Moving in with a romantic partner later in life appears to boost life satisfaction for both men and women, yet formalizing that union through marriage does not provide an additional psychological benefit if the couple is already living together. A new analysis of long-term data suggests that contrary to popular theories regarding gender and emotional reliance, men do not suffer more than women after a relationship breakdown or gain more from entering a new partnership. These findings were published in the International Journal of Behavioral Development.

Social scientists and psychologists have spent decades trying to understand how romantic relationships influence mental health. A prevailing theory suggests that men and women experience these transitions differently due to the way they structure their social lives. Societal norms often encourage women to maintain wide networks of emotionally intimate friendships.

In contrast, men are frequently socialized to rely heavily on their romantic partners for emotional support. This dynamic implies that men should theoretically experience a steeper decline in well-being when a relationship ends, as they are losing their primary source of emotional connection. Conversely, men should theoretically experience a sharper increase in well-being when entering a relationship, as they regain that vital support system.

Iris V. Wahring, a researcher affiliated with Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Vienna, led a team to investigate whether these gendered patterns hold true for middle-aged and older adults. The research team included Urmimala Ghose, Christiane A. Hoppmann, Nilam Ram, and Denis Gerstorf. They sought to determine if age plays a moderating role in how relationships impact happiness.

Theories on aging, such as Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, propose that as people recognize their time is limited, they prioritize a smaller circle of emotionally meaningful relationships. If older men become more comfortable seeking support from family and friends, or if older adults generally become more resilient, the predicted gender gap in relationship transitions might disappear.

To test these ideas, the researchers analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study. This is a massive, ongoing project funded by the National Institute on Aging that tracks the lives of Americans over the age of 50. The study allows researchers to observe the same individuals over many years, providing a motion picture of their lives rather than a static snapshot. Wahring and her colleagues focused on a sample of 2,840 participants who provided data between 2006 and 2022. They looked specifically at changes in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction following three distinct relationship transitions: separation, moving in with a partner, and getting married.

A major challenge in this type of research is separating the effect of the relationship transition from the personality of the people involved. For example, people who get married might generally be happier or wealthier than those who do not. To solve this, the researchers used a statistical technique called propensity score matching. They created pairs of virtual twins within the data.

If a man in the study moved in with a partner, the researchers compared him to another man in the study who was of the same age, education level, and relationship history but who remained single. By comparing these matched individuals, the researchers could be more confident that any changes in well-being were caused by the relationship transition itself rather than preexisting differences.

The study first examined the levels of emotional support participants felt they received from friends and family. The data confirmed the traditional sociological view that men generally perceive themselves as having less external emotional support than women. Men reported lower levels of support from their social networks outside of their romantic partnerships. Based on the theoretical framework, this deficit should have made men more vulnerable to separation and more responsive to new relationships.

The results regarding separation were unexpected. The researchers hypothesized that breaking up would lead to increased depressive symptoms and decreased life satisfaction, particularly for men. The data did not support this. The analysis showed no significant decline in well-being for men or women following a separation. This finding challenges the narrative of the fragile older male who collapses without a partner.

It suggests that older adults may possess a high degree of emotional resilience or that they are effective at mobilizing other social resources when necessary. It is also possible that for some older adults, the end of a relationship brings a sense of relief that counterbalances the stress of the loss.

When the researchers looked at positive relationship transitions, the picture became clearer but still defied gender stereotypes. Moving in with a partner was associated with a measurable increase in life satisfaction. This benefit was shared equally by men and women. The gender of the participant did not predict who would be happier after cohabitating. The anticipated “male bonus”—where men would gain more happiness because they were filling a larger emotional void—did not appear in the data. The psychological lift provided by a new live-in partnership appears to be a universal benefit in this age group, regardless of gender.

The study also dissected the nuances of marriage versus cohabitation. For couples who were not living together, moving in and getting married at the same time produced the same boost in life satisfaction as simply moving in together. For couples who were already cohabiting, the act of getting married did not result in any additional increase in life satisfaction or decrease in depressive symptoms.

The data indicates that the daily reality of sharing a life, a home, and a routine is the primary driver of well-being. The legal and ceremonial act of marriage does not appear to add a distinct layer of psychological protection or happiness on top of the benefits already provided by cohabitation.

These results reflect changing societal norms. In previous decades, cohabitation without marriage was often stigmatized, and marriage served as the gateway to social approval and financial stability. As cohabitation has become a normative part of the relationship landscape, even for older adults, the unique power of marriage to alter one’s sense of well-being seems to have diminished. The “marriage benefit” often cited in older sociological literature may actually be a “living together benefit.”

The researchers cautioned that there are limitations to how these findings should be interpreted. The sample was drawn from the United States, a Western, industrialized nation with specific cultural ideas about romance and individualism. The results might not apply to cultures where family structures are different or where marriage carries heavier social weight.

Additionally, the study focused on heterosexual relationships. The dynamics of separation and marriage could function differently in the LGBTQIA+ community, where friendship networks often play a unique role in providing support that biological families or traditional institutions may not.

Another important caveat involves the measurement of emotional support. While men reported less support than women on average, the overall levels of support in the sample were quite high. Few participants reported having no support at all. It is possible that the gendered effects of relationship transitions only become visible in populations that are truly isolated. If a man has absolutely no friends and loses his wife, he might indeed suffer more than a woman in a similar position. However, within the general population of older Americans who participate in health studies, such extreme isolation is rare enough that it did not drive the aggregate results.

The timing of the measurements also matters. The Health and Retirement Study interviews participants every two years. This means the data captures the medium-term state of mind of the participants. It is possible that in the immediate weeks or months following a breakup or a wedding, men and women do react differently. A short-term spike in grief or joy might fade by the time the next survey takes place. The findings represent a stabilized view of how these life events reshape the emotional landscape over time.

This research implies that the emotional lives of older men and women are more alike than different. Both genders benefit from the companionship and intimacy of living with a partner. Both genders show surprising resilience when those relationships end. The outdated idea that men are emotionally helpless without a wife is not supported by this data. Men in the 21st century, at least those in this demographic, appear capable of navigating the complex waters of romance and loss with a stability that rivals that of women.

Future research will need to examine these dynamics in more diverse populations. Understanding how economic status intersects with relationship transitions is essential. Moving in together might boost life satisfaction partly because it pools financial resources, a benefit that would be more pronounced for low-income individuals.

Additionally, researchers might look at the quality of the relationships being formed or dissolved. Leaving a high-conflict marriage is likely to improve well-being, while leaving a supportive one would harm it. These qualitative distinctions are difficult to capture in large numerical datasets but are vital for a complete picture of human relationships.

The study, “Relationship transitions and well-being in middle-aged and older men and women,” was authored by Iris V. Wahring, Urmimala Ghose, Christiane A. Hoppmann, Nilam Ram, and Denis Gerstorf.

Researchers have identified a specific liver protein produced during exercise that strengthens the brain’s protective barrier and improves memory in aging mice. This finding suggests a potential pharmaceutical avenue to mimic the cognitive benefits of physical activity for older adults who cannot exercise. The study was published in the journal Cell.

For decades, medical professionals have recognized that aerobic exercise promotes brain health. Physical activity stimulates the birth of new neurons and improves learning capabilities. It also helps reduce inflammation in the brain. However, this prescription is often difficult to fill for the elderly or those with physical disabilities.

Frailty or cardiovascular conditions can make vigorous exercise impossible. This limitation created a scientific need to understand the biological signals that exercise triggers in the body. If researchers could identify these signals, they might be able to bottle the benefits in a drug.

Saul A. Villeda and his colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, have spent years investigating how factors circulating in the blood influence aging. The research team previously demonstrated that transferring blood plasma from exercising mice into sedentary mice could transfer the brain benefits of that exercise.

They identified an enzyme called GPLD1 as a key factor. This enzyme is produced by the liver and released into the bloodstream after physical activity. Gregor Bieri, a postdoctoral scholar in Villeda’s lab and the study’s lead author, led the effort to understand how this liver enzyme communicates with the brain.

The researchers faced a biological puzzle regarding GPLD1. This protein is an enzyme, which is a molecule that acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions. However, GPLD1 does not cross the blood-brain barrier. This barrier is a tightly packed layer of cells lining the blood vessels in the brain. It acts as a security checkpoint that prevents toxins and pathogens in the blood from entering the brain tissue. Since GPLD1 remains in the bloodstream, the team reasoned it must be acting on the blood vessels themselves rather than entering the brain directly.

To investigate this hypothesis, the team utilized genetic sequencing data to look at proteins found on the surface of cells in the brain’s blood vessels. They were looking specifically for proteins that anchor themselves to the cell membrane in a way that makes them susceptible to being cut loose by GPLD1. This search led them to a protein called TNAP. The researchers found that levels of TNAP are low in young, healthy mice but rise considerably as the animals age.

The team discovered that high levels of TNAP on the blood vessels are detrimental to the blood-brain barrier. When TNAP is abundant, the barrier becomes permeable and leaky. This allows harmful substances to seep into the brain, causing inflammation and impairing the function of neurons. The researchers determined that the job of GPLD1 is to act like a pair of molecular scissors. It circulates in the blood, finds the TNAP anchored to the brain’s blood vessels, and snips it off. This process reduces the amount of active TNAP, which in turn helps restore the integrity of the blood-brain barrier.

To confirm this mechanism, the researchers conducted a series of experiments on mice. They first used a genetic technique to artificially increase the levels of TNAP in the brain blood vessels of young mice. These young mice soon developed leaky blood-brain barriers and performed poorly on memory tests, effectively mimicking the conditions of old age. This experiment demonstrated that excess TNAP is a driver of cognitive decline.

Next, the researchers treated aged mice with the liver enzyme GPLD1. They injected the mice with genetic instructions that caused their livers to produce more of the enzyme, simulating the effects of exercise. The results showed that the enzyme successfully trimmed away the excess TNAP. Consequently, the blood-brain barrier became less leaky. The aged mice also showed improvements in cognitive function. They were better able to recognize new objects and navigate mazes compared to untreated aged mice.

“We were able to tap into this mechanism late in life, for the mice, and it still worked,” said Bieri.

The team also explored a more direct pharmaceutical approach. Instead of using the liver enzyme, they administered a drug known to inhibit the activity of TNAP. This drug, called SBI-425, effectively blocked the action of the protein without needing the enzyme to cut it off. The aged mice treated with this inhibitor showed similar improvements in memory and barrier function to those treated with GPLD1. This finding indicates that targeting TNAP directly could be a viable strategy for drug development.

The researchers then extended their investigation to Alzheimer’s disease. They utilized a strain of mice genetically engineered to develop sticky plaques in the brain and memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s. When these mice were treated with GPLD1 or the TNAP inhibitor, they showed a reduction in the density of these plaques. They also exhibited improved behavior, such as building better nests, which is a standard measure of well-being in mice.

These findings highlight the importance of the connection between the liver and the brain. It appears that the liver acts as a sensor for physical activity and sends a chemical dispatch to the brain’s security system to tighten its defenses. When that signal is weak due to a lack of exercise or aging, the defenses crumble. Restoring that signal or blocking the damage it normally prevents can reverse some aspects of aging.

“This discovery shows just how relevant the body is for understanding how the brain declines with age,” said Villeda.

While the results are promising, there are necessary caveats to consider. The study was conducted in mice, and human biology may not respond in the exact same way. However, the researchers did analyze tissue samples from deceased humans. They found that the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease had higher levels of TNAP in their blood vessels compared to healthy individuals. This correlation suggests the mechanism is conserved across species.

Additionally, the blood-brain barrier is a complex structure. While trimming TNAP appears to fix leaks, there may be other consequences to manipulating this protein that are not yet fully understood. TNAP has other functions in the body, including roles in bone mineralization.

Any potential drug would need to be specific enough to target the brain’s blood vessels without causing side effects in the skeleton or other organs. The drug used in this study, SBI-425, does not cross the blood-brain barrier, which is beneficial as it acts only on the vessel walls and not inside the brain tissue itself.

Future research will need to determine the safety and efficacy of TNAP inhibitors in humans. The team also plans to investigate if there are other proteins on the blood-brain barrier that the liver enzyme might target. For now, this study provides a mechanical blueprint for how the simple act of running can physically reinforce the walls that protect our minds.

The study, “Liver exerkine reverses aging- and Alzheimer’s-related memory loss via vasculature,” was authored by Gregor Bieri, Karishma J.B. Pratt, Yasuhiro Fuseya, Turan Aghayev, Juliana Sucharov, Alana M. Horowitz, Amber R. Philp, Karla Fonseca-Valencia, Rebecca Chu, Mason Phan, Laura Remesal, Shih-Hsiu J. Wang, Andrew C. Yang, Kaitlin B. Casaletto, and Saul A. Villeda.

A study in the Netherlands identified groups of people differing in the trajectories of their expectations that they will become parents across their reproductive age. Forty-four percent of men and 40% of women tended to have stable expectations that they will have children in the future, lasting until their mid-to-late 30s. Individuals with stable parenthood expectations tended to score higher on agreeableness and extraversion. The paper was published in the Journal of Personality.

During the past half-century, fertility rates have been decreasing worldwide. People, on average, have fewer children, and increasing numbers experience childlessness. Major factors contributing to this include longer time spent in education and the resulting postponement of marriage, new fertility regulation technologies that made having children a choice, and wider acceptance of individual rights to make life choices.

Consequently, fertility rates across the developed world have been below replacement level for the past several decades, producing a population decline in many countries. This has drawn significant research interest toward fertility intentions—people’s plans and expectations about having children.

Research shows that, in young adulthood, most individuals plan to have children, and often more than one. However, as time passes, many fail to enact these expectations, staying childless well into middle age or having fewer children than initially planned.

Study author İlayda Özoruç and her colleagues wanted to explore how fertility expectations develop and change in men and women living in the Netherlands across the reproductive age period. They also wanted to explore how the trajectories of change in these expectations are associated with individual personality traits.

The authors note that voluntary childlessness (i.e., being childfree) has become increasingly socially acceptable in the Netherlands. Consequently, they expected greater variation between individuals in how they imagine their future regarding having children.

The researchers analyzed data from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel. The LISS is an ongoing panel study that started in 2007. It includes 5,000 households in the Netherlands comprising nearly 7,500 individuals.

The data used in this study came from 5,231 participants who were non-parents at the start of the study and participated between 2008 and 2022. The average participant provided responses in 3 to 4 data collection waves during the studied period. Sixty-eight percent participated in more than one data collection wave. Fifty-two percent of participants were women. During this period, roughly 15% of participants became parents for the first time.

The authors used data on participants’ fertility expectations (“Do you think you will have children in the future?”), Big Five personality traits (obtained using the International Personality Item Pool), and parenthood status (tracking the transition to the first child).

The researchers categorized participants based on how their parenthood expectations developed during the study period. The largest category for both men and women was the normative category (44% of men and 40% of women). In this category, people started with expectations that they would have children in the future. As time passed, the majority became parents (84% of men and 92% of women in this group). For those who did not become parents, expectations of having children started dropping sharply in their mid-30s, so that by age 42, almost none expected to have children in the future.

The smallest category, including 8% of men and 7% of women, was the childfree category. People in this group mostly started out not expecting children or being unsure, and became increasingly certain they would not have children as time passed. Only a small percentage of people from this category eventually became parents (6% of men and 12% of women).

The remaining categories showed more complex trajectories, such as general uncertainty about future children (“uncertain trajectory”), switching expectations between yes, no, and unsure (“switching trajectory”), or starting uncertain but gaining expectation later (“postponement trajectory”). Women also showed a unique “abandoning trajectory” (15%), where expectations to have children existed at age 18 but dropped to “unsure” or “no” starting around age 25.

When personality traits were considered, results showed that both men and women from the normative group (stable expectation to become parents) scored higher on agreeableness and extraversion compared to the uncertain and childfree groups.

For men specifically, those in the normative group also tended to have lower neuroticism and higher conscientiousness and openness compared to the uncertain and childfree groups.

However, for women, personality differences were fewer. Unlike men, women’s levels of neuroticism, openness, and conscientiousness did not differ significantly between the expectation trajectories.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the development of fertility expectations throughout the reproductive age. However, it should be noted that all participants were from the Netherlands. Results regarding individuals from other countries and cultures might differ.

The paper, “Big Five Personality Traits and Trajectories of Fertility Expectations Across the Reproductive Age Period,” was authored by İlayda Özoruç, Jeroen Vermunt, Katya Ivanova, and Manon van Scheppingen.

New research published in Molecular Psychiatry suggests that two major personality traits associated with alcohol use—impulsivity and neuroticism—stem from largely distinct brain networks. While both traits heighten the risk for problematic drinking in adolescents, the biological pathways driving that risk appear to be different. This finding supports the concept that there are multiple neurological routes that can lead to similar risky behaviors in youth.

Impulsivity and neuroticism are well-known psychological risk factors for substance abuse, yet it remains unclear how these traits manifest in the brain’s complex wiring. Previous studies often focused on isolated brain regions rather than the broad communication patterns across the entire brain.

The research team aimed to determine whether these two personality traits share a common neural foundation or if they operate through separate mechanisms. By mapping these connections, the scientists hoped to clarify how different vulnerabilities contribute to the onset of alcohol use during the critical developmental period of adolescence.

“We are interested in understanding how risk factors in adolescence contribute to substance use problems later in life,” explained study authors Annie Cheng and Sarah Yip, a postdoctoral associate and an associate professor, respectively, at the Yale School of Medicine.

“Traits like impulsivity (acting without thinking) and neuroticism (tending to experience more negative emotions) are known to increase alcohol-use risk, but we still don’t fully understand what is happening in the brain that connects these traits to later outcomes—especially during adolescence, when risky behaviors and many mental health conditions first emerge. Our study uses brain connectivity patterns to better understand how these personality traits may relate to substance use at a biological level.”

The study analyzed data from approximately 1,100 young adults who participated in the IMAGEN study, a large multi-center genetic-neuroimaging project in Europe. The participants were 19 years old at the time of the brain scans. During the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sessions, the participants performed a specific activity known as the Stop Signal Task. This task measures inhibitory control by asking participants to respond to a stimulus but withhold their response when a specific signal appears.

The researchers utilized a technique called functional connectivity analysis. This method examines how different regions of the brain communicate with one another by measuring the synchronization of their activity over time. Using a machine learning approach called connectome-based predictive modeling, the team sought to identify specific patterns of brain connectivity that could predict a participant’s levels of impulsivity and neuroticism.

Impulsivity was measured using the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale, which assesses a person’s tendency to act without foresight. Neuroticism, the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety or moodiness, was assessed using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. The scientists also looked at the participants’ alcohol use behaviors using a standardized screening test.

The researchers found that the brain networks predicting impulsivity were fundamentally different from those predicting neuroticism. The neural signature for impulsivity was primarily characterized by connections involving motor and sensory areas of the brain. This suggests that the biological basis of acting without thinking is closely tied to the systems that manage physical movement and sensory processing.

In contrast, the neural signature for neuroticism was much more distributed throughout the brain. It involved a wide array of networks, including those responsible for emotion regulation, self-reflection, and executive control. Specifically, the neuroticism network included connections in the default mode network, the frontoparietal network, and subcortical regions.

A direct comparison of the two networks showed very little overlap. Only about 3 percent to 4 percent of the functional connections were shared between the impulsivity and neuroticism models. This indicates that while these traits often occur together in individuals, they arise from distinct neurobiological architectures.

“We were somewhat surprised by how little overlap there was between the brain networks associated with impulsivity and neuroticism,” Cheng and Yip told PsyPost. “These traits often co-occur and jointly predict a wide range of psychiatric conditions, so one might expect them to share more common neural architecture. Instead, we found that their underlying brain connectivity patterns were largely distinct. This raises an important question for future research: why are impulsivity and neuroticism implicated together in so many forms of psychopathology if their neural networks are largely distinct?”

The researchers also compared these personality networks to a previously identified brain network associated with alcohol-use risk. Both impulsivity and neuroticism networks showed some overlap with the alcohol-risk network, sharing about 10 percent to 20 percent of their connections. However, the specific connections that overlapped were different for each trait.

This finding provides biological evidence for the psychological concept of equifinality. Equifinality is the idea that different developmental pathways can lead to the same outcome. In this context, one teenager might be at risk for alcohol misuse due to motor-sensory disconnects related to impulsivity, while another might be at risk due to emotional regulation issues related to neuroticism.

“Even though impulsivity and neuroticism are both linked to alcohol-use risk, they appear to be supported by largely distinct brain networks,” the researchers explained. “In other words, two teens might be at risk for similar behaviors, but for different underlying neurobiological reasons. This supports the idea that there isn’t just one pathway to risky behavior—there are multiple routes that can lead to the same outcome.”

To ensure the results were robust, the scientists tested their models on an independent group of participants. They used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which includes children in the United States. Even though the ABCD participants were younger, aged 11 to 12, the models still showed a significant association, suggesting the findings are generalizable across different populations.

“The practical significance of our findings lies in improving our understanding of how vulnerability may develop into risky behavior over time,” Cheng and Yip said. “We show that impulsivity and neuroticism—two traits that both increase alcohol-use risk—are supported by largely distinct brain networks and relate to alcohol use risk via different brain connections.”

“This suggests that prevention and intervention efforts may need to differ depending on whether a young person’s risk is driven more by difficulty regulating behavior or difficulty managing negative emotions. In other words, our findings support a more personalized, mechanism-based approach to reducing adolescent risk, rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all approach.”

As with all research, there are limitations. The sample from the IMAGEN study primarily consisted of individuals of White European ancestry. It remains to be seen if these specific brain patterns apply equally to more diverse populations. Additionally, the study relied on self-reported questionnaires to measure personality traits, which may not always capture the full complexity of an individual’s behavior.

The brain scans were collected while participants were performing a specific task rather than while resting. It is possible that the brain networks might look different when the brain is not engaged in a structured activity. The study was also cross-sectional, meaning it looked at a single point in time, so it cannot definitively prove that the brain patterns caused the behaviors.

It is also important to note that these brain patterns represent risk factors rather than deterministic predictions. “These brain patterns do not mean a teenager is ‘wired’ for alcohol problems,” Cheng and Yip noted. “Instead, they point to systems that may contribute to vulnerability, helping guide prevention efforts toward strengthening regulatory skills, emotional coping, and supportive environments.”

“A key next step is to examine how these brain networks change over time and how they relate to future alcohol use or other mental health outcomes. As large longitudinal studies like ABCD continue to follow participants into later adolescence and adulthood, we will be able to test how these neural signatures evolve across development. Ultimately, we hope this work contributes to more targeted and developmentally informed prevention approaches.”

“One broader implication is that adolescent risk-taking behavior reflects highly complex interactions among developing brain systems, personality traits, and environmental factors,” the researchers said. “By studying these systems in large, diverse samples, we can move toward a more nuanced understanding of youth development that recognizes individual variability.”

The study, “Impulsivity and neuroticism share distinct functional connectivity signatures with alcohol-use risk in youth,” was authored by Annie Cheng, Sarah Lichenstein, Bader Chaarani, Qinghao Liang, Marzieh Babaeianjelodar, Steven J. Riley, Wenjing Luo, Corey Horien, Abigail S. Greene, Tobias Banaschewski, Arun L. W. Bokde, Sylvane Desrivières, Herta Flor, Antoine Grigis, Penny Gowland, Andreas Heinz, Rüdiger Brühl, Jean-Luc Martinot, Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot, Eric Artiges, Frauke Nees, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, Luise Poustka, Sarah Hohmann, Nathalie Holz, Christian Baeuchl, Michael N. Smolka, Nilakshi Vaidya, Henrik Walter, Robert Whelan, Gunter Schumann, R. Todd Constable, Godfrey Pearlson, Hugh Garavan, and Sarah W. Yip.

New research provides evidence that the repetitive thoughts occupying a person’s mind can directly influence the spontaneous memories they experience later. This phenomenon, termed “preoccupation priming,” suggests that focusing on a specific topic creates a tendency for the brain to retrieve personal memories related to that subject. The study was published in the scientific journal Consciousness and Cognition.

Psychologists have studied involuntary autobiographical memories for many years. These are memories of past personal events that pop into consciousness without any deliberate attempt to retrieve them. They often occur during mundane activities, such as walking down the street or washing dishes.

Previous research indicated a strong connection between a person’s current life concerns and the content of these spontaneous memories. For instance, diary studies showed that individuals going through a breakup or starting a new diet often reported involuntary memories centered on those specific themes.

However, these earlier studies were primarily correlational. They relied on participants recording their daily experiences, which made it difficult to determine the direction of cause and effect. It was unclear if thinking about a topic caused the memories, or if having the memories caused the person to think about the topic more frequently.

Researchers John H. Mace and Emily Chow sought to resolve this ambiguity by conducting a controlled laboratory experiment. They aimed to establish a causal link by manipulating what participants thought about and then measuring the subsequent effect on their involuntary memories. The goal was to demonstrate that the cognitive act of repetitive thinking serves as a mechanism that primes the memory system.

The study included 60 undergraduate students as participants. The researchers randomly assigned these individuals to one of two groups: a repetitive thinking group and a control group.

The experiment began with a priming phase designed to simulate the experience of being preoccupied. Participants were told they were taking part in a study on concentration. They viewed a series of slides on a computer screen that instructed them to imagine an activity or think about a specific topic.

In the repetitive thinking group, participants viewed ten slides. Seven of these slides instructed them to “think about food.” The remaining three slides offered unrelated instructions, such as imagining raking leaves or setting goals. Each slide remained on the screen for 35 seconds, forcing the participant to maintain their focus on the topic for a sustained period.

The control group also viewed ten slides with similar timing. However, only one slide instructed them to think about food. The other nine slides featured various unrelated prompts, such as imagining sitting in a chair, thinking about rain, or thinking about watches. This design ensured that the control group was exposed to the topic of food but did not engage in the repetitive rumination characteristic of a preoccupation.

Following the priming phase, the researchers administered a vigilance task. This is a standard method used in psychology to elicit and record involuntary memories. Participants watched a sequence of 92 slides. Each slide contained a pattern of horizontal or vertical lines with a short phrase embedded in the center, such as “hanging your clothes” or “growing a garden.”

The participants were given a simple, repetitive assignment to keep them occupied. They had to say “yes” out loud whenever they saw a slide with vertical lines. This type of low-attention task is known to encourage mind-wandering, which facilitates the emergence of spontaneous memories.

The researchers instructed the participants to ignore the text phrases on the slides but to pay attention to their own mental states. If they experienced a spontaneous thought or a specific memory during the task, they were to click a mouse button and write down what they experienced in a booklet.

Crucially, the vigilance task included specific cues designed to trigger food-related memories. Of the 89 non-practice slides, seven contained phrases directly related to food, such as “buying food,” “cooking dinner,” or “eating good food.” The remaining 82 slides contained neutral phrases unrelated to the priming topic.

After the task was completed, the participants reviewed their written entries. They categorized each entry as either a general thought or a specific memory. Two independent judges also reviewed the entries to determine if they were related to food.

The researchers found that the participants who engaged in repetitive thinking about food produced significantly more involuntary memories related to food than the control group. This outcome supports the hypothesis that preoccupation operates as a form of priming. By thinking about a subject repeatedly, the brain becomes sensitized to that information, making related past experiences more accessible to involuntary retrieval.

The study yielded another finding regarding the total number of memories produced. The repetitive thinking group reported a higher number of involuntary memories overall, regardless of whether the memories were about food. This suggests that the act of repetitive thinking might trigger a state of heightened memory accessibility.

The researchers suggest this increase in total memories may be due to “collateral priming.” This concept implies that when a specific network of memories is activated, such as memories about food, the activation spreads to other associated memories. For example, a memory about a dinner party might activate memories about the friends who were there or the location where it happened, even if those details are not strictly about food.

The study also compared the number of spontaneous thoughts that were not memories. The data showed no significant difference between the two groups regarding these non-memory thoughts. This indicates that the priming effect was specific to the autobiographical memory system and did not simply increase general thoughts about the topic.

These findings have implications for understanding how our daily mental habits shape our cognitive reality. The results suggest that the things we obsess over or worry about do more than just occupy our conscious attention. They actively recruit our past experiences, bringing related memories to the forefront of our minds.

“Your daily involuntary memories will track your thoughts and all the information that you process,” explained Mace, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at Eastern Illinois University. “Most of the time, you will be unaware of the connection. If you a preoccupied with a particular idea (e.g., losing weight, a former partner), thinking about it a lot, this will influence your involuntary memories, in that many of them will feature the topic you are preoccupied with. You will make these connections, and this will not be a problem unless the preoccupations and memories are distressing.”

There are some limitations to this study that should be considered. The experiment focused on a single topic: food. While food is a common subject of daily thought, it is possible that other topics might yield different results.

Additionally, the duration of the repetitive thinking in the lab was relatively short, totaling about four minutes. Real-world preoccupations often last for days, weeks, or months. It is plausible that the effects observed in the laboratory would be even stronger in a natural setting where the repetition is more frequent and intense.

Future research in this area aims to explore different types of topics to see if the effect is universal. The scientists are also interested in examining how the frequency of the repetitive thought impacts the strength of the priming. Understanding these variables could provide deeper insight into how our internal monologues influence the way we remember our past.

The study, “Preoccupation priming: How repetitive thinking can influence our involuntary memories,” was authored by John H. Mace and Emily Chow.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

On Friday, January 30, the Sex and Psychology podcast, hosted by social psychologist Dr. Justin Lehmiller, featured Dr. Tom Bellamy. The episode explored the neurobiology of limerence, a state of intense romantic obsession, and examined strategies for breaking the cycle of unwanted attachment.

The conversation began by defining limerence not as a disorder, but as a biological trait that can be integrated into one’s emotional life. Bellamy explained that while the euphoric “fireworks” of new attachment are powerful, they typically fade within a few years. He noted that chasing this specific high often traps people in a cycle of serial monogamy, preventing the formation of stable, companionate love.

Later in the episode, the discussion shifted to the neurological similarities between limerence and addiction. Bellamy described a process where the brain’s dopamine-driven “wanting” system becomes sensitized, acting like an accelerator pedal pressed to the floor. Simultaneously, the prefrontal cortex—the area of the brain responsible for self-control and decision-making—becomes weakened, effectively releasing the brakes.

To counter this, Bellamy emphasized the need to strengthen executive function and “wake up the mental CEO.” He recommended mindfulness practices to interrupt subconscious habit loops, such as recognizing the urge to check a text message before acting on it. He also highlighted that foundational health habits, including proper sleep and exercise, create a “halo effect” that improves cognitive bandwidth for emotional regulation.

A more aggressive strategy involves “devaluing” the object of affection to break the cycle of idealization. Bellamy introduced the concept of the “daymare,” a technique where individuals deliberately alter their pleasant daydreams to include negative or rejecting endings. This approach uses negative conditioning to replace feelings of comfort with aversion.

Bellamy clarified that the purpose of this negative visualization is not to harbor permanent resentment. Instead, the aim is to accelerate the psychological process of extinction, where the brain stops expecting a reward from the person. The ultimate goal is to reach a state of neutrality, viewing the former partner realistically as an ordinary person with normal flaws.

You can listen to the full interview here.

If you search the internet for the smartest people in history, one name appears more than any other. That name is Albert Einstein. His wild hair and expressive face have become the universal symbol for genius. But what was his IQ score?

Einstein was a theoretical physicist born in Germany in 1879. He is best known for developing the theory of relativity. This work fundamentally changed how humanity understands the universe.

Before Einstein, the laws of physics seemed set in stone. Isaac Newton had described a world of absolute time and space. Einstein challenged this view.

In 1905, often called his “miracle year,” he published four groundbreaking papers. One of these papers introduced the famous equation E=mc². This equation demonstrated that mass and energy are interchangeable.

He did not stop there. He went on to explain the photoelectric effect, which was a vital step toward quantum theory. This specific work won him the Nobel Prize in Physics.

His contributions led to technologies we use every day. Without his theories, we would not have GPS navigation or laser technology. He reshaped our concept of reality itself.

Because his achievements were so monumental, people naturally wonder about the mind that created them. We want to quantify his brilliance. We want to know if his brain was different from ours.

Understanding the Intelligence Quotient

To understand the rumors about Einstein’s score, we must first understand the test itself. IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient. It is a standardized score derived from a set of tests.

These tests are designed to assess human intelligence. The first modern intelligence test was developed in France in 1905. Psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon created it.

Their original goal was not to identify geniuses. Instead, they wanted to identify children who needed extra help in school. The test was a tool for education, not a measure of elite status.

Later, American psychologists adapted these tests for adults. The most famous early version was the Army Alpha test. It was created in 1917 to evaluate soldiers during World War I.

Modern tests, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, measure various cognitive abilities. They look at verbal comprehension and working memory. They also measure perceptual reasoning and processing speed.

The average score on these tests is set at 100. Most people score between 85 and 115. A score above 130 is typically considered “gifted.”

The maximum score on current tests often tops out around 160. This is the 99.9th percentile. This means a person with this score scores higher than almost everyone else in the general population.

The Missing Evidence

This brings us to the central question. Did Albert Einstein ever take an IQ test? According to a 2023 article by psychologist Russell T. Warne, the answer is almost certainly no. Warne asserts that there is no evidence Einstein ever sat for such an assessment.

Warne analyzes the timeline of Einstein’s life to support this conclusion. Einstein was born in 1879. He was already 26 years old when Binet created the first children’s test in 1905. He was an established adult by the time testing became common.

The first adult test, the Army Alpha, appeared in 1917. At that time, Einstein was 39 years old. He was living in Europe and was already a world-famous celebrity. Warne argues that Einstein had little to gain from taking an intelligence test.

It is unlikely that a physicist of his stature would have bothered with a psychometric evaluation. He was busy working on unified field theory. He was also navigating the political turmoil of Europe. There are no records in the Albert Einstein Archives or biographies that mention a test.

Where the Estimates Originate

If there is no record of a test, where does the number 160 come from? Warne conducted a search of historical publications to find the answer. He found that journalists and writers have been guessing Einstein’s IQ for nearly a century.

One of the earliest estimates appeared in a 1945 issue of Life magazine. The article profiled a 14-year-old prodigy named Merrill Kenneth Wolf. The magazine reported that Wolf had an IQ of 182. The article stated that this was “only 23 points lower than Einstein’s.”

This phrasing implies that the magazine believed Einstein’s IQ was 205. However, Life magazine was not consistent. In 1954, the same magazine published an article about another prodigy. This time, they estimated Einstein’s IQ at 192.

Other publications joined the guessing game. In 1962, Popular Mechanics stated that Einstein was estimated to have an IQ of 207. A 1974 book by Mariann Olden claimed his IQ was 205. 

Warne points out that the variation in these numbers is extreme. They range from 150 to over 200. This inconsistency suggests that the numbers are fabricated. There is no primary source. The number 160 appears to be a modern consensus among journalists, but it is not based on data.

Psychologists Weigh In

Academic experts are skeptical of these numbers. In a 2020 article for Biography.com, Dean Keith Simonton weighed in on the issue. Simonton is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Davis.

Simonton warns that these estimates often confuse two different things. They conflate intellectual ability with domain-specific achievement. Einstein was the greatest theoretical physicist of his time. This means he was exceptional in physics.

However, general intelligence tests measure a wide range of skills. They test vocabulary, pattern recognition, and memory. Being a genius in physics does not guarantee a perfect score in every other area. Simonton suggests that if you look at Einstein’s early development, his raw IQ might not have been as striking as his physics work.

Jonathan Wai, a professor at the University of Arkansas, offers a different perspective in the same Biography.com article. Wai notes that people who earn PhDs in physics typically have extremely high IQs.

Wai points to Einstein’s famous thought experiments. As a teenager, Einstein imagined chasing a beam of light. This required intense spatial visualization. Wai argues that this suggests Einstein was highly talented in spatial reasoning.

Wai believes that if Einstein had been tested, he would have scored well above average. This is consistent with data on other physicists. However, this is still a prediction, not a confirmed score.

The Biological Evidence

While we lack a test score, we do have biological evidence. We have Einstein’s brain. When Einstein died in 1955, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey performed the autopsy. Harvey removed the brain for scientific study.

In 1999, a team of researchers published a landmark study in The Lancet. The team was led by Sandra F. Witelson and Debra L. Kigar. They worked with Thomas Harvey to analyze the anatomy of the brain.

The researchers compared Einstein’s brain to a control group. This group consisted of 35 brains from men with normal intelligence. The men in the control group had an average IQ of 116.

The study revealed something surprising about brain size. Many people assume that a genius must have a massive brain. However, Einstein’s brain weighed 1,230 grams. This was not statistically different from the control group.

In fact, his brain was slightly lighter than the average for the men in the study. This finding is significant. It proves that total brain weight is not the primary factor in exceptional intelligence. A heavy brain does not automatically equal a smart mind.

Unique Brain Architecture

Although the weight was normal, the structure was not. Witelson and her colleagues found unique features in the parietal lobes. The parietal lobes are the part of the brain responsible for processing sensory information.

This region handles visuospatial cognition and mathematical thinking. The researchers measured the width of Einstein’s brain. They found that his parietal lobes were 15 percent wider than those of the control group.

This extra width gave his brain a more spherical shape than a typical human brain. The researchers also discovered a unique feature on the surface of the brain. The brain has deep folds and grooves. One major groove is called the Sylvian fissure.

In a normal brain, the Sylvian fissure runs deep and meets a structure called the parietal operculum. The study found that Einstein lacked a parietal operculum in both hemispheres.

Because this structure was missing, the Sylvian fissure did not run as far as usual. It merged with another groove called the postcentral sulcus. This was a unique anatomical variation. The researchers did not see this in any of the control brains.

The Functional Impact

The researchers in The Lancet study proposed a theory about this anatomy. They suggested that the absence of the parietal operculum allowed the inferior parietal lobule to expand. This is a specific area within the parietal lobe.

The scientists hypothesized that this expansion allowed for better connections between neurons. Without the usual groove separating the area, the brain cells could communicate more efficiently. This creates a highly integrated network for visual and spatial thinking.

This biological finding aligns with how Einstein described his own mind. He often stated that words were not significant in his thought process. Instead, he thought in signs and images.

He visualized complex physical problems. His theory of relativity came from visualizing moving bodies and light. The researchers concluded that his unique parietal anatomy likely supported this specific type of reasoning.

The Threshold of Intelligence

The biological evidence tells us Einstein was unique. However, it does not confirm a specific IQ number. This leads to a broader discussion about the value of IQ scores.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the relationship between IQ and success. He compares Einstein to a man named Christopher Langan. Langan appeared on the TV show 1 vs. 100. The show claimed Langan had an IQ of 195.

If we accept the common estimate of 160 for Einstein, then Langan’s score is significantly higher. By strict numerical logic, Langan should be “smarter.” Yet, Einstein is the one who revolutionized science.

Gladwell uses this comparison to introduce the “threshold theory.” He argues that intelligence matters up to a point. You have to be smart enough to handle complex ideas. But once you cross that threshold, a higher score does not guarantee more success.

Gladwell supports this by looking at Nobel Prize winners. He lists the colleges attended by the last 25 American winners in medicine. The list includes elite schools like Harvard and Yale. But it also includes schools like Holy Cross, Gettysburg College, and the University of Illinois.

These are good schools, but they are not all exclusive Ivy League institutions. Gladwell argues that a Nobel Prize winner does not need to have the highest IQ in the world. They just need to be smart enough to get into a decent university.

Once a person is “smart enough,” other factors take over. Creativity, persistence, and a willingness to question authority become essential. Einstein possessed these traits in abundance.

Why We Obsess Over the Number

Robert B. McCall, a professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, questioned the value of these estimates in his interview with Biography.com. He stated that he does not see the value in trying to calculate Einstein’s IQ.

McCall argues that famous people are famous for their actions. We should celebrate those actions. Their contributions are only modestly related to a test score. A person can be accomplished in ways that an IQ test cannot measure.

The obsession with the number 160 reveals more about society than it does about Einstein. We want to believe that intelligence is a single, measurable trait. We want to rank people on a scoreboard.

Assigning a score of 160 to Einstein gives us a reference point. It makes the concept of “genius” feel tangible. However, it is an oversimplification. It ignores the specific nature of his mind.

Evolutionary psychology hypotheses can be rigorously tested, and sometimes decisively overturned, challenging the long-standing claim that the field is inherently unfalsifiable, according to a conceptual review published in American Psychologist.

Since the 1970s, critics have contended that evolutionary explanations of human behavior amount to “just-so stories,” plausible but empirically untestable narratives flexible enough to accommodate virtually any outcome.

Drawing on Popper’s philosophy of science, these critiques claim that evolutionary psychology fails the criterion of falsifiability and therefore lacks scientific rigor, a perception that has persisted both within academia and public discourse.

William Costello, a doctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin explains, “As a graduate student preparing to go on the job market I am passionate about correcting the many misconceptions about evolutionary psychology that pervade academia and cultural consciousness. Evolutionary psychology is enormously explanatorily powerful for a wide range of domains, so it is frustrating to constantly have to contend with the decades old ‘zombie idea’ that its hypotheses are unfalsifiable. This false perception may also prevent younger scholars from embracing the framework in their own work, so hopefully our paper can empower them to push back against uncharged criticisms when they face them.”

The article takes up that challenge by clarifying what falsifiability requires and by examining how evolutionary psychology constructs and evaluates its hypotheses.

The authors begin by specifying formal criteria for falsifiability: a hypothesis must generate explicit, prohibitive predictions that could, in principle, be contradicted by observable evidence. Vague or underspecified claims can evade disconfirmation, but the authors argue that this is a problem of imprecision, not a defining feature of evolutionary psychology.

They then situate evolutionary psychology within a Lakatosian research program structure. At the top sits evolutionary theory as a metatheoretical foundation; below it are middle-level theories (such as parental investment theory); and at the lowest level are specific hypotheses that generate concrete predictions. It is at this level that falsification operates. By distinguishing among these tiers, the authors argue that critics often mistake broad theoretical commitments for unfalsifiable claims, when in fact it is the lower-level predictions that are directly tested and, at times, rejected.

To demonstrate falsifiability in action, the authors review three prominent hypotheses that have been substantially weakened or refuted. First, the ovulatory shift (dual-mating) hypothesis predicted that women’s mate preferences would reliably shift toward traits signaling “good genes” during ovulation. Although early studies appeared supportive, larger and more rigorous replication efforts largely failed to confirm consistent fertility-linked preference shifts. The core prediction has not proven robust.

