Previously (Ma et al., 2023), we showed that when two players were cooperating during an online card game, they more successfully shared their intentions with each other. We also measured mouse movements, which revealed that cooperating pairs moved more efficiently, spending less time moving and moving more directly. Even though social interactions increasingly occur online, it remains unclear whether online interactions follow a similar format to in-person ones. In this study, we recreated the previously published online experiment (Ma et al., 2023) in a real-world context to determine whether individuals resolve and create social uncertainty similarly across physical contexts. Eighty-two participants (41 dyads) completed six card games, three cooperatively and three competitively. In each game, players collected cards that matched their goal and guessed what goal the other player was collecting. For each player, we measured card and guess scores (game performance), along with their hand kinematics. Similar to the online study, participants guessed the other player's goal more accurately during cooperation compared with competition (cooperate benefit), and performance improved across games (learning benefit). However, in the real world, player movement was opposite to previous findings, with participants moving slower and less directly when cooperating compared with competing. These differences in movement suggest that social decision-making behaviour is not just context dependent (e.g. competition or cooperation) but also environment dependent, with an in-person environment altering how individuals reduce and create uncertainty. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
While structural priming effects are well documented, their relationship with abstract event structures remains controversial. This study examines how event structure and syntactic usage preferences jointly influence syntactic choice in sentence production, using structural priming of Chinese transitive events. Across three experiments, Chinese participants read aloud priming sentences (displayed alongside event pictures) and then described target pictures. The priming and target events were manipulated as identical, similar, or dissimilar. Half of the priming sentences used verbal predicate structures, while the other half employed high-preferred ba-constructions (Experiment 1), medium-preferred bei-constructions (Experiment 2), or low-preferred gei-constructions (Experiment 3). Results revealed that priming effects were modulated by both event structure and syntactic usage preferences. For ba- and bei-constructions, participants repeated the priming structure more frequently when priming and target events were similar (vs. dissimilar), with further increases for identical events. In contrast, for the dispreferred gei-construction, priming only increased significantly in the identical-event condition, with no difference between similar and dissimilar events. These findings demonstrate that event structure activation influences syntactic choice during grammatical encoding, but this influence is constrained by the strength of syntactic usage preferences. The results highlight the interplay between conceptual (event structure) and linguistic (syntactic usage preference) factors in shaping structural priming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Attention is not a singular cognitive process, but a collection of distinct yet interactive mechanisms that evolve across the lifespan. Using data from the Combined Attention Systems Test, we examine how different attention networks-alerting, orienting, and executive control-develop uniquely as we age and interact in ways that shape cognitive performance. First, we demonstrate that these networks change in dissociable ways with age, challenging the notion of a uniform attentional decline, revealing instead that different networks follow distinct trajectories. Second, we provide evidence that spatial orienting (both exogenous and endogenous) modulates executive control, reducing cognitive conflict in flanker tasks. Third, we highlight the importance of measurement assumptions in aging research, showing that executive control appears to decline when measured by reaction time alone, but remains stable or even improves when accuracy is considered. These findings underscore the need to disentangle cohort-related strategic differences (e.g., older adults favouring accuracy over speed) from intrinsic neurocognitive aging effects (e.g., general slowing and network desynchronization). By integrating theoretical perspectives with empirical data, this work advances our understanding of attention as a dynamic, multicomponent system that adapts over the lifespan. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Current cognitive theories cast attention as a perceptual selection mechanism, largely neglecting the role of the body. We advance an embodied account, proposing that hand position, posture and action readiness systematically shape attentional performance. After outlining the historical shift from selection for perception to selection for action, we sketch a grounded, embodied and situated account of attention. We then review evidence from classic paradigms (Posner, Eriksen, Egly, Stroop), showing that attention signatures (detection, interference, selection, control) are systematically modulated by action readiness, and argue that the traditional 'office-worker' posture underlying these paradigms may have shaped how attention itself has been theoretically conceptualized. We discuss how action-linked visual processes and bodily contributions to cognitive control account for attention modulation and address reliability