home, and neighborhood environments factors in shaping educational outcomes.
Single-Item Reliability for Intensive Longitudinal Data1
Tzu-Yao Lin; francis tuerlinckx; Sophie Vanbelle
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With the advancement of technology, measures are more and more often collected in real-time, resulting in intensive longitudinal data (ILD). ILD allow us to study dynamic properties of one or more variables, such as moment-to-moment fluctuations in affect or changes in heartbeat rates. Despite the widespread use of ILD, the issues of measurement error and reliability are often inadequately addressed, particularly in the presence of serial correlation and complex multilevel structures. This paper introduces a three-level linear mixed-effects model that explicitly accounts for the nested data structure and the serial correlation (i.e., moments within days, days within persons). The model incorporates two distinct autoregressive processes to capture serial correlations at both the moment and day levels, while simultaneously partitioning measurement error from within-person variability. Building on this model, we delineate two approaches to defining reliability: a variance-partitioning approach and a correlation approach. This framework yields a multifaceted set of reliability coefficients, enabling researchers to distinguish between between-person from within-person reliability, and to assess measurement consistency across different time scales (e.g., moment-to-moment and day-to-day). We further discuss the relationship between the proposed reliability measures and those derived from simpler models. We apply our model to study the reliability of a single negative affect item in an ILD study in which students were measured multiple times a day for several days before and after receiving their exam results.
Judging orientation does not elicit the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes: Evidence against the Neural Overlap Hypothesis
Valter Prpic; Alberto Mariconda; Stefano Pileggi; Serena Mingolo; MAURO MURGIA
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According to the neural overlap hypothesis (Fias et al., 2001) magnitude information is automatically extracted from digits when there is a sufficient degree of neural overlap between structures dedicated to the processing of relevant and irrelevant information. Specifically, since numbers are processed in parietal areas, processing a visual feature with high parietal involvement (orientation) should interact with number magnitude, while this interaction should be limited when processing features with minimal parietal involvement (colour). This seems to be confirmed by the fact that previous studies detected a SNARC effect with orientation judgment but very limited evidence was found with colour judgment. Although the neural overlap hypothesis has been highly influential, only a few studies attempted at replicating the original findings. In the present study, we aimed at replicating a key experiment introduced by Fias and colleagues (line orientation judgment), testing both digits and letters. Based on the neural overlap hypothesis, a SNARC effect should be found only with digits while it should be weak or absent with letters, due to different degrees of neural overlap with parietal areas. In two experiments, by testing participants both online and in the lab, we consistently failed to detect a SNARC effect for both numbers and letters. Aggregated analysis on N = 155 participants confirmed the absence of the effect. Our evidence cast doubts on the neural overlap hypothesis and suggest that a small SNARC effect might be detected in non-semantic tasks only by testing very large samples, as recently demonstrated with colour judgment.
The impact of BabySign on vocabulary development
Vanessa Bertussi; Marie-Julie Ravanas; Isabelle Dautriche
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Baby sign programs aim to support communication between parents and preverbal infants by pairing signs with spoken words. This study addresses a notable gap in the literature by evaluating the large-scale impact of baby sign on both lexical development and caregiver behavior. Using an online questionnaire in 1,348 typically developing, French hearing children (50% female) aged 10–28 months, 723 children exposed to baby sign at home were compared with 625 non-exposed peers. After controlling for socioeconomic status and parent–child activities, results revealed weak to no effect of baby sign on vocabulary development or caregiver behavior. These findings suggest that while baby sign is not detrimental to vocabulary development, it does not enhance spoken vocabulary as often claimed.
Warm in the Left and Cold in the Right: Influence of Sensorimotor Experiences on Spatial Temperature Mappings
Minha Song; Sung-Ho Kim
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Humans often rely on spatial metaphors to structure abstract concepts. The present study examined whether temperature concepts, such as “warm” and “cold,” are also spatially represented. Across five experiments, participants responded to warm- and cold-related words using lateral (left–right) or vertical (top–bottom) response keys. Experiments 1a–1c consistently revealed a left–warm and right–cold association, contradicting predictions derived from generalized magnitude accounts and the polarity correspondence model, which both predict a warm-right/cold-left alignment. This pattern, however, aligns with culturally entrenched action–perception routines such as faucet operation, suggesting that horizontal temperature mappings may be shaped by learned sensorimotor experience. Experiment 2 used an indirect word-type judgment task and found no spatial–thermal congruency, indicating that such mappings are not automatically activated and depend on the conceptual relevance of temperature. Experiment 3 examined the vertical axis and showed a warm–top and cold–bottom mapping, consistent with linguistic convention and embodied experience (e.g., reading thermometers). Together, the findings suggest that spatial representations of temperature are shaped by culturally grounded sensorimotor routines and task context, supporting a conceptual-metaphor account over magnitude-based or structural-polarity accounts.
Positive Association between Identity Status, Life Period, and Well-being among University Students
Chelsea Terriyanto
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Identity is deemed essential in various aspects of life such as wellbeing. Erikson’s (1950; 1968) psychosocial theory of human development proposes that identity is formed as individuals move through adolescence toward maturity. Developing on this theory, Marcia (1996) identified four identity statuses: Diffusion, Foreclosure, Moratorium, and Achievement. It is hypothesised that these statuses develop from one to another in a predetermined trajectory. Several studies have refuted this theory, saying that identity remains relatively stable over time. To investigate how identity status is achieved, the present study utilised 14 scale items to explore identity development. 673 participants (519 female, 134 male, 18 non-binary) aged 17 to 54 years participated in the study. The present study classifies participants into five different life periods: Adolescence, Young-adulthood, Mid-adulthood, Late adulthood, and Others. Only Adolescence and Young-adulthood participants were included in the study (266 adolescents, 336 young adults). These life periods are based on participant ratings regarding the main psychological challenge they associated with each life period. The current study found a significant association between life periods and identity status: there were more young adults with achieved status than adolescents with expected-by-chance status (p < .001). The present study also examines the association between identity status and level of wellbeing. Participants' wellbeing was measured using a modified WEMWBS test (Tennant et al., 2007); such tests determine whether participants have high or low wellbeing. It was found that individuals with achieved identity status have higher levels of wellbeing than those expected by chance (p < .001). Thus, the present study shows a positive association between identity status, life period, and level of wellbeing among young adults.
“Even in a classroom full of people I’m just feeling lonely”: Exploring the experience of loneliness among autistic children and adolescents
Katerina Papagavriel; Joe Bathelt
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Loneliness is a pressing issue for autistic children and young people. Hitherto, research has mostly focused on establishing the prevalence of loneliness in this group but has largely neglected their own perspective. This study aimed to address this gap and deepen our understanding of how autistic youth experience loneliness. Specifically, the study investigated how autistic young people conceptualise loneliness, how they experience loneliness across different contexts, and what strategies they employ to cope with this feeling. Eleven autistic participants, aged 10 to 16, were interviewed online. The study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyse the data. Four Group Experiential Themes (GETS) and twelve subthemes emerged. The four themes included: (1) conceptualisation of loneliness, (2) subjective experience of loneliness, (3) communicating feelings of loneliness, and (4) social interactions and networks. Findings revealed that participants distinguished between loneliness and aloneness, experienced various emotions and physical sensations linked to loneliness, and perceived their experiences differently at home and school. Most felt misunderstood if they shared their loneliness and preferred coping alone through enjoyable activities. The study highlights the need for clinicians to engage young autistic people in discussions about loneliness, offer safe spaces to share experiences, and design interventions specifically for their needs.
Using AI to Generate Affective Images: Methodology and Initial Library
Maciej Behnke; Maciej KƂoskowski; Michal Klichowski; Wadim Leszek KrzyĆŒaniak; Kacper SzymaƄski; Patryk Andrzej Maciejewski; Patrycja ChwiƂkowska; Marta Kowal; RafaƂ JoƄczyk; Jan Nowak
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We introduce a human-in-the-loop pipeline for creating context-aware (e.g., culture, sex, and age) affect induction images and the initial Library of AI-Generated Affective Images (LAI-GAI). Current limitations in image-based research include weak to moderate emotional elicitation effects, limited image diversity, and minimal cultural tailoring of images. Using generative AI guided by existing datasets and emotion taxonomies, we generated 847 images and their corresponding descriptions across 12 discrete emotions, and then iteratively refined them with local cultural experts. We validated the library through six studies (total n = 2,470; 58 countries). Participants rated five types of images: (1) images from existing affective databases, (2) AI-generated images without cultural adjustments, (3) AI-generated images adjusted to specific cultural contexts, (4) AI-generated images adjusted by sex (male, female), and (5) AI-generated images adjusted by age group (childhood, adulthood, older age). The AI-generated images were as effective in eliciting affective responses as the images from existing affective databases. Culturally adjusted images were slightly more effective than unadjusted counterparts in targeting intended emotions. Sex- and age-adjusted variants produced comparable responses to their base images, demonstrating controllability without loss of affective impact. Furthermore, we calculated the smallest subjectively experienced difference for affect induction research (d’s from 0.05 to 0.29). This work demonstrates that researchers can now generate high-quality affect induction stimuli cost-effectively and at scale, and tailor them to diverse contexts—overcoming longstanding barriers and laying the groundwork for future AI-driven methodologies in affective science.
The Influence of Presumed Social Media Influence: A Longitudinal Analysis of Social Media Influence on Adolescents’ Physical Activity
Michelle Möri; Lukas Tribelhorn; Thomas N. Friemel
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Social media plays a central role in adolescents’ lives, suggesting powerful direct and indirect influences on their social norms and behaviors. This study examines these influences by applying the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) hypotheses to social media and physical activity. Physical inactivity is a pressing public health concern, particularly during adolescence, when activity levels often decline. Using data from a three-wave panel survey (N = 1.044), this study analyzes the development of perceived social media exposure among peers, peer influence, social norms, and personal behavior over time. The findings reveal that social media exposure directly increases physical activity but also via indirect effects proposed by IPMI assumptions. Perceived peer exposure and presumed influence on others strengthened injunctive social norms, resulting in higher physical activity. In contrast, no significant effects were found for descriptive social norms. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between injunctive and descriptive norms. Theoretical and methodological implications for future research and public health interventions are discussed.
Randomized Controlled Trial: Comparing the Effectiveness of Mindful Parenting and Parent Management Training
Hong Wang Kwan; Shui-fong LAM; Kathy K.M. Shum
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Objective: Parenting Management Training (PMT) has long been a widely adopted intervention. In recent years, Mindful Parenting (MP) programs have attracted considerable attention and emerged as promising alternatives in parenting interventions. This study compared the effectiveness of MP and PMT as preventive interventions. Method: In a randomized controlled trial, 189 parents of primary school children were randomly assigned to PMT, MP, or a waitlist-control group. Data were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and two-month follow-up. Results: Both MP and PMT improved parenting practices, parents’ mental health, and parent-child relationships, and reduced child behavioral problems. PMT yielded broad and durable changes in parenting practices, whereas MP resulted in enduring improvements in parental emotional competence, with observed delayed effect. Qualitative findings also indicated that MP changed parental attitudes and brought benefits to other life domains beyond the parent-child context. Conclusions: These findings support the application of MPT and PMT programs as preventive interventions, each with distinct strengths. The study also highlights directions for future research on parenting interventions.
Distinct Influences of Timing Predictions on Content Processing in Music and Speech: An EEG and Behavioural Investigation
Lu Lucuța; Anne Kösem; Andrew J Milne; Peter E. Keller; Anna Fiveash
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Prediction is a fundamental cognitive process that allows us to anticipate the content (“what”) and timing (“when”) of upcoming events. However, it is unclear how these predictions are integrated within the brain, and whether their interaction occurs similarly across domains such as music and speech. The current EEG study employed independent manipulations of content and timing within melodies and sentences to investigate how the predictability of timing influences content processing on a behavioural (i.e., completion ratings) and neural (i.e., evoked responses) level. Musician (n=24) and non-musician (n=24) participants were recruited to assess the influence of musical expertise. Results highlighted distinct influences of timing predictability manipulations on music and speech content processing, as well as different patterns of results for musicians and non-musicians, in both brain and behaviour. For melodies, the manipulation of timing impacted completion judgements and neural responses to the last note across all participants, irrespectively of content predictability. For sentences, the effect of timing was only observed in the completion ratings of the musicians when content was unpredictable. Musicians also displayed enhanced sensitivity to melodies, characterised by larger differences in behavioural and neural responses between predictable and unpredictable content. In speech, non-musicians showed a larger difference in completion ratings between predictable and unpredictable content, while musicians displayed neural patterns indicative of enhanced processing for predictable content. Overall, these results highlight how the interplay between content and timing predictions is shaped by domain and musical training. The current findings have implications for understanding the neural processes that support prediction across different contexts.
State-Level Brain Dynamics Reveal Neural Correlates of Negative-Mode Rigidity in NSSI
Jian Li; Jingying Lai; Fengmin Ni; Ya xie; Enze Tang; Yibin Tang; Chun Wang
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Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is marked by persistent difficulty disengaging from aversive internal states, yet the neural dynamics that may support this clinical rigidity remain poorly understood. Intrinsic brain activity normally cycles among recurrent large-scale states, and alterations in how these states are occupied or transitioned may provide a neural analogue of negatively biased internal modes. Using resting-state fMRI from 160 patients with NSSI and 50 disease controls, we applied Hidden Markov Modeling to characterize latent brain states and their temporal properties. NSSI was associated with disproportionate engagement of a recurrent limbic-related state, reduced differentiation between states, and greater variability within states. Dominance of the limbic-related state was linked to more severe emotion-regulation difficulties at baseline and predicted less improvement in NSSI behaviors over three months. These findings indicate that NSSI involves a biased settling into affectively weighted brain states within a less distinct and less stable state landscape, suggesting that impaired brain-state flexibility constitutes a neural mechanism underlying this condition and a potential target for intervention. When considered alongside prior evidence showing heightened variability in connectivity strength and network topology, the results point to convergent disruptions in neural flexibility across multiple organizational levels in NSSI, further underscoring their mechanistic and translational relevance.
Symmetry in category systems across languages
Charles Kemp
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Language reflects how people organize experience into categories, and cross-linguistic comparison can help to identify general principles that shape categorization. Here we argue that symmetry is one such principle, and present a symmetry-based theory that predicts whether category systems for a given domain tend to include an even or an odd number of categories. We test the theory against cross-linguistic data previously compiled for a range of domains and find that deictic day-naming and tense-marking systems tend to have an odd number of categories, but that systems for domains including seasons, phases of the moon, kinship, and cardinal directions tend to have an even number of categories. Our results therefore provide evidence of the widespread influence of symmetry on categorization across languages and domains.
Targeting the Renin–Angiotensin System: A Promising Approach for Managing Perimenopausal Depression
Helena Jelenska; Andrea Reinecke
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Perimenopause is characterised by debilitating psychological symptoms, including a two- to four-fold increased risk of depression during this sensitive time. Current first-line treatment strategies, such as antidepressants and hormonal therapy, are proven to be only moderately effective and linked to severe adverse effects. With the population of perimenopausal women rapidly growing due to rising life expectancy, novel strategies to prevent or mitigate perimenopausal symptoms of depression are of increasing importance. Perimenopause is marked by pronounced sex-hormone changes, including declining oestrogen and rising gonadotropins levels. Both have been linked to increased depression risk. On the other hand, the renin–angiotensin system (RAS), an endocrine system involved in blood pressure regulation, has been linked to depression, with RAS-based pharmacological manipulations having antidepressant effects. Perimenopausal hormonal changes closely interact with the RAS by upregulating the depressogenic Ang II–ACE–AT₁R pathway and downregulating the protective Ang-(1–7)–ACE2–MasR/AT₂R pathway. This narrative review summarises research highlighting the RAS as a potential novel treatment target for depression in perimenopausal women.
Creative or Uncreative Partner: Comparing Humans and AI in Collaborative Creative Tasks
Clin KY Lai; Simone A Luchini; Nina Lauharatanahirun; Roger Beaty
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Creativity is fundamentally a collaborative process. Yet as generative AI becomes increasingly integrated into creative work, understanding how AI reshapes collaboration has become critical. This pre-registered study directly compares human-human and human-AI collaboration dynamics across two creative tasks: the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) and creative short story writing. Participants were randomly assigned to pairs in either human-human (N = 68 pairs) or human-AI (GPT-4o; N = 72 pairs) conditions, with partners alternating turns as first responders to examine how initiation order shapes the creative process over time. Our findings reveal that the apparent "AI advantage" in creative collaboration is illusory, driven primarily by increased AI verbosity rather than enhanced creativity. Critically, collaboration with AI partners negatively impacted humans' own creative responses compared to human-human partnerships, with human-AI collaboration failing to enhance idea originality or diversity relative to human-human collaboration. Human partners demonstrated superior collaborative effectiveness that strengthened over time, indicating that current generative AI systems, while producing more verbose outputs, do not replicate the collective creativity characteristic of human-human collaboration. These results challenge assumptions about AI’s creative potential, with direct implications for AI system design and collaborative creative practice.
The Aggrieved Sexism Questionnaire: Development and Validation of a Grievance-Based Anti-Women Ideology
Brooke Franklin-Paddock; Michael J. Platow; Michelle Ryan; Tegan Cruwys; Denise Ruggieri
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Overtly hostile and extreme forms of sexism, particularly among young men exposed to misogynistic online content, have raised urgent concerns about the role of such attitudes in fostering gender-based violence and ideological extremism. We introduce the novel construct of aggrieved sexism, theorised to be a core belief system that leads to these harmful outcomes. Aggrieved sexism not only captures key themes of sexism as propagated in modern online spaces, but also how these beliefs converge into a grievance-based anti-women ideology in which men’s presumed innate superiority is seen as unjustly stripped away. Across three studies (total N = 1,183), we developed and validated the Aggrieved Sexism Questionnaire (ASQ), an instrument designed to measure this ideology. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesised structure of aggrieved sexism and provided initial validation. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings in an independent sample. Study 3 employed a longitudinal design to assess test–retest reliability and predictive validity for online harassment and violent fantasies. Across studies, the ASQ demonstrated strong psychometric properties and theoretical distinctiveness. Moreover, the ASQ was able to predict violent fantasies and online harassment, whereas existing sexism scales were not. Findings provide a novel measurement tool for research that advances theorising on radical misogyny.
Testing Whether Reported Treatment Effects Are Unduly Influenced by Item-Level Heterogeneity
Peter Francis Halpin; Joshua Gilbert
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This paper addresses the situation in which treatment effects are reported using educational or psychological outcome measures comprised of multiple questions or “items.” Drawing from item response theory, we distinguish among three estimands of potential interest: (a) a treatment effect on the latent variable representing the construct of interest, which is referred to as impact, (b) test-level treatment effects computed using aggregates of assessment items (e.g., the unweighted mean), and (c) item-specific effects. We show that test-level treatment effects and impact are generally not equivalent estimands in the presence of item-level treatment effect heterogeneity. Consequently, failing to distinguish these estimands can have important implications for the validity of research studies. To address this issue, we propose a diagnostic test to infer whether estimated treatment effects based on the unweighted mean of assessment items are a suitable proxy for impact on the latent trait. We illustrate the use of the test with a case study. We also provide some initial evidence about the prevalence of this issue using small meta-analysis. Results from the meta-analysis indicated that treatment effects based on the unweighted mean over assessment items often over-estimated impact on the latent trait, and that this pattern was more apparent with researcher-developed assessments than independently developed assessments.
A Megastudy of Behavioral Interventions to Increase Voter Registration Ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
Katherine Anne Mason; Kayley Okst; Don Green; Robb Willer; James Druckman; Jan G. Voelkel; Yash Patel; Claire Robertson; Wooyoung Choi; Jasmine Sanchez
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In the United States, in nearly all cases, one must register in order to vote—yet, a substantial portion of the eligible electorate remains unregistered. Despite this, relatively little is known about how to increase the likelihood that a voter registers. Here, we tested the impact of 10 expert-crowdsourced, theoretically-based psychological interventions on a sample of eligible, yet unregistered, U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election (N = 12,896). Eight of the interventions increased intentions to vote, and five led individuals to click on the voter registration website. Escalating Commitment, which sequentially employed several social pressure strategies, was the strongest intervention across these outcomes. However, none of the interventions had a significant effect on actual voter registration or voter turnout. The results highlight a substantial disconnect between voters’ intentions and their ultimate behaviors. We discuss potential structural and psychological barriers that undermine the translation of intent into action.
Effectiveness of Reading Interventions on Word Recognition for Students with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review and IPD Meta-analysis of Single Case Experimental Designs
Lucija Batinovic; Jonna Hammarsten; Karin Nilsson; Marta Topor; Emil Holmer; chelsea Parlett-Pelleriti; Henrik Danielsson
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Background: Reading is an essential skill for participation in society, yet persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) struggle with acquiring functional reading abilities. Recent development in research has shown promising effects of reading interventions on reading. This systematic review and meta-analysis will focus on single-case experimental design (SCED) interventions aiming to enhance word recognition skills among children with ID, reflecting an emergent and important area of research in special education, given the challenges in recruiting large samples. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of reading interventions with the primary aim of improving word recognition ability in children with ID. Inclusion Criteria: The review includes intervention studies aimed to improve word recognition abilities among primary school (k-9) students with ID. The interventions reviewed are categorized as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and other, and are included only if aimed explicitly at improving word recognition skills. Study Selection: We will search Scopus, Web of Science, APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles and Academic Search Complete, accompanied with the manual searches of journals and referenced studies. Two independent reviewers will conduct screening with conflicts resolved through discussion or a third reviewer. Data Collection: Data on demographics, study design characteristics, intervention details, and outcomes will be extracted manually. Outcome data for word recognition were extracted from visual representations using the juicR data extraction package. Synthesis: Data will be synthesized with a Bayesian individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis. This approach accommodates the expected small sample sizes in SCED research and allows modeling nuanced criteria of this design to evaluate intervention effectiveness and the explore of heterogeneity across studies.
Psychological utility functions for income are S-shaped: Evidence from UK adults
Daniel Nettle; Arnaud Wolff
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Do people’s psychological valuations of income obey everywhere-diminishing marginal utility, or are they S-shaped, as proposed by the Desperation Threshold Model and found in some prior research? We ran a pre-registered study with UK adults (N = 150, Prolific) where participants rated the value to them of 41 different monthly incomes (£1–£8000; random order). Comparing the fit of different classes of function, the most frequent best fit was sigmoid (59% of respondents; quadratic 37%; linear 5%). Generalized Additive Models corroborated the S-shape: the mean first derivative rose at low incomes and fell at higher incomes, while the mean second derivative was positive at low incomes and negative thereafter, with the inflection around £1,600/month. Exact question wording did not appear to affect the shape. The midpoint of the S-shape increased with respondents’ own income and the typical income of people they know. Thus, in this population, directly elicited psychological utility functions for income appear to be S-shaped, consistent with earlier findings and the Desperation Threshold Model: marginal utility increases up to a basic-needs threshold and decreases beyond it. Because the inflection lies at an income level actually experience by millions of Britons, these findings have potentially important implications for understanding real-world behaviour.
Integrating Conversational Artificial Intelligence into Mental Healthcare: Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Ethical Challenges
Loes Jonker; Chris Geraets; Mark Nijland; Maartje de Graaf; Philip Brey; Wim Veling
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Background: Therapeutic Conversational Artificial Intelligence (CAI) is increasingly viewed as a promising response to the widespread prevalence of poor mental health. While commercial therapeutic CAI tools are gaining popularity, they raise significant ethical and practical concerns. This study explores ethical challenges of integrating CAI into mental healthcare by combining the Ethics by Design for AI framework of Brey and Dainow with stakeholder perspectives. Methods: Seven focus groups (n=32) were conducted with three stakeholder groups: user representatives with lived experience (n=10, 2 focus groups), psychologists and psychiatrists (n=12, 3 focus groups), and experts in AI ethics or technology in mental healthcare (n=10, 2 focus groups). Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: The analysis identified 23 subthemes and four potential levels at which CAI could be integrated into mental healthcare. Across all stakeholder groups, participants recognised CAI’s potential to complement existing services by improving access and supporting clients, particularly when developed and deployed under professional supervision. However, human contact was considered essential for effective treatment. Key concerns included unclear accountability, insufficient training for providers, limited AI literacy, and the absence of clear standards regarding user responsibility, moral values, and content quality. Participants emphasised that safe implementation requires co-design approaches, phased integration, and continuous evaluation within public or non-profit domains. Fully autonomous use of CAI was deemed premature due to low trust, regulatory gaps, and uncertain risk thresholds. Conclusion: This study helps bridge the gap between ethical theory and practical implementation by demonstrating how stakeholder-informed design can ensure that CAI supports, rather than replaces, human-centred mental healthcare.
Relationships between gaze behaviour and fencing performance of high-skilled fencing athletes: Perspectives from defensive and offensive phases
andrada Vincze; Andra Felicia Gabriela Iacob; Ioana Alexandra Radu; Dragos Iliescu; Răzvan Jurchiș
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This study explores the relationship between visual processing and fencing performance, focusing on various gaze behaviour indices in a dynamic and interactive sport. Visual processing, particularly the ability to gather and use visual information quickly and accurately, is critical for performance in high-speed sports. We hypothesised that visual behaviour, including the duration of the final fixation (Quiet Eye; QE), the number of fixations and the number of scanned locations, significantly impacts fencing performance during offensive and defensive actions. National-level sabre fencers performed a ten-minute assault with eye-tracking technology measuring their gaze behaviour. Results indicated that QE was significantly longer before successful touches compared to unsuccessful ones (t(9) = 2.61, p =.014, dz = 0.83). Additionally, the number of fixations and the number of scanned locations were higher during defensive actions than offensive actions (all ts(9) > 4.34, ps ≀ .001, dzs> 1.37). This research provides insights into the cognitive processes underlying sports performance in a realistic context and has implications for training strategies, emphasising the importance of various visual behaviour patterns in fencing.
Attempts to investigate what words trivia experts focus on in quiz questions: Human-AI comparison through “LLM-as-a-judge” approach
Masaru Shirasuna; Yuto Yoshida
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Computational capacity and knowledge of humans are less than those of large language models (LLMs). However, in buzzer quizzes, human trivia experts can often identify the correct answer even from insufficient information such as only a few words. Investigating how they can make fast and accurate judgments is expected to highlight new characteristics of human intelligence, but little is known about that. We predicted that trivia experts and LLMs differed in terms of which words/phrases in a question were important to lead to the answer. Then, we compared experts’ performance with LLMs’ performance in solving Japanese trivia questions through LLM-as-a-judge approach: We regarded LLMs as evaluators and then used their outputs as benchmarks for experts’ evaluations. First, we constructed a quiz question processing system that tokenized question texts based on morphological analyses and then numerically evaluated the importance of each token using GPT-4o/GPT-4.1. Then, we conducted a behavioral experiment wherein actual trivia experts were asked to numerically evaluate the importance of each token, as LLMs performed. As a result, trivia experts regarded various words/phrases as important even if each word/phrase did not seem to have strong associations with the answer. Therefore, experts’ evaluation scores tended to be accumulated faster than LLMs’ ones. It is implied that experts were superior in making inductive inferences (e.g., finding a common concept even from few items) compared to LLMs. Our findings will be a scaffolding toward designing more advanced question-answering systems because AI designers can apply human cognitive processes to implement LLMs’ information processing.
Should we stop thinking about inhibition? Searching for individual and age differences in inhibition ability
Alodie Rey-Mermet; Miriam Gade; Klaus Oberauer
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Inhibition is often conceptualized as a unitary construct reflecting the ability to ignore and suppress irrelevant information. At the same time, it has been subdivided into inhibition of pre-potent responses (i.e., the ability to stop dominant responses) and resistance to distracter interference (i.e., the ability to ignore distracting information). The present study investigated the unity and diversity of inhibition as a psychometric construct, and tested the hypothesis of an inhibition deficit in older age. We measured inhibition in young and old adults with 11 established laboratory tasks: Antisaccade, stop-signal, color Stroop, number Stroop, arrow flanker, letter flanker, Simon, global-local, positive and negative compatibility tasks, and n-2 repetition costs in task switching. In both age groups, the inhibition measures from individual tasks had good reliabilities, but correlated only weakly among each other. Structural equation modeling identified a two-factor model with factors for inhibition of pre-potent responses and resistance to distracter interference. Older adults scored worse in the inhibition of pre-potent response, but better in the resistance to distracter interference. However, the model had low explanatory power. Together, these findings call into question inhibition as a psychometric construct and the hypothesis of an inhibition deficit in older age.
Active sampling helps children learn new words by tuning their curriculum to past experiences
Martin Zettersten; Koeun Choi; Heather Kirkorian; Jenny Saffran
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Young children are actively engaged in structuring their early language learning. But what sampling preferences do children have when actively seeking new information about unfamiliar words? And when and why is active control beneficial for learning words? Across 2 experiments (N = 303; M(age) = 4.6 years; range: 3.0-6.0; 166 female, 137 male; 85.8% White, 5.6% more than one race, 2.6% Asian, 0.7% Black; 6.2% Hispanic or Latino), we manipulated whether 3- to 5-year-old children were able to actively select their word learning input or were passively exposed to the active selections of another child. Experiment 1 used a yoked active-passive design. We found that having active control did not benefit children’s learning of unfamiliar novel words relative to receiving that same input passively. In Experiment 2, we first gave children experience with novel words, such that some object-label associations were experienced more frequently than others. Children who had active control systematically made more informative choices by selecting less frequently experienced object-label associations. By comparing their performance to children in two different passive conditions, we showed that children learn novel words better when experiencing input tuned to their past experience, regardless of whether they actively select this input themselves or passively experience the choices of a child sharing their same past word learning experience. Together, these studies demonstrate when and how active information-seeking benefits children’s word learning.
A Systematic Review on Dysconnectivity in Face and Emotion Processing Networks in Schizophrenia
Amritha Harikumar; Junqiang Dai; Elaine Walker; Vince D Calhoun
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Introduction Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder which affects approximately 20 million people worldwide. Patients show face processing deficits which greatly affects their social interactions and social cognitive abilities (i.e. trouble empathizing with others). Face processing is an important skill that allows humans to recognize others, detect emotions, and use these abilities for effective social interactions. Although face processing has been extensively studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), there has not been a systematic review investigating links between social-cognitive dysfunction, face processing networks, and clinical symptoms. Here, we comprehensively review for the first time how dysconnectivity in social cognitive networks contribute to face processing deficits and how this is tied to positive and negative symptoms. Method Reviewed studies were a.) written in English, b.) focused on face and emotion processing in schizophrenia (not limited to first episode psychosis [FEP]), and c.) were resting or task-based fMRI studies looking at face/emotion processing neural networks utilizing functional connectivity or measured functional activity broadly. Studies were excluded if they were not related to face processing, focused on different disorders (i.e. depression), used effective connectivity, included combined fMRI-other modality studies , and included non-schizophrenia patient groups. We screened studies from 2020-2025. PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Google Scholar were utilized to pool results. Results Nine articles were reviewed. Resting state studies and task studies showed elevated Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive scores for FEP patients coupled with social cognition deficits. Increased suicidality in schizophrenia was tied to higher PANSS positive symptoms and impaired processing of angry faces. Increased default mode network (DMN) dysconnectivity was tied to disrupted fear recognition processing and subsequently elevated PANSS positive scores. Conclusions Social-cognitive deficits broadly stem around challenges recognizing and processing negative faces. Factors such as trauma, suicidality, and inflammation should be further examined.
Computational Modeling of Thought-Feeling Accuracy Using Sentence Embeddings
Murat Kezer; Zachary J. Schroeder; Sara D. Hodges
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Thought-feeling accuracy, the ability to accurately infer another person's dynamic internal states during social interactions, is a fundamental social cognitive skill. However, research on this construct has advanced slowly due to the significant time and labor required for its measurement, which involves collecting written reports of thoughts and feelings and training independent human coders to rate the accuracy of perceivers' inferences. The present research explores whether Natural Language Processing (NLP) embedding models can provide a scalable, efficient, and replicable alternative to human coding for rating thought-feeling accuracy. Embedding models convert text—in this case, targets' reported thoughts/feelings and perceivers' inferences—into numerical vectors in a multidimensional space, allowing semantic similarity (a proxy for accuracy) to be quantified mathematically. We employed a comprehensive set of 14 pre-trained NLP models (bi-encoders and cross-encoders), including proprietary state-of-the-art systems, and two models fine-tuned specifically for the task. We analyzed a large dataset of over 29,000 thought-inference pairs collected across 10 past studies. Comparing human and model ratings, the aims of this study were (1) quantifying the agreement, (2) measuring the disagreement, (3) assessing convergent validity, (4) exploring potential sources of disagreement such as linguistic and sample characteristics, and (5) evaluating the gains from fine-tuning models on the thought-feeling accuracy data. Preliminary results show promising strong associations between model and human ratings, suggesting that the human-coded construct is, at least in part, a linguistic phenomenon that can be operationalized through semantic similarity. However, differences also emerge, especially at lower levels of accuracy, highlighting nuances that human coders may capture (e.g., context, emotional tone) that text-based models may miss. If successful, this computational approach could significantly reduce measurement bottlenecks, enable larger and more diverse studies, and provide new tools for interpreting the psychological meaning of linguistic content in social cognition research.
Developing NOVA: A Next-Generation Open Vocabulary Assessment
Ulrich Schroeders; Priscilla Achaa-Amankwaa
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In psychological assessment, vocabulary tests are commonly used as reliable and efficient indicators of crystallized intelligence, as retrospective proxies for premorbid intelligence, and as measures of language proficiency. However, many of the widely used German vocabulary tests are outdated, proprietary, and lack a clear rationale for item selection. To address these limitations, we developed a new, openly available vocabulary test: the Next-Generation Open Vocabulary Assessment (NOVA). Therefore, we first constructed 110 multiple-choice vocabulary items with support from ChatGPT and administered them to 1,052 German-speaking adults using a multiple-matrix design, along with a declarative knowledge test for validation purposes. In a second step, we used Ant Colony Optimization to compile two parallel 30-item short forms, optimized for reliability and item difficulty and discrimination. The resulting tests assessed vocabulary unidimensionally and reliably, covered a large ability range, and correlated strongly with declarative knowledge. We provide a Shiny app for the calculation of standard values based on individual test results. Additional analyses revealed that 57% of the variance in item difficulties could be explained by word frequency and word length, which may be particularly useful for streamlining the future development of vocabulary tests.
Acute stress impairs decision-making at varying levels of decision complexity
Karlo Doroc; Nitin Yadav; Carsten Murawski
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Acute stress triggers a cascade of physiological and psychological changes, including heightened perspiration, cortisol levels, and anxiety. Currently, little is known about the effects of acute stress on the quality of higher-order decision-making, with existing studies unable to disentangle decision-making capacity from subjective preferences. To address this gap, we conducted a within-participants laboratory experiment in which university students (n=42) made objective decisions of varying complexity (computational hardness) under both acutely stressful and control conditions. We find that higher cortisol levels, induced via the Trier Social Stress Test, leads to lower decision quality and a higher incidence of experienced time pressure. Among cortisol responders, the deterioration in decision quality was independent of the level of computational hardness, whilst among the full sample it was concentrated among trials with higher levels of computational hardness. Post-hoc, we find that the most substantial deficits in decision quality occurred when acute stress was accompanied by time pressure, with gaze-tracking analyses offering tentative evidence that changes in attention allocation may be one mechanism for this effect. Our results demonstrate that acute stress impairs the capacity to decide correctly, and highlights the importance of computational hardness and time pressure as potential moderators of this effect.
The Impact of NYC Housing Conditions on Mental Health at the Community Level: Negative Effects of Crowding May Be Culturally Dependent
Isteaq Khan Zim; Shipeng Sun
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Neighborhood-level housing conditions and mental health are closely linked, but most work examines single indicators in isolation and assumes that crowding is uniformly harmful across populations. Using publicly available data from the NYC Environment & Health Data Portal (2007–2022) aggregated to UHF42 neighborhoods, we examined how four housing indicators (rent burden, household crowding, eviction, and homeownership) relate to adult depression, serious psychological distress, and psychiatric hospitalizations, and whether immigrant concentration moderates the effects of crowding. We aligned overlapping multi-year estimates for housing, poverty, immigrant population, and mental health outcomes, then fit mixed-effects regression models with neighborhoods as random intercepts and time period as a fixed effect. Moran’s I tests indicated that model residuals were not spatially autocorrelated. Across bivariate and multivariate models, higher eviction rates and lower homeownership were associated with higher depression and psychiatric hospitalization, and rent burden was most strongly linked to psychological distress. When poverty was added, eviction remained a unique predictor of depression and 2019 hospitalizations, whereas poverty became the strongest predictor of distress and multiyear hospitalizations. Critically, immigrant concentration significantly moderated the effects of crowding on depression and distress: crowding predicted substantially worse symptoms in neighborhoods with fewer immigrants, but this association weakened as immigrant concentration increased. This pattern contrasts with prior research that has generally reported uniformly negative psychological effects of crowding across groups, even when tolerance for density differs, suggesting that in NYC, the impact of crowding is shaped by cultural and community context rather than space constraints alone. No moderation effects were observed for psychiatric hospitalizations. Overall, these findings show that housing instability, stability, and structural poverty differentially shape chronic symptoms, acute distress, and severe psychiatric crises, and that the psychological impact of crowding is culturally dependent in ways that challenge prevailing assumptions in the literature.
Child-directed speech and infant vocal development in rural, highland Bolivia and immigrant families in urban United States
Meg Cychosz; Anele Villanueva; Adriana Weisleder
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Decades of research have established links between speech input and children’s vocabulary growth. However, it is unclear if input also facilitates phonological development. Phonology has a strong biological component—–implicating fine motor development—–so language socialization factors like speech input may matter less. Further complicating matters, children in many cultures are exposed to vastly different amounts of speech input, and yet these children still reach many major language development milestones on age-appropriate timelines. How does speech input relate to infant phonological development in the first years of life? We estimated infants’ (1) speech input and (2) vocal maturity using daylong audio recordings taken in an Indigenous Quechua- and Spanish-speaking community in Bolivia (n=10, M age=12 months, 5 females, 5 males) and an immigrant Spanish- and English-speaking community in the U.S. (n=10, M age=9 months, 4 females, 6 males; all Hispanic or Latino). Although we found no differences in the overall amount of total speech input between communities, infants in the U.S. were 2.5x more likely to hear speech directed to them than the infants in Bolivia. When child-directed speech was instead characterized to include all speech directed to any child within the infants’ vicinity, there were no differences between communities. When employing these different definitions of child-directed speech, we found positive relationships between quantity of speech input and different metrics of the Bolivian infants’ vocal maturity. These results paint a nuanced picture showing that directed speech input, even when less common, is related to early precursors of phonological development, and that by expanding the definition of speech input to accommodate diverse cultural settings we can understand how infants’ language development is resilient to differences in speech input.
Towards an Integrative Model of Physical Activity: Bridging idiographic and nomothetic perspectives through participatory mapping
Meelim Kim; Olga Perski; Steven De La Torre; Taggert Smith; Junghwan Park; Daniel E. Rivera; Predrag Klasnja; Eric Hekler
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Background: Existing behavior change theories often treat physical activity (PA) engagement as a linear, stage-like process driven by stable factors (e.g., self-efficacy, intention). Yet real-world PA emerges from fluctuating configurations of internal and external conditions, requiring models that better capture this complexity. Method: Using participatory systems science and Theory Construction Methodology, we developed an Integrative Model of PA as a prototheory. We conducted participatory systems-modeling interviews with 26 adults to elicit idiographic maps of how PA emerged in everyday life; integrated these maps with established behavioral frameworks via abductive synthesis and ontological mapping; and, through expert consensus, formalized causal propositions using configurational logic, activation regions, and adaptive feedback. Results: Co-modeling showed that PA engagement arose when multiple situational and personal features aligned in configurations that created “moments to act” and gated transitions across PA states. These configurations were evaluated via state-dependent value integration, with short-term feedback tuning situational weights and longer-term feedback reshaping identity, expectations, and readiness. These patterns align with Falk’s self-relevant value integration framework, suggesting a bridge between behavioral and neural accounts. Conclusion: The model conceptualizes PA as a nonlinear, adaptive valuation process shaped by configurational patterns and multi-timescale feedback, yielding testable hypotheses and guiding adaptive, person-centered interventions.
Sensory context improves language prediction in humans and LLMs
Thomas Lasman Botch; Emily S. Finn
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Language is a fundamental human capacity. Large language models (LLMs) have presented the first viable model of language outside of humans, yet how these models learn and use language differs significantly from humans. Here, we compare LLMs and humans predicting language with varying levels of sensory information –– from disembodied written text to audiovisual videos of speakers –– to demonstrate that, in both humans and LLMs, sensory context is critical for optimal performance. We asked human participants to predict upcoming words within narratives presented as either audiovisual, audio-only, or written language ($N=1,500$ total; $500$ per modality). We compared these predictions across modalities as well as to predictions generated by LLMs. Human predictions were overall more accurate than LLMs, regardless of the sensory modality of presentation. Compared to written language, both audiovisual and audio-only language increased the accuracy and consensus of human predictions and decreased alignment with LLMs. We identified that prosody, a signal that conveys important linguistic information via the auditory channel, partially drove both the observed advantage in accuracy within humans and divergence from LLMs. Integrating multimodal information –– i.e., prosody, auditory, or audiovisual information –– with the representation of language learned during LLM training improved models' next-word prediction performance and increased the efficiency of language learning. These findings demonstrate that sensory contexts are foundational to human-like language behavior, and that these contexts can enrich and accelerate language acquisition within LLMs similar to what is observed within human development.
Characterizing the content and mechanisms of instructor messages that communicate instructor beliefs about ability to undergraduates
Anastasia Chouvalova; Isabel Billings; Abby Caraway; Nathan Hoggatt; Ga Yeon Kim; Aastha Mehta; David Vizcaino; Lisa B Limeri
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Instructors’ beliefs about their students’ abilities (called “lay theories”) and student perceptions of instructors’ beliefs impact students’ outcomes. Lay theories include three beliefs: mindset (improvability of intelligence), universality (distribution of potential for achieving high ability), and brilliance (whether talent is required for success). There is growing literature explaining how instructors’ mindset beliefs affect students, but little known about instructors’ universality and brilliance beliefs, despite evidence that all three beliefs uniquely impact student outcomes. Our qualitative study (1) characterizes the content and mechanism of instructor messages that inform students’ perceptions of instructors’ beliefs and (2) compares how different beliefs are communicated. We interviewed 24 STEM undergraduates about how they perceive their instructors’ beliefs. We identified four themes of content of instructor messages that communicate beliefs: affordances for success, goal orientations, distribution of achievement, and attributions for performance. We identified three mechanisms through which these messages are communicated: statements, actions, and course structure and policies. We also found that students assume their instructors’ beliefs based on instructor, class, or institution characteristics or their own beliefs. Students use all the message contents and mechanisms to infer all three beliefs, though not in equal frequencies. Our results provide practical implications to enhance instructor-student communication.
Tales of Life: Social Curiosity for Positive and Negative Life Events of Culturally Close and Distant Others
Esther Niehoff; Marret Noordewier; Malgorzata A Goclowska; Suzanne Oosterwijk
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Personalized stories about others’ life experiences are omnipresent in media, yet we know little about what drives people to engage with such narratives. Across two studies (N = 596 UK adults), we investigated how social curiosity is driven by valence (positive versus negative life event) and cultural distance (experience from someone from a culturally close versus distant country). Consistently, participants reported greater curiosity for stories about negative life events, especially when the story’s protagonist was culturally close. Structural equation modelling revealed that the relationship between negative valence and higher curiosity was mediated through greater anticipated insight and – counterintuitive at first sight – greater anticipated distress of negative stories. At the same time, curiosity for negative stories was suppressed through lower expected enjoyment. These findings suggest that curiosity is driven by anticipated emotional impact of either valence, and have implications for fostering empathy and meaningful engagement in media and public discourse.