Second, the mate deprivation hypothesis of rape proposed that men lacking mating opportunities would be more likely to commit sexual violence. Empirical tests found the opposite pattern: men with greater mating success and higher status were more likely to report coercive behavior. These findings directly contradict the hypothesis’ central prediction.

Third, the kin altruism hypothesis for male homosexuality suggested that same-sex-attracted men would offset reduced direct reproduction by investing heavily in genetic relatives. Cross-cultural research has yielded mixed or negative evidence, and the level of kin investment observed does not appear sufficient to satisfy inclusive fitness requirements. As a result, the hypothesis lacks strong empirical support.

Alongside these refuted cases, the authors emphasize that many other evolutionary psychological hypotheses, such as those concerning parental investment, jealousy, disgust, and kin-directed altruism, have generated precise predictions that have received substantial empirical backing. The coexistence of confirmed and disconfirmed hypotheses, they argue, is exactly what one would expect in a progressive scientific field.

Reflecting on broader lessons, Costello noted: “There are many other leaders in the field (e.g., Ed Hagen) who have already tackled this problem well in other work. It would be nice to think that our article would be the final word and resolve the matter once and for all, but I think that because there are so many who are ideologically motivated to dismiss evolutionary psychology, scholars will need to defend against this misconception in each generation. We need to be prepared to do so and not allow misconceptions to flourish. There are those who think that we should not bother defensively correcting misconceptions and instead just focus on improving our field. I think we can and should do both.”

He added, “I think it’s good for scholars to have contemporary theoretical work in a leading psychology journal to now point to when they hear the myth espoused in academic or public discourse.”

“Evolutionary psychology is by no means immune to poor hypothesizing and we should always reflect on helping scholars to formulate their hypotheses with sufficient precision that they garner evidence for or against the hypothesized design features of a psychological mechanism,” explained Costello.

“Previous generations of our lab, led by David Lewis (who has been an amazing mentor to me) have taken a very proactive approach on this front. They published a terrific paper in American Psychologist called Evolutionary Psychology: A How to Guide. I encourage readers to read that article too.”

By documenting hypotheses that have been directly contradicted by empirical findings, the article argues that evolutionary psychology is not immune to disconfirmation but instead operates as a research program capable of generating testable (and falsifiable) claims.

The researcher shared that future work could examine whether academic and public perceptions of unfalsifiability have shifted since earlier surveys, and whether interventions such as reading the present article or taking an evolutionary psychology course change minds.

“I was pleased that the article was chosen as the APA Editor’s choice, which means it will be available to read ‘open access’ for 30 days since publication so please go and read it,” Costello told PsyPost. “Or reach out to me to get your hands on a PDF if you can’t gain access to it.” 

“Also, the article was published alongside two commentaries, who both agreed with our core argument that evolutionary psychology hypotheses are indeed falsifiable. Our reply gave us the opportunity to speak to some of evolutionary psychology’s other theoretical strengths (e.g., its heuristic value). That’s titled Beyond Falsifiability: Evolutionary Psychology’s Many Theoretical Strengths: Reply to Geary (2026) and Moore (2026) and I encourage people to read those also.”

William Costello is a doctoral researcher of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin working under the supervision of Dr. David Buss. You can follow his work on ResearchGate, Google Scholar or on social media at X: @CostelloWilliam or BlueSky: @williamcostello.bsky.social

The research, “Evolutionary Psychology Hypotheses Are Testable and Falsifiable,” was authored by William Costello, Anna G. B. Sedlacek, Patrick K. Durkee, Courtney L. Crosby, Rebecka K. Hahnel-Peeters, and David M. Buss.

New research published in BMC Psychology suggests that the structural wiring of the brain may play a significant role in how people solve problems through sudden insight. The study indicates that individuals who frequently experience “Aha!” moments tend to have less organized white matter pathways in specific language-processing areas of the left hemisphere. These findings imply that a slightly less rigid neural structure might allow the brain to relax its focus, enabling the unique connections required for creative breakthroughs.

For decades, scientists have studied the phenomenon of insight, which occurs when a solution to a problem enters awareness suddenly and unexpectedly. This is often contrasted with analytical problem solving, which involves a deliberate and continuous step-by-step approach.

While previous studies using functional MRI and EEG have mapped the brain activity that occurs during these moments, there has been little understanding of the underlying physical structure that supports them. The researchers behind the new study aimed to determine if stable differences in white matter—the bundles of nerve fibers that connect different brain regions—predict an individual’s tendency to solve problems via insight.

“For over two decades, neuroscience has mapped what happens in the brain during these moments using EEG and fMRI. We know from prior research that insight feels sudden, tends to be accurate, and involves distinct functional activation patterns — including a burst of activity in the right temporal cortex just before the solution reaches awareness,” said study authors Carola Salvi of the Cattolica University of Milan and Simone A. Luchini of Pennsylvania State University.

“But one major question remained open: what structural features of the brain might make some people more likely to experience insight in the first place?”

“Most previous white matter studies of creativity did not specifically focus on Aha! experiences. They measured how many problems people solved, or how creatively, not how they solved them (with or without these sudden epiphanies). Yet insight and non insight solutions are phenomenologically and neurally distinct processes.”

White matter acts as the communication infrastructure of the brain, transmitting signals between distant regions. To examine this structure, the researchers employed a technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). This method tracks the movement of water molecules within brain tissue.

“We wanted to know whether stable white matter microstructure — the brain’s anatomical wiring — differs depending on whether someone tends to solve problems through sudden insight or through deliberate step-by-step reasoning (non insight solutions),” Salvi and Luchini explained. “Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) allowed us to examine this structural dimension directly.”

In healthy white matter, water tends to move along the direction of the nerve fibers, a property known as fractional anisotropy (FA). High FA values generally indicate highly organized, dense, and well-insulated fibers, which are typically associated with efficient signal transmission and strong cognitive performance.

The study involved 38 distinct participants, after excluding those who did not meet specific criteria or failed to complete the task correctly. These participants engaged in a standard test used to measure creative potential known as the Compound Remote Associates (CRA) task. In this activity, individuals viewed three words, such as “crab,” “pine,” and “sauce,” and were asked to find a fourth word that forms a common phrase with all three, in this case, “apple.”

After each successful solution, participants reported whether they arrived at the answer through a step-by-step analysis or a sudden insight. This self-reporting method allowed the scientists to quantify an “insight propensity” for each person. The researchers then analyzed the DTI scans to see how white matter integrity correlated with this propensity, controlling for variables such as age and gender.

The findings offered a counterintuitive perspective on brain connectivity. The analysis revealed that participants who solved more problems via insight exhibited lower fractional anisotropy in the left hemisphere’s dorsal language network. This network includes the arcuate fasciculus and the superior longitudinal fasciculus, pathways that connect brain regions responsible for language production, comprehension, and semantic processing.

“One striking finding was that people who more frequently experienced insight showed lower fractional anisotropy in specific left-hemisphere dorsal language pathways, including parts of the arcuate fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus,” Salvi and Luchini told PsyPost.

“At first glance, that might sound counterintuitive. Fractional anisotropy is often interpreted as reflecting the coherence or organization of white matter pathways. In many cognitive domains, higher fractional anisotropy is associated with better performance.”

“But insight may operate differently. The left hemisphere is typically involved in focused, fine-grained semantic processing — narrowing in on dominant interpretations of words and concepts. The right hemisphere, by contrast, is thought to support broader, ‘coarse’ semantic coding — integrating more distantly related ideas. Slightly lower fractional anisotropy in left dorsal language pathways may reflect a system that is less tightly constrained by dominant interpretations.

“In other words, it may allow a partial ‘release’ from habitual patterns of thought and it is in line with other studies where lesions in the left frontotemporal regions have been shown to increase artistic creativity,” Salvi and Luchini continued. “Taken together, these findings imply that left hemispheric regions play a regulatory role in creativity and that their disruption lifts this constraint, thus promoting novel ideas.”

“That release effect is fascinating. In simple words It suggests that creativity sometimes emerges not from strengthening control, but from relaxing it just enough to let weaker, more remote associations surface. When the brain is less locked into its most obvious interpretations, it may be more capable of restructuring the problem — and that restructuring is the heart of an Aha! moment.”

It is worth noting that no significant structural associations were found for the step-by-step analytical problem solving style. This suggests that the neural architecture supporting insight is distinct and specific. Analytical solving may rely on dynamic brain activity rather than the stable structural traits identified for insight.

This concept of sudden recognition is being explored in other sensory domains as well. A separate study recently conducted by researchers at NYU Langone Health examined “one-shot learning,” which is the visual equivalent of an “Aha!” moment.

In that study, participants viewed blurred images that became recognizable only after seeing a clear version. The NYU team found that the high-level visual cortex stores “priors,” or memory templates, which the brain accesses to suddenly make sense of ambiguous visual information.

While the NYU study focused on visual perception and the current study focused on linguistic creativity, both highlight a similar cognitive phenomenon: the brain’s ability to reorganize information suddenly to form a coherent whole. The NYU findings suggest this happens through accessing stored memory templates, while the current study suggests that linguistic insight relies on structural flexibility that permits distant connections to surface.

There are some limitations to the current study that warrant mention. The sample size of 38 participants is relatively small, though it is typical for technically intensive DTI studies. Additionally, the study establishes a correlation but does not prove causation. It remains unclear whether people are born with this structural connectivity or if engaging in creative thinking alters the white matter over time. Demographic factors such as education level were also noted as potential influences on white matter integrity.

Future research will likely focus on larger and more diverse groups to verify these results. Scientists may also attempt to combine structural imaging with functional tracking to see how these white matter highways are utilized in real-time during the moment of insight. By understanding the physical architecture of creativity, science moves closer to demystifying how the human brain generates novel ideas.

“In many areas of cognition, greater microstructural organization (as indexed by higher fractional anisotropy) is associated with stronger performance. Here, greater insight propensity was linked to lower fractional anisotropy in specific left dorsal pathways,” the researchers added.

“This challenges a simple ‘more organized white matter equals better cognition’ view. Instead, it suggests that the neural architecture supporting insight may involve a delicate balance between constraint and flexibility. Too much structural rigidity could reinforce dominant interpretations. A slightly less constrained system may allow the mind to wander just far enough to discover something unexpected. That idea — that brilliance can emerge from loosening control rather than tightening it — is both scientifically intriguing and deeply human.”

The study, “The white matter of Aha! moments,” was authored by Carola Salvi, Simone A. Luchini, Franco Pestilli, Sandra Hanekamp, Todd Parrish, Mark Beeman, and Jordan Grafman.

New analyses regarding digital health interventions suggest that specially designed video games may offer a small benefit in improving attention symptoms for children with certain neurodevelopmental conditions. While the findings indicate a positive outcome in a research setting, the improvements were not large enough to be considered a standalone cure. These results were recently published in the journal Psychiatry Research.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is a widespread condition that often manifests in children as difficulty sustaining focus or regulating impulses. This inattention is thought to stem from underlying differences in brain function related to neurotransmitter systems.

Standard treatments usually involve stimulant or non-stimulant medications, which can be highly effective for many children in managing core symptoms. However, these pharmaceutical options sometimes carry unwanted side effects, such as sleep difficulties or reduced appetite, prompting families and clinicians to search for additional approaches.

Over the past decade, various researchers have proposed digital interventions as a potential avenue for therapy. The underlying theory posits that certain video games designed to engage specific cognitive networks might stimulate brain activity in areas associated with attention.

Pengwei Ma, affiliated with Southwest University in China, aimed to evaluate the collective quality and consistency of the evidence regarding these digital therapeutics. Ma and the research team recognized that while individual experiments existed, their results were sometimes inconsistent or limited by small participant numbers.

To address this uncertainty with greater statistical power, the investigators conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. This approach essentially functions as a “study of studies.” Instead of running a new clinical trial with patients, the team comprehensively searched major scientific databases to locate existing, high-quality research papers. By pooling data from multiple smaller projects, researchers can sometimes detect subtle effects that might be missed in an individual trial with fewer participants.

The researchers specifically looked for randomized controlled trials, which are generally considered the gold standard for evaluating medical interventions. The analysis was narrowed to include only studies focusing on children aged twelve and younger who had received a formal clinical diagnosis of ADHD. The search ultimately identified ten reputable trials that met strict inclusion criteria, encompassing data from a total of 820 participants across different countries.

By combining the numerical outcomes from these ten separate trials, the investigators calculated an overall statistical measure known as an “effect size.” This number indicates the magnitude of the difference between groups that used the video game interventions and control groups that did not.

The combined analysis revealed that children who used the targeted video games experienced a measurable improvement in attention deficits compared to their peers. Statistical tests confirmed that this positive result was likely a genuine effect of the intervention rather than a chance occurrence.

It is important for a non-expert audience to contextualize the magnitude of this improvement. While the effect was statistically detectable, the researchers characterized the benefit as not biologically strong enough to be clinically meaningful on its own. To put this in perspective, medical researchers use specific numerical ranges to define how well a treatment works in a practical sense. Standard stimulant interventions for ADHD typically show a moderate to strong effect size in similar analyses.

The pooled effect size for the video game interventions fell into a range that scientists classify as small. This distinction is vital for parents and clinicians to understand when considering treatment options. A measurable change in a controlled research setting does not always translate to a major transformation in a child’s daily life skills or academic performance.

The analysis suggests that while digital interventions have a verifiable positive impact, they are not currently powerful enough to replace existing first-line treatments like medication or behavioral therapy.

The authors noted several aspects of the available data that require cautious interpretation. The review was limited to studies published in English and Chinese, potentially missing relevant research conducted in other languages. Furthermore, some of the included trials did not fully report methodological details, such as precisely how they ensured researchers remained unaware of which children were assigned to the treatment or control groups.

The review also highlighted variables that might influence how well these digital therapies work in future applications. There were indications that interventions lasting eight weeks or longer might be more effective than programs with shorter durations. Additionally, the researchers observed that video games incorporating physical exercise seemed to yield better results than sedentary cognitive games. Ma and colleagues suggested that future inquiries should investigate combining video game therapy with physical activity to potentially enhance therapeutic outcomes.

The ultimate conclusion drawn by the paper is one of cautious optimism. The findings support the idea that video games “may be therapeutic when added to other evidence-based therapies.” They appear best suited as a complementary tool within a broader treatment plan rather than a solitary solution for attention deficits in children.

The study, “Effects of video game intervention on attention deficit in children with ADHD: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” was authored by Pengwei Ma, Zhuolin Xue, Kun Yuan, Peiyun Zheng, Junfeng Li, and Jindong Chang.

New research published in the journal Injury Epidemiology highlights a shift in the motivations behind gun ownership in the United States. Following the 2024 presidential election, fewer gun owners reported possessing firearms to advance political objectives. However, a growing number of owners, particularly Republicans, cited the need for protection at political rallies and protests as a primary reason for owning a gun.

The landscape of gun ownership in America has evolved substantially over the past few decades. “Over time, we’ve been noticing shifts in Americans’ reasons for owning guns,” said study author Julie A. Ward, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University.

“It used to be that if you asked gun owners why they own a gun or guns, the main reason you would hear was ‘for hunting’. Over time, hunting has stayed an important reason for many gun owners, but we’ve also seen growth in other reasons. Now, for example, “protection from other people” or for potential use in political or ideological conflict is increasingly common.”

“In a nationally representative survey we fielded in 2023, we saw that 85% of newer gun owners (meaning, people who purchased their first gun since 2020) said that at least one political violence related reason for gun ownership was personally important to them.”

“Roughly 60% of these newer gun owners cited defensive reasons (meaning, to protect themselves from political violence) and a similar portion cited assertive reasons (meaning, to advance an important political objective of their own). These proportions were nearly double what we saw among longer-term gun owners that year.”

“Knowing this – we wondered what changes we might see in Americans’ reasons for gun ownership two years later – following these hints of potential growth in owning guns for use in political conflict and on the heels of a 2024 US Presidential election that involved very high levels of political aggression and violence,” Ward explained.

“These are very real-world questions that we were trying to answer: What reasons do US gun owners give for their personal gun ownership? And, have those reasons changed since 2023 – either overall or by political affiliation? Understanding gun owners’ interests and concerns in this time of escalating tensions is critical for figuring out what we need to do to keep people safe.”

To investigate this, the researchers analyzed data from the National Survey of Gun Policy. This is a recurring survey that tracks public opinion on firearms and related policies. The study utilized two specific waves of the survey. The first wave was collected in January and February of 2023. The second wave was collected in January 2025, shortly before the presidential inauguration.

The total sample consisted of 2,003 adults who personally owned firearms. The participants were split evenly between the 2023 and 2025 groups. To ensure the findings applied to the general public, the researchers used statistical weighting. This is a method that adjusts the survey data so that the demographics of the respondents match the age, race, and gender makeup of the entire country.

Participants in the study were presented with a list of ten potential reasons for owning a gun. They were asked to rate how important each reason was to them personally. The options covered a wide range of motivations. These included traditional reasons like hunting or recreational target shooting.

The list also included specific questions regarding political violence. For example, participants were asked if they owned a gun “for protection at demonstrations, rallies, or protests.” Another option asked if they owned a gun “to advance an important political objective.” This phrasing implies using the firearm as a tool to force a political outcome rather than just for safety.

The researchers found a notable decline in the number of people owning guns for offensive political purposes. In 2023, roughly 35 percent of gun owners said that advancing a political objective was an important reason for ownership. By 2025, that number had dropped significantly to 22 percent.

“We found that as political violence escalated nationally, large majorities of Democrat, Independent, and Republican gun owners were rejecting such violence,” Ward told PsyPost. “Compared with responses in 2023, in 2025, we saw significantly fewer gun owners endorsing gun ownership to ‘advance an important political objective’ across each of these political groups.”

In contrast, the researchers observed a rise in gun ownership motivated by a desire for protection in political spaces. In 2025, 42 percent of all gun owners said protection at demonstrations or rallies was an important reason for ownership. This was an increase from 35 percent in 2023.

This shift was largely driven by Republican gun owners. The data showed that 51 percent of Republican respondents in 2025 cited protection at rallies as a key reason for owning a gun. This was a significant jump from 40 percent in 2023.

“This tells us there is growing concern among gun owners for personal safety in spaces that are used for political speech,” Ward said. “The problem is, even when motivated by defensive interests, increased gun carrying doesn’t reduce a population’s risk for gun-related harms – it increases it.”

“It is especially urgent that policymakers act on these safety concerns. For example, policies that regulate gun carrying in sensitive spaces are a strategy that can protect First and Second Amendment rights at the same time. For public safety and for democracy, it is critical that that people not only feel safe – but actually also are safe – when they are exercising their right to free speech.”

Republicans also reported increases in other protective motivations. In 2025, 97 percent of Republican gun owners cited home protection as an important reason, up from 93 percent. Additionally, concern regarding police violence increased within this group. About 34 percent of Republicans cited protection against police as a reason for ownership in 2025, compared to 25 percent in 2023.

The researchers also found a resurgence in hunting as a motivation. Among all gun owners, 81 percent listed hunting as important in 2025. This was an increase from 74 percent in the previous survey.

“We think there may be some interesting explanations for why we see these differences happening together,” Ward told PsyPost. “One may relate to marketing – linking consumerism (related to buying more or different guns) to threat messaging and to personal identities can be a powerful way to increase gun sales. And, those types of messages don’t come at us randomly. Social media and newsfeed algorithms can use political identity to shape the messages we see. How those exposures shape how we feel about our own gun ownership could be an important direction for future research.”

There are some limitations to this study that should be considered. The research compared two different groups of people at two different times. It did not track the same individuals over the two-year period. This means the study describes changes in the overall population, but it cannot pinpoint if specific individuals changed their minds.

“The results we report are both statistically significant and practically significant,” Ward noted. “Many of these differences were double-digit percentage point shifts. It’s also important to note that the way this large survey was designed means these results are representative of the population of gun owners nationwide.”

There is also the potential for social desirability bias. This is a phenomenon where survey takers give answers they believe are socially acceptable, rather than what they truly feel. However, the anonymous nature of the survey helps to reduce this likelihood.

Future research could examine the underlying causes of these shifts. Scientists suggest investigating how media consumption and political marketing influence fears of victimization. Understanding why specific groups feel unsafe at political events could help policymakers design better security measures.

The study, “Gun ownership for political protection or armed political expression: a nationally representative analysis of differences in 2025 vs. 2023,” was authored by Julie A. Ward, Rebecca A. Valek, Vanya C. Jones, Lilliana Mason, and Cassandra K. Crifasi.

The stereotype of the eccentric genius with radical political views is a common trope in fiction. A new study challenges this assumption by suggesting that highly intelligent adults may hold political views that are remarkably similar to the general population. Researchers found that adults identified as gifted in childhood largely share the same political outlooks as their non-gifted peers, with one specific exception regarding conservatism in men. These findings were published in the scientific journal Intelligence.

Society often looks to gifted individuals to solve major problems. These individuals frequently occupy leadership roles in economics, science, and politics. Because they hold positions of influence, understanding how they view the world is a matter of public interest.

Researchers have spent decades trying to understand the link between cognitive ability and political belief. Some past theories suggested that higher intelligence leads to left-wing or liberal views. Other theories proposed that intelligent people might favor economic conservatism.

The results of these past studies have been inconsistent. This inconsistency led a team of researchers to investigate the matter using a long-term approach. They wanted to see if distinct political patterns emerge when comparing gifted adults to a control group of average intelligence.

The lead author of the study is Maximilian Krolo from the Department of Educational Science at Saarland University in Germany. He collaborated with Jörn R. Sparfeldt, also from Saarland University, and Detlef H. Rost from the Department of Psychology at Philipps-University Marburg.

The team based their research on the “Cognitive Complexity-Openness Hypothesis.” This concept suggests that people with higher intelligence are generally more open to new experiences. They are also thought to be better equipped to handle complex or nuanced ideas.

If this hypothesis holds true, gifted individuals might reject rigid political dogmas. They might gravitate toward more flexible or moderate positions. The researchers aimed to test if this theoretical flexibility translates into specific political preferences in adulthood.

To do this, the authors utilized data from the Marburg Giftedness Project. This is a longitudinal study based in Germany that tracks the development of individuals over time. The project began during the 1987-1988 school year.

The initial phase involved examining over 7,000 third-grade students. The researchers administered standardized intelligence tests to this large group. These tests measured reasoning abilities and the speed at which the students processed information.

From this large pool, the team identified a group of gifted students. These students had an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of 130 or higher. In the general population, an IQ of 100 is considered average.

The researchers then selected a control group of non-gifted students. This group had IQ scores near 100. The researchers ensured this control group matched the gifted group in other ways, such as gender ratios and socioeconomic background.

This matching process was designed to ensure fair comparisons. It allows researchers to be more confident that any differences found later are actually due to intelligence differences.

Six years later, when the students were in the ninth grade, the team tested them again. This re-evaluation confirmed the cognitive status of the participants. It ensured that the classification of “gifted” or “non-gifted” remained accurate as the children entered adolescence.

The current study focuses on these same individuals roughly 35 years after they were first identified. The participants were now adults with an average age of about 43. The researchers sent them surveys to assess their political orientations.

A total of 87 gifted adults and 71 non-gifted adults completed the survey. The response rate was notably high for a study spanning so many decades. This level of participation helps strengthen the reliability of the data.

The survey measured political views in two different ways. The first method was a simple single-dimensional scale. Participants were asked to place themselves on a spectrum ranging from left (1) to right (10).

The second method was more detailed. The researchers used the “Political Ideologies Questionnaire” to measure four distinct dimensions of political thought. These dimensions allowed for a more precise understanding of specific beliefs.

The first dimension was economic libertarianism. This viewpoint emphasizes free markets and individual liberty in economic matters. People who score high here often view merit-based inequality as fair.

The second dimension was conservatism. This outlook values tradition and social stability. High scorers usually believe that shared culture and established rules are necessary to prevent societal fragmentation.

The third dimension was socialism. This perspective focuses on equality of outcome. It emphasizes protecting disadvantaged groups and may advocate for social changes to reduce exploitation.

The fourth dimension was liberalism. In this context, liberalism refers to placing a high value on individual autonomy. It suggests that people should be free to live as they please provided they do not harm others.

The researchers analyzed the survey data using statistical methods called Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). They checked for differences between the gifted and non-gifted groups. They also looked for differences based on sex.

On the simple left-right scale, the results showed no statistical difference between the two groups. Both the gifted and non-gifted adults tended to place themselves near the center of the spectrum. This suggests a general tendency toward moderation in both groups.

The researchers then analyzed the four specific dimensions of the detailed questionnaire. For economic libertarianism, socialism, and liberalism, the analysis again showed no statistical difference between the groups. Giftedness did not appear to push individuals toward or away from these specific ideologies.

However, a distinct pattern emerged regarding the dimension of conservatism. The researchers found an interaction effect between giftedness and sex. This means the relationship between intelligence and conservatism depended on whether the participant was male or female.

Specifically, non-gifted men scored higher on conservatism than gifted men. The non-gifted men were more likely to endorse values related to tradition and strict social order. Gifted men were less likely to hold these traditional conservative views.

This difference was not observed among the women in the study. Gifted women and non-gifted women showed similar levels of conservatism. The divergence was unique to the male participants.

The researchers used supplementary Bayesian analyses to verify these results. Bayesian analysis is a statistical technique that weighs the strength of evidence for different models. These additional tests supported the initial findings.

The team interpreted the findings through the lens of cognitive flexibility. They suggest that non-gifted men might rely more on traditional perspectives when processing complex social issues. This reliance could lead to higher conservatism scores.

On the other hand, gifted men may possess greater cognitive flexibility. This allows them to process diverse perspectives more easily. Consequently, they may be less inclined to adhere to rigid traditional norms.

The lack of difference in the other categories supports the “centering” hypothesis. This is the idea that intelligent individuals often avoid extreme political positions. They may see extreme views as oversimplifications of a complex reality.

The authors also noted that the German political context might play a role. Germany has a “social market economy” that blends capitalism with social welfare. This cultural environment might encourage a consensus around moderate views for everyone, regardless of intelligence.

As with all research, there are limitations to the study that must be considered. The sample size was relatively small, which is common in studies that last for decades. A larger sample might have detected smaller effects that this study missed.

Additionally, the study was conducted exclusively in Germany. Political terms like “liberal” or “conservative” can have different meanings in different countries. The results might not apply perfectly to the political landscape of the United States or other nations.

The study also relied on self-reported beliefs. While honest reporting is assumed, people sometimes describe themselves differently than their actions might suggest.

Future research could address these limitations by looking at actual behavior. For instance, scientists could examine voting records or party memberships. This would help determine if these internal orientations translate into real-world political action.

Despite the limitations, the study offers a clear message. High intelligence does not automatically lead to radical or distinct political views. Gifted adults appear to be as politically diverse and moderate as the rest of the population.

The one notable exception regarding male conservatism warrants further investigation. It highlights how intelligence and gender might interact to shape how people value tradition.

Ultimately, this research suggests that while gifted individuals may process information differently, their political conclusions are not fundamentally alien. They navigate the same societal debates as everyone else. Their minds may be exceptional, but their politics are often quite ordinary.

The study, “Exploring exceptional minds: Political orientations of gifted adults,” was authored by Maximilian Krolo, Jörn R. Sparfeldt, and Detlef H. Rost.

Loneliness acts as more than a fleeting emotional state; it functions as a persistent filter that alters how the human brain processes the social world. New research published in the journal Biological Psychology provides evidence that this condition changes the neural mechanisms responsible for evaluating threats and regulating emotions.

The study demonstrates that applying a mild, targeted electrical current to the frontal lobe can help lonely individuals perceive negative social scenes as less distressing. These findings offer a new perspective on the disconnect between how lonely people react to their environment physiologically and how they consciously perceive those reactions.

Social isolation is widely recognized as a risk factor for a variety of physical and mental health issues. These range from increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease to a higher likelihood of developing neurodegenerative disorders. Psychologists have long sought to understand the cognitive machinery that drives these negative outcomes. One prominent framework is the Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness. This theory suggests that isolation triggers a state of hypervigilance. The lonely brain becomes obsessively tuned to social signals in an effort to reconnect with others.

This constant scanning for social cues can lead to a depletion of cognitive resources. When the brain is busy monitoring for threats, it may have less capacity remaining to manage or regulate emotional responses. Szymon Mąka and his colleagues at the Institute of Psychology within the Polish Academy of Sciences designed a study to test these theoretical mechanisms. Mąka and senior author Łukasz Okruszek had previously noted a paradox in their research. They observed that lonely individuals often display strong physiological reactions to negative social cues. Despite this bodily response, these same individuals frequently report feeling lower levels of emotional arousal compared to non-lonely people.

This discrepancy suggests that loneliness might not simply break the brain’s ability to regulate emotion. Instead, it may disrupt the self-monitoring processes that allow a person to accurately interpret their own internal state. To investigate this, the researchers focused on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This region of the brain sits just behind the forehead and acts as a control center for executive functions. It plays a primary role in top-down processing, which is the ability of higher-level thoughts to regulate lower-level emotional impulses.

The research team recruited 120 participants for the experiment. They stratified these volunteers into two distinct groups based on their scores on the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. One group consisted of sixty individuals who reported high levels of loneliness. The other group consisted of sixty individuals who reported low levels of loneliness. The researchers aimed to see if manipulating the activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could alter how these groups processed negative imagery.

To manipulate brain activity, the researchers employed a technique known as transcranial direct current stimulation. This non-invasive method involves placing electrodes on the scalp to deliver a weak electrical current to specific brain areas. The current can temporarily increase or decrease the excitability of the neurons underneath. In this study, participants attended two separate sessions. In one session, they received active anodal stimulation, which generally enhances neuronal activity, applied to either the left or right side of the prefrontal cortex. In the other session, they received a sham stimulation.

The sham condition served as a control. The device would ramp up to mimic the physical sensation of the stimulation starting but would then turn off. This ensured that the participants could not distinguish between the active and control sessions. This double-blind design prevented the participants’ expectations from influencing the results. While receiving the stimulation, participants sat before a computer screen while wearing a cap equipped with sensors to record electroencephalography, or EEG, data.

The researchers presented the participants with a series of images. Some of these pictures depicted negative social content, such as scenes of violence or accidents. Others depicted negative non-social content, such as spiders or snakes. Neutral images were also included as a baseline. For each image, the participants received one of two instructions. They were told either to simply “watch” the image passively or to “reappraise” it. Cognitive reappraisal is a strategy where a person mentally reframes a situation to reduce its emotional impact. For example, a participant might view a bloody scene and remind themselves that it is a fake scene from a movie.

After viewing each image, participants rated how negative they felt and how intense their emotional arousal was. Simultaneously, the EEG sensors recorded event-related potentials. These are specific changes in the brain’s electrical activity that occur in response to a stimulus. The researchers were particularly interested in the Late Positive Potential. This is a brain wave pattern that typically reflects the amount of attention and cognitive resources the brain is dedicating to an emotional stimulus.

The analysis revealed a specific effect regarding how stimulation influenced the lonely group. When highly lonely participants received active stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, they rated negative social images as less unpleasant compared to the sham condition. This change in perceived valence occurred during the passive watching condition. This suggests that boosting activity in the left frontal lobe helped lonely individuals dampen their immediate, automatic negative evaluation of social threats.

The physiological data provided a layer of complexity to these behavioral findings. Despite the lonely participants reporting that they felt less negativity, their brain wave patterns did not show a corresponding drop in activity. The electrical markers of emotional processing remained similar between the active and sham conditions for this group. This finding aligns with the researchers’ earlier hypothesis regarding a disconnect in self-awareness. It appears that loneliness may impair the ability to map internal physiological responses onto conscious feelings. The stimulation altered the subjective report without necessarily changing the underlying neural magnitude of the threat response.

The study also yielded results regarding the general mechanism of cognitive reappraisal across all participants. When the researchers analyzed the data for the entire sample, they found that active stimulation enhanced the neural modulation associated with reappraisal. Specifically, there was a larger difference in the Late Positive Potential between the reappraisal condition and the passive watching condition during active stimulation. This effect was specific to social stimuli.

This indicates that the stimulation successfully helped the brain engage the neural circuits required to regulate emotions. However, a divergence appeared here as well. While the brain data showed enhanced regulation, the participants rated the images as more negative during the reappraisal trials under active stimulation than they did under sham stimulation. This implies that while the brain was working harder to reframe the images, the participants subjectively felt that their attempts at regulation were less effective.

The authors interpret these findings as evidence that the left and right sides of the prefrontal cortex may have distinct roles. Previous studies have often linked the right side to deliberate cognitive control and the left side to more automatic emotional processing. The current results support the idea that the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex helps modulate spontaneous affective evaluations. For lonely individuals, whose automatic processing of social threats may be biased, stimulation of this region provided a specific benefit in reducing subjective distress.

There are limitations to the study that warrant consideration. The use of electrical stimulation during EEG recording can introduce noise into the data, which requires extensive processing to remove. This can sometimes affect the clarity of the brain signals. The experimental task was also relatively brief to fit within the time window where the electrical stimulation is most effective. In daily life, regulating emotions in response to social isolation is a prolonged process that may not be fully captured by looking at a picture for a few seconds.

Additionally, the study relied on young adult participants. It is not yet clear if these findings would apply to older adults, who are often the focus of loneliness research. The researchers also note that they did not include a direct measure of metacognition, or thinking about thinking. Future studies would benefit from asking participants to explicitly evaluate how well they think they are tracking their own emotions.

Despite these caveats, the research highlights that loneliness is not merely a problem of feeling too much or regulating too little. It involves a complex mismatch between the brain’s automatic reactions and the individual’s conscious experience of the social world. By showing that targeted brain stimulation can shift these subjective evaluations, the study opens potential avenues for understanding how neural interventions might one day support therapies for social isolation.

The study, “Targeted neuromodulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex alleviates altered affective response evaluation in lonely individuals,” was authored by Szymon Mąka, Marta Chrustowicz, and Łukasz Okruszek.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

On Monday, February 9, the Huberman Lab podcast, hosted by Andrew Huberman, featuring Dr. Kathryn Paige Harden, explored the biological roots of human behavior. Harden is a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, known for her research on how genetic factors influence social outcomes. The episode focused on how DNA interacts with early brain development to shape complex traits like risk-taking, morality, and antisocial behavior.

At roughly the 20-minute mark, Harden discusses the “seven deadly sins” through the lens of modern science. She explains that behaviors often labeled as sinful, such as aggression, addiction, and promiscuity, share a common genetic foundation. These traits are not located in a single brain area but are influenced by many genes that affect how the brain develops before birth.

Harden notes that these genetic influences peak during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. They appear to regulate the balance between the brain’s inhibitory system, involving a chemical called GABA, and its excitatory system, involving glutamate. She suggests that conditions like substance use disorders should be viewed as neurodevelopmental issues similar to ADHD, stemming from early differences in brain wiring.

The conversation highlights three personality dimensions that drive risky behavior. These include sensation-seeking, which is a drive for intense experiences, and disinhibition, which is a lack of self-control. The third dimension is antagonism or callousness, characterized by an indifference to the negative consequences one’s actions have on others.

When addressing the role of trauma, Harden describes the relationship between nature and nurture as a woven tapestry. She explains that parents pass down both genetic risks and environmental conditions to their children. This makes it difficult to separate the effects of inherited biology from the impact of a chaotic or traumatic upbringing.

The discussion shifts to the use of polygenic scores, which are tools used to estimate a person’s genetic likelihood for certain outcomes. Harden warns against “genetic essentialism,” or the belief that DNA defines a person’s true identity or destiny. She notes that receiving information about genetic risks can alter how people view themselves and their potential, sometimes leading to a sense of fatalism.

You can listen to the full interview here.

A new study published in npj Mental Health Research suggests that U.S. Special Operations veterans treated with a combination of magnesium and ibogaine experience a rapid, self-directed form of psychological healing. The findings suggest that the treatment triggers a state of “auto-psychotherapy,” where patients revisit traumatic memories, reframe their life narratives, and feel a physical sense of brain repair.

Ibogaine is a powerful psychoactive substance derived from the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. While it has been used traditionally for centuries in West-Central Africa, it has gained attention in modern medicine for its potential to treat addiction and severe mental health conditions.

However, ibogaine interacts with the heart in ways that can be dangerous. To mitigate these risks, the treatment protocol in this study combined ibogaine with magnesium, a mineral that supports heart health and nervous system stability.

Previous observational studies have indicated that ibogaine can lead to reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Despite these promising clinical outcomes, scientists have not fully understood what the patient actually experiences during the treatment that leads to recovery.

Most prior research focused on numbers and symptom checklists rather than the personal story of the patient. In their new study, the researchers aimed to bridge that gap. They sought to characterize the specific thoughts, emotions, and sensations veterans experienced to see if these subjective effects could explain their rapid recovery.

“A major motivation was the gap between strong clinical improvements being reported and limited understanding of patients’ lived healing processes,” said study author Clayton Olash, a psychiatry resident physician at the Medical University of South Carolina and affiliate researcher at Stanford University’s Brain Stimulation Laboratory.

“There is an active debate about whether psychedelic outcomes are primarily pharmacologic and neurobiological, or whether subjective experience and meaning-making are central to change. We wanted to characterize the lived psychological process in veterans who showed substantial recovery, and examine whether their reports aligned with established therapeutic frameworks.”

The study involved 30 male U.S. Special Operations Veterans. These participants had extensive histories of combat deployments and traumatic brain injuries, often caused by blast exposure. At the start of the study, the majority met the clinical criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, and many suffered from major depressive disorder or alcohol use disorder. The participants traveled to a specialized clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, to receive the treatment.

The procedure was highly structured. Participants underwent medical screenings and preparatory sessions before the treatment day. On the day of dosing, they received intravenous magnesium to protect the heart. They then took oral ibogaine, with the dosage calculated specifically for their body weight. During the active phase of the drug, which can last many hours, the veterans lay on mats with eyeshades to encourage internal reflection. Medical staff monitored them closely throughout the process.

To capture the subjective nature of the experience, the researchers asked the veterans to answer three open-ended questions shortly after their treatment. The scientists analyzed these written narratives using a method called constructivist grounded theory. This is a research technique where scientists read the text multiple times to identify recurring patterns and group them into broader themes. This allows the data to tell a story rather than forcing it into pre-existing categories.

The analysis revealed that the veterans engaged in a process the scientists described as “accelerated auto-psychotherapy.” This term refers to a condensed, self-guided therapeutic process where the patient achieves deep insights without the immediate direction of a talk therapist. The researchers identified four primary domains of experience that defined this process.

The first domain was characterized as dialogic trauma re-appraisal. Veterans reported that they were able to recall painful or repressed memories with vivid clarity. However, unlike in a flashback where the person feels the original terror, these participants viewed the events with a sense of detachment. Many described an internal dialogue with a “guide” or “teacher” that helped them view their trauma from a new, less self-critical perspective. This allowed them to process events that had haunted them for decades.

“What surprised me most was the depth and consistency of reported psychological reprocessing across participants,” Olash told PsyPost.

The second theme involved an altered sense of self and mystical connectedness. Participants frequently described a dissolution of their ordinary ego or identity. Some reported feeling as though they were a “witness” to their own life, separating their core consciousness from their history and pain. This state often included feelings of awe and a sense of merging with a divine presence or the universe. This shift in perspective appeared to help veterans break free from rigid, negative beliefs about themselves.

The third theme centered on emotional resolution. The narratives contained frequent descriptions of intense emotional release. Veterans reported finding relief from chronic guilt, shame, and anger. In place of these heavy emotions, they experienced surges of forgiveness and compassion, both for themselves and for the people in their lives. This emotional breakthrough often led to a renewed desire to connect with family and friends.

The final theme was described as embodied healing. A significant number of participants reported physical sensations that they interpreted as their brains being repaired. They used metaphors involving electricity, rewiring, or scrubbing to describe the feeling of their neural pathways resetting. While this was a subjective sensation, it coincided with the veterans reporting improved mental clarity and a reduction in the physical symptoms associated with their brain injuries.

“I also found it remarkable how often participants linked subjective healing experiences to a felt sense of neural restoration, especially when previous work in this same cohort has shown that they experienced objective cognitive recovery from symptoms of TBI,” Olash said.

“In practical terms, these were not subtle changes in many cases, participants often described rapid and meaningful improvement in symptoms and functioning. Because this was qualitative work, our goal was depth and mechanism-rich description rather than effect size estimation. So the significance is best understood as clinically meaningful lived change that helps generate testable hypotheses for larger controlled studies.”

These themes suggest that ibogaine functions differently than standard psychiatric medications, which often work by suppressing symptoms. Instead, the substance appears to induce a dream-like state that lowers psychological defenses. This allows the brain to process suppressed information and reorganize its understanding of past trauma. The researchers noted that these experiences align with concepts found in established therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy, but occur at a much faster rate.

“The key takeaway is that, in carefully structured settings, psychedelic treatment can involve deep psychological change and not just temporary intoxication,” Olash told PsyPost. “Participants described shifts in beliefs, emotional processing, trauma-related meaning, and sense of self that mapped onto concepts seen in psychotherapy. At the same time, these are powerful interventions with real risks, so this is not a casual or unsupervised treatment model.”

While the results provide insight into the potential of ibogaine, there are limitations to consider. The study population consisted exclusively of male Special Operations veterans, so the findings may not apply to women or civilians with different types of trauma. The data relied on retrospective accounts written days after the treatment, which can be subject to memory errors. Additionally, the study was open-label and observational, meaning there was no control group receiving a placebo for comparison.

It is also important to note that the researchers who analyzed the data were interpreting subjective narratives, which introduces a degree of potential bias. For instance, the study does not prove that the physical sensation of “brain rewiring” corresponds to actual biological repair.

“These qualitative findings are hypothesis-generating and should not be overgeneralized beyond the population and treatment conditions studied,” Olash said.

The scientists emphasize that ibogaine is a potent substance with serious risks if not administered in a medical setting. Future research aims to combine these narrative accounts with neuroimaging technology. This would allow scientists to see if the subjective feelings of healing map onto observable changes in brain structure and function. The researchers hope that by understanding these mechanisms, they can develop safer and more effective treatments for complex neuropsychiatric disorders.

“My long-term goal is to understand how acute altered states can be translated into durable clinical traits and recovery,” Olash explained. “That includes studying how psychedelic interventions might be paired with mindfulness, psychotherapy, and brain stimulation approaches to improve durability and personalization of outcomes. I am interested in mechanism-focused, clinically grounded research that can inform safer and more effective psychiatric care.”

