Shuangke Jiang, Myles Jones, Claudia C. von Bastian
{"title":"TDCS over PPC or DLPFC does not improve visual working memory capacity","authors":"Shuangke Jiang, Myles Jones, Claudia C. von Bastian","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00067-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00067-8","url":null,"abstract":"Non-invasive brain stimulation has been highlighted as a possible intervention to induce cognitive benefits, including on visual working memory (VWM). However, findings are inconsistent, possibly due to methodological issues. A recent high-profile study by Wang et al.1 reported that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over posterior parietal cortex (PPC), but not over dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), selectively improved VWM capacity but not precision, especially at a high VWM load. Thus, in the current pre-registered conceptual replication study, we accounted for the key potential methodological issues in the original study and tested an adequate number of participants required to demonstrate the previously reported effects (n = 48 compared to n = 20). Participants underwent counterbalanced PPC, DLPFC and sham stimulation before completing 360 trials of a continuous orientation-reproduction task with a slight variation of task stimuli and setup. We found no evidence for the selective effect of PPC stimulation. Instead, our results showed that tDCS effects were absent regardless of stimulation region and VWM load, which was largely supported by substantial to strong Bayesian evidence. Therefore, our results challenge previously reported benefits of single-session anodal PPC-tDCS on VWM. In contrast to recent findings, a replication study shows no effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on visual working memory.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00067-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140096751","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}
Dragos Iliescu, Samuel Greiff, Matthias Ziegler, Christopher Nye, Kurt Geisinger, Martin Sellbom, Douglas Samuel, Donald Saklofske
{"title":"Proliferation of measures contributes to advancing psychological science","authors":"Dragos Iliescu, Samuel Greiff, Matthias Ziegler, Christopher Nye, Kurt Geisinger, Martin Sellbom, Douglas Samuel, Donald Saklofske","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00065-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00065-w","url":null,"abstract":"Proliferation and variability of psychological measures are part of the natural workings of the scientific process. They contribute to theory development, transparency, replicability, and validity, and restricting proliferation might hinder progress in the psychological sciences. Proliferation and variability of psychological measures are part of the scientific process. While sometimes an indication of questionable research practices, there are also benign reasons for measurement proliferation and the community’s response must take both aspects into account.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00065-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140096723","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}
Boaz R. Cherki, Eyal Winter, David Mankuta, Shirli Zerbib, Salomon Israel
{"title":"Intranasal oxytocin interacts with testosterone reactivity to modulate parochial altruism","authors":"Boaz R. Cherki, Eyal Winter, David Mankuta, Shirli Zerbib, Salomon Israel","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00066-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00066-9","url":null,"abstract":"The neuropeptide hormone oxytocin and the steroid hormone testosterone have received attention as modulators of behavior in the context of intergroup conflict. However, to date, their interactive effect has yet to be tested. Here, in a double-blind placebo-control design, 204 participants (102 female participants) self-administrated oxytocin or placebo and completed an experimental economic game modeling intergroup conflict. Salivary testosterone (n = 192) was measured throughout the task to assess endogenous reactivity. As a caveat, even at this sample size, our derived power to detect small effects for 2- and 3-way interactions was relatively low. For male participants, changes in testosterone predicted willingness to sacrifice investments for the betterment of the group. Intranasal administration of oxytocin strongly diminished this effect. In female participants, we found no credible evidence for association between changes in testosterone and investments, rather, oxytocin effects were independent of testosterone. This 3-way interaction was of medium to large effect size (Odds Ratio 5.11). Behavior was also affected by social cues such as signaling of ingroup and outgroup members. Our findings provide insights as to the biological processes underpinning parochial altruism and suggest an additional path for the dual influence of oxytocin and testosterone on human social behavior. A double-blind placebo-controlled oxytocin self-administration study in which male and female players of an economic game modelling intergroup conflict had their testosterone levels monitored, revealed that interactions between oxytocin and testosterone vary by sex.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00066-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140096744","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}
