{"title":"Facial clues to conversational intentions.","authors":"Judith Holler","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.03.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2025.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It has long been known that we use words to perform speech acts foundational to everyday conversation, such as requesting, informing, proposing, or complaining. However, the natural environment of human language is face-to-face interaction where we use words and an abundance of visual signals to communicate. The multimodal nature of human language is increasingly recognised in the language and cognitive sciences. In line with this turn of the tide, findings demonstrate that facial signals significantly contribute to communicating intentions and that they may facilitate pragmatically appropriate responding in the fast-paced environment of conversation. In light of this, the notion of speech acts no longer seems appropriate, highlighting the need for a modality-neutral conception, such as social action.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144028064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A hierarchical model of early brain functional network development.","authors":"Wei Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.04.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.04.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Functional brain networks emerge prenatally, grow interactively during the first years of life, and optimize both within-network topology and between-network interactions as individuals age. This review summarizes research that has characterized this process over the past two decades, and aims to link functional network growth with emerging behaviors, thereby developing a more holistic understanding of the developing brain and behavior from a functional network perspective. This synthesis suggests that the development of the brain's functional networks follows an overlapping hierarchy, progressing from primary sensory/motor to socioemotional-centered development and finally to higher-order cognitive/executive control networks. Risk-related alterations, resilience factors, treatment effects, and novel therapeutic opportunities are also discussed to encourage the consideration of future imaging-assisted methods for identifying risks and interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144037918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Choice overload and its consequences for animal decision-making.","authors":"Jessie C Tanner, Claire T Hemingway","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.01.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.01.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals routinely make decisions with important consequences for their survival and reproduction, but they frequently make suboptimal decisions. Here, we explore choice overload as one reason why animals may make suboptimal decisions, arguing that choice overload may have important ecological and evolutionary consequences, and propose future directions.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"403-406"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143190578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luca D Kolibius, Sheena A Josselyn, Simon Hanslmayr
{"title":"On the origin of memory neurons in the human hippocampus.","authors":"Luca D Kolibius, Sheena A Josselyn, Simon Hanslmayr","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.01.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.01.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The hippocampus is essential for episodic memory, yet its coding mechanism remains debated. In humans, two main theories have been proposed: one suggests that concept neurons represent specific elements of an episode, while another posits a conjunctive code, where index neurons code the entire episode. Here, we integrate new findings of index neurons in humans and other animals with the concept-specific memory framework, proposing that concept neurons evolve from index neurons through overlapping memories. This process is supported by engram literature, which posits that neurons are allocated to a memory trace based on excitability and that reactivation induces excitability. By integrating these insights, we connect two historically disparate fields of neuroscience: engram research and human single neuron episodic memory research.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"421-433"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143558538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhewei Zhang, Kauê M Costa, Angela J Langdon, Geoffrey Schoenbaum
{"title":"The devilish details affecting TDRL models in dopamine research.","authors":"Zhewei Zhang, Kauê M Costa, Angela J Langdon, Geoffrey Schoenbaum","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Over recent decades, temporal difference reinforcement learning (TDRL) models have successfully explained much dopamine (DA) activity. This success has invited heightened scrutiny of late, with many studies challenging the validity of TDRL models of DA function. Yet, when evaluating the validity of these models, the devil is truly in the details. TDRL is a broad class of algorithms sharing core ideas but differing greatly in implementation and predictions. Thus, it is important to identify the defining aspects of the TDRL framework being tested and to use state spaces and model architectures that capture the known complexity of the behavioral representations and neural systems involved. Here, we discuss several examples that illustrate the importance of these considerations.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"434-447"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12058390/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143524893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Negative affect-driven impulsivity as hierarchical model-based overgeneralization.","authors":"Aysenur Okan, Michael N Hallquist","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.01.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.01.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>'If your mouth is burned by milk, you blow before you eat yogurt' ('Sütten ağzı yanan yoğurdu üfleyerek yer'). This Turkish proverb advises caution based on past experiences when similar situations are encountered. However, although we may infer similarities across experiences, each situation is a complex combination of many features, and generalizing across situations based on perceived similarities may not achieve desired outcomes when obtaining them depends on more subtle or overlooked features. Here, we examine how models of generalization can uncover the model-based (MB) processes underlying reactive and rigid behaviors traditionally considered model-free (MF). Our novel conceptualization suggests that emotionally driven impulsive behaviors stem from a propensity to overgeneralize based on surface-level similarities, hindering the incorporation of other informative, discriminant cues.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"407-420"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12058388/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143371286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sander van Bree, Daniel Levenstein, Matthew R Krause, Bradley Voytek, Richard Gao
{"title":"Processes and measurements: a framework for understanding neural oscillations in field potentials.","authors":"Sander van Bree, Daniel Levenstein, Matthew R Krause, Bradley Voytek, Richard Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Various neuroscientific theories maintain that brain oscillations are important for neuronal computation, but opposing views claim that these macroscale dynamics are 'exhaust fumes' of more relevant processes. Here, we approach the question of whether oscillations are functional or epiphenomenal by distinguishing between measurements and processes, and by reviewing whether causal or inferentially useful links exist between field potentials, electric fields, and neurobiological events. We introduce a vocabulary for the role of brain signals and their underlying processes, demarcating oscillations as a distinct entity where both processes and measurements can exhibit periodicity. Leveraging this distinction, we suggest that electric fields, oscillating or not, are causally and computationally relevant, and that field potential signals can carry information even without causality.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"448-466"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142927887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collective future thinking at a time of geopolitical tension.","authors":"Qi Wang, Nazike Mert","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.02.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.02.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>People in many Western countries hold a dim view of their collective future, a negativity bias not universally shared but related to societal factors, such as country well-being, nationalism, and news coverage. An optimistic outlook should be cultivated to promote civic engagement and constructive policymaking at this time of geopolitical tension.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"393-396"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143626052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A framework for studying the conceptual structure of human relationships.","authors":"Ava Q Ma de Sousa, Hongbo Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.03.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.03.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How does the mind represent the structure of human relationships? In a recent article, Cheng et al. address this with an interdisciplinary approach combining principal component analysis (PCA), large-scale data collection of human ratings from diverse cultures, and Large Language Model (LLM)-based analyses of historical texts. They reveal a robust 5D framework and three core categories of relationships.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"397-399"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143796899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rapid connectivity modulations unify long-term and working memory.","authors":"Eelke Spaak, Michael J Wolff","doi":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.02.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tics.2025.02.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Panichello et al. recently demonstrated that working memory (WM) information can be maintained without active neural firing. Instead, it is stored in rapidly modulating neural connectivity patterns. This validates the activity-silent model of WM, and unifies the mechanisms of long-term memory (LTM) and WM. Here, we highlight the ramifications of these findings.</p>","PeriodicalId":49417,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"400-402"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143634795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}