{"title":"A dissociation between the use of implicit and explicit priors in perceptual inference","authors":"Caroline Bévalot, Florent Meyniel","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00162-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00162-w","url":null,"abstract":"The brain constantly uses prior knowledge of the statistics of its environment to shape perception. These statistics are often implicit (not directly observable) and learned incrementally from observation, but they can also be explicitly communicated to the observer, especially in humans. Here, we show that priors are used differently in human perceptual inference depending on whether they are explicit or implicit in the environment. Bayesian modeling of learning and perception revealed that the weight of the sensory likelihood in perceptual decisions was highly correlated across participants between tasks with implicit and explicit priors, and slightly stronger in the implicit task. By contrast, the weight of priors was much less correlated across tasks, and it was markedly smaller for explicit priors. The model comparison also showed that different computations underpinned perceptual decisions depending on the origin of the priors. This dissociation may resolve previously conflicting results about the appropriate use of priors in human perception. Whether priors are implicit or explicit affects the computations underlying perceptual decisions. The integration of priors and likelihood combination is closer to Bayesian integration when priors are implicit, but more akin to a simpler heuristic when they are explicit.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00162-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142735499","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}
Elena Kozakevich Arbel, Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory, Uri Hertz
{"title":"Adaptive empathic response selection is sensitive to multiple dimensions of social interaction","authors":"Elena Kozakevich Arbel, Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory, Uri Hertz","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00164-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00164-8","url":null,"abstract":"During empathic response selection, individuals draw from both past experiences and social cues, including the distressed person’s identity, their emotional state, and the cause of distress. To study how these social dimensions influence empathic-response learning we integrated a multidimensional learning paradigm, computational modelling, and adaptive empathy framework. Participants identified effective empathic responses across two blocks of distress scenarios, with one social dimension altered between blocks. We anticipated two learning patterns: dimension-sensitive, treating each change as a new learning experience, and dimension-insensitive, relying on previous experience as a baseline. We found that participants were sensitive to changes in person, emotional state, and distress cause, but to different degree. The person dimension was the most salient, suggesting that the distressed person’s identity is the primary reference point when interacting with others. Our findings provide a quantitative evaluation of the weight given to different dimensions of social interactions, which may help understand how people perceive and react in such scenarios. The Stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 8 May 2024. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25827334.v1 . When providing emotional support and deciding on an empathic reaction, responders were sensitive to changes in the person requiring empathy, the emotional state of that person, and the cause of their distress. The identity of the person needing support was the most salient factor.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00164-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142735500","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":"Parent-child relationship quality predicts higher subjective well-being in adulthood across a diverse group of countries","authors":"Jonathan T. Rothwell, Telli Davoodi","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00161-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00161-x","url":null,"abstract":"Theoretically and empirically, parenting is closely related to the psychological health of offspring, but long-term effects and possible international differences are not well established. In a pre-registered multilevel modeling analysis using data from the Global Flourishing Study, we tested whether retrospective parent-child relationship quality predicts adult well-being in a representative sample of 202,898 adults living in 21 countries and one territory. We developed and validated indexes of flourishing and mental health. Retrospective parent-child relationship quality predicted both with substantial effect sizes for flourishing (std mean effect = 0.21, 95% CI 0.19–0.23) and mental health (std mean effect = 0.18, 95% CI 0.17–0.20). A positive association between relationship quality and flourishing was found in all 22 areas (significant in 21). Parental religiosity positively predicted relationship quality (std mean effect = 0.09, 95% CI 0.06–0.11). In higher income and more secular countries, relationship quality was lower, but the well-being benefits were higher. Parental religiosity predicted higher relationship quality in every country in the sample. Cross-cultural evidence indicates an association between higher recalled parent-child relationship quality and adult flourishing as well as current mental health. Relationship quality was higher with reports of greater parental religiosity","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00161-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142692160","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":"Sensory stimulation enhances visual working memory capacity","authors":"Indre Pileckyte, Salvador Soto-Faraco","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00158-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00158-6","url":null,"abstract":"Visual working memory (vWM) plays a crucial role in visual information processing and higher cognitive functions; however, it has a very limited capacity. Recently, several studies have successfully modulated vWM capacity in humans using entrainment with transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS) by targeting parietal theta in a frequency-specific manner. In the current study, we aim to expand upon these findings by utilizing sensory instead of electrical