Communications Psychology最新文献

Effect sizes for brain-based predictive models of cognition across the lifespan.

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-20 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00528-2

E Christensen, L Wiersch, M Wang, B McPherson, H Shearer, S Noble, K Lam, J B Poline, E Dhamala

{"title":"Effect sizes for brain-based predictive models of cognition across the lifespan.","authors":"E Christensen, L Wiersch, M Wang, B McPherson, H Shearer, S Noble, K Lam, J B Poline, E Dhamala","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00528-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00528-2","url":null,"abstract":"Brain-based predictive models offer a promising approach to understanding individual differences in cognitive functioning across the lifespan. This review synthesizes current literature on brain-based cognitive predictions using large-scale datasets, examining how methodological choices and data-related factors impact model performance. We find that brain-based predictive models demonstrate relatively consistent, albeit wide ranging performance across the lifespan, explaining approximately 10-40% of variance in cognitive abilities. Key findings include: (1) models perform better when predicting general cognitive ability compared to specific functions; (2) crystallized abilities are more predictable than fluid abilities; (3) task-based functional connectivity generally outperforms resting-state approaches in younger populations, while structural measures become superior predictors in older adults; (4) multimodal approaches using hierarchical stacked models optimize prediction accuracy; and (5) elastic net and ridge regression provide optimal balance between predictive performance and computational efficiency. In summary, we propose methodological advances to improve the precision and utility of brain-based cognitive predictions.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149229613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Task-specific theta enhancement and domain-general alpha/beta suppression as oscillatory signatures of cognitive flexibility. 任务特异性θ增强和域一般α / β抑制是认知灵活性的振荡特征。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-15 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00521-9

Mareike Hülsemann, Christoph Löffler, Anna-Lena Schubert

{"title":"Task-specific theta enhancement and domain-general alpha/beta suppression as oscillatory signatures of cognitive flexibility.","authors":"Mareike Hülsemann, Christoph Löffler, Anna-Lena Schubert","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00521-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00521-9","url":null,"abstract":"Cognitive flexibility-the ability to adapt to changing situational or task demands-is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and a potential source of individual differences in higher-order cognitive abilities. To further understand the neural mechanisms underlying this ability, we examined event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP) in three cued switching tasks (parity/magnitude, global/local, number/letter) in a sample of 148 adults. Employing a data-driven approach that combined mass-univariate time-frequency analysis, cluster-based permutation testing, and latent change structural equation modeling, we identified two robust neural signatures: a transient frontal theta increase and a sustained alpha/beta suppression. Both effects were more pronounced in switch compared to repeat trials. Frontal theta reflected task-specific control processes, whereas parietal alpha/beta indexed domain-general attentional processes that persisted from cue onset through target processing-consistent with two-stage models of task switching. Notably, flexibility-related alpha/beta dynamics did not correlate with measures of intelligence or working memory capacity. However, stronger cue-elicited alpha/beta suppression correlated with reduced non-decision-time switch costs, indicating more effective task preparation, underscoring that alpha/beta suppression captures a neurally coherent but behaviorally distinct dimension of cognitive flexibility. These findings provide evidence that alpha/beta suppression constitutes a reliable, cross-task generalizable neural signature of attentional reconfiguration during task switching, while highlighting the multi-component nature of individual differences in cognitive flexibility.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13672302/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149198647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Little evidence for cultural differences in automatic imitation. 几乎没有证据表明在自动模仿方面存在文化差异。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-14 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00517-5

Oliver Genschow, Mareike Westfal, Angela R Dorrough, Emiel Cracco, Tobias Wingen, Jan Crusius

{"title":"Little evidence for cultural differences in automatic imitation.","authors":"Oliver Genschow, Mareike Westfal, Angela R Dorrough, Emiel Cracco, Tobias Wingen, Jan Crusius","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00517-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00517-5","url":null,"abstract":"Individuals tend to automatically imitate others' actions. Such imitative behavior is often assumed to be a universal phenomenon. However, most prior research has focused on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) populations, leaving open whether people across different cultures imitate others in a similar manner. Ideomotor theory and the theory of objective self-awareness suggest that imitation is influenced by the extent to which individuals focus on the self versus others. Since cultural background strongly shapes self-construal-particularly along the collectivism-individualism dimension-cultural context may play a key role in shaping imitative behavior. To test this prediction, we examined automatic imitation in representative samples across 22 culturally diverse nations varying in collectivism and individualism. Consistent with prior findings, we replicated the basic automatic imitation effect across all countries but found no compelling evidence for cultural differences in automatic imitation. These findings hint to the possibility that automatic imitation is a universal phenomenon with little room for strong modulations by culture.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661571/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149187114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Natural and engineered safe reinforcement learning. 自然和工程安全强化学习。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-13 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00542-4

