Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-10-05eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1945899
Jeffrey M Pavlacic, Averi N Gaines, Sara M Witcraft, Allie Freshley, Erin M Buchanan, Bernadette Cortese, Christopher Sege, Alyssa A Rheingold, Thomas Uhde, Laura J Dixon
{"title":"Transdiagnostic and clinical predictors of longitudinal misophonia symptoms.","authors":"Jeffrey M Pavlacic, Averi N Gaines, Sara M Witcraft, Allie Freshley, Erin M Buchanan, Bernadette Cortese, Christopher Sege, Alyssa A Rheingold, Thomas Uhde, Laura J Dixon","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1945899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1945899","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Anxiety sensitivity (AS) and distress tolerance (DT) are emotional-vulnerability factors driving emotion dysregulation. AS and DT may amplify misophonia. Research examining transdiagnostic factors predicting misophonia is largely cross-sectional. We examined relations between AS, DT, and longitudinal misophonia symptoms, adjusting for clinical variables.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Fifty-eight individuals recruited from soQuiet endorsing clinical misophonia symptoms completed baseline and daily surveys 3x daily for 30 days.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Bivariate analyses suggested baseline AS was associated with elevated longitudinal misophonia symptoms during and not during triggers, while baseline DT was associated with higher misophonia symptoms during triggers. Baseline AS, momentary emotion dysregulation, and baseline misophonia were predictors of longitudinal misophonia during triggers, adjusting for momentary emotion dysregulation, baseline misophonia, and baseline obsessions and compulsions. An alpha correction suggested an attenuated AS effect. Null effects for DT may be explained by analyses supporting emotion dysregulation as a mediator of the relation between DT and misophonia. Effects of obsessive-compulsive symptoms were null.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Results inform longitudinal relations between transdiagnostic factors and misophonia. A predominant limitation is sample homogeneity. Misophonia symptom fluctuations appear contextualized, likely impacted by environmental and emotional-vulnerability factors. Results inform ongoing advancements to misophonia assessment and, pending further investigation, clinical interventions targeting malleable transdiagnostic factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1945899"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677345/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149225769","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-30eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1943713
Katrina A Milbocker, Sabrina S Vander Wiele, Curtis L Johnson
{"title":"Brain mechanics and cognition: the role of rodent MR elastography in identifying cellular mechanisms.","authors":"Katrina A Milbocker, Sabrina S Vander Wiele, Curtis L Johnson","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1943713","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1943713","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) non-invasively quantifies brain tissue mechanical properties and has revealed an intriguing relationship between regional viscoelasticity and cognitive function across the lifespan. However, the biological basis of this relationship remains poorly understood as it is not yet clear which microstructural features generate the mechanical signal, whether brain mechanics are primarily structural or also dynamic on cognitive timescales, or how generalizable the current relationships observed in humans are across different brain regions and functions. We argue that resolving these questions requires preclinical MRE in rodents, where mechanical measurements can be linked directly to complementary analyses of cellular components and where structure and function can be experimentally perturbed. Although rodent MRE is well-established and has been productively applied to disease models, it has been little used in the contexts in which the human MRE-cognition findings are most concentrated including normal development and aging and cognitive variation in the otherwise-healthy brain. We review the human MRE-cognition literature, summarize what preclinical MRE has revealed to date, and outline experimental frameworks organized around the open questions through which rodent MRE could begin to clarify why brain mechanics relate to brain function.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1943713"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661386/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149187083","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-30eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1958570
Katherine Archer, Kimele Persaud
{"title":"Retrieval tasks differentially influence memory for object features.","authors":"Katherine Archer, Kimele Persaud","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1958570","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1958570","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Visual memory for objects and their constituent features (e.g., size, color, and state) is highly malleable and heavily influenced by encoding contexts and specific task-based characteristics. Yet, how object-feature memory is influenced by different retrieval tasks is not well understood. In this study, we examined whether variations in retrieval tasks that have been previously used in the literature (paired AFCs vs. 2-AFC) could produce different patterns of memory responses, that could then lead to different interpretations of the underlying memory representations. Specifically, participants studied and were asked to identify which object-feature combination they had previously seen. The results revealed that response patterns differed based on retrieval tasks, whereby the paired-AFC condition produced more accurate object-feature responses, while the 2-AFC produced more single-exemplar responses. Taken together, these results suggest that the nature of retrieval tasks can influence the kinds of elicited responses, leading to variation in interpretations across studies. Investigating how retrieval context shapes object-feature recognition provides important insight into malleability of visual object-feature representations in memory.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1958570"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661476/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149187049","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-29eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1927324