{"title":"Cognitive psychology: computing the value of the choices we do not make","authors":"Inti A. Brazil","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00064-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00064-x","url":null,"abstract":"Reflecting on choices we did make and those we could have made is very common. In a recent study in Science Advances, researchers used a reinforcement learning paradigm together with computational modeling to study the processes underlying the value update of unchosen actions.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-1"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00064-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140016449","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}
Bing Xu, Lorenza Dall’Aglio, John Flournoy, Gerda Bortsova, Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, Paul Collins, Marleen de Bruijne, Monica Luciana, Andre Marquand, Hao Wang, Henning Tiemeier, Ryan L. Muetzel
{"title":"Limited generalizability of multivariate brain-based dimensions of child psychiatric symptoms","authors":"Bing Xu, Lorenza Dall’Aglio, John Flournoy, Gerda Bortsova, Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, Paul Collins, Marleen de Bruijne, Monica Luciana, Andre Marquand, Hao Wang, Henning Tiemeier, Ryan L. Muetzel","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00063-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00063-y","url":null,"abstract":"Multivariate machine learning techniques are a promising set of tools for identifying complex brain-behavior associations. However, failure to replicate results from these methods across samples has hampered their clinical relevance. Here we aimed to delineate dimensions of brain functional connectivity that are associated with child psychiatric symptoms in two large and independent cohorts: the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study and the Generation R Study (total n = 6935). Using sparse canonical correlations analysis, we identified two brain-behavior dimensions in ABCD: attention problems and aggression/rule-breaking behaviors. Importantly, out-of-sample generalizability of these dimensions was consistently observed in ABCD, suggesting robust multivariate brain-behavior associations. Despite this, out-of-study generalizability in Generation R was limited. These results highlight that the degrees of generalizability can vary depending on the external validation methods employed as well as the datasets used, emphasizing that biomarkers will remain elusive until models generalize better in true external settings. Reliability of biomarkers is key to their relevance. Out-of-sample generalizability of brain-behavior associations in attention problems and aggression/rule-breaking within the ABCD dataset is high, but generalization to Generation R Study data is limited.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00063-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139987483","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}
Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello, Felix Cheung, Michael Inzlicht
{"title":"Twitter (X) use predicts substantial changes in well-being, polarization, sense of belonging, and outrage","authors":"Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello, Felix Cheung, Michael Inzlicht","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00062-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00062-z","url":null,"abstract":"In public debate, Twitter (now X) is often said to cause detrimental effects on users and society. Here we address this research question by querying 252 participants from a representative sample of U.S. Twitter users 5 times per day over 7 days (6,218 observations). Results revealed that Twitter use is related to decreases in well-being, and increases in political polarization, outrage, and sense of belonging over the course of the following 30 minutes. Effect sizes were comparable to the effect of social interactions on well-being. These effects remained consistent even when accounting for demographic and personality traits. Different inferred uses of Twitter were linked to different outcomes: passive usage was associated with lower well-being, social usage with a higher sense of belonging, and information-seeking usage with increased outrage and most effects were driven by within-person changes. Data obtained from a 7-day experience sampling method in a sample of US American users of Twitter (now X) shows short term relationships between Twitter use and wellbeing, sense of belonging, and experienced outrage.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00062-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139945298","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}
{"title":"A model for secondary traumatic stress following workplace exposure to traumatic material in analytical staff","authors":"Jessica Woodhams, Fazeelat Duran","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00060-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00060-1","url":null,"abstract":"Analytical professionals working in criminal justice and in social media companies are exposed to aversive details of traumatic events. Albeit indirect, exposure in these roles is repeated and can be extreme, including exposure to material containing lethal violence, sexual assault, and serious self-harm, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder and Secondary Traumatic Stress reactions. Incorporating relevant empirical research, this article considers the mechanisms that may contribute to post-exposure post-traumatic stress disorder and Secondary Traumatic Stress reactions in these roles. Building on the Ehlers and Clark model, subsequent extensions, and the authors’ experience of working as, and conducting research with, law enforcement professionals, a new model is proposed to explain post-exposure post-traumatic stress disorder/Secondary Traumatic Stress reactions. Analysts in criminal justice and social media companies encounter material including lethal violence, sexual assault, and self-harm. Harnessing established models, research needs to clarify what factors lead to or mitigate PTSD and secondary traumatic stress in these professionals.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00060-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139745133","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}
