The same dataset can be analysed in different justifiable ways to answer the same research question, potentially challenging the robustness of empirical science1-3. In this crowd initiative, we investigated the degree to which research findings in the social and behavioural sciences are contingent on analysts' choices. We examined a stratified random sample of 100 studies published between 2009 and 2018, in which, for one claim per study, at least five reanalysts independently reanalysed the original data. The statistical appropriateness of the reanalyses was assessed in peer evaluations, and the robustness indicators were inspected along a range of research characteristics and study designs. We found that 34% of the independent reanalyses yielded the same result (within a tolerance region of ±0.05 Cohen's d) as the original report; with a four times broader tolerance region, this indicator increased to 57%. Of the reanalyses conducted, 74% reached the same conclusion as the original investigation, 24% yielded no effects or inconclusive results and 2% reported the opposite effect. This exploratory study indicates that the common single-path analyses in social and behavioural research should not be simply assumed to be robust to alternative analyses4. Therefore, we recommend the development and use of practices to explore and communicate this neglected source of uncertainty.

This umbrella review synthesizes data on the prevalence of mental disorder symptoms among university students worldwide. A systematic search of seven databases (inception-July 23, 2023) followed PRISMA guidelines. We included meta-analyses assessing the prevalence of mental disorder symptoms, evaluating methodological quality with AMSTAR-2. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted, along with meta-regression and subgroup analyses for moderators (percentage of females, publication date, healthcare-related degrees, COVID-19 pandemic). We included 1,655 primary studies from 62 meta-analyses, encompassing 8,706,185 participants. AMSTAR-2 ratings classified 35 % of meta-analyses as low quality and 65 % as critically low. Pooled prevalence estimates were: depression-mild (35.41 %, CI=33.9-36.93) and severe (13.42 %, CI=8.03-19.92; k=952; n=2,108,813); anxiety-mild (40.21 %, CI=37.39-43.07) and severe (16.79 %, CI=7.21-29.29; k=433; n=1,579,780); sleep disorders (41.09 %, CI=35.7-46.58); eating disorders (17.94 %, CI=15.79-20.20); gambling disorder (6.59 %, CI=5.52-7.75); post-traumatic stress disorder (25.13 %, CI=20.55-30.02); stress (36.34 %, CI=29.36-43.62); and suicide-related outcomes (ideation past 12 months: 10.76 %, CI=9.53-12.06; lifetime ideation: 20.33 %, CI=16.15-24.86; suicide attempt past 12 months: 1.37 %, CI=0.67-2.29; lifetime attempt: 3.44 %, CI=2.48-4.54). Meta-regression analyses identified statistically significant moderators of prevalence such as healthcare academic degrees and the pandemic in the case of depression and studies with more females in the case of sleep disorders. This is the most comprehensive synthesis on the prevalence of mental disorder symptoms in university students, providing crucial insights for clinicians, policymakers, and stakeholders.

The advent of affordable, high-quality virtual reality (VR) devices has revolutionized experimental research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, offering more immersive and naturalistic environments for studying skills like spatial navigation. However, the increased incidence of cybersickness in VR may compromise its advantages, necessitating appropriate tools to assess this phenomenon and understand its impact on experimental outcomes. Despite the growing use of VR in research, there is a lack of consensus on the most effective methods for measuring cybersickness across different experimental modalities and over time. Here, we compared two cybersickness assessment tools: the widely-used Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and the more recent Cybersickness in VR Questionnaire (CSQ-VR). Using a maze navigation task, we examined how cybersickness is modulated by modality (Desktop vs. VR) and habituation (decrease in cybersickness between morning and afternoon sessions) in a gender-balanced, young Spanish sample (n = 26) with a within-subjects design. We also investigated potential predictors of cybersickness related to the task and individual differences. Our results demonstrate high internal consistency for both tools, performing particularly well in VR, and SSQ showing higher reliability in Desktop conditions. Robust mixed factorial analyses revealed small to moderate effects of modality (VR > Desktop) and habituation in both SSQ and CSQ-VR scores. Robust regression analyses indicated that SSQ scores were predicted by modality and habituation, while CSQ-VR scores were mainly predicted by modality and VR experience. These findings highlight that: 1) both SSQ and CSQ-VR are reliable tools for assessing cybersickness during navigation tasks, especially in VR; 2) VR-induced cybersickness decreases with task repetition without apparent impact on performance; and 3) other performance and individual differences do not predict cybersickness. Our study provides valuable insights for optimizing VR task design in experimental settings, contributing to the broader field of VR-based research methodology in cognitive science.

Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a complex spatial attentional disorder consisting of a failure to attend to the contralesional side of space, frequently seen after a stroke. However, the majority of cases go undiagnosed due to the lack of a valid and reliable tool that is able to assess USN and its many variants. Recent technological advances in virtual reality (VR) and physiological sensors, allow for the study of this disorder under controlled, and ecologically-valid environments, which hold the promise of reliable and early detection. This proof of concept study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a system for discriminating different attentional states using a multimodal dataset derived from a spatial attention task conducted in VR. Nine healthy young adults underwent two experimental conditions: a Control condition and a Left Occlusion condition. Participants performed a visual search task while their behavioral data, including performance metrics, eye-gaze, head, and controller movement data, were recorded. Additionally, electroencephalography data was synchroniously collected to capture neural correlates of attentional processing. Analysis of results of this within-subjects study found worse performance (higher RT), changes in behavior (right-ward gaze bias, left-ward bias in head and controller movement) in the Left Occlusion condition. Neural differences were found (parieto-occipital mean alpha band power and event related potentials) between the two conditions. If validated, this system could be utilized as a diagnostic VR tool, while it holds the potential to facilitate the participation of stroke patients with USN in VR-driven rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVES:To assess the effects of and related evidence certainty of interventions for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across an individual's lifespan, and to develop a continuously updated web platform for people with lived experience of ADHD as a method to disseminate living evidence synthesis for shared decision making. DESIGN:Umbrella review and platform for shared decision making. DATA SOURCES:Six databases from inception to 19 January 2025. Study authors were contacted for additional information when necessary. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES:Systematic reviews that used meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials were eligible if they compared a drug or non-drug intervention with a passive control in individuals with a diagnosis of ADHD. Primary outcomes were severity of ADHD symptoms, analysed by rater type (clinician-rated, parent-rated, teacher-rated, or self-rated) and time point (short term (12 weeks, or study endpoint), medium term (26 weeks), and long term (52 weeks)),acceptability (participants dropping out for any reason), and tolerability (participants dropping out owing to any side effects). Secondary outcomes included daily functioning, quality of life, comorbid symptoms, and key side effects (decreased sleep and appetite). DATA SYNTHESIS:Eligible meta-analyses were re-estimated with a standardised statistical approach. Methodological quality was assessed using AMSTAR-2. Evidence certainty was evaluated using an algorithmic version of the GRADE framework, adapted for drug and non-drug interventions. RESULTS:115 of 414 full text articles were deemed eligible and 299 were excluded; the eligible articles comprised 221 unique combinations of participants, interventions, comparators, and outcomes. For each combination, the most recent and methodologically robust meta-analysis was selected for re-estimation, which gave 221 re-estimated meta-analyses in total, derived from 47 meta-analytic reports. In the short term, alpha-2 agonists, amphetamines, atomoxetine, methylphenidate, and viloxazine showed medium to large effect sizes in reducing the severity of ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents, with moderate to high certainty evidence. Methylphenidate showed consistent benefits across raters (standardised mean difference >0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.56 to 1.03; moderate or high certainty evidence). These interventions showed lower tolerability than the placebo, but this effect was not significant for methylphenidate and atomoxetine. In adults, atomoxetine, cognitive behavioural therapy, methylphenidate (and, when restricting analyses to high quality trials, amphetamines) showed at least moderate certainty evidence of efficacy on ADHD symptoms, with medium effect sizes. Methylphenidate, amphetamines, and atomoxetine had worse tolerability than placebo (methylphenidate, risk ratio 0.50, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.69; amphetamines, 0.40, 0.22 to 0.72; atomoxetine, 0.45, 0.35 to 0.58). Some non-drug interventions (acupuncture and cognitive behavioural therapy in children and adolescents, and mindfulness in adults) showed large effect sizes for ADHD symptoms, but with low certainty evidence. No high certainty, long term evidence was found for any intervention. An online platform showing effects and evidence certainty of each intervention across age groups, time points, and outcomes (https://ebiadhd-database.org/) was developed. CONCLUSIONS:This review provides updated evidence to inform patients, practitioners, and guideline developers how best to manage ADHD symptoms. The online platform should facilitate the implementation of shared decision making in daily practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION:Open Science Framework https://osf.io/ugqy6/.