Paolo Raile
{"title":"From eco-affective narrowing to agency: acceptance, externalization, and efficacy in climate-related cognition.","authors":"Paolo Raile","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1927324","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1927324","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change is increasingly recognized not only as an environmental hazard but also as a condition that reorganizes perception, attention, future-oriented worry, moral appraisal, efficacy judgments, and decision-making. This conceptual analysis reframes eco-anxiety as a paradigmatic form of eco-affective cognition: a dynamic coupling of ecological threat salience, future simulation, responsibility appraisal, and efficacy appraisal under environmental uncertainty. The article develops the Acceptance-Externalization-Agency (AEA) model as a recursive, hypothesis-generating process framework specifying conditions under which eco-affective distress may become more or less action-enabling. The model is not proposed as a linear stage model, a validated clinical protocol, or a therapeutic promise that anxiety can be converted into action. Acceptance reduces secondary struggle against legitimate climate emotions; representational externalization converts diffuse, sometimes preverbal or embodied distress into observable, communicable, and revisable form; responsibility contextualization reduces over-individualized self-blame without dissolving personal, collective, or institutional responsibility; and agency emerges when action experience updates self-efficacy, collective efficacy, hope, and social identity. Selected therapeutic traditions are used not as competing treatments or efficacy claims, but as conceptual exemplars of attentional reorientation, symbolic distancing, embodied perspective shifting, and efficacy-linked action selection. The model clarifies testable transformation pathways for future research and psychological support while avoiding the pathologization, depoliticization, or individualization of realistic climate concern.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1927324"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13658000/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149187071","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-28eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1893765
Maria Adriana Neroni
{"title":"Creativity beyond the isolated mind: toward a biopsychosocial and sociotechnical perspective.","authors":"Maria Adriana Neroni","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1893765","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1893765","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Creativity has traditionally been studied at different levels of analysis, focusing on neural mechanisms, cognitive abilities, individual characteristics, or environmental influences. Although each approach has provided important insights, none alone fully explains why the same factors may support creativity under some conditions but constrain it under others, or why creative potential is expressed differently across individuals, domains, developmental stages, and sociocultural contexts. Building on biopsychosocial, systemic, sociocultural, and interactionist approaches, this Perspective conceptualizes creativity as a multilevel, developmentally situated, and sociotechnically mediated phenomenon emerging from interactions among biological, psychological, sociocultural, and technological processes. The central proposition is that no single factor is inherently creative or uncreative; its contribution depends on how it interacts with other factors under particular conditions. The framework therefore shifts the unit of explanation from isolated determinants to changing configurations of relationships across levels. Four mechanisms, i.e., constraint, affordance, regulation, and feedback/selection, describe how these relationships may develop over time and generate testable predictions concerning differences across individuals, stages of the creative process, developmental periods, and levels of analysis. Evidence from neuroscience, psychology, sociocultural research, education, organizational studies, and generative artificial intelligence illustrates how apparently contradictory findings may partly reflect these differences. Methodologically, the framework calls for greater conceptual and measurement specificity and for ecological, longitudinal, multilevel, and interdisciplinary research. Rather than asking which factors universally increase creativity, it asks for whom, under which conditions, at which stage and level, and over what timescale particular factors support or constrain creative activity.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1893765"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13654832/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149169129","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-23eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1886795
Ilona Buchem, Rinat B Rosenberg-Kima, Emily Evermann, Mandana Sutter