“I think psychiatry is entering a period where novel interventions may meaningfully expand the treatment landscape for people who have not responded to conventional options. That said, careful screening, medical oversight, and rigorous science are essential. I hope this work encourages thoughtful public discussion and more high-quality research rather than hype.”

The study, “Accelerated recovery using magnesium ibogaine: characterizing the subjective experience of its rapid healing from neuropsychiatric disorders,” was authored by Clayton Olash, Derrick Matthew Buchanan, Randi Brown, Afik Faerman, Kirsten Cherian, George Lin, David Spiegel, James J. Gross and Nolan Williams.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

On Thursday, November 20, The Psychology Podcast, hosted by Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, featuring Dr. Alia Crum, explored the science behind the mind-body connection. Dr. Crum is a principal investigator at the Stanford Mind & Body Lab who studies how subjective mindsets can alter objective physiological realities. The episode focused on her groundbreaking experiments regarding the placebo effect, exercise, and the biological impact of our beliefs about food.

At roughly the 8-minute mark, Dr. Crum describes an experiment she conducted with hotel housekeepers to test the placebo effect outside of a clinical setting. She discovered that while these women were physically active during their shifts, they did not believe they exercised enough to be healthy. Once researchers informed the workers that their job met the Surgeon General’s fitness guidelines, the women experienced measurable drops in weight and blood pressure despite not changing their daily behaviors.

The conversation shifts to diet and metabolism around the 10-minute mark, specifically focusing on the hormone ghrelin. This biological chemical signals hunger to the brain and slows down metabolism when the body thinks it needs food. Dr. Crum explained that typically, ghrelin levels drop after a person eats a large meal to signal that the body is full.

To test if the mind could influence this biological process, researchers gave participants identical milkshakes containing roughly 380 calories. One group was told the drink was an indulgent, high-calorie treat, while the other group believed they were drinking a low-calorie, sensible diet shake. The team then measured the ghrelin levels in the participants’ bloodstreams to see how their metabolisms reacted.

The results revealed that those who believed they consumed the high-calorie shake experienced a drop in ghrelin three times greater than the group that believed they drank the diet shake. This indicates that the body’s physical satiety response is driven partly by the mental expectation of how much food was consumed. Dr. Crum noted that thinking a meal is “sensible” or “restricted” might actually keep hunger hormones high and metabolism slow, counteracting the goals of a diet.

You can listen to the full interview here.

New research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin provides evidence that changing how people view their past struggles with depression can improve their ability to achieve life goals. The study suggests that reframing depression as a sign of strength, rather than weakness, boosts self-confidence and tangible goal progress. This psychological shift helped participants make nearly 50 percent more progress on their personal objectives over a two-week period compared to those who did not receive the intervention.

Depression is a widespread mental health condition that often hinders a person’s ability to pursue their ambitions, such as career advancement, hobbies, or maintaining relationships. While the biological symptoms of the illness, such as fatigue and lack of motivation, certainly play a major role, the researchers suspected another social factor was at play.

Society often stigmatizes depression, promoting a narrative that paints those who suffer from it as inherently weak or damaged. The scientists hypothesized that this societal label of “weakness” becomes internalized by individuals. This acts as a mental barrier even when they are not currently experiencing severe symptoms.

“Before our study, it was not clear why people who have experienced depression can experience goal pursuit problems even after their depressive symptoms have faded,” said study author Christina A. Bauer of the University of Vienna.

The researchers reasoned that if people believe they are fundamentally flawed because of their depression, they may lack the confidence to strive for their goals. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where the fear of weakness leads to actual struggles in achievement. The team wanted to test if flipping this narrative could restore confidence. They aimed to show that the struggle against depression is actually proof of resilience, perseverance, and emotional intelligence.

To test this theory, the researchers conducted three separate experiments involving a total of 748 participants. All participants were adults who had previously been prescribed anti-depressants, indicating they had experienced depression at a clinical level.

In the first experiment, the researchers recruited 158 participants and randomly assigned them to one of two groups. The control group engaged in an active control task where they read factual information about depression from the American Psychiatric Association and reflected on their own experiences. This ensured that any differences found were not simply due to thinking about depression. The second group participated in the “depression-reframing” intervention.

The depression-reframing exercise was a brief session lasting about twenty minutes. Participants read stories from others who described how dealing with depression required strength. These stories highlighted qualities like perseverance and the ability to manage difficult emotions. After reading these examples, participants were asked to write a reflection on how their own battle with depression demonstrated their personal strength. They were also asked to frame this as advice to help others, which is a technique often used to reinforce new ways of thinking.

The results of the first experiment showed that those who completed the reframing exercise reported higher levels of general self-efficacy. In psychology, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in their ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. Essentially, the participants who viewed their depression as a source of strength felt more capable of handling life’s challenges compared to those in the control group.

The second experiment involved a larger group of 419 participants. This study aimed to replicate the initial findings and see if the boosted confidence applied to specific, real-world goals. After completing the same reframing or control exercises as in the first study, participants identified a specific personal goal they wanted to achieve in the next two weeks. These goals varied widely, ranging from physical self-care, like exercising three times a week, to work-related tasks, like finishing an assignment.

The researchers found that the reframing exercise not only increased general confidence but also boosted commitment to these specific personal goals. To understand why this happened, the researchers analyzed the data further. They found that the exercise changed how participants viewed the compatibility between their illness and their success.

In the control group, 71 percent of participants felt that the strengths needed to achieve their goals did not describe people with depression. In the reframing group, this figure dropped significantly to 52 percent. By seeing depression as compatible with being strong, participants felt more empowered to pursue their objectives.

The final experiment was a longitudinal study, meaning the researchers tracked participants over time to measure actual progress. They recruited 171 individuals who had experienced depression. As in the previous rounds, participants completed either the reframing exercise or the control activity and set a specific goal. The researchers then contacted the participants two weeks later to assess their progress.

The difference between the two groups was substantial. Participants in the control group reported that they had completed about 43 percent of their goal after two weeks. In contrast, those who underwent the depression-reframing exercise reported reaching 64 percent completion. This represents a 49 percent increase in goal progress driven by the brief psychological intervention.

“The size of the reframing-intervention acknowledging strengths of people with depression was as big as moving people from a heavy to a moderate depression,” Bauer told PsyPost. “This highlights the severity of stigma effects of depression – in addition to the effects of depression as a mental disease.”

Additionally, the third experiment explored how participants might handle a relapse. Participants were asked to imagine they were experiencing severe depressive symptoms again. Those who had completed the reframing exercise indicated they would treat themselves with more compassion and respect in such a scenario compared to the control group. This suggests that the intervention might help build resilience against future episodes of illness.

“We show that in addition to the symptoms of depression (e.g., fatigue based on hormonal imbalances), stigmatizing narratives about depression – the idea that people who have experienced depression are weak people – can undermine successful goal pursuit, too,” Bauer explained. “Even when depression is over, people can, based on stigmatizing societal narratives, still think they are weak people, which can undermine their confidence in themselves, and make goal pursuit more difficult.”

“The solution we tested: better acknowledging one’s strength in the face of depression can help. When you or your loved ones experience depression, don’t overlook the strength it often takes to deal with depression – to fight the urge to stay in bed all day, and to continue living one’s life despite all the obstacles depression brings with it. This ‘reframing of depression’ we developed can help people better see their strength and pursue their goals in lifes, as we show.”

While these findings offer a promising avenue for supporting people with depression, there are limitations to consider. The study relied on self-reported measures of goal progress rather than objective observations. It is possible that participants in the intervention group simply felt more optimistic about their progress, though self-reports generally correlate well with actual behavior in psychological research. Future research could benefit from using objective data, such as fitness tracker logs or workplace performance records, to verify these improvements.

Another limitation involves the duration of the effect. The study tracked participants for only two weeks. It remains unclear how long the boost in confidence and goal pursuit lasts without a “booster” session to reinforce the message. The researchers also note that the participants were recruited from online platforms and were mostly from Western countries. It is not yet known if this specific type of reframing would work as effectively in different cultural contexts where the concept of the self and individual achievement might be viewed differently.

The researchers emphasize that this intervention is not a replacement for traditional treatments like therapy or medication. “Of course, treating depression as a disease itself (e.g., through psychotherapy, or medication) remains key,” Bauer noted. “Our intervention approach addressing stigma complements, but does in no way replace these approaches.”

Future research plans to explore if this “strength-based” approach could apply to other stigmatized groups, Bauer said. The researchers suggest that individuals who have survived trauma or who live with chronic physical illnesses might also benefit from reframing their struggles as evidence of their resilience. Recognizing the hidden strength in these experiences could offer a scalable, low-cost way to support mental well-being and personal growth across a variety of populations.

The study, “Depression-Reframing: Recognizing the Strength in Mental Illness Improves Goal Pursuit Among People Who Have Faced Depression,” was authored by Christina A. Bauer, Gregory M. Walton, Jürgen Hoyer, and Veronika Job.

A study of individuals suffering from moderate to severe depression in Japan found that those with larger volumes of the left hippocampus region of the brain and greater leftward laterality were more likely to respond to treatment with escitalopram (i.e., to experience a reduction in depression symptoms). Also, the volume of the right hippocampus and the right hippocampal head of these individuals increased more in response to this medication. The paper was published in Translational Psychiatry.

Major depressive disorder is a common mental health condition characterized by persistent low mood and loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities. It goes beyond normal sadness and significantly interferes with functioning at work, school, and in relationships. Core symptoms include depressed mood, anhedonia, fatigue, and feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt. Many individuals also experience changes in sleep, appetite, concentration, and psychomotor activity.

Despite the large number of people worldwide suffering from depression, treatments for depression are still lacking. Studies indicate that at least 30% of people suffering from depression do not experience a remission of symptoms after completing two antidepressant treatment protocols, reclassifying their condition into treatment-resistant depression. Other studies indicate that less than 10% of individuals seeking help for depression receive an effective treatment.

Because of this, research into ways to make anti-depression treatments more effective is a topic of great scientific interest. One of the paths these researchers take is looking into ways to identify individuals who will respond to standard treatments for depression and those who will not.

Study author Toshiharu Kamishikiryo and his colleagues explore the relationship between the structural characteristics of the brain, their changes, and escitalopram treatment for depression. Escitalopram is a medication from the group of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors that is commonly used to treat depression (i.e., major depressive disorder).

It is known that this medication promotes the creation of new neurons (neurogenesis) in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus region of the brain, thereby altering its structure. Study authors wanted to see whether these changes are associated with the response to treatment (i.e., with a reduction of depressive symptoms as a result of taking escitalopram).

Study participants were 107 individuals suffering from moderate to severe depression. 52% of them were women. Their average age was 42 years and it ranged between 25 and 73 years. They were treated with escitalopram because of their depressive symptoms.

The participants completed magnetic resonance imaging of their brains at two time points. The first imaging was done, on average, 7-8 days after they started escitalopram treatment. The second imaging was completed after 55 days of treatment, on average. However, only 71 participants or 66% of them participated in the second data collection.

At these two time points, study participants also completed assessments of depression symptoms (HRSD-17 and HRSD-6). If the score at the second timepoint was reduced at least 50% compared to the start of the study, study participants were considered responders i.e., it was considered that they responded to treatment. Non-responders were participants whose reduction in score was lower than 50%.

Results showed that around 50% of participants responded to escitalopram treatment. 34% of participants achieved remission (i.e., the symptoms were minimal). Responders did not differ from non-responders in parameters such as body mass index and age.

Looking at brain area volume, responders had larger left hippocampal volume and greater leftward laterality (i.e. their left hippocampus was larger than the right) at the start of the study compared to non-responders. Also, the right hippocampus and right hippocampal head volume increased more in responders than in non-responders, and their laterality changed in response to escitalopram treatment. These changes were larger in individuals who experienced a stronger reduction of depressive symptoms.

“This study is the first to demonstrate that increases in the volume and changes in the laterality of the right total hippocampus and right hippocampal head are involved in the treatment response to escitalopram. The response to escitalopram treatment cannot be explained fully by hippocampal volume changes alone, but it is likely that volume changes in the right hippocampus and its head play an important role in improving depressive symptoms,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the neural correlates of depressive symptoms. However, it should be noted that the design of this study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be derived from the results. Additionally, the study had a very large attrition rate leaving room for survivorship bias to have affected the results.

The paper, “Relationship between hippocampal volume and treatment response before and after escitalopram administration in patients with depression,” was authored by Toshiharu Kamishikiryo, Eri Itai, Yuki Mitsuyama, Yoshikazu Masuda, Osamu Yamamoto, Tatsuji Tamura, Hiroaki Jitsuiki, Akio Mantani, Norio Yokota, and Go Okada.

Your choice of a heavy Cabernet Sauvignon over a light Pinot Grigio might reveal more about your psyche than your palate. New research suggests that specific personality traits, such as openness and extraversion, are reliable predictors of a consumer’s preference for alcohol strength in wine. These findings appeared in the Journal of Personality.

Psychologists utilize a framework known as the Big Five to categorize human personality. This model divides character into five distinct dimensions. These are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Openness measures a person’s desire for new experiences and intellectual curiosity. Conscientiousness tracks discipline and organization. Extraversion involves sociability and enthusiasm. Agreeableness reflects a tendency toward cooperation and social harmony. Finally, neuroticism gauges emotional instability and sensitivity to stress.

Marketers and scientists have previously studied how these traits influence general shopping habits. However, few studies have looked at how personality dictates the specific chemical properties of the products we buy. In the world of wine, alcohol content is a primary characteristic. It is measured as Alcohol by Volume, or ABV. This percentage does more than determine how quickly a drinker becomes intoxicated. It also changes the texture, body, and intensity of the flavor profile.

Xi Wang, a researcher at the School of Culture and Creativity at Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, led the investigation. Wang and colleagues sought to understand if the psychological makeup of a consumer drives them toward bolder, higher-alcohol wines or lighter, lower-alcohol options. They aimed to move beyond simple demographics. The team wanted to see if the words consumers use could unlock the secrets of their sensory preferences.

To achieve this, the researchers turned to the massive amount of data available on e-commerce platforms. They focused on textual reviews left by verified buyers. The team collected 9,917 reviews from a major online wine retailer. These reviews spanned nearly a decade of consumer activity. The dataset included the text of the review and the specific technical details of the wine purchased, including its ABV.

The researchers needed a way to translate these thousands of written reviews into psychological profiles. They employed a form of artificial intelligence known as Natural Language Processing. Specifically, they used a model called BERT. This stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. This tool is designed to understand the nuances and context of human language.

Before analyzing the wine reviews, the team had to teach the AI how to recognize personality traits. They trained the model using a separate dataset called the “myPersonality” project. This project contains thousands of social media status updates linked to verified personality scores. By analyzing these updates, the AI learned which words and sentence structures correlate with specific traits. For example, it learned how an extravert writes compared to a neurotic individual.

Once the AI was trained, the researchers applied it to the wine reviews. The model read the consumers’ feedback and assigned scores for each of the Big Five traits. The team then used a statistical method called beta regression to look for patterns. They checked for connections between the inferred personality scores and the alcohol percentage of the wines those people reviewed. They controlled for factors like price, wine type, and flavor to ensure the results were specific to personality.

The analysis revealed distinct patterns in how different people select wine. Consumers who scored high in openness showed a clear preference for wines with higher alcohol content. High-alcohol wines often have a richer body and more intense viscosity. This creates a complex sensory experience. The researchers suggest that people with high openness seek out this complexity. They are naturally inclined toward novel and stimulating sensations.

A similar trend appeared for individuals high in agreeableness. These consumers also gravitated toward wines with higher ABV. The drivers here appear to be social rather than purely sensory. Agreeable individuals value social harmony and often adhere to group norms. High-alcohol wines are frequently perceived as being of higher quality or prestige. These consumers may select such wines to align with perceived social standards or to gain approval in group settings.

The results for extraversion were unexpected. One might assume that sociable, sensation-seeking extraverts would want the strongest drink. The data showed the opposite. Higher extraversion scores were linked to a preference for wines with lower alcohol content. The authors propose a functional explanation for this behavior. Extraverts thrive on social interaction. They often wish to extend their time socializing. Drinking lower-alcohol wine allows them to consume more over a longer period without becoming overly intoxicated. It is a strategy to maintain social stamina.

Neuroticism also showed a negative association with alcohol strength. Consumers who scored high on this trait tended to buy wines with lower ABV. Neuroticism is characterized by anxiety and emotional sensitivity. Stronger alcohol can amplify loss of control or lead to negative emotional spirals. These individuals likely choose lighter wines as a form of self-protection. They may be avoiding the physiological risks associated with heavy intoxication.

The trait of conscientiousness stood apart from the others. The researchers found no statistical connection between this trait and alcohol preference. Conscientious people are typically disciplined and health-conscious. This might lead them to choose lower alcohol for health reasons. However, they are also quality-oriented and goal-driven. This might lead them to choose high-alcohol wines for their perceived sophistication. These competing motivations likely cancel each other out.

The study does have limitations. The data relied on consumers who take the time to write online reviews. These individuals may not represent the average wine drinker perfectly. Their writing style might differ from the general population. Additionally, the personality scores were inferred by AI rather than measured by direct psychological testing. While the model was accurate, it is an estimation.

Future research could expand on these methods. Scientists could investigate if these personality patterns hold true for other beverages like coffee or craft beer. They could also explore how these preferences change across different cultures. The study focused on a Western e-commerce environment. Cultural norms regarding alcohol and personality expression vary globally.

The study, “From Personality to Pour: How Consumer Traits Shape Wine Preferences and Alcohol Choices,” was authored by Xi Wang, Jie Zheng, and Yiqi Wang.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is frequently stereotyped as a condition affecting school-aged children who cannot sit still in class. However, symptoms of this neurodevelopmental disorder often persist well into adulthood and later life.

A new study indicates that symptoms of inattention are linked to lower performance on memory and mental processing tasks in older adults. This association appears to remain consistent regardless of whether an individual is in their late fifties or their early eighties. The findings were published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

Marrium Mansoor, a researcher at Virginia Tech, led the investigation to bridge a gap in current medical understanding. Most existing literature focuses on the cognitive impacts of the disorder in children or young adults. When researchers do study cognition in older populations, the focus typically shifts almost exclusively to dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

This leaves a blind spot regarding how Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) manifests in seniors. Mansoor and her colleagues sought to determine if the specific cognitive deficits seen in younger patients are also present in the aging population of the United States.

The research team aimed to disentangle specific ADHD symptoms from general aging or other mental health conditions. They were particularly interested in two distinct categories of symptoms. The first category is inattention, characterized by difficulty focusing or sustaining attention. The second is hyperactivity and impulsivity, characterized by restlessness or acting without thinking. The researchers also wanted to verify if depression was actually the root cause of cognitive issues, rather than ADHD itself.

To investigate these questions, the team utilized data from the Health and Retirement Study. This is a large-scale, longitudinal project that surveys a representative slice of the American population over the age of 50. The researchers selected a sample of approximately 1,300 adults for their analysis. The data for this specific study was collected during the 2016 wave of the survey.

The participants were divided into three specific age bands to allow for detailed comparison. The first group consisted of middle-aged adults between 55 and 64 years old. The second group, labeled “young-old,” included those between 65 and 74. The final group, the “middle-old,” ranged from 75 to 84 years of age.

Participants completed a self-report questionnaire to assess their ADHD symptoms. This tool, known as the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, asks individuals to rate how often they experience specific problems. For example, it asks about trouble wrapping up the final details of a project or difficulty keeping appointments. The researchers assessed depression using a separate standard scale.

Cognitive performance was measured using a battery of tests designed to evaluate different mental functions. One such test is known as “Serial 7s.” In this assessment, participants are asked to start at the number 100 and subtract the number seven repeatedly. This task requires strong working memory and sustained attention. It forces the brain to hold a number in mind while performing a calculation.

Another test involved “Immediate Recall.” The interviewer read a list of 10 random words to the participant. The participant then had to repeat as many words as they could remember, in any order. This measures episodic memory, which is the ability to recall specific events or information recently learned. A “Delayed Recall” test asked participants to remember those same words after a five-minute interval.

The researchers also used a “Number Series” test. This involves showing the participant a sequence of numbers with one missing. The participant must identify the pattern and fill in the blank. This tests fluid intelligence, or the ability to reason and solve new problems independent of previously acquired knowledge.

The study revealed a clear statistical link between inattention and specific cognitive struggles. Participants who reported higher levels of inattention symptoms performed worse on the Serial 7s task. They also scored lower on the Immediate Recall test. This suggests that the inability to focus attention directly hampers the brain’s ability to process numbers and encode new memories.

The researchers used statistical modeling to determine if these associations changed as people got older. They compared the strength of the relationship between symptoms and cognitive scores across the three age groups. They found that the “constrained model” provided the best fit for the data. In statistical terms, this means the relationship between inattention and cognitive performance did not vary by age. The negative impact of inattention on memory and processing was just as strong for an 84-year-old as it was for a 55-year-old.

The findings regarding hyperactivity and impulsivity were less consistent. In some initial statistical models, high hyperactivity scores seemed linked to worse performance on delayed memory tasks for the oldest group. However, in the final, most accurate model, this connection was not statistically significant. This reinforces the idea that inattention is the primary driver of cognitive difficulties in this context.

A critical aspect of this study was its treatment of depression. Previous research conducted in Australia and the Netherlands suggested that depression might be the real reason older adults with ADHD symptoms struggle cognitively. Depression often causes lack of focus and memory issues. However, Mansoor and her team found that the link between inattention and poor cognition remained even when they accounted for depressive symptoms.

The authors suggest these results have practical applications for doctors and geriatric specialists. Older adults reporting memory problems are often evaluated for dementia. This study implies that some of these patients might be dealing with undiagnosed or unmanaged ADHD. Interventions that focus on memory strategies, such as the “method of loci” or other mnemonic devices, could be beneficial.

There are limitations to this research that require consideration. The study relied on self-reported symptoms rather than clinical diagnoses made by a psychiatrist. Older adults might over-report or under-report their symptoms based on their perception of what is normal aging. Additionally, the study excluded people with a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Another potential limitation is a concept called survival bias. The authors note that individuals with severe ADHD often have lower life expectancies due to accidents or comorbid health issues. As a result, the “middle-old” group in this study might represent a healthier subset of the population. Those with the most severe impairments may have passed away before reaching that age bracket.

The study also used cross-sectional data, meaning it looked at one specific point in time. It did not track the same individuals over decades to see how their specific cognitive trajectory changed. Future research would benefit from following individuals from middle age into late adulthood. This would help clarify if ADHD symptoms accelerate cognitive decline or simply lower the baseline of performance.

The researchers emphasize that cultural context matters. The difference between their findings and European or Australian studies suggests that the environment plays a role. Different healthcare systems and diagnostic norms may influence how these symptoms present in older populations.

Mansoor and her colleagues conclude that clinical awareness is vital. ADHD is not a condition that simply disappears after retirement. As the population ages, distinguishing between neurodevelopmental symptoms and neurodegenerative disease will become a key challenge for healthcare providers.

The study, “Self-Reported ADHD Symptoms and Cognitive Performance in a National Sample of US Older Adults,” was authored by Marrium Mansoor, Rosanna Breaux, Tae-Ho Lee, and Benjamin Katz.

A new study published in the journal Advances in Psychology sheds light on the psychological factors that influenced voting behavior in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The findings suggest that White Americans who perceive themselves as ranking at the bottom of the racial economic hierarchy—specifically those who feel tied with Black Americans—were the most likely to support Donald Trump. These individuals also expressed the strongest opposition to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

The United States currently exhibits a significant racial wealth gap. Economic statistics consistently show that the average White family holds considerably more wealth than the average Black or Hispanic family. Despite this objective reality, previous polling indicates that many White Americans feel as though they are personally falling behind in terms of their status. Psychological theories regarding “relative deprivation” suggest that people evaluate their well-being by comparing themselves to others rather than by looking at their resources in isolation.

The authors of the new research aimed to understand how these subjective comparisons influence political attitudes. Specifically, they investigated where non-Hispanic White individuals think they stand compared to their own, and other, racial groups. Previous research identified a phenomenon known as “last place aversion,” where people fear being at the very bottom of a social hierarchy.

“This line of research was motivated by recent political trends among some White Americans, including support for DEI bans, alignment with alt-right ideology, and endorsement of political violence in pursuit of political goals (e.g., January 6th),” explained study authors Erin Cooley and Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi, associate professors of psychology at Colgate University and the University of Virginia, respectively. “Many of these attitudes are not only extreme but also anti-democratic, raising questions about how such views can coexist with identities centered on being ‘most American’ (e.g., White nationalist belief systems).”

For their study, the researchers recruited a representative sample of 506 non-Hispanic White Americans. They utilized a quota system to ensure the group accurately reflected the U.S. population in terms of age, gender, education, and geographic region. The study employed a longitudinal design, collecting data in five distinct waves from early September 2024 through the days immediately following the November presidential election.

The primary tool used to assess status was a measure called the “Perceived Self-Group Hierarchy,” developed by the study authors. Participants viewed a diagram representing a status ladder based on money, education, and job prestige. They were asked to place markers representing themselves, White people, Black people, Asian people, and Hispanic people onto this ladder. If participants wanted to indicate no difference among racial groups, they could place all icons in the same spot.

Using a statistical technique called Latent Profile Analysis, the researchers identified distinct subgroups based on how they viewed the social hierarchy. One group, comprising about 15% of the sample, fit a “last place (tied)” profile. These individuals perceived themselves as ranking below White, Asian, and Hispanic Americans. Notably, they viewed themselves as tied for the bottom position with Black Americans. In this profile, the participants also perceived the entire hierarchy as a “tight race,” meaning they felt the gaps between racial groups were relatively small.

The researchers found a consistent link between this “last place” profile and specific political views. White Americans who fit this profile reported the highest levels of support for Donald Trump throughout the campaign season. They also expressed the strongest intention to vote for him. When surveyed the day after the election, this group was the most likely to report having cast their ballot for Trump.

Beyond voting choices, this group showed the strongest opposition to DEI programs, favoring policies that would ban such initiatives in universities. Additionally, they showed higher alignment with alt-right ideologies, agreeing more frequently with statements such as “White people are generally under attack in the U.S.” and “The government threatens my personal rights.”

Importantly, the researchers found that these attitudes were not driven by actual poverty. The researchers controlled for objective indicators of socioeconomic status, such as income and education levels. They found that belonging to the “last place” profile predicted Trump support and anti-DEI attitudes regardless of how much money or education the participant actually had.

“We originally hypothesized that we would observe a subset of non-Hispanic, White Americans who feel ‘last place.’ That said, we expected this profile to be more likely among working class individuals,” Cooley told PsyPost. “However, perceiving oneself to be ‘last place’ was not associated with the lowest objective income nor the lowest objective education among the White Americans in our samples.”

According to Cooley, because these individuals are not objectively the lowest in status, the findings suggest that “racialized perceptions—rather than objective socioeconomic position—are reliably associated with the political outcomes examined here.”

The researchers also examined whether these feelings intensified as the election drew closer. They hypothesized that political campaigning might heighten status anxieties. However, the data showed that the relationship between profile membership and political support was stable over the three months. The link between feeling “last place” and supporting Trump was just as strong in September as it was in November.

“Although the effects are modest at the individual level—as is typical in political psychology—the consistency of the pattern across large samples with census-based quotas suggests meaningful practical significance,” Cooley noted. “When a psychologically distinct subgroup consistently emerges and is reliably associated with support for certain policies and votes cast in a presidential election, even small effects can matter at the population level.”

As with all research, there are limitations to consider. The design was correlational, which means it cannot prove that feeling “last place” causes someone to vote a certain way. It is possible that the relationship works in the opposite direction. Engaging with certain political media or movements could cultivate or intensify feelings of being left behind.

“One potential misinterpretation is that political outcomes are driven simply by feelings of falling behind other White Americans,” Cooley noted. “Indeed, across these studies, and others, we find that many White Americans perceive themselves as falling behind the perceived high status of ‘White Americans.'”

“However, when used as a predictor on its own, this perception of falling behind White people in particular does not predict political outcomes. Instead, it is the full pattern of how individuals perceive their own status relative to both other White Americans and Asian, Hispanic, and Black Americans that is predictive of alt-right tendencies, support for President Trump, and support for DEI bans.”

For future inquiries, the scientists plan to use mixed-methods research. This would involve interviewing participants to understand the personal life experiences that lead a White American to feel they are tied for last place in the economic hierarchy. Qualitative interviews could reveal the narratives and specific life events that shape these statistical profiles.

“At present, we have a limited understanding of the factors and life experiences that shape perceptions of personal status within the perceived racial economic hierarchy, particularly ‘last place’ perceptions,” Cooley said. “As a next step, we are moving toward mixed-methods approaches that combine quantitative analyses of racialized status perception profiles with structured follow-up interviews of participants—such as those classified into the “last place” profile based on their responses.”

Another limitation is the focus solely on non-Hispanic White Americans. The researchers chose this focus because of the group’s historically advantaged position in the U.S. racial hierarchy. However, this limits the ability to generalize the findings to other racial or ethnic groups. The dynamics of status perception likely operate differently for Black, Hispanic, or Asian Americans. Some initial data suggests that Hispanic Americans may be more likely to see themselves as “first place” than “last place,” presenting an interesting contrast to non-Hispanic White Americans’ status perceptions captured in the work reviewed here.

“Among Hispanic Americans, rather than a subset who feel ‘last place,’ we consistently observe a subset of Hispanic Americans who perceive themselves as close to, or tied for, ‘first place,’ and it is this subset of Hispanic Americans who are most supportive of alt-right ideology, President Trump, and DEI bans,” Cooley told PsyPost.

“Interestingly, Hispanic Americans who also identify as White are most likely to fall into these ‘first place’ profiles. We are currently testing competing theoretical explanations for these divergent patterns between non-Hispanic and Hispanic White Americans using additional mixed-methods research.”

The study, “White Americans’ feelings of being ‘last place’ are associated with anti-DEI attitudes, Trump support, and Trump vote during the 2024 U.S. presidential election,” was authored by Alisa Kukharkin, Fiona Barber, Erin Cooley, Nava Caluori, Xanni Brown, Anshita Singh, William Cipolli, and Jazmin L. Brown-Iannuzzi.

A recent study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors provides evidence that the relationship between alcohol use and future anxiety depends significantly on a person’s age and how they consume alcohol. The findings indicate that while consuming larger amounts of alcohol per occasion predicts slightly higher anxiety levels in most adults, drinking more frequently but in smaller amounts is linked to slightly lower anxiety in older populations.

Scientific literature has established a robust link between alcohol consumption and physical health issues, such as liver disease and cardiovascular problems. However, the connection between drinking and psychological conditions, particularly anxiety, is much less understood. Existing evidence often appears contradictory. Some past inquiries found that alcohol use leads to increased anxiety, while others found no link or even a decrease in symptoms.

A potential reason for these mixed results is that previous work often combined different drinking habits into broad categories, such as “heavy” versus “low volume” consumption. This approach misses the nuance between drinking a small amount often versus drinking a large amount at once. The researchers aimed to separate these behaviors to see if the frequency of drinking and the quantity consumed predict anxiety differently. They also sought to determine if these patterns vary based on demographic factors like sex, age, and income level.

“It’s really strange how little is done on the long-term impacts of alcohol on anxiety given all the research on alcohol which is out there. It helps us understand if alcohol is a good means of self-medicating anxiety or whether it actually induces anxiety over time,” said study author Simon D’Aquino, a clinical psychologist.

To investigate this, the researchers analyzed data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. This is a large, nationally representative study that tracks the same individuals over many years. The final sample included 21,405 Australian adults who provided data between 2006 and 2021. This longitudinal design allowed the scientists to look at how behaviors in one year influenced mental health in the following year.

The survey measured anxiety using the Kessler-10 anxiety subscale. This is a widely used screening tool that asks participants how often they felt nervous, restless, or hopeless in the past four weeks. Alcohol patterns were assessed by asking participants two specific questions. First, they reported how many days per week they drank alcohol, which established the frequency. Second, they reported how many standard drinks they usually consumed on those days, which established the quantity. A standard drink was defined as containing 10 grams of alcohol.

The researchers used complex statistical models to examine the data. They looked at whether a person’s drinking habits in a given year could predict their anxiety levels one year later. These models accounted for individual differences and adjusted for other variables. The analysis included up to eight pairs of year-to-year data per participant, providing a comprehensive view of changes over time.

The analysis revealed that the relationship between alcohol and anxiety is generally small but statistically significant. Age emerged as a key factor influencing this dynamic, while sex and income did not significantly change the outcome. This means that men and women, as well as rich and poor, showed similar patterns, but young adults and older adults did not.

“I was surprised the relationship varies with age and not gender. I thought women would be susceptible to stronger effects due to lower blood volume, but it might suggest the mechanisms here are not biological.”

For adults aged 51 and older, drinking more frequently was associated with a slight decrease in anxiety scores one year later. This finding aligns with some previous studies on older populations. However, for this same age group, consuming larger quantities of alcohol on a single occasion was linked to increased anxiety. This suggests a divergence in outcomes based on drinking style for older adults.

A different pattern appeared for adults between the ages of 26 and 50. In this group, drinking larger amounts per sitting predicted higher anxiety. This provides evidence that heavier drinking sessions may have negative long-term impacts on mental well-being for mid-life adults. Unlike the older group, the frequency of drinking showed no significant association with anxiety for those aged 26 to 50.

For the youngest group, those aged 18 to 25, the researchers found no significant link between drinking habits and future anxiety. This lack of association might be due to the social context of drinking in early adulthood. Heavy episodic drinking is often more normative and socially accepted in this age bracket. It is possible that the negative psychological effects of alcohol take longer to manifest or are masked by the social nature of drinking during these formative years.

“There aren’t large effects of alcohol on your long term anxiety, but drinking heavily to manage anxiety or other moods will likely make the mood worse,” D’Aquino told PsyPOst. “I think it also highlights that alcohol can have a constructive psychosocial role in our lives too if consumed in small volumes (i.e. a single standard drink each day).”

The researchers propose several explanations for why frequent, low-quantity drinking might be linked to lower anxiety in older adults. It is possible that for this demographic, having a drink is often tied to social activities. As people age, they are at higher risk for loneliness and social isolation. If frequent drinking occurs in the context of socializing with friends or family, the benefits of social connection could be what buffers against anxiety, rather than the alcohol itself.

On the other hand, the finding that larger quantities per occasion predict higher anxiety across most of adulthood supports the idea of a reciprocal relationship. Heavier drinking can disrupt brain chemistry and sleep patterns, which may worsen anxiety symptoms over time. This creates a cycle where anxiety might increase, potentially leading to more drinking, though this specific study only looked at alcohol predicting future anxiety.

But it is important to note that this study is observational. This means it cannot prove that alcohol causes changes in anxiety levels. There may be other unmeasured factors at play. For instance, nicotine use often overlaps with alcohol consumption and is known to affect anxiety, but it was not included in this specific analysis.

“It’s important to note this doesn’t demonstrate that alcohol causes changes in anxiety,” D’Aquino explained. “It’s very possible there are indirect routes through which alcohol consumption affects anxiety such as changes in social environment.”

Future research should aim to replicate these findings in other countries to see if the results hold true outside of the Australian context. The researchers also suggest investigating the mechanisms behind why frequent, low-dose drinking seems protective for older adults. Clarifying whether this is due to biological factors or social benefits would help refine public health guidelines.

“I have more research coming out soon to help explain why older people tend to experience anxiety reductions with more frequent drinking,” D’Aquino said. “I have a suspicion that it helps older people socially bond at a time of life when loneliness typically increases.”

The study, “Alcohol consumption patterns and Long-Term Anxiety: The influence of Sex, Age, and income,” was authored by Simon D’Aquino, Benjamin Riordan, Megan Cook, and Sarah Callinan.

A study in Germany found that a 30-minute session of moderate-intensity physical exercise reduced rumination in depressed individuals compared to sitting. The reduction was visible in both electroencephalographic recordings and self-reports. The research was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Depression is a mental health condition characterized by persistent low mood, loss of interest or pleasure, and impairments in emotional, cognitive, and physical functioning. It affects how people think, feel, and behave, interfering with daily life, work, and relationships. Common symptoms include sadness, fatigue, sleep and appetite disturbances, reduced concentration, and feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness.

One of the core cognitive symptoms of depression is rumination. Rumination is a cognitive process that involves repetitive and passive focus on one’s distress and its possible causes and consequences. However, rather than leading to problem solving, rumination tends to amplify negative mood and prolong depressive episodes without resolving the problem.

People who ruminate typically dwell on past failures, perceived flaws, or unanswered “why” questions about their suffering. This repetitive thinking can increase emotional distress and make it harder to disengage from negative thoughts. Rumination is also associated with impaired concentration and reduced motivation, further limiting adaptive coping. Research shows that higher levels of rumination predict greater severity and longer duration of depressive symptoms.

Study author Jana Welkerling and her colleagues explored the effects acute physical exercise has on ruminative thoughts. They wanted to examine the Distraction Hypothesis about rumination. This hypothesis proposes that rumination maintains or worsens depressed mood because it prevents engagement in distracting, rewarding, or problem-solving activities that could otherwise reduce negative affect. The researchers wanted to see whether exercise would shift participants from a ruminative to a distractive state and how this change develops.

The study participants were 24 individuals suffering from moderate or severe depression. Seventeen of them were women. Participants’ average age was 25 years.

Participants first underwent a diagnostic procedure (the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5) and completed assessments of depression symptoms (the Beck Depression Inventory II) and the tendency to ruminate (the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire). They also completed medical examinations to confirm eligibility for physical exercise.

A week later, they completed two protocols to induce rumination and distraction in three consecutive sessions. The researchers took electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of participants’ brain activity during these sessions, allowing them to develop ways to estimate the probability that the person is engaged in rumination or distraction from EEG recordings.

In the third week, each participant completed two different experimental conditions. In both sessions, participants were first told to focus their attention on the symptoms of their depression. This was done with the aim to induce rumination. They then either completed a 30-minute moderate intensity physical exercise session (the exercise condition) or spent the 30 minutes sitting (the control condition). During these sessions, participants rated their rumination at 4.5-minute intervals and the researchers took EEG recordings of their brain activity.

Results showed that self-reported rumination decreased continuously during the physical exercise session. During the first five minutes of both the exercise and sitting sessions, self-reported rumination did not differ between the two conditions. However, from the 10th minute, rumination started decreasing significantly in the exercise condition (compared to the sitting condition).

Looking at EEG data in a subsample of participants for whom the decoding was successful, the estimated probability that the person was ruminating was lower in the exercise condition than in the sedentary condition. This happened because the estimated probability that the person is ruminating fell to a lower level already in the first minutes of the exercise session.

“This study demonstrated that a single bout of moderate-intensity physical exercise reduces self-reported and EEG-decoded rumination in individuals with moderate or severe depression, providing evidence that physical exercise reduces rumination in favor of distraction, as predicted by the Distraction-Hypothesis,” the authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about the psychological effects of exercise. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on a very small group of young people. Effects on other demographic groups might differ. It also remains unclear how long the reduction in rumination lasts.

The paper, “Single bout of exercise reduces self-reported and decoded rumination in favor of distraction in patients with major depression,” was authored by Jana Welkerling, Andreas Niess, Patrick Schneeweiss, Gorden Sudeck, Tim Rohe, and Sebastian Wolf.

Two recent studies conducted by scientists at the University Health Network and the University of Toronto provide new evidence regarding the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on the brain. The findings suggest that this psychedelic compound may have unexpected neuroprotective properties against severe seizures in mice.

Additionally, the research indicates that LSD significantly alters the electrical stability of brain networks. These papers, published in Next Research and Brain Research, challenge conventional assumptions about psychedelics and safety in the context of epilepsy.

Lysergic acid diethylamide is a potent psychoactive substance known for its ability to alter perception, mood, and cognitive processes. It functions primarily by binding to serotonin receptors in the brain. These receptors are proteins that receive chemical signals to regulate various biological functions. While LSD is famous for its recreational use and its ability to induce hallucinations, medical researchers are increasingly examining its potential therapeutic benefits. Past studies suggest it may help treat conditions such as depression and anxiety.

The rationale for investigating LSD in the context of seizures stemmed from a need to improve treatments for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. It affects roughly 50 to 60 million people globally. Current medications fail to control seizures in about one-third of patients. This drug resistance creates an urgent need for alternative therapeutic approaches.

“This work started in a completely different direction than it ended up going in,” said study author Brenden Rabinovitch, a PhD student affiliated with the University of Toronto and the Krembil Brain Institute.

The researchers initially designed the study to test the safety of LSD rather than its efficacy as a treatment. They were interested in using psychedelics to treat functional seizures. Functional seizures are behavioral events that resemble epileptic seizures but are psychological in origin. They do not involve the abnormal electrical discharges seen in epilepsy. Because some patients suffer from both epilepsy and functional seizures, the scientists needed to verify that LSD would not worsen epileptic seizures before proposing it as a treatment.

“We thought this was a fascinating phenomenon that psychedelics could potentially treat due to their therapeutic promise in functional neurological disorder and other psychiatric disorders,” Rabinovitch said. “However, we knew this was very non-traditional, since psychedelics are often treated as potential seizure-inducing drugs, although there is no evidence to suggest this is true in the context stated (we also wrote a review on this recently).”

“Now, it is also important to consider that between 9–11% of epilepsy patients have some functional seizures. If a drug we think may treat functional seizures also has a risk of inducing seizures, that is a clear conflict. Thus, we initially set out to do a ‘safety’ experiment, and we viewed a ‘positive’ result as one in which LSD had no effect on epileptic seizures at all. When we saw that certain behavioural characteristics of seizures actually improved in these mice, we were shocked to say the least.”

The first study, published in Next Research, utilized a mouse model to observe the effects of LSD on acute seizures. The researchers worked with adolescent male and female C57BL/6J mice. They divided the animals into groups and administered either a saline solution or LSD. The LSD was given at doses of 17 or 30 micrograms per kilogram. Forty minutes after this pre-treatment, the researchers injected the mice with kainic acid. Kainic acid is a chemical that mimics the neurotransmitter glutamate. It overstimulates neurons and reliably induces seizures in rodents.