Pranav Mahajan, Ben Seymour

{"title":"Natural and engineered safe reinforcement learning.","authors":"Pranav Mahajan, Ben Seymour","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00542-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00542-4","url":null,"abstract":"Survival depends not only on maximising rewards but on minimising harm. While Reinforcement Learning (RL) provides a normative framework for adaptive decision-making, standard algorithms often fail to account for the catastrophic costs of errors during learning, in the same way as animals do. In this review, we synthesise recent advances connecting the engineering of safe RL with behavioural and systems neuroscience. We adopt a principled taxonomy distinguishing between two strategies: (1) modifying the optimisation criterion to embed safety into the learning objective, and (2) modifying the exploration process to prevent dangerous actions. We show that engineering solutions, such as worst-case optimisation, risk-sensitive objectives (e.g., conditional value at risk, CVaR), and constrained Markov decision processes (MDPs), offer precise computational accounts for anxiety, risk-aversion, and defensive reflexes. Conversely, biological mechanisms, including innate priors, interoception, and meta-control based on uncertainty, reliability and competing needs, offer robust solutions to the problem of safe exploration in artificial agents. By bridging these domains, we highlight a converging computational landscape where safety is achieved through a dynamic interplay between reactive instincts and deliberative planning.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661269/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149187288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Prior preferences interfere with the associative learning of food values. 先前的偏好会干扰对食物价值的联想学习。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-09 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00533-5

Alexandra Rich, Sohum Kapadia, Ryan Henry, Ohad J Dan, Ifat Levy

{"title":"Prior preferences interfere with the associative learning of food values.","authors":"Alexandra Rich, Sohum Kapadia, Ryan Henry, Ohad J Dan, Ifat Levy","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00533-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00533-5","url":null,"abstract":"Addressing unhealthy behaviors requires learning and implementing healthier options. Ecologically, we rarely undergo associative learning in naive environments; our prior preferences confound the learning process. This is perhaps especially true for food, for which we have strong, diverse preferences that may undermine the associative learning policies central to dietary interventions. This preregistered study investigates the flexibility of updating food values using a probabilistic reversal learning task where participants predicted outcomes associated with food stimuli varying in personal preference. The task alternated between \"Congruent\" blocks, reinforcing pre-existing associations, and \"Incongruent\" blocks, reversing them. Across independent cohorts (n = 279), we found that starting condition had a surprising, lasting effect on food-value association updating, with initial reinforcement of food-value priors potentiating learning inflexibility. Rigidity was further evident for liked food items, whereas disliked foods were adaptable to changing value associations. Additionally, associations with positive outcomes were learned more readily than negative ones, suggesting positive reinforcement may be more effective in informing food-based learning. These findings highlight the importance of reinforcement in shaping food-value associations and underscore its relevance to promoting healthier eating habits.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13652812/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A graph theory approach to chart the architecture of dream and mind-wandering reports. 用图论方法描绘梦和走神报告的结构。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-08 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00509-5

Peter Coppola, Pilleriin Sikka, Katja Valli, Jarno Tuominen, Antti Revonsuo, Ville Loukola, Ryan Bernstein, Nanna Strid, Manuela Kirberg, Alejandro Ezquerro-Nassar, Jennifer Windt, Valdas Noreika, Natália Bezerra Mota, Tristan Andres Bekinschtein

{"title":"A graph theory approach to chart the architecture of dream and mind-wandering reports.","authors":"Peter Coppola, Pilleriin Sikka, Katja Valli, Jarno Tuominen, Antti Revonsuo, Ville Loukola, Ryan Bernstein, Nanna Strid, Manuela Kirberg, Alejandro Ezquerro-Nassar, Jennifer Windt, Valdas Noreika, Natália Bezerra Mota, Tristan Andres Bekinschtein","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00509-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00509-5","url":null,"abstract":"The language people use to describe their inner experiences arising during sleep and wakefulness provides a window into the mind. Dreams and unguided waking thought, here referred to as mind wandering, are thought to reflect unique individual differences and mental health. Here we use graph theory to analyse a large dataset of dream (n = 1434) and mind wandering (n = 1619) reports from 176 individuals. We found that dream reports have a more complex structure, while mind-wandering reports have fewer word repetitions and are more verbose, with essential transition points in the structure of the texts. Dream reports, which rely on recall over longer periods of time, tend to have more word repetitions, local cliques, and global integration, comparatively indicating a small world structure. Capitalising on a repeated measures design, we found that the structure of dream and mind-wandering reports contains individual-specific information. Finally, we observed that word centrality (i.e., lower lexical diversity) in dream and mind-wandering reports is predictive of depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Thus, this approach is sensitive to individual differences, quantitatively differentiates reports of two different states of consciousness, and seems promising for cost-effective analyses of large naturalistically occurring qualitative datasets.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13650135/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149140208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