and contextual challenges. Finally, we propose to integrate physiological measures, motor states and real-world contexts into future research on embodied attention with the aim of eventually reframing attention as a functional enactive process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Previous evidence has shown an important role for semantic diversity in visual word recognition. These results are theoretically relevant, as they suggest that it is not only the mere repetition of word reading (lexical frequency) but also the semantic context in which words are encountered that affects lexical representation of words. In this study, we assess the role of semantic diversity by applying latent semantic analysis to a Spanish database, deriving word values for semantic diversity. Children and adults performed a lexical decision task to 300 words with different values of this variable while controlling the frequency, age of acquisition, and letter length. The results indicate that adults and children respond faster to words with high semantic diversity than those with lower semantic diversity. These results obtained for the first time in Spanish are consistent with previous findings and support the view that the semantic contexts in which words appear contribute to their lexical representations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
In contrast to binary distinctions between outcomes such as wins and losses, more fine-grained distinctions include the representation of goal proximity, such as being near or far to desired or undesired outcomes. Despite semantic inconsistencies in near-win and near-loss literature, we offer a resolution where a near-loss is defined as an actual positive outcome described in reference to a negative counterfactual. Furthermore, we leverage the commercial "push-your-luck" game Can't Stop (Sackson, 1980) as a playful paradigm to study the behavioural consequences of near-misses compared to full-wins, playing against opponents who are either cautious or reckless. Each turn, players are given the option to either continue rolling dice (but risk losing their progress) or stop (thereby saving their progress). Our data showed that previous outcome and opponency interacted such that participants produced more stop behaviour against the cautious opponent relative to the reckless opponent but only when the previous outcome was a near-loss. Imitation of an opponent's behaviour is discussed both in reference to its potential automaticity and social contingencies, whereas stopping behaviour is considered a possibly erroneous perception of the interdependence between dice throws. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
An abundance of evidence suggests that mind-wandering, or task-unrelated thought, poses significant detriments to performance. In 2013, however, Mooneyham and Schooler (2013) broadened mind-wandering's impact by reviewing emerging literature on both its costs and benefits. Research has now expanded enough that mind-wandering can no longer be treated as a simple failure of attention. In this sequel, we synthesize key findings from the past 13 years on when mind-wandering harms and when it helps. On the cost side, mind-wandering can reduce sensitivity to others' pain, spread lapses across peers in learning contexts, disrupt fine motor control, and weaken memory encoding. On the benefit side, mind-wandering is linked with improved memory consolidation, especially when thoughts return to recently learned material. Additional work suggests that mind-wandering can facilitate extraction of hidden probabilistic structure during statistical learning, support low-stakes decisions with less deliberative effort, and reduce semantic satiation during highly repetitive tasks. We also revisit mind-wandering's relation to mood, emphasizing that affective outcomes depend on more than just task-relatedness alone. This article outlines future directions to cultivate a sharper scientific understanding of how mind-wandering shapes different kinds of behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Written narratives can provide insight into the mental and affective state of a person. However, current methods of analysis require extensive manual human coding, limiting the sample size that can feasibly be analyzed. Computational approaches using natural language processing offer promise as a rapid means of examining characteristics of narrative texts. Though used extensively in social media and customer reviews in industry, their classification accuracy relative to human coders remains unclear for psychological data. We compared the congruence of two popular lexicon-based sentiment analysis tools, Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) and TextBlob, with self-reported valence, for 3,309 narratives representing autobiographical memories from two different data sets. Both tools, but especially TextBlob, displayed a bias in rating memories as neutral in valence. Across both data sets, VADER consistently produced more congruent classifications than did TextBlob. Accuracy improved significantly, to moderate levels of congruence (rMCC = .32), on par with that of human coders reported in other work, when classification was limited to three valence types (negative, neutral, or positive) rather than five. Tool performance remained consistent regardless of data set size. VADER, more so than TextBlob, is a useful means of rapidly determining the broad emotional valence within large volumes of text data that would be unfeasible for manual coding. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Several parameters can influence children's enumeration processes, including the numerosity and configuration of the elements. Few studies have examined young children's enumeration from a developmental perspective, especially using eye-tracking data, highlighting the novelty of the present study. Eye movements analysis can indeed give crucial information to understand in depth the construction of enumeration processes in childhood. In this study, we analyzed how kindergarten pupils enumerated elements displayed on a computer screen and how far their responses were influenced by their age and three other parameters, namely, the numerosity, configuration, and colour of the elements. Behavioural measures were combined with eye tracking to gain detailed insights into visual attention patterns during enumeration tasks. Results revealed a strong effect of configuration on enumeration. Errors were more frequent and response times longer with random arrangements versus dice configurations. Five-year-olds performed better on enumeration tasks than 4-year-olds when the elements were in random arrangements and in the counting range. Eye-tracking data confirmed behavioural results and revealed additionally that visual attention was more uniformly distributed across all the dots and associated with longer scanpaths when these dots were displayed in random arrangements versus dice configurations. These findings suggest that structured configurations may reduce cognitive load by supporting pattern recognition, thereby improving children's efficiency in enumeration tasks. Our results support the assumption that pattern recognition plays a fundamental role in the acquisition of enumeration abilities and that young children use qualitatively different enumeration processes for small numerosities depending on the configuration of the elements. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The number of available response options is a central design feature in any experimental psychology paradigm, with binary response paradigms restricting the range of behavioural responses into staying or shifting. Participants (n = 72) played nine blocks of a novel zero-sum game, Dice Dual, while we parametrically manipulated the different number of response options (2, 4, 6) against an unexploitable computerized opponent. When the number of responses exceeded two, this allowed us to identify two types of shift behaviours: between-category shifts relevant to mental model exploitation and within-category shifts reflective of random exploration. Between-category shifts were sensitive to outcome valence, exhibiting an increased shift rate when more response options were available after win, while shift rates were independent of response availability after loss. In contrast, within-category shifts were only sensitive to response availability, with increased shift rates when more response options were available, irrespective of outcome valence. Identifying multiple, functionally different classes of shift behaviour using nonbinary response paradigms allows us to more easily separate attempts at exploitation and exploration. The data also offer more general models of performance regarding suboptimal decision making, where negative outcomes constrict the range of factors considered in future mental model updates.
It is generally well known that emotion can benefit memory; however, much less is known about how emotion influences metamemory. The present study examined how list composition and emotion influence individuals' metamnemonic judgements and performance in a free recall task. Participants studied lists of words that varied in emotional valence and made immediate judgements of learning after each word. Valence was manipulated in a mixed-list design in Experiment 1, a pure-list design in Experiment 2, and in a mixed- versus pure-list design in Experiment 4; arousal was held constant. We expected that the relative influence of emotion on metamemory would depend on participants' beliefs about how emotion influences memory and that these beliefs would be more salient in a mixed-list than pure-list design. Consistent with this, emotional words were given higher judgements of learnings than neutral words in Experiments 1 and 4, but not in Experiment 2. Posttest questionnaires (Experiments 1 and 2) and data collected from a naïve participant sample (Experiment 3) indicated that participants believed that emotional words are more memorable than nonemotional words. These results suggest that list structure influenced the degree to which judgements of learnings were responsive to emotional content. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Research on smile perception indicates that smiles containing a cheek raiser tend to be judged as happier, more sincere, and more authentic than those without this cue. However, while this is well established for human smiles, less is known about how such cues are perceived in emojis. Guided by the emotions as social information (EASI) model, which posits that emotional expressions influence observers through inferential and affective pathways, this study examined judgements of sincerity for enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles produced by human and emoji encoders. In Experiment 1, participants judged whether smiles (human or emoji) were "really happy" or "not really happy." Both stimulus types included smiles that varied in cues of sincerity (presence or absence of the cheek raiser). In Experiment 2, the same task was repeated with open or closed mouth variations. Participants identified human enjoyment smiles as "really happy" more often than nonenjoyment smiles, whereas emojis were rated as "really happy" regardless of the sincerity cue. Closed mouth smiles were judged as less happy than open mouth smiles, and judgements were faster for emojis than for human faces. These findings suggest that, in line with the EASI model, emoji-based expressions may elicit affective rather than inferential processing, highlighting their limited equivalence to human smiles in digital communication. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by impairments across several neurocognitive domains, particularly memory and executive function. The study explored the effectiveness of an individual cognitive stimulation (iCS) program on cognitive outcomes in older adults with moderate to moderately severe AD. A multicentre randomized controlled trial was conducted with 80 Portuguese older adults (Mage: 83.0 ± 7.1 years) with AD. Participants were randomly assigned to either iCS (n = 39; 49%) or treatment as usual (n = 41; 51%). Alzheimer's Disease Severity (ADS) categorized two groups based on Mini-Mental State Examination score: 10-14 in the ADS moderately severe group and 15-20 in the ADS moderate group. In participants with moderate AD, iCS led to significant improvements in memory-related outcomes (particularly Memory Assessment Test) and a trend toward improvement in global cognition. In contrast, no significant effects were observed in participants with moderately severe AD. Meta-analytic comparisons and meta-regression confirmed a significant difference in intervention effectiveness between severity levels. iCS was significantly more effective in individuals with moderate AD than in those with moderately severe AD. This difference in responsiveness between severity levels was statistically confirmed (Q = 11.29, p < .001). iCS was effective in enhancing memory in individuals with moderate AD, with additional indications of global cognitive benefit. However, no meaningful effects were observed in participants with moderately severe impairment, suggesting diminished responsiveness to iCS as disease severity increases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
As the aging population grows, it is important to investigate factors that protect against cognitive decline. Bilingualism is hypothesized to contribute to cognitive reserve. However, the research on the influence of bilingualism and related variables (e.g., age of second language [L2] acquisition and language usage) on episodic memory remains sparse. We investigate the role of L2 age of acquisition, proficiency, and usage on verbal and nonverbal episodic memory in middle-aged and older adult bilingual speakers of English and French. Accuracy on a verbal memory task was negatively associated with L2 usage at work. People with lower L2 proficiency and usage at home performed better on a nonverbal memory task in terms of accuracy and reaction time, respectively. Earlier L2 acquisition was associated with higher accuracy on the nonverbal memory task. We hypothesize that greater L2 engagement leads to increased effort to inhibit nonrelevant stimuli, impeding episodic memory retrieval, and the effort required is lower with earlier L2 acquisition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Prediction error minimization and embodied cognition theorists posit that abstract self-representations are predicated on models of the self as an embodied agent. While the view of continuity between conceptual and bodily self is common to several frameworks in psychology and cognitive science, empirical tests of this relationship are scant. However, a recent study by Krol et al., (see record 2020-26839-011) found that people low in self-concept clarity (SCC) were more vulnerable to the rubber-hand illusion-in particular, in the asynchronous stroking condition, where the illusion is unwarranted. This study provides preliminary evidence for an association between self-concept strength and vulnerability to illusions regarding the bodily self. Here we sought to replicate this finding in an existing study that assessed SCC and the rubber-hand illusion. Using linear mixed-effects modelling, we found that lower SCC was again associated with greater embodiment of the rubber hand in the asynchronous condition; moreover, we also observed this effect in the synchronous stroking condition, providing additional evidence for the role of SCC in vulnerability to bodily illusions. We discuss the implications of this finding for theories in social cognitive neuroscience. Finally, as the study we drew upon to test the replication effect involved the administration of intranasal oxytocin, we also took this opportunity to replicate a previously observed effect of oxytocin on embodiment of the rubber hand; this effect, however, did not replicate, although methodological difference may have played a role. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Choosing when to start tasks can be an important aspect of task management in daily life. Do people prefer to start tasks at the beginning of the hour, that is, using clock time as a cue for their scheduling preferences? A first study showed a strong preference to start tasks on the hour, even in scenarios involving a cost to starting on the hour, in scenarios involving no other people, and across several forms of start preference measurement. A second study examined reports of real-life tasks: Participants identified next-day tasks ahead of time and then reported on these exact tasks 2 days later. Starting tasks on the hour was not linked with benefits for individual task progress, but starting a higher percentage of tasks on the hour over the day was linked with judging the day overall as having been spent more efficiently. In sum, these studies identify a preference for scheduling and starting tasks on the hour but show mixed evidence that this preference is beneficial for task achievement.