The researchers recorded the behavior of the mice for eighty minutes following the injection. They used a modified version of the Racine scale to measure seizure severity. This scale rates behaviors from mild stages, such as facial movements and freezing, to severe stages, such as full-body convulsions and continuous seizing. The team analyzed the video footage to determine how the pre-treatment influenced the onset, severity, and outcome of the seizures.

The results revealed a distinct difference between the treated mice and the control group, particularly among the males. In the control group, nearly 40 percent of the male mice progressed to status epilepticus. Status epilepticus is a medical emergency where a seizure lasts longer than five minutes or seizures occur close together without recovery. This state is life-threatening. In the control group, roughly 23 percent of the male mice died as a result.

The mice treated with the higher dose of LSD showed a complete absence of status epilepticus. None of the male mice in the 30-microgram group entered this dangerous state, and none of them died. The lower dose of LSD also provided protection, reducing the incidence of severe seizures and death compared to the controls. The drug appeared to alter the early stages of the seizure as well. The treated mice spent more time in a “freezing” state and less time performing repetitive involuntary movements known as automatisms.

“We thought that the best-case scenario was LSD would have no effect on the behavioural seizure characteristics,” Rabinovitch told PsyPost. “At worst, we thought the mice might go into status epilepticus—a prolonged, life-threatening seizure state—and we would urgently need to treat them with an anti-epileptic drug and provide fluids and other supportive treatments until the LSD was fully out of their system.”

“I almost did not believe it when I did the seizure-induction injections and some of the mice did not progress past stage 1 or 2 on the Racine scale, which is a standard measure of seizure severity ranging from mild facial movements at stage 1 up to full convulsive seizures at stage 5.”

The results for the female mice were less dramatic. The female control group was naturally more resistant to the kainic acid and did not experience status epilepticus or death even without the drug. However, the researchers noted that LSD increased the variability of the behavioral responses in both sexes. This suggests that the drug affects individuals differently, leading to a wider range of reactions.

To understand the mechanism behind these behavioral changes, the scientists focused on how LSD modulates the electrical activity of the brain in freely moving mice. The researchers surgically implanted electrodes into the brains of male mice. They targeted two specific regions: the hippocampus and the cortex. The hippocampus is essential for memory and navigation, while the cortex is involved in sensory processing and decision-making.

After the mice recovered from surgery, the researchers recorded their baseline brain activity using intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). They then administered the same 30-microgram dose of LSD used in the seizure study. They continued to record the electrical signals to observe changes in neural oscillations. Neural oscillations, or brain waves, are rhythmic patterns of electrical activity produced by the synchronized firing of neurons.

The analysis, published in Brain Research, showed that LSD caused a broad reduction in the power of these brain waves. The term “power” in this context refers to the strength or amplitude of the electrical signal. The researchers observed this decrease across all measured frequency bands, including delta, theta, alpha, and beta waves. This effect was most pronounced in the ventral hippocampus, a region associated with emotional memory.

In addition to reducing signal power, the drug increased the variance of the brain activity. Variance refers to the fluctuation or instability of the signal over time. The brain waves became less predictable and more heterogeneous after LSD administration. This finding aligns with the “entropic brain” theory. This hypothesis suggests that psychedelics work by increasing the entropy, or disorder, within the brain. They disintegrate rigid, organized networks and allow for a more flexible state of connectivity.

The scientists propose a theoretical link between the two studies. Seizures are characterized by hypersynchronization. This means that large groups of neurons fire together in an excessive and rigid pattern. By inducing a state of desynchronization and lowering the power of neural rhythms, LSD may make it difficult for this hypersynchronized seizure activity to organize and spread. The drug essentially introduces enough noise or “chaos” into the system to prevent the seizure from generalizing across the brain.

The researchers emphasize that these findings are preliminary. There are several limitations to consider. Both studies were conducted in mice, and human brain physiology is significantly more complex. The protective effects against status epilepticus were clear in male mice, but the differences were harder to assess in females due to their natural resistance to the seizure model used. Additionally, the variability in the responses suggests that the effects of LSD are highly individual-specific.

The scientists also caution against interpreting this as a recommendation for using LSD to treat epilepsy directly. The study used a specific timing for the dosage relative to the seizure induction. In a clinical setting, predicting when a seizure will occur is often impossible.

“The average person should not look at this and immediately think that we should start dosing people with LSD to cure their seizures,” Rabinovitch said. “I think people can take away the idea that epilepsy may be a condition which benefits from multi-target drugs rather than classical single-target anti-seizure medications (ASMs), which have focused on blocking excitatory and enhancing inhibitory transmission in the brain.”

“Epilepsy is complex, so maybe complex drugs could be of benefit to individuals who are ‘drug-resistant’—meaning their seizures persist after having tried two or more classical ASMs. More broadly, novel treatments in the future of epilepsy drug development may want to focus on drugs with broad, multi-mechanism pharmacology instead of focusing on single mechanisms that may differ from person to person.”

The primary long-term goal for the researchers is to explore the use of LSD for functional seizures. Since functional seizures are psychogenic, the psychological effects of psychedelics could address the root cause of the disorder. The fact that the drug appears safe—and potentially protective—regarding epileptic seizures removes a significant barrier to testing it in patient populations who may have both conditions.

“In the long term, we would love the opportunity to run a clinical trial with patients who have functional seizures but do NOT have epilepsy,” Rabinovitch explanined. “This would be the ideal population since we think they would stand to benefit the most from treatment due to the psychological nature of their seizures, absent other neurological pathologies.”

“Looking ahead, we would love to follow up by examining how the electrical (EEG) signal of mice undergoing seizures may be altered with LSD. We are also interested in more translational questions around the framing of treatment. For example, does it make sense to ‘treat’ seizures with LSD directly, or is LSD something that may augment concomitant anti-seizure medications? It is also not clear that LSD would work like a traditional rescue medication such as diazepam, because when and how often it is given likely has a substantial effect on outcomes. This was a preliminary investigation, so we naturally have many ideas for how this could play out.”

The scientists urge the medical research community to remain open to ideas that might initially seem counterintuitive. They note that epilepsy is still a surprisingly misunderstood condition given how many people it affects globally.

“This has resulted in nearly all anti-seizure medications being different flavors of the same idea for over 50 years,” Rabinovitch said. “This is likely a contributing factor to 1/3 of epilepsy patients being treatment-resistant with uncontrollable seizures. When we look at the blossoming of psychedelic research in recent years, it is quite clear that these drugs—when used appropriately in controlled clinical settings with physician supervision—have potential ameliorative effects for many more conditions than we had previously thought.”

The study, “Lysergic acid diethylamide inhibits status epilepticus and mortality in a mouse model of acute kainic acid-induced motor seizures,” was authored by BS Rabinovitch, W Hu, C Tang, N Silverman, EC Lewis, and PL Carlen.

The study, “Lysergic acid diethylamide modulates hippocampal and cortical local field potential oscillatory rhythms in male mice,” was authored by B.S. Rabinovitch, N. Silverman, D. Ji, D. Shizgal, E.C. Lewis, and P.L. Carlen.

New research suggests that the natural rhythm of breathing plays an important role in organizing the brain activity required for human memory. The study indicates that successful memory retrieval is linked to the timing of inhalation and exhalation, with specific brain patterns synchronizing to the respiratory cycle. These findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Scientists have known for some time that respiration serves functions beyond simply supplying oxygen to the body. Previous studies in both animals and humans have demonstrated that breathing can influence brain activity during sleep and wakefulness. For instance, prior research has shown that people tend to identify facial expressions or perceive tactile stimuli more accurately when they are inhaling.

Despite this knowledge, the specific neural mechanisms connecting breathing phases to the conscious recovery of memories have remained less clear. The research team sought to determine if respiration acts as a pacemaker that synchronizes the brain activity required to recall specific associations. They aimed to understand whether the timing of breathing aligns with the replay of neural patterns that represent stored memories.

“Much of memory research has traditionally focused on neural mechanisms within the brain itself. However, growing evidence suggests that bodily rhythms, particularly breathing, can systematically influence brain activity,” explained study author Thomas Schreiner, Emmy Noether Group Leader at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

“While this link had been demonstrated for general brain states, it remained unclear whether respiration also shapes the specific neural processes that support remembering. Our motivation was to address this gap by testing whether different phases of breathing are directly linked to the neural signatures of successful memory retrieval in humans.”

For their study, the researchers analyzed data from 18 healthy participants. The group consisted of 15 females and 3 males, with a mean age of approximately 21 years. The experiment involved two separate sessions spaced about one week apart.

During the initial phase of each session, participants completed a learning task. They were shown verbs, such as “jump,” paired with images of either objects or scenes. The participants were instructed to create a mental image or story linking the verb to the picture. This process created an associative memory, which is a type of memory that links two unrelated items.

Later, the participants underwent a memory test to see how well they had retained the information. During this test, they were presented with the verbs they had seen earlier. They were then asked to recall the associated image and describe it.

While the participants performed these tasks, the scientists recorded their physiological activity. They used electroencephalography, or EEG, to monitor electrical activity in the brain. Simultaneously, they used a thermistor airflow sensor to track the participants’ breathing patterns. This setup allowed the team to precisely match moments of brain activity with specific phases of the respiratory cycle.

The researchers analyzed the data to see if memory performance varied depending on where the participant was in their breathing cycle when the memory cue appeared. They examined the EEG data for specific oscillatory patterns. Oscillations are rhythmic fluctuations in electrical activity, often called brain waves.

The team focused specifically on the alpha and beta frequency bands, which range from roughly 8 to 20 Hertz. In memory research, a decrease in power within these frequency bands is typically a sign that the brain is successfully processing information. The scientists also used a sophisticated computer model to detect “memory reactivation.” This refers to the moment the brain recreates the specific neural pattern associated with the original image.

The results revealed a connection between breathing and memory performance. The researchers found that participants were more likely to successfully remember an image if the cue word appeared while they were inhaling. Specifically, the optimal sequence for memory retrieval appeared to involve inhaling when the cue was presented, followed by exhaling as the brain processed the memory.

“We were struck by how selectively the effects emerged during successful remembering, rather than during unsuccessful retrieval or control conditions,” Schreiner told PsyPost. “This suggests that respiration is not merely influencing general arousal, but is specifically linked to the neural reinstatement of stored information.”

When the scientists looked at the neural data, they found that the brain waves tracked with the breathing cycle. The characteristic decrease in alpha and beta power, which signals successful memory engagement, was modulated by respiration. These power decreases were most prominent around the time of exhalation.

The study also showed that memory reactivation was synchronized with breathing. The neural patterns indicating that the participant was bringing the image back to mind tended to emerge during the exhalation phase. This suggests that while inhalation may be important for taking in the cue, exhalation is the period when the brain effectively reconstructs the memory.

The scientists observed a correlation between the strength of this synchronization and how well individuals performed on the test. Participants who showed a stronger coupling between their breathing rhythm and their brain’s reactivation patterns achieved better memory scores. This implies that the coordination between breath and brain is not random but is functionally relevant for cognitive performance.

These findings provide evidence that respiration may act as a scaffold for episodic memory retrieval. Episodic memory involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences. The data suggests that the respiratory cycle helps coordinate the neural conditions necessary for this complex cognitive process.

“Our results suggest that breathing is not just a background bodily function, but is closely coordinated with brain activity that supports remembering,” Schreiner explained. “In particular, the timing of inhalation and exhalation appears to structure when memory related neural patterns are most effectively reactivated. This highlights that cognitive processes such as memory emerge from tight interactions between the brain and the body, rather than from the brain alone.”

However, the researchers note that while the effects are consistent, they are relatively modest in size. This is typical for physiological influences on complex mental tasks. The study identifies a correlation but does not definitively prove that breathing causes the changes in brain activity. It is possible that a third factor, such as general arousal or attention, influences both respiration and memory simultaneously.

The researchers also point out that the study focused on spontaneous breathing. The current data reflects natural, unconscious physiological coupling rather than the effects of a breathing exercise.

“A key caveat is that our findings do not imply that consciously changing one’s breathing will immediately improve memory performance,” Schreiner noted. “The study focuses on spontaneous breathing and its natural coupling to brain dynamics. Whether deliberate breathing interventions can reliably enhance memory remains an open question.”

Another potential limitation involves the role of eye movements. Recent scientific debates have questioned whether alpha and beta power decreases are partly driven by oculomotor activity. Future studies will need to track eye movements alongside respiration and EEG to disentangle these factors completely.

The research team plans to expand this line of research. “Our core research focus is sleep and memory, and we have previously shown that respiration plays a key role in structuring memory reactivation during sleep. With the present study, we aimed to extend this framework to wakeful remembering,” Schreiner said.

“Going forward, we want to push this work further by understanding how respiratory stability or instability shapes memory consolidation during sleep, and how disruptions of breathing, such as in sleep disordered breathing, may impair memory related neural coordination in aging and clinical populations.”

“More broadly, we hope this work contributes to a growing view of cognition as an embodied process, in which brain function is continuously shaped by physiological rhythms throughout the body.”

The study, “Respiration shapes the neural dynamics of successful remembering in humans,” was authored by Esteban Bullón Tarrasó, Fabian Schwimmbeck, Marit Petzka, Tobias Staudigl, Bernhard P. Staresina, and Thomas Schreiner.

For most young children, the sight and voice of a parent serve as a primary source of comfort and safety. A new study suggests that for children who have experienced interpersonal violence or abuse, the brain processes these caregiver signals in a distinct way. Researchers found that a history of threat experiences is linked to heightened activity in the insula, a brain region involved in sensing the body’s internal state and determining what is important in the environment. These findings, published in the journal Developmental Science, offer new insight into how early adversity may shape the developing brain.

Scientists have spent decades trying to understand how difficult childhoods influence biological development. One prevailing theory is the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology. This framework suggests that different types of bad experiences affect the brain in specific ways.

The model distinguishes between two main categories of adversity: threat and deprivation. Threat involves the presence of harm, such as physical abuse or exposure to domestic violence. Deprivation involves the absence of expected inputs, such as neglect or a lack of cognitive stimulation.

Researchers hypothesized that threat and deprivation would trigger different biological mechanisms. This theory draws heavy inspiration from animal research. Studies on rodents have shown that when rat pups experience rough handling by their mothers, their brain activity shifts.

In these animal models, pups exposed to rough care process maternal cues aberrantly. Instead of the mother’s presence calming the pup’s fear circuitry, it can increase activity in areas of the brain associated with threat detection. The human equivalent of this phenomenon has been difficult to isolate until recently.

Nicolas Murgueitio, a researcher affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Emory University School of Medicine, led the investigation. He worked alongside a team of psychologists and neuroscientists from institutions including Harvard University and New York University. The team aimed to test if the specific effects of threat observed in rodents would appear in human children.

The researchers recruited 148 children between the ages of four and nine for the study. This age range is significant because it represents a period of high plasticity in brain development. It is also a time when children are heavily dependent on their caregivers for emotional regulation.

To understand the children’s backgrounds, the team used a comprehensive set of interviews and questionnaires. They collected data from both the children and their guardians. This allowed them to create detailed scores for each child regarding their exposure to threat and deprivation.

Threat scores included experiences like physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing domestic violence. Deprivation scores accounted for physical neglect, lack of educational materials in the home, and limited parental involvement in learning. This detailed accounting allowed the scientists to separate the effects of violence from the effects of neglect.

The core of the study involved observing the children’s brains in action using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. This technology measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow. While inside the scanner, the children completed a task designed to engage their emotions and attention.

The researchers used a “multimodal” stimulus, meaning it engaged both sight and hearing. Children saw a picture of their primary caregiver and heard a recording of that caregiver’s voice. The voice provided a “scaffold,” or a helpful prompt, such as telling the child they were about to see pictures of kids playing.

For comparison, the children also saw pictures and heard recordings of a stranger. These strangers were matched to the caregivers in terms of sex, race, and age. This comparison allowed the researchers to isolate the brain’s specific response to the parent, rather than just its response to any adult face or voice.

When the researchers analyzed the brain scans of the entire group, they found widespread activity in response to caregivers. Areas of the brain associated with visual processing and social cognition lit up more for parents than for strangers. This indicates that, generally, a parent is a highly engaging social signal for a child.

The team then looked for specific patterns linked to the children’s adversity scores. They found that a history of deprivation was not associated with differences in how the brain responded to the caregiver. The level of neglect a child experienced did not predict changes in neural activation during this specific task.

However, the results for threat experiences were different. Children with higher levels of threat exposure showed significantly greater activation in the insula when processing their caregiver’s cues. This effect remained even when the researchers controlled for levels of deprivation.

The insula is a complex region of the brain deep within the cerebral cortex. It plays a key role in “interoception,” which is the sense of the physiological condition of the body. It helps an individual feel their own heartbeat or gut feelings.

Beyond monitoring the body, the insula is central to the “salience network.” This network helps the brain decide what is most important in the immediate environment. It acts as a filter, highlighting things that deserve immediate attention and mental resources.

The increased insula activity suggests that for children exposed to violence, the caregiver is a highly salient stimulus. The researchers interpret this as a sign that the brain is allocating extra resources to process the caregiver’s presence. In a safe environment, a parent is a source of predictability.

In an environment characterized by threat, a parent may be a source of both care and danger. This duality can make the caregiver a confusing or unpredictable signal. The insula may be working harder to predict what the caregiver will do next or to prepare the body for a potential reaction.

The researchers had originally hypothesized that they would see differences in the amygdala. The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure often referred to as the brain’s fear center. Previous studies on institutionalized children had suggested that adversity blunts the amygdala’s response to parents.

In this study, however, threat exposure did not correlate with changes in amygdala activation. The authors suggest this might be due to the nature of the task. The children were listening to a helpful, regulating voice rather than just looking at a static face.

This multimodal approach creates a more complex social experience than simple picture-viewing tasks. It may be that the addition of the voice and the “scaffolding” context engages the brain’s salience network more than its basic threat detection centers. The findings align with the idea that the brain adapts to its environment in specific, functional ways.

There are several caveats to consider when interpreting these results. The study was cross-sectional, meaning it looked at the children at a single point in time. It cannot definitively prove that the threat experiences caused the brain differences, only that they are related.

The age range of the participants also presents a variable. A four-year-old relies on a parent differently than a nine-year-old does. While the researchers controlled for age in their statistical models, developmental changes across this span are rapid and substantial.

Another limitation lies in the comparison between a caregiver and a stranger. The caregiver is a familiar person, while the stranger is novel. It is possible that the brain differences reflect how traumatized children process familiarity versus novelty, rather than the caregiver specifically.

The researchers also note that their sample was relatively low-risk compared to populations in the foster care system or institutional settings. The children had lower levels of deprivation on average. This might explain why deprivation did not show a strong link to brain activity in this specific group.

Future research will need to explore the long-term consequences of this heightened insula activity. It remains to be seen whether this neural pattern predicts later mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression. Understanding the behavioral outcomes of these brain differences is a necessary next step.

The team suggests that future studies should look at how these brain responses relate to attachment styles. Disorganized attachment, where a child seeks comfort from a parent but also appears frightened of them, might be the behavioral behavior counterpart to these neural findings. Connecting the biology to the behavior could inform better interventions.

This study provides evidence that not all childhood adversity impacts the brain in the same way. The distinction between threat and deprivation appears to be biologically real. Violence and abuse may uniquely alter the neural circuitry involved in processing the people closest to us.

By identifying the insula as a key player, this research opens new avenues for understanding the impact of trauma. It suggests that for some children, the mere presence of a parent triggers a heightened state of internal monitoring and attention. Recognizing this burden on the developing brain is the first step toward helping these children heal.

The study, “Neural Responses to Caregivers After Early Life Threat Experiences,” was authored by Nicolas Murgueitio, Michelle Shipkova, Lucy A. Lurie, Micaela Rodriguez, Laura Machlin, Maresa Tate, Sneha Boda, Zoe Priddy, Cathi B. Propper, Katie A. McLaughlin, Regina M. Sullivan, and Margaret A. Sheridan.

Artificial intelligence systems are increasingly being tested for their ability to support personal health goals. A recent study published in the Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science provides evidence that AI chatbots can generate weight-loss coaching messages that are perceived as helpful as those written by human experts. The findings suggest that large language models may soon offer a scalable way to provide personalized support for individuals managing obesity.

Obesity remains a significant global health challenge. It affects a large percentage of the adult population and increases the risk of conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. While losing a moderate amount of weight can reduce these risks, accessing consistent and personalized coaching is often difficult and expensive. Many people rely on mobile health applications that send automated messages to help them stay on track.

Current automated systems typically rely on pre-written templates. These messages often function on simple rules. For example, if a user does not log their food, the system sends a generic reminder. Previous research indicates that users often find these messages repetitive and impersonal. This lack of customization can lead to lower engagement and limited success in weight management programs.

Scientists conducted this study to determine if modern artificial intelligence could solve this problem. They utilized large language models, which are advanced AI systems capable of understanding and generating human-like text. The researchers wanted to see if an AI chatbot could create messages that felt personalized and empathetic rather than robotic.

“Overweight and obesity affect around 40% of adults worldwide and over 70% in the United States, posing serious health risks. At the same time, there is a growing shortage of clinicians available to provide weight-loss coaching,” said study author Zhuoran Huang, a PhD student at Northeastern University.

“Automated coaching messages are one potential way to increase access while saving time and costs. Still, most existing systems rely on pre-written, templated messages that many users find repetitive and impersonal. We wanted to examine whether generative AI, such as ChatGPT, could create more personalized and engaging coaching messages without the high development costs of traditional tailored systems. While interest in AI for health interventions is increasing, there has been limited research testing whether AI-generated weight-loss coaching messages are feasible to produce or how they compare with messages written by experienced human coaches.”

The study included 87 adults who were already enrolled in a year-long behavioral weight-loss trial. These participants had a body mass index, or BMI, that classified them as overweight or obese. BMI is a standard measure used to estimate body fat based on height and weight. The researchers designed the experiment to measure how helpful the participants found specific coaching messages.

The scientific investigation took place in two phases. In both phases, the researchers presented participants with hypothetical scenarios based on typical weight-loss data. These scenarios included situations where a person might have lost weight, gained weight, or maintained their weight over the previous week. For each scenario, the participants reviewed data summaries regarding calorie intake and physical activity.

Participants then read ten coaching messages. A trained human coach with a master’s degree and extensive experience wrote five of the messages. The AI chatbot, specifically ChatGPT, generated the other five messages based on prompts provided by the researchers. Participants rated each message on a scale of one to five. They also attempted to identify whether a human or a computer wrote each message.

In the first phase, the researchers gave the AI basic instructions to act as a coach and summarize the data. The results favored the human coach. Participants rated the human-written messages as significantly more helpful than the AI-generated ones. Only 66 percent of the AI messages received a rating of three or higher. Feedback indicated that the AI sounded impersonal, overly negative, and somewhat bossy.

Based on this feedback, the researchers adjusted the instructions given to the AI for the second phase. They explicitly asked the chatbot to use an empathetic and encouraging tone. They also instructed it to include touches of humor and to avoid being overly repetitive.

The results in the second phase showed a marked improvement. The participants rated the revised AI messages as equally helpful to the human messages. In this phase, 82 percent of the AI-generated messages received a helpfulness rating of three or higher. This suggests that with the right instructions, AI can perform at a level comparable to a human professional in this specific context.

The study also revealed that participants had difficulty distinguishing between the two sources. In the second phase, participants misidentified the AI messages as human-written 50 percent of the time. This indicates that the updated prompts allowed the technology to mimic human speech patterns effectively.

Qualitative feedback helped explain these numerical findings. Participants expressed appreciation for the empathy and specific suggestions found in the revised AI messages. They liked that the messages validated their struggles without being overly critical.

However, the analysis also highlighted distinct differences. Some participants noted that the AI messages still felt slightly formulaic. They described the AI as being too focused on the data, whereas the human coach tended to sound more curious about the person behind the numbers. The human messages were often described as encouraging more autonomy, while the AI messages were sometimes perceived as more instructional.

Participants also pointed out the importance of context. Some noted that the AI messages made assumptions based solely on the numbers. For instance, if a person did not log their food, the AI might assume they forgot. A human coach might consider that the person was on vacation or sick. This highlights a lingering gap in the AI’s ability to understand the full complexity of a user’s life.

“Our study provides initial evidence that AI can generate weight-loss coaching messages that people find helpful and that are difficult to distinguish from those written by humans,” Huang told PsyPost. “We found that 82% of AI-generated messages were rated ‘somewhat helpful’ or better, comparable to messages written by an experienced human coach.

“However, participants noted that AI messages sometimes felt more formulaic and data-focused, suggesting that there is still room for improvement in capturing the warm, empathetic tone that human coaches naturally provide. This technology could potentially help address gaps in access to coaching support, though much more research is needed.”

“The findings suggest promising potential for practical application. AI-generated messages received ratings of helpfulness comparable to those from an experienced human coach, and participants could not reliably distinguish between them in this setting. As AI technology continues to advance, this approach could help scale weight-loss support and allow clinicians to devote more time to complex or highly personalized care.”

There are some limitations to this study that should be noted. The participants rated the helpfulness of messages based on hypothetical data rather than their own real-time progress. It is possible that people would react differently if the feedback were directed at their actual behaviors and weight fluctuations. Additionally, the study measured perceived helpfulness rather than actual weight loss. Believing a message is helpful does not guarantee it will lead to behavior change.

“This study should be viewed as a proof of concept showing that AI can generate coaching messages perceived as comparable in quality to those written by experienced human coaches,” Huang said. “We see this technology as a tool to support clinicians by handling routine coaching tasks and helping address workforce shortages, not as a replacement for human expertise.”

Future research will need to test these AI-generated messages in active clinical trials. Scientists intend to investigate whether receiving these messages actually helps people lose weight over time. They also aim to explore how to make the AI more sensitive to situational contexts, such as illness or travel.

Another area for future investigation involves safety and privacy. Using large language models in healthcare requires strict adherence to data protection laws. Researchers must ensure that these systems do not accidentally provide inaccurate medical advice. Establishing protocols for human oversight will be essential before such technology is widely deployed.

The study, “Comparing Large Language Model AI and Human-Generated Coaching Messages for Behavioral Weight Loss,” was authored by Zhuoran Huang, Michael P. Berry, Christina Chwyl, Gary Hsieh, Jing Wei and Evan M. Forman.

Young adults who are happier in their romantic relationships are more likely to have positive views about marriage—and a flexible mindset that considers different perspectives may help explain why. This new research was published in BMC Psychology.

Romantic relationships formed during young adulthood often shape expectations about the future, including whether someone wants to marry. Previous research has shown that relationship quality affects mental well-being and life satisfaction, but less is known about how it influences beliefs about marriage itself.

Psychologists have also increasingly focused on “cognitive flexibility”—which is the ability to adjust one’s thinking, manage challenges, and see situations from multiple angles—as a key factor in maintaining healthy relationships.

Turkish authors Büşra Ekinci (Ministry of National Education, Türkiye) and Murat Canpolat (Inonu University) wanted to explore whether this mental flexibility might help explain how relationship satisfaction translates into positive attitudes toward marriage. They suspected that people who can adapt and communicate effectively may be better able to navigate relationship challenges, leading them to view marriage as more appealing and achievable.

To test this idea, the team surveyed a group of 436 young adults living in Türkiye aged 18 to 29 years old.

Participants completed questionnaires measuring how satisfied they were in their romantic relationships (Relationship Satisfaction Scale), how positively they viewed marriage (Inonu Marriage Attitude Scale), and how flexible they were in their thinking and problem-solving (Cognitive Flexibility Scale).

The researchers then analyzed the data using statistical models to examine how these factors were related.

The results showed a clear pattern. Participants who reported higher relationship satisfaction were significantly more likely to have positive attitudes toward marriage. Those with greater cognitive flexibility also tended to report both higher relationship satisfaction and more favorable views of marriage.

Importantly, cognitive flexibility partly explained the link between the two. In other words, being able to adapt one’s thinking and approach challenges constructively appeared to help transform positive relationship experiences into a more optimistic outlook on marriage.

Individuals with flexible thinking styles may be better equipped to handle disagreements, adjust expectations, solve problems, and maintain emotional balance, making the idea of marriage seem more stable and appealing.

Ekinci and Canpolat shared the potential applications of their findings: “To support young adults’ cognitive flexibility and positively develop their attitudes toward marriage, individual or group psychological counseling programs can be implemented where individuals can share the satisfaction they derive from their romantic relationship experiences, the positive and negative emotional processes they experience, and receive professional support.”

However, the researchers caution that the study cannot prove cause and effect. As the data were collected at one point in time, it is unclear whether relationship satisfaction leads to positive marriage attitudes, or whether people who already value marriage are more likely to report higher satisfaction.

The study, “Romantic relationship satisfaction and marriage attitudes in young adults: The mediating role of cognitive flexibility,” was authored by Büşra Ekinci and Murat Canpolat.

A study of mice fed a high-fat/high-fructose diet (designed to induce obesity) found that 12 weeks of treatment with low-dose psilocybin reduced weight gain, symptoms of fatty liver, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. It did not produce observable effects on the central nervous system. The paper was published in Pharmacological Research.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in certain species of mushrooms, often referred to as “magic mushrooms.” In the body, psilocybin is converted into psilocin, which affects brain function by acting primarily on serotonin (5-HT2A) receptors. These effects can alter perception, mood, cognition, and sense of self. Subjective experiences may include changes in visual perception, intensified emotions, and altered patterns of thought.

Historically, psilocybin-containing mushrooms have been used in ritual and spiritual practices in several cultures. In contemporary science, psilocybin has gained attention for its potential therapeutic effects. Clinical research suggests it may reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and existential distress, particularly in controlled, supportive settings.

Psilocybin-assisted therapy typically combines the drug with psychological preparation and integration sessions. The compound is generally considered to have low addiction potential, though its effects can be psychologically intense. Legal status varies widely across countries, with some allowing medical or research use and others maintaining strict prohibitions.

Study author Martina Colognesi and her colleagues wanted to investigate the potential therapeutic effects of low, non-psychedelic doses of psilocybin in mice. They were interested in the potential of psilocybin to treat obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and liver steatosis. Liver steatosis, or fatty liver, is a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation of fat within liver cells, often associated with metabolic disorders, alcohol use, or insulin resistance.

The study was conducted on C57BL/6J mice, a widely used inbred strain of laboratory mice. The genetic background of these mice is well defined, making them one of the strains used regularly in genetic, behavior, and neuroscience research. Study authors used male mice because males do not experience the cyclic hormonal fluctuations of estrous cycles seen in female mice.

The mice were fed a diet rich in both fats and fructose. This was done by adding 30% fructose to the drinking water for 17 weeks. In this diet, 60% of the energy intake of these mice came from fat. This type of treatment is known to induce obesity and type 2 diabetes, as well as liver steatosis in mice.

After the first 5 weeks, the mice were divided into two groups. One group received 0.05 mg per kilogram of body weight of psilocybin via oral gavage (direct administration into a mouse’s stomach using a feeding tube) for the remaining 12 weeks. The other group was a control group that received water during the same period in the same way. After this period, mice underwent a series of behavioral tests, and study authors performed a series of biochemical analyses on them and analyzed their tissues.

Results showed that, compared to the control group, mice that received psilocybin had reduced body-weight gain, liver steatosis, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. Interestingly, the psilocybin treatment did not elicit effects on the central nervous system of these mice.

Further analyses revealed that lipid pathways in the liver and carbohydrate metabolism were almost completely normalized in the group of mice receiving psilocybin. Additionally, study authors report that psilocybin treatment improved muscle strength and function in these mice, potentially by restoring their leptin sensitivity. Leptin is a hormone that regulates energy balance by signaling the brain to reduce appetite and increase energy expenditure.

“Overall, chronic low-dose psilocybin exerts broad metabolic benefits via a hepatic 5-HT2B-dependent mechanism [a mechanism in the liver involving the 5-HT2B serotonin receptor], distinct from its psychedelic effects, supporting its potential as a novel therapeutic strategy for liver steatosis, obesity, T2DM [type 2 diabetes mellitus], and sarcopenia,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the potential therapeutic effects of psilocybin. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on mice, not on humans. While mice and humans share many physiological similarities, they are still very different species. Results in humans might not be identical.

The paper, “Low, non-psychedelic doses of psilocybin as a novel treatment for MASLD, obesity and Type 2 Diabetes via 5-HT2B receptor-dependent mechanisms,” was authored by Martina Colognesi, Daniela Gabbia, Anna Signor, Miles Sarill, Lucia Centofanti, Andrea Rinaldi, Luciano Cascione, Sara Nunziata, Marco Banzato, Andrea Mattarei, Giovanna Finzi, Sonia Sonda, Diana Pendin, Ilaria Zanotto, Stefano Comai, Gianfranco Pasut, Abdullah Alajati, Miriam Saponaro, Loredana Bucciarelli, Maria Elena Lunati, Giulia Guarato, Ilaria Goggi, Stefano La Rosa, Camillo Morano, Rita Clara Paroni, Michele Dei Cas, Giuseppe Daniele, Marco Gentilucci, Marco Pappagallo, Andrea Alimonti, Paolo L. Manfredi, Franco Folli, and Sara De Martin.

Psychologists and the public alike have frequently debated whether exceptional cognitive ability comes with a cost to emotional well-being. A new analysis suggests that we may not be able to answer this question because the standard tools used to diagnose depression and distress may become inaccurate when applied to highly intelligent people.

The researchers found that as intelligence scores rise, the questions on common mental health surveys lose their ability to consistently measure the underlying psychological condition. These results were published in the journal Intelligence.

The concept of the “tortured genius” is a cultural staple. It suggests that high intelligence is accompanied by social isolation, existential anxiety, or other psychological difficulties. Previous research on this topic has produced conflicting results. Many large-scale studies indicate that intelligence generally correlates with better health and happiness.

However, other researchers argue that this relationship might not be a simple straight line. They propose a “nonlinear” relationship. This means intelligence could be protective up to a certain point, but extremely high levels might eventually lead to negative outcomes. This phenomenon is sometimes called the “too-much-of-a-good-thing” effect.

Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Roman Konarski, and Paweł A. Atroszko from the University of Gdańsk in Poland conducted this investigation. They sought to clarify these contradictions by using advanced statistical modeling. They wanted to see if the link between intelligence and mental health changes shape at the high end of the IQ spectrum. They also aimed to investigate whether this dynamic differs between men and women.

Social environments often react differently to high intelligence depending on a person’s gender. The authors hypothesized that highly intelligent women might face unique stressors. These could include feeling alienated due to being in the minority in certain professional fields or facing social disapproval for prioritizing a career. If true, the “curvilinear” drop in mental health might be steeper for women than for men.

To test these ideas, the team analyzed data from two massive American datasets. These were the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). These government-funded studies have tracked thousands of individuals over several decades.

The researchers used a cognitive test called the Armed Forces Qualification Test to estimate intelligence. To measure mental health, they looked at responses to the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and the Mental Health Inventory-5. These are standard questionnaires asking people how often they feel sad, nervous, or downhearted.

The team first used a method called polynomial regression. This statistical approach allows for curved lines rather than just straight ones. Initially, the data seemed to support the “tortured genius” hypothesis. The models showed a U-shaped pattern.

In this initial pattern, mental health appeared to improve as intelligence increased, but only up to a certain threshold. After that point, higher intelligence scores were associated with worse mental health. This inflection point appeared at the upper end of the intelligence distribution. The researchers also used a technique called piecewise regression to confirm this breakpoint.

However, the researchers did not stop with the initial finding. They chose to investigate the validity of the mental health tests themselves. They applied a sophisticated technique known as local structural equation modeling. This method allowed them to check if the survey questions functioned the same way for people of all intelligence levels.

This step is designed to test for “measurement invariance.” Measurement invariance is a assumption in psychological testing. It implies that a test measures the same construct in the same way for everyone, regardless of their background or ability. If a test lacks invariance, it is like using a rubber ruler that stretches or shrinks depending on what is being measured.

The investigation revealed a fundamental problem with the data. The researchers found a lack of measurement invariance across intelligence levels. This was true for both the depression scale used in the 1979 cohort and the mental health inventory used in the 1997 cohort.

Specifically, the “factor loadings” for the test items decreased as intelligence increased. A factor loading is a number that indicates how well a specific question correlates with the overall concept it is supposed to measure. For example, answering “yes” to “I felt sad” should strongly indicate the presence of depression.

For participants with average intelligence, the questions were strong indicators of their mental health state. But for participants with high intelligence, the link between the specific questions and the general psychological condition became weaker. The items lost their diagnostic power at the high end of the spectrum.

This phenomenon occurred for both men and women. The researchers observed that the model fit—a statistic showing how well the data matches the theory—deteriorated significantly at high intelligence levels. This suggests that the standard questions might not mean the same thing to a highly intelligent person as they do to others.

There are several reasons why this might happen. Highly intelligent individuals might interpret the wording of questions differently. They might engage in overthinking or semantic analysis of simple phrases like “trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing.”

It is also possible that behaviors labeled as symptoms of pathology in the general population are merely characteristic traits of giftedness. For instance, intense focus or “hyperfixation” could be mistaken for obsessive behavior or attention deficits. Alternatively, gifted individuals might be better at masking symptoms, or their symptoms might manifest in ways these specific tests do not catch.

Because of this lack of invariance, the researchers could not rely on the initial U-shaped curves they found. The apparent drop in mental health among the highly intelligent might be a statistical artifact. It could be a mirage caused by the failure of the measurement tool rather than a real psychological trend.

The study implies that comparing mental health scores across different levels of intelligence is scientifically unsound with these current instruments. If the “ruler” changes length for smart people, researchers cannot say with certainty whether they are happier or sadder than average. This casts doubt on previous studies that claimed to find linear or nonlinear relationships without checking for invariance.

The authors note several limitations to their work. The study relied solely on samples from the United States. Cultural factors heavily influence gender roles and the social experience of intelligence. The results might differ in other countries or cultures.

Additionally, the study examined only two specific mental health scales. It is possible that other diagnostic tools might remain valid across intelligence levels. The researchers also pointed out that the intelligence test was taken under “low-stakes” conditions, which might affect effort and scoring for some participants.

Future research needs to address the measurement problem before drawing conclusions about the “mad genius.” Scientists may need to develop new mental health assessments specifically designed or validated for the gifted population. These tools would need to account for the unique cognitive processing styles of highly intelligent people.

Furthermore, future studies should investigate whether this measurement issue applies to other psychological traits. If intelligence changes how people answer questions about depression, it might also change how they answer questions about personality, anxiety, or social attitudes. Understanding this could lead to a substantial reassessment of how psychological research is conducted across the ability spectrum.

The study, “Lack of measurement invariance in mental health assessment across intelligence levels: Investigation into nonlinearity reveals a broader issue,” was authored by Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Roman Konarski, and Paweł A. Atroszko.

A new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health indicates that while most American teenagers do not engage in sexting, those who do face a high probability of negative consequences. The findings suggest that nearly half of adolescents who send sexually explicit images experience nonconsensual sharing of those images or become targets of sextortion. These risks appear to increase dramatically when the content is shared with individuals who are not current romantic partners.

The integration of digital technology into the daily lives of young people has altered how they explore their identities and sexuality. As adolescents navigate their developing romantic lives, some experiment with sending or receiving sexually suggestive images or videos. This behavior is commonly known as sexting. While this can be a form of consensual exploration, it carries potential legal, social, and emotional costs.

Educators and mental health professionals have expressed concern regarding the misuse of these digital images. Once an image is sent, the sender loses control over its distribution. This can lead to the image being shown to others without permission. In more severe cases, it can lead to sextortion. This crime involves threatening to disseminate explicit images to force the victim to provide money, sexual acts, or additional images.

Past estimates regarding the prevalence of sexting have varied. Some earlier reports suggested widespread participation, while others indicated it was less common. The researchers behind this new study sought to provide updated, nationally representative data. They aimed to determine how many teens are currently sexting and, more importantly, how frequently these interactions result in victimization.

“It is important to know the extent of teen sexting, as well as the likelihood of negative experiences when one participates. There is a lot of hyperbole or anecdotes about teen sexting, but not a lot of scientific evidence,” said study author Justin W. Patchin, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center.

To investigate, the scientists collected data from a national sample of 3,466 adolescents. The participants were between the ages of 13 and 17 and resided in the United States. The survey was conducted in 2025. The research team used specific quotas to ensuring the sample accurately reflected the U.S. population in terms of age, gender, race, and geographic region.

The survey defined sexting as sending or receiving a naked or semi-naked image or video of oneself. Participants answered questions about their own experiences with sending and receiving these images. They also reported whether they had ever asked for such images or been asked to provide them. The survey specifically inquired about whether the other party involved was a current romantic partner or someone else.

The results indicate that sexting is not a universal behavior among American teens. Approximately 24 percent of the respondents reported that they had sent a sext at some point. A slightly larger group, about 32 percent, reported receiving a sext. These figures suggest that while the behavior is present, a distinct majority of adolescents are not participating in it.

“I think the assumption by many is that all or most teens are participating in sexting,” Patchin told PsyPost. “Our research suggests that is not true.”

Despite the fact that most teens abstain from sexting, the outcomes for those who do participate are concerning. Among the youth who reported sending a sext, 46.8 percent stated that their image was shared with others without their permission. This finding highlights a significant breach of trust in these digital interactions. It suggests that the expectation of privacy is frequently violated.

The study also shed light on the prevalence of sextortion. Among those who had sent a sext, nearly 50 percent reported being the target of sextortion. This means someone threatened to share their private images if they did not comply with certain demands. This rate of victimization is alarmingly high relative to the number of participants.

“The high rate of sextortion and nonconsensual sharing of images definitely surprised us,” Patchin said. “We knew from other research that these behaviors have been increasing lately, but seeing that nearly half the time a teen shares an explicit image something bad will happen really surprised us.”

The researchers analyzed how these behaviors and risks varied across different demographic groups. Male adolescents reported higher rates of involvement than females. Males were more likely to send and receive sexts. They were also more likely to report that their images were shared without permission.

The data further indicated that males were more frequently the targets of sextortion compared to females. Approximately 55 percent of males who sent sexts reported being targeted, compared to roughly 40 percent of females. This contrasts with some public perceptions that frame females as the primary victims of image-based abuse.

Sexual orientation also played a role in the findings. Non-heterosexual youth reported higher rates of sending and receiving sexts compared to their heterosexual peers. However, heterosexual youth reported higher rates of having their images shared without consent. Heterosexual youth were also more likely to engage in the nonconsensual sharing of others’ images.