SPREAD, a framework and open-source R toolbox to quantify behavioural contagion. SPREAD，一个量化行为传染的框架和开源R工具箱。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-08 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00538-0

Jana Straßheim, Christophe Bousquet, Johanna Köchling, Britta Renner, Harald T Schupp

{"title":"SPREAD, a framework and open-source R toolbox to quantify behavioural contagion.","authors":"Jana Straßheim, Christophe Bousquet, Johanna Köchling, Britta Renner, Harald T Schupp","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00538-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00538-0","url":null,"abstract":"Behavioural contagion, when one individual's behaviour increases the likelihood of similar behaviours in others, is a fundamental dimension of social interaction, yet its empirical quantification remains methodologically challenging. Distinguishing contagion from coincidental co-occurrence, resolving contagion across continuous latencies rather than within fixed windows, accounting for behavioural base rates, and incorporating social structure require integrated analytical solutions. We present SPREAD, a conceptual and statistical framework implemented as an open-source R toolbox for quantifying behavioural contagion in time-series interaction data. SPREAD compares observed behavioural sequences with null distributions generated from permuted data that preserve individual event frequencies while disrupting inter-individual temporal alignment. The framework yields latency-resolved, base-rate corrected estimates of contagion strength that are comparable across behaviours and social configurations. We demonstrate SPREAD across two behavioural domains, laughter and eating, using human triadic data and illustrate its ability to detect contagion effects across distinct temporal dynamics.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13650113/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149139721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Trait-relevant movies amplify neuroticism-associated brain responses. 与性格相关的电影放大了与神经质相关的大脑反应。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-10-07 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00541-5

Johanna L Popp, Martin Weiß, Joshua Faskowitz, Kirsten Hilger

{"title":"Trait-relevant movies amplify neuroticism-associated brain responses.","authors":"Johanna L Popp, Martin Weiß, Joshua Faskowitz, Kirsten Hilger","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00541-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00541-5","url":null,"abstract":"High neuroticism is a risk factor for mental disorders. Understanding whether individuals share a common foundation in brain function underlying neuroticism is therefore an essential goal of neuroscience. We applied Inter-Subject Representational Similarity Analysis on data from 174 Human Connectome Project participants to investigate if their similarity in neuroticism is reflected in their similarity of fMRI-recorded brain activity during movie watching. To test behavioral personality theories that consider trait expression as dependent on situational context, we examined whether brain-trait representational similarity varied between trait-relevant and trait-irrelevant movie scenes (independently rated, N = 86). Higher neuroticism was associated with greater heterogeneity in brain responses, a pattern that was particularly pronounced during trait-relevant scenes. Our study informs dimensional conceptualizations of psychopathology viewing neuroticism as risk factor and extends behavioral personality theories to the level of brain function. Broadly, it highlights the value of naturalistic imaging and underscores the importance of stimulus selection when investigating brain-behavior associations.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13645732/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149129796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Emergent blink rate in early childhood is associated with neural origins of executive function. 儿童早期突发性眨眼频率与执行功能的神经起源有关。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-09-15 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00524-6

Ryuta Kuwamizu, Nozomi Yamamoto, Kota Otani, Yusuke Moriguchi

{"title":"Emergent blink rate in early childhood is associated with neural origins of executive function.","authors":"Ryuta Kuwamizu, Nozomi Yamamoto, Kota Otani, Yusuke Moriguchi","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00524-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00524-6","url":null,"abstract":"Executive function develops rapidly in early childhood and predicts later success in life, yet its neurobiological correlates during this period are not yet well characterised. In adults, executive function is supported by prefrontal-striatal circuits under neuromodulatory control, including dopamine. Here, we show that spontaneous eye-blink rate, a physiological output influenced by neuromodulatory systems, is associated with the developmental trajectory of executive function and prefrontal functional differentiation. We used fNIRS to monitor prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation in 113 children (35-80 months) during a cognitive flexibility task. Older children showed better task performance and greater right-hemisphere and dorsal bias in their PFC activation. Importantly, higher eye-blink rate was also associated with this right-dorsal PFC activation and with better task performance. The current findings demonstrate that emergent eye-blink rate is associated with the neural origins of executive function development in young children. This highlights the potential of eye-blink rate to serve as a unique and previously unrecognised indicator of this critical developmental neural mechanism.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13578739/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148979052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Educating minds with generative AI. 用生成式人工智能教育思想。

IF 6.4

Communications Psychology Pub Date : 2026-09-14 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00522-8

Laura Desiree Di Paolo, Andy Clark, Thomas Wachter

引用次数: 0