There is a growing literature exploring the placebo response within specific mental disorders, but no overarching quantitative synthesis of this research has analyzed evidence across mental disorders. We carried out an umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of biological treatments (pharmacotherapy or neurostimulation) for mental disorders. We explored whether placebo effect size differs across distinct disorders, and the correlates of increased placebo effects. Based on a pre-registered protocol, we searched Medline, PsycInfo, EMBASE, and Web of Knowledge up to 23.10.2022 for systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses reporting placebo effect sizes in psychopharmacological or neurostimulation RCTs. Twenty meta-analyses, summarising 1,691 RCTs involving 261,730 patients, were included. Placebo effect size varied, and was large in alcohol use disorder (g = 0.90, 95% CI [0.70, 1.09]), depression (g = 1.10, 95% CI [1.06, 1.15]), restless legs syndrome (g = 1.41, 95% CI [1.25, 1.56]), and generalized anxiety disorder (d = 1.85, 95% CI [1.61, 2.09]). Placebo effect size was small-to-medium in obsessive-compulsive disorder (d = 0.32, 95% CI [0.22, 0.41]), primary insomnia (g = 0.35, 95% CI [0.28, 0.42]), and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (standardized mean change = 0.33, 95% CI [0.22, 0.44]). Correlates of larger placebo response in multiple mental disorders included later publication year (opposite finding for ADHD), younger age, more trial sites, larger sample size, increased baseline severity, and larger active treatment effect size. Most (18 of 20) meta-analyses were judged ‘low’ quality as per AMSTAR-2. Placebo effect sizes varied substantially across mental disorders. Future research should explore the sources of this variation. We identified important gaps in the literature, with no eligible systematic reviews/meta-analyses of placebo response in stress-related disorders, eating disorders, behavioural addictions, or bipolar mania.

We aimed to identify diagnosis-specific/transdiagnostic/transoutcome multivariable candidate predictors (MCPs) of key outcomes in mental disorders. We conducted an umbrella review (protocol link ), searching MEDLINE/Embase (19/07/2022), including systematic reviews of studies reporting on MCPs of response, remission, recovery, or relapse, in DSM/ICD-defined mental disorders. From published predictors, we filtered MCPs, validating MCP criteria. AMSTAR2/PROBAST measured quality/risk of bias of systematic reviews/individual studies. We included 117 systematic reviews, 403 studies, 299,888 individuals with mental disorders, testing 796 prediction models. Only 4.3%/1.2% of the systematic reviews/individual studies were at low risk of bias. The most frequently targeted outcome was remission (36.9%), the least frequent was recovery (2.5%). Studies mainly focused on depressive (39.4%), substance-use (17.9%), and schizophrenia-spectrum (11.9%) disorders. We identified numerous MCPs within disorders for response, remission and relapse, but none for recovery. Transdiagnostic MCPs of remission included lower disease-specific symptoms (disorders = 5), female sex/higher education (disorders = 3), and quality of life/functioning (disorders = 2). Transdiagnostic MCPs of relapse included higher disease-specific symptoms (disorders = 5), higher depressive symptoms (disorders = 3), and younger age/higher anxiety symptoms/global illness severity/ number of previous episodes/negative life events (disorders = 2). Finally, positive trans-outcome MCPs for depression included less negative life events/depressive symptoms (response, remission, less relapse), female sex (response, remission) and better functioning (response, less relapse); for schizophrenia, less positive symptoms/higher depressive symptoms (remission, less relapse); for substance use disorder, marital status/higher education (remission, less relapse). Male sex, younger age, more clinical symptoms and comorbid mental/physical symptoms/disorders were poor prognostic factors, while positive factors included social contacts and employment, absent negative life events, higher education, early access/intervention, lower disease-specific and comorbid mental and physical symptoms/conditions, across mental disorders. Current data limitations include high risk of bias of studies and extraction of single predictors from multivariable models. Identified MCPs can inform future development, validation or refinement of prediction models of key outcomes in mental disorders.

