Communications Psychology最新文献

{"title":"A comparative multi-method re-analysis of the longitudinal evidence for causal intergroup contact effects on attitudes.","authors":"Maria-Therese Friehs, Sarina J Schäfer, Kirsten Wüst, Carina Dürr, Lennart Engel-Wolters, Sebastian Emrys Kalkuhl, Tamara Böttcher, Günter Resch, Benedikt Sander, Lydia Tschekorsky Orloff, Alexandra Woltz, Maarten H W van Zalk, Sabahat Cigdem Bagci, Fiona Kate Barlow, Chloe Bracegirdle, Vasile Cernat, Tabea Hässler, Philipp Jugert, Patrick F Kotzur, Miriam Northcutt Bohmert, Hermann Swart, Colette van Laar, Ulrich Wagner, Alexander O'Donnell, Olivia Spiegler, Stefanie Richters, Oliver Christ","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00495-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00495-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intergroup contact has been promoted as a powerful means to improve intergroup relations, but causal evidence for the effectiveness of contact in affecting outgroup attitudes is scarce. One important and increasingly used approach to estimate causal effects in contact research relies on naturalistic longitudinal survey data. However, causal inference based on longitudinal data depends strongly on the control of (un)observed confounders. The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM), commonly used in contact research, is an analytical model that has been criticised for biasing causal inference by insufficiently accounting for unobserved confounders, and advanced statistical models have been proposed, including the full-forward (FF-CLPM) and random-intercept CLPM (RI-CLPM). To explore the extent of potential bias between the three models introduced by the varying level of control for unobserved confounders, we investigated the robustness of longitudinal positive and negative contact-attitude effects in a systematic re-analysis using 31 datasets from 21 published studies (N = 33,348). Using internal meta-analysis, we found substantial discrepancies between the models: While the CLPM provided significant longitudinal effects of both non-valenced/positive and negative intergroup contact on outgroup attitudes, analytical models that more strongly controlled for the effects of unobserved confounders found no such longitudinal evidence (FF-CLPM and RI-CLPM), but substantial between-person correlations which cannot be causally interpreted (RI-CLPM). Thus, the potential of intergroup contact to longitudinally affect outgroup attitudes in naturalistic survey data remains questionable. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications of these results and outline potential routes for future research to develop a more robust and informative longitudinal (contact) research.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13372666/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148458190","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":"Decision reversals in sequential decision-making.","authors":"Sherry Dongqi Bao, Dongjae Kim, Qi Xiu Fu, Wei Ji Ma","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00496-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00496-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>People often wish they could reverse previous decisions. However, few sequential decision-making tasks used in the literature allow participants to undo their decisions. As a result, it remains an open question when, how, and why people reverse their decisions. We designed a sequential decision-making task in which the participant connected cities on a map using a limited road budget, either without or with the option to undo their decisions. We found that when decisions were reversible, participants spent less time on their first action, progressively improved on their solutions through decision reversals, and ultimately achieved better final performance. Furthermore, decision reversals predominantly corrected errors, and did so with greater precision when errors were larger. Finally, we found evidence that decision reversals were predicted by factors that may be associated with a subjective prior probability of an error. Taken together, our results are consistent with a view in which uncertainty about being on the right track - both retrospective and prospective - drives decision reversals. Our work opens the door to neurocognitive, computational and translational studies of decision reversals.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148451266","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}

{"title":"Masked attribution-based probing of strategies as a computational framework to align human, non-human primate, and model explanations.","authors":"Sabine Muzellec, Yousif Kashef Alghetaa, Simon Kornblith, Kohitij Kar","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00502-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00502-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>What visual information do primate brains use to recognize objects, and can explanations from artificial neural networks (ANNs) help reveal these biological recognition strategies? Answering this question is important because humans and macaques both perform rapid, robust object recognition, yet the diagnostic image features guiding their behavior are difficult to measure at scale. Behavioral methods such as Bubbles can estimate these features but require extensive psychophysical data, whereas ANN explanation methods, including saliency and guided backpropagation, are efficient but often disagree with one another and lack direct biological validation. Here, we introduce MAPS, Masked Attribution-based Probing of Strategies, a framework that makes ANN-derived explanations testable in biological systems by linking them to neurobehavioral consequences. MAPS converts explanation maps into minimal explanation-masked images and asks whether these images preserve the original image-by-image recognition behavior. In silico, EMI-based behavioral similarity reliably recovers ground-truth similarity between model strategies. Applied to humans (n = 56) and macaques (n = 2), MAPS identifies explanation methods that best align with biological vision, achieving validity comparable to Bubbles without exhaustive psychophysics. MAPS provides a scalable, behaviorally grounded approach to evaluate and compare ANN explanations across brains and machines.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148440675","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}