Predicting AI Anxiety: An Existential Perspective
Fernand Gobet; Nancy Evans; Francesca Chatfield-Jouin; Omar Yousaf
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming many aspects of daily life and improving efficiency and outcomes in various sectors, ranging from healthcare to education. However, this rapid integration also introduces significant anxiety among users, as it undermines their sense of autonomy, identity, meaning, and purpose. The present study examines the associations between key factors and AI anxiety, using self-reported online questionnaires completed by 221 participants. The factors examined included existential reflection, existential anxiety, curiosity and exploration, AI literacy, general anxiety, alongside sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, and job exposure to AI. The measures used were the Existential Reflection Scale (ERS), Existential Concerns Questionnaire (ECQ), Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), AI Literacy Scale (AIL), and AI Anxiety Scale (AIAS). A multiple regression analysis showed that existential anxiety was the best predictor of AI anxiety, with higher existential anxiety predicting higher AI anxiety (ÎČ = .26, p = .004). Higher existential reflection also predicted higher AI anxiety (ÎČ = .13, p = .037). Notably, higher AI literacy was found to predict lower AI anxiety (ÎČ = −.18, p = .014). Age, gender, job exposure, curiosity and exploration, and general anxiety did not predict AI anxiety. The findings highlight the importance of addressing existential concerns and improving AI literacy to reduce AI anxiety. The study provides a foundation for future research, providing novel insights into AI anxiety and guiding organisations and policy makers to alleviate it.
Beyond the Hype: A Simulation Study Evaluating the Predictive Performance of Machine Learning Models in Psychology
Kim-Laura Speck; Kristin Jankowsky; Florian Scharf; Ulrich Schroeders
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Although Machine Learning (ML) methods are gaining popularity in psychological research, the debate about their usefulness ranges from hype to disillusionment. The discrepancy between the hopes placed in ML methods and the empirical reality is often attributed to the quality of psychological datasets, which tend to be small and subject to imprecise measurement. In this simulation study, we examined the data requirements necessary for ML methods to perform well. We compared the performance of Elastic Net Regressions with and without prespecified interactions, Random Forests and Gradient Boosting Machines for different data-generating processes (including either interaction, stepwise, or piecewise linear effects) and under various conditions: (a) sample size, (b) number of irrelevant predictors, (c) predictor reliability, (d) effect size, and (e) nature of the data-generating model (i.e., linear vs. nonlinear effects). We investigated whether the models achieved the highest level of predictive performance attainable under the given simulated conditions. There were two main takeaways of our results: First, the maximum possible predictive performance was only achieved under optimal simulation conditions (N = 1,000, perfectly reliable predictors, predominantly linear effects, and an exceptionally large effect size of RÂČ = .80), which are arguably rarely met in psychological research. Second, each ML model outperformed the others under certain conditions, but none was consistently superior or entirely robust to suboptimal data characteristics. We stress that data quality fundamentally limits predictive performance and discuss the interpretation of comparisons between flexible ML models and simpler (regularized linear) baselines in psychological research.
Temporal Dissociation Between Inter-Area and Local Neural Signals in Perceptual Choice
Shir Sivroni
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erceptual decisions arise from neural activity distributed across multiple brain regions, yet it remains unclear how inter-area interactions and local population activity differentially contribute to choice across time. Here, we analyzed simultaneous multi-region Neuropixels recordings from the Steinmetz et al. (2019) dataset to compare the predictive power of cross-area correlations versus local firing rates for behavioral choice in mice performing a visual discrimination task. We found a striking temporal dissociation: during the pre-stimulus period, both inter-area correlations and local activity predicted choice at modest but significant levels (~54%, p < 0.001), with no difference between signal types. In contrast, during the post-stimulus period, local population activity dramatically outperformed inter-area correlations (64.5% vs. 57.2%, p < 0.0001), rising to 69% accuracy by 250-500 ms post-stimulus. This temporal switch—from symmetric contribution before stimulus onset to local dominance afterward—demonstrates that the neural basis of perceptual choice shifts from distributed network states to localized evidence coding as sensory information becomes available. Our findings provide direct quantitative evidence for a dual-mechanism model of perceptual decision-making in which pre-stimulus inter-area dynamics set the stage for post-stimulus local computation.
Disentangling acoustic and social biases in creaky voice perception: The effects of f0 and face gender on creakiness ratings
Jeanne Brown; Meghan Clayards
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Creaky voice has historically been associated with men's speech, supported by acoustic studies. Since around 2010, sociolinguistic work alongside public discourse has perpetuated greater creaky voice use by women instead, typically implementing impressionistic coding. This study investigates whether this recent shift can be attributed to perceptual social and acoustic biases related to (perceived) speaker gender and pitch (f0), respectively. Using a matched-guise paradigm, 40 Canadian English listeners rated the perceived creakiness of the same modal and creaky voices—altered to have ambiguously gendered formants and median f0s (115, 135, 155 Hz)—paired with female and male faces. Bayesian regression analyses revealed strong effects of voice quality and moderate effects of f0: creaky and lower-f0 stimuli were rated as creakier. No overall effect of face gender was found. However, a weak interaction between face gender and f0 suggests a possible gender prototypicality bias: at lower f0s, female faces were rated as slightly creakier than male faces and at higher f0s, male faces were rated creakier than female faces. These findings show that neither acoustic nor gender-based biases alone can account for widespread reports of women-led creaky voice use. Several possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed.
From Pattern Recognizers to Personalized Companions: A Survey of Large Language Models in Mental Health
He Hu; Yucheng Zhou; Qianning Wang; Yingjian Zou; Chiyuan Ma; Juzheng Si; Jianzhuang Liu; Zitong Yu; Laizhong Cui; Fei Ma
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The rising global prevalence of mental health conditions, together with longstanding barriers in traditional healthcare, such as limited resources, high cost, stigma, and privacy concerns, has created an urgent need for accessible and scalable support. Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as a transformative technology with strong potential to democratize mental health support through advanced natural language understanding and generation. However, the rapidly expanding, fragmented body of work in this area lacks a coherent evolutionary narrative, making it difficult to contextualize current progress and identify future directions. This survey addresses this gap by organizing and analyzing the literature around a central thesis: the role of LLMs in mental health is evolving through three distinct, increasingly sophisticated phases. We trace this trajectory from Phase I, in which LLMs act primarily as passive Information Tools and Pattern Recognizers for assessment; through Phase II, where they function as Empathetic Conversationalists for in-the-moment, stateless interactions; to the current frontier, Phase III, which seeks Longitudinal, Personalized Companions implemented as stateful cognitive agents. To support this framework, we systematically review core technologies, agent architectures (Profile, Memory, Reasoning, and Planning), and the critical infrastructure of datasets and benchmarks, highlighting how their evolution underpins this developmental path. Viewing the field through this developmental lens, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of existing work, an insightful narrative of its trajectory, and a clear roadmap for future innovation in responsible, effective, and human-centered AI for mental healthcare. A curated collection of the resources reviewed in this survey is available at our project repository: https://github.com/Emo-gml/Awesome-Mental-Health-LLMs.
Warm in the Left and Cold in the Right: Influence of Sensorimotor Experiences on Spatial Temperature Mappings
Minha Song; Sung-Ho Kim
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Humans often rely on spatial metaphors to structure abstract concepts. The present study examined whether temperature concepts, such as “warm” and “cold,” are also spatially represented. Across five experiments, participants responded to warm- and cold-related words using lateral (left–right) or vertical (top–bottom) response keys. Experiments 1a–1c consistently revealed a left–warm and right–cold association, contradicting predictions derived from generalized magnitude accounts and the polarity correspondence model, which both predict a warm-right/cold-left alignment. This pattern, however, aligns with culturally entrenched action–perception routines such as faucet operation, suggesting that horizontal temperature mappings may be shaped by learned sensorimotor experience. Experiment 2 used an indirect word-type judgment task and found no spatial–thermal congruency, indicating that such mappings are not automatically activated and depend on the conceptual relevance of temperature. Experiment 3 examined the vertical axis and showed a warm–top and cold–bottom mapping, consistent with linguistic convention and embodied experience (e.g., reading thermometers). Together, the findings suggest that spatial representations of temperature are shaped by culturally grounded sensorimotor routines and task context, supporting a conceptual-metaphor account over magnitude-based or structural-polarity accounts.
Do people still endorse prosocial others when they put them at risk?
Lotte Pummerer; Francesca Prati; Sven Michael Kasser; Nadira Sophie Faber
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Humans like prosocial others who invest in the greater good, who decrease inequality and increase overall welfare. But to what degree do people endorse such prosocial others when their acts for the greater good puts a risk to their own position? We modelled this question in a triadic social dilemma paradigm where a decision-maker’s prosocial act towards one party entailed risk for another. In five pre-registered, incentivised behavioural experiments (total N=3,700, US and British samples), we measured judgemental and behavioural endorsement of others who invested in the greater good (i.e., decreased inequality, increased overall welfare) while putting participants under (financial) risk. We found that 1) endorsements were lower when investing in the greater good entailed risk for participants, 2) participants were sensitive to degrees of risk, and 3) anchored endorsement in their personal outcomes rather than general principles. At the same time, however, participants 4) endorsed others who invested in the greater good more compared to those keeping the (participant benefitting) status quo. And 5) existing impressions of others improved after investing towards the greater good, even at medium risk. Hence, even though people are sensitive to risk to their own outcomes, they endorse others who work towards collective welfare and reduce inequality – even at their own costs.
Effect of Contemplative Monastic Debate Practice on Emotion Regulation and Experience
Sudhakar Mishra; Robin Nusslock; Narayanan Srinivasan; Marieke K. van Vugt
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In this study, we set out to examine whether monastic debate practice can help with emotion regulation and reduce the experience of negative affect. Research on traditional contemplative practices—including mindfulness, loving-kindness meditation, and yoga—shows that they influence emotion regulation and emotional experience. However, systematic reasoning, appraisal, and emotion regulation in a social context are not usually part of these practices. Here, we investigated another contemplative practice called \textit{Monastic Debate}, a Buddhist practice based purely on logic and reasoning that follows stringent rules established by Indian and later Tibetan masters. Monastic debate is a practice in which the practitioner seeks to improve their understanding of Buddhist philosophy by engaging in a precisely described process of reasoning in interaction with one or more others. We recruited novice practitioners (non-monks) from a month-long winter debate retreat. During the experiment, participants completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). We observed a significant reduction in difficulty regulating emotions in our retreat group compared to the control group. Particularly, three subscales of DERS including nonacceptance, impulse and strategies showed a significant reduction for retreat group in comparison to control group. We did not observe any significant differences in positive or negative emotional experiences between the retreat and control groups. The results suggest that the logical ability developed in a non-monastic population by participating in a one-month monastic debate practice can help improve the ability to regulate emotions.
Perceptions of the impact of social media on mental health and recommendations for an app-based intervention: Findings from a co-designed survey
Kerri Gillespie; Sharon Lawn; Rachel Burns; Joanne Cockle; Amrita Dasvarma; Aislin Gleeson; John Milham; Robyn Priest; Puneet Sansanwal; Ashton Spradbury
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Introduction: Social media use has become a ubiquitous part of our lives, but it is increasingly linked to a number of mental health issues. Given the growing incidence of mental illness globally, it is crucial that the relationship between social media use and mental health be further investigated and mitigation strategies developed. Methods: A co-designed survey investigating mental health, social media use characteristics and impacts, and suggestions for digital strategies to improve mental wellbeing, was disseminated online via the Lived Experience Australia national ‘friends’ network. Results: Findings revealed associations between all forms of social media use, fear of missing out, and social media addiction were significantly positively associated with anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Participants reported perceived negative impacts of social media on mental health, specifically associated with social comparisons, doomscrolling, time wasting, and negative interactions. Connection to friends, family, and other support networks was reported as an important benefit of social media. Conclusion: The findings indicate a clear association between social media use and mental ill-health, an effect acknowledged by users themselves. Importantly, the nature of this impact is contingent on patterns of engagement, underscoring that usage context is a critical determinant of outcomes. These results highlight the need for further investigation into how specific modes of social media use shape mental health trajectories, with implications for both research and intervention design.
Perceived financial affluence predicts decisions to exert effort in reward pursuit
Won-Gyo Shin; Kyoung Whan Choe; Jeongyeol Ahn; Kimberly Lewis Meidenbauer; Sunhae Sul
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Gaining something of value often depends on decisions about how much effort to invest for potential rewards. Although perceptions of one’s financial state—whether affluent or scarce—are thought to be closely linked to such decisions, direct experimental evidence has been limited. Here, we tested whether feeling financially affluent is associated with a greater willingness to exert effort in pursuit of larger rewards. Using an effort-based decision-making task, participants repeatedly chose between solving easy, low-reward problems and difficult, high-reward problems. Individuals who perceived themselves as more financially affluent were more likely to select the difficult, high-reward option. This pattern held across different task domains and remained significant after controlling for demographic and psychological covariates. Moreover, participants with greater perceived affluence reported lower performance-related anxiety, which partially mediated their preference for high-effort choices. These findings reveal a robust link between perceived financial affluence and the tendency to invest more effort in rewarding outcomes, suggesting a psychological mechanism that may help explain the self-reinforcing cycle of wealth and achievement.
Toward a psychology of intergenerational futures thinking: Longitudinal evidence linking intergenerational dispositions to collective action for future humanity
Kyle Fiore Law; Christina Jinhee Capozzoli; Liane Young; Stylianos Syropoulos
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How do people sustain concern for future generations when thinking about existential threats that will face those to come? Across two longitudinal studies spanning 12 months, we examine the stability and behavioral relevance of “intergenerational futures thinking,” a constellation of psychological constructs theorized to motivate long-term prosocial action: intergenerational concern (IGC), impartial intergenerational beneficence (IIB), obligation to future generations, moral concern, and legacy motivation. Supporting their theorized but underexplored role as durable dispositions, all constructs show high temporal stability. And, although based on reported real-world behavior over the course of the year, IGC predicts greater future-oriented collective action but not general charitable giving. Moral concern and legacy motivation, in contrast, predict both charitable giving and collective action, while obligation predicts collective action only. Because reported donations were general rather than future-targeted, this design allowed us to test which intergenerational traits spill over into broader prosociality, speaking to ongoing debates about whether prioritizing future generations reduces concern for the present. Relatedly, we find that IIB, which captures sustained regard for future people regardless of their temporal distance, associates with greater moral concern for present-day outgroups and nature. This suggests that concern for the future and present can coexist, aligning with a theorized view of a “moral circle” that expands increasingly outward from the self. Finally, while showing trait-like stability, IGC also exhibits reciprocal relationships with both obligation and moral concern, suggesting that components of intergenerational futures thinking may mutually reinforce one another to sustain long-term ethical engagement.
A Documentary Analysis of Predominant Mental Health Care Models in Latin America (2015–2025)
Deysi
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This document presents a documentary review aimed at explaining the dynamics, tensions, and challenges of mental health care in Latin America, with particular attention to community-based models and their impact on vulnerable populations. The analysis is organized around several key categories: the concept of mental health, mental healrh problems, care or intervention models, intervention logics, and conceptual frameworks. The literature review included scientific journals articles from countries such as Colombia, PerĂș, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and MĂ©xico. The findings highlight the persistence of biomedical care models that overlook family, group, and collective components-elements that are essential for community-based approaches and for the development of comprehensive mental health care. The analysis also shows that, despite feforms in recent years, mental health public policies lack solid foundations and effective mechanisms for intersectoral coordination, which undermines their implementation and long-term sustainability. Notable experiences in Chile and Peru demonstrate efforts to strengthen primary and community-based mental health care, although these initiatives remain constrained by administrative and financial limitations. At the same time, contemporary approaches are emerging that promote a broader understanding of mental health, incorporating human rights perspectives, the 5.0 paradigm, and the ethical use of artificial intelligence as a diagnostic and therapeutic support tool. Ultimately, the review concluded that current systems are still neither consolidated nor adequately funded, limiting the possibility of providing comprehensive care centered on psychosocial and community well-being.
Why learning with others works: interactivity may not be the answer
Stan de Visser; Sarah-Jayne Blakemore; Antonia Hamilton; Sara De Felice
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Social interaction plays a key role in human learning. De Felice et al. [1] showed that learning during a contingent (live) video call outperforms learning from a pre-recorded video of the same session. However, contingent exchanges – when people are part of a live social context – can vary widely in how interactive they are, that is, in the extent to which interlocutors provide mutual, moment-to-moment feedback. In this preregistered study, we performed a post-hoc analysis of De Felice et al. [1]’s dataset and asked whether the learning benefit is driven by the degree of interactivity between learner and teacher. Interactivity was quantified through behavioural annotation of video calls (n = 49) using an annotation scheme developed for this study. The interactivity score reflected a multimodal dyadic measure of teacher-learner verbal grounding (utterances reflecting understanding), non-verbal grounding (nodding and smiling) and questions. Linear mixed-effects models revealed no relationship between interactivity and performance, suggesting that interactivity may not be necessary to drive the social learning advantage. Learning with others may be beneficial because individuals can interact. The potential to interact may prompt cognitive processes specific to live exchanges, such as mutual prediction, that support learning, even if little interaction actually takes place.
Domains of Self-Regulation in Autism, Down Syndrome, and Williams Syndrome: Condition-Specific or Transdiagnostic?
Yasamin Rahmati; Imogen van Jaarsveldt; Christopher Jarrold
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Abstract The current study examined regulatory control across autism, Down syndrome, and Williams syndrome. A bespoke 84-item parent-report questionnaire was developed, integrating effortful control and executive function across cognitive, emotional, and social domains—and extended with sensory regulation as a fourth domain. Parents of children aged 5–13 with these conditions and neurotypical peers participated (N = 233). Factor analyses showed different structures depending on data source: a three-factor model (Responsive/Reactive, Sensory Regulation, Proactivity/Initiation) in neurotypical parent data, and a six-factor model distinguishing cognitive, emotional, social and proactive regulation, plus sensory seeking and sensory avoidance in neurodiverse groups. Bayesian analysis of the three-factor model showed neurodiverse groups differed from neurotypical children on each factor. In the six-factor model, neurodiverse groups scored lower on sensory seeking and emotional, cognitive, and proactive regulation. For social regulation, only autistic children differed meaningfully from neurotypical children, while on sensory avoidance, children with Down syndrome did not. Cluster analyses indicated grouping by regulatory profiles rather than diagnoses, supporting a transdiagnostic view. These findings highlight both shared and condition-specific challenges, suggesting that diagnosis provides an initial guide to regulatory profile but should be supplemented by a needs-based assessment to better inform personalized intervention.
Associations Between Objective Sleep Duration, Sleep Duration Variability, and Sleep Onset with Emotion Regulation and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings from the ABCDÂź Study
Sarah Izabel; Orsolya Kis; Adam J. Krause; Ethan T. Hunt; Sarahjane L Dube; Nicholas Allgaier; Alexandra Potter; Micah E. Johnson; Hugh Garavan; Fiona Baker
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Poor sleep and mental health are closely linked in adolescents, but most studies have relied on self-reported sleep measures. We investigated cross-sectional associations between objective sleep features (sleep duration, variability, and onset time) and mental health outcomes (internalizing symptoms and emotion regulation) in 1,371 U.S. adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ Study (ABCDÂź) [year 4 follow-up; mean age 14.09±0.69, 51.84% female] controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and parental education. Sleeping ≀7.05 hours (ÎČ=0.06 [95% CI: 0.00–0.11], p=0.036), greater sleep duration variability (ÎČ=0.09 [0.03–0.14], p=0.001), with stronger effects in females (interaction: ÎČ=-0.12 [-0.22–-0.02], p=0.020), and later sleep onset times (ÎČ=0.06 [0.01–0.11], p=0.030) were all associated with greater internalizing symptoms. Sleep was not linked to reappraisal (all p>0.05). Higher variability was associated with greater suppression (ÎČ=0.09 [0.03–0.14], p=0.001). Objective sleep features were differentially associated with mental health outcomes, highlighting that thoughtful sleep interventions can support adolescent well-being.
Characterizing Decision Styles in OCD: Relationship to Symptom Severity and Behavioral Task Performance
Phoebe Holz; Susanne S. Hoeppner; Sabine Wilhelm; Ryan J. Jacoby
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Self-report and behavioral task data have demonstrated alterations in decision-making performance in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) relative to non-psychiatric controls (NPCs). However, little work has characterized the phenomenology of cognitive decision styles. Accordingly, we used the Decision Styles Questionnaire (DSQ; Leykin & DeRubeis, 2010) to compare decision styles in 30 people with OCD and 30 NPCs. We then examined the relationship between decision styles and OCD symptom severity as well as decision-making in the context of two behavioral decision-making tasks–the Beads Task and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Compared to the NPC group, people with OCD reported more anxiety around decision-making, greater avoidance of decisions, a greater tendency to brood over decisions, more dependence on others and less use of intuition when making decisions, and less confidence in themselves as decision-makers. Greater self-reported anxiety, avoidance, and brooding around decision-making were significantly related to elevated OCD symptom severity, although only the anxious style survived correction for multiple comparisons. Self-reported anxious and respected decision styles were associated with increased risk-aversion and risk-taking on the BART, respectively, although neither relationship survived correction. Higher self-reported decisional anxiety, avoidance, brooding, dependence, and lower confidence were related to greater self-reported distress during the Beads Task, with all relationships aside from self-reported dependence surviving correction. Future work should continue to test how self-reported decision styles relate to decision-making in naturalistic settings and explore whether decision styles may serve as a novel target for intervention.
What It Means To Be A True Badass: An Experimental Investigation Of The Ordinary Concept
Breanna K. Nguyen; Michael Prinzing
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Badassness is attributed to radically different kinds of people, from peaceful advocates to fierce warriors. In four experiments (total N = 2,020), we investigated this conceptual puzzle by applying a theoretical framework according to which certain “dual-character” concepts have two different sets of criteria: one superficial and concrete, the other deeper and abstract. Study 1 found that badass is such a dual-character concept. Study 2 found that people attribute badassness on the basis of both “outer” and “inner” forms of toughness. For instance, warriors might be considered badass because of their outer toughness, whereas peaceful advocates might be considered badass because of their inner toughness. Studies 3-4 explored qualities that constitute inner toughness, revealing effects of overcoming social pressure, acting morally, pursuing difficult challenges, and succeeding in one’s efforts. In addition to clarifying this specific concept, the findings contribute to broader discussions about dual-character concepts and the roles that they play in social cognition.
Personal Rhythms of Memory: Investigating Individual Effects of Preferred Theta Phase Lag between Sensory Inputs on Associative Memory
Fatih Serin; Benedikt Zoefel; Matthew H. Davis; Richard Henson
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Episodic memory formation requires integrating multisensory information. Inspired by animal research on how hippocampal theta oscillations modulate long-term potentiation, recent human studies have demonstrated that memory for auditory and visual stimuli modulated synchronously at theta frequency (4 Hz) is better than when those stimuli are modulated asynchronously; the so-called Theta-Induced Memory Enhancement (TIME) effect. However, recent failures to replicate the TIME effect question its robustness and dependence on other variables. One such variable may be inter-individual differences in neural sensitivity to the precise phase lag between auditory and visual streams. In this online study, we therefore test a wider range of phase lags between 4 Hz modulated audio and visual stimuli to test whether the TIME effect shows a different optimal phase lag in each participant. Using simulation methods from Zoefel et al. (2019), we estimated the sample size to achieve 90% statistical power to detect a participant-dependent effect of phase lag. Finding such an effect would provide further support for the role of theta oscillations in associative memory in humans, and could potentially inform future experimental designs to investigate this further.
Psychometric evaluation of a contextualized version of the German BFI-2 for the digital world across self- and other-ratings
Dora Leander Tinhof; John F. Rauthmann; Axel Mayer
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While the Big Five Inventory-2 offers efficient assessment of personality domains and facets, continuous psychometric evaluation remains crucial to ensure valid personality assessment. The present study examined whether the dimensional structure and measurement properties of the German BFI-2 remain invariant across offline and online contexts and methods (self- and other-ratings). Data from 403 self-raters and 151 informants were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory structural equation modeling, and measurement invariance testing. Reliability was generally good, and the Big Five structure was largely replicated, though several items showed context- or method-specific deviations, particularly within Agreeableness and Negative Emotionality. Partial scalar invariance was achieved at facet level, although model fit was poor for other-ratings, while only metric invariance emerged at domain level. Exploratory analyses revealed that correlations between self-ratings across contexts were highest, and that self-other agreement was stronger online than offline. Regression models predicting internet use showed that traits often exhibited opposite effects across contexts, with online traits explaining incremental variance, although overall explained variance was small. Findings highlight that both context and method affect the properties of the BFI-2, underscoring the importance of psychometric evaluation across diverse conditions.
A Buffer against Backlash: How the Desire for Governmental Intervention Moderates the Effect of Regulatory Depth on Climate Policy Acceptance
Sonja Grelle; Wilhelm Hofmann
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Systemic climate policies are essential for addressing environmental crises, but often face public resistance due to their intrusiveness. Drawing on the Integrative Public Policy Acceptance (IPAC) framework, we examine how the Desire for Governmental Intervention (DGI) shapes climate policy acceptance as a function of regulatory depth. Across two online studies (NStudy1 = 565, Nobs = 11,300; NStudy2 = 971, Nobs = 11,652), participants evaluated climate policies across multiple environmental domains. As expected, higher regulatory depth reduced policy acceptance, while higher DGI increased it. Crucially, DGI buffered the negative effect of intrusiveness: individuals with a strong DGI were more likely to accept even highly intrusive measures such as taxes or bans. This buffering effect was consistently observed, with the evidence strongest at the between-person level. These findings highlight DGI as a key motivational factor for climate policy acceptance. Strengthening this desire may be crucial for increasing public support for ambitious yet necessary systemic climate interventions.
Temporal Dissociation Between Inter-Area and Local Neural Signals in Perceptual Choice
Shir Sivroni
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erceptual decisions arise from neural activity distributed across multiple brain regions, yet it remains unclear how inter-area interactions and local population activity differentially contribute to choice across time. Here, we analyzed simultaneous multi-region Neuropixels recordings from the Steinmetz et al. (2019) dataset to compare the predictive power of cross-area correlations versus local firing rates for behavioral choice in mice performing a visual discrimination task. We found a striking temporal dissociation: during the pre-stimulus period, both inter-area correlations and local activity predicted choice at modest but significant levels (~54%, p < 0.001), with no difference between signal types. In contrast, during the post-stimulus period, local population activity dramatically outperformed inter-area correlations (64.5% vs. 57.2%, p < 0.0001), rising to 69% accuracy by 250-500 ms post-stimulus. This temporal switch—from symmetric contribution before stimulus onset to local dominance afterward—demonstrates that the neural basis of perceptual choice shifts from distributed network states to localized evidence coding as sensory information becomes available. Our findings provide direct quantitative evidence for a dual-mechanism model of perceptual decision-making in which pre-stimulus inter-area dynamics set the stage for post-stimulus local computation.
What’s on Their For You Page? A Large-Scale Computational Approach to Analyzing Adolescents’ TikTok Archives Through Hashtag Topic Modeling
Amber van der Wal; Inga Vondenhof; Konrad Mikalauskas; Rebecca Godard; Kfir Zioni; Felicia Loecherbach; Ine Beyens
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Short-form video platforms like TikTok play a central role in adolescents’ lives, yet little is known about the actual content they engage with. This study presents a large-scale, computational approach to analyze adolescents’ TikTok feeds using hashtag-based topic modeling applied to user-donated archives from 102 Dutch adolescents (ages 15–19). Using BERTopic, we identified 304 coherent topics, organized them into 32 higher-order content categories, and validated both through a structured human validation study. Analyses reveal that adolescents’ feeds are dominated by entertainment and leisure content, with ‘Media productions,’ ‘Sports,’ ‘Style and appearance,’ ‘Hobbies,’ and ‘Gaming’ as the most prevalent categories. At the same time, there is marked individual variation: niche areas such as K-pop, anime, and specific fandoms are central to some users’ feeds. Latent profile analysis identified six distinct, gendered content-consumption profiles. Together, the findings shed light on adolescents’ TikTok exposure, revealing predominantly benign but highly personalized media diets in which appearance-focused content stands out as a potential risk domain. In all, our approach offers a scalable, efficient way to map short-form video content. Linking these maps to individual users’ media diets opens new possibilities for examining how different content patterns relate to user experiences and outcomes.
Life on the Cusp: The Trident G Theory of General Intelligence
Mark Ashton Smith
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Standard formulations of the free-energy principle treat adaptive agents as pure surprise minimisers, but in non-stationary niches this can drive brittle, energetically costly behaviour. This article proposes Trident G, a near-critical control architecture in which brains (and other intelligent agents) defend a non-zero metabolic–accuracy budget F★ and regulate a viable operating band on an asymmetric cusp. The state axis x = F − F★ tracks instantaneous deviation from this budget, while engagement Ο = G − F★, where G is expected free energy under the current generative model, and inference tilt ÎŽ (Convergent vs Divergent) function as control parameters that define three operational regimes: a subcritical Autopilot shaft, a near-critical Κ-band that supports flow and fluid intelligence, and a supercritical Trident region with exploitation and exploration wells. General intelligence is reframed as the navigable volume 𝒱 of this landscape, decomposed into Control Range, Navigability (captured by a meta-efficacy η), and Niche Coupling (indexed by coherence χ and environmental feedback λ). I sketch how this cusp geometry can be instantiated from cortical columns to whole-brain control networks, and extended conceptually to teams and institutions, sketch falsifiable neural and behavioural signatures of Κ-band occupancy and collapse, sketch falsifiable neural and behavioural signatures of Κ-band occupancy and collapse, and argue that Trident G’s viable-band regulation offers a more resilient target for AI agents, cognitive training, and institutional design than pure free-energy minimisation. Keywords: free-energy principle, near-criticality, general intelligence, allostasis, cusp catastrophe, cognitive resilience
Factor retention in exploratory factor analysis based on LSTM
Guo Lei; Haijiang Qin
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In psychological research, determining the dimensional structure and characteristics of psychological traits is of paramount importance. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) serves as a critical statistical methodology for identifying latent dimensions. Accurately determining the number of factors constitutes a pivotal technical challenge in EFA; under- or over-extraction of factors invariably yields detrimental consequences. To address this challenge, the present study conceptualizes eigenvalues as sequential data and employs a deep neural network architecture based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. Comprehensive evaluation metrics (including accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and Kappa) all exceeded 83%. Rigorous validation through extensive simulation studies and empirical analyses confirmed the robust performance of LSTM across diverse data conditions. Results demonstrate that LSTM achieves substantially higher accuracy than Comparison Data Fit (CDF), Empirical Kaiser Criterion (EKC), and Parallel Analysis (PA) methods, with a mean improvement rate of 48.50% and a peak improvement of 171.09%. Furthermore, LSTM exhibits smaller bias and superior robustness relative to CDF, EKC, and PA. Researchers may utilize the R package LSTMfactors to apply the LSTM model trained in this study to empirical data analysis.
Modeling multidisciplinary data in developmental neuroscience: A structured approach to integrating brain, behavior, and environmental influences
Zino David Brystowski; Marjolein Fokkema; Hilde M. Huizenga; Jalmar Teeuw; M.J. de Rooij
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Large-scale developmental studies increasingly collect data across multiple disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, and genetics. Combining these data offers new opportunities for understanding human development, but it also presents substantial analytical challenges. Traditional statistical approaches often struggle to handle the complexity of large numbers of diverse measurements. To address these challenges, we propose a new method for multidisciplinary data called Stacked Domain Learning (SDL). In SDL, theories from different disciplines are translated into statistical models and these are then integrated into a single overarching model. This allows researchers to evaluate the unique and combined contributions of different disciplinary perspectives, providing a foundation for developing integrative theories grounded in both theory and empirical evidence. We demonstrate SDL with an empirical example using data from the ABCD Âź Study to predict delay discounting behavior in adolescents. The results highlight the relevance of cognitive abilities and sociodemographic factors and only partially support the role of brain systems in predicting delay discounting. The application to the ABCD data demonstrates that assessing the predictive ability of theories through statistical models in SDL helps to evaluate the relevance and usefulness of these theories. Altogether, SDL offers a practical tool for integrating different disciplinary perspectives into a single framework and evaluating the predictive ability of the theories involved.
Expectations about precision alter speech perception
Helen Olawole-Scott; Nora Happel; Daniel Yon
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Bayesian models of the mind suggest that we estimate the reliability or ‘precision’ of incoming signals to guide perceptual inference and to construct feelings of uncertainty about our percepts. However, accurately estimating precision is likely to be challenging for bounded systems like the brain. One way observers could overcome this challenge is to form expectations about perceptual precision and use these to guide awareness. Previously, we found that agents were able to acquire and use probabilistic expectations about the strength of visual signals – with expectations altering their confidence and subjective awareness without altering perceptual performance. Here we test whether the same principles hold in the domain of auditory speech perception. Participants made perceptual decisions about the clarity of different speech sounds, which they could expect to be clear or ambiguous. We found that these expectations biased subjective clarity ratings – such that listeners judged speech as clearer when clearer signals were expected. Computational modelling revealed that this effect could be well-explained by a predictive learning model that infers the precision (strength) of current signals as a weighted-combination of incoming evidence and top-down expectations. These results support an influential tenet of Bayesian models of cognition: agents do not only ‘read out’ the reliability of information arriving at their senses but also take into account prior knowledge about how reliable or ‘precise’ different sources of information are likely to be. We thus reveal that expectations about precision influence subjective impressions across sensory domains, pointing to a general principle that can explain how we come to trust or doubt our senses.
Integrating chronic pain and pain re-experiencing into the PTSD symptom network
Sabrina Hettegger; Merlene Schmidt; Hannah van Alebeek; Sarah K. Danböck; Michael Liedlgruber; Stephan F Miedl; Frank H. Wilhelm
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Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain frequently co-occur. Growing evidence suggests that this comorbidity may be partly attributable to pain-intrusions, defined as chronic pain manifesting in the same body regions as the pain experienced during the traumatic event. This positions chronic pain as potential PTSD re-experiencing symptoms. However, little is known about how chronic pain, and especially pain-intrusions, relate to re-experiencing and other PTSD symptoms. Objective: The present study used a network modeling approach to examine how chronic pain and pain-intrusions are embedded within the established DSM-5 PTSD symptom network consisting of criteria B-E (re-experiencing, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and hyperarousal). Methods: A total of 330 trauma survivors reported on PTSD symptoms and peritraumatic and chronic pain in 108 body regions. Chronic pain was separated into chronic pain in trauma-related (i.e., pain-intrusions) vs. non-trauma-related body regions. We estimated two network models using a Gaussian graphical model approach: (1) with chronic pain in general and (2) with pain-intrusions and non-trauma-related chronic pain as distinct constructs. Results: Chronic pain in general was linked to hyperarousal. When pain-intrusions and non-trauma-related chronic pain were examined as separate constructs, pain-intrusions were associated with re-experiencing, while non-trauma-related chronic pain was associated with hyperarousal. Neither pain construct was related to avoidance or negative alterations in cognitions and mood. Discussion: These findings support the view that pain-intrusions represent a somatosensory component of re-experiencing in PTSD. In contrast, chronic pain in non-trauma-related body regions may reflect broader, more stress-related physiological processes such as autonomic arousal and heightened muscle tension. Results highlight the importance of considering the spatial correspondence between peritraumatic and chronic pain to better identify the underlying mechanisms of posttraumatic chronic pain and to tailor interventions to these processes.
A cross-lagged panel network model to document the relationships between psychosocial risk factor exposure and internalising symptoms in early-to-mid adolescence
Reihaneh Farzinnia; Louise Black; Neil Humphrey
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Adolescence is characterised by rapid physical, psychological, and social changes and is a critical period for the onset of internalising symptoms. Yet, research has often examined risk factors and symptoms in isolation, overlooking their complex and dynamic interrelations. Using three waves of data from the #BeeWell project in Greater Manchester (26,921 adolescents aged 12–15 years/Years 8–10; 37% in Year 8, 32% and 31% in Years 9 and 10, respectively; 50% female; 65% White), we applied a cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) model to explore within- and between-person effects in the interrelations between eleven self-report, modifiable psychosocial risk factors (e.g., bullying victimisation, stress) and internalising symptoms. Within-person networks were dense, indicating substantial interrelations among symptoms and risk factors and providing evidence of the complex, mutually reinforcing nature of adolescent internalising symptoms over time. Many risks and symptoms were interrelated both directly and indirectly in the temporal network (ÎČ = .05 to .16) and co-occurred, as shown in the contemporaneous network (r = .01 to .40). The between-person network (r = .000 to .74) displayed some negative associations absent from within-person models, suggesting different dynamics at individual and group levels. These findings support complex designs, such as multi-target prevention and intervention strategies, caution against simplistic models, and highlight the importance of distinguishing within- and between-person processes for public health practice.
What Infant Research can—and Cannot—Tell us About Human Universals
Leher Singh
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The search for human universals is firmly grounded in the study of infancy. Infants are viewed as unconditioned by social experience and therefore a source of insight into the initial state of psychological organization. This paper outlines three constraints on this approach focusing on limited sample diversity, insufficient predictive and convergent validation of methods, and overreliance on single exposures or unreplicated findings. It argues for a shift from an emphasis on universality towards a focus on variation. Large-scale multi-site collaborations, longitudinal designs, and cross-method convergence across culturally diverse settings as key components of this goal. These approaches can advance a more ecologically valid and culturally situated science of infancy.
Misleading But Not Fake: Measuring the Difference Between Manipulativeness Discernment and Veracity Discernment Using Psychometrically Validated Tests
Nadia Said; Rakoen Maertens; Mikey Biddlestone; Malia Marks; JĂŒrgen Buder; Jon Roozenbeek
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Misinformation continues to pose a substantial societal problem, but the measurement of misinformation susceptibility has often been done using non-validated tests. Furthermore, research shows that misleading content (implied misinformation) is much more common than outright false content (explicit misinformation). However, there is very little research on the predictors of belief in implied misinformation, and it is unknown if susceptibility to direct and implied misinformation are psychologically similar. In addition, psychometric scale development focuses primarily on English-speaking samples, and cross-cultural scale validation remains rare. To address these questions, we ran four studies (N1 = 487, N2 = 547, N3= 490, N4= 19,773) in which we developed and validated the Manipulative Online Content Recognition Inventory (MOCRI), a test measuring a person’s ability to distinguish between misleading and neutral content, across 12 European countries. This test substantially outperforms other known predictors of misinformation susceptibility in terms of its predictive value for people’s ability to correctly identify misleading content. We also show that susceptibility to misleading and false content are psychologically different from one another, although being related. Additionally, we show that people who score high on the MOCRI are much better than low MOCRI performers at discerning manipulative from non-manipulative statements, but that this ability does not necessarily translate to better discernment in the quality of their sharing decisions, or their willingness to reply to manipulative vs. non-manipulative messages. Finally, we found the MOCRI scale to be psychometrically stable across 12 countries, meeting configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance.
Negativity bias in attending to visual art
Christoph Scheepers; YuXuan Gao; Alejandro Bahena Rivera
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Human perception is inclined towards detecting and attending to negative stimuli – a bias potentially rooted in evolutionary pressures. We investigated whether this bias also exists in the perception of visual art. Study 1 established stimulus norms for 60 selected artworks. One-hundred-five participants rated each artwork for artistic value, affective valence and arousal. We also included objective measures of artwork fame and image complexity. Principal-component analysis yielded three orthogonal dimensions at item-level: Aesthetic Stimulation (image complexity, artistic value, arousal), Artistic Prominence (fame, artistic value, arousal), and Negativity (negative affective valence). Study 2 was preregistered and employed these components to predict artwork-viewing times and post-stimulus ratings in a new sample of 324 participants whose general knowledge of the arts was assessed via Cotter et al. (2023)’s Aesthetic Fluency scale. Following self-paced viewing, participants rated each of the 60 artworks for personal liking and familiarity. Analyses revealed that all three item-related components independently increased artwork-viewing times. Emotionally more negative artworks were indeed viewed for longer, confirming that negativity holds perceivers’ attention. This effect did not reliably interact with participants’ Aesthetic Fluency. Moreover, in spite of increasing viewing times, negatively-valenced artworks were rated lower for liking and familiarity, highlighting a negativity-specific dissociation between attentional engagement and personal appreciation. We conclude that the negativity bias also extends to the perception of cultural artefacts that have no immediate survival value.
Does the option to be neutral alter the framing effect?
Jiatong Liu; Yulia Oganian; Verena Wagner; Christoph Korn
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The framing effect—whereby decision preferences shift based on whether outcomes are presented as gains or losses—has been extensively studied using binary forced-choice paradigms. However, real-world decisions often include neutral or indecisive options. We examined whether introducing a neutral option modulates the framing effect. In a preregistered study (N=457), participants completed a ternary choice task featuring sure, risky, and neutral alternatives across multiple scenarios, with the Disease scenario as primary focus. Participants who initially selected the neutral option were subsequently required to make a binary choice without the neutral option. Results demonstrated that framing effect persisted: participants initially choosing to be neutral later exhibited classic patterns of risk aversion under gain frames and risk-seeking under loss frames. The likelihood of choosing neutral option is significantly higher in the loss frame than in the gain frame. Confidence ratings did not differ between neutral and committed choices, suggesting neutrality reflects deliberate deferral rather than frame immunity. These findings indicate that neutrality functions as temporary indecisive rather than immunity to framing bias, advancing theoretical understanding of how additional options interact with cognitive biases in decision-making.
The self-allocation bias – behavioral and neural characterization of a newly identified bias for individual performance and contribution in cooperative tasks
Sihui Zhang; Xue Yong; Yina Ma; Christoph Korn
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Human cooperation often involves performing joint tasks, where success relies on how collective rewards are allocated among cooperating parties based on their individual performance and contributions to task outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether differences in individual performance and contribution give rise to self-related biases in such allocation decisions. Here, we developed a novel performance-based social allocation task that manipulated the influence of individual performance on joint outcomes. Across two experiments, participants consistently exhibited a robust self-allocation bias: they allocated more rewards to themselves and disproportionately disregarded their own performance — particularly when their performance did not contribute to the joint outcome. This self-allocation bias was more pronounced in individuals with stronger individualistic social preferences, as measured by social value orientation. At the neural level, self-relevant (versus self-irrelevant) allocation decisions were associated with increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex extending into the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Moreover, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and TPJ tracked trial-by-trial variations in performance with respect to different levels of individual contribution. These findings suggest the cognitive and neural mechanisms of a previously unidentified self-allocation bias, revealing how self-interest governs the integration of performance and contribution information during cooperative decision-making, and highlighting the role of prefrontal and TPJ regions in balancing self-interests and evaluations of individual performance and contribution.
Beyond the Thrill: How Skydiving Motivations Evolve with Experience
Brage Andreas HĂ„vik; Gabriel Olaru
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There is conflicting evidence regarding the personality profiles and motivations of skydivers and extreme sports participants more broadly. While the dominant view portrays skydivers as ‘adrenaline junkies’ and thrill-seekers, emerging qualitative research suggests motivations may include community, skill development, and transcendental experiences. The discrepancy between these perspectives may be explained by differences in experience levels, but the empirical data are scarce. We thus asked 305 skydivers of varying experience about their sensation seeking levels and motives for skydiving—both with a pre-defined scale and open questions. We found that the skydivers had overall higher sensation seeking levels compared to norm samples, and that sensation seeking levels were comparable across experience levels. However, the motives of “thrill-seeking”, “trascendence” and “overcoming fear”—rated as most important for less experienced skydivers—decreased significantly in relevance over experience levels. In contrast, “community” and “improving skills” increased in importance across experience levels and were most important to highly experienced skydivers. These patterns were also reflected in the qualitative findings, where most skydivers reported that they initially began skydiving for the thrill or as a personal challenge, but now did it for the community, skill development or experienced mindfulness. The results challenge the prevailing thrill-seeker stereotype, indicating that thrill and fear motives diminish as experience grows. Overall, these findings clarify how motivations may evolve over time and highlight the importance of considering experience when researching skydivers and participants in extreme or high-risk sports.
Effect of Exercise on Cognition, Memory, and Executive Function: A Study-Level Meta-Meta-Analysis Across Populations and Exercise Categories
FrantiĆĄek BartoĆĄ; Martina LuĆĄkovĂĄ; Kseniya Bortnikova; KarolĂ­na HozovĂĄ; Klara Kantova; Zuzana Irsova; Tomas Havranek
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Physical exercise is widely believed to enhance cognition, yet evidence from meta-analyses remains mixed. Here we compile a study-level dataset of 2,239 effect-size estimates from 215 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials examining the effect of exercise on general cognition, memory, and executive functions. We find strong evidence of selective reporting and large between-study heterogeneity. Analyses adjusted for publication bias reveal average effects much smaller than commonly reported (general cognition: standardized mean difference, SMD = 0.227, 95% credible interval 0.116 to 0.330; memory: SMD = 0.027, 95% credible interval 0.000 to 0.227; executive functions: SMD = 0.012, 95% credible interval 0.000 to 0.147), along with wide prediction intervals spanning both negative and positive effects. Subgroup analyses identify specific population-intervention combinations with more consistent benefits. Overall, broad claims of generalized cognitive enhancement resulting from physical exercise appear premature; the evidence supports targeted, population- and intervention-specific recommendations.
