The capacity to re-experience a moment from one's past, known as episodic memory, is critical for our ability to navigate the present and plan for the future. This article reviews and synthesizes over a half century of behavioral and neuroscientific research that has shaped our understanding of how we remember past events. This work has revealed complementary truths about episodic memory: Episodic memories seem to be based on traces of experience, carrying objective information about specific moments in time, and on imaginative reconstructions, built on a scaffold of prior knowledge. We propose that the tension between these perspectives can be reconciled by conceptualizing episodic memory not as a readout from a static memory system but as the outcome of two neurocognitive modes— a generative mode that facilitates schema-based inference and prediction, and a contextual mode that binds memories to context-specific anchor points. Drawing from experimental findings and computational models, we describe how multiple memory modes arise from dynamic cortico-hippocampal interactions, allowing episodic memory to be at once precise and constructive.
Human psychoneuroimmunology research has demonstrated that stress, depression, and close relationships reliably shape immune and endocrine function in ways that matter for health. Across studies of examination stress, laboratory stressors, marital discord, cancer survivorship, and dementia caregiving, psychosocial adversity predicts more infections, weaker vaccine responses and faster erosion of vaccine protection, slower wound healing, heightened inflammation, and accelerated cellular aging. Depression also sensitizes immune function, producing larger inflammatory responses when individuals encounter stressors. Loneliness, low support, and distressed relationships can amplify stress reactivity and are linked to greater inflammatory and metabolic vulnerability, including postprandial inflammatory and endothelial responses. More recent work has extended these pathways to the gut microbiome and intestinal permeability (leaky gut), integrating microbial, neuroendocrine, and immune mechanisms. Collectively, the evidence supports a biobehavioral model in which social stress accelerates immune aging and increases risk for inflammation-related disease, while behavioral and nutritional interventions can modify these trajectories.
Question asking, a foundational aspect of human communication, is an integral part of information-seeking behavior. We delve into the complex landscape of question-asking theories, exploring their diverse intersections with a myriad of fields-such as early development, artificial intelligence, and education. Synthesizing decades of research on question asking across different domains, we introduce the Question Asking in Information Seeking (QuInS) framework. QuInS provides a unified perspective on the iterative, dynamic processes that drive inquiry through question asking. We examine the early childhood origins of question asking, theories of inquiry, and the role of questions in fostering creativity, learning, problem solving, and social contexts. Finally, we explore how recent computational advancements contribute to formulate and empirically assess questions. Given the ubiquity of question asking in daily life, it is critical to elucidate its nature and mechanistic role in identifying and filling knowledge gaps. Such an endeavor will drive us to be more efficient, effective, and creative learners and question askers.
Changing behavior is a central challenge in domains ranging from health and finance to voting and education. Drawing on decades of research from psychology and related fields, this review synthesizes high-quality evidence-particularly randomized controlled trials with objective behavioral outcomes-to identify effective strategies for changing behavior. We propose a unifying three-phase framework that conceptualizes behavior change as a process involving: (a) building motivation, (b) following through, and (c) forming durable habits. For each phase, we identify key psychological challenges and review interventions designed to overcome them. By organizing a large and fragmented literature within a coherent framework, this review aims to clarify when and why behavior change interventions succeed and to inform more effective, behaviorally informed policies and practices.
Research on misinformation has expanded rapidly over the past decade. This review examines areas of consensus and contention within the literature on misinformation, with particular attention to conceptual definitions, measurement approaches, and theoretical explanations. We outline views on what it means to be susceptible to misinformation and advocate for assessing susceptibility by focusing on the ability to discern true from false claims. Although exposure to fake news is less common online than many think, we argue that misinformation-more broadly construed-continues to be a major problem. We review evidence on cognitive and socioaffective mechanisms underlying susceptibility to misinformation, including repetition effects, lack of analytic reasoning, political identity, and information environments. We also evaluate interventions such as fact-checking, prebunking, psychological inoculation, and accuracy prompts. Overall, the literature reveals several robust findings but also significant methodological limitations and theoretical disagreements that suggest fruitful future directions for misinformation research.
