The source-strength effect paradigm-in which strong and weak semantic associates of a critical lure are studied with distinct contexts-reveals that false memories vary in vividness. This is demonstrated by both attribution rate and context memory strength ratings. Specifically, when critical lures are falsely recognized, they are more frequently attributed to the contexts of their strong associates than to other contexts linked to weak associates or to other lists' associates. Previous research further shows that context memory strength ratings for lure attributions to strong associates' contexts are higher than those for lure attributions to other contexts, indicating that the former were experienced more vividly. A recent event-related potentials (ERPs) study (Liu et al., 2025) has shown that distinct retrieval processes - recollection and reconstruction - underlie these different memorial outcomes. However, their encoding neurocognitive origins remain unknown. To address this gap, the current study reanalyzed data from our prior ERPs investigation (Liu et al., 2025) by applying the subsequent memory paradigm to dissociate the encoding subprocesses that produce various memorial responses to critical lures. Results revealed a pronounced early parietal subsequent memory effect (SME), which may be related to schema-based integration, for strong associates whose corresponding lures were later attributed to strong associates' contexts-the outcome associated with higher subjective vividness. Conversely, a strong late frontal SME indexing elaborative associative processing emerged for weak associates whose lures were later attributed to other contexts-the outcome associated with lower vividness. Associates linked to correctly rejected lures elicited neither SME. These findings demonstrate that schema-based integration and elaborative associative processing forge the distinct traces that later support false memories with different levels of contextual vividness.

Inferring group norms is crucial for adapting behaviors in novel situations, but its underlying basis and computational account remain unclear. This study manipulated the prevalence of norm-consistent behaviors (i.e., straight-line movements) to examine whether and how norm inference is influenced by observed group behavior, exploring its consistency with Bayesian updating, robustness, and independence. The results revealed no significant difference in prior probabilities regarding the existence of group norms across conditions, but posterior probabilities increased with the prevalence of norm-consistent behaviors. Furthermore, the Bayesian inference model outputs positively predicted participants’ judgments, indicating that norm inference aligned with Bayesian updating. Even in the presence of deviant behaviors, norm inference remained consistent with Bayesian principles, demonstrating its robustness. Finally, the study revealed that individuals could infer group norms from observed behaviors, independent of desire inferences. These findings enhance our understanding of how individuals navigate group norms in novel situations.

PURPOSE:Under a noisy environment such as a cocktail party, emotional signals play a crucial role in helping listeners unmask target speech. However, it remains unclear how emotional features carried in a speaker's vocal timbre shape neural processing over time. This study aimed to characterize the temporal neural dynamics of learned emotion with a speaker's voice in complex listening conditions. METHOD:We employed an emotional learning paradigm in a speech-on-speech context, pairing two different target speakers with either angry or neutral facial expressions. Electroencephalogram data were recorded from healthy participants, and multivariate pattern analysis combined with representational similarity analysis was used to track the temporal unfolding of learned emotion linked to the target speaker's voice. RESULTS:We observed early neural signatures of emotional processing between 150 and 180 ms after stimulus onset, occurring nearly simultaneously with the decoding of speaker identity. Importantly, brain-behavior analysis revealed that subjective emotional valence ratings could be decoded from neural signals as early as 94 ms. These findings suggest that vocal emotion can be processed rapidly and in a way relatively independent to the process of low-level acoustic cues. CONCLUSION:Our study provides evidence that acquired emotional associations with a speaker's voice can shape early-stage neural dynamics during speech processing under challenging listening conditions. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31842814.

Measuring event-related magnetic fields (ERFs) in magnetoencephalography (MEG) is crucial for investigating perceptual and cognitive information processing in both neuroscience research and clinical practice. However, the magnitude of the ERF in cortical sources is comparable to the noise in a single trial. Consequently, numerous repetitive recordings are needed to distinguish these sources from background noise, requiring lengthy time for data acquisition. Herein, we introduce DeepReducer, a linear transformer-based deep learning model designed to reliably and efficiently denoise ERFs, thereby reducing the number of required trials. DeepReducer was trained on a mix of limited-trial and multi-trial averaged ERFs, employing mean squared error as the loss function to effectively capture and model the complex signal fluctuations inherent in MEG recordings. Validation on both semi-synthetic and experimental task-related MEG data showed that DeepReducer outperforms conventional trial-averaging techniques, significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio of ERFs and reducing source localization errors. The practical significance of DeepReducer encompasses optimizing MEG data acquisition by reducing participant stress (particularly for patients) and minimizing associated artifacts.