One of the most significant findings from the study relates to the relationship between the sender and the recipient. The researchers examined the odds of negative outcomes based on who received the image. The analysis showed a strong correlation between sharing images with non-partners and experiencing harm.

Teenagers who sent sexts to someone who was not a current boyfriend or girlfriend faced substantially higher risks. These individuals were more than 13 times as likely to have their image shared without permission compared to those who only shared with a romantic partner. This suggests that the lack of a committed relationship removes a layer of protection and trust.

The risk of sextortion followed a similar pattern. Youth who sent explicit content to non-partners were nearly five times more likely to be targeted by sextortion schemes. This aligns with reports from law enforcement regarding criminals who target minors online to extort money. These perpetrators often feign romantic interest to acquire images before making their threats.

“The amount of sextortion and nonconsensual sharing of images should be alarming,” Patchin told PsyPost.

As with all research, there are some limitations to consider. The data relies on self-reporting from adolescents. It is possible that some participants did not answer truthfully about sensitive topics due to embarrassment or fear. While the researchers assured anonymity to encourage honesty, underreporting is a common challenge in research on risky behaviors.

Additionally, the study is cross-sectional, meaning it captures data at a single point in time. This prevents the researchers from establishing a definitive causal order for all observed associations. For instance, it is difficult to determine if certain psychological factors predispose teens to both sexting and victimization.

“We will continue to track the trends in these behaviors over time,” Patchin said. “We are hopeful that other researchers will also focus on this problem so corroborate our results.”

The findings have practical implications for parents, educators, and policymakers. The results suggest that “everyone is doing it” is a misconception. Correcting this social norm could help reduce peer pressure. If teenagers understand that sexting is not the standard behavior for their age group, they may feel less compelled to participate.

Furthermore, the high rates of nonconsensual sharing indicate a need for education on digital consent and privacy. “The results speak to the importance of talking to teens about their online behaviors,” Patchin said. “They also raise the question about whether we should consider formally teaching teens about ‘safe sexting.'”

The researchers have previously argued that traditional fear-based and punitive approaches to preventing teen sexting are largely ineffective and may actually exacerbate harm by discouraging youth from seeking help. Drawing a parallel to the limitations of abstinence-only sex education, they advocate for a “harm reduction” strategy that accepts digital sexual exploration as a reality for some adolescents and seeks to minimize negative outcomes.

This “safe sexting” curriculum would equip teens with practical knowledge to reduce reputational and legal risks, such as the importance of excluding identifiable features like faces or tattoos from images, rather than simply forbidding the behavior.

The study, “When Sexting Goes Wrong: The Extent of Nonconsensual Sharing and Sextortion Among U.S. Teens,” was authored by Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja.

A new study published in Translational Psychiatry suggests that chronic cannabis use may not be associated with cognitive impairment in people with bipolar disorder, contrasting with its effects on healthy individuals. The findings indicate that people with bipolar disorder who use cannabis moderately may possess better decision-making skills than those with the disorder who do not use the drug. This research offers a potential explanation for why many individuals with this condition turn to cannabis for symptom management.

Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health condition characterized by extreme shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels. These shifts typically range from periods of extremely energized behavior, known as manic episodes, to very sad or hopeless periods, known as depressive episodes. Beyond these emotional symptoms, the disorder is frequently accompanied by cognitive deficits.

Individuals with bipolar disorder often struggle with goal-directed behaviors. This includes difficulties with decision-making and inhibitory control. These cognitive impairments can lead to impulsive actions and engagement in risky behaviors. These deficits can severely impact social relationships, occupational stability, and overall quality of life.

A significant number of people with bipolar disorder report using cannabis. Statistics suggest that over 70 percent of individuals with this diagnosis have a lifetime history of regular use. Patients frequently report using the drug to self-medicate. They claim it helps alleviate specific symptoms such as racing thoughts or hyperactivity.

Medical professionals have historically viewed this high rate of use with concern. In the general population, chronic cannabis use is typically linked to cognitive decline. Regular use is often associated with worse memory, reduced attention, and poorer decision-making. The researchers wanted to investigate whether these negative effects hold true for the unique neurobiology of bipolar disorder.

“People with bipolar disorder face a difficult life-long illness that sees them shift from mania to depressive episodes with regularity, massively disrupting lives and likely contributing to 1/3rd attempting suicide, reducing life expectancy up to 20 years, in addition to the toll on their and friends and families lives,” said study author Jared W. Young of the University of California San Diego and VA San Diego Healthcare System.

“Current treatments are obviously insufficient so novel treatments are needed. We observed that people with bipolar disorder use cannabis at a rate three times higher than the general population. When queried, many with bipolar disorder described using cannabis to alleviate their symptoms, slowing them down when they feel too energetic, and help them manage their thinking. We sought to determine whether cannabis may have unique or even beneficial effects on thinking and behavior in such people, despite evidence for negative effects in healthy people.”

To explore this, the scientists recruited 87 participants between the ages of 18 and 50. They divided the participants into four specific groups to allow for detailed comparisons. The first two groups consisted of healthy individuals: those who did not use cannabis and those who did.

The remaining two groups consisted of participants diagnosed with bipolar disorder. One group was comprised of non-users, while the other was comprised of chronic cannabis users. The researchers defined “chronic” use as using cannabis at least four times per week for the past 90 days. Non-users were those with minimal lifetime exposure and no recent use.

The study employed the Iowa Gambling Task to measure decision-making abilities. This is a computerized psychological test designed to simulate real-life decision-making. Participants are presented with four decks of cards and asked to draw from them to win play money.

Two of the decks are considered “risky.” They offer high immediate rewards but also come with large penalties that result in a long-term loss. The other two decks are “safe.” They offer smaller immediate rewards but also smaller penalties, leading to a long-term gain. The test measures how well a person learns to avoid the risky decks in favor of the safe ones.

The researchers also assessed functional capacity using the UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment. This test involves role-playing scenarios to evaluate everyday life skills. The study focused specifically on medication management. Participants had to plan a complex medication routine involving multiple prescriptions to demonstrate their ability to adhere to a treatment plan.

The results showed a clear divergence between the healthy participants and those with bipolar disorder. Healthy participants who used cannabis performed worse on the gambling task than healthy non-users. This confirms previous research showing that cannabis tends to impair decision-making in the general population.

However, the pattern was reversed for the participants with bipolar disorder. Those who did not use cannabis exhibited deficits in decision-making. They frequently chose from the risky decks and failed to adjust their strategy after losing money.

In contrast, the participants with bipolar disorder who used cannabis performed better. Their scores were not only higher than the non-using bipolar group, but they were also comparable to the healthy non-users. This suggests that cannabis use was associated with a normalization of decision-making abilities in this specific clinical population.

The researchers also analyzed the frequency of use. They found that these cognitive benefits were primarily associated with moderate use. Moderate use was defined as using cannabis between four and twenty-four times per week. Heavy use, defined as twenty-five times or more per week, was associated with worse performance.

“It is important to note that only moderate cannabis use was associated with improved function, whereas heavy use worsened functioning in people with bipolar disorder,” Young told PsyPost. “This finding supports the need to identify what component of cannabis and what dose is likely driving the beneficial effects.”

The functional assessment yielded similar results. Participants with bipolar disorder who did not use cannabis struggled with the medication management task. Those who used cannabis demonstrated better functional skills. Their ability to manage a complex medication schedule was statistically similar to that of the healthy participants.

The scientists propose a biological mechanism involving dopamine to explain these findings. Bipolar disorder is often linked to an excess of dopamine transmission in certain brain areas, which can drive impulsive behavior. Chronic cannabis use is known to reduce dopamine transmission over time. The researchers suggest that cannabis might be correcting the dopamine imbalance in people with bipolar disorder, thereby improving their decision-making.

“In short, cannabis use may improve cognition in people with bipolar disorder, though there are caveats,” Young said.

The research was cross-sectional, meaning it looked at a single point in time. It shows an association but cannot prove that cannabis caused the improvement. It is possible that individuals with better cognitive functioning are simply more likely to use cannabis.

The sample size was also relatively small. There were roughly twenty participants in each of the four subgroups. This limits the statistical power of the analysis. Larger studies are needed to confirm these results.

“Care must be taken in simplistic interpretations, given that this work is associative – those choosing to use cannabis perform better, they may simply have better performance than those that do not,” Young explained. “Hence, more research is needed to test if potential cannabinoid-based treatments improve cognition in non-cannabis users with bipolar disorder.”

The researchers caution against interpreting these results as a clinical recommendation. While decision-making seemed improved, cannabis can still have detrimental effects on other aspects of bipolar disorder. It has been linked to increased risks of mania and psychosis in some patients.

“Even though we observed potential beneficial effects here, cannabis use can still have harmful effects on other aspects of bipolar disorder and free use of cannabis should not be encouraged as yet,” Young told PsyPost. “Finally, it cannot be emphasized enough that this study was only associative as mentioned – in other words we cannot say that cannabis caused this as we only compared people who used cannabis vs. those that did not, we need studies where we assign people to doses in a randomized blinded manner.”

“Our long-term goal for this line of research is to investigate the biological mechanisms that underlie the potentially beneficial cannabis effects in people with bipolar disorder using parallel human and animal experiments (translational studies). We also hope to investigate the effects of specific cannabis use patterns (e.g., use frequency and cannabinoid types) on other bipolar disorder symptoms to better understand the potential risks and benefits of cannabis use in bipolar disorder.”

“What we also hope to understand and are currently studying is whether similar things happen in other conditions where cannabis is also used to manage symptoms, like in people with HIV,” Young continued. “We believe that this kind of research will help us do better at making more specific recommendations for people who use cannabis, in terms of how much might help them but how much is too much.”

“It is vital that future studies should test the actual cannabis products used by people with bipolar disorder versus administering cannabis in a controlled laboratory setting in both single and multiple dosing treatment studies. We conduct this research because we want to help people with bipolar disorder manage their disease and hopefully better interact with their friends, families, and society at large. More studies are needed to determine whether this approach will be beneficial long-term, and we hope to continue these studies.”

The study, “Chronic cannabis use in people with bipolar disorder is associated with comparable decision-making and functional outcome to healthy participants,” was authored by Alannah Miranda, Benjamin Z. Roberts, Breanna M. Holloway, Elizabeth Peek, Holden Rosberg, Samantha M. Ayoub, Daniele Piomelli, Kwang-Mook Jung, Samuel A. Barnes, Steven Rossi, Mark A. Geyer, William Perry, Arpi Minassian, and Jared W. Young.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

On Wednesday, January 28, the Speaking of Psychology podcast, hosted by Kim Mills, released an episode featuring Joel Pearson. Pearson is a cognitive neuroscientist and professor at the University of New South Wales, where he directs the Future Minds Lab. The episode investigates the science of aphantasia, a condition characterized by a blind “mind’s eye,” and examines how researchers verify this invisible experience.

At roughly the 3-minute mark, Pearson defines aphantasia as the inability to voluntarily create mental images. He notes that while the concept was first described by Francis Galton in the 1880s, it was only formally named in 2015. This new label sparked a wave of public interest, leading many people to realize for the first time that their lack of internal imagery was not the norm.

Pearson estimates that this condition affects at least 4 to 5 percent of the population, though the real number could be higher. He explains that standard questionnaires often fail because people with aphantasia may believe that “visualizing” is merely a figure of speech. These individuals are often surprised to discover that others literally see pictures in their minds.

To gather more accurate data, scientists have developed objective tests that do not rely on personal opinions. One method involves binocular rivalry, a visual illusion where a different image is shown to each eye at the same time. Pearson found that if a person imagines one of the patterns beforehand, their brain is usually prepared to see that specific image, but this effect does not happen for those with aphantasia.

Researchers also use physiological tracking, such as measuring pupil dilation. When a typical visualizer imagines a bright light, their pupils constrict to protect the eye, just as they would in actual sunlight. Pearson points out that people with aphantasia do not exhibit this reflex, which provides physical evidence that no image is being generated.

The conversation also addresses physical differences in the brain. Pearson explains that strong visualizers often have a larger visual cortex and lower levels of “noise,” or baseline neural activity, in that area. He suggests that a quieter background state in the brain might be necessary for clear mental pictures to form.

Finally, Pearson discusses how a lack of imagery can influence emotional regulation. He describes mental visualization as an amplifier that makes memories and stories feel more intense. Because of this, people with aphantasia may feel less fear when reading scary novels and could be less prone to the vivid flashbacks associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

You can listen to the full interview here.

A new study published in Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology suggests that gender-affirming hormone therapy may influence specific personality traits in transgender individuals. The findings indicate that medical transition can shift certain emotional and behavioral patterns toward those typically associated with the individual’s identified gender. While personality is often viewed as a static set of characteristics, this research provides evidence that sex hormones might play a role in shaping how people think, feel, and behave.

The relationship between hormone levels and personality traits remains a complex area of study. Previous research on cisgender populations (people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth) has documented average differences in personality traits between men and women. For instance, women tend to score higher on traits related to agreeableness and neuroticism compared to men. The researchers wanted to determine if altering hormone levels through medical treatment would cause personality shifts in transgender individuals.

“This investigation was part of a larger study regarding possible effects on the brain from gender-affirming hormonal treatment. For us, who are clinically active in transgender care, it is obvious that sex hormones have effects on the brain in an extent not totally acknowledged. So the deeper aim was to investigate the effects of sex hormones on personality traits, something usually believed to be rather static,” explained study author Mats Holmberg of the Karolinska Institutet.

The research team conducted a prospective study involving adults referred for gender-affirming hormone therapy at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. To ensure the results specifically reflected hormonal changes rather than other factors, the scientists excluded individuals with known psychiatric disorders, autism spectrum disorder, or those taking antidepressant medications. This helped minimize variables that could skew the personality assessments.

The final group of participants consisted of 58 individuals. This included 34 people assigned female at birth who were prescribed testosterone and 24 people assigned male at birth who received anti-androgens and estradiol. Anti-androgens are medications that block the effects of testosterone.

The researchers used the NEO-PI-R inventory to assess personality. This is a comprehensive questionnaire based on the Five-Factor Model, often called the “Big Five.” This model categorizes personality into five main dimensions: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Neuroticism refers to the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety or sadness.

Extraversion describes sociability and enthusiasm. Openness involves curiosity and a willingness to try new things. Agreeableness relates to how cooperative and compassionate a person is. Conscientiousness reflects organization and dependability. Participants completed this assessment twice: once before starting hormones and again after at least six months of treatment.

Before treatment began, the researchers observed specific differences between the two groups. Participants assigned female at birth scored higher in the dimension of Agreeableness compared to those assigned male at birth. They also scored higher in specific sub-categories, known as facets, such as excitement seeking and straightforwardness. These baseline differences suggested that even prior to hormonal intervention, the groups displayed distinct personality profiles.

After six months of testosterone therapy, the participants assigned female at birth showed distinct changes. Their scores for Neuroticism decreased significantly. Within this dimension, they reported lower levels of depression and vulnerability. Simultaneously, this group showed an increase in the facet of “Actions,” which falls under the Openness dimension. This suggests a greater willingness to try different activities or behaviors. The reduction in Neuroticism aligns with patterns seen in cisgender men, who generally score lower in this trait than cisgender women.

The group assigned male at birth, who received feminizing hormones, experienced different shifts. These participants showed an increase in the “Feelings” facet of the Openness dimension. This indicates a greater receptivity to one’s own inner emotional states. Unlike the testosterone group, they did not show significant changes in the broad dimensions of Neuroticism or Extraversion. The increase in emotional receptivity mirrors findings in cisgender women, who typically score higher in this specific facet.

The scientists also looked for relationships between the amount of hormone change in the blood and the degree of personality change. In the group assigned male at birth, higher increases in estradiol levels correlated with lower scores in several traits, including Openness and Agreeableness. This finding was unexpected and somewhat contradictory to general sex differences, indicating a complex relationship between estrogen and personality that requires further study.

The comparison between the two groups after treatment revealed a divergence in the trait of vulnerability. Following six months of therapy, the group treated with testosterone showed a significant reduction in vulnerability. The group treated with estrogen did not show a corresponding increase or decrease. This resulted in a larger gap between the two groups post-treatment than existed beforehand.

While the study offers new insights, the researchers caution against drawing broad conclusions due to several limitations. The sample size was relatively small, which makes it difficult to generalize the findings to the entire transgender population. Additionally, the study did not include a control group of individuals not receiving hormone therapy. This makes it impossible to distinguish clearly between the biological effects of the hormones and the psychological effects of social transition.

The relief of treating gender dysphoria—the distress caused by a mismatch between gender identity and physical sex—could naturally improve mood and reduce neuroticism, regardless of specific chemical changes. The act of living authentically and being perceived correctly by others likely impacts personality expression as well.

The researchers also noted that the study only covered the first six months of treatment. It remains unknown if these personality changes persist, evolve, or revert over a longer period. Personality is generally considered stable in adulthood, so observing changes within such a short timeframe is notable. However, longer-term data is necessary to see if these shifts are permanent.

Future research requires larger groups of participants followed over several years to confirm these initial observations. The scientists emphasize that these results do not validate conservative gender roles but rather highlight that sex hormones may influence brain function and personality formation more than previously understood. They suggest that understanding these potential changes can help patients better anticipate the effects of medical transition.

The study, “The effect of gender-affirming hormonal treatment on personality traits – a NEO-PI-R study,” was authored by Mats Holmberg, Alex Wallen, and Ivanka Savic.

For decades, researchers have worked to untangle the biological causes of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. A primary focus has been the accumulation of misfolded proteins that clump together in the brain and damage neurons. A new study reveals that specific repetitive chains of amino acids, known as polyserine domains, can damage brain cells and worsen the accumulation of toxic protein clumps associated with these diseases.

The findings suggest that these repetitive chains may be a driver of neurological decline. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To understand this study, it is necessary to understand a protein called tau. In healthy brains, tau serves as a stabilizer for the internal skeleton of nerve cells. It helps maintain the tracks used to transport nutrients and molecules within the cell. In diseases collectively known as tauopathies, which include Alzheimer’s, tau molecules detach from this structure. They then chemically change and stick together. These sticky clumps, or aggregates, form tangles that choke the cell and eventually kill it.

Researchers are working to identify what causes tau to transition from a helpful stabilizer to a toxic clump. Previous investigations have observed that certain other proteins often appear alongside tau tangles in the brains of patients. These accompanying proteins often contain long, repetitive strings of the amino acid serine. Scientists call these strings polyserine domains.

Additionally, these polyserine chains are produced in specific genetic disorders. Diseases such as Huntington’s disease and spinocerebellar ataxia type 8 are caused by errors in the genetic code where a small segment of DNA repeats itself too many times. These genetic stutters can result in the production of toxic repetitive proteins, including those rich in serine.

Meaghan Van Alstyne, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, led the study to determine if these polyserine domains are merely bystanders or active participants in brain disease. She worked with senior author Roy Parker, a distinguished professor of biochemistry at the same university. The team sought to answer whether the presence of polyserine alone is enough to harm a mammalian brain. They also wanted to know if it accelerates the problems caused by tau.

To investigate this, the team used a common laboratory tool known as an adeno-associated virus serotype 9. This virus is modified so that it cannot cause disease. Instead, it acts as a delivery vehicle to transport specific genetic instructions into cells. The researchers injected newborn mice with this viral carrier. The virus delivered instructions to brain cells to produce a protein containing a long tail of 42 serine molecules.

The researchers first observed the effects of this polyserine on normal, wild-type mice. As the mice aged, those producing the polyserine developed clear physical and behavioral problems. They weighed less than the control group. They also displayed difficulties with movement and coordination.

The team tested the motor skills of the mice using a rotarod assay. This test involves placing a mouse on a horizontal rotating rod that spins faster over time. The mice must keep walking to avoid falling off. It is similar to a lumberjack balancing on a rolling log. From four to six months of age, the mice expressing polyserine fell off the rod much sooner than the control mice.

Behavioral changes also emerged. The researchers placed the mice in a maze that is elevated above the ground. The maze has two enclosed arms and two open arms. Mice naturally prefer enclosed spaces because they feel safer. The mice with polyserine spent more time in the open arms. This behavior suggests a reduction in anxiety or a lack of natural caution.

The team also tested memory using a fear conditioning assay. In this test, mice learn to associate a specific sound or environment with a mild foot shock. When placed back in that environment later, a mouse with normal memory will freeze in anticipation. The polyserine mice froze much less often. This indicates they had severe deficits in learning and memory.

To find the biological cause of these behaviors, Van Alstyne and her colleagues examined the brains of the mice. they found a dramatic loss of a specific type of neuron called a Purkinje cell. These are large, distinctively shaped neurons located in the cerebellum. The cerebellum is the part of the brain responsible for coordinating voluntary movements.

The viral delivery system used in the study is known to be particularly effective at targeting Purkinje cells. In the mice receiving the polyserine gene, these cells were largely wiped out. The loss of these cells likely explains the coordination problems observed in the rotarod test.

Alongside the cell death, the researchers observed signs of gliosis. This is a reaction where support cells in the brain, known as glia, become overactive. It is a sign of inflammation and damage. The brain was reacting to the polyserine as a toxic presence.

The researchers then investigated where the polyserine went inside the surviving neurons. They found that the protein did not stay in the main body of the cell. Instead, it accumulated inside the nucleus. The nucleus is the control center of the cell that holds its DNA. The polyserine formed large clumps within the nucleus. These clumps were tagged with ubiquitin, a small molecule the cell uses to mark garbage for disposal. This suggests the cells were trying, and failing, to clear the toxic protein.

After establishing that polyserine is toxic on its own, the researchers tested its effect on tau. They used a specific strain of mice genetically engineered to produce a mutant form of human tau. These mice naturally develop tau tangles and neurodegeneration as they age.

The team injected these tau-prone mice with the polyserine-producing virus. The results showed that polyserine acts like fuel for the fire. The mice expressing both the mutant tau and the polyserine died significantly younger than those expressing only the mutant tau.

When the researchers analyzed the brain tissue of these mice, they found elevated levels of disease markers. There was an increase in phosphorylated tau. Phosphorylation is a chemical change that promotes aggregation. The study also found more insoluble tau, which refers to the hard, tangles that cannot be dissolved.

Furthermore, the team measured the “seeding” capacity of the tau. In disease states, misfolded tau can act like a template. It corrupts normal tau and causes it to misfold, spreading the pathology from cell to cell. Brain extracts from the mice with polyserine showed a higher ability to induce clumping in test cells. This indicates that polyserine makes the tau pathology more aggressive and transmissible.

Finally, the researchers asked if this effect was unique to serine. They compared it to other repetitive amino acid chains often found in genetic diseases, such as polyglutamine and polyalanine. They introduced these different chains into human neurons grown in a dish.

The results showed a high level of specificity. Only the polyserine chains recruited tau molecules into their clusters. The polyglutamine and polyalanine chains did not. This physical interaction between polyserine and tau appears to be the mechanism that accelerates the formation of toxic tau seeds.

There are caveats to consider in this research. The study used a virus to force the cells to make high levels of polyserine. This might result in higher concentrations of the protein than would naturally occur in a human disease. Future research will need to determine if lower, natural levels of polyserine cause the same degree of harm over a human lifespan.

The authors also noted that while they saw massive cell death in the cerebellum, other brain areas like the hippocampus seemed more resistant to cell loss, despite containing the protein. Understanding why some neurons die while others survive could offer clues for protection.

This study provides evidence that polyserine is not just a passive marker of disease. It suggests that these repetitive domains are active toxins that can kill neurons and worsen tauopathies. This opens a potential new avenue for therapy. If scientists can block the interaction between polyserine and tau, they might be able to slow the progression of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

“If we really want to treat Alzheimer’s and many of these other diseases, we have to block tau as early as possible,” said Parker. “These studies are an important step forward in understanding why tau aggregates in cells and how we can intervene.”

The study, “Polyserine domains are toxic and exacerbate tau pathology in mice,” was authored by Meaghan Van Alstyne, Vanessa L. Nguyen, Charles A. Hoeffer, and Roy Parker.

A new case study provides biological evidence that a post-menopausal woman can induce orgasms solely through the use of pelvic floor muscle exercises, without any direct genital stimulation. The findings indicate that these non-genitally stimulated orgasms trigger a surge in the hormone prolactin, mirroring the physiological response seen in typical sexual climaxes. This research was published in the International Journal of Sexual Health.

Orgasms typically result from direct physical stimulation of the genitals, but evidence indicates they can also occur through mental imagery or specific muscle movements. Previous research demonstrated that a premenopausal woman could induce orgasms using tantric techniques, a practice involving deep breathing and mental focus to control bodily sensations and sexual energy.

This earlier case was confirmed by a rise in plasma prolactin, a hormone released during sexual climax. However, it remained unclear whether this ability relied on the higher levels of ovarian hormones found in younger women or if it could occur after menopause. Consequently, the researchers aimed to determine if a post-menopausal woman could achieve these outcomes using a systematic routine targeting the pelvic floor.

The pelvic floor is a hammock-like group of muscles at the base of the pelvis that supports internal organs like the bladder and uterus, and plays a primary role in sexual response and control. The team sought to validate the experience using objective biological markers rather than relying solely on the participant’s description. Confirming the physiological reality of these experiences provides evidence for potential new therapeutic avenues for women facing difficulties with orgasm.

“I am generally interested in the neurobiology of sexual function, and in particular how the brain is organized for sexual arousal, desire, orgasm, sexual pleasure, and sexual inhibition. Recently, I started studying people who can have orgasms without genital stimulation (Non-Genitally Stimulated Orgasms, or NGSOs),” said study author James G. Pfaus, an assistant professor at Charles University in Prague and the director of research for the Center for Sexual Health and Interventions at the Czech National Institute of Mental Health.

“Women seem to be able to do this better than men, and the ability seems to come from training of the pelvic floor muscles and breathing exercises, either through tantra or pelvic floor therapy. An obvious question is whether these orgasms are ‘real,’ meaning whether they are accompanied by objective markers similar to those found during genitally stimulated orgasms (GSOs). We used the hormone prolactin as our objective measure, since it increases at orgasm (and the only other reasons it would go up would be a pituitary tumor, nursing, or extreme stress).”

“This occurs because at orgasm the neurotransmitter dopamine is instantly inhibited by both opioid and serotonin release. Dopamine in the hypothalamus keeps prolactin inhibited, so when it is inhibited, prolactin is released from inhibition. Prolactin increases reliably in both men and women during orgasm and stays elevated for at least an hour after.”

The new study focused on a 55-year-old woman who had undergone a hysterectomy and was not taking hormone replacement therapy. She had trained in a specific method called the “Wave Technique,” which involves rhythmic flexing and relaxing of the pelvic floor muscles. This training originally involved using a small jade egg to sensitize the muscles, but the participant had advanced to performing the movements without any device.

The experiment took place in a private hospital room where the participant remained fully clothed. The participant engaged in three distinct testing sessions, each separated by 48-hour intervals to ensure her hormone levels returned to baseline. These sessions included a 2.5-minute orgasm induction, a 10-minute orgasm induction, and a 10-minute Pilates workout which served as a control condition.

To measure physiological changes, a registered nurse drew blood samples fifteen minutes before each session, immediately afterward, and fifteen minutes post-session. The scientists analyzed the blood for prolactin to see if the muscle-induced orgasms triggered the expected hormonal release. They also measured levels of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and testosterone to track other potential endocrine changes.

In a separate session, the participant used a Bluetooth-enabled biofeedback device called the Lioness 2.0 to record muscle activity. The researchers modified the device to prevent any vibration or direct clitoral stimulation. This ensured the device only recorded pressure changes inside the vagina generated by the participant’s muscle movements.

The blood analysis revealed hormonal shifts following the muscle-induced orgasms. After the 2.5-minute session, prolactin levels rose to 110 percent of the baseline measurement. Following the 10-minute session, prolactin levels increased even further, reaching 141 percent of the baseline.

The findings indicate that “NGSOs are real from a physiological and psychological standpoint, and that probably all women can be trained to induce them, regardless of their hormonal status (pre-versus post-menopausal),” Pfaus told PsyPost.

In contrast, the Pilates workout resulted in a 12 percent decrease in prolactin levels. This differentiation suggests that the hormonal spike was specific to the sexual release and not merely a result of physical exertion. While exercise can affect hormones, it did not mimic the prolactin surge associated with orgasm in this context.

The researchers also tracked testosterone levels during the sessions. Testosterone increased slightly after the 10-minute orgasm session and the Pilates workout. This aligns with known data suggesting that acute physical exercise can elevate androgen levels in women.

Data from the Lioness sensor provided a visual representation of the physical activity during the orgasms. The device recorded rhythmic contractions occurring at intervals of roughly 7 to 15 seconds throughout the session. These contractions appeared as spikes in muscle tension that matched the participant’s subjective experience of climax.

During the Lioness session, the participant reportedly experienced over thirty distinct peaks within ten minutes. The sensor data showed a pattern of “push and pull” contractions that built up tension leading to each spike. The researchers noted that the participant vocalized during these peaks, signaling the moment of release.

“It is likely that the pelvic floor muscles are tensing around the nerves that carry information from the clitoris, vagina, and cervix into the spinal cord, and that women who learn this are sensitizing the nerve fibers to the abdominal and pelvic floor stimulation,” Pfaus explained. “So it is a very real phenomenon, and one that offers new vistas for women with orgasm difficulties.”

“Likewise, we have recently conducted a similar experiment on hypnotically induced orgasms, which show the same increase in prolactin. These orgasms are more likely to be ‘top down’ than ‘bottom up,’ although all women and men who show them have abdominal and pelvic floor reactions as the orgasm occurs.”

“The practical significance is that probably all women have this ability and it is just a matter of learning how to control the abdominal and pelvic floor musculature. It means that orgasm is not something your partner ‘gives’ you, but something you control in your own body and brain.”

A primary limitation of this research is that it is a case study involving a single participant. While the results provide strong biological evidence for this specific individual, they may not universally apply to all women. The participant was highly trained in a specific technique, which may be difficult for the average person to replicate without instruction.

Despite the small sample size, the study challenges the common misconception that orgasms without genital touch are fake. “It is common to disbelieve women who can have NGSOs induced by fantasy or the kind of pelvic floor movements we observed here. Likewise, it is common to think that orgasms induced by hypnosis are a party trick, and that people having them are simply faking it for the hypnotist. You cannot increase your prolactin at will. It is an objective marker of orgasm, so it is not faked.”

The scientists suggest that future research should involve a larger group of participants to verify these findings across a broader population. The researchers express an interest in studying men and women who can induce orgasms through other non-contact methods, such as hypnosis. Expanding the participant pool would help determine if this ability is a general human trait or specific to certain individuals.

Another goal for future study is to use functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to observe brain activity during these non-genitally stimulated orgasms. Comparing brain scans of these experiences with those of standard orgasms could reveal how the brain processes different types of sexual pleasure. Such imaging could map the neural pathways involved in generating orgasm through muscle movement alone.

Ultimately, the researchers hope to investigate whether teaching these pelvic floor techniques could help women who suffer from lifelong difficulties achieving orgasm. If women can learn to sensitize their pelvic nerves through exercise, it might offer a non-pharmaceutical treatment for sexual dysfunction.

“Studies on orgasm are very difficult to get approved by institutional research ethics boards,” Pfaus noted. “There is a general fear that bad things could happen studying something so personal and intimate. And this is true even if, for example, the person’s partner is stimulating their genitals in a totally private space. NGSOs of course do not require direct genital stimulation and occur when the participant is fully clothed. So, in addition to their clinical significance, NGSOs may open the door for more study of orgasm function (e.g., in fertility) and the neurobiology of orgasm in general.”

The study, “Non-Genitally Stimulated Orgasms Increase Plasma Prolactin in a Menopausal Woman,” was authored by James G. Pfaus, Roni Erez, Nitsan Erez, and Jan Novák.

A new, comprehensive analysis confirms that physical activity is a highly effective treatment for depression and anxiety, offering benefits comparable to therapy or medication. The research suggests that specific types of exercise, such as group activities for depression or short-term programs for anxiety, can be tailored to maximize mental health benefits for different people. These findings were recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Mental health disorders are a growing concern across the globe. Depression and anxiety affect a vast number of people, disrupting daily life and physical health. While antidepressants and psychotherapy are standard treatments, they are not always sufficient for every patient. Rates of these conditions continue to rise despite the availability of traditional cares.

Health experts have explored exercise as an alternative or add-on treatment for many years. However, previous attempts to summarize the evidence have faced challenges. Earlier reviews often mixed data from healthy individuals with data from patients suffering from chronic physical illnesses. This made it difficult to determine if mental improvements were due to exercise itself or simply a result of better physical health.

To address this uncertainty, a team of researchers conducted a “meta-meta-analysis,” also known as an umbrella review. This is a highly rigorous study design that sits at the top of the evidence hierarchy. Instead of running a new experiment on people, the researchers analyzed data from existing meta-analyses.

A meta-analysis pools the results of many individual scientific experiments to find a common truth. This umbrella review went a step further by pooling the results of those pools. The goal was to provide the most precise estimate possible of how exercise impacts mental health.

The research team was led by Neil Richard Munro from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. He collaborated with colleagues from institutions in Australia and the United States. Their primary aim was to isolate the effect of exercise on mental health by excluding studies involving participants with pre-existing chronic physiological conditions.

This exclusion was a key part of their methodology. By removing data related to conditions like heart disease or cancer, the team removed potential confounding factors. They wanted to ensure that any observed benefits were due to the direct impact of exercise on the brain and psychological state.

The researchers searched five major electronic databases for relevant literature. They gathered data from studies published up to July 2025. The scope of their search was massive, covering children, adults, and older adults.

The final dataset included 63 umbrella reviews. These reviews encompassed 81 specific meta-analyses. In total, the analysis represented data from 1,079 individual studies and involved 79,551 participants.

The sheer volume of data allowed the researchers to look for subtle patterns. They examined different types of exercise, such as aerobic activities, resistance training, and mind-body practices like yoga. They also analyzed variables like intensity, duration, and whether the exercise was performed alone or in a group.

The overarching finding was clear and positive. Exercise reduced symptoms of both depression and anxiety across all population groups. The magnitude of the benefit was described as medium for depression and small-to-medium for anxiety.

For depression, the study found that all types of exercise were beneficial. However, aerobic exercise—activities that get the heart rate up, like running or cycling—showed the strongest impact. This suggests that cardiovascular engagement may trigger biological pathways that fight depressive symptoms.

The social context of the physical activity also appeared to matter greatly for depression. The data indicated that exercising in a group setting was more effective than exercising alone. Similarly, programs that were supervised by a professional yielded better results than unsupervised routines.

These findings regarding group and supervised settings point to the importance of social support. The shared experience of a class or team environment may provide a psychological sense of belonging. This social connection likely acts as an additional antidepressant mechanism alongside the physical exertion.

The study identified specific demographic groups that responded particularly well to exercise. “Emerging adults,” defined as individuals aged 18 to 30, saw the greatest benefits for depression. This is a critical age range, as it often coincides with the onset of many mental health challenges.

Another group that saw substantial benefits was women in the postnatal period. Postpartum depression is a severe and common condition. The finding that exercise is a highly effective intervention for this group offers a promising, non-pharmaceutical tool for maternal mental health.

When analyzing anxiety, the researchers found slightly different patterns. While aerobic exercise was still the most effective mode, all forms of movement helped reduce symptoms. This included resistance training and mind-body exercises like yoga or tai chi.

The optimal parameters for anxiety relief were notably different than for depression. The data suggested that shorter programs were highly effective. Interventions lasting up to eight weeks showed the strongest impact on anxiety symptoms.

Regarding intensity, the findings for anxiety were somewhat counterintuitive. Lower intensity exercise appeared to be more effective than high-intensity workouts. This could be because high-intensity exertion mimics some physical symptoms of anxiety, such as a racing heart, which might be uncomfortable for some patients.

The researchers compared the effects of exercise to traditional treatments. They found that the benefits of physical activity were comparable to those provided by psychotherapy and medications. This positions exercise not just as a lifestyle choice, but as a legitimate clinical intervention.

Despite the strength of these findings, the authors noted several caveats. The definitions of exercise intensity varied across the original studies, making it hard to set precise boundaries. What one study considers “moderate” might be “vigorous” in another.

There was also a potential sign of publication bias in the anxiety studies. This refers to the tendency for scientific journals to publish positive results more often than negative ones. However, the sheer number of studies analyzed provides a buffer against this potential distortion.

Another limitation was the overlap of participants in some of the underlying reviews. The researchers used a statistical method to check for this duplication. While some overlap existed, particularly in studies of youth and perinatal women, the overall quality of the evidence remained high.

The authors emphasized that motivation remains a hurdle. Knowing exercise helps is different from actually doing it. Future research needs to focus on how to help people with depression and anxiety stick to an exercise routine.

The study supports a shift in how mental health is treated clinically. The authors argue that health professionals should prescribe exercise with the same confidence as they prescribe pills. It is a cost-effective, accessible option with few side effects.

For public health policy, the implications are broad. The study suggests that guidelines should explicitly recommend exercise as a first-line treatment. This is especially relevant for young adults and new mothers, who showed the strongest responses.

Tailoring the prescription is key. A “one size fits all” approach does not apply to mental health. A depressed patient might benefit most from a running group, while an anxious patient might prefer a gentle, short-term yoga program.

The authors concluded that the evidence is now undeniable. Exercise is a potent medicine for the mind. The challenge now lies in integration and implementation within healthcare systems.

Mental health professionals can use these findings to offer evidence-based advice. They can move beyond vague recommendations to “be more active.” Instead, they can suggest specific formats, like group classes for depression, based on rigorous data.

Ultimately, this study serves as a comprehensive validation of movement as therapy. It strips away the noise of co-occurring physical diseases to show that exercise heals the brain. It offers a hopeful, empowering path for millions struggling with mental health issues.

The study, “Effect of exercise on depression and anxiety symptoms: systematic umbrella review with meta-meta-analysis,” was authored by Neil Richard Munro, Samantha Teague, Klaire Somoray, Aaron Simpson, Timothy Budden, Ben Jackson, Amanda Rebar, and James Dimmock.

A study in Germany found that individuals with higher polygenic risk scores for anhedonia showed specific patterns of brain activity when processing anticipated monetary rewards. More specifically, they showed decreased activation in the bilateral putamen and left middle frontal gyrus during anticipation of rewards and decreased activation in the right caudate while receiving feedback. The research was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Anhedonia is the reduced ability to experience pleasure or interest in activities that are normally rewarding. It is a core symptom of major depressive disorder but also appears in other conditions such as schizophrenia, substance use disorders, and bipolar disorder.

Anhedonia can involve diminished pleasure during activities (consummatory anhedonia) or reduced motivation and anticipation for rewards (anticipatory anhedonia). People with anhedonia may withdraw from social interactions, hobbies, or goals they once enjoyed. Neurobiologically, it is linked to dysfunction in brain reward systems, particularly pathways involving dopamine.

Psychological factors such as chronic stress, trauma, and negative cognitive patterns can contribute to its development. Anhedonia is associated with poorer quality of life and worse clinical outcomes when it persists. It can make treatment more challenging because reduced motivation may limit engagement in therapy or daily activities.

Study author Nicholas Schäfer and his colleagues investigated the role of a polygenic risk score for anhedonia in functional brain activity during the monetary incentive delay (MID) task. The MID task is a paradigm that requires participants to respond quickly to cues signaling potential monetary gains or losses. A polygenic risk score is an estimate of an individual’s genetic predisposition to a trait or disorder created by aggregating the effects of many genetic variants across the genome.

Study participants were individuals participating in the MooDs and IntegraMent studies. These were multisite neuroimaging studies recruiting a total of 974 individuals; this specific study analyzed data from 517 of them. The sample included 57 patients with major depressive disorder, 39 with schizophrenia, and 48 with bipolar disorder. The remaining 373 participants were healthy controls (a group that included 243 healthy individuals and 130 healthy first-degree relatives of patients).

Study authors calculated participants’ polygenic risk scores for anhedonia using their genotype data. They also assessed participants’ anhedonia scores using a questionnaire (derived from the SCL-90). Participants completed the monetary incentive delay task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of their brains. In this task, participants were presented with arrows that indicated either a potential monetary reward, a potential loss, no reward, or a cue for verbal trials. This was the anticipation phase.

Participants then had to react to a visual target by pressing a button (except in the neutral trials where no action was required). After this, they received feedback about whether they lost or won 2 EUR, or received neutral or verbal feedback (e.g., “You reacted slow”). This was the feedback phase of the task.

Results showed that individuals with higher polygenic risk scores for anhedonia tended to show decreased activation in the putamen region of the brain in both brain hemispheres and in the left middle frontal gyrus during the anticipation phase of the task. They also showed lower activation in the right caudate region during the feedback phase (specifically during reward feedback).

Participants with higher polygenic risk scores for anhedonia also tended to show lower activity in the left middle frontal gyrus while anticipating financial loss and during salience processing (deciding how important the events at hand are).

However, while participants were receiving feedback about losing 2 EUR, individuals with higher polygenic risk scores for anhedonia tended to show heightened activity in the bilateral putamen and right caudate regions.

The right caudate nucleus of the brain is involved in goal-directed behavior, reward-based learning, and the integration of motivation with action selection, while the left middle frontal gyrus supports executive functions such as working memory, planning, and top-down cognitive control. The putamen primarily contributes to motor control and habit formation, and it also plays a role in reinforcing learned actions through reward processing.

“Our results highlight the importance of the striatum and prefrontal cortex in the context of a genetic risk for anhedonia,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the neural basis of anhedonia. However, it should be noted that studies of neural correlates of psychological characteristics often yield inconsistent results. There are often pronounced individual differences in brain activities associated with specific psychological characteristics. Further studies are needed to verify and corroborate the reported findings.

The paper, “Associations between polygenic risk for anhedonia and functional brain activity during reward processing,” was authored by Nicholas Schäfer, Swapnil Awasthi, Stephan Ripke, Anna Daniels, Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Heike Tost, Andreas Heinz, Henrik Walter, and Susanne Erk.

New research indicates that daily consumption of sodas and sports drinks may hinder the cognitive abilities of adolescents. A recent analysis suggests that these sugary beverages disrupt sleep patterns, which in turn leads to difficulties with memory, concentration, and decision-making. These findings were published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.

The adolescent brain undergoes a period of rapid development and reorganization. This phase is characterized by changes in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for planning and impulse control. Because the brain is still maturing, it is particularly sensitive to dietary inputs and environmental factors.