{"title":"Calm beats cute: designing aesthetic-functional congruence in human-robot interaction for breathing companion robots.","authors":"Ilona Buchem, Rinat B Rosenberg-Kima, Emily Evermann, Mandana Sutter","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1886795","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1886795","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Which robot would you trust to guide you through a breathing exercise, a cute cartoon-like humanoid, a soft animal companion, a clinical mechanical device, or a serene meditative figure? This study examines how four design aesthetics affect social evaluation and technology acceptance of Neffy, a social breathing-companion robot that supports stress relief and wellbeing by guiding exercises through visual, audio, and haptic cues synchronized with upper-body movement.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In an online study, 126 participants viewed a video of a person interacting with Neffy during a guided breathing exercise. Four design styles were tested: cartoonish humanoid, meditative humanoid, animal-like (zoomorphic), and machine-like (mechanomorphic). Participants rated each style on warmth, competence, perceived enjoyment, and intention to use, and made pairwise comparisons of human-likeness, social presence, trustworthiness, breathing companion preference, and overall liking.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The zoomorphic design received the highest warmth ratings, the mechanomorphic design scored lowest across all measures. Perceived human-likeness positively predicted both warmth and competence, confirming its role in social evaluation. However, human-likeness alone did not determine preference: despite comparable perceived human-likeness between the two humanoid designs, the meditative humanoid achieved the highest scores for competence, trustworthiness, and breathing companion preference, outperforming the cartoon-like humanoid.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These results suggest that \"calm\" aesthetics are preferred over \"cute\" aesthetics for wellbeing robots, challenging the assumption that human-likeness alone drives design success. Instead, aesthetic-functional congruence-alignment between a robot's visual design and its functional purpose, appears to be a critical, under-explored factor in social robot design for wellbeing. Since this study assessed general evaluations, future work should test whether these preferences hold across application domains (e.g. clinical, workplace, educational, domestic) and cross-cultural contexts.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1886795"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642192/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149129561","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-23eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1932224
Jorge Alexander Ríos-Flórez, Albeiro de Jesús Muñoz-Giraldo, Alexander Rodríguez Bustamante, Tatiana Castañeda-Quirama
{"title":"Writing is thinking: toward a neuropsychological model of scientific writing as knowledge construction.","authors":"Jorge Alexander Ríos-Flórez, Albeiro de Jesús Muñoz-Giraldo, Alexander Rodríguez Bustamante, Tatiana Castañeda-Quirama","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1932224","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1932224","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Scientific writing has historically been conceptualized as a communicative act-the registration of knowledge elaborated through independent cognitive processes. This article challenges that assumption and proposes that scientific writing constitutes an active neurocognitive system of knowledge construction and a privileged domain for metacognitive self-regulation in advanced learning contexts. We present the Integrated Neuropsychological Model of Scientific Writing (MNIEC), a theoretical framework integrating four neurocognitive systems-the Constructive Executive System (CES), the Extended Working Memory System (EWMS), the Semantic Simulation System (SSS), and the Epistemological Metacognitive Monitoring System (EMMS)-within a unified functional architecture. The central mechanism is the Epistemological Construction Cycle (ECC), a recursive five-phase process-conceptual activation, working memory simulation, symbolic externalization, metacognitive evaluation, and conceptual reorganization-through which scientific writing can function as an active mechanism of knowledge construction, particularly when recursive metacognitive evaluation and conceptual reorganization are engaged. The model integrates evidence from executive function neuropsychology, working memory architecture, large-scale brain network dynamics, epistemological metacognition, and predictive coding, grounded in five nuclear principles. Four testable hypotheses and experimental paradigms are derived. Implications are discussed for metacognitive training in scientific education, academic impostor syndrome, and the cognitive impact of large language models. The MNIEC proposes a neuropsychological framework for a systematic research agenda on scientific writing as metacognitive knowledge construction.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1932224"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642212/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149129552","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-17eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1838689
Olivia Jewell, Lauren Stewart, Keon West, Jacques Launay
{"title":"Music preference and political orientation have similar (but independent) effects on social attraction.","authors":"Olivia Jewell, Lauren Stewart, Keon West, Jacques Launay","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1838689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1838689","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Similarities between people, including similarities in music preference, can increase social attraction. It has been suggested that the relationship between music preference similarity and social attraction operates indirectly via attributes which music preference is signaling. In other words, individuals may infer other shared traits or values from music preference, which may reflect broader similarity. The current study examined whether music preference similarity and political orientation similarity interact to predict social attraction or whether music preference similarity has an independent effect on social attraction.