After wordlists of semantic associates are studied, critical lures are not only falsely recognized, but also often attributed to strong semantic associates' contexts, demonstrating vivid context retrieval in false recognition. Why are some critical lures falsely recognized, while others are correctly rejected? Furthermore, why do some falsely recognized critical lures exhibit vivid context retrieval? What cognitive processes support the differentiation of various memorial responses to critical lures? The current study employed event-related potentials to investigate these questions. In the study phase, two pictures were paired with a critical lure's strong and weak associates. In the test phase, participants made old-new responses and, if items were recognized as old, further context memory judgments. The results showed that all kinds of critical lures elicited the early old/new effect, implying that familiarity do not support diverse memorial responses. Crucially, the left-parietal old/new effect was elicited by critical lures attributed to strong semantic associates' contexts, demonstrating that the bottom-up recollection process contributes to vivid false memories. On the other hand, critical lures attributed to other words' contexts elicited the late-posterior-negativity (LPN) old/new effect, suggesting that false memories with less vivid context retrieval rely on the top-down reconstruction process. Furthermore, correctly rejected critical lures elicited neither the left-parietal nor LPN old/new effect, indicating that critical lures were not falsely recognized when neither recollection nor reconstruction retrieved context. Taken together, the current findings elucidate important roles of recollection and reconstruction in retrieving context of false memories and further differentiating various memorial responses to critical lures.

Mentalizing enables individuals to understand others, thereby playing an important role in social interactions. Interpersonal competence reflects the ability to cultivate close relationships with others. This study utilized restingstate functional magnetic resonance imaging to further explore the relationship between mentalizing and interpersonal competence. We assessed the correlation between participants' interpersonal competence and their functional connectivity values within the mentalizing network. The results revealed significant positive correlations between Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire scores and functional connectivity values, particularly in connections involving the right temporoparietal junction with the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the precuneus, and the left temporoparietal junction. These findings highlight the collaborative effect of the mentalizing network and provide empirical evidence for the significant role of mentalizing in interpersonal interactions.

In natural language, multiple non-adjacent dependencies arise as syntactic complexity increases and play an essential role in generating and understanding complex syntactic structures (e.g., in cross-serial dependencies). In the lab, showing substantial learning of such dependencies is challenging. In this study, we explored whether a brief prior exposure of an easy-to-learn long distance dependency structure could facilitate the acquisition of difficult-to-learn multiple non-adjacent dependencies (Experiment 1) and whether the effect is constrained by prior long-term knowledge of such types of dependency (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, we found that the subsequent implicit learning of the new multiple non-adjacent dependencies could benefit from brief prior exposure to learnable non-adjacent dependencies compared to Non-Learnable and Unstructured conditions (which have unreliable or neutral prior materials). This facilitative effect was neither cumulative learning over time nor a simple superimposition of the pre-exposure and exposure phases. In Experiment 2, we further found that the brief prior exposure could override biases from long-term experience to improve implicit learning of multiple non-adjacent rules which conflicted with native language experience. The results reported in both studies have been certified as computationally reproducible by an independent statistician. These findings demonstrated that implicitly acquiring multiple non-adjacent dependencies can be facilitated by brief prior exposure to a learnable structure. This powerful facilitative effect can override the constraints provided by long-term experience.

