Rafael Román-Caballero, Laura Trujillo, Paulina Del Carmen Martín-Sánchez, Elisa Martín-Arévalo, Juan Lupiáñez
{"title":"Attention and vigilance advantages related to formal musical training across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.","authors":"Rafael Román-Caballero, Laura Trujillo, Paulina Del Carmen Martín-Sánchez, Elisa Martín-Arévalo, Juan Lupiáñez","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70068","DOIUrl":"10.1111/bjop.70068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Attention and vigilance are fundamental cognitive abilities that develop throughout childhood and adolescence and have been associated with cognitively demanding activities such as formal musical training. This cross-sectional study examined whether individuals engaged in long-term musical training show superior attention and vigilance compared with matched controls without such training. Participants (N = 268; ages 8-34 years) were drawn from two samples of children, adolescents and adults, with musicians and nonmusicians matched on a wide array of demographic and lifestyle variables using multivariate propensity-score matching. Attentional performance was assessed using the ANTI-Vea, a validated computerized task that measures two components of vigilance - executive and arousal vigilance. Moreover, we applied advanced behavioural modelling given their sensitivity to the complex developmental trajectories in vigilance. For many indices, musically trained participants outperformed nonmusicians at all ages, with overall faster responses, fewer attentional lapses, detecting more vigilance targets and lower variability in arousal vigilance trials. Other group differences became more pronounced with age, indicating a possible dosage effect. Crucially, these findings remained after extensive control for confounders. Although the advantages associated with musical training were modest and the correlational study design, they are consistent with the hypothesis that music practice may foster domain-general cognitive skills.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147509687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of implicit emotion regulation on impulsive choice.","authors":"Dawei Wang, Linrui Zhang, Jiahui Li, Wenxu Mao, Mengmeng Zhou, Ziying Lu, Xiuqing Qiao, Yixin Hu","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Impulsive choice is closely associated with heightened engagement in risk-related behaviours, and emotion regulation may play a critical role in how immediate emotions influence choice outcomes, with different strategies producing distinct effects. Grounded in the Affective Information Theory and the Appraisal-Tendency Framework, we investigated the effects of two widely adopted implicit emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, on impulsive choice across specific emotional states through two experiments. Results revealed that individuals exhibited a stronger preference for larger-later (LL) rewards under happiness compared to anger, while no significant difference emerged in preference for delayed options between anger and fear conditions. Both implicit cognitive reappraisal and implicit expressive suppression strategies effectively reduced the selection proportion of smaller-sooner (SS) rewards with comparable efficacy. Furthermore, both strategies demonstrated significant regulatory effects on anger, happiness and fear, with implicit expressive suppression potentially exhibiting superior applicability for fear modulation. These findings enrich theories of emotion regulation and refine the theoretical framework linking emotional states to choice behaviour, offering novel directions for interventions aimed at reducing impulsive choice.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147430439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anastasiya Lopukhina, Holly Cooper, Cheng-Yu Hsieh, Walter J B van Heuven, Kathleen Rastle
{"title":"No evidence that same-language subtitles improve children's reading fluency.","authors":"Anastasiya Lopukhina, Holly Cooper, Cheng-Yu Hsieh, Walter J B van Heuven, Kathleen Rastle","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70066","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>High-profile campaigns globally have argued that same-language television subtitles may help children improve their reading. In this intervention study, we tested the causal hypothesis that exposure to subtitles improves children's reading fluency. We tested 127 British children in Years 2 and 3 before and after a 6-week home-based intervention, in which children were randomly assigned to an experimental group that watched television with English subtitles or a control group that watched television without subtitles. Children's reading fluency was assessed via two standard tests of reading fluency and their engagement with subtitles while watching videos, measured with eye-tracking. Results showed that both groups improved their reading fluency over 6 weeks. Crucially, there was no evidence that subtitle exposure (of around 66 hr on average) drove an improvement in reading fluency, or that greater subtitle exposure provided any additional benefit. We conclude that same-language subtitles are unlikely to improve children's reading fluency. However, the primary school reading curriculum has a positive impact on reading fluency that can be observed over a relatively short time-scale.