Neurodevelopmental disorders - including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, communication disorders, intellectual disability, motor disorders, specific learning disorders, and tic disorders - manifest themselves early in development. Valid, reliable and broadly usable biomarkers supporting a timely diagnosis of these disorders would be highly relevant from a clinical and public health standpoint. We conducted the first systematic review of studies on candidate diagnostic biomarkers for these disorders in children and adolescents. We searched Medline and Embase + Embase Classic with terms relating to biomarkers until April 6, 2022, and conducted additional targeted searches for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and neuroimaging or neurophysiological studies carried out by international consortia. We considered a candidate biomarker as promising if it was reported in at least two independent studies providing evidence of sensitivity and specificity of at least 80%. After screening 10,625 references, we retained 780 studies (374 biochemical, 203 neuroimaging, 133 neurophysiological and 65 neuropsychological studies, and five GWAS), including a total of approximately 120,000 cases and 176,000 controls. While the majority of the studies focused simply on associations, we could not find any biomarker for which there was evidence - from two or more studies from independent research groups, with results going into the same direction - of specificity and sensitivity of at least 80%. Other important metrics to assess the validity of a candidate biomarker, such as positive predictive value and negative predictive value, were infrequently reported. Limitations of the currently available studies include mostly small sample size, heterogeneous approaches and candidate biomarker targets, undue focus on single instead of joint biomarker signatures, and incomplete accounting for potential confounding factors. Future multivariable and multi-level approaches may be best suited to find valid candidate biomarkers, which will then need to be validated in external, independent samples and then, importantly, tested in terms of feasibility and cost-effectiveness, before they can be implemented in daily clinical practice.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data.

887 AGING Driving is a complex daily activity that requires several cognitive abilities, such as cognitive fitness, perception, attention, executive functions, and memory, in order to be successful. As we age, some of these abilities may deteriorate, such as attention or executive functions, however, research has found that only deficits in visuospatial abilities are consistently associated with impaired driving in older adults [1, 2]. Understanding how changes in cognition affect driving performance in older populations can lead to the development of cognitive screening protocols that can quickly detect deficits and prevent fatal or injuryinflicting accidents. Additionally, it is not yet clear what brain mechanisms involved in driving-related cognition affect actual driving performance and outcomes.

The human brain undergoes structural and functional changes across the lifespan. The study of motor sequence learning in elderly subjects is of particularly interest since previous findings in young adults might not replicate during later stages of adulthood. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study assessed the performance, brain activity and functional connectivity patterns associated with motor sequence learning in late middle adulthood. For this purpose, a total of 25 subjects were evaluated during early stages of learning [i.e., fast learning (FL)]. A subset of these subjects (n = 11) was evaluated after extensive practice of a motor sequence [i.e., slow learning (SL) phase]. As expected, late middle adults improved motor performance from FL to SL. Learning-related brain activity patterns replicated most of the findings reported previously in young subjects except for the lack of hippocampal activity during FL and the involvement of cerebellum during SL. Regarding functional connectivity, precuneus and sensorimotor lobule VI of the cerebellum showed a central role during improvement of novel motor performance. In the sample of subjects evaluated, connectivity between the posterior putamen and parietal and frontal regions was significantly decreased with aging during SL. This age-related connectivity pattern may reflect losses in network efficiency when approaching late adulthood. Altogether, these results may have important applications, for instance, in motor rehabilitation programs.