Costly third-party punishment (TPP) is an effective way to enforce fairness norms and promote cooperation. Recent studies have shown that the third party considers not only the proposer's suggested allocation but also the receiver's response to the allocation, which was typically ignored in traditional TPP studies when making punishment decisions. However, it remains unclear whether and how the varying unfair allocations and receivers' responses are integrated into third-party punishment. The current study addressed these issues at behavioral and electrophysiological levels by employing a modified third-party punishment task involving proposers' highly or moderately unfair allocations and the receivers' acceptance or rejection responses. At the behavioral level, participants punished proposers more often when receivers rejected relative to accepted unfair allocations. This effect was further modulated by the unfairness degree of allocations, indicated by a more pronounced rejection-sensitive effect when participants observed the moderately unfair offers. Electrophysiologically, when the receiver rejected the moderately unfair allocations, a stronger late-stage component P300/LPP, which was considered to be involved in allocations of attention resources, was found. Meanwhile, separated from the P300/LPP, the P200 associated with early attention capture demonstrated a rejection-sensitive effect. Together, in the costly TPP studies, the receiver is typically designated as passive and silent, and her/his responses to unfairness are conventionally ignored. However, our results indicate that except for the proposer's distribution behavior, the receiver's response does have an impact on third-party punishment in a way that interacts with the unfairness of allocations.

Introduction:People are generally characterized by a self-serving bias which describes the tendency to ascribe positive outcomes or success to internal or personal causes (self-enhancement motivation) and ascribe negative outcomes or failure to external or situational causes (self-protection motivation). It has been found that the individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD) who have low self-esteem and high depression exhibit an attenuated self-serving bias. However, the relationships among self-esteem, depression and self-serving bias are not clearly identified. Methods:A sample of 138 IGD participants completed self-esteem and depression scales and a causal attribution task (Study 1) to examine the relationships among self-esteem, depression and self-serving bias (both self-enhancement and self-protection). In follow-up Study 2, 28 IGD participants were recruited to undertake self-affirmation intervention which can affirm one's sense of global self-view and bolster self-esteem to explore whether self-affirmation would trigger a reduction of depression and a raise of self-serving bias. Results:The results of path analysis in Study 1 showed that the self-serving bias was predicted by self-esteem and depression, and the depression played a mediating role between self-esteem and self-serving bias. The results of Study 2 showed that the IGD participants reported higher self-esteem, lower depression and engaged in more self-protection motivation after affirming-self manipulation as compared with affirming-other manipulation. Conclusion:These findings suggest that self-esteem predicts self-serving bias through depression and self-affirmation could trigger an increase of self-esteem, further decrease depression and improve self-serving bias for the individuals with IGD. The present article clearly identified the relationships among these factors and provided a new approach to promote positive self-concept in individuals with IGD. Future research is warranted to explore the lasting benefits of self-affirmation on domains of education, relationships and gaming withdrawal for the individuals with IGD among different populations.

After studying a list of words that are semantically associated to a critical lure, participants are more likely to attribute a falsely recognised critical lure to the context of its strong than weak semantic associates. This is known as the source-strength effect. The current study investigated the roles of automatic and controlled processing in context retrieval in false recognition that is demonstrated by the source-strength effect. The results revealed that the source-strength effect was impervious to forewarning (Experiment 1) and remained intact when attentional resources at encoding were reduced (Experiment 2), suggesting that context retrieval in false recognition is based on automatic processes that are not amenable to conscious control and do not require many attentional resources. This interpretation is consistent with the associative activation theory, which proposes that context retrieval in false recognition is based on memory associations between contexts and critical lures that are automatically created when critical lures become automatically activated via spreading activation process.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, we conducted an experiment to explore the effects of gain and loss contexts on cooperation and its brain activation patterns in the Prisoner's Dilemma game. The results showed that even in a loss context, participants still chose cooperation in nearly half of the experiment trials, but the cooperation rate was higher in a gain context. The results of fMRI showed that the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex, right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, right temporoparietal junction, and right precuneus were activated more in the decision process of making a cooperative rather than a defection choice, and also that the activation of the bilateral precuneus and bilateral inferior parietal lobule induced by a cooperative choice was greater in a loss context than in a gain context. Thus, compared with when they were making a defection decision, in the process of making a cooperative decision, participants might reason and process more on the psychological activities of others, especially in a loss context.

Humans excel at constructing mental representations of speech streams in the absence of external auditory input: the internal experience of speech imagery. Elucidating the neural processes underlying speech imagery is critical to understanding this higher-order brain function in humans. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the shared and distinct neural correlates of imagined and perceived speech by asking participants to listen to poems articulated by a male voice (perception condition) and to imagine hearing poems spoken by that same voice (imagery condition). We found that compared to baseline, speech imagery and perception activated overlapping brain regions, including the bilateral superior temporal gyri and supplementary motor areas. The left inferior frontal gyrus was more strongly activated by speech imagery than by speech perception, suggesting functional specialization for generating speech imagery. Although more research with a larger sample size and a direct behavioral indicator is needed to clarify the neural systems underlying the construction of complex speech imagery, this study provides valuable insights into the neural mechanisms of the closely associated but functionally distinct processes of speech imagery and perception.