{"title":"Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias","authors":"Orit Nafcha, Uri Hertz","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00061-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00061-0","url":null,"abstract":"Intergroup bias, the tendency to favor ingroups and be hostile towards outgroups, underlies many societal problems and persists even when intergroup members interact and share experiences. Here we study the way cognitive learning processes contribute to the persistence of intergroup bias. Participants played a game with ingroup and outgroup bot-players that entailed collecting stars and could sacrifice a move to zap another player. We found that intergroup bias persisted as participants were more likely to zap outgroup players, regardless of their zapping behavior. Using a computational model, we found that this bias was caused by asymmetries in three learning mechanisms. Participants had a greater prior bias to zap out-group players, they learned more readily about the negative behavior of out-groups and were less likely to attribute the positive behavior of one out-group player to other out-group players. Our results uncover the way cognitive social learning mechanisms shape and confound intergroup dynamics. In a minimal group design in which players can zap each other, human participants showed intergroup bias, as participants were more likely to zap outgroup players and less likely to learn about outgroup players’ individual positive behaviours.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00061-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139745083","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}
Florian Stoeckel, Sabrina Stöckli, Besir Ceka, Chiara Ricchi, Ben Lyons, Jason Reifler
{"title":"Social corrections act as a double-edged sword by reducing the perceived accuracy of false and real news in the UK, Germany, and Italy","authors":"Florian Stoeckel, Sabrina Stöckli, Besir Ceka, Chiara Ricchi, Ben Lyons, Jason Reifler","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00057-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00057-w","url":null,"abstract":"Corrective or refutational posts from ordinary users on social media have the potential to improve the online information ecosystem. While initial evidence of these social corrections is promising, a better understanding of the effects across different topics, formats, and audiences is needed. In three pre-registered experiments (N = 1944 UK, N = 2467 Italy, N = 2210 Germany) where respondents completed a social media post assessment task with false and true news posts on various topics (e.g., health, climate change, technology), we find that social corrections reduce perceived accuracy of and engagement with false news posts. We also find that social corrections that flag true news as false decrease perceived accuracy of and engagement with true news posts. We did not find evidence to support moderation of these effects by correction strength, anti-expert sentiments, cognitive reflection capacities, or susceptibility to social influence. While social corrections can be effective for false news, they may also undermine belief in true news. Corrective comments posted by social media users that suggested a news story was incorrect reduced accuracy perceptions and engagement with the news posts. These corrective comments had similar effects regardless of the truthfulness of the original post.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00057-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139727914","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}
Gerald J. Haeffel, Zhicheng Lin, Adeyemi Adetula, Ivan Vargas, Jenalee R. Doom, Yusuke Moriguchi, Ana J. Bridges, Willie R. Cobb
{"title":"Psychology needs more diversity at the level of Editor-in-Chief","authors":"Gerald J. Haeffel, Zhicheng Lin, Adeyemi Adetula, Ivan Vargas, Jenalee R. Doom, Yusuke Moriguchi, Ana J. Bridges, Willie R. Cobb","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00058-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00058-9","url":null,"abstract":"There are racial, gender, and geographical disparities for editors-in-chief in psychology. This is a problem, and many counter arguments are not persuasive. It is time for the field – and in the power of individuals - to implement suitable measures to make change happen. There are racial, gender, and geographical disparities for editors-in-chief in psychology. This is a problem, and many counter arguments are not persuasive. It is time for the field – and in the power of individuals - to implement suitable measures to make change happen.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00058-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139710651","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}