{"title":"Context in memory is reconstructed based on retrieval questions.","authors":"Jeremy Gardette, Christine Bastin","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00504-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00504-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In context-dependent memory research, focal objects are by default ascribed to item whereas background scenes are considered the context. Questioning this assumption, it was proposed that context is reconstructed rather than encoded: any aspect of an event could become either item or context depending on the question asked. Here we provide evidence supporting this hypothesis across six experiments employing a context reinstatement paradigm. When the memory test focused on background scenes (Experiments 1-2), reinstating the original focal objects increased old responses to targets and lures. This effect remained when background scenes were task-irrelevant and focal objects task-relevant at encoding (Experiment 3). Finally, Experiments 4a-5 showed that, when objects are task-irrelevant at encoding, this effect exists but depends on the size of the objects and scenes on screen. Overall, these results support that context is reconstructed rather than encoded, although the perceptual properties of the stimuli and their relative salience at encoding can limit the effect of context on memory retrieval.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148440736","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}

{"title":"Childhood neglect, abuse, and their combination are differentially associated with specific emotion regulation and mental health issues.","authors":"Karyn Doba, Laurent Pezard, Jean-Louis Nandrino","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00501-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00501-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Childhood maltreatment is a well-established transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. Effective intervention requires a precise understanding of how distinct dimensions of adversity-neglect (deprivation) and abuse (threat)-uniquely shape emotion regulation. In a large, matched sample constructed using cardinality and optimal pair matching methods, we examined the differential associations between neglect, abuse, and their combination and a broad spectrum of emotion regulation difficulties and mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, and suicide risk. Neglect was linked to a decreased use of regulatory strategies, reflecting a lack of essential developmental inputs. Abuse was associated with disrupted application of existing strategies, indicating interference with functional regulation. Critically, combined exposure to both neglect and abuse resulted in the most pervasive impairments across basic, cognitive, and interpersonal regulation. These findings support dimensional models of adversity and underscore the need for future research on trauma-specific interventions tailored to early-life experiences of threat and deprivation.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148428016","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}

{"title":"Working memory constraints on replanning following distraction.","authors":"Ziyao Zhang, Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00497-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00497-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Navigating daily tasks relies on working memory to recall past information, manage current goals, and plan future actions. A key factor influencing the dynamic allocation and updating of cognitive resources is an individual's state relative to their goals. For instance, when following a mental shopping list, decisions about which item to prioritize depend largely on the person's location. In real-world scenarios, agent states are dynamic and often disrupted by urgent distractions or important interruptions. How people adapt to such perturbations remains unclear because studies of distraction resilience in working memory typically fix agent states. To address this, we developed a working memory paradigm inspired by the arcade game Snake, simulating agent movements in a dynamic environment. Participants (N = 50) controlled a snake in a rectangular field to locate memorized targets (apples) and earn points. Each trial required encoding 1, 2, or 4 apple locations, followed by memory-guided navigation to capture all apples. In half of the trials, distractions (the sudden appearance of additional target grapes) required participants to deviate from their initial plans and collect grapes before resuming the search for hidden apples. Without distractions, participants prioritized nearby targets, using proximity as a cue for memory allocation. When distractions perturbed the agent's position, participants flexibly redistributed resources to prioritize targets nearer the updated position. This flexibility declined with higher memory loads, and critically, reliance on working memory following distraction was limited to a single item regardless of load. These findings reveal dynamic working memory redistribution as a mechanism that enables flexible but constrained resilience to distraction in dynamic environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148428051","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}

{"title":"Spontaneous thought dynamics as a signature of positive and negative affectivity.","authors":"Byeol Kim Lux, Eunjin Lee, Jihoon Han, Sung-Ha Lee, Suhwan Gim, Incheol Choi, Choong-Wan Woo","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00498-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00498-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spontaneous thought unfolds as a dynamic stream that reflects continuously changing internal states and is closely tied to individual differences in mental health. However, quantifying the temporal structure of spontaneous thought remains challenging due to limited behavioral paradigms and analytic tools that preserve its continuous, multidimensional nature. Here, we introduced Density Map-Based Predictive Modeling, a framework that characterizes spontaneous thought dynamics elicited by the Free Association Semantic Task within valence-self-relevance-time space. Density Map-Based Predictive Modeling summarizes each individual's thought stream using rating and vector density maps that capture both where thoughts concentrate and how they transition over time. Across multiple independent datasets (total N = 392), Density Map-Based Predictive Modeling yields robust, generalizable predictions of positive affectivity and negative affectivity using principal component regression. Feature analysis indicated that affectivity is reflected not only in the content of thoughts, but also in transition dynamics, with self-relevance as a key organizing dimension. Furthermore, higher predicted positive affectivity was associated with lower salivary C-reactive protein, suggesting a link between thought dynamics and inflammation. Together, these findings establish a scalable, interpretable approach for quantifying spontaneous thought dynamics and relating them to transdiagnostic affective traits and potential physiological correlates.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148428027","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}