Mate copying is a social learning process in which individuals gather public information about potential mates by observing models’ choices. Previous studies have reported that individual attributes of female models affect mate copying, yet little is known about whether and how the group attributes of models influence mate copying. In the current behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, female participants were asked to rate their willingness to choose the depicted males as potential romantic partners before and after observing in-group or out-group female models accepting, rejecting or being undecided (baseline) about the males. Results showed that participants changed their ratings to align with the models’ acceptance or rejection choices. Compared to rejection copying, the effect of acceptance copying was stronger and regulated by in- and out-group models, manifesting a discounting copying effect when learning from out-group models. At the neural level, for acceptance copying, stronger temporoparietal junction (TPJ) activity and connectivity between TPJ and anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC) were observed when female models belonged to out-group members; meanwhile, the functional connection of TPJ and amPFC positively predicted the rating changes when learning from out-group models. The results indicated that participants might need more resources to infer out-group members’ intentions to overcome the in-group bias during acceptance copying.

BackgroundEmbarrassment is a self-conscious emotion with important social functions, but it is not well understood. The perception of bystanders is considered a precondition for embarrassment, which makes it unique from other self-conscious emotions. Studies have shown that socially close bystanders can reduce individuals' embarrassment. However, whether and how the embarrassment of individuals varies with the changes in social distance between them and their bystanders remained unclear, which indicates the key characteristics of embarrassment.MethodsThe current research consists of two studies. Study 1 tested whether participants' embarrassment systematically varied with social distance by setting up three levels of social distance: close friends (i.e., short), casual friends (i.e., medium), and strangers (i.e., long), based on 159 participants. With two full mediation models, study 2 investigated whether and how the fear of negative evaluation and state attachment security mediated the influence of social distance on embarrassment based on 155 participants.ConclusionsThe current findings revealed that the social distance between bystanders and protagonists systematically influenced the embarrassment of protagonists and this effect occurred via two parallel pathways, i.e., by increasing the fear of negative evaluation and by reducing state attachment security. The findings not only showed the unique role of bystander characteristics on embarrassment, but also two cognitive processes behind this unique self-conscious emotion: fearing negative evaluation and seeking attachment for security.

Unconscious acquisition of sequence structure from experienced events can lead to explicit awareness of the pattern through extended practice. Although the implicit-to-explicit transition has been extensively studied in humans using the serial reaction time (SRT) task, the subtle neural activity supporting this transition remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether frequency-specific neural signal transfer contributes to this transition. A total of 208 participants (107 females) learned a sequence pattern through a multisession SRT task, allowing us to observe the transitions. Session-by-session measures of participants’ awareness for sequence knowledge were conducted during the SRT task to identify the session when the transition occurred. By analyzing time course RT data using switchpoint modeling, we identified an increase in learning benefit specifically at the transition session. Electroencephalogram (EEG)/magnetoencephalogram (MEG) recordings revealed increased theta power in parietal (precuneus) regions one session before the transition (pretransition) and a prefrontal (superior frontal gyrus; SFG) one at the transition session. Phase transfer entropy (PTE) analysis confirmed that directional theta transfer from precuneus → SFG occurred at the pretransition session and its strength positively predicted learning improvement at the subsequent transition session. Furthermore, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) modulated precuneus theta power and altered transfer strength from precuneus to SFG, resulting in changes in both transition rate and learning benefit at that specific point of transition. Our brain-stimulation evidence supports a role for parietal → prefrontal theta signal transfer in igniting conscious awareness of implicitly acquired knowledge. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT There exists a pervasive phenomenon wherein individuals unconsciously acquire sequence patterns from their environment, gradually becoming aware of the underlying regularities through repeated practice. While previous studies have established the robustness of this implicit-to-explicit transition in humans, the refined neural mechanisms facilitating conscious access to implicit knowledge remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that prefrontal activity, known to be crucial for conscious awareness, is triggered by neural signal transfer originating from the posterior brain region, specifically the precuneus. By employing brain stimulation techniques, we establish a causal link between neural signal transfer and the occurrence of awareness. Our findings unveil a mechanism by which implicit knowledge becomes consciously accessible in human cognition.