Reading Goals and Executive Functions in Adolescents: Three Eye-Tracking Studies on Typical Development and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Miriam Rivero-Contreras; Paula Barea-Arroyo; Gema Erena-Guardia; Javier Moreno Pérez; Isabel R Rodriguez Ortiz; Adriån Solís Campos; David Saldaña
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Successful reading depends not only on decoding and linguistic comprehension but also on the use of strategies that enable readers to actively interact with the text and adapt to task demands. This study examined how reading behaviour adjusts to specific reading goals and the role of executive functions in this adaptation across three groups of adolescents: 28 typically developing students (Study 1), 25 with ADHD (Study 2), and 19 with ASD (Study 3). The results showed that explicit reading goals enhanced strategic processing in all three groups, with a more specific impact in adolescents with ADHD and ASD, and that planning was the key executive function associated with this adaptation. These findings suggest that educational interventions explicit reading goals may improve comprehension, although their effectiveness depends on students’ planning ability: a compensatory factor in typical readers and a prerequisite in those with ADHD or ASD.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: Preverbal Infants Expect Novel Agents to Choose the Majority Group
Erik Kjos Fonn; Joakim Haugane Zahl; BjĂžrn Dahl Kristensen; Lotte Thomsen
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Society is characterized by negotiation of group interests, often favoring stronger majority groups. Preverbal infants expect members of larger coalitions will prevail in concrete conflicts, but it remains unknown if infants parse the social world by ascribing general default coalitional formidability motives to others, even in the absence of intergroup conflict. Here we show that 9–13-month-old Norwegian infants (N = 168, 83 girls, ethnicity unrecorded, data collected 2018–2025) expected an agent to approach the larger of two separate, coordinated groups (Cohen’s g = .15-.17). So did North American and Norwegian adults across explicit (N = 1704, d > .11) and implicit measures (N = 33, Cohen’s g = .23). Humans infer third-party group formidability motives across ontogeny.
Why Do People Find Conspiracy Beliefs Meaningful? A Mixed Methods Investigation of Conspiracy Beliefs about the COVID-19 Pandemic and the War in Ukraine
Dominik Kováƙ; Miroslav Filip; Michaela Kulikowski; Alexandra PospĂ­ĆĄilovĂĄ; Eva DubovskĂĄ; Marie KováƙovĂĄ; VĂ­t SuchĂœ; Martina KlicperovĂĄ
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Conspiracy beliefs as explanations of events by someone’s secret malevolent intentions have been linked to numerous individual and social factors. However, past research relied widely on self-report scales that could mask subtle effects and omit people who strongly endorse conspiracy beliefs. We report two studies involving participants who endorsed conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We contribute to mixed method research by combining quantitative scales, qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, and the Repertory Grid Technique (that enabled both quantitative and qualitative analysis). We identified groups of participants who considered conspiracy explanations as probable based on different underlying mechanisms: monological reasoning, distrust, resignation on the possibility of making sense of global events, and disinterest in global events.
Early caregiving adversities mitigate parental context effects on adolescents’ momentary emotion differentiation
Lior Abramson; Anna Vannucci; Camila Vicioso; Daniela Juarez; Erin Joyce; Andrea Fields; Erica Niemiec; Lisa Gibson; Niall Bolger; Nim Tottenham
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Emotion differentiation, a correlate of emotional health, summarizes one’s ability to identify specific experienced emotions. To illuminate its development, we examined how adolescents’ momentary emotion differentiation (mED) varies in response to varying socio-emotional contexts. We also asked whether mED patterns differ following exposure to caregiving-related early adversities (crEAs). Adolescents (N=81, 10-17 years-old) with/without crEAs completed a 7-day ecological momentary assessment (4-5 surveys/day), reporting on their emotions and social contexts. mED for negative emotions showed a significant reduction following negative contexts related to parents (compared to other contexts). The standard deviation of these momentary emotions suggested negative interactions with parents were followed by a phasic intensification restricted to a few negative emotions. However, a history of crEAs exposure attenuated these effects. These data illustrate the potential of measuring discrete parental interaction influences on emotional development during adolescence and highlight the importance of early caregiving experiences in adolescents’ momentary emotion differentiation.
Influence of Selective Phrasing on Consent to DNAR
Yugo MAEDA; Kiichi INARIMORI
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This paper investigates how physicians’ selective phrasing influences individuals’ attitudes toward “do not attempt resuscitation” (DNAR) orders. Within the framework of libertarian paternalism, nudges have been proposed as a way to guide choices while preserving autonomy, often by leveraging cognitive biases such as framing effects. Nudges are often discussed as a promising means of promoting patients’ best interests without undermining autonomy; however, their practical use in real medical contexts remains limited. Instead, this study focuses on a more direct form of intervention: physicians’ selective phrasing. Specifically, it examines how the use of selective phrasing in DNAR explanations influences patients’ decisions. Using a series of online experiments, we found that people’s consent to DNAR in hypothetical medical scenarios is influenced by slight linguistic differences in the physician’s explanation. The results show that briefly noting the potential harms of CPR, or associating the decision not to perform resuscitation with “naturalness,” contributes to higher acceptance of DNAR. These findings underscore the power of physicians’ language in shaping patients’ decisions without imposing particular options or restricting freedom of choice, or the potentiality of nudging in a broader sense.
The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Emotion Regulation: A Meta-Analysis
Hester Xiao; Kit S Double; Rebecca Pinkus; Muuskan Kalwani; Riley Leckie; Carolyn MacCann
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Emotional intelligence (EI) reflects individuals’ capacities, whereas emotion regulation involves the behaviours people use to manage emotions. This meta-analysis (n = 115 studies, k = 923 effects) examined associations between EI and 20 common regulation processes, considering three major EI streams and four ability branches. EI was positively associated with putatively adaptive processes (direct situation modification, positive reappraisal, deep acting, seeking help), negatively associated with putatively maladaptive processes (avoidance, denial, surface acting, catastrophizing, self-blame, expressive suppression, substance use), and positively associated with religious coping and humor. EI stream moderated effects for direct situation modification, acceptance, positive reappraisal, distraction, and seeking help (weaker for ability EI than other streams; weaker for mixed EI than self-rated EI). EI branch moderated associations of ability EI with direct situation modification and seeking help, with stronger effects for emotion management. Overall, findings indicate that emotionally intelligent individuals primarily regulate emotions by addressing problems (direct modification, seeking help) or reframing situations (positive reappraisal), reflecting a tendency to use engagement rather than disengagement regulation processes. Test format (ability vs. rating scale) and theoretical model (ability vs. mixed) significantly influenced effect sizes. This meta-analysis advances understanding of emotion regulation as a key pathway linking EI to positive outcomes.
Disaffordances Identitarias y OpresiĂłn Internalizada: DecolonizaciĂłn de la Discapacidad en Comunidades Sordas
Celina Peinado BeltrĂĄn
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Este estudio re-conceptualiza la nociĂłn de "disaffordance" desde la PsicologĂ­a EcolĂłgica y la EpistemologĂ­a Decolonial para analizar cĂłmo surgen restricciones sistemĂĄticas sobre las posibilidades de acciĂłn en las experiencias educativas de las comunidades sordas. Mientras que el tĂ©rmino ha circulado en diseño de interacciĂłn humano-computadora (HCI) desde 2006 para describir restricciones tecnolĂłgicas materiales (Lockton, 2006; Wittkower, 2016), proponemos una reformulaciĂłn radical que desplaza el anĂĄlisis desde artefactos fĂ­sicos hacia narrativas identitarias corporales y procesos de significaciĂłn colectiva, retornando asĂ­ a la intenciĂłn gibsoniana original de una psicologĂ­a genuinamente ecolĂłgica y post-dualista. Mediante el anĂĄlisis cualitativo de entrevistas semiestructuradas con personas sordas usuarias de lengua de señas y datos cuantitativos de la Escala de Actitudes hacia la Cultura Sorda (EACS), identificamos patrones de opresiĂłn internalizada y discriminaciĂłn intragrupal que constriñen la percepciĂłn enactiva. Los resultados revelan una correlaciĂłn inversa entre la familiaridad con las comunidades sordas y la manifestaciĂłn de disaffordances, con los contextos educativos institucionales reforzando restricciones perceptuales. Emergieron cuatro dimensiones clave: inferiorizaciĂłn lingĂŒĂ­stico-cultural, normalizaciĂłn de prĂĄcticas exclusivas, asimilacionismo y sesgo hacia modelos comunicativos orales. Esta re-conceptualizaciĂłn contribuye a superar modelos de dĂ©ficit, posicionando a las comunidades sordas como minorĂ­as culturales-lingĂŒĂ­sticas que experimentan campos de affordances colonizados, en lugar de individuos patologizados.
Towards Molecular Specificity in Pharmacoimaging
Timothy Lawn; Mitul Mehta
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Molecular-enriched fMRI promises to bridge the gap between neurotransmitter systems and macro-scale network dynamics, yet empirical validation has remained elusive. Commenting on van den Bosch and Cools (2025), we evaluate the first rigorous validation of Receptor-Enriched Analysis of functional Connectivity by Targets (REACT) against individual-level PET data. They found that the effects of methylphenidate on dopamine-enriched networks, but not noradrenaline-enriched networks, tracked individual differences in striatal dopamine synthesis capacity and reward prediction error signaling. While establishing the validity of molecular-enriched networks for this specific use case, the study also exposes critical methodological boundary conditions. We discuss the constraints imposed by spatial collinearity between molecular targets, the influence of state-dependent effects in task-based paradigms, and the necessity of pharmacological blocking studies for establishing causal specificity. Finally, we look to the future of molecular-informed functional imaging.
Qualia structures collapse for geometric shapes, but not faces, when spatial attention is withdrawn
Elise Rowe; Ken Takeda; Masafumi Oizumi; Joanita D'Souza; Jeroen van Boxtel; Naotsugu Tsuchiya
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The effects of top-down attention on perception have been intensively studied using binary categorization tasks (e.g., seen vs. unseen). However, such tasks poorly characterise the quality of experience, or qualia, for short. To characterise attentional effects on qualia, we combined a dual-task attention paradigm with similarity rating tasks to examine whether relational structures of qualia are altered by top-down attentional amplification. Under the same physical input, withdrawing attention collapsed the structures of qualia of letters (N=14) and red/green bisected disks (N=14), but not of faces (N=13), as quantified via a novel unsupervised optimal transport alignment technique. Alignment accuracy was high for face qualia structures obtained under the fully versus poorly attended conditions but not for the letters and disks. Our novel approach that combines similarity ratings, quantitative alignment and attentional perturbation is a powerful new approach to elucidate the structural properties of consciousness.
COMPUTATIONAL IRREDUCIBILITY AND THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF FREE WILL
Rafael Reis
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The debate over free will has traditionally been framed as a choice between libertarian indeterminism and hard determinism, with compatibilism attempting to reconcile freedom with deterministic causation. However, this framing overlooks a crucial insight from computational theory: that determinism does not entail predictability. We propose that the phenomenological experience of free will — the felt sense of open alternatives and genuine deliberation — corresponds to a real feature of complex systems: computational irreducibility. Drawing on Wolfram's taxonomy of computational complexity, we argue that human decision-making exhibits Class 4 computational behavior, meaning that outcomes cannot be determined without step-by-step simulation. This creates an epistemic gap between determinism (metaphysical closure) and predictability (epistemic openness) that grounds the phenomenology of agency. We defend this position against four major objections, including concerns about Libet's neurophysiological experiments, and conclude by proposing testable hypotheses for neuroscience and implications for artificial intelligence, moral responsibility, and the philosophy of mind.
Problematic Social Media Use and Anxiety: A Literature Review and Conceptual Model
Selena E Bartlett; Aakanksha Sahu; Vasundhara Shukla; Stephanie J. Tobin; Kerri Gillespie
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With over 5.24 billion active accounts globally, social media platforms significantly shape emotional experiences. Problematic social media use (PSMU), which has been defined as a maladaptive pattern of compulsive checking and preoccupation, is consistently linked with increased anxiety. However, this association varies depending on the user, their usage patterns, and the online environment. The literature review aimed to identify the behavioural and subjective markers linking PSMU to anxiety-like symptoms and synthesise these findings into a unified, mechanistic model. Following PRISMA principles, an intensive literature mapping process was conducted, resulting in the retention and synthesis of 80 empirical studies. The synthesis generated a holistic conceptual model identifying five primary mechanistic pathways through which social media use contributes to anxiety. The most consistently supported mechanisms are Social Evaluation Threat (n=42), Overload leading to Fatigue (n=17), Intolerance of Uncertainty and Perceived Lack of Control (n=11), and Mood Regulation and Absorption (n=11). Sleep Disruption (n=7) was identified as a critical meta-mediator, amplifying downstream anxiety. Furthermore, Life Events (n=14) function as a meta-moderator, shaping the severity and direction of the pathways. Importantly, there are consistently bidirectional relationships, where anxiety acts as both a precursor and a consequence of problematic engagement, creating self-reinforcing cycles. This review advances a novel relational, mechanistic model that moves beyond simple exposure models of social media use. This model offers a guide for future longitudinal research and provides direct implications for targeted interventions and safer platform design policies
Do traits matter for allyship? Exploring personality and character strengths as catalysts for allyship
Meg Aum Warren; Michael Thomas Warren; Erika T. H. Lutz; Camille A Fogel; Louise Lambert; Ryan Niemiec
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A diverse account of allyship suggests that many individuals can be allies and that some allyship strategies fit their personalities and character strengths better than others. Allyship can be categorized into Committed Strategies (e.g., publicly highlighting women’s strengths) that involve social risk or personal sacrifice, and Relationship-Building Strategies (e.g., active listening) that build supportive and trusting bonds with marginalized group members. Latent profile analyses of survey data from two randomly split samples of 1,814 and 1,813 men from 103 countries were used to examine mean differences across Big Five personality profiles on Committed and Relationship-building allyship strategies toward women in the workplace. Results indicated that people with Well-Adjusted personalities (high on all Big Five traits except low in neuroticism) viewed both Committed and Relationship-building strategies as better-fitting to their personalities, relative to the other three personality profiles that emerged in our data. Hierarchical regression analyses further found that five key character strengths (bravery, kindness, fairness, social intelligence, and perspective) explained additional variance beyond the Big Five in both Committed and Relationship-building strategies, reinforcing the value of character strengths in allyship. Exploratory bivariate correlations revealed that among the Big Five, agreeableness and openness were the strongest and most consistent predictors of 10 Committed and Relationship-building allyship strategies. In a first of its kind, the current study broadens the scope of who allies are as well as what allyship can look like and offers an additional path for allyship training through consideration of personality traits and character strengths.
A scoping review of empathic accuracy
Murat Kezer; Eliott K. Doyle; Nalin Sayvongsa; Sara D. Hodges
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Empathic accuracy refers to the ability to correctly infer the thoughts and feelings of others as they unfold in real time. Although widely studied across psychology, neuroscience, and clinical science, the literature is fragmented due to diverse conceptualizations, measurement approaches, and research contexts. This scoping review provides the first comprehensive synthesis of studies using the two paradigms with the highest construct validity for measuring empathic accuracy: the Ickes paradigms, which assess accuracy for discrete thought-feeling content, and the Dial paradigm, which captures continuous affective inferences. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we identified 172 empirical studies published through September 2022 that used either paradigm. Studies were coded for theoretical focus, design and task characteristics, participant and stimulus features, analytical approaches, and open-science practices. We also mapped the intellectual structure of the field using co-authorship networks and extracted major research themes using topic modeling refined through manual review. Findings indicate substantial growth in empathic accuracy research, especially in Dial-based studies after 2015, yet limited integration across research communities. Most work examines interpersonal cues, relational contexts, clinical or neurodevelopmental populations, and close relationships. Methodological practices vary widely, including substantial heterogeneity in design choices such as interaction structure, stimulus content, reporting procedures, and analytical treatment of accuracy. Open-science practices remain rare, with few studies reporting preregistration, data sharing, or sample-size planning. Together, the review maps the conceptual and methodological landscape of empathic accuracy research, identifies gaps and inconsistencies, and highlights opportunities for theoretical refinement, methodological standardization, and broader application.
Capturing the temporal dynamics of personality in daily life: The Personality and Contextualized Experiences (PACE) Study
Anabel BĂŒchner; Friedrich Martin Götz; Emorie D Beck; Lisa Shi Yun Li; Andrew Kwok Leung Yeung; Jessie Sun; Benjamin Hardin; Kai Tobias Horstmann
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Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors constantly change in everyday life, and dynamic personality theories emphasize the role of these short-term changes for understanding how momentary states give rise to more enduring personality patterns. Although the growing use of the experience sampling method (ESM) has made it more feasible to examine such dynamics in situ, methodological challenges limit the inferences that can be drawn about temporal personality dynamics. This paper describes the rationale, procedure, and first half of the dataset of the Personality and Contextualized Experiences (PACE) Study, a large, multi- site ESM study which currently comprises 1,126 undergraduates (76,823 observations) across Canada, Germany, and the United States. Of these, 421 participants completed the entire study (baseline survey, ≄ 100 ESM surveys, and follow-up survey). The study advances what can be learned from ESM data by combining (a) a relatively large sample featuring a relatively high number of observations per person with (b) experimental comparisons of two sampling designs, (c) retrospective assessment of missed states, and (d) a personalized assessment of situational information. The PACE Study further includes a newly developed global self-report questionnaire intended to capture aspects of individuals’ dynamic patterns of states without requiring ESM data. Overall, the PACE Study enables modeling temporal dynamics in a nuanced manner, relating these dynamics to a range of variables, and comparing different types of self-reports for capturing dynamic patterns of states.
Situational Enjoyment Influences Gaze Behaviour during Reading
Adam James Parker; Amrita Bains; Dorothy Gao; Emma Hance; Yunxi Li; Natalie Zhang
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Reading enjoyment is typically studied as a stable trait, yet enjoyment fluctuates within individuals. We examined how both trait- and state-level reading enjoyment shape engagement and eye movements during naturalistic reading. Seventy-six adults read 40 book synopses, rated their enjoyment, answered comprehension questions, and decided whether to wait to view the book cover, while their eye movements were recorded. Mixed-effects models disaggregated between-participant (trait) from within-participant (state) enjoyment. Both levels predicted greater willingness to wait and higher comprehension. Trait enjoyment was associated with longer passage and word reading times. State enjoyment was linked to longer passage times, increased word skipping, faster early word processing, and increased regressions, suggesting more efficient first-pass reading accompanied by increased rereading. These findings suggest that momentary fluctuations in intrinsic motivation dynamically shape reading strategies, revealing a close link between perceived value and the allocation of cognitive resources during text processing.
The Ontogenetic Origins of Gendered Motives for Group Formidability and their Relation to Political Ideology among Adult Members of the Dominant Group
Erik Kjos Fonn; Joakim Haugane Zahl; BjĂžrn Dahl Kristensen; Lotte Thomsen
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Recent decades have seen a surge of research revealing the core, early-emerging psychological building-blocks for navigating human societies. Yet, how such core motives operate across life, undergirding political ideology, remains unknown. Here we use the same kind of minimal, abstract group stimuli across the lifespan to show that gendered preferences for majority groups manifest among preschoolers and adults alike (but not among preverbal infants) and that they motivate support for sustaining intergroup hierarchies (e.g., ethnic persecution, militarism, and social welfare opposition) among adults. Preschool (N = 317) boys, but not girls, preferred majority rather than minority members, whereas infants (N = 180) chose randomly between the two. Among adults (N = 3467), males also liked the majority more than females and these coalitional preferences correlated robustly with political ideology. These results indicate that gendered motives for intergroup formidability are rooted in earliest childhood once children begin navigating peer relationships independently.
The Co-PRIME Grant Proposal: Detection, Prevention and Early Intervention for (Co-)Regulation Problems in Infants and Toddlers and Their Caregivers
Sara De Bruyn; Koen Ponnet; Guido Van Hal; Binu Singh; Bea Van den Bergh; Monica Dhar; Ward Deferm; Manon Hoedt; Febe Hertveldt; Fien Plochaet
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Background: A major challenge for the newborn child is to acquire the capacity to regulate internal states (physiological, emotional, and cognitive) and behavior. The child’s self-regulation stems from successful co-regulation between the baby and its caregiver(s) and constitutes the basis of mental health. Regulation problems (RP) in early childhood, characterized by difficulties with sleeping, eating, and excessive crying, are considered potential precursors to developmental psychopathology and long-term mental health challenges. Based on growing empirical and clinical evidence, we hypothesize that child RP largely result from/persist through co-regulation difficulties within the child-parent dyad, which itself is largely impacted by stress and regulation difficulties of the parent. Hence, reducing stress and enhancing parents’ regulation abilities may be an optimal gateway for improving self-regulation in the child, thereby potentially preventing future mental health problems. To date, however, there is a dearth of scientific research on this topic, both with respect to (1) the characterization, definition, detection and understanding of early regulation (problems), and (2) the organization of preventive care around early regulation in young children (0-2 years old). Objectives and methods: The Co-regulation as the foundation of PReventive Infant MEntal health care project (Co-PRIME, see www.Co-PRIME.be) will address these gaps in four studies aimed at: (1) quantifying micro parent-infant self- and co-regulation dynamics within a ‘biobehavioral synchrony framework’ in a cohort of dysregulated children and their families enrolled in an intensive intervention program, as compared to matched controls; (2) understanding the prevalence and contextual risk and protective factors of RP by combining a longitudinal panel study among a cohort of parents at three developmental time points (infant age: 3, 6 and 12 months), and semi-structured interviews; (3) pinpointing the missed opportunities in the preventive care for young children with RP by interviewing parents, childcare teachers and health care providers; and (4) developing and testing a 0th/1st line evidence-based health care program empowering parents in the co-regulation process with their child by conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Results: This project is embedded within the Flemish (Belgium) context, designed and executed within a multidisciplinary and interuniversity research consortium, and received funding by Flemish FWO-SBO (Strategic Basic Research). In this article, we present the rationale, overall design and methodology and timeline of the Co-PRIME project, that runs from October 2023 until September 2028. Conclusion: Together with our committed stakeholders, this multidisciplinary project aims to be a game changer in the early prevention of mental health care in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium and beyond. Trial registration: not applicable.
Linking interpersonal childhood adversity to mental health: A scoping review of trust, mentalizing, agency and interpersonal emotion regulation as candidate social-transactional mechanisms
Ritika Chokhani; Alex Lloyd; Essi Viding; Mattia Gerin; Eamon McCrory
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Objectives: The neurocognitive social-transactional model posits that interpersonal adversity during childhood heightens risk for mental health difficulties by altering how individuals engage with their social world. We conducted a scoping review to map current evidence for four candidate mechanisms, Trust, Mentalizing, Agency and Interpersonal Emotion Regulation (IER), linking interpersonal childhood adversity to mental health outcomes. Methods: We systematically searched four databases and identified quantitative studies that measured interpersonal childhood adversity, one or more of the candidate mechanisms, and mental health outcomes in the same sample. A second reviewer independently assessed 10% of records at each screening stage. Results: 78 studies met inclusion criteria. For Trust (15 studies), interpersonal childhood adversity was associated with greater distrust and credulity which in turn predicted internalizing, externalizing and personality disorder symptoms. For Mentalizing (37 studies), it was associated with heightened uncertainty and reduced accuracy in understanding mental states, which was consistently linked with internalizing, externalizing, psychosis and personality disorder symptoms. For Agency (26 studies), it was associated with a more external locus of control, which was associated with internalizing and psychosis symptoms. Evidence for IER was limited (3 studies) but suggested potential links to internalizing symptoms. Across mechanisms, findings were largely cross-sectional and based on self- report, with few longitudinal or task-based studies. Conclusion: Trust, Mentalizing and Agency emerged as promising transdiagnostic social-transactional mechanisms through which interpersonal childhood adversity shapes mental health outcomes, with more limited evidence for IER. Despite methodological gaps, these mechanisms may represent tractable targets for intervention research and trauma-informed clinical practice.
System-aligned Violence: Support for Vigilantism and System Justification in South Africa
Jonathan Jackson; Benjamin James Roberts; Steven L. Gordon
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We examine the psychological foundations of public support for vigilantism in South Africa. According to system justification theory, people are motivated to defend and legitimise the status quo, especially when they are psychologically or materially dependent on it. System-justifying individuals uphold the state’s authority in part by recognising the legitimacy of institutions to resolve conflict and impose legal punishment. Logically, people who justify the system should oppose vigilante violence because it threatens the state’s monopoly on legitimate force. Yet, does this hold in South Africa, a context in which crime is politicised and foreignness is frequently framed as a societal threat? Using nationally representative survey data, we show that system justification is positively associated with support for vigilantism against criminals, and that this association is stronger among respondents who report prior participation in anti-immigrant violence. Our findings complicate the standard view of system justification as inherently stabilising: they suggest that when perceived threats are symbolically tied to outsiders, defending “the system” may involve endorsing exclusionary rather than restraining violence.
Abstractness and Social Interaction Through a New Lens: The Potentialities of Hyperscanning in Naturalistic Settings
Ilenia Falcinelli; Chiara Fini; Anna M. Borghi
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Concepts, typically classified into more abstract (e.g., “chair”) and more concrete (e.g., “friendship”), are the mental shortcuts that people commonly use to organize knowledge and navigate their inner and external world. Research on categorization highlights social interaction as crucial for the acquisition and use of abstract concepts. Behavioral evidence shows that people typically learn abstract concepts primarily through language; even after acquisition, they feel less confident about their meaning and tend to rely more on others to refine or negotiate them. Neuroscientific studies support this evidence by showing a greater activation of social and linguistic brain areas for concepts higher in abstractness. However, existing literature relies on constrained experimental methods, testing participants mainly in isolation (“single-brain” approach) or, when using more interactive (conversational) paradigms, they have two main limitations: (I) using non-naturalistic settings; (II) extracting only behavioral indices. Within the emerging “second-person neuroscience” panorama, we contend that hyperscanning—a technique consisting of the simultaneous recording of brain activity from multiple individuals—may be ideally suited to adding evidence on the link between abstract concepts and social interactions by capturing Inter-Brain Synchronization (IBS) of individuals during real-time social exchanges. The availability of portable devices further broadens hyperscanning potential, allowing for the study of brain-to-brain coupling in more ecological environments. Drawing on prior hyperscanning evidence from learning to free conversations, we contend that using hyperscanning in naturalistic settings, with the due care, may offer a novel and interesting lens to investigate the role of social interactions for abstractness, thus enriching categorization research.
Computational Modeling of Rhythmic Expectations: Perspectives, Pitfalls, and Prospects
Atser Damsma; Jonathan Cannon; Lauren Fink; Keith B. Doelling; Jessica Adrienne Grahn; Henkjan Honing; Thomas Kaplan; Edward Large; Fleur L. Bouwer
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Rhythmic structure enables precise temporal expectations that are essential to human communication, including speech and music. Computational models have been developed to account for how humans perceive, produce, and learn rhythmic sequences. However, it is unclear how different types of models relate to each other and how they can be evaluated. In this review and perspective, we discuss how three major classes of models – entrainment, probabilistic, and timekeeper models – have been used to study rhythmic expectations. We critically assess each model class in terms of its level of explanation, the rhythmic behaviors it captures, its ability to account for learning and enculturation, and its ability to integrate other features, such as pitch. We show that entrainment, probabilistic, and timekeeper models differ substantially in the aspects of rhythmic expectations they can capture. To move the field forward, we propose that model comparison and integration are crucial. We identify key challenges to this effort, such as the varying nature of the input and output signals and divergent modeling goals. To address these challenges, we arrive at several practical recommendations: to equate input and output signals when comparing models, to consider several model outcomes beyond goodness-of-fit measures in model evaluation, to use model-integration efforts to inform theory building, and to make code and data openly accessible. Ultimately, understanding how models of rhythmic expectations relate, and how features in these models account for behavioral, neural, and cognitive aspects of rhythmic expectations, will deepen our understanding of a core aspect of human behavior.
Cueing autobiographical memory in young and older adults: an exploration of the effect of cue type on retrieval rates and memory characteristics
Ali Mair
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Current theories of autobiographical memory (AM) emphasise the involvement of several non-memory auxiliary processes, such as executive function and mental imagery. However, the contribution of these processes to AM retrieval under different circumstances remains poorly understood, particularly in the context of ageing. The extent to which different AM tasks rely on auxiliary processing could explain variability in age-related AM deficits across different contexts. The current study explores the effect of cues varying in format (words, questions, sentences, photos, and videos) and content (e.g., event cues, evaluative cues, imagery cues) on AM retrieval rates in young and older adults. In Experiment 1, young and older adults (n=101) retrieved AMs in response to a set of 208 cues; dependent variables were the proportion of cues that produced a memory, and ratings of the characteristics of the retrieved memories. Results showed that retrieval rates were influenced by both cue format and cue content, with cues that most closely mapped the task requirements producing the largest proportion of memories, regardless of other cue features (e.g., detail, imagery). Study 2 collected data from a separate group of 106 adults concerning their interpretation of the same cues, and analysed the responses in relation to the data from Experiment 1. Both retrieval rates and memory characteristics were related to features of the cues, such as specificity, theme, and emotional content. Data suggested that less easily accessed memories tended to be more autobiographically important. All materials and data – including 2500 brief descriptions of participants’ autobiographical memories – are freely available for further exploration.
Revisiting the Relationship between Birth Order and Romantic Jealousy: No Support for an Effect in Four Samples
Thomas Victor Pollet; Billy Fitzpatrick; Sophia Meziani; Ellie May Pashley; Ema Sefcikova
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Birth order has long been argued to be an important individual difference variable for domains such as personality and achievement. However, after many decades of research, the evidence for a birth order effect is scarce at best. Less is known about the role of birth order for social relationships, in particular romantic relationships. This paper re-examines a previously reported finding that firstborns report less romantic jealousy than laterborns. We present data from four samples (total n > 950) with a MANOVA design, mirroring the study on which this original claim was based. Across all samples and multiple robustness checks, we found no statistical support for the claim that firstborns report less jealousy than laterborns. Both frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses did not support a birth order effect on jealousy (frequentist estimate: r = .08, 95% CI [-.018, .172]). These findings challenge the notion of birth order as a significant predictor for romantic jealousy and suggest that research on romantic relationships may yield greater insight by focussing on other individual difference variables than birth order.
A Japan-origin Motivational Framework for Diversive and Specific Curiosity: Development of the English Version of the Japanese Epistemic Curiosity Scale
Kazuji Nishikawa; Ryota Kanai; Hiro Taiyo Hamada; Jamie Ward; Takashi Kusumi
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Curiosity is a fundamental human drive to explore, the desire to know. In particular, epistemic curiosity is the central construct in individual differences in curiosity. Epistemic curiosity is intellectual and cognitive curiosity. Japanese studies in epistemic curiosity have developed independently, based on Hatano and Inagaki's theory. Studies have been conducted on the role of learning and education for the two types of epistemic curiosity, diversive and specific curiosity. The Japan version of the Epistemic Curiosity (J-EC) scale, which measures these two types as a personality trait, has been developed based upon empirical studies using the J-EC scale. We thought it was necessary to develop an English version of the J-EC scale, in order to be able to make international comparisons of levels of curiosity among Japanese people. In this study, we translated the J-EC scale into English and assessed its factor structure, reliability, and validity. Results of factor analysis and correlation analysis validated the factor structure of diversive and specific curiosity, and the reliability and validity of diversive and specific curiosity subscales almost perfectly in accordance with our hypotheses.
Virtual Grid Aggression Tasks Reveal Intention-Dependent Cooperation and Affective Responses to Digital Agents
Kornelius Immanuel Kammler-SĂŒcker; Moritz Burghardt; Melissa R. M. Mohr; Sihui Zhang; Christoph Korn
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Aggressive and cooperative responses can both be adaptive depending on the intentions and the appearance of the interaction partners. However, few approaches combine dynamic decision-making between aggression and cooperation with controlled and realistic social cues. We developed two virtual grid aggression tasks (GATs) to study how competitive versus cooperative intentions of non-player characters (NPCs) of different appearances shape behavior, affect, and physiological responses. In a screen-based study (Experiment 1; N = 30), participants interacted with geometric NPCs in a grid-foraging task permitting both mutual gain and competitive blocking. In an immersive VR version (Experiment 2; N = 57), NPCs were rendered as life-sized avatars varying in affiliative appearance, via facial manipulation of apparent trustworthiness in stylized male characters, or participant-specific photorealistic “doppelgangers” (NPC avatar styles “T-NPC” and “D-NPC”). Across both studies, participants adjusted cooperation to NPC intention: cooperation increased toward cooperative NPCs and declined toward competitive NPCs. Competitive NPC intention also elicited higher anger evaluations in both environments. In VR, affiliative appearance predicted self-reported identification with NPCs in the hypothesized direction, independent of avatar style. In addition, intimidation responses and stress-related physiological measures differentiated avatar styles: stylized trust-manipulated avatars induced higher intimidation, heart rate, and respiration, and lower heart rate variability, whereas photorealistic doppelgangers elicited lower arousal and greater visual engagement. Trait aggression predicted anger ratings for competitive but not cooperative NPCs. Exploratory moderation effects with gender appeared appeared in specific VR conditions for trait aggression and self-reported identification with NPCs variables. These results support virtual GATs as experimentally controllable platforms for studying aggression and cooperation-related affect in immersive social environments. Thus GATs can be used to investigate interpersonal predictors and the role of identification in dyadic interactions that allow for cooperation and aggressive competition. The presented approach links social decision-making to perceptual, physiological, and identification-based responses within a unified framework.
Felt and Perceived Musical Emotions: A Replication and Extension of Kallinen and Ravaja (2006)
Scott Bannister; James Cannon; Sarah Hambly; Freya Bailes; Hyunah Cho; Alinka Greasley
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In music and emotion research, a crucial consideration is the relationship between felt and perceived emotions. A key study in understanding these relationships was published by Kallinen and Ravaja (2006) titled “Emotion perceived and emotion felt: Same and different”, in which five empirical hypotheses were investigated. However, this study has never been replicated. This study aimed to replicate and conceptually extend Kallinen and Ravaja (2006). Participants (N = 60, mean age = 31.93) listened to 12 one-minute music excerpts selected a priori to express one of four basic emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear), and provide ratings for 16 emotion adjectives (to calculate dimensions of valence, arousal, positive activation, and negative activation), first for emotions perceived in the music, and second for emotions felt by the participant. Participants completed trait inventories including behavioural inhibition and activation scales, neurotic-anxiety and sensation-seeking questionnaires, and trait empathy measures. Our replication largely reproduced results from the 2006 study: Felt valence was overall more positive than perceived, with opposite patterns found for arousal, positive activation and negative activation; emotion ratings also varied across music expressing joy, sadness, and fear. However, no effects of individual trait characteristics were replicated. Although successful, this replication differs from the original research in its interpretation of how data support the empirical hypotheses, suggesting little support for any hypothesis. Findings highlight complexities of replicating psychological research, and the importance of hypothesis-driven research to develop from theoretical models that enable specific predictions and outline the conditions for relevant evidence.
Beyond Valence: Arousal as a Core Dimension of Affective Polarization
Jakob Kasper; Bert N. Bakker; Yphtach Lelkes; Gijs Schumacher
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Although affective polarization is fundamentally an affective construct, existing theories and measures focus almost exclusively on evaluative valence, largely overlooking emotional arousal. Building on the Circumplex Model of Affect, we develop and evaluate a two-dimensional framework of affective reactions toward political parties and affective polarization that incorporates emotional valence and arousal. Across three studies conducted in the Netherlands (N=984), the United Kingdom (N=1,001), and the United States (N=1,000), we show that feeling thermometers function as measures of valence and that valence and arousal represent empirically distinct dimensions of affective reactions. We then demonstrate that the level of emotional arousal provides incremental validity over traditional, valence-based measures of affective polarization, yielding additional and often stronger associations with key political correlates such as political engagement, ideological extremity, and democratic attitudes. These findings advance the conceptualization and measurement of affective polarization by incorporating arousal as a distinct dimension and clarifying when and why affective polarization is most strongly linked to political behavior and democratic attitudes.
Does Contractualism Shape Trust and Perceived Agency in Social Robots?
Helena Gil-Buitrago; Luis Marcos Vidal; Clara Pretus
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Social robots are increasingly envisioned as future companions due to the many advantages they offer, such as assisting the elderly and providing emotional support to hospitalized patients. However, to mitigate their potential risks and ensure public trust, they must be designed according to ethical principles aligned with human values. While utilitarian and deontological frameworks have traditionally guided ethical decision-making in artificial agents, we propose a contractualist framework as a more effective alternative. In this study, we investigated how different ethical frameworks, utilitarianism, deontology, and contractualism, affect perceptions of both robots and humans in terms of their moral trustworthiness, reliability, moral agency, complexity, and intentionality. Our results indicate that agents using a contractualist approach are perceived as more reliable, morally trustworthy, and morally agentic than those using a utilitarian framework. Additionally, contractualist agents were viewed as more reliable than deontological ones. These findings suggest that contractualism may offer a more favorable ethical foundation for the design of socially acceptable and trustworthy AI systems.
Case co-twin study design as a methodology to quantify the effects of life and social adversities: The ImmunoTwin cohort
Dominika Repcikova; Dmitry V. Kuznetsov; Archibold Mposhi; Lena Weigel; Megan Buchanan; Jeanne Le ClĂ©ac’h; Conchita D’Ambrosio; Claus Vögele; Martin Diewald; Jonathan Turner
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Life and social adversities experienced before adulthood are decisive drivers of later life health inequalities, which hinge on immune, endocrine and epigenetic changes that reflect an individual’s interaction with the environment. Since monozygotic (MZ) twins share the same genetic background and perinatal environment, they provide a robust approach to identify environmental influences on biological features while controlling genetic confounders. We screened MZ and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs (aged of 17 to 32 years) from the German TwinLife study for recent and time-distant adversities in their psychosocial environment (PSE). Here, we present three statistical approaches we developed to quantify adverse experiences in 739 twin pairs (349 MZ, 390 DZ). We calculated divergence scores based on score differences between each twin pair. By combining these approaches, we identified adversity-divergent twins (144 MZ, 173 DZ), suggesting that in approximately 41% - 44% of twin pairs, there was a clear divergence in their adversarial experiences and how they interpreted their PSE. Variance modelling suggested that 43% of the adversity experienced by the twins was due to their unique environment, while 23% was from their shared environment while 33% of the variance was explained by genetic factors.
Using Large Language Models to Estimate Belief Strength in Reasoning
Jérémie Beucler; Zoe Alexandra Purcell; Lucie Charles; Wim De Neys
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Accurately quantifying belief strength in heuristics-and-biases tasks is crucial yet methodologically challenging. In this paper, we introduce an automated method leveraging large language models (LLMs) to systematically measure and manipulate belief strength. We specifically tested this method in the widely used “lawyer-engineer” base-rate neglect task, in which stereotypical descriptions (e.g., someone enjoying mathematical puzzles) conflict with normative base-rate information (e.g., engineers represent a very small percentage of the sample). Using this approach, we created an open-access database containing over 100,000 unique items systematically varying in stereotype-driven belief strength. Validation studies demonstrate that our LLM-derived belief strength measure correlates strongly with human typicality ratings and robustly predicts human choices in a base-rate neglect task. Additionally, our method revealed substantial and previously unnoticed variability in stereotype-driven belief strength in popular base-rate items from existing research, underlining the need to control for this in future studies. We further highlight methodological improvements achievable by refining the LLM prompt, as well as ways to enhance cross-cultural validity. The database presented here serves as a powerful resource for researchers, facilitating rigorous, replicable, and theoretically precise experimental designs, as well as enabling advancements in cognitive and computational modeling of reasoning. To support its use, we provide the R package baserater, which allows researchers to access the database to apply or adapt the method to their own research.
Environmental influences on early numerical development - A comparison between South Africa and the UK
Elizaveta Ivanova; Parvin Nemati; Elizabeth Henning; Mojtaba Soltanlou
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While environment influences the development of numerical abilities, most research comes from Western countries ("the Minority World"), leading to potential overgeneralisation to non-Western contexts ("the Majority World"). This study examined early numerical development and environmental influences in 94 UK children (Mage = 3.66 years, SD = 0.55, 51 girls) and 102 South African children (Mage = 4.46 years, SD = 0.48, 45 girls). UK children, while being younger, outperformed South African children. Whereas age, caregiver expectations, and multilingualism predicted UK children's numerical performance, surprisingly, none of the environmental factors predicted South African children's performance. These findings highlight different influences of environmental factors in early childhood education in different communities, urging caution in applying Minority World models universally.
Attempts to investigate what words trivia experts focus on in quiz questions: Human-AI comparison through “LLM-as-a-judge” approach
Masaru Shirasuna; Yuto Yoshida
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Computational capacity and knowledge of humans are less than those of large language models (LLMs). However, in buzzer quizzes, human trivia experts can often identify the correct answer even from insufficient information such as only a few words. Investigating how they can make fast and accurate judgments is expected to highlight new characteristics of human intelligence, but little is known about that. We predicted that trivia experts and LLMs differed in terms of which words/phrases in a question were important to lead to the answer. Then, we compared experts’ performance with LLMs’ performance in solving Japanese trivia questions through LLM-as-a-judge approach: We regarded LLMs as evaluators and then used their outputs as benchmarks for experts’ evaluations. First, we constructed a quiz question processing system that tokenized question texts based on morphological analyses and then numerically evaluated the importance of each token using GPT-4o/GPT-4.1. Then, we conducted a behavioral experiment wherein actual trivia experts were asked to numerically evaluate the importance of each token, as LLMs performed. As a result, trivia experts regarded various words/phrases as important even if each word/phrase did not seem to have strong associations with the answer. Therefore, experts’ evaluation scores tended to be accumulated faster than LLMs’ ones. It is implied that experts were superior in making inductive inferences (e.g., finding a common concept even from few items) compared to LLMs. Our findings will be a scaffolding toward designing more advanced question-answering systems because AI designers can apply human cognitive processes to implement LLMs’ information processing.
What predicts faith development? A longitudinal analysis with faith development interviews
Zhuo Job Chen; Heinz Streib
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This study investigates predictors and outcomes of faith development, drawing on Fowler’s broad definition of faith as the search for meaning in life and the hierarchical typology of faith styles assessed through the Faith Development Interview (FDI). The sample comprised 324 two-wave longitudinal cases collected over two decades of mixed-method research in the USA and Germany, with an average interval of 7.39 years (SD = 4.34) between assessments. Robust predictors of faith development included low agreement with the truth of texts and teachings subscale of the Religious Schema Scale (RSS), low frequency of prayer, and high openness to experience (NEO-FFI), while xenosophia/inter-religious dialog emerged as a moderately significant predictor. Predictive validity of FDI was demonstrated, though with limited strength. The findings further suggest that faith development and religiosity may follow different pathways, underscoring the need for future qualitative inquiry into the diverse biographical trajectories of faith development.
A framework for culturally adapting mental mHealth apps
Noorah Ibrahim S Alnaghaimshi; Michael Proeve; Scott Richard Clark; Mathias Baumert
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Mobile health (mHealth) apps are increasingly used to deliver evidence-based mental health interventions, expanding access to mental health care. Internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, including both web- and app-based delivery formats, is effective but often excludes ethnic minority and migrant populations, raising concerns about their cultural relevance and impact. Cultural adaptation of mental health interventions, particularly mHealth apps, is crucial for their effectiveness and accessibility to diverse populations. However, current frameworks for cultural adaptation often lack guidance for digital contexts, hindering their efficacy. Here, we propose a new framework for addressing this shortcoming that integrates four layers: cultural adaptation of the therapeutic foundation, culturally grounding features and reframing standard tools, content and messaging adaptation, and UX/UI adaptation. A co-design approach and prototyping are key within this framework, as engaging community members from the outset ensures cultural insights are captured and grounded in lived experience. The framework provides a practical, inclusive, and ethical approach to designing culturally relevant digital health products.