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147376150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Jasmin Breitwieser, Tilman Reinelt","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70065","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Self-regulation abilities in childhood are important for long-term academic achievement and healthy development. As self-regulatory abilities are still developing, 'simple' interventions are needed to foster self-regulation. Implementation intentions are simple plans that could promote goal achievement in children. However, little is known about their overall effectiveness and moderating factors in children. This registered report presents a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis of the effects of implementation intentions on children's goal achievement. The meta-analysis included a total of 52 effect sizes from 42 studies (N = 12,957, M<sub>age</sub> = 10.67 years), published between 1975 and 2025. Overall, we found a small-to-medium effect of implementation intentions in children (Hedge's g = 0.31, 95% CI [0.21; 0.41]). Study heterogeneity was high (Q(51) = 146.47, p < .001, I<sup>2</sup> = 65.2%). The effects were stronger in studies with younger children and (in some analyses) children with ADHD, suggesting that implementation intentions are particularly effective when self-regulation abilities are limited. Future research should increase conceptual and methodological rigour. In addition, research and practice should aim to support children in forming strong mental representations of plans, generating high-quality plans themselves and using implementation intentions as a meta-strategy.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147353885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Suppressing food-related memories via think/no-think: Effective retrieval inhibition across weight status.","authors":"Xinmeng Yang, Lulu Chen, JingJing Li, Xiao Gao","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70064","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Inhibitory control plays a critical role in regulating eating behaviour. While previous research focused primarily on motor inhibition (e.g. go/no-go tasks), the role of memory suppression remains underexplored. This study employed a food-specific think/no-think (TNT) paradigm to investigate two questions: (1) whether individuals can intentionally suppress food-related memories, and whether suppression performance is associated with body mass index (BMI); and (2) whether memory suppression reduces subjective food valuation. Sixty-one young female participants completed a TNT task and subsequently rated food items for liking and wanting. Results showed that recall accuracy for suppressed (No-think) items was significantly lower than for both retrieved (Think) and Baseline items, indicating suppression-induced forgetting. However, food-related memory suppression performance was not associated with BMI. Moreover, memory suppression did not significantly alter subjective ratings of liking or wanting. These findings suggest that food-related memories can be deliberately suppressed regardless of BMI, but such suppression may not influence food valuation directly. Further studies are needed to determine whether such memory suppression has any downstream impact on eating behaviour and to identify mechanisms beyond mere changes in valuation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147289244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
James D Dunn, David White, Clare A M Sutherland, Elizabeth J Miller, Ben A Steward, Amy Dawel
{"title":"Too good to be true: Synthetic AI faces are more average than real faces and super-recognizers know it.","authors":"James D Dunn, David White, Clare A M Sutherland, Elizabeth J Miller, Ben A Steward, Amy Dawel","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70063","DOIUrl":"10.1111/bjop.70063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The AI revolution has produced synthetic faces that often appear more human than photos of real people. We tested whether individual differences in human face recognition ability explain variation in discriminating AI from real faces. Super-recognizers - people with exceptional ability to recognize human faces (N = 36) - outperformed a typical sample by 15% and by 7% compared to a group of higher performing, motivated control participants (Cohen's d = 0.55; N = 89). Individual difference analysis revealed that this pattern reflected a positive association between human face recognition and AI face discrimination abilities. AI discrimination ability was also associated with individuals' sensitivity to the 'hyper-average' appearance of AI faces. Deep neural networks optimized for face identity processing confirmed a more central distribution of AI faces in face-space. Moreover, centrality was associated with a higher probability of super-recognizers judging the faces as AI, but this pattern was not observed for controls. Super-recognizers' correct interpretation of hyper-averageness as a cue to artificiality constitutes the first mechanistic link between evolved expertise in face processing and AI face detection and addresses a common misconception regarding the structure of human face space.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146218722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katherine Knauft, Alexandra T Tyra, Thomas A Fergus, Sarah E Williams, Annie T Ginty
{"title":"Expressive suppression strengthens coherence between arousal intensity and arousal interpretation.","authors":"Katherine Knauft, Alexandra T Tyra, Thomas A Fergus, Sarah E Williams, Annie T Ginty","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70062","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Interpretations of physiological arousal may be a key pathway connecting stress-related physiological arousal intensity to physiological and affective consequences of stress. Expressive suppression is linked to increased perceptions of stressors as threatening, which may exacerbate associations between physiological arousal intensity and interpretations of physiological arousal as debilitative. However, the effect of expressive suppression on the association between perceptions of physiological arousal intensity and interpretation remains untested. A sample of 224 undergraduate students completed two psychological acute stress tasks and rated the intensity of their perceived physiological arousal and whether they believed this physiological arousal to be facilitative or debilitative. Before the second stress task, half of the participants were randomly assigned to be instructed to engage in expressive suppression during the task; the remaining participants were instructed to not suppress their emotional expressions. Experimental group assignment moderated associations between physiological arousal intensity and interpretation. In the suppression group, within-person increases in physiological arousal intensity were more strongly associated with more debilitative physiological interpretations. The present study suggests that engaging in expressive suppression during stress causes increases in the intensity of perceived physiological arousal to be interpreted as more debilitating, with implications for stress-related anxiety.