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>In an online, between-groups study participants were assigned to groups in which musical and political similarity with a target person were manipulated. Participants then reported their social attraction towards the target. If music preference similarity influences social attraction primarily by signaling political orientation, an interaction between musical similarity and political similarity on social attraction would be expected, with no independent effect for music preference alone.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The current study found independent positive effects of music preference similarity and political orientation similarity on social attraction, with no interaction between the two independent variables.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Findings indicate that music preference similarity and political orientation similarity are influencing social attraction separately, suggesting that shared music taste is not just acting as an indicator of other similarities. This research has implications for the use of music preferences to bridge differences between individuals.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1838689"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13626982/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149120785","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-16eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1903208
Souhail Hermassi, Ayat Alshaer, Abdulla Alneama, Sascha Ketelhut, Roland van den Tillaar
{"title":"Associations between physical activity, physical fitness, sedentary behavior, and mathematics achievement in school-aged children: a cross-sectional study.","authors":"Souhail Hermassi, Ayat Alshaer, Abdulla Alneama, Sascha Ketelhut, Roland van den Tillaar","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1903208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1903208","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study examined associations between physical activity, physical fitness, and academic achievement in school-aged children, considering potential sex differences.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 126 schoolchildren (12.2 ± 0.4 years) participated in this cross-sectional study and were classified as physically active (<i>n</i> = 63) or non-active (<i>n</i> = 63) based on self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF). Children reporting ≥300 min/week of MVPA were classified as active. Physical fitness was assessed using the medicine ball throw, Stork balance, and handgrip strength. Peak height velocity (PHV) was estimated using Moore's equations, and academic achievement was assessed using mathematics percentage scores. Two-way ANOVA and Pearson correlations examined group differences and associations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Active children had lower body mass than non-active children (boys: 47.2 ± 12.9 vs. 53.8 ± 15.0 kg; girls: 50.6 ± 9.5 vs. 53.8 ± 15.7 kg; <i>F</i> = 4.2, <i>p</i> = 0.042, <i>d</i> = 0.37). Mathematics scores were higher in active children (boys: 90.2 ± 5.8 vs. 76.3 ± 7.9%; girls: 89.5 ± 6.2 vs. 77.1 ± 8.1%; <i>F</i> = 96.8, <i>p</i> < 0.001, <i>d</i> = 1.7). Fitness performance was generally higher in active than non-active children (<i>F</i> ≥ 3.98, <i>p</i> ≤ 0.048, <i>d</i> ≥ 0.36). Significant sex effects were observed for medicine ball throw and handgrip strength, with no significant group × sex interactions. Active boys reported the highest vigorous activity (1,209 ± 732 METs/week) and lowest sedentary time (2.6 ± 1.3 h/day). Sedentary time was moderately negatively correlated with mathematics scores (<i>r</i> = -0.48, <i>p</i> < 0.001), whereas total MET-min/week showed a trivial positive correlation (<i>r</i> = 0.18, <i>p</i> = 0.049).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Physically active children demonstrated higher physical fitness and mathematics achievement than non-active peers. These findings support cross-sectional associations among physical activity, physical fitness, sedentary behavior, and mathematics achievement. However, because of the cross-sectional design and the absence of statistical control for potential confounding factors such as biological maturation, causal or independent relationships cannot be inferred.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1903208"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13623577/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149120686","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}
Frontiers in CognitionPub Date : 2026-09-16eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1768534
Allyson Copeland, Brennan R Payne
{"title":"Evaluating the compatibility of predictive coding as a model of linguistic predictability effects in reading.","authors":"Allyson Copeland, Brennan R Payne","doi":"10.3389/fcogn.2026.1768534","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1768534","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emerging work suggests that the computational architecture of predictive coding (PC), widely studied in visual perception, may be an appropriate model for understanding predictability effects in real-time reading (i. e., the influence of a preceding sentence context on current word processing via putative anticipatory mechanisms). We evaluated four hypotheses derived from PC models focused on: (1) bottom-up prediction error, (2) top-down sensory prediction, (3) biological plausibility, and (4) hierarchical inference. We argue that many empirical effects of predictability during reading are generally consistent with PC model hypotheses, such as ERP N400 context effects and facilitated recognition and reading times, while others are challenging to reconcile, such as the frontal positivity ERP effect to plausible prediction violations and emerging work examining brain-behavior dynamics in natural reading. Overall, we suggest that while PC applied to linguistic processing has some important explanatory utility, it likely does not reflect the sole core mechanism of the language architecture.</p>","PeriodicalId":94013,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cognition","volume":"5 ","pages":"1768534"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13623734/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149120722","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}