Assessing vocal gender incongruence in singing contexts: Creation of the SInG Scale
Logan Barrett; J. Marchand Knight; Peter Pfordresher
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Background: Singing-related gender incongruence is a meaningful source of distress for many transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals, yet existing measures of gender dysphoria focus primarily on speaking voice and do not address singing-specific experiences. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Singing Incongruence and Gender (SInG) Scale, a measure designed to assess singing-related gender dysphoria. Methods: A total of 712 participants (147 TNB; 565 cisgender) completed 34 items assessing psychological, social, and physiological aspects of singing-related incongruence. Exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency metrics, and convergent and predictive validity tests were conducted to evaluate the scale’s psychometric properties. Results: Factor analysis yielded a four-factor solution—Misgendering, Anxiety, Effort, and Satisfaction—with all subscales demonstrating strong internal reliability. TNB participants scored significantly higher than cisgender participants on Misgendering, Anxiety, and Satisfaction. The SInG Scale showed moderate correlations with independent measures of speaking- and singing-voice gender incongruence. Conclusion: The SInG Scale provides a psychometrically supported, multidimensional measure of singing-related gender dysphoria. This tool may help clinicians, educators, and researchers better identify and address the unique challenges faced by TNB singers.
How Do Children Construct a Concept of Age?
Kosta Boskovic; David Barner
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Acquiring an adult-like understanding of age involves coordinating knowledge across several domains of abstract content (e.g., time, number, biology). In the present study, we explored children’s early understanding of age and how it is informed by features including size, facial and bodily morphology, and numerical knowledge. Across two pre-registered experiments, we tested 215 3- to 5-year-old children on their identification of which of two figures is older. Like previous studies, we found that children often confound age with size. However, we also found that this tendency was eliminated when children were provided with less extreme differences in size, had access to information regarding numerical age, or when facial and bodily cues to age were more pronounced. We also found that, overall, children’s age judgments were related to their mastery of number words, suggesting a role for numeracy in understanding age. These results suggest that, rather than conflating age with size, children use multiple converging cues to reason about age beginning early in development.
Effect of Perspective Taking on Moral Judgments in the context of Interpersonal Conflicts in U.S. samples
Murat Kezer; Sara D. Hodges
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Perspective taking is often assumed to be morally beneficial and a key method for resolving conflicts. This research investigated two primary questions regarding the role of perspective taking in moral judgments in conflict situations. First, does taking the perspective of an opponent in an interpersonal conflict affect one's own moral judgments of that person? Second, does observing an individual engaging in perspective taking during an interpersonal conflict influence a third-party observer's moral judgments of that individual? Across three studies (1a, 1b, and 1c), participants who described a memorable interpersonal conflict were instructed to include the other person's thoughts and feelings (perspective-taking condition) or were given no such instruction (control condition). Results consistently supported the first hypothesis. Individuals in the perspective-taking condition judged the other party in the conflict as less wrong compared to those in the control condition. This effect was observed in between-subjects (Studies 1a and 1c) and within-subjects (Study 1b) designs, using both student and online samples. However, exploratory analyses indicated that despite taking the other person's perspective, participants still judged themselves as significantly more right than the person with whom they had the conflict. In Studies 2 and 3, third-party observers read conflict descriptions (collected from Studies 1a/1b or an online source) that either included or did not include perspective taking by the author of the description, or varied the degree of perspective taking. Contrary to the second hypothesis, observers did not judge perspective-takers as more right (or less wrong) in the conflict compared to non-perspective-takers. This finding was consistent even when the amount of perspective taking was manipulated. In conclusion, taking another person’s perspective serves as a useful tool for those involved in a conflict to mitigate their own harsh judgments of their opponent, but merely observing this act does not influence third-party moral judgments regarding who is right or wrong in the conflict.
Aperiodic EEG features of cognition: A systematic review
Klara Hemmerich; Alessia Santoni; Sara Stottmeier; Luca Ronconi
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A defining feature of electroencephalography (EEG) data is its 1/f-like spectral structure, wherein power decreases as frequency increases. This feature captures non-oscillatory activity, referred to as aperiodic activity, and has gained renewed attention as an indicator of neural mechanisms such as excitation-inhibition balance and neural noise, with a functional role in cognitive processing. However, despite its increasing use in cognitive neuroscience, the extent to which aperiodic EEG parameters reliably relate to cognitive functions remains unclear. Following PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review examined research exploring the relationship between aperiodic EEG features in cognitive processes in healthy adults, aged ~18–65. The results obtained from 45 studies are presented within three domains: (i) processing speed, perception, and attention, (ii) memory, working memory, and executive functions, and (iii) language, learning, and complex processes. Across studies, aperiodic EEG parameters, particularly the aperiodic exponent, showed relatively consistent associations with cognitive processing. Steeper spectra were typically observed during conditions requiring inhibitory control, conflict resolution, and encoding of information. Instead, flatter spectra accompanied sensory engagement, cognitive flexibility, and memory recall. Both resting-state and task-related measures indicated that aperiodic activity reflects a combination of stable, trait-like neural efficiency and flexible, state-dependent adaptability. The reviewed evidence supports the functional relevance of aperiodic EEG parameters as indices of cortical state regulation, reflecting shifts in excitation-inhibition balance, neural noise, and arousal. Future work should prioritize methodological standardization and extend investigations across developmental and clinical populations to clarify the generality and mechanistic basis of the aperiodic-cognition relationship.
Design and Validation of The Female Expanded Sexual Response Scale
Isabella Susana VĂ©lez Camacho
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This study aimed to develop and validate a novel Female Expanded Sexual Response Scale (FESRS). Additionaly, it explores the relationship between sexual response and mindfulness. Development of the scale consisted of three phases: (1) item generation and scale development, (2) psychometric evaluation (reliability testing, factor analysis, and construct validity comparisons with the Sexual Mindfulness Measure), and (3) exploratory analysis of age group differences on FESRS subscales. The FESRS demonstrated strong internal consistency and a confirmed three-factor structure consisting of Sexual Desire, Orgasmic Capacity, and Altered States of Consciousness with significant positive associations between mindfulness and expanded sexual response. The exploratory analysis also showed significant higher scores for the older age groups in the Orgasmic Capacity subscale compared to the younger age group, possibly due to increased body awareness, or reduced performance anxiety. These findings highlight the potential of the FESRS as a psychometric tool for assessing multidimensional sexual response, emphasizing the interplay between mindfulness and sexual well-being, with implications for both clinical and research settings.
Learning videos with speaking avatars: Impact on learner performance and cognitive load
Audrey Sebbag; Jean-Christophe SAKDAVONG
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In the scientific literature, avatars are representations that can take various forms and fulfill multiple functions and roles for learners. The recent emergence of ultra-realistic avatars generated by artificial intelligence presents new and pressing questions for educators and instructional designers. What is the true impact of these virtual pedagogical agents on learning performance? Do they genuinely enhance knowledge acquisition, or do they represent a significant risk of inducing extraneous cognitive overload? This paper presents a study investigating the impact of a realistic AI-generated avatar in an educational video on learners' performance and cognitive load, compared to an identical condition with no avatar. The study was guided by the hypothesis that the avatar's presence would be detrimental to learning by increasing the cognitive load imposed on the learner. An experiment was conducted with 27 participants who were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. The results showed no statistically significant differences in either learning performance or perceived cognitive load between the groups. While these findings align with the "persona zero effect," the analysis revealed a critical methodological insight: 81.5% of participants (22 out of 27) completed the experiment on a mobile phone. This massive skew towards mobile use likely diminished the avatar's visual presence and impact, offering a concrete explanation for the observed lack of effect. This paper thus highlights the viewing device as a critical confounding variable in research on pedagogical agents.
Two Wrongs Is What Makes It More Right: How Retaliatory Incivility Receives Social Leniency
Merrick Robinson Osborne; Suhaib Abdurahman; Ali Omrani; Jackson Trager; Morteza Dehghani
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Incivility is largely denounced; yet, our focus on its ills has inhibited our ability to determine when incivility could garner rewards. We propose that retaliatory incivility – i.e., incivility in response to someone else’s incivility — is seen as more virtuous than instigatory incivility, and consequently generates more social rewards for actors. To test these hypotheses, we used observational data from Reddit (2,252,607 comments) to compare how many social rewards users were granted when they responded uncivilly to civil or uncivil posts from other users. We then experimentally confirm our hypotheses in a sample of Reddit users, as well as five samples of participants from different contexts of group incivility; hockey fans, baseball fans, employees, workplace teams. Together, our findings challenge conventional wisdom: retaliatory incivility can be a surprising path to social rewards. Thus, as incivility rises internationally, our findings have far-reaching theoretical and practical implications.
Bounded rationality and human development
Samuel David Jones
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Although multi-scale, multi-directional feedback between genes, brain, cognition, and behaviour is the cornerstone of well-evidenced interactionist models of human development (e.g., Gottlieb, 2007), contemporary theories of neurodevelopmental variation and disorder characteristically describe only unidirectional cascades across this hierarchy. To complement this view, I present a new theory of the cognitive and behavioural origins of individual differences in human development. This account is grounded in the ideas of restricted search and satisficing that are central to bounded rationality (Simon, 1955, 1956, 1990), and which set this account apart from claims that adaptive agents optimise utility functions or maximise their learning. Using the foundational model of bounded rationality (Simon, 1955) as a reference point, I integrate a broad contemporary literature on adaptive, restricted search and satisficing, and reciprocal influences on development and learning. This work motivates the novel position that, although adaptive, restricted search and satisficing not only amplify neurodevelopmental differences beyond their primary genetic and neurobiological origins but also provide a route by which disparate primary causal processes are anchored to common phenotypes. While the focus of this paper is on early developmental variation and conditions of clinical significance, I argue that bounded rationality offers a general paradigm through which to understand the emergence of individual differences across the lifespan, from psychopathology to expertise. The recommendation of this report is that cognitive and behavioural feedback should be embedded more widely into causal process models of the origins of individual differences in human development.
Optimizing Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions for Interpersonal Distress: Mechanisms, Prediction, and the Challenge of Engagement
Agata Jaremba; Sarah O'Reilly; Liam Mason; Tobias Nolte; Madiha Shaikh; CiarĂĄn O'Driscoll
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Background: Common mental health disorders (CMD) feature fluctuating emotional and interpersonal symptoms inadequately addressed by traditional weekly therapies. Ecological momentary interventions (EMI) offer potential for timely support, yet their mechanisms and optimal delivery contexts remain unclear. Aim: To examine dynamic symptom networks, proximal effectiveness, engagement predictors, and distress forecasting in adults with CMD. Methods: This secondary analysis of a randomized trial (N=77) compared mindfulness and mentalization micro-interventions triggered by personalized symptom thresholds. EMA data were collected 4x/daily for 28 days. We utilized Dynamic Exploratory Graph Analysis, generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) for proximal effects, and mixed-effects logistic regression for engagement and prediction. Results: Dynamic networks revealed stable communities (interpersonal threat, social connection, affective states) with mood as a key bridge. No significant proximal intervention effects were observed. Non-engagement was significantly predicted by high stress (OR = 1.21), elevated mood (OR = 1.22), and perceived criticism (OR = 1.22). Conversely, cumulative symptom triggers (OR = 0.69) and social contact (OR = 0.83) facilitated engagement. The dynamic prediction model achieved fair performance (AUC = 0.66) for next-beep distress. Beyond autoregressive effects, perceived support paradoxically predicted future distress (OR = 1.14), while warmth was protective (OR = 0.87). Conclusion: Micro-interventions operate through stable networks but yield cumulative rather than immediate benefits. That high stress and criticism impede intervention use despite high need highlights the necessity for context-sensitive, low-friction adaptive designs to align clinical need with receptivity.
The Structure Beneath 2SLS: A Mean and Covariance Approach to Instrumental Variables Regression
Alberto Maydeu-Olivares; Yves Rosseel
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Instrumental variables (IV) methods are central to econometrics, yet their connection to psychometric structural equation modeling (SEM) has remained largely unexplored. This article extends Browne’s weighted least squares (WLS) theory to multi-stage estimation of models that partition parameters into interdependent blocks, each estimated sequentially while conditioning on results from earlier stages. Within this unified framework, we show that the standard econometric estimator—two-stage least squares (2SLS)—is a special case of a multi-stage mean and covariance structure estimator. Under multivariate normality, SEM-based standard errors (SEs) are algebraically identical to econometric SEs under homoscedasticity, and Browne’s residual-based test coincides with Sargan’s overidentification test. Likewise, asymptotically distribution-free (ADF) SEs correspond exactly to heteroscedasticity-robust SEs, and Browne’s ADF residual test is asymptotically equivalent to Hansen’s J test. By revealing the mean–covariance structure underlying 2SLS, we clarify the conceptual and statistical unity between econometric IV estimation and psychometric SEM. The results demonstrate that both traditions rely on the same moment conditions, differ only in scope and inference, and can be viewed as complementary approaches within a single multi-stage estimation framework.
Young Life Evaluation in Decline: A Case Study of Norway
August Nilsson; Karoline Kopperud; Espen RĂžysamb; Tim Lomas; Lyle H Ungar; Ragnhild Bang Nes
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In 73% of the world’s countries, adults under 30 years of age report the highest life evaluation (i.e., happiness). A notable exception has emerged in North America and Northern Europe, where this pattern has reversed, with older adults reporting greater life evaluation than the young. We analyzed Gallup World Poll data from 2006–2024, covering 2.6 million respondents worldwide and 16,009 in Norway, to examine shifts in the age gap in life evaluation and their determinants. Norway is a particularly valuable case for illustrating this reversal: since ranking as the world’s happiest country in 2017, it has declined in both absolute terms and relative rankings, with national statistics revealing a pronounced well-being gap between young and old. We found that the decline in life evaluation scores in Norway largely reflects decreasing scores among young adults (18-30 years), whose scores have dropped significantly since 2017 (p < .001; d = 0.37) and are now markedly lower than those of older adults (p < .001; d = 0.41). We further confirmed that this trend is limited to a small set of countries; of all 2,508 linear correlations between age and life evaluation in different countries, 83% were negative, and only 2% were r > .10, which was the case in Norway 2022–2024. We examined potential explanations of the observed change in Norway. Only a few of the 70 variables in the Gallup World Poll seem potentially relevant for the increased age difference in life evaluations in Norway. Across multiple analyses we find the most important variables are i) stress-related factors (e.g., feeling well-rested and stress), and ii) economic standards (e.g., standard of living satisfaction and household income satisfaction). The study emphasizes the imperative for highly developed countries to prioritise the well-being of their young despite overall prosperity and high living standards.
The Temporal Dynamics of Social Interaction
Annemarie Wolff; Guillaume Dumas
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Social interactions require integrating information across multiple timescales, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We review evidence suggesting that intrinsic neural timescales (INTs) may be a key mechanism enabling this integration, with the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) serving as a critical hub during social interactions. INTs form a cortical hierarchy for multi-scale temporal processing, and differences in this hierarchy are linked to social impairments across neuropsychiatric conditions. The rTPJ dynamically integrates fast mirroring and slow mentalizing processes; inter-brain synchrony there predicts success in social interactions, while mismatched timescales between individuals cause communication breakdowns. We propose that this INT and rTPJ framework unifies dual-process theories within a single neurophysiological mechanism, providing a novel, testable account of social interactions and their impairments.
Reward responses to food stimuli across sensory modalities: hunger modulates wanting differentially for pictures and odors
Androula Savva; Anna Gerlicher; Lucile Rey; Marc Guitart-masip; Ata Ghaderi; Cynthia Bulik; Janina Seubert
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As a need state, hunger alters how we evaluate the rewarding perceptual properties of food. Whether this modulation targets specific components of food reward and to what extent it depends on the sensory modality through which food cues are presented remains understudied. This study examined whether hunger selectively modulates wanting versus liking for food, across visual and olfactory cues. Participants (N = 43) rated food, non-food, and disgusting stimuli during fasted and sated sessions, across the dimensions of liking and wanting. Our results show that hunger resulted in stronger increases in wanting for food cues than in liking. Contrary to expectations, this hunger-induced increase in wanting was more pronounced for food pictures than for food odors. Liking and wanting ratings for non-food cues remained unaffected regardless of state, though exploratory analyses suggested heightened wanting for aversive odors during hunger. Overall, our findings demonstrate that hunger selectively modulates motivational rather than hedonic components of reward in a content- and modality-specific manner. Taken together, our study highlights the need to consider both reward components and sensory modality when examining food reward. Systematic manipulation of these factors could enhance our understanding of multisensory reward integration in relation to food intake and provide insights that could inform interventions for maladaptive eating behaviors.
Distinct motor preparatory signals for coarse vs fine temporal control of action
Silvia Seghezzi; Elisabeth Parés-Pujolràs; Patrick Haggard
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Making each action at the right time is crucial for motor control. In this study, we investigated how two prominent motor preparatory processes identified in human EEG — beta-band desynchronization and the readiness potential (RP) — might each contribute to determining the time of a simple voluntary action. In our paradigm, participants learned when to act in each block of trials, based on probabilistic trial-by-trial feedback. A reward schedule reinforced a specific optimal time to act in some blocks, but allowed greater variability around the same mean action time in other blocks. We found that contralateral motor beta-band power at the beginning of each trial increased with the mean waiting time in each block. Computationally, this pattern is consistent with a neural implementation of distance-to-bound for a noisy accumulation process, in which baseline motor activity starts off closer to an action-triggering bound when fast actions are required. In contrast, the RP was independent of the mean waiting time before action, but its slope increased when participants developed a precise motor plan. We suggest that beta desynchronization and the RP track distinct, complementary processes involved in the temporal control of action. While beta-power activity at trial onset is consistent with a neural implementation of urgency, the RP captures an internal decision variable that reflects a noisy accumulation process. Simulations suggest that acting at the right time may involve increasing the strength of the input to this accumulator, which can cause the decision variable to drift towards the decision bound.
Communicative intent, ostensive feedback and the resolution of interpretative indeterminacy: The psychology of (dis)agreement.
Wouter Wolf
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Humans are highly skilled at establishing mental state alignment through communication during collaborative interactions. Yet there is still much debate about how they do this effectively. Recently, scholars have argued that the capacity to understand others’ communicative intent facilitates mental state alignment by constraining the meaning of communicative expressions to a domain of mutual relevance. Although this constraint is likely an important facilitator of human communication, it is unlikely to completely resolve the interpretative indeterminacy inherent to humans’ open-ended communication systems (i.e., inferring the intended meaning of arbitrary signals amid quasi-infinite interpretive possibilities). Here, I argue that understanding communicative intent facilitates mental state alignment in a crucial, previously underappreciated way. Understanding the cooperative intention underlying ostension solves the problem of ‘ambiguous affective reference’ inherent to emotional expressions in response to communicative acts. Specifically, it constrains the interpretation of these expressions to be about the communicative act’s content (i.e., ostensive feedback). Consequently, ostensive negative feedback facilitates the negotiation of mental states during perceived mental misalignment (disagreement) until both individuals use positive ostensive feedback (affirmation) to indicate that they deem their mental states sufficiently aligned for the purposes of their interaction (agreement). I argue that this capacity facilitates much of humans’ sociality.
Beliefs about the origins of musical characteristics
Zachary Blake Wasserman; Haley Elisabeth Kragness
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Though people dance, sing, and interact musically all across the world, there is substantial individual variation in musical abilities. What accounts for these differences - talent, practice, or opportunity? Across two experiments, we investigated lay beliefs about the origins of musicality. In an initial exploratory study (Experiment 1), undergraduates at a small North American university (N = 83) were asked to (1) give open-ended explanations for prompts about musical strengths, then (2) rate the causal contribution of genetic (e.g., inheritance), environmental (e.g., parent support), and personal choice (e.g., effort) factors for those same attributes. In Experiment 2, we replicated and extended Experiment 1 by asking participants recruited from Prolific (N = 92) to rate the causal contribution of genetic, environmental, and personal choice factors to musical strengths as well as weaknesses. Overall, participants tended to rate personal choices highest and genetic factors lowest in importance for musical strengths, but no such pattern was observed for musical weaknesses. Genetic contributions were considered more important for singing and rhythm than other musical strengths. Overall, participants emphasized the role of practice and effort in musical abilities, but had nuanced beliefs about contributions of genetic and environmental factors to different musical characteristics.
Meaningful results for meaningful hypotheses: A tutorial on hypothesis testing with Bayes factors using ROPEs
Timo Benjamin Roettger; Michael Franke
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Recent times have seen an increase of interest in Bayesian inference across the behavioral sciences. However, the process of testing hypotheses is often conceptually challenging or computationally costly. This tutorial provides an accessible, non-technical introduction to a technique that is both conceptually easy to understand and computationally cheap, and that also covers many common scenarios in the experimental sciences: Quantifying the relative evidence for a pair of interval-based hypotheses using Bayes factors through the Savage Dickey approximation.
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
Aidan J Horner; James A. Ainge; Alexander Easton; Simon J James; Jeremy Kendal; John Sutton; Jan Wiener
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Spatial navigation is the ability to purposefully move from one location to another. Central to many theories of navigation is the proposal that we build a ‘cognitive map’ of our external environment. We identify three conceptions of cognitive maps, with a modal view that these maps are mental representations coding for the spatial relations between locations and landmarks in a coherent, long-term, stable manner. Reviewing the literature, we show that many navigation behaviours thought to require a coherent cognitive map can be supported by the interaction of specific navigation strategies with minimal, fragmentary knowledge of the environment. Further, we argue that the range of navigation behaviours, strategies, individual differences, and navigational aids and systems used during navigation point toward representations that are more flexible than the conception of a coherent cognitive map allows. We propose that navigation should be studied as a situated and embodied process where representations are (re)constructed dynamically. The form and complexity of these constructed representations are tightly connected to the dynamic interaction between the navigator, including the strategies and aids they are using, and the environment. We link this proposal to the literature on spatially tuned neurons in the medial temporal lobes, emphasising that the heterogeneity of these functional neurons and their adaptation to changes in environmental structure and navigational goals supports our proposal that cognitive maps are dynamically (re)constructed representations. Therefore, cognitive maps are not relatively coherent, stable representations of spatial environments, but instead are dynamically and flexibly (re)constructed representations of the given navigational moment.
Associations between inclusivity norms and tolerance, contact, and cooperation amid polarization: Evidence from 12 European countries
Laura Frederica SchÀfer; Nicole Tausch; Marcin Bukowski; Eva Jaspers; Miranda Jessica Lubbers; Maarten van Zalk; Alejandro Ciordia; Anna Potoczek; Lucía Estevan-Reina; Maor Shani
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Sharp disagreements about social issues have raised concerns about increasing societal polarization in democracies worldwide. While diversity of opinion is vital for democratic engagement and can promote innovative solutions, social science research shows that such disagreements can undermine social cohesion and erode social trust if they turn into identity-based conflicts. The present research examines the potential importance of social norms that promote equality-based respect, dialogue, and unity (inclusivity norms) in mitigating these negative outcomes. In a pre-registered representative survey of 12,041 individuals in twelve European countries, we find that perceived inclusivity norms are associated with increased tolerance, greater willingness to collaborate, and lower tendencies to avoid people who hold opposing opinions. In most countries studied, this pattern holds among respondents who strongly disapprove of the opposing viewpoint, endorse anti-pluralist opinions, hold anti-egalitarian preferences, and identify more strongly with their opinion-based group relative to society. These findings support the potential of inclusivity norms to preserve social trust and cohesion amid opinion diversity.
Exploring the Additive Effect of Combined Exercise and Cognitive Training for Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic review and Meta-Analysis
Natalie Assaf; Eleanor Dommett; Samuel Westwood; Oliver Runswick
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Introduction: ADHD is characterised by inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity. Exercise combined with cognitive training (CT) has emerged as a non-pharmacological option for managing symptoms. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether integrating exercise with CT offer additive benefits in improving ADHD symptoms and executive functions (EF). Methods: OVID databases and Web of Science were searched to January 2025 for peer-reviewed studies in English administering CT alone, exercise alone, or both combined. Where possible, random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. Morris’s d estimated effect sizes across outcomes, stratified by intervention type. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane ROB 2.0 tool. Results: Combined interventions tended to outperform controls on cognitive EF measures and ADHD symptom ratings. Meta-analysis showed that combined interventions significantly improved set-shifting with a moderate effect (SMD = -0.46, 95% CI -0.75 to -0.17; IÂČ = 0%), but not inhibition. Risk of bias was generally high or raised some concerns, largely due to lack of blinding, reliance on subjective outcomes, limited preregistration, and handling of missing data; trials using objective, computerised tasks or blinded assessors more often fell into some concerns rather than high risk. Conclusion: Cognitively engaging exercise, such as interactive sports and exergames, may offer added benefits over exercise or CT alone through simultaneous engagement of cognitive and motor systems. However, the small number of available combined trials means that larger, high-quality RCTs are needed to confirm additive effects on EF and ADHD symptom outcomes.
Preventive Health Care Neglect: Brief review of research on motives and their underlying mechanisms
Ramesh Kumar; Catalin Barboianu; Carmen Garcia
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Understanding why individuals do not engage in recommended preventive or routine health behaviors is essential for designing effective interventions and improving public‐health programs. Drawing on behavioral‐psychology, decision‐science, and social‐ecological frameworks, this review synthesizes major findings on motives for health‐neglect. Key theoretical frameworks (the Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, COM B) provide structure, while empirical evidence is drawn from screening uptake, blood‐testing adherence, dental‐care utilization, and broader preventive behaviors. Intervention evidence is reviewed, showing that multi‐component, theory based interventions are typically more effective than single‐focus approaches. The principal conclusion is that motive‐structures for not caring for health are multi‐faceted and interactive: cognitive, motivational, affective, and structural factors combine; hence effective intervention must address multiple levels simultaneously. Limitations in the literature (heterogeneity, intention behavior gap, equity issues) and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as future research directions are discussed.
Psychological First Aid in Humanitarian Emergencies: A Systematic Review of Intervention Effectiveness, Strengths and Weaknesses Applying the LISTEN Big Qualitative Data Method
Norha Vera San Juan; Abinaya Chandrasekar; SigrĂșn EyrĂșnardĂłttir Clark; Aseel Hamid; Patrick Nyikavaranda; Motunrayo Kabiawu; Nataliya Bukalsariya; Elaine Flores; David Aceituno; Samantha Vanderslott
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Background: Psychological First Aid (PFA) is one of the most widely disseminated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions in humanitarian emergencies. Yet despite its global uptake, evidence on its effectiveness remains fragmented, and little is known about which aspects of PFA work well, or fail, in crisis settings. Methods: We conducted a systematic review using the LISTEN method, which integrates collaborative qualitative analysis with digital text-network analysis to synthesise large, heterogeneous datasets. We searched three peer-reviewed databases and two grey literature databases, and key humanitarian organisations’ websites. One hundred publications met inclusion criteria. We examined co-occurring patterns in PFA reported strengths, weaknesses and effectiveness indicators, and incorporated insights from experts by experience to contextualise findings. Results: Across studies, early, low-threshold support was the most consistently reported strength, closely linked to accessibility, service integration and reduced burden on overstretched health systems. Weaknesses clustered around insufficient provider training, limited evaluation capacity and inconsistent definitions of what constitutes PFA. Although many studies reported reduced distress and positive participant feedback, only 16% used validated mental health measures. Stakeholders emphasised that several interventions labelled as PFA deviated from the core model, particularly when delivered as multi-session programmes rather than a rapid response within 72 hours. Text-network analysis highlighted strong associations between training gaps and weaker effectiveness outcomes. Conclusion: PFA interventions show promise in humanitarian emergency contexts, particularly in providing rapid, accessible support. However, inconsistency in definitions and over-reliance on acceptability rather than high quality evaluations limit effectiveness conclusions. Strengthening training, embedding standardised outcome measures, and clarifying PFA models are essential for improving practice. LISTEN offers a scalable approach for synthesising evidence in time-sensitive humanitarian contexts. The development of innovative research methods and incorporating experts by experience in research processes has proven key to contextualise findings with field-based realities.
Foreign Language Learners Show a Kinematic Accent in Their Co-speech Hand Movements
Hans Rutger Bosker; Marieke Hoetjes; Doenja Hustin; Wim Pouw; Lieke van Maastricht
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Humans typically move and vocalize in a time-synchronized fashion, aligning prominence-lending hand movements to acoustically emphasized syllables. This requires complex coordination. When speaking a foreign language, learners often place prominence on the wrong syllable in a word, which contributes to a noticeable foreign accent. In this pre-registered kinematic-acoustic study, we test whether a foreign accent is present in the timing of co-speech manual movements. Results demonstrate a ‘kinematic accent’ in Dutch learners of Spanish producing Spanish cognates (e.g., Spanish profeSOR - Dutch proFESsor). Dutch learners time the maximum extension of their co-speech movements closer to the prominent syllable in their native Dutch (i.e., on -fes), even when acoustically emphasizing the correct Spanish syllable (-sor). Conversely, when incorrectly acoustically emphasizing the Dutch syllable, the maximum extension of their hand movement is attracted to the Spanish target syllable. This reveals competing timing processes between movement and vocalization systems for foreign language learners, demonstrating that not only your spoken accent but also your co-speech manual kinematics can give away your native language.
Psychometric properties of the Commitment to Exercise Scale in inpatients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
Fiona Maria Fabry; Sandra Schlegl; Nina Dittmer; Ulrich Voderholzer; David R. Kolar; Adrian Meule
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Objective: Compulsive exercise is a common behavior among persons with eating disorders, particularly in those with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). In the current study, we examined psychometric properties of a German version of the eight-item Commitment to Exercise Scale (CES) with a four-point scale response format. Method: Data of N = 2424 persons with AN and BN who completed the CES among other measures as part of the routine diagnostic assessment at admission to and discharge from inpatient treatment were analyzed based on a preregistered protocol (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Z2RYW). Results: The CES had high internal consistency and a one-factor structure with measurement invariance across age and diagnostic groups. Large correlations with other measures of compulsive exercise supported convergent validity and small-to-moderate correlations with other measures supported divergent validity. Scores on the CES were sensitive to change as they moderately decreased during inpatient treatment, with changes in compulsive exercise being larger in males and persons with AN that in females and persons with BN. Conclusions: The CES has sound psychometric properties in persons with AN and BN. Given its brevity, it may be favored over lengthier instruments for assessing compulsive exercise in research and clinical practice.
How Animation Style and Boundaries Shape Memory: Effects of Event Structure in Dynamic Data Visualizations
Reena Pauly
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Dynamic thematic maps impactfully visualize how relevant issues develop over time and space. Yet these information-rich displays require structuring by the viewer for efficient understanding. Drawing on Event Segmentation Theory, two preregistered online experiments (N = 278) examined how animation style (stepwise vs. continuous) and event boundaries influence order and recognition memory for insect-population maps. Across animation styles, temporal order memory showed an asymmetric boundary effect: frame pairs occurring before a global turning point were remembered less accurately than pairs spanning or following the boundary. More frequent segmentation predicted poorer order and recognition memory. Aligning boundaries with the group norm, however, reduced this cost and improved recognition. Continuous animations elicited fewer and less synchronized boundaries but yielded higher recognition accuracy than stepwise animations. These findings demonstrate that animation design, through its event structure, influences memory for dynamic maps, with smoother animations tending to better support memory than stepwise displays.
An attempt to push mental imagery over the reality threshold using non-invasive brain stimulation
Luna Huestegge; Cristina Uribe; Aeysha Fida; Peter Kok; Sven Bestmann; Nadine Dijkstra
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Visual imagery and perception are associated with similar patterns of activation in the visual cortex. While an efficient re-use of neural resources, this overlap leads to the question of how imagery and perception are kept apart. One hypothesis is that signal strength determines perceptual reality judgements such that when activity in the visual cortex is strong enough to cross a ‘reality threshold’, that activity is inferred to reflect reality. Here, we aimed to test the causal role of sensory strength in perceptual reality monitoring by attempting to push mental imagery over the reality threshold using non-invasive brain stimulation. We used a combination of psychophysics, mental imagery and subthreshold Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): a technique that is assumed to increase subthreshold neuronal activity. We applied subthreshold TMS to early visual cortex while participants simultaneously imagined and detected visual stimuli in noise. Both imagining the stimulus as well as brain stimulation to the early visual cortex (compared to vertex) increased reports of perceiving a real stimulus when none was presented. However, there was no interaction between brain stimulation and imagery, indicating that TMS failed to push imagined signals over the reality threshold. We discuss various explanations for our results and suggest how these methods could be used to investigate the causal mechanisms of perceptual reality monitoring in future research.
Menopause representations as predictors of health and wellbeing during menopause: A comparison study of autistic and non-autistic people
Eunhee Kim; Rachel Moseley; Racheal Stewart; Deborah Watts; Julie Gamble-Turner
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Background Menopause can be a challenging time for health and wellbeing. Research suggests that autistic people may experience menopause differently to non-autistic people, although no explanatory mechanisms for this have been examined. Using a longitudinal approach, we examined whether menopause representations (i.e. thoughts, beliefs and feelings about menopause) are associated with the severity of menopause symptoms, poorer mental health (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and quality of life over time in autistic and non-autistic people. Methods We measured menopause representations, menopause symptom severity, quality of life, depressive and anxiety symptoms using self-report standardised scales in 476 autistic and 425 non-autistic participants aged 40-60 years. We collected data over five consecutive weeks. Using mediation analyses, we examined associations between menopause representations and health and wellbeing outcomes (perceived menopause symptom severity, anxiety, depression and quality of life) across all timepoints. Results Autistic participants reported more severe menopause symptoms, greater anxiety and depression, and poorer quality of life, across all timepoints. Sense of control and sense of coherence in relation to menopause, two aspects of menopause representations, were significant predictors of health outcomes over time. Feeling less in control and having a less coherent understanding of menopause mediated relationships between being autistic and increased menopause symptoms, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and reduced quality of life, across all timepoints. Conclusion Findings suggest that menopause representations partially explain poorer health outcomes in autistic people who are peri- or postmenopausal, and acknowledge that other mechanisms exist through which aspects of being autistic are associated with these poorer outcomes. While further investigation is needed to identify the mechanisms of health inequalities during and after menopause, our findings suggest that feelings of control and coherence are important for wellbeing during menopause, highlighting the importance of appropriate information and support to help autistic individuals navigate this life stage confidently.
A Delphi study to develop an evidence-based Non-Emergency Telephone Triage Safety Performance Framework (NETTSPF)
Jill Poots; Jim Morgan; Matteo Curcuruto; Stephen Elliott; Philip Blake; Craig Hadley; Tracey Herlihey; Clare Crowley; Andrew Catto
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Telephone triage has received relatively little attention in the patient safety research space, especially in non-emergency settings. Existing healthcare contributory factors frameworks for investigating safety are often designed with face-to-face and secondary care settings in mind. As a result, the unique safety challenges associated with telephone triage (e.g., lack of visibility of the caller, onus on caller to perform clinical tests) may not be identified when these frameworks are applied to incident investigation. Previously, a systematic review and best-fit framework synthesis using SEIPS 2.0 (Holden et al., 2013) identified existing evidence of factors contributing to patient safety outcomes in non-emergency telephone triage (Poots et al., 2025). There was limited research in the UK setting, NHS111, and Integrated Urgent Care. Therefore, a modified Delphi panel of 23 telephone triage and safety experts from England and Wales was assembled, to ascertain the appropriateness of the synthesised factors, and the utility of a preliminary framework for understanding safety in the NHS111 (which triages upwards of one million calls per month in the UK) and similar systems. There was high agreement with synthesised and suggested factors which resulted in 186 items for inclusion in the NETTSPF, suggesting there are common contributory factors across non-emergency telephone triage systems. To increase framework usability, individual items were grouped into 18 themes using thematic analysis. The items presented can be adopted to support safety training and incident investigation in telephone triage and other call-centre based healthcare settings. Future research and evaluation should focus on NETTSPF’s efficacy for improving elements of incident investigation (e.g., identifying contributory factors, writing recommendations). A structural framework was also developed and requires additional refinement.
Psychology of ownership versus renting: Brief research review
Thomas Johnson; Sunita Gupta; Catalin Barboianu
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Ownership encompasses psychological, social, and identity-related dimensions that significantly influence how humans interact with objects and systems. In contrast, renting or borrowing removes many of these antecedents; while renting provides access to functionality, it often fails to provide long-term attachment, identity reinforcement, or moral engagement with the object. This dichotomy was investigated within a psychological framework and the rise of the sharing economy has made it particularly salient. The current review synthesizes theoretical and empirical findings from multiple domains contributing to the exploration of the psychological mechanisms differentiating ownership from rental or borrowing. It integrates insights from behavioral economics, consumer psychology, organizational behavior, and sustainability studies. The review also identifies gaps, research limitations, and directions for future inquiry, emphasizing how the investigated concepts operate as a lens for understanding identity, behavior, and well-being in modern consumption contexts.
Which foot forward? Cultural models of self-presentation in college applications
Jinli Wu; Kibum Moon; Adam Green; Yulia Chentsova-Dutton
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During high-stakes interpersonal evaluations, individuals manage self-information to shape others’ perceptions and reinforce their personal goals and values. Given cultural differences in self-construal, does culture influence which “foot” individuals put forward in self-presentation? Applicants to a private university in the U.S. wrote essays about themselves as part of their applications. Dictionary-based text analysis was applied to these essays to examine cultural differences in self-presentation. Controlling for gender, intended academic programs, science degree status, and standardized test scores, Asian American applicants (n = 18,001) were more behavioral (e.g., “I do”) and less mentalistic (e.g., “I think/feel”) in their self-framing, used fewer agentic traits (e.g., confidence), and referenced more moral and familial processes than their Euro-American counterparts (n = 30,402); this interdependent model of self-presentation was associated with a higher likelihood of admission. This work calls attention to the cultural shaping of self-presentation in high-stakes evaluative contexts.
What does it mean to be cognitively and socially active in the context of dementia risk reduction? An integrative review
Giselle Geertruide Antonia Menting; Jeroen Bruinsma; Kay Deckers; Bertalan TĂłth; Rik Crutzen
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The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention, and care recommends cognitive and social activities as protective against dementia risk in middle-aged and older adults. However, a lack of conceptual clarity makes it challenging to adequately assess these concepts in research and practice. Currently, a wide variety of measures are used, which complicates cross-study comparison and leads to fragmented evidence about protective effects. Using an integrative review, we analysed definitions across 43 academic and 37 grey records to formulate provisional definitions. We observed substantial heterogeneity in terminology to describe concepts and their attributes. Nine higher-order attributes were identified: interacting with others, cognitive functions, information processing, cognitive demand, novelty, personal control, purpose, quantitative aspects, and context. A main finding was the overlap between cognitive and social activities, as both inherently involve information processing and cognitive functions. Despite the overlap, they also had distinct attributes. Specifically, cognitive activities often involve novelty, while social activities involve interaction with others and often a sense of purpose. The findings indicate that currently available measurements over-rely on assessment of quantitative aspects such as frequency and duration, while neglecting the more subjective attributes such as perceived novelty, autonomy, and purpose. These provisional concepts support the development of measurement instructions and more comprehensive measurement instruments. Better measures allow for pinpointing what makes cognitive and social activities protective and may be useful to determine which participants could improve their activity engagement. This is essential for developing tailored interventions that effectively promote engagement in activities that foster healthy brain aging.
Reward responses to food stimuli across sensory modalities: hunger modulates wanting differentially for pictures and odors
Androula Savva; Anna Gerlicher; Lucile Rey; Marc Guitart-masip; Ata Ghaderi; Cynthia Bulik; Janina Seubert
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As a need state, hunger alters how we evaluate the rewarding perceptual properties of food. Whether this modulation targets specific components of food reward and to what extent it depends on the sensory modality through which food cues are presented remains understudied. This study examined whether hunger selectively modulates wanting versus liking for food, across visual and olfactory cues. Participants (N = 43) rated food, non-food, and disgusting stimuli during fasted and sated sessions, across the dimensions of liking and wanting. Our results show that hunger resulted in stronger increases in wanting for food cues than in liking. Contrary to expectations, this hunger-induced increase in wanting was more pronounced for food pictures than for food odors. Liking and wanting ratings for non-food cues remained unaffected regardless of state, though exploratory analyses suggested heightened wanting for aversive odors during hunger. Overall, our findings demonstrate that hunger selectively modulates motivational rather than hedonic components of reward in a content- and modality-specific manner. Taken together, our study highlights the need to consider both reward components and sensory modality when examining food reward. Systematic manipulation of these factors could enhance our understanding of multisensory reward integration in relation to food intake and provide insights that could inform interventions for maladaptive eating behaviors.
Design and Validation of The Female Expanded Sexual Response Scale
Isabella Susana VĂ©lez Camacho
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This study aimed to develop and validate a novel Female Expanded Sexual Response Scale (FESRS). Additionaly, it explores the relationship between sexual response and mindfulness. Development of the scale consisted of three phases: (1) item generation and scale development, (2) psychometric evaluation (reliability testing, factor analysis, and construct validity comparisons with the Sexual Mindfulness Measure), and (3) exploratory analysis of age group differences on FESRS subscales. The FESRS demonstrated strong internal consistency and a confirmed three-factor structure consisting of Sexual Desire, Orgasmic Capacity, and Altered States of Consciousness with significant positive associations between mindfulness and expanded sexual response. The exploratory analysis also showed significant higher scores for the older age groups in the Orgasmic Capacity subscale compared to the younger age group, possibly due to increased body awareness, or reduced performance anxiety. These findings highlight the potential of the FESRS as a psychometric tool for assessing multidimensional sexual response, emphasizing the interplay between mindfulness and sexual well-being, with implications for both clinical and research settings.
Prediction Errors Improve Declarative Learning but Not the Salience of Individual Words
Martin Benada; Filip Van Opstal
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Recent studies using the variable choice paradigm for word-association learning task suggest that reward prediction errors (RPEs) enhance one-shot declarative learning. However, these studies may confound true associative learning with an “RPE bias,” where high-RPE items become more salient or fluent and are therefore chosen during recognition. This study tested whether such a bias exists and whether RPEs genuinely strengthen word-pair learning. Across three sessions, participants (N = 48) completed a modified version of the variable choice paradigm in which English-Swahili word pairs were learned under either high-RPE or no-RPE conditions. Results provided moderate evidence against an RPE bias: high-RPE words were not more likely to be selected when incorrect. In contrast, correctness strongly predicted choice, and correct translations associated with high RPEs were moderately more likely to be chosen than correct translations without RPEs, indicating a true learning benefit. Confidence analyses mirrored this pattern, showing clear effects of correctness but inconclusive effects of RPE. Together, these findings demonstrate that RPEs improve associative memory without producing choice biases. Our results validate previous conclusions about RPE-driven declarative learning benefits.
Depressive Symptoms Amplify the Impact of Online Friend Support and Cyberostracism on Adolescents’ Well and Ill Being
Loes H. C. Janssen; Amber van der Wal; Patti M. Valkenburg; Ine Beyens
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Adolescents’ communication with friends increasingly occurs online. Research on online communication with friends in adolescence has primarily focused on the quantity rather than the quality of interactions, such as feelings of support or rejection. Since offline friend support and rejection affect adolescents’ well- and ill-being, it is essential to understand how these dynamics unfold in online contexts, particularly for adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms, who may be especially sensitive to these experiences. In this preregistered 100 day diary study, 479 adolescents (Mage = 15.98, 54.9% girls; 96.9% Dutch) reported daily on their experiences of online friend support and rejection (cyberostracism), time spent communicating online with friends, and their well- and ill-being. Results showed that time spent communicating online with friends did not relate to adolescents’ well- and ill-being. Online friend support resulted in higher well-being and lower ill-being, while cyberostracism was related to lower well-being and higher ill-being. Adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms experienced intensified effects, both positive and negative, suggesting more vulnerability to everyday online social experiences but also increased benefit from online support. Altogether, this underscores the importance for parents and clinicians to foster open conversations to help adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms navigate their digital social world.
Greater impulsivity is associated with a reduced propensity to cash out of bets
Ong George Ngieng; Lucy Albertella; Ty Hayes; Antonio Verdejo-Garcia; Lukasz Walasek; Elliot Andrew Ludvig; Daniel Bennett
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A common feature of contemporary sports-betting apps is ‘instant cash-out’, which allows users to settle a bet early in exchange for a discounted immediate payout. Despite high prevalence and links with gambling-related harm, relatively little is known about how personality traits associated with gambling, such as impulsivity, predict instant cash-out usage. To address this question, we recruited 145 general-population adult participants (69 men, 66 women, 10 non-binary or undisclosed; Mage = 36.3, SD = 10.7; participants resided in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, or the USA) to complete five self-report questionnaires related to impulsivity, as well as the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), and a validated cognitive task measuring individual differences in cash-out frequency. We then assessed how cash-out frequency in the behavioral task was associated with both self-reported impulsivity and PGSI. We found that cash-out frequency was negatively correlated both with PGSI scores and with a number of impulsivity-related traits including Dysfunctional Impulsivity, Lack of Premeditation, Positive Urgency, Sensation Seeking, and Fun Seeking. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that higher scores on a latent ‘Dysfunctional Impulsivity’ factor were negatively associated with cash-out frequency overall, whereas higher scores on an ‘Inhibition and Inflexibility’ factor predicted higher cash-out frequency specifically for bets with a low win probability. Taken together, results suggest that instant cash-out may primarily appeal to less impulsive people and those with lower PGSI scores. This raises the possibility that instant cash-out may specifically facilitate increased gambling behaviors among people with less prior experience of gambling.