Researchers have previously identified links between high sugar intake and various health issues. However, the specific relationship between different types of sugary drinks and mental clarity in teenagers has remained less defined. Shuo Feng, a researcher at the Department of Health Behavior at Texas A&M University, sought to clarify this connection.

Feng designed the study to look beyond a simple direct link between sugar and brain function. The investigation aimed to determine if sleep duration acts as a “mediator.” A mediator is a variable that explains the process through which two other variables are related. In this case, the question was whether sugary drinks cause poor sleep, which then causes cognitive trouble.

The study utilized data from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBS). This is a large-scale, national survey administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It monitors health behaviors contributing to the leading causes of death and disability among youth.

The final dataset included responses from 8,229 high school students across the United States. The survey asked students to report how often they consumed soda and sports drinks over the past week. It also asked them to estimate their average nightly sleep duration.

To measure cognitive difficulties, the survey included a specific question regarding mental clarity. Students were asked if physical, mental, or emotional problems caused them “serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions.” Feng used statistical models to analyze the relationships between these variables while accounting for factors like age, gender, and physical activity.

The analysis revealed distinct patterns based on the type of beverage and the sex of the student. Daily consumption of soda showed a strong association with cognitive difficulties for both boys and girls. Compared to non-drinkers, adolescents who drank soda every day had higher odds of reporting serious trouble with memory and concentration.

The results for sports drinks appeared slightly different. Daily consumption of sports drinks was linked to cognitive difficulties in girls. This association was not statistically clear for boys in the same daily consumption category.

A major component of the findings focused on the role of sleep. The data showed that higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages correlated with fewer hours of rest. This reduction in sleep served as a pathway linking the drinks to cognitive struggles.

For both boys and girls, sleep duration mediated the relationship between soda intake and cognitive difficulties. This means that part of the reason soda drinkers struggle with focus is likely because they are not sleeping enough. A similar mediation effect was found regarding sports drinks.

The biological mechanisms behind these findings involve the brain’s chemical signaling systems. Many sugar-sweetened beverages contain caffeine. Caffeine acts as an antagonist to adenosine, a brain chemical that promotes sleepiness. By blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine increases alertness temporarily but disrupts the body’s natural drive for sleep.

Sugar itself also impacts the brain’s reward system. Consuming high amounts of sugar stimulates the release of dopamine. This is a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation.

Chronic overstimulation of this reward system during adolescence can alter gene expression in the hypothalamus. This brain region regulates various bodily functions, including sleep cycles and memory. Over time, these chemical changes may increase vulnerability to cognitive dysregulation.

The study also touched upon the concept of synaptic plasticity. This term refers to the brain’s ability to strengthen or weaken connections between neurons. Estrogens, particularly estradiol, play a role in enhancing this plasticity and promoting blood flow in the brain.

Biological differences in how males and females process these chemicals may explain the variation in results. For instance, the study notes that sex-specific mechanisms could influence how sugar affects the brain. This might shed light on why sports drinks showed a stronger negative association with cognitive function in girls than in boys.

The sugar content in sports drinks is generally lower than that of sodas. A typical 20-ounce sports drink contains about 34 grams of sugar. In contrast, a similar amount of soda may contain nearly double that amount.

This difference in sugar load might result in less stimulation of the dopamine reward system for sports drink consumers. Additionally, sports drinks are often consumed in the context of physical exercise. Exercise is known to improve metabolism and hormonal regulation.

Improved metabolism from exercise might help the body process unhealthy ingredients more rapidly. This could potentially buffer some of the negative effects on the brain. However, the study suggests that for girls consuming these drinks daily, the negative cognitive outcomes persist.

The researcher pointed out that socioeconomic factors often influence dietary choices. Marketing for sugary beverages frequently targets younger demographics. The availability of these drinks in schools and communities remains high.

There are limitations to this study that require consideration. The data comes from a cross-sectional survey. This means it captures a snapshot in time rather than following individuals over years.

Because of this design, the study cannot definitively prove that sugary drinks cause cognitive decline. It can only show that the two are statistically linked. It is possible that students with cognitive difficulties are more prone to drinking sugary beverages, rather than the other way around.

Another limitation is the reliance on self-reported data. Students might not accurately remember how many drinks they consumed in the past week. They might also struggle to estimate their average sleep duration precisely.

The measurement of cognitive difficulties relied on a single, broad question. This question combined memory, concentration, and decision-making into one category. Future research would benefit from using more granular tests to measure these specific mental functions separately.

The study also had to exclude a number of participants due to missing data. A sensitivity analysis showed that the final group of students was slightly older and more racially diverse than those excluded. This could potentially introduce selection bias into the final results.

Despite these caveats, the research offers evidence supporting public health interventions. Reducing the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages could be a practical strategy to improve youth health. Such a reduction may lead to better sleep duration and improved academic performance.

Educators and health professionals might consider emphasizing sleep hygiene as part of nutritional counseling. Addressing the consumption of caffeine and sugar, particularly in the evening, could help restore natural sleep cycles. This is vital for the developing adolescent brain.

Future studies should aim to replicate these findings using objective measures. Wearable technology could provide more accurate data on sleep duration and quality. controlled trials could also help isolate the effects of specific ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup or caffeine.

The study highlights a clear intersection between diet, rest, and mental function. It suggests that what teenagers drink has consequences that extend beyond physical weight or dental health. The impact reaches into the classroom and their daily ability to process information.

The study, “The association of sugar-sweetened beverages consumption with cognitive difficulties among U.S. adolescents: a mediation effect of sleep using Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey 2021,” was authored by Shuo Feng.

New research published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships provides evidence that a specific mental exercise can help couples resolve conflicts more effectively than simple positive thinking. The study indicates that a self-regulation strategy known as “mental contrasting” encourages partners to engage with the internal obstacles preventing them from solving their problems.

Romantic relationships inevitably involve conflict. How couples navigate these disagreements is a strong predictor of whether the relationship will last and how satisfied the partners will feel. Effective problem-solving usually involves constructive communication and emotional responsiveness, while ineffective management is characterized by defensiveness or avoidance.

While counseling is a traditional route for improving these skills, it can be time-consuming and expensive. As a result, psychologists have sought to identify effective, self-administered strategies that couples can use on their own to navigate difficulties.

“Almost every couple faces problems sooner or later. Sadly, most couples, especially those whose satisfaction is not (yet) critically affected, are unlikely participate in couple interventions programs due to the substantial time and money investment required. That’s why we wanted to test whether a brief, scalable, and self-guided exercise can have meaningful impact on couples’ problem-solving behavior,” said study author Henrik Jöhnk, a research associate at Zeppelin University.

The researchers focused on a strategy called mental contrasting. This technique is distinct from positive thinking, or “indulging.” When people indulge, they imagine a desired future without considering the reality that stands in the way. In mental contrasting, an individual identifies a wish and the best outcome of fulfilling that wish, but then immediately reflects on the main inner obstacle—such as an emotion, habit, or belief—that prevents them from realizing that future.

Prior studies have shown that mental contrasting helps individuals regulate their behavior by creating a strong mental link between the desired future and the obstacle that must be overcome. The researchers in this study wanted to determine if this internal cognitive process could translate into better interpersonal communication between two partners.

The study involved 105 mixed-gender couples living in Germany. The participants ranged in age from 19 to 60, with an average age of roughly 27 years. Most were in committed relationships, with an average duration of three and a half years. The study was conducted remotely using video conferencing software.

To begin the experiment, both partners in a couple independently listed topics that caused disagreements in their relationship. They then came together to agree on one specific problem they wanted to solve. Once a problem was selected, the partners separated into different virtual rooms to complete the experimental task.

The couples were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the mental contrasting condition, each partner was asked to imagine the most positive aspect of resolving their chosen problem. Following this, they were asked to identify and imagine their main inner obstacle that was holding them back from resolving it. In the indulging condition, participants also imagined the most positive aspect of the resolution, but instead of focusing on an obstacle, they were asked to imagine a second positive aspect. This condition mimicked standard positive thinking or daydreaming.

After these individual mental exercises, the partners rejoined in the same physical room and were recorded having a ten-minute discussion about their problem via Zoom. Researchers later coded these interactions, looking for specific behaviors. They measured “self-disclosure,” which is the act of revealing personal feelings, attitudes, and needs. They also measured “solution suggestions,” counting how often partners proposed specific ways to fix the problem. Two weeks after the experiment, the couples completed a follow-up survey to report on whether they had made progress in resolving the conflict.

The results showed that mental contrasting had a measurable impact on how couples interacted and how successful they were at solving their problems. Regarding the long-term outcome, couples who used mental contrasting reported greater problem resolution two weeks later compared to those who used indulging. This benefit was specifically observed for problems that the partners perceived as highly important. When the issue was of low importance, the type of mental exercise made less of a difference.

“For a brief, self-guided exercise, the effects are surprisingly strong,” Jöhnk told PsyPost. “In particular, couples who are still relatively satisfied may benefit from trying mental contrasting in order to identify new ways forward. At the same time, these effects should not be seen as comparable to those of established couple therapies, which typically involve multiple sessions over months or years. Mental contrasting is best understood as a tool and a complement—not an alternative—to existing interventions.”

The video analysis revealed that the intervention changed the behavior of men and women in distinct ways. Men in the mental contrasting condition engaged in significantly more self-disclosure than men in the indulging condition. Specifically, they were more likely to verbalize their feelings and explain the attitudes driving their behavior. In the indulging condition, men showed typical patterns of disclosing less than women. However, in the mental contrasting condition, men’s level of self-disclosure rose to match that of the women.

This suggests that reflecting on internal obstacles helped men overcome barriers to vulnerability. By recognizing that an emotion like anger or insecurity was the obstacle, they became more likely to express that emotion to their partner. This is significant because self-disclosure is a key component of intimacy and helps partners understand the root causes of a conflict.

Women responded to the intervention differently. Women in the mental contrasting condition suggested fewer solutions than those in the indulging group. This reduction in solution suggestions was particularly evident when the problem was rated as important. While offering fewer solutions might sound negative, the researchers interpret this as a positive shift toward quality over quantity.

“What surprised me most was that mental contrasting didn’t increase the number of solutions people suggested for their problems,” Jöhnk said. “Instead, it appeared to slow the process down: people (especially women in our study) were less likely to offer quick or premature fixes, which may actually support effective problem-solving.”

In many conflicts, rushing to offer solutions can be a way to bypass necessary emotional processing. By suggesting fewer solutions, the women may have been more selective and thoughtful, avoiding premature fixes that would not address the underlying issue. The data showed that in the mental contrasting condition, participants were more likely to suggest a solution immediately after engaging in self-disclosure, implying that the solutions offered were more grounded in the reality of their feelings.

The study provides evidence that focusing on obstacles, rather than ignoring them, fosters a more realistic and grounded approach to relationship maintenance. Indulging in positive fantasies can sometimes drain the energy needed for action or lead to disappointment when reality does not match the fantasy. Mental contrasting appears to mobilize individuals to tackle the hard work required for resolving serious issues.

“To resolve relationship problems, it’s not enough to just hope things will get better,” Jöhnk explained. “Our research shows that people benefit from also facing their own inner obstacles like anger, fear, or insecurity that often get in the way of constructive conversations and actual change. ”

But there are some limitations to this study. The sample consisted largely of young, educated couples who were relatively satisfied with their relationships. The dynamics of problem-solving might look very different in couples who are highly distressed or on the brink of separation. In those cases, the problems might be perceived as insurmountable, and mental contrasting might lead to disengagement rather than engagement.

Additionally, the study relied on a specific experimental setup using Zoom. While this allowed the researchers to observe couples in their own homes, the presence of a recording device and the structured nature of the task might have influenced behavior. The researchers also only analyzed verbal communication. Non-verbal cues, such as tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language, play a massive role in conflict and were not part of the behavioral coding.

“We are still at in the middle of investigating the role of mental contrasting in romantic relationships, but this line of research is now expanding, supported by funding from the German Research Foundation,” Jöhnk noted. “A next step is to examine whether and how mental contrasting may benefit highly distressed couples, whose problems are often difficult or even impossible to fully resolve. In particular, we aim to study how mental contrasting shapes the way couples think about and engage with their problems when quick solutions are unlikely.”

“Readers who are curious to learn more about mental contrasting can visit https://woopmylife.org, which offers free, evidence-based resources on mental contrasting and WOOP, a practical self-regulation strategy based on this research. For a deeper introduction, I also recommend Rethinking Positive Thinking by Gabriele Oettingen, who supervised this project and holds senior professorships at both New York University and Zeppelin University.”

The study, “Mental contrasting and problem-solving in romantic relationships: A dyadic behavioral observation study,” was authored by Henrik Jöhnk, Gabriele Oettingen, Kay Brauer, and A. Timur Sevincer.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

On Saturday, February 7, the Modern Wisdom podcast, hosted by Chris Williamson, released episode 1056 featuring Dr. Paul Eastwick, a psychology professor who specializes in attraction and close relationships. The episode explores whether traditional evolutionary theories about dating are accurate in the modern world.

At roughly the 30-minute mark, Dr. Eastwick challenges the popular idea that dating operates like a marketplace where everyone has an objective “mate value.” He argues that viewing people as a number, such as a “seven” or a “ten,” fails to account for human history. Instead of seeking the absolute highest status partner, humans evolved to prioritize compatibility and interdependence. This shift occurred because human children are born relatively helpless and require an immense amount of care to survive.

To support this, Eastwick points to physical changes in human evolution, such as the reduction in size of male canine teeth. This physical shift suggests a move away from aggression and toward “male parental investment,” where fathers play an active role in child-rearing. In the ancient past, being a supportive and cooperative partner was often more effective for survival than simply being the strongest or most dominant hunter.

The conversation then shifts to highlight the difference between “stated preferences” and “revealed preferences.” Stated preferences are the traits people say they want when asked, such as men requesting youth or women requesting wealth. However, revealed preferences are what people actually choose during interactions like speed dating. Eastwick’s research shows that when people meet face-to-face, gender differences often disappear, and both sexes weigh traits like ambition and attractiveness similarly.

This distinction explains why online dating can be so frustrating for many users. Dating apps encourage users to filter potential partners based on rigid demographic “boxes” like height or education level. This prevents people from meeting in person, where subjective chemistry and personality often override those initial checklists. The researcher suggests that loneliness is often a result of screening people out before a real human connection can form.

Eastwick also addresses fears regarding changing gender roles, specifically the rise in women’s education and income levels. Contrary to some cultural narratives, current data indicates that relationships where the woman is more educated than the man are not at higher risk of divorce. The “crisis” of men needing to improve their status may be exaggerated by the lack of in-person socialization.

You can listen to the full interview here.

A team of researchers in Japan has developed an artificial intelligence tool called YORU that can identify specific animal behaviors in real time and immediately interact with the animals’ brain circuits. This open-source software, described in a study published in Science Advances, allows biologists to study social interactions with greater speed and precision than previously possible. By treating complex actions as distinct visual objects, the system enables computers to “watch” behaviors like courtship or food sharing and respond within milliseconds.

Biologists have struggled for years to automate the analysis of how animals interact. Social behaviors such as courtship or aggression involve dynamic movements where individuals often touch or obscure one another from the camera’s view. Previous software solutions typically relied on a method called pose estimation. This technique tracks specific body points like a joint, a knee, or a wing tip across many video frames to calculate movement.

These older methods often fail when animals get too close to one another. When two insects overlap, the computer frequently loses track of which leg belongs to which individual. This confusion makes it difficult to trigger experiments at the exact moment a behavior occurs. To solve this, a team including Hayato M. Yamanouchi and Ryosuke F. Takeuchi sought a different approach. They worked under the guidance of senior author Azusa Kamikouchi at Nagoya University.

The group aimed to build a system capable of “closed-loop” feedback. This term refers to an experimental setup where a computer watches an animal and instantly creates a stimulus in response. For example, a computer might turn on a light the moment a fly extends its wing. Achieving this requires software that processes video data faster than the animal moves.

The researchers built their system using a deep learning algorithm known as object detection. Unlike pose estimation, this method analyzes the entire shape of an animal in a single video frame. The team named their software YORU. This acronym stands for Your Optimal Recognition Utility.

YORU identifies a specific action as a distinct “behavior object.” The software recognizes the visual pattern of two ants sharing food or a male fly vibrating its wing. This approach allows the computer to classify social interactions even when the animals are touching. By viewing the behavior as a unified object rather than a collection of points, the system bypasses the confusion caused by overlapping limbs.

The team tested YORU on several different species to verify its versatility. They recorded videos of fruit flies courting, ants engaging in mouth-to-mouth food transfer—a behavior known as trophallaxis—and zebrafish orienting toward one another. The system achieved detection accuracy rates ranging from roughly 90 to 98 percent compared to human observation.

The software also proved effective at analyzing brain activity in mice. The researchers placed mice on a treadmill within a virtual reality setup. YORU accurately identified behaviors such as running, grooming, and whisker movements. The system matched these physical actions with simultaneous recordings of neural activity in the mouse cortex. This confirmed that the AI could reliably link visible movements to the invisible firing of neurons.

The most advanced test involved a technique called optogenetics. This method allows scientists to switch specific neurons on or off using light. The team genetically modified male fruit flies so that the neurons responsible for their courtship song would be silenced by green light. These neurons are known as pIP10 descending neurons.

YORU watched the flies in real time. When the system detected a male extending his wing to sing, it triggered a green light within milliseconds. The male fly immediately stopped his courtship song. This interruption caused a decrease in mating success that was statistically significant.

Hayato M. Yamanouchi, co-first author from Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Science, highlighted the difference in their approach. He noted, “Instead of tracking body points over time, YORU recognizes entire behaviors from their appearance in a single video frame. It spotted behaviors in flies, ants, and zebrafish with 90-98% accuracy and ran 30% faster than competing tools.”

The researchers then took the experiment a step further by using a projector. They wanted to manipulate only one animal in a pair without affecting the other. They genetically modified female flies to have light-sensitive hearing neurons. Specifically, they targeted neurons in the Johnston’s organ, which is the fly’s equivalent of an ear.

When the male fly extended his wing, YORU calculated the female’s exact position. The system then projected a small circle of light onto her thorax. This light silenced her hearing neurons exactly when the male tried to sing. The female ignored the male’s advances because she could not hear him.

This experiment confirmed the software’s ability to target individuals in a group. Azusa Kamikouchi explained the significance of this precision. “We can silence fly courtship neurons the instant YORU detects wing extension. In a separate experiment, we used targeted light that followed individual flies and blocked just one fly’s hearing neurons while others moved freely nearby.”

The speed of the system was a primary focus for the researchers. They benchmarked YORU against SLEAP, a popular pose-estimation tool. YORU exhibited a mean latency—the delay between seeing an action and reacting to it—of approximately 31 milliseconds. This was roughly 30 percent faster than the alternative method. Such speed is necessary for studying neural circuits, which operate on extremely fast timescales.

The system is also designed to be user-friendly for biologists who may not be experts in computer programming. It includes a graphical user interface that allows researchers to label behaviors and train the AI without writing code. The team has made the software open-source, allowing laboratories worldwide to download and adapt it for their own specific animal models.

While the system offers speed and precision, it relies on the appearance of behavior in a single frame. This design means YORU cannot easily identify behaviors that depend on a sequence of events over time. For example, distinguishing between the beginning and end of a foraging run might require additional analysis. The software excels at spotting “states” of being rather than complex narratives.

The current version also does not automatically track the identity of individual animals over long periods. If two animals look identical and swap places, the software might not distinguish between them without supplementary tools. Researchers may need to combine YORU with other tracking software for studies requiring long-term individual histories.

Hardware limitations present another challenge for the projector-based system. Fast-moving animals might exit the illuminated area before the light pulses if the projector has a slight delay. Future updates could incorporate predictive algorithms to anticipate where an animal will be millisecond by millisecond.

Despite these limitations, YORU represents a new way to interrogate the brain. By allowing computers to recognize social behaviors as they happen, scientists can now ask questions about how the brain navigates the complex social world. The ability to turn specific senses on and off during social exchanges opens new avenues for understanding the neural basis of communication.

The study, “YORU: Animal behavior detection with object-based approach for real-time closed-loop feedback,” was authored by Hayato M. Yamanouchi, Ryosuke F. Takeuchi, Naoya Chiba, Koichi Hashimoto, Takashi Shimizu, Fumitaka Osakada, Ryoya Tanaka, and Azusa Kamikouchi.

Research published in the BMJ has revealed that retail sales of emergency contraception rise sharply after the New Year holiday in the United States. The holiday was found to be linked to a surge in demand for emergency contraception, suggesting higher rates of unprotected sex compared with other times of the year—even more than Valentine’s Day.

Unprotected sex has long been recognised as a public health concern due to unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Previous research shows that alcohol use, increased social activity, and limited access to contraception can all influence whether people practice safe sex. These factors tend to fluctuate throughout the year, and certain holidays may bring them together. Emergency contraception, which can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, offers researchers a way to indirectly measure when these risks may be higher.

Brandon Wagner (Texas Tech University) and Kelly Cleland (American Society for Emergency Contraception) sought to investigate if New Year’s Eve—a holiday commonly associated with parties, alcohol consumption, and romantic expectations—was followed by an increase in emergency contraception sales. They also wanted to compare this with other holidays that might share similar features, such as Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day.

To investigate, the team analysed weekly sales data for over-the-counter emergency contraception pills (levonorgestrel) across the United States from 2016 to 2022. The dataset covered 362 weeks of sales from traditional “brick and mortar” retailers, including grocery stores, drug stores, and mass merchandisers. Using statistical models, they compared sales in weeks following holidays with sales during non-holiday weeks.

The results showed a clear pattern. In the week after the New Year holiday, sales of emergency contraception rose by about 0.63 additional units per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15–44). Based on US population estimates, this equated to roughly 41,000 extra units sold in the first week of 2022 alone compared with what would hypothetically occur without the holiday.

While other holidays also showed increases, none matched the New Year. Sales rose after Valentine’s Day, but only about half as much as after the New Year holiday. Smaller increases followed St. Patrick’s Day and Independence Day. By contrast, holidays not typically associated with heightened sexual activity or alcohol consumption—such as Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day—showed no significant change in emergency contraception sales.

The researchers say the spike after the New Year likely reflects a combination of factors: more sexual activity, lower contraception vigilance due to alcohol consumption, increased risk of sexual assault, and limited access to contraceptives due to holiday retail closures. Together, these conditions may make New Year’s Eve uniquely associated with unprotected sex.

“More than ever, emergency contraception is a critically important option for people in the US, particularly those living in regions with bans or severe restrictions on abortion. Although this annual spike in sales might seem humorous, it is indicative of unmet contraceptive need that calls for further attention,” Wagner and Cleland noted.

However, the study has important limitations. Sales data do not necessarily reflect actual use of emergency contraception, and the figures exclude purchases made online, in independent pharmacies, or through clinics. The findings also apply only to the United States, meaning patterns could differ in countries with different healthcare systems or cultural practices.

The study, “Retail demand for emergency contraception in United States following New Year holiday: time series study,” was authored by Brandon Wagner and Kelly Cleland.

An analysis of data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study found that religiosity may protect against depression and stress by fostering feelings of gratitude and social support. The research was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Religiosity refers to the extent to which individuals hold religious beliefs, engage in religious practices, and integrate religion into their daily lives. It encompasses beliefs, behaviors (such as prayer or worship attendance), personal commitment, and identification with a religious community.

A substantial body of research shows that religiosity is positively associated with psychological outcomes, such as higher life satisfaction and greater subjective well-being. Longitudinal and cross-cultural evidence indicates that these associations are modest but robust across different populations and cultural contexts.

In psychology and public health, religiosity tends to be viewed as a potential protective factor for mental health. One key reason for this is that religious involvement can help individuals cope with stressful life events and derive meaning from adversity. According to some models of stress and coping, religiosity may influence well-being by shaping how stressors are appraised and managed. Rather than exerting a direct effect, religiosity appears to provide psychological and social coping resources.

Study authors Ethan D. Lantz and Danielle K. Nadorff sought to explore the mechanisms through which religiosity affects psychological well-being. They hypothesized that higher levels of religiosity would be associated with higher levels of gratitude and social support. In turn, individuals experiencing stronger feelings of gratitude and better social support would tend to report better psychological well-being—defined as lower depressive symptoms and perceived stress, and higher life satisfaction.

The authors analyzed data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. MIDUS is a large, long-running national research program that examines how psychological, social, behavioral, and biological factors influence health and well-being as people age.

Specifically, the researchers used data from 1,052 participants in the MIDUS 2 dataset, collected between 2004 and 2006, and 625 participants from the MIDUS Refresher dataset, collected between 2011 and 2014. The average age of participants was 55 years in the MIDUS 2 dataset and approximately 52 years in the MIDUS Refresher. Females made up 55% and 51% of the participants in the two datasets, respectively.

The authors utilized data on participants’ religiosity (collected using the MIDUS Religiosity Questionnaire), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression Scale), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), life satisfaction (Satisfaction with Life Scale), gratitude (Gratitude Questionnaire), and social support (Support and Strain from Partners, Family, and Friends scale).

They tested a statistical model proposing that religiosity leads to higher feelings of gratitude and greater social support. In turn, the model proposed that these resources would lead to improved psychological well-being. The results confirmed a “full mediation” model across both datasets. This indicates that the relationship between religiosity and well-being was fully explained by the presence of gratitude and social support.

“Religiosity may confer protection against affective distress by fostering key psychological and social coping resources. These findings highlight the potential clinical utility of interventions designed to cultivate gratitude and strengthen social support networks as a strategy to improve well-being and reduce symptoms of affective disorders,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the psychological correlates of religiosity. However, it should be noted that the cross-sectional design of this specific analysis does not allow for causal inferences to be derived from the results.

The paper, “An attitude of gratitude: How psychological and social resources mediate the protective effect of religiosity on depressive symptoms,” was authored by Ethan D. Lantz and Danielle K. Nadorff.

Declining birth rates present a demographic challenge for nations across the globe, particularly in East Asia. A new study published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that playing life simulation video games may influence a player’s desire to have children in the real world. The research indicates that the emotional bonds formed with virtual characters can serve as a psychological pathway to shaping reproductive attitudes.

Societies such as China are currently experiencing a transition marked by persistently low fertility rates. Young adults aged 18 to 35 often report a reluctance to marry and bear children. This hesitation is frequently attributed to high economic costs associated with housing and education. It is also linked to a phenomenon researchers call “risk consciousness.” This mindset involves anxiety regarding the potential loss of personal freedom and the financial burdens of parenthood.

In this environment, digital entertainment has become a primary venue for social interaction and relaxation. Some scholars have argued that online activities might replace real-world relationships. This substitution could theoretically weaken the motivation to start a family. However, other researchers contend that specific types of games might offer a different outcome.

The researchers leading this study are Yuan Qi of Anhui Normal University and Gao Jie of Nanjing University. They collaborated with colleagues to investigate the psychological impact of life simulation games. They focused specifically on a popular game titled Chinese Parents. This game allows players to simulate the experience of raising a child from birth to adulthood. It incorporates culturally specific elements such as academic pressure and intergenerational expectations.

The team sought to understand if the virtual experience of raising a digital child could translate into a real-world desire for parenthood. To do this, they relied on two primary psychological concepts. The first is attachment theory, which typically describes the bonds between humans. The second is the concept of parasocial relationships.

Parasocial relationships refer to one-sided psychological connections that media users form with characters. While the user knows the character is fictional, the feelings of friendship, empathy, or affection feel real. The researchers hypothesized that these virtual bonds might act as a buffer against real-world anxieties. They proposed an “Emotional Compensation Hypothesis.” This hypothesis suggests that the safety of a virtual environment allows young people to experience the emotional rewards of parenting without the immediate financial or social risks.

To test their model, the researchers conducted a survey of 612 gamers who played Chinese Parents. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 35 years old. This age bracket represents the primary demographic for marriage and childbearing decisions. The group was recruited from online gaming communities and university campuses in China.

The survey utilized a statistical approach known as Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. This method allows scientists to identify complex relationships between different variables. The researchers measured several specific psychological factors.

The first factor was game concentration. This refers to the depth of immersion a player feels. It is a state of flow where the player becomes absorbed in the virtual world. The second factor was identification friendship. This measures the degree to which a player views the virtual character as a friend or an extension of themselves.

The researchers then looked at parasocial relationships, which they divided into two distinct categories. The first category is parasocial cognition. This involves thinking about the character’s motivations and understanding their perspective intellectually. The second category is parasocial emotions. This involves feeling empathy, warmth, and affection toward the character. Finally, the researchers measured fertility desire, which is the self-reported intention to have children in the real world.

The analysis revealed a specific psychological pathway. The researchers found that game concentration did not directly change a player’s desire to have children. Simply being immersed in the game was not enough to alter real-world life planning.

Instead, the results showed that immersion acted as a catalyst for other feelings. High levels of concentration led players to develop a sense of identification friendship with their virtual characters. Players began to see these digital figures as distinct social entities worthy of care.

This sense of friendship then triggered the critical component of the model: parasocial emotions. Players reported feeling genuine empathy and support for their virtual children. The data showed that these emotional connections were the bridge to real-world attitudes. When players formed strong emotional attachments to their in-game characters, they reported a higher desire to have children in real life.

The researchers found that the emotional pathway was the only successful route to influencing fertility desire. The study examined a cognitive pathway, where players intellectually analyzed the character’s situation. The results for this path were not statistically significant regarding the final outcome. Understanding the logic of the character did not correlate with a desire for parenthood. Only the emotional experience of caring for the character had an association with real-world reproductive goals.

The findings support the researchers’ “Emotional Compensation Hypothesis.” In a high-pressure society, simulation games provide a low-stakes environment. Players can satisfy their innate need for caregiving and intimacy through the game. Rather than replacing the desire for real children, this virtual fulfillment appears to keep the positive idea of parenthood alive. The game functions as a “secure base.” It allows individuals to practice the emotions of parenting without the fear of real-world consequences.

There are several limitations to this study that contextualize the findings. The research used a cross-sectional design. This means the data represents a snapshot in time. It shows a correlation between playing the game and wanting children, but it cannot definitively prove that playing the game caused the desire. It is possible that people who already want children are more likely to play parenting simulation games.

The data relied on self-reported questionnaires. This method depends on the honesty and self-awareness of the participants. Additionally, the study focused on a specific game within a specific cultural context. Chinese Parents is deeply rooted in Chinese social norms. The results might not apply to gamers in other countries or players of different genres of simulation games.

The researchers suggest that future studies should employ longitudinal designs. Tracking players over a long period would help determine if these virtual desires translate into actual decisions to have children years later. They also recommend expanding the research to include different cultural backgrounds.

Future investigations could also explore the potential of using such games as psychological tools. If these simulations can provide a safe space for emotional expression, they might help individuals with anxiety regarding family planning. The study opens a conversation about how digital experiences in the modern age intersect with fundamental biological and social motivations.

The study, “From virtual attachments to real-world fertility desires: emotional pathways in game character attachment and parasocial relationships,” was authored by Yuan Qi, Gao Jie, Du Yun, and Ding Yi Zhuo.

A new study published in Injury Epidemiology provides evidence that the 2024 United States presidential election prompted specific groups of Americans to change their behaviors regarding firearms. The findings suggest that individuals who feel threatened by the policies of the current administration, specifically Black adults and those with liberal political views, are reporting stronger urges to carry weapons and keep them easily accessible. This research highlights a potential shift in gun culture where decision-making is increasingly driven by political anxiety and a desire for protection.

Social scientists have previously observed that firearm purchasing patterns often fluctuate in response to major societal events, such as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic or periods of civil unrest. However, there has been less research into how specific election results influence not just the buying of guns, but also daily habits like carrying a weapon or how it is stored within the home.

To understand these dynamics better, a team led by Michael Anestis from the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University sought to track these changes directly. The researchers aimed to determine if the intense rhetoric surrounding the 2024 election altered firearm safety practices among different demographics.

The researchers surveyed a nationally representative group of adults at two different points in time to capture a “before and after” snapshot. The first survey included 1,530 participants and took place between October 22 and November 3, 2024, immediately preceding the election. The team then followed up with 1,359 of the same individuals between January 7 and January 22, 2025. By maintaining the same group of participants, the scientists could directly compare intentions expressed before the election with reported behaviors and urges felt in the weeks following the results.

The data indicated that identifying as Black was associated with a increase in the urge to carry firearms specifically because of the election results. Black participants were also more likely than White participants to express an intention to purchase a firearm in the coming year or to remain undecided, rather than rejecting the idea of ownership. This aligns with broader trends suggesting that the demographics of gun ownership are diversifying.

Similarly, participants who identified with liberal political beliefs reported a stronger urge to carry firearms outside the home as a direct result of the election outcome. The study found that as political views became more liberal, individuals were over two times more likely to change their storage practices to make guns more quickly accessible. This suggests that for some, the perceived need for immediate defense has overridden standard safety recommendations regarding secure storage.

The researchers also examined how participants viewed the stability of the country. Those who perceived a serious threat to American democracy were more likely to store their guns in a way that allowed for quicker access. Individuals who expressed support for political violence showed a complex pattern. They were more likely to intend to buy guns but reported a decreased urge to carry them. This might imply that those who support such violence feel more secure in the current political environment, reducing their perceived need for constant protection outside the home.

Anestis, the executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and lead researcher, noted that the motivation for these changes is clear but potentially perilous.

“These findings highlight that communities that feel directly threatened by the policies and actions of the second Trump administration are reporting a greater drive to purchase firearms, carry them outside their home, and store them in a way that allows quick access and that these urges are a direct result of the presidential election,” Anestis said. “It may be that individuals feel that the government will not protect them or – worse yet – represents a direct threat to their safety, so they are trying to prepare themselves for self-defense.”

These findings appear to align with recent press reports describing a surge in firearm interest among groups not historically associated with gun culture. An NPR report from late 2025 featured accounts from individuals like “Charles,” a doctor who began training with a handgun due to fears for his family’s safety under the Trump administration.

A story from NBC News published earlier this week highlighted a sharp rise in requests for firearm training from women and people of color. Trainers across the country, including organizations like the Liberal Gun Club and Grassroots Defense, have reported that their classes are fully booked. This heightened interest often correlates with specific fears regarding federal law enforcement.

For example, recent news coverage mentions the high-profile shooting of Alex Pretti, a concealed carry permit holder in Minneapolis, by federal agents. Reports indicate that such incidents have stoked fears about constitutional rights violations. Both the academic study and these journalistic accounts paint a picture of defensive gun ownership rising among those who feel politically marginalized.

While the study provides evidence of shifting behaviors, there are limitations to consider. The number of people who actually purchased a gun during the short window between the two surveys was low, which limits the ability of the researchers to draw broad statistical conclusions about immediate purchasing habits.

Additionally, the study relied on self-reported data. This means the results depend on participants answering honestly about sensitive topics like weapon storage and their willingness to use force. Future research will need to examine whether these shifts in behavior result in long-term changes in injury rates or accidental shootings.

“Ultimately, it seems that groups less typically associated with firearm ownership – Black adults and those with liberal political beliefs, for instance – are feeling unsafe in the current environment and trying to find ways to protect themselves and their loved ones,” Anestis said.

However, he cautioned that the method of protection chosen could lead to unintended consequences.

“Although those beliefs are rooted in a drive for safety, firearm acquisition, carrying, and unsecure storage are all associated with the risk for suicide and unintentional injury, so I fear that the current environment is actually increasing the risk of harm,” he said. “Indeed, recent events in Minneapolis make me nervous that the environment fostered by the federal government is putting the safety of Americans in peril.”

The study, “Changes in firearm intentions and behaviors after the 2024 United States presidential election,” was authored by Michael D. Anestis, Allison E. Bond, Kimberly C. Burke, Sultan Altikriti, and Daniel C. Semenza.

A new study published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy provides evidence that a person’s tendency to engage in sexual fantasy influences what they prioritize in a romantic kiss. The findings suggest that the mental act of imagining intimate scenarios is strongly linked to placing a higher value on physical arousal and contact during kissing. This research helps explain the psychological connection between cognitive states and physical intimacy.

From an evolutionary perspective, researchers have proposed three main reasons for romantic kissing. The first is “mate assessment,” which means kissing helps individuals subconsciously judge a potential partner’s health and genetic compatibility. The second is “pair bonding,” where kissing serves to maintain an emotional connection and commitment between partners in a long-term relationship.

The third proposed function is the “arousal hypothesis.” This theory suggests that the primary biological purpose of kissing is to initiate sexual arousal and prepare the body for intercourse. While this seems intuitive, previous scientific attempts to prove this hypothesis have failed to find a strong link. Past data did not show that kissing consistently acts as a catalyst for sexual arousal.

The researchers behind the current study argued that these previous attempts were looking at the problem too narrowly. Earlier work focused almost exclusively on the physical sensation of kissing, such as the sensitivity of the lips or the exchange of saliva. This approach largely ignored the mental and emotional state of the person doing the kissing. The researchers hypothesized that the physical act of kissing might not be arousing on its own without a specific cognitive component. They proposed that sexual fantasy serves as this missing link.

“People have tested three separate hypotheses to explain why we engage in romantic kissing as a species,” said study author Christopher D. Watkins, a senior lecturer in psychology at Abertay University. “At the time there had been no evidence supporting the arousal hypothesis for kissing – that kissing may act as an important catalyst for sex. This may be because these studies focussed on the sensation of kissing as the catalyst, when psychological explanations are also important (e.g., the mental motives for kissing which in turn makes intimacy feel pleasurable/desirable).”

To test this idea, the researchers designed an online study to measure the relationship between fantasy proneness and kissing preferences. They recruited a sample of 412 adults, primarily from the United Kingdom and Italy. After removing participants who did not complete all sections or meet the age requirements, the final analysis focused on 212 individuals. This group was diverse in terms of relationship status, with about half of the participants reporting that they were in a long-term relationship.

Participants completed a series of standardized questionnaires. The first was the “Good Kiss Questionnaire,” which asks individuals to rate the importance of various factors when deciding if someone is a good kisser. These factors included sensory details like the taste of the partner’s lips, the pleasantness of their breath, and the “wetness” of the kiss. The questionnaire also included items related to “contact and arousal,” asking how important physical touching and the feeling of sexual excitement were to the experience.

The scientists also administered the “Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire.” They specifically focused on the “intimacy” subscale, which measures how often a person engages in daytime fantasies about romantic interactions with a partner. This measure was distinct from fantasies that occur during sexual acts or while dreaming. It focused on the mental habit of imagining intimacy during everyday life.

To ensure their results were precise, the researchers included control measures. They measured “general creative experiences” to assess whether a person was simply imaginative in general. This allowed the scientists to determine if the results were driven specifically by sexual fantasy rather than just a vivid imagination. They also measured general sexual desire to see if the effects were independent of a person’s overall sex drive.

The results supported the researchers’ primary prediction. The analysis showed a positive correlation between daytime intimate fantasy and the importance placed on arousal and contact in a good kiss. Individuals who reported a higher tendency to fantasize about intimacy were much more likely to define a “good kiss” as one that includes high levels of physical contact and sexual arousal.

“Your tendency to think and fantasise about intimacy during the day is related to the qualities you associate with a good-quality kiss,” Watkins told PsyPost. “Specifically, the importance we attach to contact and arousal while kissing. As such, our mental preoccupations could facilitate arousal when in close contact with an intimate partner – explaining personal differences in how we approach partners during intimate encounters.”

This relationship held true even after the researchers statistically controlled for other variables. The link between fantasy and kissing preferences remained significant regardless of the participant’s general creativity levels. This suggests that the connection is specific to sexual and romantic cognition, not just a byproduct of having a creative mind.

Additionally, the finding was independent of general sexual desire. While people with higher sex drives did generally value arousal more, the specific habit of fantasizing contributed to this preference over and above general desire. This implies that the mental act of simulating intimacy creates a specific psychological context. This context appears to shape what a person expects and desires from the physical act of kissing.

The study also yielded secondary findings regarding kissing styles. The researchers looked at “reproductive potential,” which they measured by asking participants about their history of sexual partners relative to their peers. This is often used in evolutionary psychology as a proxy for mating strategy. The data showed that individuals with a history of more sexual partners placed greater importance on “technique” in a good kiss. Specifically, they valued synchronization, or whether the partner’s kissing style matched their own.

“One unplanned relationship found in the data was between the importance people placed on technique (e.g., synchronicity) in a good kiss and the extent to which people reported tending to have sex with different people across their relationship history (compared to average peer behavior),” Watkins said. “This may suggest that people who seek sexual variety also seek some form of similarity in partners while intimate (kissing style). This was a small effect though that we would like others to examine/replicate independently in their own studies.”

As with all research, there are some limitations. The research used a cross-sectional design, meaning it captured data from participants at a single point in time. As a result, the researchers cannot prove that fantasizing causes a change in kissing preferences. It is largely possible that the relationship works in the reverse direction, or that a third factor influences both.

The sample was also heavily skewed toward Western cultures, specifically the UK and Italy. Romantic kissing is not a universal human behavior and is observed in less than half of known cultures. Consequently, these findings may not apply to cultures where kissing is not a standard part of romantic or sexual rituals.

Future research could address these issues by using longitudinal designs. Scientists could follow couples over time to see how the relationship between fantasy and physical intimacy evolves. This would help clarify whether increasing intimate fantasy can lead to a more revitalized physical connection.

“We are looking to develop our testing instruments to explore other experiences related to kissing, and expand our studies on this topic – for example, by establishing clear cause and effect between our thoughts/fantasies and later kissing behaviors or other behaviors reported during close contact with romantic partners,” Watkins said.

The study, “Proclivity for sexual fantasy accounts for differences in the perceived components of a ‘good kiss’,” was authored by Milena V. Rota and Christopher D. Watkins.

New research suggests that the distinctive cognitive traits associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, may provide a specific advantage in how people tackle creative challenges. A study conducted by psychologists found that individuals reporting high levels of ADHD symptoms are more likely to solve problems through sudden bursts of insight rather than through methodical analysis.

These findings indicate that while ADHD is often defined by its deficits, the condition may also facilitate a unique style of thinking that bypasses conscious logic to reach a solution. The results were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition typically characterized by difficulty maintaining focus, impulsive behavior, and hyperactivity. These symptoms are often viewed through the lens of executive function deficits. Executive function refers to the brain’s management system. It acts like an air traffic controller that directs attention, filters out distractions, and keeps mental processes organized.