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146112386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the associations of generalized trust, climate change conspiracy beliefs and freecycling: Empirical evidence from 34 cultures.","authors":"Algae K Y Au, Jacky C K Ng, Sylvia Xiaohua Chen","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70058","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the relationships between generalized trust, climate change conspiracy beliefs and freecycling - a community-based free-item sharing pro-environmental behaviour. It also explored the role of societal factors in relation to participation in freecycling, as well as how they are associated with these relationships. Using a panel method, we conducted an online survey with 16,773 participants, stratified by age, gender and region across 34 countries/societies. Key findings indicate that generalized trust and, unexpectedly, climate change conspiracy beliefs are positively associated with freecycling participation. Our exploratory results show that freecycling is more prevalent in developing societies, characterized by stronger beliefs in reward for application and religiosity, a lesser emphasis on uncertainty avoidance and a preference for short-term over long-term orientation. Cross-level moderation analysis indicates that generalized trust is more strongly linked to freecycling in developing societies; its association with freecycle giving is also stronger in cultures with lower reward for application. Climate change conspiracy beliefs are more strongly linked to freecycling in societies with lower uncertainty avoidance. By addressing gaps in the existing literature, particularly the need for cross-cultural comparisons, our research offers valuable insights into the construct of freecycling. As we navigate the complexities of hyperconsumerism and climate change conspiracy beliefs, scepticism towards mainstream narratives may sometimes be associated with individuals seeking alternative, grassroots solutions. Promoting freecycling could encourage sustainability, strengthening community connections and empowering individuals to take direct action in response to their doubts, potentially contributing to a more resilient and environmentally aware society.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146040454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neurodivergence and well-being: The fulfilment of fundamental psychological needs, work-related stress and life satisfaction.","authors":"Jan van Rijswijk, Petru Lucian Curșeu","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70057","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper presents two complementary studies on the impact of neurodivergent conditions such as autism, AD(H)D, dyslexia/dyscalculia and giftedness on well-being. In Study 1, survey data from 2157 participants in a true probabilistic sample of Dutch households show that respondents with autism and ADHD report significantly lower life satisfaction and higher levels of stress and maladjustment than neurotypical peers. Other conditions present more nuanced patterns. Study 2 builds on Self-Determination Theory and uses Large Language Models (LLMs) to analyse 2214 Reddit life stories, evaluating the mediating role of autonomy, competence and relatedness need fulfilment in the relationship between neurodivergence and well-being. Our results indicate that giftedness and dyslexia are positively related to psychological needs satisfaction, whereas other neurodivergent conditions are predominantly negatively associated with needs fulfilment. Indirect association analyses show that, except for ADD, the fulfilment of autonomy, competence and relatedness needs accounts for the association between neurodivergence on the one hand and life satisfaction and stress on the other hand. This study provides initial empirical evidence and contributes novel empirical insights by combining multimethod data sources and LLM-based narrative analysis, advancing our understanding of how different forms of neurodivergence affect well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146040442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francesco Ruotolo, Filomena Leonela Sbordone, Tina Iachini, Gennaro Ruggiero
{"title":"Spatial memory under emotion: Effects across encoding, maintenance and retrieval.","authors":"Francesco Ruotolo, Filomena Leonela Sbordone, Tina Iachini, Gennaro Ruggiero","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70059","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emotions modulate spatial memory, yet their impact remains inconsistent across contexts. For example, fear may enhance attention to landmarks or induce spatial disorientation. Traditional emotion-memory models, mainly focused on episodic memory, fail to account for these mixed effects. We propose that emotional valence affects spatial memory as a function of both the memory phase (encoding, maintenance, retrieval) and the reference frame: egocentric (body-centred) or allocentric (environment-based). In three experiments, we manipulated the timing of emotional stimuli while participants performed spatial memory tasks. Negative emotion impaired egocentric encoding, whereas positive emotion reduced allocentric encoding. During maintenance, both valences broadly disrupted spatial performance, suggesting interference with cognitive control. At retrieval, only allocentric judgements were affected. Moreover, individual traits such as mood, interoception and alexithymia predicted egocentric more than allocentric performance. These findings support a stage-dependent model in which emotional stimuli interact dynamically with spatial representations. This framework offers a novel perspective to reconcile conflicting results in the literature and advances understanding of how affective states shape adaptive and maladaptive spatial behaviours.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146040476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}