Advancing the science of consciousness: from ethics to clinical care
Michele Farisco; Kathinka Evers; Jitka Annen; Veronique Blandin; Alessandra Camassa; Benedetta Cecconi; Vanessa Charland; Gustavo Deco; Olivia Gosseries; Steven Laureys
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Significant advances in the scientific investigation of the neurobiology of consciousness have been slow to be translated into clinical settings, limited by factors of conceptual (e.g., what is consciousness?), methodological (e.g., how to identify reliable indicators of consciousness?), and technical (e.g., how to improve sensitivity and specificity of the technological identification of consciousness?) nature. In the present paper we aim at reducing the gap between research, clinical practice, patients’ and their caregivers’ needs regarding disorders of consciousness. By implementing a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach, the paper focuses on disorders of consciousness: it starts from the review of some of the most promising measures of consciousness from brain activity (i.e., spectral measures, measures of functional connectivity, complexity-based measures). Next the paper introduces brain responses to illusions as a new indicator of consciousness (i.e., a feature that facilitates the attribution of consciousness), and illustrates the clinical operationalization of the indicators of consciousness through the case of virtual reality. Finally, the paper analyzes a set of urgent ethical issues and describes a model for assessing and dealing with those issues, concluding by elaborating key recommendations for improving the clinical treatment of patients with disorders of consciousness through a better translation of research into clinics.
Effects of a Multisensory Blue Space: The Role of Visual and Auditory Cues in a Virtual Coastal Environment
Kira Pohlmann; Anna Mascherek; Penelope Tilsley; Simone KĂŒhn
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Blue spaces such as coastlines and beaches are linked to psychological well-being, yet regular access to these spaces is often limited. Virtual Reality (VR) offers a way to simulate these environments, and multisensory presentations may enhance their restorative effects. Prior research in a virtual forest setting found evidence for supra-additive effects – where the combined influence of multiple modalities exceeds the sum of their individual effects. This study examined whether a similar effect occurs in a VR coastal scene. Seventy-nine participants experienced one of three five-minute conditions via a head-mounted display: visual-only (360° coastal video), auditory-only (ocean sounds in a neutral room), or combined visual-auditory presentation. Measures of positive and negative affect, affective valence and arousal, and nature connectedness were collected before and after exposure, whereas presence and immersion were assessed only post-intervention. The results reveal that exposure to visual input led to improvements in affective valence and nature connectedness, as well as a reduction in negative affect. The visual-auditory condition outperformed auditory-only exposure but showed no advantage over visual-only, indicating no supra-additive effect. Subjective ratings of beauty, pleasantness, restoration and presence were higher for visual and visual-auditory conditions compared to auditory-only. These findings suggest that in visually rich VR coastal settings, visual cues might dominate restorative outcomes, with limited incremental benefits from matching ocean sounds. The results inform VR nature intervention design, highlighting a potential context-dependent role of multisensory integration.
Cognitive pathways describing ketamine’s effect on affective memories
Pilar Artiach Hortelano; Sara Costi; Philip Cowen; Susannah Elinor Murphy; catherine harmer; Erdem Pulcu
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The discovery of ketamine’s rapid antidepressant properties in the past two decades put the glutamate system in the spotlight as a neurobiological treatment target for depression. One neurocognitive mechanistic model of ketamine’s antidepressant effect focusses on its impact on negative affective memories, namely making negatively valenced memories less salient. Here, we synthesise translational evidence from human and rodent studies which suggests that affective memory recall engages a distributed network areas including the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortical regions, with subgenual cingulate cortex potentially playing a key role in how NMDA receptor antagonists modulate the connectivity across this cognitive pathway. We discuss how experimental studies based on reinforcement-learning and value-based recall could be used to probe these systems and build mechanistic models of affective memory recall and fast-acting antidepressant action.
Predicting Panic Disorder with Socioeconomic, Physiological, and Behavioral Markers: A Machine Learning Study
Ana Teresa da Conceição Figueira Martins; Alexandra Gomes; Antónia Ros; Joana Vieira dos Santos; filipe ricardo pires de carvalho
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Panic disorder (PD) is a debilitating psychiatric condition characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks that significantly impair an individual's functioning across multiple domains. Despite its prevalence and impact, early detection remains challenging. This study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2004 to develop a machine learning (ML)-based predictive model for PD. Our integrated approach revealed that PD risk is influenced by an association of physiological, socioeconomic, and behavioural factors. Key predictive variables included cardiovascular measures (blood pressure patterns, cardiovascular fitness status), weight-related factors (weight at age 25, weight history), pain indicators (low back pain), and socioeconomic determinants (poverty-to-income ratio, education level). The model achieved a precision of 0.96 and recall of 0.81, demonstrating robust performance in distinguishing individuals at risk for PD. Our findings revealed associations between basic cardiovascular measures (blood pressure patterns, cardiovascular fitness) and PD risk, alongside socioeconomic and behavioural factors. These results suggest that integrating multidimensional data into predictive models can enhance clinical screening protocols and early intervention strategies for PD.
Juggling internal and external factors when modeling natural language data
Lukas Sönning
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This final chapter takes a broader look at the role of internal and external factors in the statistical analysis of natural language data. The distinction, it will be argued, helps us handle issues that are bound to arise when dealing with observational data. The focus will be on two problems that can arise in corpus-based variationist research: (i) representativeness, that is, the question of whether the sample mirrors the target population on relevant characteristics, and (ii) (multi-)collinearity, that is, a non-negligible level of association between predictor variables. This chapter demonstrates that the internal–external dichotomy allows us to approach these issues in a linguistically informed way. We start by arguing that the two types of factors differ fundamentally as regards questions of representativeness. Then we describe how the dichotomy allows us to deal with collinearity issues in a principled manner, using a model of the causal relations between predictor variables. As we will see, the non-trivial task of outlining such a model is facilitated by the distinction between internal and external predictor variables. The aim of this chapter is to submit a number of broader heuristics that may provide orientation for corpus-based research on language variation and change.
The Researcher-As-Obstacle: A Methodology for the Study of Creativity While it Happens
Raphaël Julliard; Damien Roy; Marion Botella
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This article introduces the Researcher-As-Obstacle (RAO) framework, a methodology enabling the study of the creative process as it unfolds. Traditional research in creativity psychology minimizes researcher interference to maintain authenticity, primarily using post-factum interviews. In contrast, the RAO approach situates researchers as “obstacles” within the artist’s creative environment, providing close access to the artist’s “creative engine”, the underlying creative dynamic. Researchers intervene in real-time to capture shifts in pre-reflexive gestures and emerging meaning before they become conscious or verbalized. Drawing from anthropology and psychology, this framework emphasizes the value of researcher presence as a structured obstacle. This approach offers researchers a powerful tool for capturing creative processes in real-time, rarely accessible through traditional methods, by granting artists a finer awareness of their creative dynamics. This awareness can also serve as a valuable resource in art-based contexts.
Protocol for Measuring Semantic Drift and Coherence in Open-Ended Verbal Tasks: A Semi-Structured Assessment Framework (Protocol Version 1.1)
Atsushi Yamashita
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This paper presents a structured protocol for assessing semantic drift, coherence, and conceptual flexibility in open-ended verbal explanations. Existing tools such as divergent thinking tasks, verbal fluency measures, and semantic coherence metrics offer partial per- spectives but do not target intermediate communicative profiles characterized by atypical yet non-pathological patterns of semantic organization. This protocol provides a fully specified task battery, participant guidelines, scoring rubrics with quantitative anchors, stimuli lists, and a computational analysis plan including cross-model calibration meth- ods to reduce embedding-dependent variance. No empirical data are included; instead, the protocol is intended as a preregistration-ready methodological platform for future validation research and collaborative data collection. Reference implementations of the computational analyses will be made available in open-source Python scripts. Supplemen- tary analysis scripts and reproducible code are available at [OSF/GitHub placeholder], with an executable notebook hosted on [Google Colab placeholder].
Bilingualism aids no advantage on interference control and selective response inhibition among undergraduate psychology students
Chelsea Terriyanto
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Bilingualism is inherently beneficial for communication, yet its extensive benefit on Executive Functions (EFs) has been greatly debated in various studies. It is theorised that mixed contentions of bilingual advantage are brought about by an overgeneralised classification of bilinguals. Thus, the present study will adopt Green and Abutalebi (2013) Adaptive Control Hypothesis in evaluating bilingual advantage across different language contexts; single-language, dual-language, and monolinguals. Participants were 366 undergraduate psychology students who completed a combined Go or no-go arrow Flanker task to measure interference control and selective response inhibition. Then, participants were asked to complete a language questionnaire to determine which language group they belong to. We found no significant difference between language groups in flanker effect (p = .014) and no-go accuracy (p = .007) which signifies no difference in inhibitory control among single-language-context, dual-language-context, and monolinguals. Therefore, the present study rejects the notion of bilingual advantage on EFs. Nevertheless, study results might have been confounded by potential error in language classification and types of scale used to operationalise inhibition. Future research is required to generate further findings.
Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation
Matan Mazor; Chaz Firestone; Ian Phillips
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Pretending not to know requires appreciating how one would behave without a given piece of knowledge, and acting accordingly. Here, two game-based experiments reveal a capacity to simulate decision-making under such counterfactual ignorance. 1001 English-speaking adults saw the solution to a game (ship locations in Battleship, the hidden word in Hangman) but attempted to play as though they never had this information. Pretenders accurately mimicked broad aspects of genuine play, including the number of guesses required to reach a solution, as well as subtle patterns, such as effects of decision uncertainty on decision time. While peers were unable to detect pretense, statistical analysis and computational modeling uncovered traces of ‘over-acting’ in pretenders’ decisions, suggesting a schematic simulation of their minds. Opening up a new approach to studying self-simulation, our results reveal intricate metacognitive knowledge about decision-making, drawn from a rich—but simplified—internal model of cognition.
Cultural Adaptation Mental mHealth Apps – Qualitative Analysis of Co-design Workshops involving Arabic-speaking communities
Noorah Ibrahim S Alnaghaimshi; Mona S Awadalla; Michael Proeve; Scott Richard Clark; Mathias Baumert
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Mobile health (mHealth) apps may improve access to mental healthcare for members of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, but require culturally sensitive delivery of digital mental health intervention. This research aimed to co-design an mHealth app using cognitive behaviour therapy for Arab immigrants in Australia. Using a co-design methodology and personas that reflect diverse Arab immigrant experiences, two iterative workshops were conducted to gather user-centred insights for developing and refining a prototype, including the app's core functions and practical design elements. Qualitative workshop findings were transcribed and thematically coded. Workshop findings highlighted the importance of integrating features that offer culturally and religiously congruent content and functionalities, along with well-designed features for fostering family support and engagement. Participants preferred visual content and streamlined textual information. In conclusion, iterative feedback through co-design activities is crucial for developing mHealth apps that are not only user-friendly but also address the cultural and social realities and psychological needs of Arab immigrants.
Using Landmarks without Remembering Them: Attribute Amnesia in Landmark-Guided Navigation
Mengieong Ieong; Qingfen Hu
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Everyday navigation requires people to use landmark information online while forming longer-term spatial representations. The present study asked whether attribute amnesia (AA) – a failure to report recently attended, task-relevant features – also occurs during landmark-guided navigation, and how it affects spatial memory. In two experiments (N = 80), participants navigated virtual mazes by following colored arrows at intersections, either on a desktop display (Experiment 1) or in immersive VR (Experiment 2). In an Identity-Test group, surprise identity probes asked for the color of the landmark at critical intersections; a Navigation-Only group performed the same navigation without probes. Across both display formats, navigation accuracy was perfect, yet identity reports on the first surprise trial were at chance and recovered only once testing was anticipated, demonstrating robust AA in a continuous, ecologically embedded navigation task. A second maze without identity tests assessed whether landmark identity was incorporated into longer-term spatial representations via color recall and route reconstruction. Landmark colors were remembered poorly overall, indicating that behaviorally critical identity information was largely excluded from durable spatial representations. Probing landmark identity impaired the consolidation of a complete route scaffold on the desktop but not in VR, where route memory remained intact. These findings show that AA generalizes to navigation and that embodied cues in immersive VR can buffer its costs for route knowledge.
Five Key Concepts for Autistic Linguistic Justice: Securitization, Revitalization, Rights, Planning, and Ethics
Gerald Roche
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This perspective article draws on my own lived experience as an autistic person, combined with my academic research at the intersection of languages and politics. My main aim is to suggest a new interdisciplinary approach to autistic communication that aims to accommodate our different communication styles rather than modify our communication to fit non-autistic communication norms. I call this new interdisciplinary approach ‘autistic linguistic justice’, and introduce five concepts to help initiate research and advocacy on this topic. The concepts I introduce are: the sociolinguistics of securitization, language revitalization, linguistic human rights, language policy and planning, and language ethics. Each concept is briefly introduced, and examples are given of how they can be applied to accommodating autistic communication. In the conclusion, I provide recommendations for how families, practitioners (such as teachers, doctors, etc), autism researchers, and autistic people use these concepts to help build autistic linguistic justice together. Given that many of the concepts I draw on have been developed by other minoritized communities, I emphasize the need for building respectful and mutually beneficial solidarity with these communities.
Examining the Content and Consistency of Suicidal Thoughts using Large Language Models
Leily Marieh Behbehani; Ruben van Genugten; Frances Grace Hart; Sharina Hamm; Kathryn Fox; Shirley B Wang
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Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are a leading cause of death. Although suicide research and clinical practice often rely on self-report ratings (e.g., “On a scale from 0–10, how strong is your urge to kill yourself right now?”), little is known about how individuals translate internal experiences into numbers. In two longitudinal studies, we used large language models (LLMs) to examine the content and consistency of self-reported suicide urges across numeric severity ratings, between people, and within people over time. Study 1 included adolescents with past-year STBs (N = 158; 1,209 responses) who completed open-ended prompts at baseline and one-month follow-up. Study 2 included young adults with a past-year STBS (Study 2; N = 202; 3,168 responses) who completed parallel prompts at baseline and one-week follow-up. We developed a two-stage topic-modeling pipeline with BERTopic and LLaMA-3.3-70B-Instruct to extract and optimize clinically meaningful themes from participants’ qualitative descriptions of suicidal urges. We identified 13 (Study 1) and 15 (Study 2) topics reflecting the content of suicidal thoughts (e.g., Active Suicidal Ideation, Family/Friends Reactions, Depressed/Exhausted), which varied across severity ratings. Within- and between-person consistency followed a U-shaped pattern, with the highest agreement at endpoints and greater variability and ambiguity in the middle of the scale. Together, our findings revealed remarkable heterogeneity in the interpretation of suicidal urge severity, and highlight the potential of LLMs as a scalable method for advancing our understanding of how people interpret and respond to self-report rating scales.
The “Schizophrenia is 80% Heritable” Fallacy: Deconstructing a 2003 Twin Study Meta-Analysis
Jay Joseph
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The mainstream psychiatry literature contains the ubiquitous and mostly unchallenged claim that schizophrenia is roughly 80% heritable. A 2003 twin study meta-analysis by genetic researchers Patrick F. Sullivan, Kenneth S. Kendler, and Michael C. Neale is often cited in support of this claim. The author argues that the 81% heritability estimate Sullivan and colleagues produced is invalid because (1) schizophrenia twin studies should not be interpreted genetically because they are based on the unsupported assumption that reared-together MZ (identical) and same-sex DZ (fraternal) twin pairs grow up experiencing “equal environments”; (2) especially in the older studies, schizophrenia was not reliably identified (diagnosed) for research purposes; and (3) among other problems, heritability estimates do not indicate the “strength” or “magnitude” of supposed genetic influences. The author then discusses how Sullivan and colleagues performed their meta-analysis and their decisions on which twin studies to include or exclude. They failed to mention three schizophrenia twin studies, two of which were known to at least one of the co-authors. They decided to “relax” their original meta-analysis inclusion criteria because only four studies qualified. This decision led to their inclusion of mid-20th-century studies conducted by researchers with strong genetic confirmation biases, who did not define schizophrenia or make blindfolded diagnoses. The author concludes that Sullivan and colleagues’ 81% schizophrenia heritability estimate should be disregarded in the context of a proposed replication crisis era re-evaluation of behavioral twin studies and their underlying assumptions. More than six decades of failed DNA-based attempts to identify genes that cause schizophrenia support this conclusion.
Inferring Hidden Attentional States in Driving: A Bayesian Approach to Modeling Distraction and Secondary Task Engagement
Lekhapriya Dheeraj Kashyap; Zhide Wang; Yanling Chang; Maryam Zahabi; Alfredo Garcia
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Objective. To develop and validate a computational framework that infers individualized attention strategies and latent distraction states to support personalized modeling of multitasking behavior and intervention. Background. Driver distraction from in-vehicle systems is a growing safety concern. However, the level of distraction is often latent and varies significantly across individuals. Existing models typically overlook these differences, limiting their effective use for personalized interventions. Method. We introduce a Partially Observable Semi-Markov Decision Process (POSMDP) to model hidden attentional dynamics and attention allocation decisions. Using behavioral data, including glance behavior, velocity, and pupillometry, from a high-fidelity driving simulator with 18 participants, we estimate personalized reward functions that reflect each driver’s subjective valuation of secondary task utility versus safety cost. Results. The method accurately infers distraction states and recovers participant-specific utility weights governing the trade-off between secondary task benefit and driving cost. Compared to a well-established 2-second glance rule, it improves detection of distraction events and reveals individual variability in attention strategies. Some drivers exhibit highly conservative profiles, while others assign greater value to secondary tasks, even under high distraction. Counterfactual simulations show how perceived task importance could modulate visual attention behavior across individuals. Conclusion. Our POSMDP-based framework provides an interpretable and individualized account of driver attention allocation, capturing both latent states and behavioral variability. Application. This model enables the development of personalized, risk-sensitive driver assistance systems that adapt to individual attention strategies, enhancing road safety through context-aware, graded interventions.
Beyond the illusion of personality: Part III: A comment on impulse pathology
Orestis Zavlis
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An enormous amount of papers in the field of personality disorder tend to fall prey to a cognitive bias that I have termed ''the illusion of personality (pathology)'': that is, the tendency to view all individual differences as personality differences (and their deviations from the norm as personality problems). In this brief paper, I illustrate this bias using a recent example: namely, a study that found evidence for ''disinhibition'' and ''distractibility'' being implicated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, yet erroneously concluded that this is evidence for ''personality pathology'' being implicated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is important to emphasise that my critique here does not aim to be a judgemental nit-picking of this particular study. Instead, my critique aims to highlight how widespread this bias is in the hopes of making research on personality (pathology) more scientifically accurate and humane.
Adaptive Cognitive Control in Prospective Memory
Luke Joseph Gough Strickland; David Elliott; Shayne Loft; Niek Stevenson; Andrew Heathcote
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Event-Based Prospective Memory (PM) requires performing a planned action upon encountering a target event. The PM decision control (PMDC) model quantifies the dual mechanisms of cognitive control (proactive and reactive, Braver, 2012) that support PM. Here, we test a key prediction of the dual-mechanisms theory: that cognitive control will shift from proactive to reactive as the need for control lessens due to PM targets being infrequent. Participants made lexical decisions (ongoing task) and were presented blocks of trials which either contained no PM targets, a high PM target frequency (19% of trials), or a low PM target frequency (5%). We fit the behavioural data with an extended version of PMDC that was augmented to specify the ongoing-task habituation and PM learning dynamics required to account for the way in which participants adapted their behaviour as a function of task practice and expected PM target frequency. PM costs (ongoing task response slowing in PM conditions relative to no PM target condition) were observed only in the high frequency condition, explained by PMDC by an increase in proactive control. PM accuracy was similar across high and low frequency conditions early in the experiment, but later an advantage emerged for the lower frequency PM task. PMDC accounted for this with stronger reactive control in low frequency condition that increased over practice. Our results confirm the prediction that control shifts from proactive to reactive with lower target event frequency, respond to recent calls from the PM literature for theory to account for across-trial dynamics.
Parameter-Effect Mappings of Cortical and Subcortical Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation in Humans: A Comparative Review
Krishna Swetha Meka; Hyunwoo Jang; Zirui Huang
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Transcranial low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) has emerged as a promising technology for non-invasive, spatiotemporally precise modulation of human brain activity, offering access to deep structures beyond the reach of electromagnetic methods. Yet, its parameter-effect relationships remain poorly understood, particularly across different anatomical targets. Here, we systematically synthesize human LIFU studies to compare how acoustic parameters—especially pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and duty cycle (DC)—shape neuronal and behavioral neuromodulatory outcomes in cortical versus subcortical regions. Cortical stimulation shows a nonlinear parameter landscape, with facilitation emerging in low-PRF/low-DC and high-PRF/high-DC regimes, and suppression predominating in the intermediate PRF-DC combinations. By contrast, subcortical stimulation exhibits a more monotonic trend along the DC axis: suppression dominates at lower DC across a wide PRF range, while facilitation is largely confined to higher DC regimes. These divergent landscapes delineate clearer parameter boundaries between cortical and subcortical targets. We interpret these target-dependent differences through cellular, cytoarchitectural, network-level, and acoustic mechanisms. Together, these findings sketch emerging principles for a mechanistically grounded parameter framework for human LIFU neuromodulation
Improving Recidivism Prediction and Causal Inference: From Regression and SEM to Instrumental-Variable Models
David Gallardo-Pujol; Laura Viñals-Vilà; Antonio Andrés-Pueyo
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Risk assessment tools in criminal justice are typically evaluated on predictive performance, with much less attention to whether the risk factors they include have causal effects on recidivism. This study compares classical prediction models—probit regression and latent‐variable structural equation models (SEM)—with instrumental‐variable (IV) extensions to examine both prediction and causal inference in the context of a validated risk protocol (RisCanvi) used in Catalonia. Guided by a large automated meta-analysis of over 300,000 publications on violence and recidivism, we selected four core criminogenic domains—antisocial traits, antisocial history and peers, work/social instability, and substance use—and modelled 3-year recidivism in a cohort of individuals assessed with RisCanvi between 2015 and 2023. Classical SEM achieved the highest discrimination (AUC ≈ .74) but poor calibration, whereas probit models were well calibrated but had very low sensitivity. IV-SEM preserved discrimination while substantially increasing the estimated effects of criminogenic needs and achieving the highest sensitivity, at the cost of worse calibration. IV-probit produced calibrated probabilities and modest gains in discrimination over classical probit. These findings illustrate a methodological “division of labour”: classical models provide transparent, well-calibrated risk estimates for routine decisions, while IV-based models offer stronger evidence on which criminogenic needs are true levers for change, informing the design and targeting of interventions and policy in recidivism reduction.
Bilingual Experience and Word Properties Selectively Affect L1 Picture Naming
Nadine Charanek; Vegas Hodgins; Olessia Jouravlev
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Bilingualism is known to affect lexical retrieval speed, particularly in second language (L2) production, but its impact on native language (L1) naming remains unclear. We investigated how word-level properties (lexical frequency and cognate status) and individual experience with L2 (AoA, proficiency, use, and immersion history) shape L1 naming. English–French bilinguals were overall slower than English monolinguals, with the largest L1 naming costs being observed for low-frequency non-cognates, consistent with frequency-driven weakening of lexical representations. Exploratory individual-difference analyses revealed that current L2 use (but not L2 AoA, proficiency, or immersion history) predicted L1 slowing. Further, greater L2 use was associated with disproportionate slowing for high-frequency non-cognates. Together, the findings support two complementary mechanisms of bilingual lexical regulation: (a) long-term representational weakening that affects low-frequency, L1-unique words, and (b) short-term inhibition associated with active L2 use that slows highly accessible L1-unique words. These findings indicate that L1 naming costs are not global but emerge from the interplay of lexical characteristics and bilingual language experience.
Are the correlates of mind wandering consistent across younger and older adults?
Matt Welhaf; Cathy Zhang; Madeline Valdez; Wouter Kool; Julie Bugg
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The correlates of mind wandering are well studied in younger adult samples. However, little is known about the correlates of mind wandering among older adults. The current study took a comprehensive approach to investigating age-related differences in the correlates of mind wandering. Participants (N = 150 younger and N = 150 older adults) completed a series of attention tasks. During some of these tasks, participants were periodically probed to report on their mind wandering experiences. Additionally, participants completed several questionnaires capturing theoretically relevant constructs such as motivation, affect, and dispositional factors. We used confirmatory factor analysis to assess correlations between our predictors and mind wandering at the construct level. We found that some factors (e.g., task-based motivation) were significantly correlated in both age groups, while other factors were significant correlates in one age group but not the other. Despite these apparent differences, many of the correlations did not statistically differ across the groups. We did find, however, that the association between behavioral attention lapses and mind wandering was significantly stronger in younger adults compared to older adults. A secondary aim of the current study was to replicate and extend prior work examining the mediating factors in the age-mind wandering relationship. Consistent with prior findings, we showed that motivational and affective factors only partially mediated the relationship between age and mind wandering. Our findings can help inform and refine theories of mind wandering by showing that key predictors of mind wandering are largely consistent across younger and older adults.
Look, predict, intercept: Visual exposure seeds model-based control in moving-target interception
Lauren Tenaya Eckhardt; Anvitha Akkaraju; Tori LeVier; Justin Kasowski; Michael Beyeler
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Humans frequently pursue moving objects that temporarily disappear from view, yet the control strategies underlying successful interception remain debated. While some theories emphasize on-line guidance via optic flow, others propose that interception is maintained through internal models of target motion. We tested a two-stage hybrid control hypothesis in which individuals initially rely on optic flow to guide movement but switch to model-based prediction when visual input is withdrawn. In two immersive virtual reality experiments, participants intercepted a moving target (a bunny or hare) that disappeared partway through its trajectory. In Experiment 1 (N = 18), participants walked to intercept a cartoon bunny under varying path (linear or zigzag) and visibility conditions (fully visible, disappear-reappear, or disappear). Interception performance decreased following disappearance but remained above chance, and curved walking trajectories only emerged when participants began moving before the target appeared, challenging classic optic-flow–based models. In Experiment 2 (N = 41), participants attempted to “shoot” a hare after it disappeared, with visible time and distance factorially manipulated. Capture success increased linearly with visible time but plateaued with visible distance, suggesting that temporal exposure, not spatial extent, determines the quality of predictive control. Together, the findings support a two-stage, effector-invariant interception strategy in which brief visual exposure (~1–1.5 s) seeds a predictive controller that allows action to continue when visual information is lost.
From Myth to Model: Representation of “The Jew” in Generative AI
Gal Gutman; Michael Gilead
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Antisemitism, a persistent form of cultural prejudice, is increasingly manifesting in subtle and modernized forms within contemporary society. This study examined how cultural representations of Jews are encoded in large language models (LLMs), which absorb societal discourse through training on vast corpora of human-generated text. To investigate these representations, we developed an indirect methodology: generating character biographies using Jewish and non-Jewish names, removing overt identity markers, and prompting the LLM to evaluate a range of psychological and sociocultural traits. Characters associated with Jewish (vs. non-Jewish) names were consistently rated as more competent, privileged, dominant, self-controlled, future-oriented, hierarchical, and obsessive—and as less likable and less collectivistic. When these trait profiles were mapped onto fictional characters, they aligned with archetypes historically associated with antisemitic tropes. These findings demonstrate how latent stereotypes can persist in AI systems despite explicit bias mitigation, highlighting the adaptability of prejudice and the structural embedding of cultural archetypes in contemporary technologies.
On the Measurement and Conceptualization of Parental Rules
Emily Megumi Schulze; John Schwarz-Torres; Emily C. Kemp; Herry Patel; William E. Pelham
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Parental rules have been curiously neglected from a conceptual and measurement perspective. The first half of this paper reviews the literature to show that there is no commonly used, standardized measure of rules. Rules are typically measured either with unvalidated ad hoc standalone items or incidentally measured with 1-2 items on multi-item scales assessing a broader parenting construct (e.g., discipline). Construct definitions are rarely stated, often circular, and inconsistent between authors. As a result, the empirical literature on parental rules is difficult to appraise and synthesize. The second half of this paper proposes a new framework for conceptualizing parental rules that includes an explicit, non-circular construct definition and delineates 7 dimensions along which a parental rule can vary. The framework is designed to be universally applicable across youth behaviors and scientific fields and enable a more rigorous science of parental rules.
Racial Contrast Theory
Jin X. Goh
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This paper introduces a new interdisciplinary theory on interracial relations called the Racial Contrast Theory. The theory posits that Asian Americans, more than any other racial group in the United States, are uniquely juxtaposed against Black people both historically and social-cognitively. The racial contrast between Asian and Black Americans serves two interrelated functions: to maintain White supremacy (i.e., the ideology that centers White people and Whiteness as the ideal and unspoken default) and to justify anti-Black racism (i.e., the ideology that Black people and Blackness are inferior). This paper reviews the unique juxtaposing role that Asian Americans play in perpetuating these two ideologies, and it describes how racial contrast theory can synthesize and organize seemingly disparate social psychological theories. By moving beyond the traditional Black-White framework to emphasize the contrasting roles of Asian Americans in perpetuating White supremacy and anti-Black racism, racial contrast theory challenges traditional approaches to intergroup dynamics.
Augmenting human creativity with responsible and ethical use of generative AI
Seyedahmad Rahimi; Christopher Dede; Salah Esmaeiligoujar; Maryam Babaee
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Generative AI is reshaping creative processes and offers opportunities for innovation while posing challenges such as ethical concerns and potential declines in human creativity. This chapter explores two frameworks to address these issues: creativity augmentation (CA) and a cyclical ethical framework of AI use. CA emphasizes collaboration between AI's computational strengths and humans' ethical reasoning and contextual understanding to achieve superior creative outcomes. The ethical framework addresses access, representation, algorithmic bias, interpretation, and citizenship divides and advocates for inclusive and equitable AI practices. Two case studies illustrate these frameworks in action: WIse, an AI assistant in architecture, supports innovative designs while addressing ethical challenges and a high school classroom demonstrates how generative AI fosters creativity and ethical awareness among students. These examples highlight the need for AI literacy, human-centered approaches, and systemic bias mitigation to ensure generative AI enhances creativity responsibly and equitably.
Learners’ beliefs about teachers’ social characteristics influence their pronunciation preferences
Shannon Barrios; Rachel Hayes-Harb
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Learners’ beliefs about language and language users impact the inferences they make about linguistic structure as well as their learning outcomes (Ballard & Winke 2017; Falkert 2016; Hayes-Harb et al. 2022). Hayes-Harb et al. (2022) demonstrated that participants preferred speech samples exhibiting a pronunciation pattern that was associated with a “teacher” over that of a “student” in a simulated language classroom context, indicating that language learners differentially weigh their input based on characteristics of the speaker. We extend this work by investigating whether preferences for the teacher’s pronunciation could be modulated by attributing “favorable” versus “unfavorable” social characteristics to the teacher regarding their teaching experience, teaching effectiveness, and linguistic background. We found that participants still tended to prefer the teacher’s pronunciation, but that this preference was reduced when the teacher had been characterized unfavorably. We thus provide evidence that preferences for speech input from teachers are modulated by beliefs about the social characteristics of the teacher, contributing to our understanding of linguistic stereotyping and its impact on language teaching and learning.
Embodied attention shapes temporal cognition: effects of gaze direction and optokinetic stimulation on mental time travel and age judgement
Angelo Pisani; Michela Candini; marinella cappelletti; Mariano D'Angelo
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Does visuospatial attention influence temporal cognition? In Study 1, we investigated whether gaze direction can modulate different aspects of temporal processing. Participants performed a Mental Time Travel (MTT) task judging the likelihood of past and future life events while their visuospatial attention was oriented by facial gaze cues directed leftward, rightward, or centrally (Experiment 1). To test whether visuospatial attention modulates representation of temporal duration (e.g., age estimation), participants completed an Age Judgment task estimating the age of face stimuli under the same gaze manipulations (Experiment 2). Results showed direction-specific effects in the MTT task: leftward gaze enhanced probability judgments for past events, while rightward gaze enhanced judgments for future events. In the Age Judgment task, gaze systematically biased perceived age, with leftward cues yielding younger estimates and rightward cues yielding older estimates. In Study 2, we tested whether these gaze-related effects require a lateralized bodily stimulus (a face) or reflect a general modulation of visuospatial attention. We used optokinetic stimulation (OKS) to shift visuospatial attention without lateralized bodily cues. OKS produced weaker direction-specific effects on the MTT task compared to gaze, but generated similar biases in the Age Judgment task. These findings indicate that visuospatial attention shapes temporal cognition through partially distinct neurocognitive routes: embodied cues like gaze facilitate self-projection during MTT, whereas body-unrelated manipulations such as OKS are sufficient to modulate temporal estimation along a Mental Time Line. Overall, these results reinforce the view that time is processed within a visuomotor architecture linking space, time, and the body.
Anxious Aspirations: Attachment Anxiety Fuels Status Strivings Through Intrasexual Competition
Agata Gasiorowska; Michal Folwarczny; Tobias Otterbring
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Striving for social status is a fundamental human motive, yet individuals vary considerably in their status-seeking tendencies. Drawing on attachment literature and life history theory, we propose that attachment anxiety drives status pursuit through heightened intrasexual competition. Across six preregistered studies (N = 4,456) spanning five countries, we found that attachment anxiety, but not attachment avoidance, predicts stronger status strivings. This relationship is mediated by intrasexual competition—competing with same-sex rivals—rather than, as previously documented, by materialism or general competitiveness. Experimental evidence confirmed causality: inducing attachment anxiety (vs. avoidance) increased desire for high-status cars and houses through heightened intrasexual competition. A moderation-of-process design demonstrated that experimentally manipulating intrasexual competition correspondingly enhanced or reduced the effect of attachment anxiety on status strivings, but only for high-status possessions. These effects held for both men and women. Our findings show that anxiously attached individuals pursue status to compensate for relational insecurities, and they do so by competing with same-sex rivals. This research extends attachment theory to status pursuit and clarifies whether, when, and why individual differences in attachment patterns predict people’s status strivings.
Video-mediated communication modulates conversational features of speech more than gesture in novel referential communication
Sho Akamine; Mark Dingemanse; antje meyer; Asli
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For face-to-face communication to flow smoothly, people engage in various activities, such as taking turns rapidly, using hand gestures, and aligning in word choices and gestures, to name a few. Nowadays, many conversations occur on videoconferencing platforms, making them important settings for social interactions. However, it is underexplored how these multimodal conversational features compare across modes of communication. By analyzing two corpora of multimodal interactions—one for co-present face-to-face interaction and the other for video-mediated interaction—we found strikingly similar patterns of speech and gesture production across modes of communication. In particular, we found a great amount of overlap in the distributions of floor transition offset (FTO), turn-length, the frequency and size of co-speech gestures, and the frequencies of lexical and gestural alignment, across conversational rounds. However, there were also differences: Online video-mediated communication was associated with (i) longer floor transfer offsets (454 ms) and fewer overlaps, (ii) a greater reduction in the number of words over time, (iii) a lower lexical alignment rate at the beginning of the conversation, and (iv) a greater proportion of alignment of iconic gestures with similar forms than face to face communication. These findings suggest that the fundamental dynamics of conversation are nearly identical between co-present face-to-face and video-mediated interactions, but video-mediated communication modulates some aspects of speech-related interactive language use more than those of co-speech gestures.
Synergistic Effects of Chronic and Acute Stress and Racial Discrimination on Momentary Alcohol Craving Across Black and White Young Adults
Krithika Prakash; Emmanuel D Thomas; Traci M. Kennedy; Jordan Holmes; Meredith Wallace; Sarah Pedersen
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Aims. This study aimed to examine the effects of chronic and acute stress and racial discrimination on daily alcohol craving and compare these associations between Black and White young adults. Design. Participants completed baseline assessments followed by a 17-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol. Setting. Non-treatment seeking, community sample from Western Pennsylvania, United States Participants. Young adults aged 21-30 (n = 166), who reported at least weekly alcohol use and at least three occasions of consuming 4+/5+ drinks for female/male participants in the past three months. 41.57% of participants identified as Black/African American and 58.43% of participants identified as White; 68.64% were assigned female at birth. Measurements. Baseline assessments included sociodemographic characteristics and measures of chronic stress and racial discrimination. EMA protocol captured acute stress, discrimination, and craving. Linear multilevel models tested main and interactive effects of chronic and acute forms of stress and discrimination on daily craving. Findings. Between-person acute stress predicted higher craving (B = 1.25, SE = 0.27, p < .001). Craving also increased within person on high-stress days, particularly among those with greater chronic stress (B = 0.33, SE = 0.15, p = .025). Chronic (B = 0.55, SE = 0.17, p = .001). Within-person acute discrimination (B = 2.21, SE = 0.90, p = .014) predicted higher craving among Black, but not White, participants. This was qualified by a significant three-way interaction showing that for Black participants, higher chronic discrimination weakened the association between within-person acute discrimination and alcohol craving (B = –0.64, SE = 0.28, p = .024). Conclusion: Chronic stress may enhance the impact of acute stress increasing craving and ultimately alcohol use. Additionally, both chronic and acute discrimination experiences were related to elevated craving. Further research examining domains of chronic and acute stressors beyond general and discrimination is needed given the differential findings and treatment implications.
People Make Graded Judgments About the Inconceivable
Jennifer Hu; Felix Sosa; Tomer David Ullman
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Some impossible things are more impossible than others. Magically levitating a feather is easier than levitating a rock, even though both are impossible in the real world. But within the things that are inconceivable—e.g., "the concept of red writing a play" or "a girl being a prime number"—are some things more inconceivable than others? We first established that people have graded, systematic judgments about the likelihood of inconceivable events (Experiment 1). We then examined three hypotheses as to how people make such judgments: the likelihood of the event description string (Experiment 2); the ease of a metaphorical interpretation (Experiment 3); and the difficulty of transforming a nonsense statement into a sensible one, as measured by distance in a type hierarchy (Experiment 4). We found that graded judgments of inconceivability are not captured by string likelihood, nor by metaphorizability, but do correspond to a measure of distance in a type hierarchy. Our results suggest that inconceivability is graded, and the perceived likelihood of an inconceivable event may be a product of one's ontology of the world.
Working Hard to Belong: Meritocratic Ideology and Deportation Sentiments among Latino Americans and Asian Americans
Jin X. Goh; Nathan K. Chan
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Many Latino and Asian Americans have ingrained the ethos of meritocracy to justify their arduous attempts to achieve the elusive American Dream. Such staunch meritocratic ideology, however, insidiously motivates individuals to support policies that may discriminate against them. In a current political landscape that is increasingly anti-immigration, Latino and Asian Americans are particularly vulnerable to deportation efforts. However, the concern (and even support) for deportation is not universally shared among the two largest immigrant groups in the United States. This research examined the extent to which meritocratic ideology predicts stronger support for deportation policies and alleviates deportation fears for oneself and close others among Latino and Asian Americans. Using data from the 2020 and 2024 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Surveys, we found that stauncher meritocratic ideology among both Latino and Asian Americans predicted greater support for deportation policies and less concern about deportation. This research demonstrates that meritocratic ideology may promote attitudes that disproportionately impact Latino and Asian Americans’ own racial ingroup.
The Influence of Sense of Agency on Learning
Romina Haxhi; Mateusz M Wozniak; Agnieszka Wykowska
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In many real-life situations learning is an active process of engaging with new information, experimenting and integrating new experiences to build meaningful understanding. However, learning can have either a more active or more passive form and several factors may influence how effectively individuals learn new information in both cases. One such factor is the sense of agency, which refers to the subjective feeling of control over one’s actions, and it distinguishes active experience from passive observation. The present study aims to investigate whether differences in the sense of agency affect learning, as evaluated using the artificial grammar learning task. Participants were assigned to either an active condition, where they had full control over responses, or a passive condition, where they mostly passively observed the computer performing the task and were learning through observation. At the end of the experiment, they rated their perceived control. Results showed that participants in the active condition reported a stronger sense of agency and demonstrated higher accuracy from the very beginning of the task compared to those in the passive condition. Although both groups improved with repeated trials at a similar rate, the initial advantage for the active group persisted throughout the experiment. Overall, our study suggests that sense of agency can influence learning, and that learning is more effective when individuals feel in control of their actions.
Some Assembly Required: Self-Testing Alone is Not an Effective Way to Build Broader Understanding
Benjamin Motz; Anna Chinni; Audrey Barriball; Danielle McNamara
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Extensive research has demonstrated that testing enhances long-term memory by strengthening retrieval processes for the tested memory traces. Such memory models explain why learners benefit from repeated testing but do not account for how learners construct understanding across multiple ideas. In contrast, theories of discourse comprehension emphasize the construction of inferences, whereby learners actively connect ideas into a coherent mental representation. These two perspectives—memory-based retrieval versus inference-based integration—make distinct predictions about what learners retain and understand. The present study tested these predictions by comparing self-testing, self-explanation, and reading strategies on both fact memory and inference performance. In Experiment 1 (n = 254), despite superior retention of individual facts, self-testing produced lower inference performance than self-explanation. Experiment 2 (n = 68), a preregistered replication with a minimum 24-hour delay, confirmed and extended these findings: repeated retrieval improved recall of facts but did not facilitate the assembly of coherent knowledge structures. A mixed-methods analysis revealed that generating inferences during learning specifically predicted inference performance, whereas noting facts predicted fact recall, providing converging evidence that these strategies produce qualitatively different mental representations. Furthermore, participants generated fewer inferences when self-explaining science texts compared with narratives, highlighting domain differences in the ease of knowledge integration. Together, these results demonstrate that while self-testing strengthens memory for discrete information, it fails to foster the integrative processing necessary for comprehension. Effective learning requires more than strengthening retrieval processes—it depends on the active generation of inferences that bind ideas into coherent mental models.
Investigating the impact of preterm birth on theory of mind development in five-year-old children
Selina Abel; Melissa Thye; Katie Mckinnon; Rebekah Smikle; Jean Skelton; Lorena Jiménez Sånchez; Gayle Barclay; Charlotte Jardine; Donna McIntyre; Iona Hamilton
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Abstract Background Behavioural studies suggest atypical/delayed development of “theory of mind” (ToM; our ability to reason about others’ mental states) following preterm birth. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test whether behavioural differences are likely the result of preterm birth specifically impacting neural ToM development, as evidenced by differences in brain regions recruited for ToM reasoning (“ToM network”). Methods Using fMRI and behavioural ToM tasks with five-year-old children born at 24-42 weeks’ GA, we tested for an effect of gestational age (GA) on behavioural ToM performance, functional maturation of the ToM network, response magnitude to ToM movie scenes, and inter-region correlations. Additionally, we leveraged an open dataset and intersubject correlation analyses to measure similarity of neural ToM responses within and across preterm- and term-born children; including younger (3–4-year-old) children via the open dataset enabled testing for evidence of developmental delays among children born preterm. Results Behaviourally, preterm-born children scored lower on our primary behavioural ToM task, and on a measure of receptive language, compared to term-born children. Neurally, ToM network responses during a short movie were similar across preterm- and term-born children. There was no effect of GA on functional maturation or on the response magnitude in ToM regions to two of three ToM scenes. Response magnitude in ToM regions to a third scene was lower among preterm-born children relative to term-born children, but responses to this scene were also low among adults. Both term- and preterm-born children showed functionally distinct ToM network responses. While ToM network responses were more heterogenous among preterm-born children, responses in individual preterm-born children were most similar to (correlated with) same-age term-born children, relative to other preterm-born children or younger (3–4-year-old) term-born children. Conclusions Preterm birth does not preclude broadly similar functional development in ToM brain regions by age five years.