When this system works efficiently, a person can focus on a specific task and block out irrelevant information. However, researchers have long hypothesized that a “leaky” attention filter might have a hidden upside. If the brain does not filter out irrelevant information efficiently, it may allow remote ideas and associations to enter conscious awareness. This broader associative net could theoretically help a person connect seemingly unrelated concepts.

To test this theory, a team of researchers led by Hannah Maisano and Christine Chesebrough, along with senior author John Kounios, designed an experiment to measure problem-solving styles. Maisano is a doctoral student at Drexel University, and Chesebrough is a researcher at the Feinstein Institutes for Biomedical Research. They collaborated with Fengqing Zhang and Brian Daly of Drexel University and Mark Beeman of Northwestern University.

The researchers recruited 299 undergraduate students to participate in an online study. The team did not limit the study to individuals with a formal medical diagnosis. Instead, they asked all participants to complete the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale. This is a standard survey used to measure the frequency and severity of symptoms such as inattention and hyperactivity. This approach allowed the scientists to examine the effects of these traits across a full spectrum of severity.

The core of the experiment involved a test known as the Compound Remote Associates task. Psychologists frequently use this task to measure convergent thinking, which is the ability to find a single correct answer to a problem. In this test, participants view three words that appear unrelated. Their goal is to find a fourth word that creates a familiar compound word or phrase with each of the three.

For example, a participant might see the words “pine,” “crab,” and “sauce.” The correct answer is “apple,” which forms “pineapple,” “crabapple,” and “applesauce.” The participants attempted to solve sixty of these puzzles.

After each successful solution, the participants reported how they arrived at the answer. They had to choose between two distinct cognitive styles. The first style is analysis. This involves a deliberate, step-by-step search for the answer. It is a conscious and slow process. The second style is insight. This is often described as an “Aha!” moment. It occurs when the solution pops into awareness suddenly and surprisingly, often after the person has stopped actively trying to force a result.

The data revealed a distinct pattern in how different groups approached the puzzles. Participants who reported the highest levels of ADHD symptoms relied heavily on insight. They were statistically significantly more likely to solve the problems through sudden realization than through step-by-step logic.

In contrast, the participants with the lowest levels of ADHD symptoms displayed a different profile. This group used a balance of both insight and analysis to find the answers. They did not favor one method overwhelmingly over the other.

“We found that individuals reporting the strongest ADHD symptoms relied significantly more on insight to solve problems,” said Maisano. “They appear to favor unconscious, associative processing that can produce sudden creative breakthroughs.”

The researchers also analyzed the total number of problems solved correctly by each group. This analysis produced an unexpected U-shaped curve. The group with the highest symptoms and the group with the lowest symptoms both performed very well. They solved the most puzzles overall. However, the participants in the middle of the spectrum performed the worst.

This U-shaped result suggests that high and low levels of executive control lead to success through different routes. People with high executive control can effectively use analytical strategies. They can systematically test words until they find a match. People with low executive control, such as those with high ADHD symptoms, struggle with that systematic approach. However, their tendency toward unfocused thought allows their brains to stumble upon the answer unconsciously.

The individuals in the middle appear to be at a disadvantage in this specific context. They may not have enough executive control to be highly effective at analysis. Simultaneously, they may have too much control to allow their minds to wander freely enough for frequent insight.

Kounios explains the implication of this finding. “Our results show that having strong ADHD symptoms can mean being a better creative problem-solver than most people, that is, than people who have low to moderate ADHD symptoms.”

The study aligns with the concept of dual-process theories of thought. Psychologists often distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 processing. Type 1 processing is fast, automatic, and unconscious. It is the engine behind intuitive insight. Type 2 processing is slow, effortful, and conscious. It drives analytical reasoning.

ADHD symptoms are generally associated with a weakness in Type 2 processing. The effort required to maintain focus and manipulate information in working memory is often impaired. The researchers argue that this deficit in Type 2 processing forces—or perhaps allows—individuals with ADHD symptoms to rely on Type 1 processing.

This reliance on Type 1 processing is not merely a compensation strategy. It appears to be a robust pathway to solution in its own right. The high-symptom group did not just fail to analyze; they succeeded through insight. The regression analyses performed by the team showed that as ADHD symptoms increased, the probability of using analysis dropped, while the probability of using insight rose.

“Being both very high or very low in executive control can be beneficial for creative problem-solving, but you get to the right answer in different ways,” said Chesebrough.

Kounios and his colleagues emphasize that these findings challenge the traditional view of ADHD as purely a disorder of deficits. While the condition certainly presents challenges in environments that require rigid focus and organization, it offers advantages in situations that demand creative connections.

The study does have limitations. It relied on a sample of university students rather than a broader slice of the general population. Additionally, the study used self-reported symptoms rather than clinical diagnoses confirmed by a physician. It is possible that other undiagnosed conditions could have influenced the results.

The researchers also note that they excluded participants who reported poor sleep or substance use, as these factors can impair cognitive performance. Future research will need to replicate these findings with larger groups and formally diagnosed clinical populations to confirm the robustness of the U-shaped performance curve.

Despite these caveats, the research offers a new perspective on neurodiversity in the context of problem-solving. It suggests that the cognitive profile associated with ADHD is not simply a broken version of “normal” cognition. Instead, it represents a different functional organization of the brain. This organization favors spontaneous processing over deliberate control.

Understanding this strength could help educators and employers create environments that harness the natural abilities of individuals with ADHD. Rather than forcing these individuals to adopt analytical strategies that do not fit their cognitive style, it may be more effective to encourage their intuitive approaches.

“Understanding these strengths could help people harness their natural problem-solving style in school, work and everyday life,” said Kounios.

The study, “ADHD symptom magnitude predicts creative problem-solving performance and insight versus analysis solving modes,” was authored by Hannah Maisano, Christine Chesebrough, Fengqing Zhang, Brian Daly, Mark Beeman, and John Kounios.

A new study published in the journal Personal Relationships suggests that single people who feel their basic psychological needs are met tend to experience higher life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms. The findings indicate that beyond these universal needs, having a secure attachment style and viewing singlehood as a personal choice rather than a result of external barriers are significant predictors of a satisfying single life.

The number of single adults has increased significantly in recent years, prompting psychologists to investigate what factors contribute to a high quality of life for this demographic. Historically, relationship research has focused heavily on the dynamics of couples, often treating singlehood merely as a transitional stage or a deficit. When researchers did study singles, they typically categorized them simply as those who chose to be single versus those who did not. This binary perspective fails to capture the complexity of the single experience.

The researchers behind the new study sought to understand the specific psychological characteristics that explain why some individuals thrive in singlehood while others struggle. By examining factors ranging from broad human needs to specific attitudes about relationships, the team aimed to clarify the internal and external forces that shape single well-being.

“Much of the research on single people has focused on deficits—that singles are less happy or lonely to partnered people,” said study author Jeewon Oh, an assistant professor at Syracuse University.

“We wanted to ask instead: When do single people thrive? We wanted to identify what actually predicts a good single life from understanding their individual differences. We know that people need to feel autonomous, competent, and related to others to flourish, but it wasn’t clear whether relationship-specific factors like attachment style or reasons for being single play an important role beyond satisfying these more basic needs.”

To investigate these questions, the scientists conducted two separate analyses. The first sample consisted of 445 adults recruited through Qualtrics Panels. These participants were older, with an average age of approximately 53 years, and were long-term singles who had been without a partner for an average of 20 years. This demographic provided a window into the experiences of those who have navigated singlehood for a significant portion of their adulthood.

The second sample was gathered to see if the findings would hold true for a different age group. This group included 545 undergraduate students from a university in the northeastern United States. These participants were much younger, with an average age of roughly 19 years. By using two distinct samples, the researchers hoped to distinguish between findings that might be unique to a specific life stage and those that apply to singles more generally.

The researchers used a series of surveys to assess several psychological constructs. First, they measured the satisfaction of basic psychological needs based on Self-Determination Theory. This theory posits that three core needs are essential for human well-being: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy refers to a sense of volition and control over one’s own life choices. Competence involves feeling capable and effective in one’s activities. Relatedness is the feeling of being connected to and cared for by others.

In addition to basic needs, the study assessed attachment orientation. Attachment theory describes how people relate to close others, often based on early life experiences. The researchers looked at two dimensions: attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Attachment anxiety is characterized by a fear of rejection and a strong need for reassurance. Attachment avoidance involves a discomfort with intimacy and a preference for emotional distance.

The team also measured sociosexuality and reasons for being single. Sociosexuality refers to an individual’s openness to uncommitted sexual experiences, including their desires, attitudes, and behaviors regarding casual sex. For the reasons for being single, participants rated their agreement with statements categorized into domains such as valuing freedom, perceiving personal constraints, or feeling a lack of courtship ability.

The most consistent finding across both samples was the importance of basic psychological need satisfaction. Single individuals who felt their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness were being met reported significantly higher life satisfaction and satisfaction with their relationship status. They also reported fewer symptoms of depression.

This suggests that the foundation of a good life for singles is largely the same as it is for everyone else. It relies on feeling in control of one’s life, feeling capable, and having meaningful social connections, which for singles are often found in friendships and family rather than romantic partnerships.

Attachment style also emerged as a significant predictor of well-being. The data showed that higher levels of attachment anxiety were associated with more depressive symptoms. In the combined analysis of both samples, attachment anxiety also predicted lower satisfaction with singlehood. People with high attachment anxiety often crave intimacy and fear abandonment. This orientation may make singlehood particularly challenging, as the lack of a romantic partner might act as a constant source of distress.

The study found that the specific reasons a person attributes to their singlehood matter for their mental health. Participants who viewed their singlehood as a means to maintain their freedom and independence reported higher levels of satisfaction. These individuals appeared to be single because they valued the autonomy it provided.

In contrast, those who felt they were single due to constraints experienced worse outcomes. Constraints included factors such as lingering feelings for a past partner, a fear of being hurt, or perceived personal deficits. Viewing singlehood as a forced circumstance rather than a choice was linked to higher levels of depressive symptoms.

The researchers examined whether sociosexuality would predict well-being, hypothesizing that singles who are open to casual sex might enjoy singlehood more. However, the results indicated that sociosexuality did not provide additional explanatory power once basic needs and attachment were taken into account. While the desire for uncommitted sex was correlated with some outcomes in isolation, it was not a primary driver of well-being in the comprehensive models.

These findings suggest that a “sense of choice” is a multi-layered concept. It is not just about a simple decision to be single or not. Instead, it is reflected in how much autonomy a person feels generally, whether their attachment style allows them to feel secure without a partner, and whether they interpret their single status as an alignment with their values.

“The most important takeaway is that single people’s well-being consistently depends on having their basic psychological needs met—feeling autonomous, competent, and connected to others,” Oh told PsyPost. “However, beyond that, it also matters whether someone has an anxious attachment style, and whether they feel like they are single because it fits their values (vs. due to constraints). These individual differences are aligned with having a sense of choice over being single, which may be one key to a satisfying singlehood.”

The study has some limitations. The research relied on self-reported data collected at a single point in time. This cross-sectional design means that scientists cannot determine the direction of cause and effect. For example, it is possible that people who are already depressed are more likely to perceive their singlehood as a result of constraints, rather than the constraints causing the depression.

The demographic composition of the samples also limits generalizability. The participants were predominantly White and, in the older sample, mostly women. The experience of singlehood can vary greatly depending on gender, race, cultural background, and sexual orientation. The researchers noted that future studies should aim to include more diverse groups to see if these psychological patterns hold true across different populations.

Another limitation involved the measurement of reasons for being single. The scale used to assess these reasons had some statistical weaknesses, which suggests that the specific categories of “freedom” and “constraints” might need further refinement in future research. Despite this, the general pattern—that voluntary reasons link to happiness and involuntary reasons link to distress—aligns with previous scientific literature.

Future research could benefit from following single people over time. A longitudinal approach would allow scientists to observe how changes in need satisfaction or attachment security influence feelings about singlehood as people age. It would also be valuable to explore how other personality traits, such as extraversion or neuroticism, interact with these factors to shape the single experience.

The study, “Who Lives a Good Single Life? From Basic Need Satisfaction to Attachment, Sociosexuality, and Reasons for Being Single,” was authored by Jeewon Oh, Arina Stoianova, Tara Marie Bello, and Ashley De La Cruz.

A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders has found that depression itself may not directly speed up biological aging. Instead, body fat distribution, particularly around the waist, appears more strongly linked to faster cellular aging.

Depression is common and known to raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes**,** and other age-related illnesses. One possible explanation has been its connection to telomeres, tiny protective caps on DNA that naturally shorten as we age. Shorter telomeres are often viewed as a sign that the body is aging faster at a cellular level.

Previous research has suggested that people with depression tend to have shorter telomeres, but most studies only looked at individuals at a single point in time. This makes it difficult to know whether depression causes faster aging, or whether other factors linked to depression—such as lifestyle or physical health—play a bigger role.

Researchers behind the study sought to clarify this relationship. The team, led by Tsz Yan Wong from King’s College London, analyzed data from 958 women enrolled in the UK-based “TwinsUK” study. Included were 89 identical twin pairs, 215 fraternal twin pairs, and 350 unrelated individuals, ranging from 29 to 83 years old.

The participants had their telomere length measured from blood samples up to four times over roughly six years. The study also included information on depression diagnoses, antidepressant use, lifestyle habits, body measurements, and genetic risk scores for depression and several age-related diseases.

Over the follow-up period, telomeres shortened gradually in most participants, declining by about 1.3 percent per year on average. Women who reported having depression tended to have slightly shorter telomeres, but this link was weak and not statistically strong. Importantly, depression was not associated with faster telomere shortening over time.

Antidepressant use showed a small association with shorter telomere length. The researchers noted this could be “potentially via biological pathways such as increased cellular turnover or metabolic side effects.” However, there was no clear evidence that it sped up the rate of telomere loss.

Genetic risk for depression also showed no meaningful connection with telomere length or how quickly telomeres shortened. “Our study is the first to assess whether genetic risk influences telomere [shortening], providing a novel longitudinal perspective on potential dynamic effects,” Wong and colleagues noted.

Instead, the most notable finding involved body fat distribution. Women with a higher waist-to-hip ratio, which is a measure of central body fat, experienced faster telomere shortening over time. This suggests that carrying more fat around the abdomen may play a larger role in cellular aging than depression itself.

“[Internal body fat] is linked to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are suggested mechanisms driving… telomere shortening,” Wong’s team explained.

Other factors often linked to depression, including smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, education level**,** and early-life experiences, showed no clear relationship with telomere length in this study.

The researchers emphasize that the findings suggest depression alone may not directly accelerate biological aging in women, despite its known links to physical illness. Instead, modifiable health factors such as central body fat may be more important targets for improving both physical and mental health outcomes.

However, the study has limitations. It included mostly older White women, so the results may not apply to men or more diverse populations. Depression was self-reported rather than clinically diagnosed, and the observational design cannot prove cause and effect.

The study, “Genetic and environmental risk factors for major depression in UK women and their association with telomere length longitudinally,” was authored by Tsz Yan Wong, Alexandra C. Gillett, Leena Habiballa, Rodrigo R.R. Duarte, Ajda Pristavec, Pirro Hysi, Claire J. Steves, Veryan Codd, and Timothy R. Powell.

New research suggests a bidirectional relationship exists between how much time children spend sitting and their mental health, creating a cycle where inactivity feeds feelings of depression and vice versa. This dynamic appears to extend beyond the individual child, as a child’s mood and inactivity levels can eventually influence their parent’s mental well-being. These results were published in the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity.

For decades, health experts have recognized that humans spend a large portion of their waking hours in sedentary behaviors. This term refers to any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure of 1.5 metabolic equivalents or less while in a sitting, reclining, or lying posture. Common examples include watching television, playing video games while seated, or sitting in a classroom. While the physical health consequences of this inactivity are well documented, the impact on mental health is a growing area of concern.

In recent years, screen time has risen considerably among adolescents. This increase has prompted researchers to question how these behaviors interact with mood disorders such as depression. Most prior studies examining this link have focused on adults. When studies do involve younger populations, they often rely on the participants to report their own activity levels. Self-reported data is frequently inaccurate, as people struggle to recall exactly how many minutes they spent sitting days or weeks ago.

There is also a gap in understanding how these behaviors function within a family unit. Parents and children do not exist in isolation. They form a “dyad,” or a two-person group wherein the behavior and emotions of one person can impact the other. To address these gaps, a team of researchers led by Maria Siwa from the SWPS University in Poland investigated these associations using objective measurement tools. The researchers aimed to see if depression leads to more sitting, or if sitting leads to more depression. They also sought to understand if these effects spill over from child to parent.

The research team recruited 203 parent-child dyads to participate in the study. The children ranged in age from 9 to 15 years old. The parents involved were predominantly mothers, accounting for nearly 87 percent of the adult participants. The study was longitudinal, meaning the researchers tracked the participants over an extended period to observe changes. Data collection occurred at three specific points: the beginning of the study (Time 1), an eight-month follow-up (Time 2), and a 14-month follow-up (Time 3).

To ensure accuracy, the researchers did not rely solely on questionnaires for activity data. Instead, they asked participants to wear accelerometers. These are small devices worn on the hip that measure movement intensity and frequency. Participants wore these devices for six consecutive days during waking hours. This provided a precise, objective record of how much time each parent and child spent being sedentary versus being active.

For the assessment of mental health, the researchers used the Patient Health Questionnaire. This is a standard screening tool used to identify the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. It asks individuals to rate the frequency of specific symptoms over the past two weeks. The study took place in the context of a healthy lifestyle education program. Between the first and second measurement points, all families received education on the health consequences of sedentary behaviors and strategies to interrupt long periods of sitting.

The analysis of the data revealed a reciprocal relationship within the children. Children who spent more time being sedentary at the start of the study displayed higher levels of depressive symptoms eight months later. This supports the theory that physical inactivity can contribute to the development of poor mood. Proposed biological mechanisms for this include changes in inflammation markers or neurobiological pathways that affect how the brain regulates emotion.

However, the reverse was also true. Children who exhibited higher levels of depressive symptoms at the start of the study spent more time being sedentary at the eight-month mark. This suggests a “vicious cycle” where symptoms of depression, such as low energy or withdrawal, lead to less movement. The lack of movement then potentially exacerbates the depressive symptoms. This bidirectional pattern highlights how difficult it can be to break the cycle of inactivity and low mood.

The study also identified an effect that crossed from one person to the other. High levels of depressive symptoms in a child at the start of the study predicted increased sedentary time for that child eight months later. This increase in the child’s sedentary behavior was then linked to higher levels of depressive symptoms in the parent at the 14-month mark.

This “across-person” finding suggests a domino effect within the family. A child’s mental health struggles may lead them to withdraw into sedentary activities. Observing this behavior and potentially feeling ineffective in helping the child change their habits may then take a toll on the parent’s mental health. This aligns with psychological theories regarding parental stress. Parents often feel distress when they perceive their parenting strategies as ineffective, especially when trying to manage a child’s health behaviors.

One particular finding was unexpected. Children who reported lower levels of depressive symptoms at the eight-month mark actually spent more time sitting at the final 14-month check-in. The researchers hypothesize that this might be due to a sense of complacency. If adolescents feel mentally well, they may not feel a pressing need to follow the program’s advice to reduce sitting time. They might associate their current well-being with their current lifestyle, leading to less motivation to become more active.

The researchers controlled for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in their statistical models. This ensures that the results specifically reflect the impact of sedentary time, rather than just a lack of exercise. Even when accounting for exercise, the links between sitting and depression remained relevant in specific pathways.

There are caveats to consider when interpreting these results. The sample consisted largely of families with higher education levels and average or above-average economic status. This limits how well the findings apply to the general population or to families facing economic hardship. Additionally, the study was conducted in Poland, and cultural factors regarding parenting and leisure time could influence the results.

Another limitation is the nature of the device used. While accelerometers are excellent for measuring stillness versus movement, they cannot distinguish between different types of sedentary behavior. They cannot tell the difference between sitting while doing homework, reading a book, or mindlessly scrolling through social media. Different types of sedentary behavior might have different psychological impacts.

The study also focused on a community sample rather than a clinical one. Most participants reported mild to moderate symptoms rather than severe clinical depression. The associations might look different in a population with diagnosed major depressive disorder. Furthermore, while the study found links over time, the observed effects were relatively small. Many other factors likely contribute to both depression and sedentary behavior that were not measured in this specific analysis.

Despite these limitations, the implications for public health are clear. Interventions aimed at improving youth mental health should not ignore physical behavior. Conversely, programs designed to get kids moving should address mental health barriers. The findings support the use of family-based interventions. Treating the child in isolation may miss the important dynamic where the child’s behavior impacts the parent’s well-being.

Future research should investigate the specific mechanisms that drive these connections. For example, it would be beneficial to study whether parental beliefs about their own efficacy mediate the link between a child’s inactivity and the parent’s mood. Researchers should also look at different types of sedentary behavior to see if screen time is more harmful than other forms of sitting. Understanding these nuances could lead to better guidance for families trying to navigate the complex relationship between physical habits and emotional health.

The study, “Associations between depressive symptoms and sedentary behaviors in parent-child Dyads: Longitudinal effects within- and across- person,” was authored by Maria Siwa, Dominika Wietrzykowska, Zofia Szczuka, Ewa Kulis, Monika Boberska, Anna Banik, Hanna Zaleskiewicz, Paulina Krzywicka, Nina Knoll, Anita DeLongis, Bärbel Knäuper, and Aleksandra Luszczynska.

A qualitative study in Scotland examined the links between financial instability, employment insecurity, and suicidality. Results indicated that financial stressors create a cycle of unmet basic needs, powerlessness, and social isolation. Job precarity and lack of support further exacerbate these relationships, contributing to suicidal ideation. The research was published in Death Studies.

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. World Health Organization statistics indicate that 700,000 people die by suicide every year worldwide, making it a significant global public health issue. Although major religions have historically condemned suicide, contemporary public health and psychological perspectives view it as a preventable outcome arising from complex interactions rather than a moral failing. Suicide rarely has a single cause; instead, it reflects the intersection of personal, relational, community, and societal factors.

Economic instability, job insecurity, and financial distress are consistently linked to higher suicide risk, with those in insecure employment disproportionately affected. Evidence from the U.K. and Scotland shows particularly high vulnerability among working-age adults, even as poverty increasingly affects households where someone is employed.

Precarious work conditions—such as low income, unpredictable hours, limited rights, and low job autonomy—contribute to chronic stress and poorer mental health. Furthermore, stigma surrounding financial hardship and job insecurity can deter help-seeking, increasing isolation and risk.

Study author Nicola Cogan and her colleagues wanted to explore how insecure employment and financial instability are perceived to contribute toward suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adults living in Scotland. They also sought to identify risk and protective factors associated with the mental health impacts of economic insecurity and offer policy recommendations for improving mental health support for people facing economic precarity.

The study included 24 individuals from Scotland who reported being paid less than the living wage or below the minimum income standard, were on zero-hours contracts, working in the gig economy, were job-seeking long term, or had experience with Universal Credit (the UK’s main welfare benefit system). Sixteen participants were men. The participants’ average age was 30 years. On average, participants reported that their last suicidal thoughts or behaviors occurred more than six months prior. Individuals who were currently suicidal were not included in the study.

Participants took part in semi-structured interviews focusing on the interplay between employment status, financial instability, and experiences of suicidal ideation or behavior. They received a £20 voucher for their participation. The researchers transcribed the interviews and conducted reflexive thematic analysis with the goal of identifying the key themes within the narratives.

Analysis of the interviews identified six key themes. The first theme was the “struggle to meet basic needs and the vicious cycle.” When participants experienced financial instability, it created a struggle to meet basic needs like food, housing, and healthcare. This battle degraded their mental health. Diminished mental health, in turn, reduced their ability to improve their financial situation, creating a vicious cycle.

The second theme was “feeling trapped and powerless.” Participants reported that feelings of entrapment intersected with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, as they struggled to envision any escape from the situation. Theme three was the “stigma of financial instability.” Feeling financially unstable negatively impacted participants’ self-worth and self-esteem, making them feel inadequate and helpless. Theme four was “thinking about suicide and acting on such thoughts.” During these times, many of them imagined suicide to be the only way out of their struggles.

The fifth theme was the “need for hope and support from supportive others.” For many participants, hope and support from friends, family, and other individuals fostered resilience and prevented them from acting on suicidal thoughts.

The sixth theme was “active help-seeking and gaining a sense of control.” For many participants, actively seeking help was a turning point in managing the intersecting challenges of financial instability and mental health distress. This enabled them to regain a sense of control over their circumstances.

“Reflexive thematic analysis identified key themes, highlighting how financial stressors create a cycle of unmet basic needs, powerlessness, and social isolation, which exacerbates suicidal distress. Workplace conditions including job precarity and lack of support, further intensified these experiences, while protective factors included supportive relationships and proactive help-seeking,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the mental health effects of financial instability. However, the study deliberately excluded prospective participants currently experiencing suicidality. Because of this, it did not fully capture the perspectives of individuals at the highest risk of suicide. Additionally, the collected data were based on the recall of past hardships, leaving room for recall and reporting biases to have affected the results.

The paper, “’It feels like the world is falling on your head’: Exploring the link between financial instability, employment insecurity, and suicidality,” was authored by Nicola Cogan, Susan Rasmussen, Kirsten Russell, Dan Heap, Heather Archbold, Lucy Milligan, Scott Thomson, Spence Whittaker, Dave Morris, and Danielle Rowley.

Recent research provides new evidence regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccinations during pregnancy. The study, presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2026 Pregnancy Meeting, indicates that receiving an mRNA vaccine while pregnant does not negatively impact a toddler’s brain development. The findings suggest that children born to vaccinated mothers show no difference in reaching developmental milestones compared to those born to unvaccinated mothers.

The question of vaccine safety during pregnancy has been a primary concern for expectant parents since the introduction of COVID-19 immunizations. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines function by introducing a genetic sequence that instructs the body’s cells to produce a specific protein. This protein triggers the immune system to create antibodies against the virus.

While health organizations have recommended these vaccines to prevent severe maternal illness, data regarding the longer-term effects on infants has been accumulating slowly. Parents often worry that the immune activation in the mother could theoretically alter the delicate process of fetal brain formation.

To address these specific concerns, a team of researchers investigated the neurodevelopmental outcomes of children aged 18 to 30 months. The study was led by George R. Saade from Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University and Brenna L. Hughes from Duke University School of Medicine. They conducted this work as part of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network. This network is a collaboration of research centers funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The researchers designed a prospective observational study. This type of study follows a group of participants over time to observe outcomes rather than intervening or experimenting on them. The team identified women who had received at least one dose of an mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. To be included in the exposed group, the mothers must have received the vaccine either during their pregnancy or within the 30 days prior to becoming pregnant.

The research team compared these women to a control group of mothers who did not receive the vaccine during that same period. To ensure the comparison was scientifically valid, the researchers used a technique called matching. Each vaccinated mother was paired with an unvaccinated mother who shared key characteristics.

These characteristics included the specific medical site where they delivered the baby and the date of the delivery. They also matched participants based on their insurance status and their race. This matching process is essential in observational research. It helps rule out other variables, such as access to healthcare or socioeconomic status, which could independently influence a child’s development.

The study applied strict exclusion criteria to isolate the effect of the vaccine. The researchers did not include women who delivered their babies before 37 weeks of gestation. This decision was necessary because preterm birth is a known cause of developmental delays. Including premature infants could have obscured the results. The team also excluded multifetal pregnancies, such as twins or triplets, and children born with major congenital malformations.

Ultimately, the study analyzed 217 matched pairs, resulting in a total of 434 children. The primary tool used to measure development was the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition, often referred to as the ASQ-3. This is a standardized screening tool widely used in pediatrics. It relies on parents to observe and report their child’s abilities in five distinct developmental areas.

The first area is communication, which looks at how a child understands language and speaks. The second is gross motor skills, involving large movements like walking or jumping. The third is fine motor skills, which involves smaller movements like using fingers to pick up tiny objects. The fourth is problem-solving, and the fifth is personal-social interaction, covering how the child plays and interacts with others.

The researchers analyzed the data by looking for statistical equivalence. They established a specific margin of 10 points on the ASQ-3 scale. If the difference between the average scores of the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups was less than 10 points, the outcomes were considered practically identical.

The results demonstrated that the neurodevelopmental outcomes were indeed equivalent. The median total ASQ-3 score for the vaccinated group was 255. The median score for the unvaccinated group was 260. After adjusting for other factors, the difference was calculated to be -3.4 points. This falls well within the 10-point margin of equivalence, meaning there was no meaningful difference in development between the two groups.

Beyond the general developmental scores, the researchers utilized several secondary screening tools to check for specific conditions. They employed the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers to assess the risk of autism spectrum disorder. The findings showed no statistical difference in risk levels.

Approximately 5 percent of the children in the vaccinated group screened positive for potential autism risk. This was comparable to the 6 percent observed in the unvaccinated group. These percentages suggest that vaccination status did not influence the likelihood of an autism diagnosis.

The team also used the Child Behavior Checklist. This tool evaluates various behavioral and emotional challenges. It looks at internalizing behaviors, such as anxiety, withdrawal, or sadness. It also examines externalizing behaviors, such as aggression or rule-breaking.

The scores for both internalizing and externalizing behaviors were nearly identical between the two groups. For example, 93 percent of children in the vaccinated group fell within the normal range for total behavioral problems. This was the exact same percentage found in the unvaccinated group.

Finally, the researchers assessed temperament using the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. This measures traits such as “surgency,” which relates to positive emotional reactivity and high energy. It also measures “effortful control,” which is the ability to focus attention and inhibit impulses. Across all these psychological domains, the study found no association between maternal vaccination and negative outcomes.

The demographics of the two groups were largely similar due to the matching process. However, one difference remained. Mothers in the vaccinated group were more likely to be nulliparous. This is a medical term indicating that the woman had never given birth before the pregnancy in question.

Additionally, the children in the vaccinated group were slightly younger at the time of the assessment. Their median age was 25.4 months, compared to 25.9 months for the unvaccinated group. The researchers used statistical models to adjust for these slight variations. Even after these adjustments, the conclusion remained that the developmental outcomes were equivalent.

“Neurodevelopment outcomes in children born to mothers who received the COVID-19 vaccine during or shortly before pregnancy did not differ from those born to mothers who did not receive the vaccine,” said Saade.

While the findings are positive, there are context and limitations to consider. The study was observational, meaning it cannot prove causation as definitively as a randomized controlled trial. However, randomized trials are rarely feasible for widely recommended vaccines due to ethical considerations.

Another factor is the reliance on parent-reported data. Tools like the ASQ-3 depend on the accuracy of the parents’ observations, which can introduce some subjectivity. Furthermore, the study followed children only up to 30 months of age. Some subtle neurodevelopmental issues may not manifest until children are older and face the demands of school.

Despite these limitations, the rigorous matching and the use of multiple standardized screening tools provide a high level of confidence in the results for the toddler age group. The study fills a knowledge gap regarding the safety of mRNA technology for the next generation.

“This study, conducted through a rigorous scientific process in an NIH clinical trials network, demonstrates reassuring findings regarding the long-term health of children whose mothers received COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy,” said Hughes.

The study, “Association Between SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Pregnancy and Child Neurodevelopment at 18–30 Months,” was authored by George R. Saade and Brenna L. Hughes, and will be published in the February 2026 issue of PREGNANCY.

New research provides evidence that the best way to spend time with a romantic partner depends on their specific emotional needs. A study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggests that people with avoidant attachment styles feel more satisfied when engaging in novel and exciting activities, while those with anxious attachment styles benefit more from familiar and comfortable shared experiences.

Psychological science identifies attachment insecurity as a significant barrier to relationship satisfaction. Individuals high in attachment avoidance often fear intimacy and prioritize independence, while those high in attachment anxiety fear abandonment and frequently seek reassurance.

Previous studies have shown that partners can mitigate these insecurities by adjusting their behavior, such as offering autonomy to avoidant partners or reassurance to anxious ones. However, less is known about how specific types of shared leisure activities function in this dynamic.

“This study was motivated by two main gaps. One was a gap in the attachment literature. Although attachment insecurity reliably predicts lower relationship satisfaction, these effects can be buffered, and most prior work has focused on partner behaviors. We wanted to know whether shared, everyday experiences could play a similar role,” said study author Amy Muise, a professor and York Research Chair in the Department of Psychology and director of the Sexual Health and Relationships (SHaRe) Lab at York University.

“We were also interested in testing the idea that novelty and excitement are universally good for relationships. Instead, we asked whether different types of shared experiences are more or less beneficial depending on people’s attachment-related needs.”

To explore these dynamics, the scientists conducted a meta-analysis across three separate daily diary studies. The total sample consisted of 390 couples from Canada and the United States. Participants were required to be in a committed relationship and living together or seeing each other frequently. The average relationship length varied slightly by study but ranged generally from seven to eight years.

For a period of 21 days, each partner independently completed nightly surveys. They reported their daily relationship satisfaction and the types of activities they shared with their partner that day. The researchers measured two distinct types of shared experiences. “Novel and exciting” experiences were defined as activities that felt new, challenging, or expanding, such as learning a skill or trying a new restaurant.

“Familiar and comfortable” experiences involved routine, calming, and predictable activities. Examples included watching a favorite TV show, cooking a standard meal together, or simply relaxing at home. The participants also rated their levels of attachment avoidance and anxiety at the beginning of the study. This design allowed the researchers to track how fluctuations in daily activities related to fluctuations in relationship satisfaction.

The data revealed that, in general, both types of shared experiences were linked to higher daily relationship satisfaction. “The effects are modest in size, which is typical for daily experience research because they reflect within-person changes in everyday life,” Muise told PsyPost. “These are not dramatic shifts in relationship quality, but small day-to-day effects that may accumulate over time.”

“Overall, both novel and familiar shared experiences were linked to greater relationship satisfaction, but the effect of familiar, comfortable experiences was larger (roughly two to three times larger) than novel, experiences overall.”

Importantly, the benefits differed depending on a person’s attachment style. For individuals high in attachment avoidance, engaging in novel and exciting activities provided a specific benefit.

On days when avoidant individuals reported more novelty and excitement than usual, the typical link between their avoidant style and lower relationship satisfaction was weakened. The researchers found that these exciting activities increased perceptions of “relational reward.” This means the avoidant partners felt a sense of intimacy and connection that did not feel threatening or smothering. Familiar and comfortable activities did not provide this same buffering effect for avoidant individuals.

In contrast, individuals high in attachment anxiety derived the most benefit from familiar and comfortable experiences. On days marked by high levels of familiarity and comfort, the usual association between attachment anxiety and lower relationship satisfaction disappeared entirely. The study suggests that these low-stakes, comforting interactions help reduce negative emotions for anxiously attached people.

Novel and exciting activities did not consistently buffer the relationship satisfaction of anxiously attached individuals. The researchers noted that while novelty is generally positive, it does not address the specific need for security that defines attachment anxiety. The calming nature of routine appears to be the key ingredient for soothing these specific fears.

“One thing that surprised us was how familiar and comfortable activities seemed to help people who are more anxiously attached,” Muise said. “We expected these experiences to work by lowering worries about rejection or judgment, but that wasn’t what we found. Instead, they seemed to help by lowering people’s overall negative mood.”

“This made us think more carefully about what comfort and routine might actually be doing emotionally. It’s possible that for people higher in attachment anxiety, familiar and comfortable time together helps them feel more secure, and that sense of security is what supports relationship satisfaction. We weren’t able to test that directly in this study, but it’s an important direction for future work.”

The researchers also examined how one person’s attachment style affected their partner’s satisfaction. The results showed that when a person had a highly avoidant partner, they reported higher satisfaction on days they shared novel and exciting experiences. Conversely, when a person had a highly anxious partner, they reported higher satisfaction on days filled with familiar and comfortable activities. This indicates that tailoring activities benefits both the insecure individual and their romantic partner.

“The main takeaway is that there is no single ‘right’ way to spend time together that works for all couples,” Muise explained. “What matters is whether shared experiences align with people’s emotional needs. For people who are more avoidantly attached, doing something novel or exciting together (something that feels new and fun rather than overtly intimate) can make the relationship feel more rewarding and satisfying.”

“For people who are more anxiously attached, familiar and comfortable time together seems especially important for maintaining satisfaction. These findings suggest that tailoring shared time, rather than maximizing novelty or excitement per se, may be a more effective way to support relationship well-being.”

While the findings offer practical insights, the study has certain limitations. The research relied on daily diary entries, which are correlational. This means that while the researchers can observe a link between specific activities and higher satisfaction, they cannot definitively prove that the activities caused the satisfaction. It is possible that feeling satisfied makes a couple more likely to engage in fun or comfortable activities.

“Another potential misinterpretation is that novelty is ‘bad’ for anxiously attached people or that comfort is ‘bad’ for avoidantly attached people,” Muise clarified. “That is not what we found. Both types of experiences were generally associated with higher satisfaction; the difference lies in when they are most helpful for buffering insecurity, not whether they are beneficial at all.”

Future research is needed to determine if these daily buffering effects lead to long-term improvements in attachment security. The scientists also hope to investigate who initiates these activities and whether the motivation behind them impacts their effectiveness. For now, the data suggests that checking in on a partner’s emotional needs might be the best guide for planning the next date night.

“One long-term goal is to understand whether these day-to-day buffering effects can lead to longer-term changes in attachment security,” Muise said. “If repeatedly engaging in the ‘right’ kinds of shared experiences could that have implications for how attachment insecurity evolves over time?”

“Another direction is to examine how these experiences are initiated. Who suggests the activity, and whether it feels voluntary or pressured, might matter, for whether certain experiences are associated with satisfaction.”

“One thing I really appreciate about this study is that it allowed us to look at both partners’ experiences,” Muise added. “The partner effects suggest that tailoring shared experiences doesn’t only benefit the person who is more insecure, it is also associated with how their partner feels about the relationship. Overall, engaging in shared experiences that was aligned with one partner’s attachment needs, has benefits for both partners.”

The study, “Novel and Exciting or Tried and True? Tailoring Shared Relationship Experiences to Insecurely Attached Partners,” was authored by Kristina M. Schrage, Emily A. Impett, Mustafa Anil Topal, Cheryl Harasymchuk, and Amy Muise.

Toddlers who consume a diet high in processed meats, sugary snacks, and soft drinks may have lower intelligence scores by the time they reach early school age. A new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition suggests that this negative association is even stronger for children who faced physical growth delays in infancy. These findings add to the growing body of evidence linking early childhood nutrition to long-term brain development.

The first few years of human life represent a biological window of rapid change. The brain grows quickly during this time and builds the neural connections necessary for learning and memory. This process requires a steady supply of specific nutrients to work correctly. Without enough iron, zinc, or healthy fats, the brain might not develop to its full capacity.

Recent trends in global nutrition show that families are increasingly relying on ultra-processed foods. These are industrial products that often contain high levels of sugar, fat, and artificial additives but very few essential vitamins. Researchers are concerned that these foods might displace nutrient-rich options. They also worry that the additives or high sugar content could directly harm biological systems.

Researchers from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated this issue. The lead author is Glaucia Treichel Heller, a researcher in the Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology in Pelotas. She worked alongside colleagues including Thaynã Ramos Flores and Pedro Hallal to analyze data from thousands of children. The team wanted to determine if eating habits established at age two could predict cognitive abilities years later.

The researchers used data from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort. This is a large, long-term project that tracks the health of children born in the city of Pelotas, Brazil. The team analyzed information from more than 3,400 children. When the children were two years old, their parents answered questions about what the toddlers usually ate.

The scientists did not just look at single foods like apples or candy. Instead, they used a statistical method called principal component analysis. This technique allows researchers to find general dietary patterns based on which foods are typically eaten together. They identified two main types of eating habits in this population.

One pattern was labeled “healthy” by the researchers. This diet included regular consumption of beans, fruits, vegetables, and natural fruit juices. The other pattern was labeled “unhealthy.” This diet featured instant noodles, sausages, soft drinks, packaged snacks, and sweets.

When the children reached six or seven years of age, trained psychologists assessed their intelligence. They used a standard test called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. This test measures different mental skills to generate an IQ score. The researchers then looked for a statistical link between the diet at age two and the test results four years later.

The analysis showed a clear connection between the unhealthy dietary pattern and lower cognitive scores. Children who frequently ate processed and sugary foods at age two tended to have lower IQ scores at school age. This link remained even when the researchers accounted for other factors that influence intelligence. They adjusted the data for the mother’s education, family income, and how much mental stimulation the child received at home.

The researchers faced a challenge in isolating the effect of diet. Many factors can shape a child’s development. For example, a family with more money might buy healthier food and also buy more books. To manage this, the team identified potential confounding factors. Thaynã Ramos Flores, one of the study authors, noted, “The covariates were identified as potential confounding factors based on a literature review and the construction of a directed acyclic graph.”

The team used these adjustments to ensure the results were not simply reflecting the family’s socioeconomic status. Even with these controls, the negative association between processed foods and IQ persisted. The findings suggest that diet quality itself plays a specific role.

The negative impact appeared to be worse for children who were already biologically vulnerable. The study looked at children who had early-life deficits. These were defined as having low weight, height, or head circumference for their age during their first two years.

For these children, a diet high in processed foods was linked to a drop of nearly 5 points in IQ. This is a substantial difference that could affect school performance. For children without these early physical growth problems, the decline was smaller but still present. In those cases, the reduction was about 2 points.

This finding points to a concept known as cumulative disadvantage. It appears that biological vulnerability and environmental exposures like poor diet interact with each other. A child who is already struggling physically may be less resilient to the harms of a poor diet.

The researchers also looked at the impact of the healthy dietary pattern. They did not find a statistical link between eating healthy foods and higher IQ scores. This result might seem counterintuitive, as fruits and vegetables are known to be good for the brain. However, the authors explain that this result is likely due to the specific population studied.

Most children in the Pelotas cohort ate beans, fruits, and vegetables regularly. Because almost everyone ate the healthy foods, there was not enough difference between the children to show a statistical effect. Flores explained, “The lack of association observed for the healthy dietary pattern can be largely explained by its lower variability.” She added that “approximately 92% of children habitually consumed four or more of the foods that characterize the healthy pattern.”

The study suggests potential biological mechanisms for why the unhealthy diet lowers IQ. One theory involves the gut-brain axis. The human gut contains trillions of bacteria that communicate with the brain. Diets high in sugar and processed additives can alter this bacterial community. These changes might lead to systemic inflammation that affects brain function.