Implicit learning plays an important role in the language acquisition. In addition to helping people acquire the form-level rules (e.g., the word order regularities), implicit learning can also facilitate the acquisition of word meanings (i.e., the establishment of connections between the word form and its meanings). Although some behavioral studies have explored the processing of implicit form-meaning connections, the neural dynamics underlying this processing remains unclear. Through examining whether participants could implicitly acquire the literal and metaphorical meanings of novel words, and applying the time-frequency analysis on the electroencephalogram (EEG) data collected in the testing phase, the neural oscillations corresponding to the processing of implicit form-literal and form-metaphorical meaning connections were explored. The results showed that participants in the experimental group could implicitly acquire the form-literal and form-metaphorical meaning connections after training, while participants in the control group who were not trained did not have access to such form-meaning connections. Meanwhile, during the processing of form-literal meaning connections, the greater suppression of alpha oscillations was induced by the testing items that follow the same rules as the training items (i.e., the regular testing items) in the experimental group, whereas the stronger enhancement of theta oscillations was elicited by the regular testing items in the experimental group during the processing of form-metaphorical meaning connections. Our study provides insights for understanding the processing of implicit form-literal and form-metaphorical meaning connections and the neural dynamics underlying the processing.

远距离结构是一种相邻元素之间没有顺序限制,多个元素在时间或空间上间隔一定距离的结构,该结构具备强大的生成能力,广泛存在于人类生活的诸多领域.近十几年来语言领域远距离结构的学习成为心理学和语言学的研究焦点,特别是更加接近自然状态下语言获得模式的内隐学习得到了广泛关注.本文在人工语法范式背景下,系统总结了远距离结构的种类,梳理了影响远距离结构学习的因素,并从神经层面探讨了 Broca区在远距 离结构加工中的作用,最后从跨领域迁移、加工过程以及内隐和外显学习之间的关系展望了未来的研究方向.

Economic insecurity refers to a state of uncertainty about one's financial situation. It could exert negative influence on one's psychological well-being, such as threatening self-esteem. Previous studies have documented that people are likely to protect themselves from psychological threat by evaluating themselves in flattering ways, such as manifesting the self-serving bias. That is, people tend to endorse positive and isolate negative interpersonal events from themselves in attribution. In the present research, two studies were conducted to explore the difference of the self-serving bias between people with high and low economic insecurity. In study 1, economic insecurity was operationalized indirectly by the number of job offer that college senior students have got in the graduate season. In study 2, one's sense of economic insecurity was measured directly through using the self-report scale. Results showed that participants with high economic insecurity manifested greater self-serving bias than that of participants with low economic insecurity (study 1 and 2). It suggests that the self-serving bias might be a self-protection strategy to cope with the psychological threats associated with economic insecurity.

Third-party punishment plays a crucial role in fairness norm enforcement. The present study investigated how punishment cost would affect third-parties' behavioral and neural responses to unfairness using a modified Third-Party Dictator Game and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants acted as third-parties and decided how many monetary units (MUs) to invest to punish norm violations in two punishment cost contexts. Participants' every MU investment reduced dictators' payoff by 6 MUs in the low punishment cost context and 3 MUs in the high one. Participants' invested MUs reflected the cost they would like to pay to punish dictators while dictators' reduced MUs represented the amount of punishment they received. Behavioral results showed participants' fairness ratings were not affected by punishment cost. However, punishment amount decreased in the high punishment cost context where participants invested more MUs and spent more time for decision-making. Neurally, left anterior insula (AI) and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) showed stronger responses to unfair relative to fair allocations in both contexts. Moreover, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) was more active during unfair allocations in the high punishment cost context than in the low one and the difference of dACC activity between these two conditions was positively correlated with the difference of reaction times. Overall, the present study demonstrated that punishment cost would not affect people's fairness perception but increase the conflicts between norm enforcement and self-interest. The decision for punishment was the outcome of integrating fairness and economic considerations.