{"title":"Greater bullying and social exclusion are linked to higher internalising symptoms from ages 10 to 21.","authors":"Kathryn E Bates, Theresa Cheng, Erin C Dunn, Rogier A Kievit, Delia Fuhrmann","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00492-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00492-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Adolescence has been proposed as a second sensitive period of development with heightened sensitivity to socio-cultural processing. However, age-specific relationships between adverse social experiences and internalising symptoms are unclear. In this study, we used self-reported data at yearly intervals from age 10 to 21 years from the UK Household Longitudinal (UKHLS) Study. We investigated individual differences in how internalising symptoms change with age and whether there are differences in sensitivity to adverse social experiences (bullying and social exclusion). We captured the relationship between bullying and internalising symptoms from age 10 to 15 years (N = 10,285) and social exclusion and internalising symptoms from age 16 to 21 years (N = 11,623) by leveraging latent growth curve models with time-varying covariates. More bullying was associated with greater internalising symptoms, and there was evidence for age-specific sensitivity at yearly intervals from age 10-15 years (estimates = .541-.714, standardised estimates: .270-.400, ps < .001, FDR corrected ps < .05). From ages 16-21, higher feelings of social exclusion were associated with greater internalising symptoms (est = .312, p < .001), and the strength of this relationship remained stable over time. This evidence shows that vulnerability to adverse social experiences varies over age, and more so between age 10-15 years. The findings highlight: 1) the role of adverse social experiences in internalising symptoms with yearly precision, 2) the relevance of age-specific vulnerabilities to adverse social experiences, 3) and the importance of considering sensitivities beyond age 18 years.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148414604","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}

{"title":"Robust evidence for theta-band rhythmicity in behavior across two dense-sampling datasets.","authors":"Mengting Xu, Esperanza Badaya, Mehdi Senoussi, Tom Verguts","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00500-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00500-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rhythmic fluctuations in neuronal excitability, called neural oscillations, pervade brain activity. If these oscillations have a functional role in behavior, they should also be expressed in a behavioral signature. However, identifying such behavioral signatures remains challenging and continues to motivate debate, particularly because aperiodic temporal structure can sometimes be mistaken for rhythmic activity. To assess behavioral rhythmicity while controlling for aperiodic dynamics, we applied a state-of-the-art autoregressive modelling approach to two datasets: one published dataset (final sample: n = 34), and a new dataset (final sample: n = 26) collected with an adapted dense-sampling design. In both datasets, AR modelling recovered reliable behavioral oscillations in the theta band. Reanalyses of the published dataset also reproduced the reported theta shift with task demands, with more difficult tasks showing slower theta. In contrast, despite clear rhythmicity, the new dataset showed no consistent frequency shift across conditions. Overall, this study establishes rigorous and robust detection of behavioral oscillations. It also suggests that the frequency modulation of behavioral oscillations by task difficulty requires further study.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148407634","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}

{"title":"Antagonism shapes social maps in the human brain.","authors":"Isato Chikazawa, Ryo Ishibashi, Tamami Nakano","doi":"10.1038/s44271-026-00491-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-026-00491-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human relationships form a complex web of affiliative and antagonistic ties. Yet how the brain represents their affective structures remains unclear. Here, using a television drama depicting intertwined friendships and rivalries, we examined how the brain encodes the valence of interpersonal relationships. Participants underwent fMRI scanning before and after watching the drama while viewing the faces of its central characters. They then rated each character pair for relationship strength and valence, and whole-brain representational similarity analysis (RSA) identified brain regions representing these relational structures. Relationship valence effects were most prominent for antagonistic (negative) relationships in the left anterior supramarginal gyrus and right medial prefrontal cortex. Univariate analyses revealed increased activation in the precuneus after drama viewing, suggesting enhanced retrieval of narrative-related person knowledge, though this region did not show statistically significant representational similarity patterns reflecting interpersonal relationships. These findings indicate that the human brain constructs a multidimensional social map from narrative experience, with antagonistic ties playing important role in shaping social relationship representations.</p>","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13338177/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148400382","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}