Understanding Zoophilic Communities Online: A Psychological Perspective on Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness
Armin Klaps; Birgit Ursula Stetina
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The internet has become a transformative space for marginalized and stigmatized populations, providing anonymity and a platform for community building. Zoophilic communities, often hidden from mainstream discourse, use online forums to connect, share resources, and seek emotional support. This study examines the so-called hidden population of individuals with zoophile interests, aiming to analyze the psychological needs within these digital environments. Using a mixed-methods design that employed grounded theory in collaboration with an active zoophile forum, 30 narrative interviews were conducted with community members, and 2234 respondents were surveyed online (a subgroup from a larger research project), focusing on their reasons for participating in zoophilia forums. The interview analysis resulted in a code system that was applied to the survey data set using MAXQDA software. The results reveal three main psychological needs that drive participation in zoophilic forums: autonomy (freedom to express one's identity), competence (sharing information and activism), and relatedness (emotional support and community). These needs align with the Self-Determination Theory, which emphasizes how online communities provide a safe space for individuals to satisfy psychological needs that are often unfulfilled offline. The findings reveal that online forums serve as crucial spaces for zoophiles to satisfy fundamental psychological needs, particularly in the face of societal stigma and marginalization. Understanding these dynamics can inform more nuanced approaches to mental health support for this specific group and potentially hidden populations in general.
Lifelines of Young People with a History in Residential Care: A Qualitative Investigation from a Complex Systems Perspective
Rineke Bossenbroek; Ole Gmelin; Merlijn Olthof; Jana Knot-Dickscheit; Fred Hasselman; Evelien Poelen; Anna Lichtwarck-Aschoff
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Care for youngsters in residential settings is often disorder focused rather than based on a holistic understanding of their unique developmental histories. In this study, we used a lifeline drawing method, inspired by complex systems theory, to map the life histories and broader developmental contexts of young people with residential living experience. Lifelines of wellbeing were analyzed for distinct dynamic patterns to arrive at a process explanation of how person-environment interactions shape the onset and maintenance of psychological suffering and recovery. Lifeline interviews were conducted with seven adolescents with residential living experience. Each lifeline was segmented and coded for the functioning of the person and their environment. We then sought for dynamic patterns that were repeated within and across cases. The overall line shape showed that youth experienced the majority of their lives as hardship and that their psychological problems worsened over time. While idiosyncratic in content, we found general dynamics (patterns of stability, fluctuations, and diverse change patterns) that could be linked to distinct developmental mechanisms. Fluctuating patterns pointed towards periods of instability (or crisis), during which youth appeared more sensitive to external stressors, and which typically marked the start of recovery. Whereas the worsening of youths’ problems typically occurred fast, recovery was a much slower process which required an autonomy-supported living environment, psychological interventions, and/or changes in youths’ school or living environment. We call for an interaction-based approach to diagnosis and care, in which psychological suffering is understood in the light of a person’s history and developmental context.
Individual differences and motives for the acceptance of cognitive enhancement: A mixed-methods investigation
Sandra Grinschgl; Larissa Kohlmeier; Aljoscha Neubauer
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Rapid advancements in technology have sparked growing interest in cognitive enhancement methods and in their potential to improve cognitive abilities, such as attention, memory, and intelligence. While these methods—such as brain stimulation, pharmaceutical interventions, and gamified brain training—have yet to consistently demonstrate their effectiveness in improving broader cognitive abilities, they are the subject of increasing exploration and application. Understanding who would be willing to enhance their cognitive abilities and why is crucial as these technologies become more popular and accessible in society. Thus, in two preregistered lab studies, we investigated individuals’ acceptance (i.e. willingness to make use) of various cognitive enhancement methods, tested predictors thereof, and explored individuals’ motives to utilize enhancement methods or be reluctant to do so. In Study 1 (N = 203), we found considerably higher acceptance for more active (i.e. more involved) than passive enhancement methods. Lower age, greater interest in science fiction, and stronger investigative interests (partially) predicted participants’ acceptance of cognitive enhancement, while personality traits, self-assessed and measured intelligence did not. In Study 2 (N = 197), we aimed to (conceptually) replicate key findings from Study 1, and in addition qualitatively assess the motives for the acceptance and rejection of enhancement. Our findings confirmed the higher acceptance of active than passive methods. Additionally, we found that greater interest in science fiction and (partially) higher psychometric intelligence predicted participants’ acceptance of cognitive enhancement, while personality traits and self-assessed intelligence did not. Qualitative analyses provided exploratory insights into the motives for accepting or rejecting active and passive enhancement methods. Across these two studies, our findings indicate that attitudes toward cognitive enhancement are complex and influenced by multiple factors. We emphasize the importance of studying situational factors, such as person-environment fit, to better understand the willingness to make use of cognitive enhancement.
Why Indian Teenage Girls Prefer Strangers Over Parents for Mental-Health Disclosure: A Qualitative Study
Shreya Singh
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This qualitative study explores why adolescent girls prefer confiding in strangers rather than their parents when experiencing mental-health difficulties. Using semi-structured interviews with 20 girls aged 13–21, the study examined how family dynamics and parental neglect shape help-seeking behavior. Participants described experiences of anxiety, emotional distress, trauma-related symptoms, and reliance on maladaptive coping strategies. A dominant theme was the intergenerational pattern of emotional avoidance within families, where mental-health conversations are discouraged or dismissed. Contributing factors included conservative norms, fear of judgment, limited parent–child communication, and low awareness of mental-health resources. The findings indicate that emotional unavailability at home restricts adolescents’ willingness to disclose distress, leading them to seek support from peers, online communities, or strangers. These results highlight the need for family-centered mental-health literacy initiatives and early interventions that promote open dialogue within households.
Measuring Prejudice and Stereotypes: A Systematic Review of Psychometric Quality and Conceptual Foundations
David Lacko; Anna KubelkovĂĄ; Simona OÄŸhovĂĄ; Adam Klocek; Sylvie Graf
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Prejudice and stereotypes are central constructs in social psychology; however, the instruments used to measure them vary in terms of their quality and conceptual clarity. This preregistered systematic review presents the first comprehensive, cross-method synthesis of the psychometric properties and theoretical foundations of measures assessing racial and ethnic prejudice and stereotypes. Following PRISMA and COSMIN guidelines, we screened 13,363 records and included 263 studies published between 1951 and 2024. We evaluated, among other things, reliability, validity, factor structure, measurement invariance, and conceptual alignment across explicit, implicit, and behavioral instruments. Our findings reveal a field that is methodologically diverse but psychometrically fragile. Most measures were developed with U.S. samples, rarely assessed temporal stability, discriminant or predictive validity, and often lack theoretical–empirical coherence. The GRADE synthesis indicated that only 4% of methods achieved high-quality evidence, while the majority showed serious inconsistency and risk of bias. Conceptually, only one-third of studies clearly defined prejudice, and most operationalized it narrowly at the cognitive, individual level, neglecting affective and behavioral dimensions. The review highlights how conceptual ambiguity and inadequate validation threaten the interpretability of decades of prejudice and stereotype research. We recommend greater construct clarity, multimethod integration of explicit, implicit, and behavioral measures, and stronger adoption of transparent research practices. Taken together, these findings call for a new generation of measurement tools that are psychometrically rigorous, theoretically coherent, and culturally sensitive—capable of capturing prejudice as a dynamic, multidimensional phenomenon.
Emerging Stressors and the Mental Health Burden on Kenyan Youth Amid Political Instability, Climate Change, and COVID-19
Jean Kasudi; Rosine Baseke; Faith Kamau; Eric Jeremiah; Maureen Ngesa; Katherine E. Venturo-Conerly; Samuel Walusaka; Denis Kioko; Victoria Mutiso; David Ndetei
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Background: Adolescents in Kenya face an escalating mental health burden amid intersecting global and local crises, including political instability, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, previous research has been limited in geographic scope and often overlooks how broader societal stressors beyond school influence adolescent wellbeing. Objectives: This study examined the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among Kenyan adolescents and investigated associations with exposure to political violence, climate change anxiety, and COVID-19-related stress. Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed 5,592 students aged 12–23 years from 42 secondary schools across four Kenyan counties. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to assess depression and anxiety, respectively. Separate cohorts completed measures of climate change anxiety and COVID-19 stress (n=2,856) or exposure to ethnic-political violence (n=2,727). Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, and multivariate regression models controlling for age, gender, co-curricular activities, and parental education. Results: Overall prevalence of clinically significant depression and anxiety symptoms (cutoff ≄10) was 27.7% and 23.8%, respectively. Female participants reported higher rates in moderate to severe depression (25.2% vs 20.0%) and anxiety (24.0% vs 19.1%) categories; however, gender differences in reporting may reflect both differential symptom manifestation and greater help-seeking or emotional literacy among girls. Climate change anxiety and COVID-19 stress demonstrated the significant associations (p<.001) with both depression (r=0.31, r=0.19, respectively) and anxiety (r=0.40, r=0.26, respectively). Political violence exposure was widespread, with 52.5% reporting exposure to violent media content and 25% reporting discrimination; however, individual political violence items showed small to moderate correlations with mental health outcomes (r=0.12-0.22). Indirect or second-hand experiences of political violence—such as having a friend or family member affected—were strong predictors of depressive symptoms. Older adolescents and girls consistently reported higher distress across all stressors. Father's education showed protective associations with anxiety, while mother's education demonstrated mixed or positive associations. Conclusions: Kenyan adolescents are contending with multiple, overlapping stressors that compound mental health risks, with climate change and COVID-19 stress appearing as particularly salient contributors. Girls and younger adolescents appear particularly vulnerable. Addressing these challenges requires gender-responsive, school- and community-based interventions that integrate trauma-informed care, climate education, and media literacy, alongside longitudinal research to track the evolving impact of global crises on youth mental health.
SoTact: A socio-tactile picture database for vicarious touch perception studies
Hanan Ez-zahraoui; Louise P Kirsch
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Vicarious forms of social touch perception include the experience of touch as a third-party observer. Touch observation plays a pivotal role in social cognition, as tactile interactions convey emotional and social information essential for interpersonal understanding. However, research in this domain is hindered by the scarcity of standardised databases and the heterogeneity of experimental controls. To address these limitations, we developed the Socio-Tactile Picture database, which includes positive tactile gestures (Social Touch), along with two control conditions: a Social No-Touch condition (to isolate social interaction effects) and a Non-Social Touch condition (to control for human tactile specificity). The novelty in the database resides in the inclusion of stimuli from the three aforementioned conditions, combined with gender balance achieved through three actor dyads. The database was validated via an online experiment, where participants rated stimuli on valence, arousal, and naturalness across two sessions. Results showed that the database presented good intra-subject and inter-actor consistency. Moreover, social touch pictures were consistently rated as positive in valence, as hypothesised. The database is publicly available to support future research on the perception of observed touch, offering a robust tool for experimental investigations.
Meaningful results for meaningful hypotheses: A tutorial on hypothesis testing with Bayes factors using ROPEs
Timo Benjamin Roettger; Michael Franke
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Recent times have seen an increase of interest in Bayesian inference across the behavioral sciences. However, the process of testing hypotheses is often conceptually challenging or computationally costly. This tutorial provides an accessible, non-technical introduction to a technique that is both conceptually easy to understand and computationally cheap, and that also covers many common scenarios in the experimental sciences: Quantifying the relative evidence for a pair of interval-based hypotheses using Bayes factors through the Savage Dickey approximation.
Towards Caution in Generalisation: How to Draw Conclusions About Conspiracy Believers Based on Mostly Non-Believer Samples
Kenzo Nera; Robbie M. Sutton; Yasemin UluƟahin; Magali Beylat
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The psychology of conspiracy theories is built on convenience samples of individuals who mostly reject conspiracy theories. Inference about strong conspiracy believers – who are largely absent from research samples – rests on two generalisability assumptions. The first, interpretation generalisability, assumes a sample’s average level of conspiracy (dis)belief does not significantly alter the theoretical interpretation of relationships. The second, range generalisability, holds that statistical relationships observed among low-to-moderate conspiracy believers are generalisable to stronger believers. Recent work on contradictory conspiracy beliefs shows that these assumptions can be misleading, highlighting the need to reflect on the conditions of generalisations. In the case of interpretation generalisability, we propose that relationships observed among low-to-moderate believers might be better interpreted as capturing differences in plausibility perceptions – because what differentiates people who “neither agree nor disagree” with a conspiracy theory from people who reject it is arguably the fact that they are open to the possibility that it could be true. Such relationships are informative, yet the differences between perceptions of plausibility and factuality (i.e., the sense that a conspiracy is true) should be considered before generalising conclusions to strong believers. As for range generalisability, we argue for a case-by-case evaluation for the possibility that relationships might be non-linear across the full range of agreement scores.
Embodied attention shapes temporal cognition: effects of gaze direction and optokinetic stimulation on mental time travel and age judgement
Angelo Pisani; Michela Candini; marinella cappelletti; Mariano D'Angelo
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Does visuospatial attention influence temporal cognition? In Study 1, we investigated whether gaze direction can modulate different aspects of temporal processing. Participants performed a Mental Time Travel (MTT) task judging the likelihood of past and future life events while their visuospatial attention was oriented by facial gaze cues directed leftward, rightward, or centrally (Experiment 1). To test whether visuospatial attention modulates representation of temporal duration (e.g., age estimation), participants completed an Age Judgment task estimating the age of face stimuli under the same gaze manipulations (Experiment 2). Results showed direction-specific effects in the MTT task: leftward gaze enhanced probability judgments for past events, while rightward gaze enhanced judgments for future events. In the Age Judgment task, gaze systematically biased perceived age, with leftward cues yielding younger estimates and rightward cues yielding older estimates. In Study 2, we tested whether these gaze-related effects require a lateralized bodily stimulus (a face) or reflect a general modulation of visuospatial attention. We used optokinetic stimulation (OKS) to shift visuospatial attention without lateralized bodily cues. OKS produced weaker direction-specific effects on the MTT task compared to gaze, but generated similar biases in the Age Judgment task. These findings indicate that visuospatial attention shapes temporal cognition through partially distinct neurocognitive routes: embodied cues like gaze facilitate self-projection during MTT, whereas body-unrelated manipulations such as OKS are sufficient to modulate temporal estimation along a Mental Time Line. Overall, these results reinforce the view that time is processed within a visuomotor architecture linking space, time, and the body.
General Intelligence Contributions to Cognitive Performance Across Ability Levels and Age: An IPD Meta-Analysis of Child and Adolescent Norming Data
Moritz Breit; Martin Brunner; Julian Preuß; Monika Daseking; GĂŒnter Esser; Alexander Grob; Jan-Philipp Freudenstein; Ulf Kieschke; Ludwig Kreuzpointner; Franz Pauls
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Cognitive differentiation effects describe differences in the strength of the correlations among cognitive performances depending on general ability level and age. In this context, variations in the contribution of general intelligence (g) to specific cognitive performances have attracted significant interest, yet have not been investigated meta-analytically. The present study provides an examination of moderated g-factor loadings through a two-stage individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of 29 samples from 20 German test standardizations in children and adolescents (N = 42,207). Standardization samples ensured population representativeness, sufficient sample size, and representation of different cognitive tests. Using nonlinear factor analysis, we examined the moderation of g-loadings by age, ability, and their interaction. Subsequent multi-level meta-regressions revealed decreasing g-loadings with increasing ability levels (meta-analytic λ2 = –.046 [95% CI -.064, -.028]). Age moderation effects were inconsistent and nonsignificant (meta-analytic λ3 = .003 [95% CI -.024, .030]). A negative age × ability interaction was present in some samples but not significant meta-analytically (meta-analytic λ4 = –.005 [95% CI -.012, .002]). Moderator analyses indicated that effects differed between test families but rarely between CHC abilities. The results highlight ability level as a key source of differences in the contribution of general intelligence to specific cognitive performances, underscoring the need for conditional reliability estimates in cognitive assessment and for cognitive theories on the nature and development of general intelligence to account for this effect. Age differences in g-factor loadings were less consequential, suggesting limited relevance. The study was funded by the German Research Foundation. OSF registration: https://osf.io/fqdbx/?view_only=e8db0c938c8541f5ac81e69ea5c20fab.
From Review to Synthesis: A Step-by-Step Methodological Guide to Systematic Reviews and Multilevel Meta- Analyses
Hu Meilan; Paye Shin Koh; Xun Ci Soh; Andree Hartanto; Nadyanna M. Majeed
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We provide a step-by-step guide on conducting a quantitative systematic review (i.e., meta-analysis) using the open-source programming language R, as well as conducting a multilevel meta-analysis, in contexts where effect sizes are non-independent (e.g., multiple effect studies from the same lab). Quantitative systematic reviews offer researchers a method to synthesise large bodies of literature, helping to clarify inconsistent findings, identify research gaps, and refine theoretical models. However, existing tutorials often assume prior knowledge and/or experience, often overlooking foundational concepts. To address this gap, a comprehensive walkthrough of the systematic review process is presented, covering pre-registration, literature search and retrieval, screening, risk of bias assessment, and data extraction following the PRISMA framework. We then present detailed guidance on how to conduct both traditional and multilevel meta-analyses in R. Specifically, the tutorial explains how to estimate overall meta-analytic effect sizes when effect sizes are independent (traditional meta-analysis) and when effect sizes are nested within labs (multilevel meta-analysis). Procedures for assessing heterogeneity, testing for publication bias, and conducting moderation analyses are also covered. To accompany this tutorial, we supplement annotated R scripts and R notebooks to support transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility for researchers of all levels of experience.
Do People Across the World Want to Remember Positive Ingroup Histories?
Fiona Kazarovytska; Katrín Árnadóttir; Silvana A. D'Ottone; Slieman Halabi; Edward John Roy Clarke; Suryodaya sharma; Verena Heidrich; Roland Imhoff
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A key assumption in collective memory research is that group members are particularly inclined to preserve history that reinforces the ingroup’s positive identity. Yet, this assumption lacks solid empirical support, as research has rarely measured the identity-protective potential of historical events considered important to remember. Theoretically, this support is essential because group members may engage with history for reasons other than benefiting their ingroup. We complement existing literature by systematically testing the identity-protective tenet using a bottom-up approach. After sampling of a broad set of historical events, we assessed the identity-relevant characteristics attributed to the events and examined how these characteristics relate to group members’ willingness to remember them. Across a preregistered study conducted in seven different national contexts (N = 2,045 participants; N = 7,665 ratings of 360 unique events), we found that events viewed as involving the ingroup in an agentic manner were considered important to remember in most countries. At the same time, we observed notable cross-national variation in the willingness to preserve events in which the ingroup caused positive consequences, behaved morally, or experienced threats, with a stronger tendency to remember ingroup-favoring history in less individualistic or less globally connected countries. We discuss how these findings bridge a crucial empirical gap by demonstrating that identity protection likely represents only one component of collective remembrance, whose importance appears to vary considerably across countries.
Adaption and Validation of the Evaluation of Auditory Responses to Speech (EARS) Test Battery in Lebanese Arabic for Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users
Marie Ange Azoury; Olivier Collignon
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Objectives: The Evaluation of Auditory Responses to Speech (EARS) test battery is an important tool in the assessment of auditory development in pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients in different linguistic and cultural contexts. Recognizing the lack of instruments that are culturally and linguistically adequate to assess Lebanese children with hearing impairments, the current study aimed at adapting and validating the EARS test battery to the Lebanese Arabic. Design: The adaptation process entailed the necessary linguistic, cultural, and psychometric changes to make the tool relevant for the target population. This was performed through the selection of stimuli representative of Lebanese vocabulary and syntax, consultation with experts in the field, and pilot testing of the adapted tests on a normal-hearing cohort of 2 to 11-year-olds. Then, a cohort of 88 Lebanese-speaking children with prelingual bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and unilateral cochlear implants were assessed using the adapted battery called LEARS. The LEARS includes measures of auditory development, word recognition, sentence understanding and functional auditory integration. Results: Our results revealed that LEARS reliably evaluates auditory skills and tracks progress in CI recipients, respecting the cultural and linguistic nuances of Lebanese Arabic. Conclusions: The LEARS test battery constitutes a culturally valid and scientifically robust instrument for the assessment of auditory abilities in Lebanese children with cochlear implants, providing clinicians and policymakers with essential insights into auditory development and facilitating informed decisions in clinical, educational, and research contexts. Keywords: cochlear implant, audiology, children, auditory perception, LEARS assessment tool, Lebanese Arabic
Primary Motor Cortex is Causally Involved in Mental Rotation of Abstract Figure and Hands: a TMS study
Chelsea Terriyanto
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Activation of primary motor cortex (M1) has been observed in some neuroimaging studies of mental rotation (MR). However, the functional relationship between M1 and MR remains unclear. Multiple studies suggest that M1 has a causal relationship with MR, while others propose that M1 activation is merely an effect of other brain regions’ activities. The present study utilises a neural noise Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) approach to investigate the relationship between M1 and MR. Sixty participants, both male and female, with ages ranging from 18 to 30, were equally divided into two experimental groups, each performing MR tasks of either Shepard figures or hands. They were presented with side-by-side stimuli and were instructed to determine whether they are identical or mirror images of each other. The experiment was divided into six experimental blocks comprised of randomised identical and mirrored stimuli. A real TMS was applied on odd blocks and a sham TMS was applied on even blocks. Average mean RTs for TMS and sham blocks for both hands and Shepard figures were obtained and compared using a one-tailed paired samples t-test. A significant mean RT difference between TMS and sham conditions would be suggestive of an M1 and MR causal relationship. A significant difference was found between sham and TMS trials in the hands condition (p = .002) and the Shepard Figures condition (p < .001). This suggests that M1 has a causal role in MR performance of both hands and Shepard Figures. Keywords: primary motor cortex, mental rotation, transcranial magnetic stimulation
Minimal generalisations in short-term morphological convergence
PĂ©ter RĂĄcz
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The Minimal Generalisation Learner is an algorithmic learning model that has seen extensive use in modelling morphological variation. We take a new approach to apply the learner to morphological convergence, lexical priming, and word integration. We build on data from an online experiment in which participants have to play a word-matching game using nonwords with an artificial co-player. These data show that participants pick up lexical, as opposed to word-level, patterns from training with the co-player and apply these patterns to previously unseen nonwords in subsequent testing. We show that the Minimal Generalisation Learner can capture this shift in participant behaviour if, instead of building new generalisations on the nonwords in the training data, we use these words to update existing generalisations, built on real language data. This result breaks new ground in the use of the Minimal Generalisation Learner in modelling elicitation and learning tasks that go beyond Wug tasks and corpus studies.
An Inquiry about the Relationship Between Moral Anti-Realism and Moral Leniency
Kadir TOROS; Hasan G Bahçekapili
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In the literature, there is a gap in the relationship between moral anti-realism and moral leniency. To address this gap in the literature, three preregistered studies (N = 818) investigate the relationship between moral anti-realism and moral leniency. Further, we also experimentally investigated the relationship between free-will beliefs and moral leniency. In Study 1, moral anti-realism showed a positive correlation with moral leniency, whereas no relationship was found between leniency and moral relativism. In Study 2, our meta-ethical framing manipulation failed to provide evidence of a causal link between anti-realism and moral leniency. However, we replicated the significant positive correlation between anti-realism and leniency and again observed no significant correlation between relativism and leniency. Results of Study 3 revealed there is no causal link between free will beliefs and moral leniency
Attitude formation based on political views: An expectancy-value model of interpersonal likability in politics
Jens Lange; Alex Koch; Larissa Knöchelmann; Hans Alves
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How affective polarization in Western democracies results from the interplay of ideological differences and group identification remains unclear. To better understand these processes and address the call for falsifiable theories, we propose a formalized expectancy-value model of interpersonal likability in politics (EVIL-P). It argues that people (dis)like targets with (dis)similar political views (i.e., value), especially if these views are rare (i.e., expectancy). By reanalyzing data from the American National Election Studies (N = 38,868), the British Election Study (N = 24,522), and nine studies on ratings of societal groups that vary in political views (N = 6,587), we find support for EVIL-P. Expectancy and value interacted to predict people’s attitudes. Moreover, targets with moderate political views were liked most on average, and targets with more extreme political views had more extreme fans and haters. We discuss how EVIL-P contributes to research on affective polarization and helps testing related phenomena.
A structural approach in cognitive developmental research with category theory
Yusuke Moriguchi; Naotsugu Tsuchiya; Hayato Saigo
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This paper presents a novel mathematical framework for cognitive development theory using category theory. First, we introduce formalization of Piaget's concept of groupings. We address mathematical inconsistencies in Piaget's structuralism by reconceptualizing groupings as specific groupoids where objects form partial join-semilattices, with reversibility represented as morphism invertibility and compositional operations as lattice operations. Then, we propose a new line of research program about children’s subjective experience using category theory. Specifically, we propose a line of empirical research comparing children's and adults' subjective experiences through a structure analysis. Our first step of this program has already revealed a counterintuitive discrepancy between children’s color naming abilities and color similarity structures, suggesting fundamental importance in distinguishing subjective experience and reports about it in cognitive developmental research. This category theory based structural approach opens possibilities for unified theories as interconnected categorical domains, potentially enabling prediction of developmental trajectories and identification of critical intervention periods through precise mathematical relationships governing cognitive architecture.
A Reconsideration of the Assumptions about Latent Trait Values in Item Response Theory Models
Kazuhiro Yamaguchi; Satoshi Usami
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This paper reconsiders item response theory (IRT) models from the perspective of multilevel modeling. We formulate the one-parameter logistic IRT model within a multilevel modeling framework. Based on the cross-classified structure inherent in item responses, we introduce four types of models while clearly distinguishing whether latent traits and item parameters are treated as fixed or random effects. Several extended models related to multilevel modeling are also introduced. We then clarify the correspondence between each model and likelihood-based estimation methods. In addition, we examine the modeling assumptions involved in Bayesian estimation for these models. Finally, we discuss the choice among these models and their corresponding estimation methods, taking into account the specific research questions and data-collection designs.
Psychoeducation and Contact Interventions Reduce Public Stigma of Mental Illness among University Students
Chelsea Terriyanto
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Public stigma of mental illness often prevents individuals from seeking help and negatively affects their quality of life. This study examined whether a combined psychoeducation and contact-based intervention delivered through the Mind, Brain, Behaviour 2 (MBB2) Clinical Psychology program at the University of Melbourne reduces public stigma among undergraduate students. A within-subject design was used. A total of 1150 students completed an adapted Social Distance Scale before and after the four week program. Results showed a significant decrease in mean scores from pre intervention to post intervention, indicating greater willingness to interact with individuals with mental illness. Findings support the effectiveness of combined education and contact strategies in reducing stigma and highlight the value of embedding anti stigma programs in educational settings.
Prenatal Behavioral Contagion: Maternal Yawning and Fetal Resonance
Giulia D'Adamo; Andrea Dall'Asta; Martina Ardizzi; Sara Sorrentino; Valentina Mora; Giulia Arenare; Piernicola D'Amario; Mariagrazia Capurso; Francesca Ferroni; Dmitri Ollari Ischimji
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The prenatal period is a critical window for the emergence of sensorimotor coordination and early relational processes. Within this framework, yawning—a stereotyped behavior linked to arousal regulation and social contagion—offers a unique opportunity to explore maternal-fetal relationships before birth. While contagious yawning has been extensively studied in postnatal contexts, its presence and developmental role in utero remain unexplored. This study investigated whether fetal yawning behavior is modulated by maternal yawning, suggesting a primitive form of behavioral contagion within the dyad. Thirty-six pregnant participants were exposed to video stimuli designed to elicit yawns, while fetal facial movements were recorded using 2D ultrasound. Maternal and fetal yawning frequencies were analyzed across four conditions: baseline, maternal still-face, maternal mouth opening/closing movements, and maternal yawning. Fetal and maternal time series were further examined using Cross Recurrence Quantification Analysis (CRQA), and an LSTM-based neural network was employed for automated behavioral classification. Results showed a significant increase in fetal yawns following maternal yawning, but not during control conditions, indicating selective behavioral responsiveness. CRQA revealed stronger temporal structure in true mother–fetus dyads than in bootstrap-shuffled pairings, suggesting non-random coordination. The LSTM model accurately distinguished yawning from other facial actions, supporting the reliability of the behavioral data. These findings provide the first evidence of prenatal yawning contagion and support the notion that behavioral alignment may reflect embodied mechanisms of attunement that precede postnatal social engagement, offering new insights into the developmental origins of intersubjectivity.
The Synthetic Nomological Net: A search engine to identify conceptual overlap in measures in the behavioral sciences
Björn Erik Hommel; Annika Iris KĂŒlpmann; Ruben C. Arslan
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Every month, scores of new measures and constructs enter the behavioral science literature. Researchers struggle to keep an overview of their subfields, let alone the wider field, with an estimated number of allegedly different constructs now exceeding 30,000. Proposing constructs is easy, finding redundancies and overlaps is not. The effort of finding redundancies using participant responses grows quadratically with the number of measures. This cost motivates the use of language models, which can simplify and speed up the process without requiring new data collection. Earlier work employed latent semantic analysis (LSA) to make use of the textual nature of questionnaires in the social and behavioral sciences. LSA's reliance on word co-occurrences, however, can produce misleading similarity estimates that fall short of accuracy and may even reproduce the very jingle-jangle fallacies it aims to detect. Recent advances demonstrate that transformer-based sentence embedding models offer a more viable solution for predicting empirical relatedness between survey items. In the presented work, we use a fine-tuned language model, the SurveyBot3000, to introduce the Synthetic Nomological Net, an open-access web application for systematic detection of conceptual overlap. The application indexes over 470,000 items across 74,000 scales from approximately 31,500 instruments in the APA PsycTests database.
Comparison of informational and experiential interventions for VR acceptance in rural older adults: a feasibility study
Summer Fox; Aidan Fisk; Daniel Blustein
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Background. Virtual reality (VR) offers a promising solution to deliver portable, engaging rehabilitation services, particularly for rural populations with limited access to care. However, its adoption among older adults may be hindered by key barriers, including technological unfamiliarity or concerns about visually induced motion sickness (VIMS). Overcoming these initial acceptance barriers is a critical step for implementing this gerontechnology which could deliver physical and mental health support directly to the homes of older adults. Research aim. We aimed to determine the feasibility of using brief, low-resource interventions, either an informational handout or a short immersive VR experience, to improve attitudes toward VR in rural older adults. Methods. In this comparative feasibility study, sixty-four rural adults aged 60 and older received either an informational handout describing VR or completed four immersive VR activities using hand tracking on a consumer headset. Attitudes toward VR and VIMS symptoms were assessed using pre-post intervention surveys. Results. The immersive VR experience did not result in a significant increase in VIMS symptoms, demonstrating high tolerability. Both the informational handout group and the VR experience group showed significant positive improvements in attitudes toward VR. Conclusions. Brief, low-resource interventions can increase technology acceptance for VR among rural older adults. The finding that a simple informational handout can be as effective as a hands-on immersive experience has significant, practical implications for the scalable and cost-effective deployment of VR-based technologies in clinical and home-based gerontological settings.

SocArxiv

The Categorisation Problem: Disability, Knowledge and Justice in Climate Adaptation
Hollye Kirkcaldy; Keren MacLennan; Christina Demski; Annayah Miranda Beatrice Prosser
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Climate adaptation systematically excludes Disabled people from policymaking, despite their disproportionate exposure to climate-related harms. Recent climate scholarship demonstrates this exclusion constitutes epistemic injustice, yet the mechanisms producing it remain under-examined. We argue adaptation frameworks generate epistemic injustice by categorising Disabled people as inherently vulnerable, devaluing both them and their knowledge, while claiming false objectivity – what Haraway termed the God Trick – to present privileged ableist perspectives as universal truth. We show that Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) operationalise the God Trick at scale by embedding ableist assumptions as objective inputs and excluding the heterogeneous adaptation knowledge Disabled people hold. This exclusion reflects entrenched structural inequalities that marginalise Disabled people throughout society. Without insights from those most affected by extreme weather, adaptation interventions fail to address, and actively worsen, the heightened climate risk faced by Disabled people. Achieving epistemic justice requires more than tokenistic inclusion; it demands conceptual transformation that rejects false objectivity, methodological transformation that includes situated modelling and creative research approaches, and institutional transformation that dismantles structural barriers to Disabled people’s participation as essential knowers.
Evaluations of Institutional Performance Among Adolescents: Comparing the Socializing Roles of Schools and Families
Giovanni D'Agostino
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Democratic accountability requires citizens' political trust to be reflective of institutional performance. It is therefore crucial to understand what fosters citizens’ responsiveness to such performance. Extant studies suggest that education shapes these evaluative attitudes. Yet, direct evidence remains limited, as many studies struggle to disentangle the effects of education from those of parental background. As a result, the debate over whether education is a genuine cause or merely a proxy for evaluative attitudes remains unresolved. In this paper, I carry out an extensive test of these two competing explanations by, first, focusing on adolescents within the same target grade (before differences in educational attainment arise), and second, testing the effect of school-level civic education characteristics often praised for the instilment of critical citizenship norms. I then compare school-level effects with those from parental background to address the proxy-versus-cause debate. Analysing data from three waves of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, I find evidence that structurally low and declining performance depresses political trust among adolescents. Yet, consistent with the education-as-proxy argument, the positive relationship between performance and trust is significantly stronger among adolescents with higher parental socio-economic status, while school-level civic education characteristics do not meaningfully moderate this association.
Prediction Markets? The Accuracy and Efficiency of $2.4 Billion in the 2024 Presidential Election
Joshua D. Clinton; TzuFeng Huang
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Political prediction markets have exploded in size and influence, moving billions of dollars and shaping how journalists, donors, and voters interpret electoral odds. If these prices truly capture rational expectations, they should efficiently aggregate information about political outcomes. But do they? We analyze more than 2,500 political prediction markets traded across the Iowa Electronic Markets, Kalshi, PredictIt, and Polymarket during the final five weeks of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign involving more than than two billion dollars in transactions to assess whether prices accurately and efficiently aggregate political information. While 93% of PredictIt markets correctly predicted outcomes better than chance, accuracy fell to 78% on Kalshi and 67% on Polymarket. Even the most accurate markets showed little evidence of efficiency: prices for identical contracts diverged across exchanges, daily price changes were weakly correlated or negatively autocorrelated, and arbitrage opportunities peaked in the final two weeks before Election Day. Together, these findings challenge the view that prediction markets necessarily efficiently and accurately aggregate information about political outcomes.
Mapping Climate Change Coverage: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions in German News Media, 2010–2024
Fabian Dablander; Simon Wimmer; Jonas M B Haslbeck
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The media shapes how political leaders and the public understand the causes, impacts, and solutions to climate change. Here, we provide the most extensive analysis to date of how German news media report on climate change between 2010 and 2024. We develop and validate a methodology based on large language models to analyze the contents of over 50,000 articles from seven major newspapers across the political spectrum. We found that aspects relating to causes, impacts, and mitigation were all covered substantially more often than aspects relating to adaptation. While most articles identified climate change as human-caused, coverage about causes was dominated by fossil fuels, with agriculture, overconsumption, carbon inequality, and economic growth rarely mentioned. Left-leaning outlets more frequently reported that climate change is human-caused, highlighted fossil fuels as a cause, emphasized the need to reduce their use, and discussed systemic and social drivers more often. Coverage patterns have remained largely stable over time, except for growing attention to net-zero targets and carbon taxes. Our findings highlight opportunities for more comprehensive climate journalism to better support public understanding and policy debate by reflecting the scientific consensus and the full range of societal transformations needed to address climate change.
Comp/Ass: Un outil pour évaluer la complexité des situations dans l'accompagnement social-santé
Catherine Ludwig; Catherine Busnel; Noelia Delicado; Marco Zarrillo; Aude Michel
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DĂ©crire et Ă©valuer la complexitĂ© des situations dans l’accompagnement social-santĂ© sont des dĂ©fis quotidiens sur le terrain. L’outil Comp/Ass est proposĂ© pour favoriser les Ă©changes interprofessionnels et soutenir une analyse intĂ©grĂ©e des besoins en soins et services
Reducing the uncertainty of CITES listing decisions
Dan Challender; Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes; Janine Robinson; E.J. Milner-Gulland
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International wildlife trade takes place in complex social-ecological systems (SESs). Understanding these systems is key to diagnosing the most effective policies and interventions to prevent wildlife overexploitation. A key component of SESs is the regulatory framework in which they sit, including international trade measures under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Here, we evaluate the extent to which proposals to amend the CITES appendices in the last ~20 years consider the SESs in which the harvest, use and trade of wildlife occur. Assessed against a social-ecological systems framework (SESF), proposals to amend the appendices have given only limited consideration to the SESs within which the species concerned are used and traded, which applies to all species and proposal types, and did not change between 2007 (CoP14) and 2025 (CoP20). Key parts of SESs overlooked in most proposals include market size (and structure) for traded species, price trends, benefits to people and businesses from trade, and feedback mechanisms. Policy impacts were evaluated in nearly 50% of proposals. Only 16% of proposals involved consultation with individuals and organizations beyond national CITES authorities; less than <2% of proposals involved consultation with Indigenous peoples and local communities and <1% with resources users or industry. To reduce the uncertainty of CITES listing decisions we recommend that Parties consider the risks and benefits of listing decisions in proposals to amend the appendices more explicitly, ideally based on an in-depth understanding of the species concerned and the relevant SESs and how they function. Parties could be encouraged to do so through revision of Resolution. Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP17) Annex 6 (Format for proposals to amend the Appendices) and this will hopefully lead to less uncertain decision-making to conserve species impacted by international trade.
Nightmare neighbours: Proximity to gambling shops and gambling harms
Francisco Nobre; Tasos Kitsos; Emmanouil Tranos; Chiara Paola Donegani
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We focus on the relationship between exposure to gambling shops and gambling-related harms. Gambling is now a public health concern, but its economic geography and associated harms are underexplored. We propose a framework that combines proximity and density, use data on gambling shops matched with surveys and measure the impact of gamblogenic environments on problem gambling using probit models and coarsened exact matching. Living closer to and in high densities of gambling shops, increases the likelihood of gambling and being a problematic gambler. The spatial distribution of gambling venues matters and calls for targeted interventions to mitigate harms.
Angry Politics: Populism and the Erosion of Political Supportduring Hard Times
Daniel Auer; Markus Freitag
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We argue that threat-induced anger is not a universal driver of populist attitudes and waning political support. Instead, we hypothesize that anger erodes democracy-relevant political attitudes only when a threat affects citizens’ norms and only when blame for said threat is attributed to the domestic political system. We corroborate our hypotheses using data from a unique survey experiment conducted in Germany in2022, in which we vary the level of responsibility attribution and threat noxiousnessby exposing respondents to different threats that were salient during the field phase. The results indicate that citizens differentiate whom they hold accountable, such that it is not necessarily the quality of the threat but the quality of the political response to the threat that determines the future of democracy.
‘Intersectionality in the Mind’: Applying an Intersectional Lens to the Study of Lay Perceptions of Inequality
Margherita Cusmano
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Research on lay perceptions of inequality has typically examined economic, gender, and racial inequalities separately and treated social positions additively. Using migrants as a case study, this study employs an intersectional lens to investigate perceptions of inequality. Drawing on interviews and group discussions with 47 participants, the analysis shows, first, that individuals framed different inequalities as interdependent, showcasing what I term ‘intersectionality in the mind’. Second, their intersectional social positions informed how they understood broader patterns of inequality. These findings demonstrate the value of intersectional approaches in analysing the complexity of lay perceptions of inequality. This study points toward methodological and conceptual developments that can better capture both how people cognitively link inequalities and how intersecting social positions inform these perceptions.
Can state nature connectedness interventions change pro-environmental behavior? A field experiment
Qingqing Chen; Anna Zinn; Danyelle; Bettina GrĂŒn; Sara Dolnicar
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State nature connectedness – a temporary emotional bond with nature – is associated with pro-environmental behavior, but it remains unclear whether state nature connectedness interventions cause pro-environmental behavior. This study investigates whether self-efficacy messages can trigger state nature connectedness, and whether a state nature connectedness intervention causes pro-environmental behavior (water conservation in hotels). We conducted an online experiment (N = 651) testing the effectiveness of nature images and self-efficacy messages in activating state nature connectedness, and an quasi-experimental field study in a hotel, using the hot water consumption of 6,154 guests as the dependent variable. Results indicate that a lush green landscape image featuring water droplets combined with a self-efficacy message significantly increased state nature connectedness (and water-saving intentions). However, the intervention did not translate into significant reductions in water use, challenging the assumption that a state nature connectedness intervention directly influences pro-environmental behavior. These findings underscore the necessity of field experiments in assessing the real-world effectiveness of behavior change interventions and emphasize the value of publishing null results to advance cumulative knowledge on promoting pro-environmental behavior change.
A Novel Protocol for an Experimental Epidemic Game to Study Quarantine Behavior Dynamics: The Epi-Q Study
Estelle McCool; Winnie Wezi Mkandawire; Salihu Sabiu Musa; Shi Chen; Laura Moley; Gwen Robbins Schug; Nicholas David Bowman; Sarah A. Nowak; John Drake; John Drury
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Background: We describe the protocol for the Epi-Q (EpiGame-Quarantine) Study, using an experimental epidemic game (“epigame”) to investigate quarantine-related attitudes and behaviors. Epigames are field experiments in which participants make behavioral decisions during a simulated epidemic in naturalistic settings. In this study, the epigame is operationalized via a smartphone app that simulates transmission of a 'digital pathogen' over Bluetooth, allowing for real-time data capture. This approach offers a novel tool for observing decision-making within social networks under dynamic risk and normative pressure. Consequently, it enables the collection of empirical data on the social, psychological, and practical determinants of compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as quarantine. Unlike existing methods that rely on static cross-sectional surveys or observational data, Epi-Q captures dynamic decision-making within real-life networks. This is crucial for studying behaviors like quarantine, where compliance is not merely an individual calculation but is shaped by pre-existing and evolving social structures, including peer pressure, trust in institutions, and exposure to misinformation. Epi-Q employs a quantitative mixed-method design to untangle the complex interplay between social norms and risk perception, along with their interactions on behavioral responses. Methods/design: We will recruit at least 150 participants via a custom-made smartphone app capable of measuring proximity between then using Bluetooth. We will randomly allocate these participants (via network-aware clustering) into a 2×2 experimental design: (i) local vs global risk information; (ii) local vs global norms. ‘Local’ information is defined as data derived from a participant's first-degree contacts in the Bluetooth proximity network, while 'Global' information refers to aggregate data from the entire experimental group. Participants will play the epigame over a period of several weeks (one to three), making daily quarantine decisions within the app that incur costs (loss of in-game points for infection, loss of opportunities while quarantining) and benefits (points from remaining active), while Bluetooth proximity sensing samples the contact network of participants and drives simulated transmission of a digital pathogen among the phones. Data collection will include in-app behavioral logs, pre- and post-game surveys (attitudes, risk perception), and optional qualitative debrief interviews with a subset of participants. Primary outcomes will be frequency and timing of quarantine adoption; secondary outcomes will include attitudinal shifts, perceived risk, and the consistency of real-world vs in-game intentions. Analyses will include mixed-method synthesis, difference-in-differences modeling, social network analysis, and correlation of survey and behavioral measures to assess external validity.
Is there a link between teenage pregnancy and household member emigration? A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from Colombia
Pilar Andrea Quiroz Pardo; David Janssen; Inez Roosen; Ciska Hoving
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Research suggests that transnational networks could have a beneficial effect on the health of the sender country by disseminating health innovations. This study investigates whether having a household member who has emigrated is related to teenage pregnancy in Colombia, a country with high teenage pregnancy rates (66.7 per 1000 women) and high levels of migration. To investigate the link between emigration and teenage pregnancy, this study performed a secondary analysis of the 2015 Colombia Demographic and Health Survey, a large and in-depth survey using the 2005 Colombian census as its sampling frame. A logistic regression was performed across all women aged 13 to 19 (n = 8526), modeling the relationship between having an emigrant household member and teenage pregnancy while controlling for household wealth and school attendance. The study found no such relationship. Instead, school attendance and wealth were both significantly associated with teenage pregnancy. The lack of a significant finding may stem from the fact that Colombian migration generally does not tend to flow to nations with higher quality healthcare and health information, or from the fact that those most at risk of teenage pregnancy were also the least likely to be exposed to migrants living in countries with access to better healthcare. Based on our findings, concentrating efforts on people living in impoverished communities is therefore recommended, as they face greater risks of and negative consequences from teenage pregnancy.
Spatial marking as a structural determinant of health: evidence from the labelling of neighborhoods as vulnerable by the Swedish police.