Mental imagery plays a central role in various cognitive processes and is increasingly investigated in cognitive science. Yet standardized tools for its assessment in French-speaking populations remain scarce. This study examined the psychometric properties of two widely used self-report instruments of mental imagery within the French Canadian population: the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (Psi-Q)-here termed VVIQ-Québec (QC) and Psiq-QC. A total of 328 adults completed the VVIQ-QC and Psiq-QC, with a randomly selected subsample (n = 73) repeating the assessment 1 month later. Exploratory factor analysis of the VVIQ-QC (eyes-open) revealed, as in the original VVIQ, distinct factors corresponding to each prompt cluster (i.e., relative, sunrise, landscape, and storefront). The Psiq-QC yielded a six-factor solution after excluding the Body modality, diverging from the original seven-factor model. Both instruments showed strong internal consistency, temporal stability, and convergent validity. No significant effects of age, sex, or education were observed on imagery scores. These findings provide the first validated French Canadian versions of the VVIQ and Psi-Q, available via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/wuhja, offering reliable tools for both research and clinical applications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This article examines gender disparities in the allocation of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) funding to cognitive scientists. It expands on previous work by Titone et al. (2018) with updated data from 2016 to 2023. By analyzing publicly available funding data, we assessed trends in NSERC awards distribution across different career stages. Our analyses revealed that while women receive more student research awards at the undergraduate and graduate levels, significant gender disparities persist at senior levels, where men continue to receive more Discovery Grants and higher funding amounts. With respect to changes in recent years, the postdoctoral fellowship awards showed increased gender parity. As well, early career researchers have seen a shift towards gender parity, indicating some success in the efforts to support up-and-coming researchers. Thus, while progress has been made, further actions are necessary to bridge gender gaps in research funding and to support the long-term career development of women cognitive scientists. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
After a decade of implementing open science practices as a principal investigator, mentor, data repository founder, and editor-in-chief, I have learned that the question is not whether researchers should adopt these practices but how to adapt them meaningfully. This commentary, based on a talk given at the 2024 Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science conference, argues for two key principles: First, open science implementation must be context-dependent rather than one-size-fits-all, and second, practical research realities require flexible approaches to idealized policies. Through personal examples, from my evolution with preregistration from "recipe" to "guide" during COVID-19 research to challenges with Registered Reports using existing data sets, I show how open science practices work best when researchers approach them as evolving tools rather than rigid rules. I also discuss field-specific differences in open science uptake between psychology and education and the importance of equity considerations in implementation. The commentary concludes with concrete recommendations for researchers and journals, emphasizing that sustainable open science requires meeting researchers where they are while maintaining transparency and scientific rigour. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Whereas the ability to prioritize important information in memory remains preserved with age, it is still unclear how subjective value may interact with emotional valence to impact memory. The present study examined the interaction of value and valence in memory selectivity among younger and older adults. A sample of 24 younger (aged 17-29; 20.13 ± 2.54) and 24 older adults (aged 65-79, 70.13 ± 4.47) ranked valenced (positive and negative) and neutral words based on their subjectively perceived value/importance for memory. They then completed a value-directed remembering task, studying the same set of words paired with their assigned values, with a goal to maximize value points accrued in a subsequent word free recall task. Next, they completed a cued recall for values assigned to the words. Mixed-model analyses of variance were conducted on value assignment, word free recall, and cued value recall performance. Positive words were assigned a higher value/importance than negative or neutral words. Items assigned a higher value were better recalled and likely to be recalled first, an effect that tends to be larger for older than younger adults. Older adults generally face specific challenges recalling schema-inconsistent high values originally assigned to negative words, an effect absent in younger adults. The results suggested that valence can direct value assignment and, in turn, interact with the assigned value to guide memory selectivity. Relative to younger adults, older adults appear more likely to rely on a "positive is more valuable than negative" schema to guide value retrieval. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