We mapped the evidence on the type and strength of associations between a broad range of mental and physical conditions in children and adolescents, by carrying out an umbrella review, i.e., a quantitative synthesis of previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We also assessed to which extent the links between mental and physical conditions vary across disorders or, by contrast, are transdiagnostic. Based on a pre-established protocol, we retained 45 systematic reviews/meta-analyses, encompassing around 12.5 million of participants. In analyses limited to the most rigorous estimates, we found evidence for the following associations: ADHD-asthma, ADHD-obesity, and depression-asthma. A transdiagnostic association was confirmed between asthma and anxiety/ASD/depression/bipolar disorder, between obesity and ADHD/ASD/depression, and between dermatitis and ASD/ADHD. We conclude that obesity and allergic conditions are likely to be associated with mental disorders in children and adolescents. Our results can help clinicians explore potential links between mental and physical conditions in children/adolescent and provide a road map for future studies aimed at shading light on the underlying factors.

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent across 84 countries, three variations of the message framing wording, and 560 data processing and analytic choices. Thus, results provide an empirical answer to a global communication question and highlight the emotional toll of loss-framed messages. Critically, this work demonstrates the importance of considering unintended affective consequences when evaluating nudge-style interventions.

The study of moral judgements often centres on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (that is, emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (that is, following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (for example, the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (for example, the trolley problem). Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors affecting moral judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45 countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with intention exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters, replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements. Including participants from 45 countries, Bago et al. find that the situational factors that affect moral reasoning are shared across countries, with diminished observed cultural variation.

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared to the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly-internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing: Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges.

The ability to appropriately perceive distances in activities of daily living, such as driving, is necessary when performing complex maneuvers. With aging, certain driving behaviors and cognitive functions change; however, it remains unknown if egocentric distance perception (EDP) performance is altered and whether its neural activity also changes as we grow older. To that end, 19 young and 17 older healthy adults drove in a driving simulator and performed an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment where we presented adults with an EDP task. We discovered that (a) EDP task performance was similar between groups, with higher response times in older adults; (b) older adults showed higher prefrontal and parietal activation; and (c) higher functional connectivity within frontal and parietal-occipital-cerebellar networks; and (d) an association between EDP performance and hard braking behaviors in the driving simulator was found. In conclusion, EDP functioning remains largely intact with aging, possibly due to an extended and effective rearrangement in functional brain resources, and may play a role in braking behaviors while driving.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world. The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 12 May 2020. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4878591.v1 This Registered Report presents evidence from 87 countries and regions showing that brief emotion-regulation interventions consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Numerous daily tasks, including car driving, require fine visuospatial tuning. Onesuch visuospatial ability, speed discrimination, declines with aging but its neuralunderpinnings remain unknown. In this study, we use fMRI to explore the effect ofaging during a high speed discrimination task, along with a completeneuropsychological assessment and a simulated driving evaluation in order toexamine how they interact with each other. Beyond confirming that high speeddiscrimination performance is dimished in the elderly, we found that this deficit mightbe partly due to a lack of modulation in the activity and connectivity of the defaultmode network (DMN) in this age group, as well as an over-recruitment of frontal,basal ganglia and cerebellar regions, possibly as a compensatory mecanism. Thisneural pattern could also be translated to our participants’ cognitive and drivingsimulator performance, such that in young adults, a proper DMN modulationcorrelated with better neuropsychological scores and a driving profile, an effect thatseems to be lost in the elderly. These findings contribute to highlight the role of thedefault mode network on visuospatial tasks, how it is age-related and its impact on cognitive functioning and driving performance in a simulator.