Guilherme Kenji Chihaya; Jeffrey Mitchell
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In 2015, the Swedish police released a list of urban neighborhoods that it deemed ‘vulnerable’ (utsatta omrĂ„den) with the intended purpose of reducing crime in those areas. We argue that this highly publicized list is a case of Spatial Marking, which refers to the institutionalization of positive or negative perceptions of a place via the enactment of a place-based intervention. Spatial marking leads to formal and informal rules dictating the differential treatment of communities largely based on racial composition, and should therefore be conceptualized as a structural determinant of health. In the case of the Swedish police list, we argue Spatial Marking amounts to the criminalization of entire neighborhoods, whose residents are subject to stigma and increased police interventions which should negatively impact the health of the people that live there. We assess this possibility with geo-located register data using a staggered difference in differences design to estimate the effect of being added to the police list across 9 health outcomes. Our results show that both the number of overdoses, babies born with low birth weights, and babies born out of pregnancies without adequate prenatal care increased as a result of being added to the police list. We find no evidence that of meaningful changes in the number of suicides, violent deaths, violent hospitalizations, or rates in mental health prescriptions. The analyses highlight how policing and criminalization, institutionalized through Spatial Marking can contribute to inequalities in health.
Evaluating Reputation in Professional Communities: A Coordination Game
Artyom Kosmarski
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This paper proposes a novel approach to studying and mapping professional reputations by combining insights from blockchain technology, game theory, and sociology. While reputation plays a crucial role in professional communities, existing evaluation systems often fail to capture its complex nature. We analyze the principles of token-curated registries (TCRs), a blockchain-based ranking technology, and build upon its core mechanisms to develop a new method for elucidating professional reputations through coordination games. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory, we conceptualize reputation not as individual opinions but as implicit communicative knowledge shared within professional communities. Our method leverages coordination games to transform this tacit knowledge into explicit “reputation maps” while preserving the autonomous, peer-based nature of evaluation. Unlike conventional metrics that impose external evaluation criteria, our approach enables communities to self-constitute their evaluation standards. In the paper we discuss the method’s design principles, implementation procedures, and potential limitations.
A Unified Axiomatic Theory of Microeconomics: Market Structure and Equilibrium
G. Du
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We propose a unified axiomatic theory of microeconomics, aiming to establish a new benchmark model that supersedes the traditional Walrasian perfect competition baseline. This framework bridges the theoretical divide between General Equilibrium theory and modern Industrial Organization (IO), offering a more accurate representation of complex economic realities. This theory takes the behavioral rules of firms in real markets as the endogenous mechanism through which market structures are generated, replacing the standard practice of imposing perfect competition, monopoly, and other market forms as exogenous assumptions. Under a set of minimal axioms (consumer utility maximization, firm profit maximization, firm entry/exit mechanisms, and market clearing) and by introducing realistic cost and demand structures (firm-level cost heterogeneity, fixed costs, and demand elasticity, among others), pricing behavior and market structures long treated as exogenous (such as perfect competition and monopoly) are derived endogenously as equilibrium outcomes of firms' profit-maximizing behavior. Within a single framework, the theory nests traditional cost and marginal analysis, game-theoretic approaches to imperfect competition, and the Walrasian general equilibrium model; different regions of the parameter space naturally yield equilibrium outcomes corresponding to perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and competitive-fringe structures. Our analysis shows that perfect competition is only a highly symmetric and intrinsically unstable equilibrium point: even small cost differences suffice to push the system toward more common monopoly or oligopoly configurations, while positive feedback mechanisms render these structures stable, helping to explain why market power is not easily competed away. Under empirically observable premises, the theory coherently derives the principal market forms and, in doing so, clarifies the domains of applicability of various classic models. It can also be used to predict which market structures industries will evolve toward under given conditions, providing a unified and operational theoretical foundation for empirical research, industrial policy, and firms' business and competitive strategy decision-making.
Limit Cycles in Opinion Dynamic Networks with Competing Stubborn Agents
Cody James Moser; Paul E. Smaldino
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The Counter-Optimal Stubborn Agent Placement (COSAP) problem concerns how competing agents attempt to position themselves within a network to maximize their influence over collective opinion dynamics. While prior work has primarily examined optimal placements in static or one-shot contexts, less is known about how opposing agents dynamically adjust their strategies in competitive environments. In this study, we model COSAP systems as a competitive diffusion process where two stubborn agents seek to influence a population through iterated network positioning. Simulations across networks of varying structure reveal that while agents generally race to occupy the most central node, networks with short path lengths create conditions in which neither agent can maintain an uncontested advantage. Instead, agents engage in adaptive cycles, repeatedly shifting positions in response to one other. These limit cycles vary in length and complexity depending on global network properties, with highly connected networks supporting persistent cycling and longer cycles, whereas networks with longer path lengths cause cycles to collapse into fixed points. These results underscore the importance of network structure in shaping influence dynamics and suggest that efforts to counter misinformation or manipulate opinion may grow more difficult in an increasingly connected world.
A New Development Typology for the 21st Century
Chirag Dhara; Bejoy K Thomas
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The Human Development Index's (HDI) classification of countries by developmental level has powerfully shaped the development discourse for decades. This classification is not merely narrative but performative, actively constructing global aspirations that prove ecologically untenable. Countries achieving HDI > 0.8 predominantly exhibit development pathways whose global adoption would transgress biophysical limits, undermining the foundations of human wellbeing globally. We propose an alternative classification grounded in an extended capabilities framework based on recognizing stable ecological systems as meta-capabilities essential for human development. Our classification – ‘Optimally Developed’, ‘Near-Optimally Developed’, ‘Sub-optimally Developed’, and ‘Over-developed’ – is underpinned by the principle of universalizability, asking whether a country’s development trajectory could be globally adopted without compromising planetary stability. This shifts the framework of justice from intra-national to global and intergenerational scales. Countries like Costa Rica, Georgia, and Panama are identified as optimally developed, achieving high human development within environmental limits that respect humanity's collective right to the planetary commons.
From Flagship to Firm: Gatekeeping, Employer Sorting, and the Returns to College
Aleksei Opacic
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Firms increasingly drive college graduates' labor market earnings, yet the vast literature on the value-added of college has largely overlooked their role. Drawing on human capital theory and institutional theories of credentialism, closure, and organizational matching, I argue that college-to-workplace pipelines are a critical driver of college value-added. To test this, I assemble a novel US employer-employee matched dataset merged with postsecondary and high school academic records. Firm placement explains much of the variation in earnings premiums between colleges. Absent firm sorting, the range of counterfactual earnings differences across colleges would fall by 56%, and over half of the earnings advantage to attending the state flagship comes from access to higher-paying employers. These sorting effects extend broadly across the distribution of high-wage firms, and not merely a handful of elite employers. Crucially, sorting effects do not simply reflect skill-based advantages, implying that college quality derives as much from institutional linkages to the labor market as from human capital development. Policies aimed at broadening recruitment pipelines, rather than solely improving instructional inputs, are therefore essential to reducing inequalities in the economic returns to higher education.
The Dynamics of Expansion: A Structural-Gradient Theory of Inter-Systemic Equilibration
Alen Kaminski
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In a previous study, Anatomy of Chaos: A Theoretical Framework for Forecasting the Morphology of Post-Crisis Regime (Kaminski, 2025), we established a comprehensive model for diagnosing the internal stability of socio-political systems through the interaction of biological constants, archetypal structures, and cultural institutions. However, that framework operated primarily within the constraints of a closed-system analysis, focusing on the endogenous drivers of collapse and regime change. This paper expands that theoretical horizon to address a fundamental question of historical directionality: why do some systems, when reaching critical levels of internal stress (Instability Coefficient K ≄ 2.4), implode into civil war and fragmentation, while others explode outward in waves of conquest, colonization, and hegemony? To answer this, we introduce the Cross-System Equilibration Loop (CSEL), a feedback dynamic that governs the interaction between a system and its external environment. We posit that expansion is not merely a political choice driven by individual ambition, but a thermodynamic necessity triggered by a specific Structural Gradient (G)—the differential between the internal pressure of a hyper-coherent core and the structural vacuum of its periphery. When this gradient exceeds a critical threshold, the system activates a specific expansionist mode of the Ascent Channel, seeking to restore equilibrium not by reducing its own complexity, but by replicating its internal order across a wider territory. This process functions as a mechanism of seed dispersal, wherein the accumulated cultural and archetypal energy of the core is projected outward to structure the surrounding chaos. Whether through the symbiotic projection of Hellenic culture by the Macedonian military vector, or the unitary projection of revolutionary ideals by Napoleonic France, the underlying mechanic remains consistent: the export of high-entropy internal energy to fuel the imposition of low-entropy structural order upon a lower-energy periphery. Integrating the diagnostic tools of the Anatomy of Chaos with this new gradient-based logic, this paper offers a unified, falsifiable theory of expansion, explaining how the internal temperature of a society dictates its geopolitical trajectory.
Contingency of Structures: Triggers and the Social Geography of Revolutionary Episodes in Iran 2017-2022
Mohammad Ali Kadivar; Saber Khani; Danial Vahabli; Vahid Abedini; Samira Barzin
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What drives the uneven geographic spread of revolutionary episodes? While structural approaches emphasize pre-existing fault lines, contingency approaches highlight emergent processes. We synthesize these perspectives, arguing that specific triggers shape a revolutionary episode’s social geography by activating certain fault lines while leaving others dormant. Through a comparative analysis of three revolutionary episodes in Iran (2017–2022), each with a distinct trigger, we demonstrate how different triggers shape patterns of contention. Using event-history and spatial regression analysis of subnational protest data alongside socioeconomic and political variables, we show that a fuel price hike activated grievances in oil-producing areas, while a repressive event targeting a woman from an ethnic and religious minority mobilized protests in minority-populated districts. Our findings illustrate how triggers structure revolutionary mobilization, offering broader insights into the interaction between structural conditions and contingent events in contentious politics.
Exploring the Complex Challenges of Internally Displaced Persons: An Inquiry into the Realities and Responses of Non-Camp IDPs in Ibadan, Nigeria
Samuel Pelumi Davis
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Internal displacement is a pressing global problem that has escalated to an appalling scale, especially considering that over 71 million individuals were forcibly displaced by the end of 2022. Nigeria is one of the nations within sub-Saharan Africa that report the highest number of cases of internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly caused by cyclical conflict and catastrophic floods. Although information related to the presence of IDPs in formal camps or staying with host families is abundant, there is a conspicuous gap in the literature concerning those individuals, living in non-camp settings, who have already established themselves within communities and are often not visible to formal support networks. This paper set out to illuminate the peculiar issues and plight of such non-camped IDPs in the Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. The study took a qualitative approach, rooted in interpretivism, and employed a case study design. Given that this particular subset of the population was difficult to identify, the researcher used snowball sampling, ending up with a sample of 14 respondents, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), key informants, and mendicants. They gathered data by using key informant interviews (KIIs) and semi-structured interviews and analysed the data using thematic analysis. The results shed light on three major thematic areas: challenges faced, effects of non-camp environment on various aspects of the lives of IDPS and survival strategies. Data from the interviews revealed that the bulk of the problems that non-camp IDPs face are lack of basic amenities, extreme health problems, extreme financial instability, daily insecurity, and social isolation. The vulnerability this group faces in the form of theft, violence and harassment is compounded by the lack of formal protection. Besides, living conditions are unstable and have a significant impact on livelihood, education interruption, and housing instability. To endure, the IDPs employ various survival tactics, such as supplementing random jobs with mendicancy, resorting to self-medication and informal social groups to stay healthy, and maintaining safety by staying in groups. The paper concludes that non-camp IDPs are caught in a web of vulnerability that is compounded by the absence of formalised support systems, which make their situation distinctively unique to that of formal camp settings. The results suggest that the most effective approach to helping this peculiar population is a combination of various interventions, such as increased access to healthcare, livelihood support, improved community security, and better housing to help them recover and experience social integration in the long term. Keywords: Internal displacement, internally displaced person (IDP), non-camp, integration, challenges
The Speed of Change: Understanding How People Construe Political Change
Joshua Rotondo-Valentine; Jeremy K. Yamashiro
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With research into the relationship between memory and imagination broadening to include collective identities (i.e. race, nationality), and recent polarization in modern American politics, it is important to understand the way people think and strategize about political change from a collective standpoint. Based on what Klugman (2011) describes as a "theory of change", and informed by Trobe & Liberman’s (2003) original findings on abstract and concrete construals of events, the present study offers support for previous studies that have found patience and other temporal constraints to be an important predictor of how people conceptualize political change, including Wang's finding that an individual's patience is predictive of when they join a protest movement (2019), as well as various articles supporting the role temporal discounting plays in policy preferences (Barnfield, 2024) and moral future thinking (i.e. Law et al., 2024). In particular, it was found that the faster you desire social change to occur, as well as the more idealistic (i.e. abstract) you are about the type of system used to achieve political change (i.e. creating a new system vs. working within the current system), the more anxiety you have about your government's future response to issues you care about.
Jeux sĂ©rieux pour agents Ă©nactifs - Une ludique de l’enseignement pour la redirection Ă©cologique
Avel GUÉNIN--CARLUT
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Nous proposons ici une approche Ă©nactive et pragmatiste de l’enseignement et de la pratique de la redirection Ă©cologique, formalisant la pratique du jeu sĂ©rieux dans le cadre du module «Gestion de Crises» du MSc «StatĂ©gie et Design pour l’AnthropocĂšne». Nous introduisons d’abord le paradigme neuro-computationnel de l’InfĂ©rence Active, lequel dĂ©crit la cognition humaine comme un processus prĂ©dictif rĂ©gulant action et perception via l’énaction d’un modĂšle implicite du monde intĂ©grĂ©e dans les dynamiques agent-environnement. Sur cette base, nous dĂ©crivons ensuite l’engagement social humain comme Ă©tant rĂ©gulĂ© par des contraintes sociales, prĂ©misses publiques pour l’action sociale, ou encore un champ commun intĂ©grant les attentes contextuelles liĂ©es Ă  un contexte social et matĂ©riel donnĂ©. Finalement, nous suggĂ©rons la pratique du jeu sĂ©rieux comme une mĂ©thodologie permettant un accĂšs privilĂ©giĂ© Ă  de telles prĂ©misses publiques, et donc comme un outil prĂ©cieux pour la redirection des pratiques sociales. Nous proposons de plus des pistes concrĂštes pour le design et l’accompagnement d’une dĂ©marche d’enquĂȘte co-opĂ©rative par le jeu sĂ©rieux visant Ă  rĂ©flĂ©chir sur les enjeux et les pratiques d’une communautĂ© ou d’un rĂ©seau donnĂ©. Par ce travail, nous espĂ©rons offrir un cadre socio-cognitif pour formaliser les enjeux sous-jacents Ă  la pratique du jeu sĂ©rieux, et ainsi participer au cadre mĂ©thodologique de la redirection Ă©cologique. We propose an enactive and pragmatic approach to teaching and practising ecological redirection, formalising the practice of serious games as developed within the « Crisis Management » module of the MSc in « Strategy and Design for the Anthropocene ». We first introduce the neurocomputational framework of Active Inference, which describes human cognition as a predictive process regulating action and perception through the enaction of an implicit model of the world integrated into agent-environment dynamics. On this basis, we then describe human social engagement as being regulated by social constraints, public premises for social action, or a common ground defining contextual expectations embedded in a given social and material context. Finally, we suggest the practice of serious games as a methodology allowing a privileged access to such public premises, and therefore as a valuable tool for redirecting social practices. We also propose concrete avenues for the design and facilitation of a cooperative inquiry process through serious games aimed at reflecting on the issues and practices of a given community or network. Through this work, we hope to offer a socio-cognitive framework for formalising the processes underlying existing practices of serious games, and thus contribute to the methodological framework of ecological redirection.
“I AM NOT BROKEN”: THE INVISIBLE LABOR OF NEURODIVERGENCE AND THE PIVOT TO DISCLOSURE
Xi Wen Chan; Sudong Shang; Xiaowei Jiang; Amie Shaw; Thomas Do; Maria Khan
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Neurodistinct employees often conceal their identities through “masking”, a form of high-effort impression management. This concealment is a defensive strategy to avoid the social rejection and the “double empathy problem” prevalent in neuro-normative workplaces. In this empirical exploration of 1,593 online narratives, we discover a four-phase core process model detailing how and why employees pivot from this costly concealment to disclosure. The process moves through (1) Concealment, where masking creates invisible burnout, (2) Transition Triggers emerging from unsustainable tension, with disclosure triggered by one of two paths: an “exhaustion route” (resource depletion) or an “empowerment route” (a safe invitation), (3) the Disclosure moment itself with divergent trajectories, and (4) Post-Disclosure Outcomes. Inclusive leadership creates the psychological safety necessary for disclosure. The primary outcome is not accommodation, but identity affirmation, a profound “relief from self-blame” (“I am not broken”), which fosters reciprocal loyalty. This discovery reframes neurodistinct disclosure from a compliance event to a relational, leadership-driven phenomenon with implications for retention, performance, and authentic workplace inclusion.
Structural Conditions of User Silence in Community-Based Mental Health Care: A Lived-Experience Short Report
Atsushi Yamashita
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This study highlights two interrelated needs for reinterpreting silence in contexts where individuals depend on overlapping social, medical, or housing systems. First, silence should be understood structurally rather than solely as a symptom of trauma or abuse; people may remain quiet not because of psychological inhibition but because speaking up risks destabilising essential aspects of their living conditions or access to care. Second, it is necessary to identify, analyse, and design responses to environments that structurally compel silence, irrespective of the specific service domain. These considerations position silence not as an individual deficit but as a rational adaptation to constrained capabilities and limited choice sets.
Micro-Messiahs: When Psychedelics and Politics Meet
Leor Roseman
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The recent mainstreaming of psychedelics has distanced itself from the countercultural image of the past, yet the question of whether psychedelics are political remains pressing. What happens when psychedelics meet politics? On one hand lies the politics of the unitive mystical experience: harmony, beyond good & evil, beyond space & time, and with love to all. Studying ayahuasca groups of Palestinians and Israelis, I observed that such mystical unitive ethos can bypass political tensions. Yet, I also noticed revelatory-revolutionary events with liberatory aspirations. Prophetic. Such micro-messianic states of consciousness are charged with moral urgency, and are active, historical, political, and sometimes full of ego. In this paper, I continue to inquire into the psychedelic messianic phenomenology and dynamics through a literature review . Focusing on the micro-messianic movements of Allen Ginsberg, Master Irineu, and John Wilson (Moonhead)—figures associated with the diffusion of LSD, Daime (ayahuasca), and peyote respectively—I trace how revelatory events generate waves of transformation, in fidelity to the revelation, seeking redemption. I propose that, in moments of political anxiety, psychedelics can catalyze micro-messianic events: bursts in the status quo that fuel collective and personal movements animated by hope, mission, and meaning. These revelatory-revolutionary dynamics not only inspire redemptive actions but also drive the diffusion of psychedelic practices across social, cultural, and political boundaries.
Linking culture, change resistance, and performance perceptions in family and non-family businesses
Duarte Pimentel
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This study examines organizational culture, resistance to change, and perceived performance in family and non-family firms through the lens of Socioemotional Wealth theory. Based on survey data from 178 Portuguese employees, results reveal that family businesses foster cultures of support and identity but exhibit higher resistance to change, whereas non-family firms emphasize rules and innovation. No significant differences emerged in perceived performance. Moreover, resistance to change negatively affected perceived performance in family firms, while organizational culture showed an independent role. Findings underscore culture’s nuanced influence on adaptability and performance.
The Shrinking Creator Economy: Inequality and Impoverishment of the Hispanic Twitch Ecosystem
Adrian Padilla
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This paper presents a critical audit of the Spanish-speaking Twitch ecosystem, comparing the platform’s performance during November 2024 and 2025. The results evidence a structural contraction of the platform: viewership has decreased by 33%, while active content creators diminished by 10.26%. Cohort analysis reveals a massive attrition rate of 75.23%, driven by extreme inequality (Gini coefficient of 0.87 and an audience concentration of 90% within the top 20%). The data confirm the existence of a digital ’poverty line’: streamers who abandoned the platform averaged merely 3.74 viewers in 2024. However, the ecosystem’s deterioration is not exclusive to small creators; the study identifies a generalized impoverishment of established streamers (present in both November 2024 and 2025), who, despite remaining active, suffered a 27.4% loss in their average audience, dropping from 17.67 to 12.83 viewers. These findings suggest a supply-demand mismatch that threatens the sustainability of medium and small creators and disincentivizes participation in the platform.
Archive: A database of tabulated results from American ranked-choice voting elections
Yuki Atsusaka; Jordan Holbrook
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In the past two decades, a growing number of ranked-choice voting (RCV) elections have been conducted in various jurisdictions across the United States. However, tabulated results of RCV have been reported and stored in widely different styles across places and years, making it infeasible for researchers to perform systematic analyses of vote tabulations. We introduce ARCHIVE: a database of standardized tabulated results for over 7600 round-level candidate vote counts from 514 American RCV elections, 2004-2024. To construct the database, we develop a methodological procedure based on large-language models that semi-automatically collect, standardize, and store candidate vote counts while instantly validating the resulting information. Our database releases multiple levels of data, including election metadata, round-level attributes, and candidate-level information with consistent election identifiers, allowing users to address key questions in electoral competition under RCV. To illustrate, we show how users may estimate the effective number of candidates per round.
The “TAILNUD” project: A Scientific Report on the Study Plan and the Datasets Uploaded on AMELIA
Federico Atzori; Luca Corazzini; marco guerzoni; Marco Mantovani
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This report presents the scientific activities carried out for the implementation of the field experiment within the BAC project “Riduzione delle emissioni da consumo elettrico attraverso interventi comportamentali personalizzati: uno studio controllato e randomizzato sul campo (TAILNUD)”, BAC, PE GRINS – “GRINS – Growing Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable” (project code PE0000018, CUP: C93C22005270001), Spoke 6. The report aims to situate the experimental study’s research question within the relevant literature, present the pre-registered testable predictions, describe the study plan, the experimental design, and the resulting datasets uploaded on AMELIA, and outline the initial and preliminary statistical analysis conducted on the data.
The Categorisation Problem: Disability, Knowledge and Justice in Climate Adaptation
Hollye Kirkcaldy; Keren MacLennan; Christina Demski; Annayah Miranda Beatrice Prosser
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Climate adaptation systematically excludes Disabled people from policymaking, despite their disproportionate exposure to climate-related harms. Recent climate scholarship demonstrates this exclusion constitutes epistemic injustice, yet the mechanisms producing it remain under-examined. We argue adaptation frameworks generate epistemic injustice by categorising Disabled people as inherently vulnerable, devaluing both them and their knowledge, while claiming false objectivity – what Haraway termed the God Trick – to present privileged ableist perspectives as universal truth. We show that Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) operationalise the God Trick at scale by embedding ableist assumptions as objective inputs and excluding the heterogeneous adaptation knowledge Disabled people hold. This exclusion reflects entrenched structural inequalities that marginalise Disabled people throughout society. Without insights from those most affected by extreme weather, adaptation interventions fail to address, and actively worsen, the heightened climate risk faced by Disabled people. Achieving epistemic justice requires more than tokenistic inclusion; it demands conceptual transformation that rejects false objectivity, methodological transformation that includes situated modelling and creative research approaches, and institutional transformation that dismantles structural barriers to Disabled people’s participation as essential knowers.
Can A New Name Open Closed Doors? Foreign-Sounding Names and Immigrant Earnings
Janis Umblijs; Are Skeie Hermansen
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Personal names are visible markers of ethnic identity that can shape access to economic opportunity. While field experiments provide ample evidence that foreign-sounding names limit immigrants’ access to employment, far less is known about how names shape career trajectories beyond the point of hire in naturally unfolding labor market settings. Using unique administrative data with longitudinal information on personal names, we investigate how changing from a foreign-sounding to a name more typical in the native-born majority improves the labor market outcomes of immigrants and their children. Covering the entire population in Norway, these data allow us to calculate names’ ethnic distinctiveness and observe when individuals pursue a name-assimilation strategy. We exploit the timing of name changes in a difference-in-differences event study design following individuals before and after name change, with individuals who changed their names later as the control group. We find that adopting a mainstream name increases non-Western immigrants’ earnings by approximately 30 percent. These gains stem primarily from movement into stable, higher-paying jobs rather than wage growth within firms, indicating that name assimilation reduces barriers to job entry rather than influencing advancement within workplaces. These findings provide rare causal evidence on the economic payoff of symbolic assimilation and show how ethnic signals continue to structure opportunity in contemporary labor markets.
Implementation Practices of the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program
Eileen Poe-Yamagata; Marios Michaelides
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The Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program is a job-search assistance intervention targeting Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants in the United States. The program requires new UI claimants to attend a counseling session at the start of their UI claims to: 1) undergo an eligibility review to confirm their compliance with UI work search requirements, and 2) receive customized reemployment services. This policy brief describes program implementation practices across six states—Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Results highlight implementation differences in terms of meeting scheduling, mode of meetings (in person or remote), and frequency of meetings (single vs. multiple), as well as contextual factors that may influence program success.
Experimental Evaluation of Missouri's Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program
Peter Mueser; Marios Michaelides; Eileen Poe-Yamagata; Kyung-Seong Jeon
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The Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program is a job-search assistance intervention targeting Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants in the United States. The program requires new UI claimants to attend a counseling session at the start of their UI claims to: 1) undergo an eligibility review to confirm their compliance with UI work search requirements, and 2) receive customized reemployment services. This study reports the results of a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Missouri RESEA program conducted in 2023, a period of strong labor market conditions. Results show that the program increased take-up of job counseling services and significantly reduced UI duration and benefit amounts collected, generating substantial savings for the UI system. Further, the program caused significant improvements in participants’ employment and earnings in the three quarters following UI entry.
Conceptualizing and Measuring Geopolitical Alignments
Erik Voeten
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A vast literature examines how geopolitical alignments influence militarized conflict, trade, investment, aid, and other outcomes in international relations. Yet considerable ambiguity remains regarding how such alignments are conceptualized and how existing measures correspond to distinct theoretical understandings. This article clarifies the conceptual foundations of geopolitical alignment along two key dimensions. First, some measures capture ideological contestation over the global order, whereas others reflect political agreement or rivalry over specific issues, such as territorial disputes. Second, some conceptualize alignment as \textit{agreement}, for example similarity in UN voting, while others treat it as a \textit{relationship}, such as alliances or arms transfers. These distinctions correspond to alternative understandings of alignment that carry important implications for empirical research. For instance, Saudi Arabia appears aligned with China when alignment is defined ideologically, but with the United States when defined by security ties. The article provides guidance on selecting appropriate measures for different conceptualizations and introduces a new indicator based on the ideological profiles of a state’s arms suppliers.
What’s Missing from Learning Analytics? Challenging the Assumption of Neurotypicality
Susan Harrington
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As the digital landscape of education continues to evolve, learning analytics has become an integral tool for understanding, measuring, and improving student outcomes. However, a significant gap remains in the design and implementation of these technologies, particularly in their ability to cater to the diverse cognitive and neurological profiles of students. This conceptual paper highlights the need for a neuroinclusive approach to learning analytics, arguing that current practices in educational technology risk excluding neurodivergent students by reinforcing a neurotypical-centric design. In doing so, the paper highlights the limitations of existing frameworks and offers suggestions for how learning analytics can become more inclusive to better serve all students, especially those with undiagnosed or undisclosed neurodivergence.
Evaluation of the Wisconsin Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program
Marios Michaelides; Peter Mueser; Eileen Poe-Yamagata; Scott Davis
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The Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program is a job-search assistance intervention targeting Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants in the United States. The program requires new UI claimants to attend a counseling session at the start of their UI claims to: 1) undergo an eligibility review to confirm their compliance with UI work search requirements, and 2) receive customized reemployment services. This study reports the results of a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Wisconsin RESEA program conducted in 2022-2023, a period of strong labor market conditions. Results show that the program increased take-up of job counseling services and significantly reduced UI duration and benefit amounts collected, generating substantial savings for the UI system. Further, requiring participants to attend a follow-up counseling session is shown to cause additional reductions in UI receipt, beyond those achieved by the initial session.
Who Are The Two Spains? Attitudes And Lifestyle Cleavages In Contemporary Spain
Luis Miller
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This article revisits the idea of “the two Spains” through the lens of lifestyle-based social sorting. Drawing on an original survey of 3,015 respondents conducted in June 2024, it examines how political identities are embedded in cultural practices. Using statistical techniques for dimension reduction and clustering, the study identifies two dominant lifestyle formations—Progressives and Conservatives—that mirror Spain’s main ideological cleavage. These groups diverge not only in moral and political orientations, but also in cultural engagement, leisure activities, mobility, and attitudes toward minorities, underscoring the social embeddedness of political conflict. A secondary analysis further disaggregates this divide into four clusters—Progs, Tepids, Moderates, and Disengaged which capture heterogeneity in cultural participation, political alignment, and daily practices. Extending lifestyle polarization research into a multiparty European context, the article contributes to political and cultural sociology by showing that divisions in Spain are increasingly lived through routine behaviors and cultural tastes.
REDEFINING PROGRESS: BALANCE BETWEEN ECONOMIC BUOYANCY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Motsumi Stephen Taje
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This research examines the intricate and often contentious relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability, challenging conventional paradigms that prioritize economic expansion at the expense of ecological preservation. The study critically assesses the assumptions underpinning growth-centric development models, with particular attention to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), which posits that environmental degradation increases in the early stages of economic growth before improving as a society becomes wealthier. Through a detailed critique of the EKC and the impacts of capitalist economic structures, this paper highlights the flaws of these models, particularly their failure to account for irreversible environmental damage and the insufficient role of policy interventions in mitigating ecological harm. Furthermore, the research explores how international competition and the capitalist drive for profit exacerbate environmental degradation, pushing nations to weaken environmental regulations in pursuit of economic advantage. The paper advocates for a shift towards sustainable economic models that integrate both economic growth and environmental conservation, stressing the need for robust regulatory frameworks and international cooperation. The findings underscore that, while economic and environmental objectives have historically been seen as mutually exclusive, a balanced approach is not only feasible but essential for achieving long-term prosperity and ecological stability
Can Large Language Models Substitute Participant-Based Survey Studies?
Qingqing Chen; Vijaya Sarmishtha Kaza; Anna Zinn; Marius Portmann; Sara Dolnicar
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Survey studies are a cornerstone of psychological research. Declining response rates make it increasingly difficult to recruit representative samples. Advances in large language models offer a potential solution: simulating human responses. This study assesses the effectiveness of four alternative prompt techniques in simulating human responses using ChatGPT-4o: chain-of-thought prompting (step-by-step reasoning), role-based prompting (demographic framing), bias-mitigation prompting (skeptical stance to reduce bias), and N-shot learning (using human examples to guide responses). Survey questions were designed to capture different constructs across different contexts and include both text and images. Results show that prompt design significantly affects the ability of large language models to provide simulated responses that align with those of human responses. Chain-of-thought and role-based prompting performed poorly. Bias-mitigation prompts improved alignment with human responses. N-shot learning consistently outperformed the other prompt designs, generating responses that closely mirrored those of human survey participants. These findings position ChatGPT-4o with N-shot learning as a valid, low-cost, and scalable complement to traditional participant-based survey studies.
ESG Drivers of Financial Development: A Multimethod Analysis of Domestic Credit to the Private Sector
Massimo Arnone; Alberto Costantiello; Carlo Drago; Angelo Leogrande
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This paper investigates the influence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors on financial development, using Domestic Credit to the Private Sector by Banks (DCB) as the core indicator of credit market development. To effectively market the research within the broader literature on finance and ESG issues, the authors employ an approach combining econometric analysis, K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), cluster analysis, and network analysis. By analyzing the impact through the estimation of the model parameters through the impact of instrumental variable estimation on the model parameters (using Two-Stage Least Squares (IV), Random Effects (IV), and First-Differenced (IV) methods), the study confirms that access to clean fuels and natural resource depletion impact the model margins significantly. However, across all the models used in the analysis, the impact of access to clean energy is positive. By analyzing the significance of the issue using the KNN model throughout the research process on the impact of ESG on credit market dynamics across countries, the research demonstrates that the issue is significant. By performing hierarchical cluster analysis on the significance of the research by considering the significance of the issue in its contribution to the impact on credit market dynamics in countries, in terms of climate stress issues being core in influencing the dynamics of credit in countries, through network analysis mapping performed by carrying out research on the topic.
Inclusion to Exclude: How Femonationalism Impacts Policy Preferences
Sophie Mainz
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How does femonationalism, defined as the selective invocation of gender equality to promote exclusionary anti-immigrant policies, affect citizens? While increasingly common across Western democracies, its impact on citizens’ preferences remains underexplored. This paper provides evidence from a preregistered survey experiment with 3,118 U.S. citizens, showing that femonationalist rhetoric can enhance opposition to pluralist policies in defense of progressive gender achievements. The effect is conditional on citizens’ prior immigration attitudes: anti-immigration individuals liberalize their gender views, while pro-immigration individuals demand stricter integration policies. The findings suggest that citizens are not consistent in their ideological preferences, especially when political elites frame liberal values as conflicting.
Beyond Modernization : A Gender-Geographical Interpretation of Development Performance in African Urban Spaces
Baeke Ambedjo Ornela Theresa
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Urban market modernization projects in African cities are often celebrated for their architectural achievements, yet their actual performance can fall short once confronted with the everyday practices, mobility constraints, and gendered experiences of traders especially women. Drawing on Gender Geography and fieldwork conducted in the modernized C2D markets of Bafoussam and Bertoua in Cameroon, this article shows how spatial design, accessibility gaps, and exclusionary governance reproduce inequalities that undermine development effectiveness. The analysis reveals that successful development depends not only on funding or technical expertise, but on integrating gendered lived realities as central pillars of multisectoral projects. Markets function as microcosms of wider urban society, concentrating inequalities, negotiations, and solidarities within their daily rhythms. A gender-geographical lens therefore provides a critical diagnostic tool for rethinking modernization processes in African intermediate cities.
El rol de los algoritmos de redes sociales en la creaciĂłn de "cĂĄmaras de eco" de desinformaciĂłn nutricional
Juan Jacobo Buitrago Matiz; Francisca Fernanda Mena Guerrero; Laura SofĂ­a Vargas RodrĂ­guez; Carolina Alicia Ventura Tovar; Florencia Isadora Gaete DĂ­az; Francisco Palencia-SĂĄnchez
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En las Ășltimas dĂ©cadas, las redes sociales se han consolidado como fuentes clave de informaciĂłn sobre salud y nutriciĂłn, especialmente entre jĂłvenes y adolescentes. Sin embargo, la informaciĂłn disponible en estos espacios no proviene siempre de fuentes cientĂ­ficas confiables sino de contenidos moldeados por algoritmos de recomendaciĂłn que priorizan la popularidad y la viralidad del contenido por encima de su veracidad y sustento cientĂ­fico. Estos sistemas automatizados seleccionan y jerarquizan las publicaciones segĂșn los intereses propios del usuario, generando las conocidas “cĂĄmaras de eco” donde se refuerzan ideas afines y se excluyen perspectivas diferentes, generando una percepciĂłn errĂłnea de consenso, asĂ­ como dificultad para aceptar la evidencia. Mediante una revisiĂłn exhaustiva de la literatura, se encontrĂł que en las principales redes sociales del mundo (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) los algoritmos de las redes sociales son responsables directos de la creaciĂłn y mantenimiento de cĂĄmaras de eco que facilitan la propagaciĂłn de desinformaciĂłn nutricional. Este ensayo tiene como objetivo estudiar los mecanismos mediadores de estas conductas para proponer estrategias eficaces capaces de mitigar los efectos negativos en la nutriciĂłn que las redes sociales estĂĄn generando en sus usuarios, los cuales finalmente impactan en la salud pĂșblica
La cultura del “Bienestar” en las redes sociales como un ideal inalcanzable
Juan Sebastiån Arévalo Verjel; Ariana Milagros Maita Sånchez; Camila Dafne Suazo Bascuñån; Joice Antonia Romo Leiva; Nataly Yasmín Våsquez Muñoz; Francisco Palencia-Sånchez
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El presente ensayo analiza el surgimiento y consolidaciĂłn de la cultura del bienestar en las redes sociales como un fenĂłmeno sociocultural caracterĂ­stico de la era digital. Se plantea que, aunque estas plataformas se originaron como espacios de comunicaciĂłn e interacciĂłn, han evolucionado hasta convertirse en escenarios donde se construyen y exhiben estilos de vida idealizados asociados con la salud, la felicidad y el Ă©xito personal. A travĂ©s de la revisiĂłn de estudios recientes y del anĂĄlisis crĂ­tico del discurso mediĂĄtico, se argumenta que el bienestar promovido en redes sociales es una representaciĂłn superficial e inalcanzable que prioriza la apariencia sobre la experiencia genuina. Este ideal digital genera efectos negativos en la salud mental y emocional de los usuarios, al incentivar la comparaciĂłn constante, la bĂșsqueda de validaciĂłn externa y la creaciĂłn de un “yo ideal” desvinculado de la autenticidad. Asimismo, se evidencian consecuencias especĂ­ficas como la insatisfacciĂłn corporal, los trastornos alimentarios y el deterioro de la autoestima, especialmente en las mujeres jĂłvenes. En conclusiĂłn, el ensayo propone que la verdadera cultura del bienestar deberĂ­a orientarse hacia la aceptaciĂłn personal, la vulnerabilidad y la autenticidad, mĂĄs allĂĄ de los filtros y las mĂ©tricas de aprobaciĂłn social.
A Unified Workload Metric for Goods Receiving Optimization: The CLP Model and Decision-Support Application
Nicola Magaletti; Giancarlo Caponio; Angelo Amodio; Valeria Nortarnicola; Mauro Di Molfetta; Angelo Leogrande
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This paper focuses on the design and development of a decision support system (DSS) for the governance of intralogistics processes and, in particular, devoted to optimize capacity management and the workload of activities characterizing freight entry. This research activity was carried out as part of the Logistics Research and Development 4.0 Project launched by La Logistica Srl, a new player in the distribution of hydro-thermo sanitary products, with the support of the Puglia Region. The purpose of this study is to provide managers with a range of customized process information to improve workforce efficiency and management in receiving, controlling, and storing goods entering the newly established logistics hub. Other researchers’ work had shortcomings, as did the lack of this study’s practical approach. This study aims to overcome these constraints. To do so, the study introduces the Content Load Parameter (CLP) index. This index integrates three variables relevant to defining the workload, such as quantity, size and weights of the goods to be handled, using a single standard value. This makes it easier for managers to estimate the required capacity all along the work cycle. As part of the system development, a module analyzes and simulates operational scenarios. Simulation facilitates the management of analysis capacity by allowing alternatives to be compared and evaluated to bridge the gap between demand and availability of production capacity in various situations. Scenario simulation, combined with tools for concise and effective visualization of results, therefore allows organizations to identify critical capacity points and take preventative measures to manage overhead and minimize consequences. In summary, this study demonstrates how integrating the Content Load Parameter index into a decision support system can significantly contribute to making intralogistics process management more effective. By addressing quantifiable workload parameters and facilitating scenario-based operational analysis, the proposed system provides managers with useful information for capacity optimization. These advances not only overcome the limitations of previous research but also help develop resilient and efficient logistics operations, thus strengthening the critical role of empirically informed decision-making in contemporary logistics governance.
A Decision-Support Model for Managing Outbound Logistics: Forecasting, Simulation, and Real-Time Operational Control
Nicola Magaletti; Giancarlo Caponio; Angelo Amodio; Valeria Nortarnicola; Mauro Di Molfetta; Angelo Leogrande
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This article presents a decision support system developed as part of a Research and Development project undertaken by La Logistica srl, a third-party logistics company specializing in the storage and distribution of hydro-sanitary products. The approach is methodological and focuses on the comprehensive analysis of a case study related to freight exit processes with the aim of defining and implementing a software application to support the short-term management of picking and loading operations for product delivery. The developed decision support system integrates past data series analysis and projections, time series simulations, What-If analysis capabilities, and real-time monitoring within a single computational paradigm to anticipate peak points in the freight exit process. The developed decision support system is designed to accumulate and structure operational data from the warehouse management system software, to analyse the periodic rhythms of orders received to generate graphical projections of expected peak points and working hours based on the analysis of past data series and is able to dynamically review projections via real-time monitoring capabilities to adapt projections to actual progress made at any given time. Additionally, What-If analytics capabilities facilitate management's use of various workforce combinations to determine the feasibility of the process at any time, while identifying potential bottlenecks before they occur. Test results conducted with the corporate team indicate improvements in workload visibility and readiness for associated short-term programming strategies, while preventing operational disruptions through advance alerts on operational overload points
Measuring the Digital Divide among students caused by Artificial Intelligence
Sylvi Mauermeister; Lea Biere; Isabel Steinhardt
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The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education requires to equip students with the skills to engage with AI technologies. Drawing from the digital divide concept—which encompasses disparities in access, skills, and outcomes—this study investigates potential inequalities among students in higher education contexts in conjunction with AI. Furthermore, this study introduces the Digital Divide–Artificial Intelligence (DD-AI) survey instrument, developed through a two-phase approach. Initially, a systematic literature review adhering to a seven-stage process was con-ducted, identifying 481 articles, with 15 undergoing in-depth analysis. Findings from this literature review informed the construction of the DD-AI. Subsequently, a theo-retical model comprising eight hypotheses was established to assess AI-related digital divides. The instrument's development followed an established scale development process, including a comprehensive pre-test involving the think-aloud method with three students and a survey of n=106 students. Preliminary results indicate that the DD-AI possesses high reliability and validity, offering a robust tool for examining AI-induced digital inequalities in higher education.
Caught in Transit: Identifying Stalls, Upswings and Reversals in Fertility Transitions using a Probabilistic Approach
Mark Christopher Wheldon; Vladimira Kantorova; Joseph Molitoris; Thomas Spoorenberg; Yumiko Kamiya; Patrick Gerland
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Possible stalls in fertility transitions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have been discussed frequently in the demography literature. However, the various methods used to identify stalls were limited by reliance on irregular inter-survey intervals, inconsistent definitions, and failure to account for measurement uncertainty. We propose a new probabilistic approach for identifying fertility transition stalls based on the results of the 2024 revision of World Population Prospects (United Nations, 2024a) and apply it to all countries for periods when total fertility is above 2.1 live births per woman. Our method is not restricted to inter-survey intervals; it uses all available data from all available data sources, incorporates biases and measurement errors, and provides probabilistic estimates of fertility stalls. We compared our findings for sub-Saharan Africa to those in the literature and found that the probability of many previously identified stalls is quite low based on the data available. We also identify several stalls (or reversals) in fertility decline across all regions since 1950 and discuss potential reasons for these changes in fertility trends.
Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Leadership and Project Complexity in the German Large Industrial Plant Manufacturing Industry: A Strategic Analysis of Competitive Dynamics in an Era of Global Competition
Matthias HĂŒmmer
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This conceptual paper develops an integrated framework for understanding how multi-dimensional project complexity management capabilities mediate competitive dynamics in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) industries. Drawing on systematized narrative review of literature from 2020 to 2025, combined with foundational complexity theory, two complementary models are constructed: an ascending pathway depicting how emerging contractors systematically build technical, organizational, and environmental capabilities to achieve global EPC leadership; and a descending pathway characterizing how established leaders experience capability erosion when organizational and environmental complexity management capabilities deteriorate faster than technical knowledge persists. The core theoretical contribution demonstrates that sustainable EPC competitive advantage increasingly derives from the ability to simultaneously manage high technical, organizational, and environmental complexity, rather than technical knowledge alone. This insight is operationalized through a Technical-Organizational-Environmental (TOE) complexity framework, mapping how capability phases correspond to distinct complexity profiles and identifying critical junctures where strategic intervention can alter trajectory. The framework is applied diagnostically to the German Large Industrial Plant Manufacturing Industry (GLIPMI), identifying distinct subsectors in different phases of capability erosion and specifying sector-specific vulnerabilities and intervention points. Eight testable propositions are formulated connecting complexity management capabilities to competitive outcomes. The paper provides both theoretical grounding for capability-based competition in EPC markets and practical implications for firms, industry associations, and policymakers. However, it needs to be acknowledged that this framework represents theory-building rather than empirical validation; the propositions require future primary research to test causal mechanisms and boundary conditions. The analysis suggests that complexity management capability is necessary for sustained EPC leadership but may not be sufficient when confronted with asymmetric subsidization, pricing pressures, or structural financing disadvantages.