stimulation. Across six behavioral experiments (combined N = 209), we applied rhythmic visual and auditory sensory stimulation at 4 Hz and 7 Hz, aiming to modulate vWM capacity. Collectively, the results showed an overall robust improvement with sensory stimulation at either frequency, compared to baseline. However, contrary to our prediction, 7 Hz stimulation tended to slightly outperform 4 Hz stimulation. Importantly, the observed facilitatory effect was mainly driven by the low-capacity sub-group of participants. Follow-up experiments using the Attention Network Test (ANT) and pupillometry measures did not find evidence that this effect could be directly attributed to modulation of phasic or tonic arousal. We speculate that our results differed from those obtained with tACS due to targeting functionally different theta oscillations, or the modulation of participants’ temporal expectations. Visual or auditory stimulation at 4 Hz and 7 Hz improved visual working memory performance. This effect was more pronounced in individuals with lower visual working memory capacity.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00158-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142665215","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}
Sascha Frühholz, Pablo Rodriguez, Mathilde Bonard, Florence Steiner, Marine Bobin
{"title":"Psychoacoustic and Archeoacoustic nature of ancient Aztec skull whistles","authors":"Sascha Frühholz, Pablo Rodriguez, Mathilde Bonard, Florence Steiner, Marine Bobin","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00157-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00157-7","url":null,"abstract":"Many ancient cultures used musical tools for social and ritual procedures, with the Aztec skull whistle being a unique exemplar from postclassic Mesoamerica. Skull whistles can produce softer hiss-like but also aversive and scream-like sounds that were potentially meaningful either for sacrificial practices, mythological symbolism, or intimidating warfare of the Aztecs. However, solid psychoacoustic evidence for any theory is missing, especially how human listeners cognitively and affectively respond to skull whistle sounds. Using psychoacoustic listening and classification experiments, we show that skull whistle sounds are predominantly perceived as aversive and scary and as having a hybrid natural-artificial origin. Skull whistle sounds attract mental attention by affectively mimicking other aversive and startling sounds produced by nature and technology. They were psychoacoustically classified as a hybrid mix of being voice- and scream-like but also originating from technical mechanisms. Using human neuroimaging, we furthermore found that skull whistle sounds received a specific decoding of the affective significance in the neural auditory system of human listeners, accompanied by higher-order auditory cognition and symbolic evaluations in fronto-insular-parietal brain systems. Skull whistles thus seem unique sound tools with specific psycho-affective effects on listeners, and Aztec communities might have capitalized on the scary and scream-like nature of skull whistles. A series of psychoacoustic and neuroimaging studies reveal the effect that the sound of Aztec skull whistles has on modern listeners; the sound, which is perceived as a mixture of voice-like, scream-like, and technological, triggers affective processing.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00157-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142600831","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":"Three diverse motives for information sharing","authors":"Valentina Vellani, Moshe Glickman, Tali Sharot","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00144-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00144-y","url":null,"abstract":"Knowledge is distributed over many individuals. Thus, humans are tasked with informing one another for the betterment of all. But as information can alter people’s action, affect and cognition in both positive and negative ways, deciding whether to share information can be a particularly difficult problem. Here, we examine how people integrate potentially conflicting consequences of knowledge, to decide whether to inform others. We show that participants (Exp1: N = 114, Pre-registered replication: N = 102) use their own information-seeking preferences to solve complex information-sharing decisions. In particular, when deciding whether to inform others, participants consider the usefulness of information in directing action, its valence and the receiver’s uncertainty level, and integrate these assessments into a calculation of the value of information that explains information sharing decisions. A cluster analysis revealed that participants were clustered into groups based on the different weights they assign to these three factors. Within individuals, the relative influence of each of these factors was stable across information-seeking and information-sharing decisions. These results suggest that people put themselves in a receiver position to determine whether to inform others and can help predict when people will share information. Individuals consider the usefulness, emotional valence, and prior uncertainty when deciding both when to seek information for themselves and when to share information with others.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11541573/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142592476","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":"People are increasingly bored in our digital age","authors":"Katy Y. Y. Tam, Michael Inzlicht","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00155-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00155-9","url":null,"abstract":"In an era where entertainment is effortlessly at our fingertips, one would assume that people are less bored than ever. Yet, reports of boredom are higher now than compared to the past. This rising trend is concerning because chronic boredom can undermine well-being, learning, and behaviour. Understanding why this is happening is crucial to prevent further negative impacts. In this Perspective, we explore one possible reason—digital media use makes people more bored. We propose that digital media increases boredom through dividing attention, elevating desired level of engagement, reducing sense of meaning, heightening opportunity costs, and serving as an ineffective boredom coping strategy. In recent years, there has been an increase in both reports of boredom and greater use of digital media. Digital media may exacerbate boredom via multiple pathways including dividing attention and reducing sense of meaning.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11532334/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142570881","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}