A rapid review of the literature contrasting cost-effectiveness analysis and value-based healthcare approaches to assess how these paradigms are complemented in the context of health care in Wales
Elizabeth Doe; Bethany Anthony; Rhiannon Tudor Edwards; Kalpa Pisavadia; Jacob Davies; Sofie Roberts; Sally Lewis; Deborah Fitzsimmons; Jane Noyes; Dyfrig Hughes
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Methods of economic evaluation, such as Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA), and approaches to Value Based Health Care (VBHC) are both being used in Wales, UK. They have similar goals in terms of maximising benefit as described by costs and outcomes. However, these approaches serve separate aims and fulfil different needs in healthcare delivery. The aim of this review was to contrast, and where possible describe, the complementarity of CEA and VBHC approaches to maximising value to healthcare systems. The objective was to review published literature contrasting these approaches in terms of their aims, perspectives of analysis, mathematical approach, and strengths and limitations. Given that these two approaches are being used in Wales, we were interested in the most appropriate positioning of these approaches across the landscape of decision-making from Welsh Government down to seven health boards across Wales. The review was informed by input from health economists, VBHC leaders, and Welsh Government stakeholders, although no direct comparisons within the Welsh system were made. The review included evidence published between January 2004 and January 2024. Database searches were conducted on 10th January 2024. The study found that both CEA and VBHC aim to maximise value in healthcare; however, these approaches differ in their specific definitions of value and in their applications. An augmented approach to economic evaluation highlights multiple elements of value, showing how traditional CEA and broader value-based perspectives can complement each other to capture both efficiency and patient-centred outcomes. Most of the papers identified in this review have come from authors from US research institutions and therefore caution is required when considering the applicability of the findings to the UK healthcare system. The VBHC framework adopted in the UK focuses on improving patient outcomes relative to fixed and constrained resource use. More work is required to make the connection between CEA and VBHC approaches when developing policy initiatives that promote efficiency and equity. Open discussions among clinicians, researchers and policy-makers are required around the need for broader frameworks that capture the dynamic nature of value to present the changing preferences of individual patients and society over time. Further research is also needed to explore recent refinements or alternatives to the traditional cost per QALY framework.
Reconsidering the Legitimacy of Employers’ Social Media Screening: Trust, Power, and the Logic of Surveillance in Digital Recruitment
Wenjia Xia
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With the rise of social media as a central arena for identity construction and social interaction, employers increasingly use social media information to evaluate candidates’ job fit. While such digital recruitment practices promise efficiency and precision, they also conceal underlying social risks such as the erosion of trust and the rise of surveillance capitalism. This raises an urgent question of how to balance individual rights, organizational efficiency, risk management, and fairness within the digital labor market. Yet existing studies have largely approached this issue from legal or managerial perspectives, without systematically examining the underlying logic of surveillance capitalism and its impact on social trust from a sociological standpoint. Drawing on an integrated analysis of existing theories and cross-national literature, this paper investigates the practice of social media screening from the perspectives of candidates, employers, and society. Building on this analysis, the paper delineates the ethical and regulatory boundaries of social media screening and identifies policy pathways toward a more inclusive and equitable digital labor market.
From Early to Fewer First Births: ADHD and Family Formation among Young Adults
INVEST Flagship; Sanna Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist; Niina MetsÀ-Simola; Mikko MyrskylÀ
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Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is common and linked to relationship difficulties. It may affect the likelihood and timing of parenthood, yet its implications for fertility remain unclear. Methods Using Finnish population registers, we followed 759,430 individuals born in 1982–1993 to examine how ADHD is associated with the likelihood and timing of a first birth among young adults. ADHD diagnoses were identified from healthcare and prescription records. Discrete-time event-history models were estimated separately for women and men. Interaction analyses assessed whether a partner’s ADHD modified associations. Results In age- and cohort-adjusted models, ADHD was linked to lower odds of a first birth (men OR 0.92; women OR 0.90), but after adjusting for partnerships the association was reversed (men OR 1.07; women OR 1.09). At ages 18–23, ADHD was associated with a higher likelihood of having a first birth, whereas an opposite association was observed at ages at 24–30 and 31–38. Thus, ADHD was related to a higher likelihood of first birth at young ages and lower likelihood at older ages. Both partners having ADHD does not seem to intensify the association. Conclusions ADHD is associated with earlier entry into parenthood but a lower risk of first birth at later ages. The results highlight the importance of accounting for partnerships: before this adjustment, ADHD was negatively related to the likelihood of becoming a parent, whereas after adjusting for partnerships the association reversed. This underscores partnership formation as a key pathway and suggests that supporting stable unions may help mitigate ADHD-related disparities in first births. Keywords: first birth, child, family formation, ADHD, partnerships
Teaching Accessibility through Automated Audits: Using ANDI in Higher Education
Tolu Adedoja
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The U.S. Department of Justice’s April 2026 deadline for Title II web accessibility compliance places new urgency on higher education institutions to adopt sustainable accessibility practices. Yet, many universities continue to focus remediation narrowly on disability services pages, leaving their broader digital presence inaccessible to students, faculty, and the public. This paper presents a teaching strategy that leverages the Accessible Name and Description Inspector (ANDI), a free audit tool developed by the U.S. Social Security Administration, as both an instructional and governance mechanism. By training IT staff and content authors to use ANDI, institutions can identify recurring accessibility barriers, connect them to WCAG 2.1 AA and Title II obligations, and establish governance routines that foster sustainable compliance. The method is illustrated through a multi-institution audit of higher education websites, including a case study showing how false positives can serve as teaching moments. This contribution is explicitly positioned as a teaching note, offering a practical and scalable model for embedding accessibility education into institutional governance and compliance.
Flexible Complexity in the Middle Bronze Age South Caucasus: agropastoral settlement and burial at Qızqala, Azerbaijan
Hilary Gopnik; Selin E. Nugent; Jennifer Swerida; Robert C. Bryant; Veli Bakhshaliyev
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New evidence from the Middle Bronze Age settlement and burial complex at Qızqala, Azerbaijan, challenge dominant models of elite-centred social complexity in the South Caucasus. Excavated settlement architecture, ritual deposits, and kurgan burials reflect a flexible, agropastoral community that practiced shared traditions of burial, craft production, and exchange networks without expressing hierarchical inequality. This paper presents the results of work by the Naxçıvan Archaeological Project and proposes a revised framework for understanding MB society that emphasizes flexible modes of complexity embedded in mobile lifeways and shared experiences in the settlement landscape.
Dissertation: BedĂŒrfnisorientierte Betreuung Studierender im Fernstudium : Eine empirische Studie mit Studierenden und Betreuenden im Mixed-Methods-Design am Beispiel der FernUniversitĂ€t in Hagen
Anne Martin
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Digitalisierung und Corona-Pandemie haben Auswirkungen auf die Hochschulbildung, die gleichermaßen mit Chancen wie mit Herausforderungen einhergehen und diese offenlegen. – Eine Entwicklung, die lĂ€ngst nicht abgeschlossen ist und im bildungswissenschaftlichen Diskurs ĂŒber digitale Bildung auch mit Blick auf die universitĂ€re Fernlehre zu Recht Beachtung erfĂ€hrt. Die Fernlehre als technologiegestĂŒtztes Lernumfeld, dem eine rĂ€umliche Trennung der Akteur*innen inhĂ€rent ist, bietet dank der damit verbundenen FlexibilitĂ€t und IndividualitĂ€t des Lernens besonders einer nicht-klassischen an Hochschulbildung interessierten Klientel die Möglichkeit, heterogene Lebenslagen zu verbinden. Hier zeigt sich nicht nur die Wichtigkeit der Betrachtung digitaler Bildung aus Sicht der Lernenden, sondern auch, dass die Fernlehre eine zentrale Forderung an die Hochschule adressiert: sich zu einer offenen Institution zu entwickeln, die selbstgesteuerte Bildungsprozesse ermöglicht und die Teilhabe an Bildung fördert. Gleichzeitig kommt in der Fernlehre der UnterstĂŒtzung der Lernenden eine große Bedeutung zu, insbesondere, wenn die Lehre auf schriftlicher Kommunikation basiert. Der Diskurs ĂŒber die BetreuungsbedĂŒrfnisse beim Lernen im Fernstudium sowie ĂŒber eine entsprechend bedĂŒrfnisorientierte Gestaltung der Betreuung stellt sich jedoch als randstĂ€ndig gefĂŒhrt dar. Daher bildet die Sicht der Lernenden auf diese BedĂŒrfnisse die Leitperspektive der vorliegenden Arbeit. VerschrĂ€nkt wird diese Sicht mit der EinschĂ€tzung der Betreuenden hinsichtlich der Möglichkeiten, die artikulierten BedĂŒrfnisse in der Praxis zu berĂŒcksichtigen. Untersucht werden diese Perspektiven mittels einer empirischen Studie in Form eines Mixed-Methods-Designs, welches sowohl auf qualitative als auch auf quantitative Erhebungs- und Auswertungsmethoden zurĂŒckgreift und mit der integrierenden Darstellung aller Erhebungsergebnisse eine umfassende und mehrperspektivische Explikation des Gegenstandsbereiches erlaubt. Im Ergebnis kann dabei besonders die Bedeutung einer individuellen und flexiblen Betreuung Studierender herausgestellt werden, die individuelle Anforderungen, Lernstile und Ressourcen einbezieht und fachlich fundiertes Feedback beinhaltet. DiesbezĂŒglich besteht Konsens zwischen Lernenden und Lehrenden. Angesichts der real existierenden Ressourcen zeigt sich seitens der Lehrenden jedoch ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Wollen und Können. Insgesamt leistet die Arbeit einen Beitrag zur Weiterentwicklung der Fernlehre hinsichtlich der adĂ€quaten Erfassung der BedĂŒrfnisse Studierender und der Professionalisierung der Betreuenden unter BerĂŒcksichtigung dieser BedĂŒrfnisse. Sie trĂ€gt damit zur besseren Passung zwischen digitalen Bildungsangeboten und deren Zielgruppe bei. Eine offene Frage ist, wie sich mit Blick auf steigende Studierendenzahlen eine Skalierbarkeit der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse herstellen lĂ€sst.
Caught in Transit: Identifying Stalls, Upswings and Reversals in Fertility Transitions using a Probabilistic Approach
Mark Christopher Wheldon; Vladimira Kantorova; Joseph Molitoris; Thomas Spoorenberg; Yumiko Kamiya; Patrick Gerland
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Possible stalls in fertility transitions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have been discussed frequently in the demography literature. However, the various methods used to identify stalls were limited by reliance on irregular inter-survey intervals, inconsistent definitions, and failure to account for measurement uncertainty. We propose a new probabilistic approach for identifying fertility transition stalls based on the results of the 2024 revision of World Population Prospects (United Nations, 2024a) and apply it to all countries for periods when total fertility is above 2.1 live births per woman. Our method is not restricted to inter-survey intervals; it uses all available data from all available data sources, incorporates biases and measurement errors, and provides probabilistic estimates of fertility stalls. We compared our findings for sub-Saharan Africa to those in the literature and found that the probability of many previously identified stalls is quite low based on the data available. We also identify several stalls (or reversals) in fertility decline across all regions since 1950 and discuss potential reasons for these changes in fertility trends.
Voter Responses to Climate Adaptation in High-Risk Communities
Christian J. Baehr; Hanno Hilbig; AntĂłnio Valentim
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As climate impacts intensify, governments increasingly adopt adaptation policies, yet their electoral consequences remain poorly understood. We study electoral effects of moratoria on homeowners insurance nonrenewals after California wildfires. Using a difference-in-differences design exploiting eligibility rules, we find null effects on support for incumbents. To explain, we develop a framework of experience-based accountability, arguing that the electoral effect of adaptation is path-dependent: prior crisis experience sets the standard for what voters perceive as a sufficient policy. Consistent with this, we find modest electoral rewards where prior insurance disruption was limited, but none where it was chronic. Survey evidence indicates that, prior to the policy, residents of high-disruption areas already held more negative and crystallized views of the governor. We offer a framework for the politics of adaptation, showing that credit depends on perceived sufficiency: a standard set not only by the policy, but also by voters’ prior experience with the crisis.
Forecasting Israel-Iran Escalation Bands with Structured Judgment Using Artificial Intelligence Algorithms
Mohsen Solhdoost
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This study estimates the near-term risk of renewed Israel–Iran escalation using a modular, multi-model framework that converts expert judgments and open-source indicators into probabilistic scenarios over a 90-day horizon. We elicit LOW–CENTRAL–HIGH priors from domain experts across 18 indicators spanning air/missile, land, maritime, cyber, diplomacy, information, and proxy alignment (including Israeli standoff and air-strike activity), then fuse evidence via Bayesian updating and infer a weekly escalation state on a seven-rung ladder with a light stocks/flows scaffold for magazines, interceptor use, and repair/re-supply constraints. We triangulate forecasts across three complementary stacks (Bayesian state-space, statistical ensemble, and game-theoretic signalling). At the analysis cut-off (2025-10-22, UK), All three models agree that S1 (Managed Conflict) is modal, S2 (Northern War with Maritime Squeeze) is the principal alternative, and S3–S4 remain lower-probability tails. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the S1<->S2 margin is most responsive to air/missile defence saturation and combined launch/strike pressure together with maritime war-risk stress, with mediation activity providing the strongest stabilising counterweight. We also formalise tail-risk triggers for potential state fracture and specify how crossing them would reweight S4. The result is a transparent, updateable, and non-partisan forecast designed for decision support: it communicates where risk mass sits, what could move it, and which levers plausibly bend trajectories while avoiding operationally sensitive detail.
Machine Learning Reduced Workload for COVID-19 Literature
Kavita Kothari; Anna Noel-Storr; James Thomas
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Objectives: To develop, calibrate, and evaluate a machine learning (ML) classifier designed to reduce citation screening workload for COVID-19 research. Methods: Citations from the WHO COVID-19 Research Database were used to train a logistic regression classifier, which was then calibrated using another independent dataset. A lower threshold was set, below which, records could be excluded from manual screening, and an upper threshold, above which, records could be automatically included into the database. The classifier was then validated on eight COVID-19 reviews to assess workload reduction and recall. Findings: The WHO-Cochrane-EPPI classifier was calibrated for 99% recall, with an upper threshold of 70% and a lower threshold of 39%. During validation, it achieved 98.6% recall across eight reviews. A smaller set of three reviews estimated a 12.5% workload reduction, with 1,390 of 11,153 records below the lower threshold. For database use, workload reduction was estimated at 80%, with 8,955 out of 11,153 records being automatically screened. Conclusion: The WHO-Cochrane-UCL classifier significantly reduces manual screening workload with minimal risk of missing studies. It serves as a model for integrating machine learning into curated resources like the WHO COVID-19 Research Database, improving sustainability by reducing manual screening efforts. The classifier can also be adapted for systematic reviews on COVID-19 and other topics.
Souvenir des avenirs ratés de Faya-Largeau au Nord du Tchad : Entre utopie et perspective métropolitaine
MAHAMAT HEMCHI Hassane; BASSENA Pierre; OURSINGBE PASSAL OURSINGBE PASSAL
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Les villes sahariennes du Tchad, se trouvent aux croisements des pressions sociodĂ©mographiques et climatiques ; entre prĂ©caritĂ© urbaine et pression dĂ©sertique Ă  l’exemple de la ville oasis de Faya-Largeau. Ce texte analyse le processus de gouvernance entre ambition et volontĂ© politique affichĂ©es des autoritĂ©s locales d’une perspective mĂ©tropolitaine utopique inscrite dans les outils de planification. Une approche de comparaison entre pratiques communautaires qui se base sur l’interaction entre spĂ©cificitĂ© territoriale, rĂ©alitĂ©s et de gouvernance. L’étude repose sur les donnĂ©es d’une Ă©tude de terrain effectuĂ©e en 2022, combinant observations, entretiens semi-directifs et analyse spatiale multicritĂšre via un SystĂšme d’Information GĂ©ographique dans le cadre d’un mĂ©moire de master en Urbanisme. Les rĂ©sultats du terrain montrent la contradiction entre perspective mĂ©tropolitaine ratĂ©e et gouvernance utopique pour un territoire qui peine Ă  s’affirmer dans tous les domaines. Faya-Largeau qui est un archĂ©type des villes-oasis se retrouve confrontĂ©e Ă  plusieurs menaces : son exposition aux alĂ©as environnementaux, la faible politique d’intĂ©gration dans les prioritĂ©s nationales et surtout de son Ă©loignement par rapport aux autres centres stratĂ©giques du pays. Ce travail illustre les avenirs ratĂ©s d’une gouvernance opportuniste, en tenant compte des rĂ©alitĂ©s territorialisĂ©es au contexte dĂ©sertique entre sĂ©grĂ©gation et agrĂ©gation socio-spatiale en vue de plaider pour une planification urbaine durable.
Problems With a One-Size-Fits-All Approach: A Systematic Literature Review on Solutions to AI Bias in Engineering Biology
Rebekah J. Harms; Rachel A. Ankeny; Lucy Carter; Aditi Mankad; Jackie Leach Scully
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Much of the current literature on artificial intelligence bias in healthcare presents a one-size-fits-all approach to bias mitigation. Such approaches, however, are unlikely to offer actionable guidance to those developers (and their institutions) who are looking for strategies to minimise potential bias. This paper presents findings from a systematic literature review exploring existing work on how AI developers can mitigate bias in the field of engineering biology. A systematic search was conducted on the Scopus and Web of Science databases for relevant articles published between 2015 and 2024. The findings from 51 reviewed articles showed that recommendations for bias mitigation within healthcare tended to be grouped around seven key themes, namely diversity in teams, training and education, awareness and responsibility, diversity of data, collaboration with end users and beneficiaries, monitoring and evaluation, and transparency. While these recommendations provide useful suggestions for reducing bias, they generally fail to provide actionable guidance or empirical evidence about how these strategies can be operationalised in a real-world setting. More research is needed to test the effectiveness and practicality of these recommendations across different scientific and clinical contexts as well as among different types of development teams.
Toxicity-Competitiveness Trade-off in Concentrated Liquidity Provision at a Decentralized Exchange
Jun Aoyagi; Wang-Hei Ip; Kohei Kawaguchi; Shinya Tsuchida
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This paper investigates whether concentrated liquidity in decentralized exchanges protects liquidity providers (LPs) against toxic swaps, relative to traditional AMM liquidity provision mechanisms. To address this question, we develop a model of LP competition and uncover a fundamental toxicity-competitiveness trade-off: toxic swaps yield payoffs independent of other LPs’ strategies, whereas non-toxic swaps generate payoffs that depend on strategic competition among LPs. We demonstrate that concentrated liquidity increasingly outperforms traditional mechanisms as swap toxicity rises, while at low toxicity levels, competitive pressure can instead worsen LP payoffs. Comparative statics further show that equilibrium liquidity provision rises with toxicity, volatility, and LP competition but falls with fees. Together, these patterns suggest how LPs should optimally adjust their strategies to market conditions.
A STUDY OF THE EMERGENCE OF WELFARE CLEAVAGES IN SOUTH KOREA
Jihun Yeo
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This study aims to trace the cause of an emerging welfare cleavage under circumstances where discourses on economic growth have been dominant in Korean politics. On the basis of the theories of interaction between changing social structure and social-norm dynamics, this paper explores the causes of an emerging welfare cleavage in the case of South Korea during the late 2000s. To analyze the change of economic structure and public awareness regarding public welfare, I used the data of macro-economic indicators and public opinion polls and utilized press releases to analyze discourses of political actors. The linked-policies effects of an immature “developmental welfare regime” and neo-liberal economic policies caused social polarization and expansion of the poverty stratum in the course of a slowdown in economic growth in the 1990s and foreign exchange crisis in 1998. The existing norm (i.e., economic growth could solve problems concerning people's livelihood) that had been maintained in the era of rapid economic growth was weakened. A conflict between an education superintendent and the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Council triggered a debate on free meals and welfare in 2009. Civil society groups were organized on a national scale, and they started a discourse struggle to replace individual interests with public interests and to obtain social legitimacy. Political parties gradually accepted the welfare issue as the primary electoral pledge for their political interests after public preference regarding growth and distribution changed when confronted with political crises. This study draws an implication that general factors affecting Western welfare states (e.g., power alliance and democratic institutions) influence East Asian welfare states by analyzing the case of South Korean welfare politics. It means that studies of East Asian welfare states can use explanatory building blocks partly from existing welfare theories rather than stressing the exceptionalism of East Asian welfare states. However, owing to the different economic and political structures of East Asian states from those of Western countries during the formative stage of welfare states, studies of East Asian welfare states need to consider path dependency in the historical context of East Asian political economy.
Why Teachers Leave: A Qualitative Exploration of Attrition and Retention
Tim Pressley; Kyla Ganey; David T. Marshall; Heather L. Walter; Elizabeth Creed; Ivy Andre
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Teacher attrition remains a significant challenge in K–12 education, driven by rising concerns about workload, administrative support, and compensation. This qualitative study explored the factors contributing to teacher attrition and identified strategies to improve retention. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 28 teachers across 16 U.S. states who had either left the profession or were actively considering departure. Thematic analysis revealed four primary drivers of attrition: unsustainable workloads, inadequate administrative support, particularly regarding student behavior, insufficient compensation, and diminished professional autonomy. Participants also reported experiences of moral conflict and burnout, shaped by systemic challenges and shifting expectations following the COVID-19 pandemic. While some teachers indicated they would not return under any circumstances, others identified potential interventions, including increased pay, stronger leadership support, and reduced non-instructional responsibilities. These findings suggest that teacher attrition stems from multiple factors, highlighting the need for systemic reforms to support teacher well-being and retention.
How Sociotropic Aesthetic Judgments Drive Opposition to Housing Development
David Broockman; Christopher S. Elmendorf; Joshua Kalla
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Voter opposition to new housing development contributes to America's housing shortage. Prevailing explanations for voter opposition emphasize homeowner self-interest and ``NIMBY'' concerns with new housing's local negative externalities. We argue that sociotropic aesthetic judgments also powerfully shape housing policy preferences, helping explain significant patterns of opposition to housing development. We support this argument with a variety of novel descriptive and experimental findings. Motivating our analysis, we first show that homeowners in already-dense areas are highly supportive of new apartments in their neighborhoods---indeed, moreso than in neighborhoods of single-family homes---a pattern prevailing theories cannot easily explain. We then show that measures of aesthetic tastes strongly predict support for dense housing development, as do experimental manipulations which vary the aesthetic quality of new housing---even for housing located far away from the respondent's neighborhood. Other explanations offer more limited explanatory power. Finally, we show how crafting housing policies to be sensitive to voters' aesthetic judgments could help address America's housing shortage.
Inteligencia artificial generativa y medios locales: anĂĄlisis del sesgo territorial en cinco modelos de lenguaje / Generative artificial intelligence and local media: An analysis of territorial bias in five language models
Barbara Sarrionandia; SimĂłn Peña-FernĂĄndez; JesĂșs Ángel PĂ©rez-Dasilva
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[EN] The development of large language models (LLMs) has transformed the processes of information search and access in digital environments. This study examines how five LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity) respond to queries about media-related cases that occurred in the Basque Country between 2023 and 2025, as well as to general questions on current affairs at local, regional, and national levels. The methodology was based on the use of prompts applied under controlled technical conditions, with responses evaluated in terms of length, source citation, traceability, and territorial contextualisation. The findings reveal that ChatGPT and Perplexity offer the most extensive, traceable, and contextually rich responses, while Claude and Gemini display notable opacity and limited regional coverage. A systematic tendency to prioritise national media is observed, even in queries concerning local and regional issues, thereby limiting informational diversity. These differences are not merely technical but structural, stemming from corpus design, retrieval architecture, and licensing agreements between media outlets and developers, which together create a territorial information gap in the use of generative AI. [ES] El desarrollo de modelos de lenguaje de gran escala (LLMs) ha transformado los procesos de bĂșsqueda y acceso a la informaciĂłn en entornos digitales. Este estudio analiza cĂłmo cinco LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot y Perplexity) responden a consultas sobre casos mediĂĄticos ocurridos en el PaĂ­s Vasco entre 2023 y 2025, asĂ­ como a preguntas genĂ©ricas sobre actualidad informativa a nivel local, regional y nacional. La metodologĂ­a se ha basado en el uso de prompts aplicados bajo condiciones tĂ©cnicas controladas, evaluando las respuestas segĂșn longitud, citaciĂłn de fuentes, trazabilidad y contextualizaciĂłn territorial. Los resultados revelan que ChatGPT y Perplexity ofrecen las respuestas mĂĄs extensas, trazables y contextualizadas, mientras que Claude y Gemini presentan una notable opacidad y escasa cobertura regional. Se constata una tendencia sistemĂĄtica a priorizar medios nacionales incluso en consultas de ĂĄmbito local y regional, lo que limita la diversidad informativa. Estas diferencias no son meramente tĂ©cnicas, sino estructurales, derivadas del diseño del corpus, la arquitectura de recuperaciĂłn y los acuerdos de licencia entre medios de comunicaciĂłn y desarrolladores, lo que propicia que el uso de la IA generativa aumente la brecha informativa territorial.
How Sociotropic Aesthetic Judgments Drive Opposition to Housing Development
David Broockman; Christopher S. Elmendorf; Joshua Kalla
Full text
Voter opposition to new housing development contributes to America's housing shortage. Prevailing explanations for voter opposition emphasize homeowner self-interest and ``NIMBY'' concerns with new housing's local negative externalities. We argue that sociotropic aesthetic judgments also powerfully shape housing policy preferences, helping explain significant patterns of opposition to housing development. We support this argument with a variety of novel descriptive and experimental findings. Motivating our analysis, we first show that homeowners in already-dense areas are highly supportive of new apartments in their neighborhoods---indeed, moreso than in neighborhoods of single-family homes---a pattern prevailing theories cannot easily explain. We then show that measures of aesthetic tastes strongly predict support for dense housing development, as do experimental manipulations which vary the aesthetic quality of new housing---even for housing located far away from the respondent's neighborhood. Other explanations offer more limited explanatory power. Finally, we show how crafting housing policies to be sensitive to voters' aesthetic judgments could help address America's housing shortage.
Voter Responses to Climate Adaptation in High-Risk Communities
Christian J. Baehr; Hanno Hilbig; AntĂłnio Valentim
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As climate impacts intensify, governments increasingly adopt adaptation policies, yet their electoral consequences remain poorly understood. We study electoral effects of moratoria on homeowners insurance nonrenewals after California wildfires. Using a difference-in-differences design exploiting eligibility rules, we find null effects on support for incumbents. To explain, we develop a framework of experience-based accountability, arguing that the electoral effect of adaptation is path-dependent: prior crisis experience sets the standard for what voters perceive as a sufficient policy. Consistent with this, we find modest electoral rewards where prior insurance disruption was limited, but none where it was chronic. Survey evidence indicates that, prior to the policy, residents of high-disruption areas already held more negative and crystallized views of the governor. We offer a framework for the politics of adaptation, showing that credit depends on perceived sufficiency: a standard set not only by the policy, but also by voters’ prior experience with the crisis.
Beyond the oligopoly: Scholarly journal publishing landscapes in Latin America and Europe
Emanuel Kulczycki; José Octavio Alonso Gamboa; María Fernanda Beigel; Luciano Digiampietri; Mikael Laakso; Janne Pölönen; Zehra Taskin; Gabriel Vélez
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Global scholarly publishing is often described as being dominated by international commercial publishers, particularly those indexed in Web of Science and Scopus. However, this perspective overlooks the diversity of journal ecosystems, especially in non-English-speaking countries. This study examines scholarly journal publishing in seven countries across Europe and Latin America – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Mexico, Poland, and Turkey – using ISSN Center data and national sources. We categorize publishers according to their institutional and organizational characteristics and assess their coverage in WoS, Scopus, and OpenAlex. Our findings show that educational institutions are the dominant publishers in most countries, accounting for over 75% of journals in Colombia and Brazil and over 50% in Mexico, Argentina, and Poland. Finland is an exception, where scientific and professional associations lead (62.0%). Commercial publishers play a minor role, with their highest shares in Turkey (12.1%) and Poland (8.2%). Regarding database coverage, OpenAlex indexes over 50% of journals in most of the covered countries, while WoS and Scopus index only a small fraction. These results challenge the assumption of a globally uniform publishing system and highlight the need for bibliometric research to consider ways to improve the use of data sources and analysis methodologies so that national publishing structures are also included.
La Transición Neolítica en el Sur de Centroamérica
Andrés G. Mejía Ramón
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Southern Central America played a key role in the continent-wide transition to the Neolithic and the transmission of its culture between South and Mesoamerica. Nevertheless, there has been a notable decline in linking processes within this region to contemporary developments in the rest of the continent. Here, there are early indicators of the Neolithic, besides evidence of the movement of cultigens and likely information about pottery manufacturing towards the other continent. Using a co-adaptive framework, I examine the social and ecological changes during the Archaic and Early Formative American Neotropics and adjacent regions, highlighting surprising networks that moved plants, goods and cultural systems during these periods. I focus mainly on the behaviors that link humans with their natural environments, beyond mere social changes occurring at the level of the producer. Finally, I present a Bayesian analysis of 161 radiocarbon dates from 39 sites in Costa Rica and Panama from the Late Archaic through the Middle Formative. These methods can identify anomalous dates and generate probability distributions regarding chronological questions about eight different material culture complexes: In Tilaran-Arenal, Fortuna* and Tronadora; in the Costa Rican Atlantic Watershed, La Montaña, in Gran Chiriquí, Talamanca*, Boquete* and Black Creek; and in Gran Coclé, the Preceramic B tradition and Monagrillo (archaic assemblages denoted with an asterisk*). I argue that there exists evidence for the early presence of ceramic from 4840-4144 BC cal, representing a correction to the established chronology of 1000-3000 years. Early ceramic complexes commonly interpreted as Formative coexisted with Archaic-period assemblages for hundreds, if not thousands of years before the abandonment of archaic-style complexes. Therefore, the presence of ceramics is not a sufficient marker of social processes commonly associated with the Formative. Resumen: El Sur de Centroamérica jugó un papel crucial en la transición al Neolítico y en la transmisión de la cultura neolítica entre Sudamérica y Mesoamérica. A pesar de ello, se ha disminuido la relación de procesos en esta región con el resto del continente. Aquí se encuentran tempranos indicadores del Neolítico, evidencia del trånsito de cultígenos y probable información sobre alfarería hacia el otro continente. Examinando los procesos sociales y ecológicos durante el Arcaico y Formativo temprano en el Neotrópico Americano y regiones aledañas desde una perspectiva co-adaptiva, destaco la sorprendente movilidad de plantas, bienes y sistemas culturales durante estos periodos. Me enfoco en los comportamientos que vinculan a los humanos con sus ambientes, mås allå de los procesos sociales a nivel productivo. Un anålisis Bayesiano de 161 determinaciones radiométricas de 39 sitios en Costa Rica y Panamå, desde el Arcaico tardío hasta el Formativo medio, permite identificar las determinaciones aberrantes y generar distribuciones de probabilidad sobre cuestiones cronológicas para ocho diferentes complejos: en Tilarån-Arenal, Fortuna* y Tronadora; en el Vertiente Atlåntico Costarricense, La Montaña; en el Gran Chiriquí, Talamanca*, Boquete*, y Black Creek; y en el Gran Coclé, Preceramic B* y Monagrillo (complejos arcaicos marcados con asterisco*). Argumento que existe evidencia de la presencia temprana de alfarería desde 4840 - 4144 a.C. cal, representando una corrección en la cronología establecida de 1000-3000 años. Los complejos ceråmicos frecuentemente interpretados como Formativos coexistieron con los complejos Arcaicos durante cientos, sino miles, de años antes del abandono de complejos asociados con la caza-recolección. Así, la presencia plena de alfarería no puede considerarse como un marcador de los procesos sociales asociados con el periodo Formativo.
Sustainability researchers endorse post-growth policy instruments for the European Union
Manuel Suter; Kimberly Nicholas; Jacob Hasselbalch; Nick Fitzpatrick; Nils Droste
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This study surveyed 1,734 sustainability policy researchers from 97 countries on the potential, feasibility, and dependence on economic growth of 88 policy instruments from post-growth literature for implementation in the European Union. Fifty instruments across eleven themes were endorsed by a majority of respondents as ones that should be part of an EU sustainability policy mix aiming for reduced ecological footprints, securing well-being, and increasing equity. Nine policy instruments stood out for their high perceived potential, feasibility, and independence from economic growth: phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, greening credit regulations, North-South technology transfer, carbon consumption taxes, long-term warranties, repair infrastructure, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, ecological education, and environmental justice-focused education. Perceptions of higher policy potential were closely associated with greater perceived feasibility and a degrowth orientation in respondents’ own work. The findings suggest that many post-growth policies are viewed as realistic and legitimate options for the EU.
Demographic Literacy: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence on Ageing
Daniela Bellani; Francesca Luppi; Giulia Rivellini; Alessandro Rosina
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This study introduces and operationalizes the novel concept of demographic literacy, defined as the ability to access, understand, and critically interpret demographic information and to use it for informed life-course decisions. Drawing on frameworks from other emerging literacies, we conceptualize demographic literacy as a multidimensional competence grounded in both demographic knowledge and its practical application. Empirically, we focus on demographic literacy about ageing, operationalized through the knowledge of two key demographic processes that characterize post-transitional societies: the increase in the older population and the decline in younger cohorts. Using a nationally representative survey of 1,575 adults (Ipsos–Osservatorio Senior, 2023) living in Italy - one of the world’s most aged societies - and adopting a Machine Learning (ML) approach, we examine the socio-demographic patterns of demographic knowledge about ageing. Results reveal that nearly one-third of respondents lack basic knowledge of population ageing, with marked educational and economic gradients: low education and low income significantly reduce the probability of correct understanding and reinforce each other in predicting demographic illiteracy. The pronounced social gradient in demographic knowledge limits the capacity of some groups to apply it, reducing their potential to convert knowledge into agency. These findings call for policies that promote demographic literacy as a lever for inclusion, empowering citizens to better understand and respond to population change.
SINDy meets Schelling. Transforming Agent-Based model spatial outputs into Dynamical Systems
Jorge Zazueta
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Agent-based models (ABMs) are standard tools for modeling social and physical phenomena from the ground up by building detailed simulations in which individual agents interact and study emergent behavior. However, since they are simulations, it is challenging to generalize or even quantitatively interpret the results. A frequent output of an ABM model is a grid with points of one or more classes that represent the agents’ configuration over time. A canonical example is the Schelling segregation model, where agents of two types follow a simple relocation rule based on their tolerance to the proportion of different agents in a given location, resulting in a segregated configuration that is visually revealing but not quantitative. In this work, we propose assigning a quantitative measure of entropy, based on the spatial configuration of the steady state of the Schelling model, to a range of population values in the model using Topological Data Analysis (TDA) techniques. The resulting dataset of quantitative metrics related to the original configuration is analyzed via Sparse Identification of Nonlinear Dynamics (SINDy) methods to obtain a representation of the system dynamics in the form of an ordinary differential equation.
Global inequalities in weather forecasts
Manuel Linsenmeier; Jeffrey Shrader
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Weather forecasts provide substantial economic value for society, but differences in forecast accuracy across regions can potentially exacerbate existing---and create new---economic inequalities. These differences are particularly important given the role of weather forecasts in helping prevent damage from future climate change. In this paper, we provide a global analysis of the accuracy of numerical weather predictions of temperature and relate our findings to existing economic inequalities. We report two stylized facts: First, temperature forecasts are much more accurate in high-income countries compared to low-income countries. A seven-day-ahead forecast in a high-income country is, on average, more accurate than a one-day-ahead forecast in a low-income country. Second, while forecast accuracy has improved steadily since 1985, a persistent gap remains between high and low-income countries. These disparities result from both differences in the inherent scientific challenge of weather predictability across regions and from unequal weather observing infrastructure. Poorer countries have fewer land-based weather stations and radiosondes as well as lower reporting rates from existing infrastructure. Low-income countries also appear to have lower institutional capacity to issue official, local weather forecasts. Remedying the differences in monitoring infrastructure could help reduce the gap in forecast accuracy between rich and poor countries.
Mapping the Frontlines of the Obesity Debates
Piia Jallinoja
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Obesity remains a highly contested issue across traditional media, digital platforms, and within academic and professional communities. This article explores the controversies and tensions surrounding obesity, its prevention, and weight loss, with a particular focus on the Finnish context. Drawing on international examples, the analysis highlights how global debates shape local understandings and responses. Four key areas of contention are identified: the definition and conceptualization of obesity; the methods used to measure it; the approaches deemed most effective for treatment; and the question of responsibility. These debates reflect fundamentally divergent perspectives that cannot be fully reconciled— and arguably should not be. Each viewpoint contributes valuable insights into how obesity is understood and addressed in contemporary society. By examining these controversies, the article reveals the complexity and discomfort that often accompany public and professional discourse on obesity.
Introducing the Anthropology of Adolescence
Emily H Emmott; Benjamin Theobald; Mark Dyble
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Adolescence is widely recognised as a key life stage, yet its meaning and experience remain under-explored due to the complex interplay between biological and social transformations. While researchers across fields such as psychology and public health increasingly frame adolescence as a “critical period,” anthropology offers distinctive insights that challenge simplistic and reductionist accounts. This special issue introduces the Anthropology of Adolescence, situating the discipline as an important contributor to the emerging interdisciplinary interest in adolescence. Drawing on a century of anthropological engagement, we emphasise adolescence not simply as a passage between childhood and adulthood, but as a dynamic biocultural stage through which broader social, political, and ecological processes can be understood. The contributions presented here span different forms of anthropology, employing varied methods from structured interviews and focus groups to multimodal ethnographic research. Together, they demonstrate the breadth of anthropological research, foregrounding themes such as spatiality, intersectionality, and socialisation. In doing so, this issue illustrates why anthropology and adolescence go together, and how the discipline can enrich wider debates on this vital life stage.
Migrant Age Profiles Reconciling Digital Trace and Survey Data: An Example of the United Kingdom in 2018 and 2019
Francesco Rampazzo; Jakub Bijak; Agnese Vitali; Ingmar Weber; Emilio Zagheni
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Accurate and timely estimates of migrant population stocks, disaggregated by age and sex, are critical for population projections and for understanding migration dynamics. This study proposes a hierarchical Bayesian model that extends previous work by incorporating age and sex disaggregation, using data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and digital traces from the Facebook Advertising Platform. A Bayesian multinomial–Dirichlet–Dirichlet model harmonizes age and sex profiles from the two sources, leveraging the Rogers–Castro framework to characterize migration age schedules and utilizing the conjugate nature of Dirichlet priors to ensure computational efficiency. We illustrate the framework using data on migrant populations in the United Kingdom for 2018 and 2019, based on the two sources: the Labour Force Survey and Facebook. The analysis identifies three distinct migrant groups with differing age and sex profiles: younger Western and Southern European migrants, slightly older Central and Eastern Europeans, and a predominantly older Irish migrant population. Facebook data enhances the coverage of younger migrants, who are often underrepresented in traditional surveys, while the LFS provides broader demographic context and helps benchmark the estimates to standard population definitions. The findings highlight the utility of integrating traditional and digital data sources to address gaps in migration statistics. This framework enables more accurate disaggregation of migrant population stock data and offers a scalable, computationally efficient methodology for improving migration estimates, particularly in contexts lacking ground-truth data. The approach also yields insights into migration patterns and demographic structures, with potential applications in policy planning and demographic research.
AI and the Environment
Andrew Cox
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This short paper discusses a number of ways in which the debate about the environmental impact of AI could be framed in the classroom.
Mapping Knowledge Networks for Climate Adaptation: Innovation and Exchange Among Local Authorities
Pierre Van Wolleghem; Marta Bruno Soares; Ivan Puga-Gonzalez; LeRon Shults
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As climate change intensifies, European local authorities (LAs) face growing pressure to adapt effectively. This article explores how LAs acquire and disseminate climate and policy knowledge, with a focus on their participation in EU-funded Research and Innovation (R&I) projects and Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs). We map over 500 LAs involved in climate-related R&I projects and nearly 14,000 LAs participating in 12 TMNs. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used to identify influential hubs, LAs that have potential to both generate and spread adaptation knowledge. We find considerable variation in participation across LAs, both in R&I projects and TMN membership. Cities like Lisbon, Milan, and Tampere emerge as potential “super-spreaders”, displaying high centrality and the potential to bridge otherwise disconnected parts of the European network.
Social Policy and the Separation between Acting and Making
Johannes Kananen
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Modern social policies, including cash benefits and public services have emerged to compensate for the loss of solidarity at the local level. While reducing poverty and increasing welfare, these policies have tended to remain technocratic, their democratic legitimacy being contested. This paper examines contemporary Western social policy in the light of Hannah Arendt’s distinction between making and acting. Making is the human condition of worldliness. We live in a world of durables and construct these durables through the process of making. Acting is the human condition of plurality. We live together with others and must therefore agree on the forms of our social life. For Arendt acting and making are strictly separate activities. Therefore, the means-ends schema plays no role in politics, which is about acting together. Thus, social policy is not about reaching a pre-defined outcome in technocratic fashion but about the negotiation and agreement on the forms of our social life.
A STUDY OF THE EMERGENCE OF WELFARE CLEAVAGES IN SOUTH KOREA
Jihun Yeo
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This study aims to trace the cause of an emerging welfare cleavage under circumstances where discourses on economic growth have been dominant in Korean politics. On the basis of the theories of interaction between changing social structure and social-norm dynamics, this paper explores the causes of an emerging welfare cleavage in the case of South Korea during the late 2000s. To analyze the change of economic structure and public awareness regarding public welfare, I used the data of macro-economic indicators and public opinion polls and utilized press releases to analyze discourses of political actors. The linked-policies effects of an immature “developmental welfare regime” and neo-liberal economic policies caused social polarization and expansion of the poverty stratum in the course of a slowdown in economic growth in the 1990s and foreign exchange crisis in 1998. The existing norm (i.e., economic growth could solve problems concerning people's livelihood) that had been maintained in the era of rapid economic growth was weakened. A conflict between an education superintendent and the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Council triggered a debate on free meals and welfare in 2009. Civil society groups were organized on a national scale, and they started a discourse struggle to replace individual interests with public interests and to obtain social legitimacy. Political parties gradually accepted the welfare issue as the primary electoral pledge for their political interests after public preference regarding growth and distribution changed when confronted with political crises. This study draws an implication that general factors affecting Western welfare states (e.g., power alliance and democratic institutions) influence East Asian welfare states by analyzing the case of South Korean welfare politics. It means that studies of East Asian welfare states can use explanatory building blocks partly from existing welfare theories rather than stressing the exceptionalism of East Asian welfare states. However, owing to the different economic and political structures of East Asian states from those of Western countries during the formative stage of welfare states, studies of East Asian welfare states need to consider path dependency in the historical context of East Asian political economy.
Digital Sexuality and Pornography Use Among Indian Youth: Patterns, Perceptions, Identity, and Psychosocial Impacts.
Gyanendra Kumar
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The rapid proliferation of internet technologies has substantially transformed sexual socialization among Indian youth, with digital platforms providing unprecedented access to pornography. This study investigates patterns of pornography consumption, perceptions toward it, the influence on sexual and gender identity, and associated psychosocial impacts among 100 youth respondents, primarily college students aged 18 to 30, across diverse backgrounds. Findings reveal that 13% of participants use pornography daily, demonstrating significant frequent engagement, while a majority also access it with varying less frequent patterns. Early exposure during adolescence is common, with 59% reporting first exposure before age 18. Smartphones (75%) and websites (74%) dominate access. Youth demonstrate divided moral perspectives, with 31% viewing pornography as morally wrong and an equal proportion (31%) considering it normal or acceptable. Guilt or anxiety is prevalent, reported by 65%. Approximately 29% report negative effects on self-esteem, body image, and sexual confidence, with 30% indicating functional impairments in education, work, or time management. The effects of pornography on sexual identity differ; 60–70% indicate no alteration in gender or identity confidence, while 20–28% report an expanded understanding or exploration, and some express confusion or diminished confidence. Gender differences emerge clearly: males tend to consume pornography more frequently and predominantly prefer heterosexual content, while females and non-binary youth display more diverse consumption patterns and greater variability in content preferences. The study highlights a critical moral-behavior disconnect and points out that it requires comprehensive sex education, destigmatization, and mental health support tailored to digital sexualities. These insights contribute to the sociological discourse on youth and sexuality in India, offering empirical evidence to inform policy, educational practice, and future research directions.