Andree Hartanto, Lester Sim, Davelle Lee, Nadyanna M. Majeed, Jose C. Yong
{"title":"Cultural contexts differentially shape parents’ loneliness and wellbeing during the empty nest period","authors":"Andree Hartanto, Lester Sim, Davelle Lee, Nadyanna M. Majeed, Jose C. Yong","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00156-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00156-8","url":null,"abstract":"The coming decades will see a substantial increase in the population of older adults, accompanied by significant demographic and family structure changes worldwide. As a result, the empty nest period—the postparental phase in parents’ lives when their children have left home and they are no longer engaged in childrearing—is becoming an increasingly common experience in Western and Asian cultures. The current theoretical review examines the psychological consequences of the empty nest period on loneliness and well-being across cultures, emphasizing the impact of cultural factors on these experiences. By synthesizing research from Western and Asian contexts, we explore two primary theoretical mechanisms—role loss and role strain relief—that shape the postparental phase’s psychological outcomes. Our review reveals that while some parents experience reduced well-being due to role loss, others benefit from role strain relief and increased social engagement. We highlight how cultural differences in familial roles, gender roles, social expectations regarding nest-leaving, and social participation patterns moderate these mechanisms. We propose a comprehensive cultural framework, along with a discussion of culturally sensitive interventions to enhance the well-being of empty nesters globally. A review of literature from Asia and Western countries suggests that familial roles, gender roles, and social expectations—which in turn vary by cultural context—affect how parents experience the empty nest period when their children have left home.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11532363/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142570875","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}
Artur Pilacinski, Antoine Vandenberghe, Gabriella Andrietta, Gilles Vannuscorps
{"title":"Humans underestimate the movement range of their own hands","authors":"Artur Pilacinski, Antoine Vandenberghe, Gabriella Andrietta, Gilles Vannuscorps","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00153-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00153-x","url":null,"abstract":"Motor planning and motor imagery are assumed to use veridical internal representations of the biomechanical properties of our limbs. Here, we report that people underestimate their hands’ range of motion. We used two tasks probing representations of own motion range, estimation and imagery, in which participants were supposed to judge their rotational hand movement ranges. In both tasks participants’ judgments were underestimated in three out of four cardinal directions. We suggest that this representational bias provides an optimal balance between movement efficiency and safety in face of the inherently stochastic nature of movement execution. Individuals underestimate the range of their own hand movements in three of four cardinal directions. The underestimation bias is larger in the nondominant hand.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11530695/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142565416","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}
Viviane Valdes, Dashiell D. Sacks, Charles A. Nelson, Michelle Bosquet Enlow
{"title":"Stress timing, trauma exposure, and family resilience differentially affect internalizing and externalizing symptoms at 3, 5, and 7 years of age","authors":"Viviane Valdes, Dashiell D. Sacks, Charles A. Nelson, Michelle Bosquet Enlow","doi":"10.1038/s44271-024-00151-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44271-024-00151-z","url":null,"abstract":"Mental health disorders are associated with decreased quality of life, economic productivity loss, and increased mortality. The association between stressful experiences and psychopathology is well documented. However, studies are needed to understand the impact of timing of stressful events, types of traumatic experiences, and of family resilience on internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early childhood. The present study used a longitudinal design towards this end. Parents (N = 456) completed study measures at infancy, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, and 7 years. At 3 years, greater stressful events during the prenatal period, 1-2 years, and 2-3 years (B = 0.833–0.369, p = 0.028–0.046) predicted internalizing symptoms for female participants only. For externalizing symptoms at 3 years, every time point assessed was significantly associated with more symptoms across both sexes (B = 1.071–0.414, p < 0.001). At 5 years, both internalizing and externalizing symptoms were associated with a greater number of stressful events at every time point and across sexes (B = 1.372–0.465, p < 0.001–0.002). There was evidence for timing effects, including cumulative effects, sensitive periods, and recency effects. Exposure to interpersonal trauma associated with greater internalizing symptoms (B = 2.120, p = 0.002), whereas both interpersonal (B = 1.879, p = 0.005) and non-interpersonal (B = 1.223, p = 0.032) traumatic experiences were associated with greater externalizing symptoms. Aspects of family resilience including higher levels of family commitment, ability to face challenges, and sense of control reduced risk for internalizing symptoms (B = –0.496, p = 0.004) while only greater sense of control (B = –0.838, p = 0.040) reduced risk for externalizing symptoms at age 7 years, including in the context of trauma. Across the first 7 years of life, greater exposure to stressful events predicted higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms for children. This pattern varied with sex. Higher family resilience in terms of commitment, ability to face challenges, and control provided some protection.","PeriodicalId":501698,"journal":{"name":"Communications Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11519476/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142524056","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}