Another possibility involves oxidative stress. Ultra-processed foods often lack the antioxidants found in fresh produce. Without these protective compounds, brain cells might be more susceptible to damage during development. The rapid growth of the brain in early childhood makes it highly sensitive to these physiological stressors.

There are limitations to this type of research. The study is observational, which means it cannot prove that the food directly caused the lower scores. Other factors that the researchers could not measure might explain the difference. For example, the study relied on parents to report what their children ate. Parents might not always remember or report this accurately.

Additionally, the study did not measure the parents’ IQ scores. Parental intelligence is a strong predictor of a child’s intelligence. However, the researchers used maternal education and home stimulation scores as proxies. These measures help account for the intellectual environment of the home.

The findings have implications for public health policy. The results suggest that officials need to focus on reducing the intake of processed foods in early childhood. Merely encouraging fruit and vegetable intake may not be enough if children are still consuming high amounts of processed items. This is particularly important for children who have already shown signs of growth delays.

Future studies could look at how these dietary habits change as children become teenagers. It would also be helpful to see if these results are similar in countries with different food cultures. The team notes that early nutrition is a specific window of opportunity for supporting brain health.

The study, “Dietary patterns at age 2 and cognitive performance at ages 6-7: an analysis of the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort (Brazil),” was authored by Glaucia Treichel Heller, Thaynã Ramos Flores, Marina Xavier Carpena, Pedro Curi Hallal, Marlos Rodrigues Domingues, and Andréa Dâmaso Bertoldi.

New research suggests that simply labeling an artwork as created by artificial intelligence can reduce how much people enjoy and value it. This bias appears to affect not just how viewers interpret the meaning of the art, but even how they process basic visual features like color and brightness. The findings were published in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.

Artificial intelligence has rapidly become a common tool for visual artists. Artists use technologies ranging from text-to-image generators to robotic arms to produce new forms of imagery. Despite this widespread adoption, audiences often react negatively when they learn technology was involved in the creative process.

Alwin de Rooij, an assistant professor at Tilburg University and associate professor at Avans University of Applied Sciences, sought to understand the consistency of this negative reaction. De Rooij aimed to determine if this bias occurs across different psychological systems involved in viewing art. The researcher also wanted to see if this negative reaction is a permanent structural phenomenon or if it varies by context.

“AI-generated images can now be nearly indistinguishable from art made without AI, yet both public debate and scientific studies suggest that people may respond differently once they are told AI was involved,” de Rooij told PsyPost. “These reactions resemble earlier anxieties around new technologies in art, such as the introduction of photography in the nineteenth century, which is now a fully established art form. This raised the question of how consistent bias against AI in visual art is, and whether it might already be changing.”

To examine this, De Rooij conducted a meta-analysis. This statistical technique combines data from multiple independent studies to find overall trends that a single experiment might miss. The researcher performed a systematic search for experiments published between January 2017 and September 2024.

The analysis included studies where participants viewed visual art and were told it was made by AI. These responses were compared to responses for art labeled as human-made or art presented with no label. The researcher extracted 191 distinct effect sizes from the selected studies.

De Rooij categorized these measurements using a framework known as the Aesthetic Triad model. This model organizes the art experience into three specific systems. The first is the sensory-motor system, which deals with basic visual processing. The second is the knowledge-meaning system, which involves interpretation and context. The third is the emotion-valuation system, which covers subjective feelings and personal preferences.

The investigation revealed that knowing AI was used generally diminishes the aesthetic experience. A small but significant negative effect appeared within the sensory-motor system. This system involves the initial processing of visual features such as color, shape, and spatial relationships. When viewers believed an image was AI-generated, they tended to perceive these basic qualities less favorably.

A moderate negative effect appeared in the knowledge-meaning system. This aspect of the aesthetic experience relates to how people interpret an artwork’s intent. It also includes judgments about the skill required to make the piece. Participants consistently attributed less profundity and creativity to works labeled as artificial intelligence.

The researcher also found a small negative effect in the emotion-valuation system. This system governs subjective feelings of beauty, awe, and liking. Viewers tended to report lower emotional connection when they thought AI was responsible for the work. They also rated these works as less beautiful compared to identical works labeled as human-made.

“The main takeaway is that knowing AI was involved in making an artwork can change how we experience it, even when the artwork itself is identical,” de Rooij explained. “People tend to attribute less meaning and value to art once it is labeled as AI-made, not because it looks worse, but because it is interpreted differently. In some cases, this bias even feeds into basic visual judgments, such as how colorful or vivid an image appears. This shows that bias against AI is not just an abstract opinion about technology. It can deeply shape the aesthetic experience itself.”

But these negative responses were not uniform across all people. The researcher identified age as a significant factor in the severity of the bias. Older participants demonstrated a stronger negative reaction to AI art. Younger audiences showed much weaker negative effects.

This difference suggests a possible generational shift in how people perceive technology in art. Younger viewers may be less troubled by the integration of algorithms in the creative process. The style of the artwork also influenced viewer reactions.

Representational art, which depicts recognizable objects, reduced the negative bias regarding meaning compared to abstract art. However, representational art worsened the bias regarding emotional connection. The setting of the study mattered as well. Experiments conducted online produced stronger evidence of bias than those conducted in laboratories or real-world galleries.

“Another surprising finding was how unstable the bias is,” de Rooij said. “Rather than being a fixed reaction, it varies across audiences and contexts. As mentioned earlier, the bias tends to be stronger among older populations, but the results show it is also influenced by the style of the artworks and by how and where they are presented. In some settings, the bias becomes very weak or nearly disappears. This further supports the observation that, much like earlier reactions to new technologies in art, resistance to AI may be transitional rather than permanent.”

A key limitation involves how previous experiments presented artificial intelligence. Many studies framed the technology as an autonomous agent that created art independently. This description often conflicts with real-world artistic practice.

“The practical significance of these findings need to be critically examined,” de Rooij noted. “Many of the studies included in the meta-analysis frame AI as if it were an autonomous artist, which does not reflect artistic practice, where AI is typically used as a responsive material. The AI-as-artist framing evoke dystopian imaginaries about AI replacing human artists or threatening the humanity in art. As a result, some studies may elicit stronger negative responses to AI, but in a way that has no clear real-world counterpart.”

Future research should investigate the role of invisible human involvement in AI art. De Rooij plans to conduct follow-up studies.

“The next step is to study bias against AI in art in more realistic settings, such as galleries or museums, and in ways that better reflect how artists actually use AI in their creative practice,” de Rooij said. “This is a reaction to the finding that bias against AI seemed particularly strong in online studies, which merits verification of the bias in real-world settings. This proposed follow-up research has recently received funding from the Dutch Research Council, and the first results are expected in late 2026. We are excited about moving this work forward!”

The study, “Bias against artificial intelligence in visual art: A meta-analysis,” was authored by Alwin de Rooij.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

In a recent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast titled “Coming Clean,” released on Monday, February 9, experts discussed the surprising power of vulnerability. Between the five and fifteen-minute marks of the broadcast, host Shankar Vedantam spoke with Harvard Business School psychologist Leslie John. They examined why admitting to our failures often yields better results than hiding them.

John described a common psychological phenomenon she calls the “disclosure hangover.” This is the sinking feeling of regret or anxiety that settles in the morning after you share a personal, embarrassing, or vulnerable story with colleagues. While many people worry that these moments destroy their professional image, John argues that these fears are often misplaced.

Research conducted by John indicates that calculated vulnerability can actually boost a leader’s standing. In one study involving a Google executive, the leader recorded a video introduction where he admitted he applied for roughly twenty jobs before landing his current role. Viewers trusted him more and expressed a greater willingness to work for him compared to when he hid this past failure.

The most significant finding from this experiment was that the executive’s perceived competence remained stable. Employees did not think he was less capable of doing his job simply because he struggled in the past. This evidence challenges the common belief that leaders must appear perfect to command respect.

The episode also highlighted the experience of Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist at Stanford University who treats addiction. Lembke publicly shared her own personal struggle with a compulsive habit of reading graphic romance novels. Despite her fears that this would ruin her reputation, the admission made her appear more confident and relatable to her audience.

Beyond social benefits, there is a biological reason humans feel the urge to share personal details. John cited research by scientist Diana Tamir showing that self-disclosure activates the brain’s reward centers. Talking about oneself generates a neurological response similar to the pleasure derived from eating good food.

This biological drive aligns with a deep psychological need to be truly understood by others. The discussion noted that individuals, particularly those with low self-esteem, feel more secure when partners see them accurately rather than through an overly positive lens. Being known for who you really are provides a profound sense of relief.

While society often warns against sharing “too much information,” John suggests we should worry more about sharing too little. Authentic self-expression acts as a powerful tool for building trust. By letting down their guard, professionals and partners alike can foster stronger connections.

A new study published in Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology suggests that a woman’s age and reproductive status may influence her preferences for male physical traits. The research indicates that postmenopausal women perceive certain masculine characteristics, such as body shape and facial features, differently than women who are still in their reproductive years. These findings offer evidence that biological shifts associated with menopause might alter the criteria women use to evaluate potential partners.

Scientists have recognized that physical features act as powerful biological signals in human communication. Secondary sexual characteristics are traits that appear during puberty and visually distinguish men from women. These include features such as broad shoulders, facial hair, jawline definition, and muscle mass.

Evolutionary psychology suggests that these traits serve as indicators of health and genetic quality. For instance, a muscular physique or a strong jawline often signals high testosterone levels and physical strength. Women of reproductive age typically prioritize these markers because they imply that a potential partner possesses “good genes” that could be passed to offspring.

However, researchers have historically focused most of their attention on the preferences of young women. Less is known about how these preferences might change as women age and lose their reproductive capability. The biological transition of menopause involves significant hormonal changes, including a decrease in estrogen levels.

This hormonal shift may correspond to a change in mating strategies. The “Grandmother Hypothesis” proposes that older women shift their focus from reproduction to investing in their existing family line. Consequently, they may no longer prioritize high-testosterone traits, which can be associated with aggression or short-term mating.

Instead, older women might prioritize traits that signal cooperation, reliability, and long-term companionship. To test this theory, a team of researchers from Poland designed a study to compare the preferences of women at different stages of life. The research team included Aurelia Starzyńska and Łukasz Pawelec from the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences and the University of Warsaw, alongside Maja Pietras from Wroclaw Medical University and the University of Wroclaw.

The researchers recruited 122 Polish women to participate in an online survey. The participants ranged in age from 19 to 70 years old. Based on their survey responses regarding menstrual regularity and history, the researchers categorized the women into three groups.

The first group was premenopausal, consisting of women with regular reproductive functions. The second group was perimenopausal, including women experiencing the onset of menopausal symptoms and irregular cycles. The third group was postmenopausal, defined as women whose menstrual cycles had ceased for at least one year.

To assess preferences, the researchers created a specific set of visual stimuli. They started with photographs of a single 22-year-old male model. Using photo-editing applications, they digitally manipulated the images to create distinct variations in appearance.

The researchers modified the model’s face to appear either more feminized, intermediate, or heavily masculinized. They also altered the model’s facial hair to show a clean-shaven look, light stubble, or a full beard.

Body shape was another variable manipulated in the study. The scientists adjusted the hip-to-shoulder ratio to create three silhouette types: V-shaped, H-shaped, and A-shaped. Finally, they modified the model’s musculature to display non-muscular, moderately muscular, or strongly muscular builds.

Participants viewed these twelve modified images and rated them on a scale from one to ten. They evaluated the man in the photos based on three specific criteria. The first criterion was physical attractiveness.

The second and third criteria involved personality assessments. The women rated how aggressive they perceived the man to be. They also rated the man’s perceived level of social dominance.

The results showed that a woman’s reproductive status does influence her perception of attractiveness. One significant finding related to the shape of the male torso. Postmenopausal women rated the V-shaped body, which is typically characterized by broad shoulders and narrow hips, as less attractive than other shapes.

This contrasts with general evolutionary expectations where the V-shape is a classic indicator of male fitness. The data suggests that as women exit their reproductive years, the appeal of this strong biological signal may diminish.

Age also played a distinct role in how women viewed facial hair. The study found that older women rated men with medium to full beards as more attractive compared to younger women. This preference for beards increased with the age of the participant.

The researchers suggest that beards might signal maturity and social status rather than just raw genetic fitness. Younger women in the study showed a lower preference for beards. This might occur because facial hair can mask other facial features that young women use to assess mate quality.

The study produced complex results regarding facial masculinity. Chronological age showed a slight positive association with finding feminized faces attractive. This aligns with the idea that older women might prefer “softer” features associated with cooperation.

However, when isolating the specific biological factor of menopause, the results shifted. Postmenopausal women rated feminized faces as less attractive than premenopausal women did. This indicates that the relationship between aging and facial preference is not entirely linear.

Perceptions of aggression also varied by group. Postmenopausal women rated men with medium muscularity as more aggressive than men with other body types. This association was not present in the younger groups.

The researchers propose that older women might view visible musculature as a signal of potential threat rather than protection. Younger women, who are more likely to seek a partner for reproduction, may view muscles as a positive sign of health and defense.

Interestingly, the study found no significant connection between the physical traits and perceived social dominance. Neither the age of the women nor their menopausal status affected how they rated a man’s dominance. This suggests that while attractiveness and aggression are linked to physical cues, dominance might be evaluated through other means not captured in static photos.

The study, like all research, has limitations. One issue involved the method used to find participants, known as snowball sampling. In this process, existing participants recruit future subjects from among their own acquaintances. This method may have resulted in a sample that is not fully representative of the general population.

Reliance on online surveys also introduces a technology bias. Older women who are less comfortable with the internet may have been excluded from the study. This could skew the results for the postmenopausal group.

Another limitation involved the stimuli used. The photographs were all based on a single 22-year-old male model. This young age might not be relevant or appealing to women in their 50s, 60s, or 70s. Postmenopausal women might naturally prefer older men, and evaluating a man in his early twenties could introduce an age-appropriateness bias. The researchers acknowledge that future studies should use models of various ages to ensure more accurate ratings.

Despite these limitations, the study provides evidence that biological changes in women influence social perception. The findings support the concept that mating psychology evolves across the lifespan. As the biological need for “good genes” fades, women appear to adjust their criteria for what makes a man attractive.

The study, “The Perception of Women of Different Ages of Men’s Physical attractiveness, Aggression and Social Dominance Based on Male Secondary Sexual Characteristics,” was authored by Aurelia Starzyńska, Maja Pietras, and Łukasz Pawelec.

A new study published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science offers a nuanced look at how genetic risk for depression interacts with social and economic life circumstances to influence mental health over time. The findings indicate that while people with a higher genetic liability for depression often experience financial and educational challenges, these challenges may not be directly caused by the genetic risk itself.

Scientists conducted the study to better understand the developmental pathways that lead to depressive symptoms. A major theory in psychology, known as the bioecological model, proposes that genetic predispositions do not operate in a vacuum. Instead, this model suggests that a person’s genetic makeup might shape the environments they select or experience. For example, a genetic tendency toward low mood or low energy might make it harder for an individual to complete higher education or maintain steady employment.

If this theory holds true, those missed opportunities could lead to financial strain or a lack of social resources. These environmental stressors would then feed back into the person’s life, potentially worsening their mental health. The researchers aimed to test whether this specific chain of events is supported by data. They sought to determine if genetic risk for depression predicts changes in depressive symptoms specifically by influencing socioeconomic factors like wealth, debt, and education.

To investigate these questions, the researchers utilized data from two massive, long-term projects in the United States. The first dataset came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, also known as Add Health. This sample included 5,690 participants who provided DNA samples. The researchers tracked these individuals from adolescence, starting around age 16, into early adulthood, ending around age 29.

The second dataset served as a replication effort to see if the findings would hold up in a different group. This sample came from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, or WLS, which included 8,964 participants. Unlike the younger cohort in Add Health, the WLS participants were tracked across a decade in mid-to-late life, roughly from age 53 to 64. Using two different age groups allowed the scientists to see if these patterns persisted across the lifespan.

For both groups, the researchers calculated a “polygenic index” for each participant. This is a personalized score that summarizes thousands of tiny genetic variations across the entire genome that are statistically associated with depressive symptoms. A higher score indicates a higher genetic probability of experiencing depression. The researchers then measured four specific socioeconomic resources: educational attainment, total financial assets, total debt, and access to health insurance.

In the initial phase of the analysis, the researchers looked at the population as a whole. This is called a “between-family” analysis because it compares unrelated individuals against one another. In the Add Health sample, they found that higher genetic risk for depression was indeed associated with increases in depressive symptoms over the 12-year period.

The data showed that this link was partially explained by the socioeconomic variables. Participants with higher genetic risk tended to have lower educational attainment, fewer assets, more debt, and more difficulty maintaining health insurance. These difficult life circumstances, in turn, were associated with rising levels of depression.

The researchers then repeated this between-family analysis in the older Wisconsin cohort. The results were largely consistent. Higher genetic risk predicted increases in depression symptoms over the decade. Once again, this association appeared to be mediated by the same social factors. Specifically, participants with higher genetic risk reported lower net worth and were more likely to have gone deeply into debt or experienced healthcare difficulties.

These results initially seemed to support the idea that depression genes cause real-world problems that then cause more depression. However, the researchers took a significant additional step to test for causality. They performed a “within-family” analysis using siblings included in the Wisconsin study.

Comparing siblings provides a much stricter test of cause and effect. Siblings share roughly 50 percent of their DNA and grow up in the same household, which controls for many environmental factors like parenting style and childhood socioeconomic status. If the genetic risk for depression truly causes a person to acquire more debt or achieve less education, the sibling with the higher polygenic score should have worse economic outcomes than the sibling with the lower score.

When the researchers applied this sibling-comparison model, the findings changed. Within families, the sibling with higher genetic risk did report more depressive symptoms. This confirms that the genetic score is picking up on a real biological vulnerability. However, the link between the depression genetic score and the socioeconomic factors largely disappeared.

The sibling with higher genetic risk for depression was not significantly more likely to have lower education, less wealth, or more debt than their co-sibling. This lack of association in the sibling model suggests that the genetic risk for depression does not directly cause these negative socioeconomic outcomes. Instead, the correlation seen in the general population is likely due to other shared factors.

One potential explanation for the discrepancy involves a concept called pleiotropy, where the same genes influence multiple traits. The researchers conducted sensitivity analyses that accounted for genetic scores related to educational attainment. They found that once they controlled for the genetics of education, the apparent link between depression genes and socioeconomic status vanished.

This suggests that the same genetic variations that influence how far someone goes in school might also be correlated with depression risk. It implies that low education or financial struggle is not necessarily a downstream consequence of depression risk, but rather that both depression and socioeconomic struggles may share common genetic roots or be influenced by broader family environments.

The study has some limitations. Both datasets were comprised almost entirely of individuals of European ancestry. This lack of diversity means the results may not apply to people of other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, the measures of debt and insurance were limited to the questions available in these pre-existing surveys. They may not have captured the full nuance of financial stress.

Furthermore, while sibling models help rule out family-wide environmental factors, they cannot account for every unique experience a person has. Future research is needed to explore how these genetic risks interact with specific life events, such as trauma or job loss, which were not the primary focus of this investigation. The researchers also note that debt and medical insurance difficulties are understudied in this field and deserve more detailed attention in future work.

The study, “Genotypic and Socioeconomic Risks for Depressive Symptoms in Two U.S. Cohorts Spanning Early to Older Adulthood,” was authored by David A. Sbarra, Sam Trejo, K. Paige Harden, Jeffrey C. Oliver, and Yann C. Klimentidis.

PsyPost’s PodWatch highlights interesting clips from recent podcasts related to psychology and neuroscience.

In a recent episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, released on Thursday, February 12, Dr. Andrew Huberman explores the biological and psychological roots of human connection. The episode, titled “Essentials: The Science of Love, Desire & Attachment,” examines how early life experiences and specific brain functions create the feelings of romance. Huberman breaks down the complex science behind why humans bond with certain people and how relationships either succeed or fail over time.

During the first five minutes of the broadcast, Huberman explains that adult romantic styles often mirror the emotional bond a person had with their caregivers as a toddler. He references the famous “Strange Situation Task” developed by psychologist Mary Ainsworth in the 1980s. In this experiment, researchers observed how children reacted when their parents left a room and subsequently returned.

Based on these reactions, researchers categorized children into groups such as securely attached or anxious-avoidant. Huberman notes that these early classifications are strong predictors of how individuals will behave in romantic partnerships later in life. However, he emphasizes that these emotional templates are not permanent and can change once a person understands them.

The discussion moves beyond psychology to look at the physical brain. Huberman clarifies that there is no single area in the brain responsible for creating the feeling of love. Instead, multiple brain regions work together in a coordinated sequence to produce the states of desire and attachment.

Around the ten-minute mark, the host details the specific chemical and electrical systems involved in bonding. He corrects a common misconception about dopamine, explaining that it is primarily a chemical for motivation and craving rather than just pleasure. This chemical acts as a currency in the brain that drives the pursuit of a partner.

A major component of connection is the neural circuit for empathy, which involves the prefrontal cortex and the insula. The insula is a region of the brain that helps people sense their own internal body state, a process known as interoception. This area allows individuals to pay attention to their own feelings while simultaneously reading the emotions of others.

Huberman introduces the concept of “positive delusion” as a requirement for long-term stability. This describes a mental state where a person believes that only their specific partner can make them feel a certain way. This unique biological bias helps maintain the bond between two people over time.

Huberman reviews research from the Gottman Lab at the University of Washington regarding relationship breakdown. The researchers identified four negative behaviors that predict failure: criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt. Stonewalling occurs when a listener withdraws from an interaction and stops responding to their partner.

Among these negative behaviors, contempt is identified as the most destructive force in a partnership. Huberman cites the researchers who describe contempt as the “sulfuric acid” of a relationship because it erodes the emotional bond. This hostility completely shuts down the empathy circuits required for connection.

A recent study published in the Journal of Sleep Research suggests that evening screen use might not be as physically stimulating for teenagers as many parents and experts have assumed. The findings provide evidence that most digital activities actually coincide with lower heart rates compared to non-screen activities like moving around the house or playing. This indicates that the common connection between screens and poor sleep is likely driven by the timing of device use rather than a state of high physical arousal.

Adolescence is a time when establishing healthy sleep patterns is essential for mental health and growth, yet many young people fall short of the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep. While screen use has been linked to shorter sleep times, the specific reasons why this happens are not yet fully understood.

Existing research has looked at several possibilities, such as the light from screens affecting hormones or the simple fact that screens take up time that could be spent sleeping. Some experts have also worried that the excitement from social media or gaming could keep the body in an active state that prevents relaxation. The new study was designed to investigate the physical arousal theory by looking at heart rate in real-world settings rather than in a laboratory.

“In our previous research, we found that screen use in bed was linked with shorter sleep, largely because teens were falling asleep later. But that left an open question: were screens simply delaying bedtime, or were they physiologically stimulating adolescents in a way that made it harder to fall asleep?” said study author Kim Meredith-Jones, a research associate professor at the University of Otago.

“In this study, we wanted to test whether evening screen use actually increased heart rate — a marker of physiological arousal — and whether that arousal explained delays in falling asleep. In other words, is it what teens are doing on screens that matters, or just the fact that screens are replacing sleep time?”

By using objective tools to track both what teens do on their screens and how their hearts respond, the team hoped to fill gaps in existing knowledge. They aimed to see if different types of digital content, such as texting versus scrolling, had different effects on the heart. Understanding these connections is important for creating better guidelines for digital health in young people.

The research team recruited a group of 70 adolescents from Dunedin, New Zealand, who were between 11 and nearly 15 years old. This sample was designed to be diverse, featuring 31 girls and 39 boys from various backgrounds. Approximately 33 percent of the participants identified as indigenous Māori, while others came from Pacific, Asian, or European backgrounds.

To capture a detailed look at their evening habits, the researchers used a combination of wearable technology and video recordings over four different nights. Each participant wore a high-resolution camera attached to a chest harness starting three hours before their usual bedtime. This camera recorded exactly what they were doing and what screens they were viewing until they entered their beds.

Once the participants were in bed, a stationary camera continued to record their activities until they fell asleep. This allowed the researchers to see if they used devices while under the covers and exactly when they closed their eyes. The video data was then analyzed by trained coders who categorized screen use into ten specific behaviors, such as watching videos, gaming, or using social media.

The researchers also categorized activities as either passive or interactive. Passive activities included watching, listening, reading, or browsing, while interactive activities included gaming, communication, and multitasking. Social media use was analyzed separately to see its specific impact on heart rate compared to other activities.

At the same time, the participants wore a Fitbit Inspire 2 on their dominant wrist to track their heart rate every few seconds. The researchers used this information to see how the heart reacted to each specific screen activity in real time. This objective measurement provided a more accurate picture than asking the teenagers to remember how they felt or what they did.

To measure sleep quality and duration, each youth also wore a motion-sensing device on their other wrist for seven consecutive days. This tool, known as an accelerometer, provided data on when they actually fell asleep and how many times they woke up. The researchers then used statistical models to see if heart rate patterns during screen time could predict these sleep outcomes.

The data revealed that heart rates were consistently higher during periods when the teenagers were not using screens. The average heart rate during non-screen activities was approximately 93 beats per minute, which likely reflects the physical effort of moving around or doing chores. In contrast, when the participants were using their devices, their average heart rate dropped to about 83 beats per minute.

This suggests that screen use is often a sedentary behavior that allows the body to stay relatively calm. When the participants were in bed, the difference was less extreme, but screen use still tended to accompany lower heart rates than other in-bed activities. These findings indicate that digital engagement may function as a way for teenagers to wind down after a long day.

The researchers also looked at how specific types of digital content affected the heart. Social media use was associated with the lowest heart rates, especially when the teenagers were already in bed. Gaming and multitasking between different apps also showed lower heart rate readings compared to other screen-based tasks.

“We were surprised to find that heart rates were lower during social media use,” Meredith-Jones told PsyPost. “Previous research has suggested that social media can be stressful or emotionally intense for adolescents, so we expected to see higher arousal. Instead, our findings suggest that in this context, teens may have been using social media as a way to unwind or switch off. That said, how we define and measure ‘social media use’ matters, and we’re now working on more refined ways to capture the context and type of engagement.”

On the other hand, activities involving communication, such as texting or messaging, were linked to higher heart rates. This type of interaction seemed to be less conducive to relaxation than scrolling through feeds or watching videos. Even so, the heart rate differences between these various digital activities were relatively small.

When examining sleep patterns, the researchers found that heart rate earlier in the evening had a different relationship with sleep than heart rate closer to bedtime. Higher heart rates occurring more than two hours before bed were linked to falling asleep earlier in the night. This may be because higher activity levels in the early evening help the body build up a need for rest.

However, the heart rate in the two hours before bed and while in bed had the opposite effect on falling asleep. For every increase of 10 beats per minute during this window, the participants took about nine minutes longer to drift off. This provides evidence that physical excitement right before bed can delay the start of sleep.

Notably, while a higher heart rate made it harder to fall asleep, it did not seem to reduce the total amount of sleep the teenagers got. It also did not affect how often they woke up during the night or the general quality of their rest. The researchers noted that a person would likely need a very large increase in heart rate to see a major impact on their sleep schedule.

“The effects were relatively small,” Meredith-Jones explained. “For example, our data suggest heart rate would need to increase by around 30 beats per minute to delay sleep onset by about 30 minutes. The largest differences we observed between screen activities were closer to 10 beats per minute, making it unlikely that typical screen use would meaningfully delay sleep through physiological arousal alone.”

“The key takeaway is that most screen use in the evening did not increase heart rate. In fact, many types of screen activity were associated with lower heart rates compared to non-screen time. Although higher heart rate before bed was linked with taking longer to fall asleep, the changes in heart rate we observed during screen use were generally small. Overall, most evening screen activities appeared more relaxing than arousing.”

One limitation of this study is that the researchers did not have a baseline heart rate for each participant while they were completely at rest. Without this information, it is difficult to say for certain if screens were actively lowering the heart rate or if the teens were just naturally calm. Individual differences in biology could account for some of the variations seen in the data.

“One strength of this study was our use of wearable cameras to objectively classify screen behaviours such as gaming, social media, and communication,” Meredith-Jones noted. “This approach provides much richer and more accurate data than self-report questionnaires or simple screen-time analytics. However, a limitation is that we did not measure each participant’s true resting heart rate, so we can’t definitively say whether higher heart rates reflected arousal above baseline or just individual differences. That’s an important area for refinement in future research.”

It is also important to note that the findings don’t imply that screens are always helpful for sleep. Even if they are not physically arousing, using a device late at night can still lead to sleep displacement. This happens when the time spent on a screen replaces time that would otherwise be spent sleeping, leading to tiredness the next day. On the other hand, one shouldn’t assume that screens always impede sleep, either.

“A common assumption is that all screen use is inherently harmful for sleep,” Meredith-Jones explained. “Our findings don’t support that blanket statement. In earlier work, we found that screen use in bed was associated with shorter sleep duration, but in this study, most screen use was not physiologically stimulating. That suggests timing and context matter, and that some forms of screen use may even serve as a wind-down activity before bed.”

Looking ahead, “we want to better distinguish between different types of screen use, for example, interactive versus passive engagement, or emotionally charged versus neutral communication,” Meredith-Jones said. “We’re also developing improved real-world measurement tools that can capture not just how long teens use screens, but what they’re doing, how they’re engaging, and in what context. That level of detail is likely to give us much clearer answers than simple ‘screen time’ totals.”

The study, “Screens, Teens, and Sleep: Is the Impact of Nighttime Screen Use on Sleep Driven by Physiological Arousal?” was authored by Kim A. Meredith-Jones, Jillian J. Haszard, Barbara C. Galland, Shay-Ruby Wickham, Bradley J. Brosnan, Takiwai Russell-Camp, and Rachael W. Taylor.

Scientists exploring new ways to address psychopathic traits have found that gentle electrical or magnetic stimulation of the brain may slightly improve empathy and prosocial behavior. A new study published in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry suggests the technology shows promise—but there is currently no direct evidence it works in people with psychopathy.

Psychopathy is often associated with persistent antisocial behavior and emotional differences, such as reduced empathy, guilt, and concern for others. Traditional treatments, including therapy programs and anger-management courses, have had limited success in changing these core emotional traits.

This has led researchers to explore whether differences in brain activity might help explain psychopathy, and whether targeting the brain directly could offer new treatment possibilities.

Brain imaging studies have shown that people with psychopathic traits often have unusual activity in regions linked to emotion and decision-making. These include areas involved in recognizing fear, responding to others’ pain, and regulating behavior.

Scientists have therefore begun testing non-invasive brain stimulation, which utilizes magnets or weak electrical currents applied to the scalp, to see whether altering brain activity can influence emotional responses.

Led by Célia F. Camara from the University of Essex in the U.K., the research team behind the new study wanted to know whether these brain-stimulation techniques could change traits related to psychopathy.

Camara and colleagues conducted a large review and statistical analysis of 64 experiments involving 122 measured effects. The studies examined several forms of stimulation, including transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation, and compared them with sham (placebo-like) conditions.

Most experiments were conducted with healthy adult volunteers rather than people diagnosed with psychopathy. Participants completed tasks or questionnaires measuring empathy, emotional reactions, or prosocial behavior before and after brain stimulation. The researchers then combined results across studies to see whether any consistent patterns emerged.

The findings demonstrated that certain types of “excitatory” brain stimulation—designed to increase activity in targeted brain regions—produced small to moderate improvements in social and emotional responses. In some cases, participants reported greater empathy, increased willingness to help others, or increased feelings of guilt. Other types of stimulation that dampen brain activity sometimes reduced these responses.

Overall, the analysis suggests that non-invasive brain stimulation can influence emotional and social processing in ways that are relevant to psychopathic traits. However, the results were mixed and varied widely depending on the type of stimulation, the brain area targeted, and how many sessions participants received.

The researchers noted that while the findings provide early proof that emotional traits can be influenced by brain stimulation, the technology is far from being a practical treatment. Notably, the review found that the only available study conducted specifically on psychopathic individuals reported null effects.

“The generalizability of our findings is limited by insufficient research on psychopathy-relevant samples. Responses to non-invasive brain stimulation in individuals with psychopathy may differ from those of non-psychopathic populations, as evidence indicates that individuals with psychopathy exhibit distinct neurobiological profiles compared with non-psychopathic cohorts,” Camara and colleagues cautioned.

Nevertheless, the results open the door to new ways of understanding and potentially addressing the emotional aspects of psychopathy.

The study, “On the possibility to modulate psychopathic traits via non-invasive brain stimulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” was authored by Célia F. Camara, Carmen S. Sergiou, Andrés Molero Chamizo, Alejandra Sel, Nathzidy G. Rivera Urbina, Michael A. Nitsche, and Paul H.P. Hanel.

New research suggests that the path to alcohol dependence may differ depending on when the condition begins. A study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence identifies distinct roles for genetic variations and childhood experiences in the development of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). The findings indicate that severe early-life trauma accelerates the onset of the disease, whereas specific genetic factors are more closely linked to alcoholism that develops later in adulthood. This separation of causes provides a more nuanced view of a condition that affects millions of people globally.

Alcohol Use Disorder is a chronic medical condition characterized by an inability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse consequences. Researchers understand that the risk of developing this condition stems from a combination of biological and environmental factors. Genetic predisposition accounts for approximately half of the risk. The remaining risk comes from life experiences, particularly those occurring during formative years. However, the specific ways these factors interact have remained a subject of debate.

One specific gene of interest produces a protein called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or BDNF. This protein acts much like a fertilizer for the brain. It supports the survival of existing neurons and encourages the growth of new connections and synapses. This process is essential for neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections.

Variations in the BDNF gene can alter how the brain adapts to stress and foreign substances. Because alcohol consumption changes the brain’s structure, the gene that regulates brain plasticity is a prime suspect in the search for biological causes of addiction.

Yi-Wei Yeh and San-Yuan Huang, researchers from the Tri-Service General Hospital and National Defense Medical University in Taiwan, led the investigation. They aimed to untangle how BDNF gene variants, childhood trauma, and family dysfunction contribute to alcoholism. They specifically wanted to determine if these factors worked alone or if they amplified each other. For example, they sought to answer whether a person with a specific genetic variant would be more susceptible to the damaging effects of a difficult childhood.

The team recruited 1,085 participants from the Han Chinese population in Taiwan. After excluding individuals with incomplete data or DNA issues, the final analysis compared 518 patients diagnosed with Alcohol Use Disorder against 548 healthy control subjects.

The researchers categorized the patients based on when their drinking became a disorder. They defined early-onset as occurring at or before age 25 and late-onset as occurring after age 25. This distinction allowed them to see if different drivers were behind the addiction at different life stages.

To analyze the biological factors, the researchers collected blood samples from all participants. They extracted DNA to examine four distinct locations on the BDNF gene. These specific locations are known as single-nucleotide polymorphisms. They represent single-letter changes in the genetic code that can alter how the gene functions. The team looked for patterns in these variations to see if any were more common in the group with alcoholism.

Participants also completed detailed psychological assessments. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire asked about physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. A second survey measured Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which covers a broader range of household challenges such as divorce or incarcerated family members. A third tool, the Family APGAR, assessed how well the participants’ families functioned in terms of emotional support, communication, and adaptability.

The genetic analysis revealed a specific pattern of DNA variations associated with the disorder. This pattern, known as a haplotype, appeared more frequently in patients with Alcohol Use Disorder. A deeper look at the data showed that this genetic link was specific to late-onset alcoholism. This category includes individuals who developed the condition after the age of 25. This was a somewhat unexpected finding, as earlier research has often linked strong genetic factors to early-onset disease. The authors suggest that genetic influences on brain plasticity might become more pronounced as the brain ages.

The results regarding childhood experiences painted a different picture. Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder reported much higher rates of childhood trauma compared to the healthy control group. This included higher scores for physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The study found a clear mathematical relationship between trauma and age. The more severe the childhood trauma, the younger the patient was when they developed a dependency on alcohol. This supports the theory that some individuals use alcohol to self-medicate the emotional pain of early abuse.

The impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) was particularly stark. The data showed a compounding risk. Individuals with one or more adverse experiences were roughly 3.5 times more likely to develop the disorder than those with none. For individuals with two or more adverse experiences, the likelihood skyrocketed. They were 48 times more likely to develop Alcohol Use Disorder. This suggests that there may be a tipping point where the cumulative burden of stress overwhelms a young person’s coping mechanisms.

The researchers uncovered distinct differences between men and women regarding trauma. Men with the disorder reported higher rates of physical abuse in childhood compared to female patients. Women with the disorder reported higher rates of sexual abuse compared to males. The data suggested that for women, a history of sexual abuse was associated with developing alcoholism seven to ten years earlier than those without such history. This highlights a critical need for gender-specific approaches when addressing trauma in addiction treatment.

Family environment played a major role across the board. Patients with the disorder consistently reported lower family functioning compared to healthy individuals. This dysfunction was present regardless of whether the alcoholism started early or late in life. It appears that a lack of family support is a general risk factor rather than a specific trigger for a certain type of the disease. A supportive family acts as a buffer against stress. When that buffer is missing, the risk of maladaptive coping strategies increases.

The team tested the hypothesis that trauma might change how the BDNF gene affects a person. The analysis did not support this idea. The genetic risks and the environmental risks appeared to operate independently of one another. The gene variants did not make the trauma worse, and the trauma did not activate the gene in a specific way. This suggests that while both factors lead to the same outcome, they may travel along parallel biological pathways to get there.

There are limitations to this study that affect how the results should be interpreted. The participants were all Han Chinese, so the genetic findings might not apply to other ethnic populations. Genetic variations often differ by ancestry, and what is true for one group may not hold for another.

The study also relied on adults remembering their childhoods. This retrospective approach can introduce errors, as memory is not always a perfect record of the past. Additionally, the number of female participants was relatively small compared to males, which mirrors the prevalence of the disorder but limits statistical power for that subgroup.

The study also noted high rates of nicotine use among the alcohol-dependent group. Approximately 85 percent of the patients used nicotine. Since smoking can also affect brain biology, it adds another layer of complexity to the genetic analysis. The researchers attempted to control for this, but it remains a variable to consider.

Despite these caveats, the research offers a valuable perspective for clinicians. It suggests that patients who develop alcoholism early in life are likely driven by environmental trauma. Treatment for these individuals might prioritize trauma-informed therapy and psychological processing of past events. In contrast, patients who develop the disorder later in life might be grappling with a genetic vulnerability that becomes relevant as the brain ages. This could point toward different biological targets for medication or different behavioral strategies.

The authors recommend that future research should focus on replicating these findings in larger and more diverse groups. They also suggest using brain imaging technologies. Seeing how these gene variants affect the physical structure of the brain could explain why they predispose older adults to addiction.

Understanding the distinct mechanisms of early versus late-onset alcoholism is a step toward personalized medicine in psychiatry. By identifying whether a patient is fighting a genetic predisposition or the ghosts of a traumatic past, doctors may eventually be able to tailor treatments that address the root cause of the addiction.

The study, “Childhood trauma, family functioning, and the BDNF gene may affect the development of alcohol use disorder,” was authored by Yi-Wei Yeh, Catherine Shin Huey Chen, Shin-Chang Kuo, Chun-Yen Chen, Yu-Chieh Huang, Jyun-Teng Huang, You-Ping Yang, Jhih-Syuan Huang, Kuo-Hsing Ma, and San-Yuan Huang.

A study in Sexual and Relationship Therapy found that men are more open to casual sex and infidelity than women. The research also highlights a strong link between relationship dissatisfaction, the desire for uncommitted sex, and the intention to cheat.

Infidelity has long been defined as a violation of promises and commitments within a romantic relationship, reflecting a failure to uphold expectations of love, loyalty, and support. However, modern views conceptualize infidelity as physical, sexual, or emotional behaviors that violate relationship norms and cause distress and negative relationship outcomes. Exactly which behaviors constitute infidelity varies across couples, as norms regarding emotional and sexual exclusivity differ between relationships.

The most common forms of infidelity are sexual and emotional infidelity. Sexual infidelity usually involves physical sexual behaviors with someone other than one’s partner. Emotional infidelity consists of forming intimate emotional bonds with a person other than the partner that breach relationship rules agreed upon by the couple. Research indicates that sexual and emotional infidelity often co-occur; they are, most often, not independent phenomena.

A key psychological characteristic linked to infidelity is sociosexuality. Sociosexuality is the level of openness to casual sex without commitment. Individuals with higher sociosexuality are more likely to engage in both sexual and emotional infidelity, as their attitudes and desires may conflict with monogamous relationship norms.

Study author Paula Pricope and her colleagues wanted to investigate whether sociosexuality plays a mediating role in the relationship between relationship satisfaction and intentions towards infidelity. They also wanted to know whether these associations are the same in men and women. The authors hypothesized that men would be more inclined to engage in infidelity compared to women and that their sociosexuality would be higher (i.e., they would be more open to casual sex).

Study participants were 246 individuals from Romania. Their average age was 24 years. All participants were volunteers. Sixty-one percent of participants were women. Seventy-two percent were in a non-marital romantic relationship, while 28% were married. Sixty-eight percent of participants were from urban areas of Romania.

Participants completed assessments of intentions towards infidelity (the Intentions Towards Infidelity Scale), relationship satisfaction (the Relationship Assessment Scale), and sociosexuality (the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory – Revised).

Results showed that individuals reporting stronger intentions towards infidelity tended to have higher sociosexuality and be less satisfied with their relationships. In other words, individuals more willing to cheat on their partners tended to be more open to uncommitted sex and less satisfied with their relationships. Men tended to report higher sociosexuality and higher intentions towards infidelity than women.

The authors tested a statistical model proposing that lower relationship satisfaction leads to higher sociosexuality, which, in turn, increases intentions to cheat. The results indicated that this pathway was significant specifically for men. For male participants, lower relationship satisfaction was linked to higher sociosexuality, which then predicted higher intentions to cheat. However, this mediation pathway was not significant for women.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of infidelity. However, all study data came from self-reports, leaving room for reporting bias to have affected the results. Additionally, the design of the study does not allow for causal inferences.

While it is indeed possible that lower relationship satisfaction leads to increased sociosexuality and infidelity intentions, it is also possible that higher sociosexuality and infidelity intentions reduce relationship satisfaction or make it harder for a person to be satisfied with a committed relationship. Other possibilities also remain open.

The paper, “The roles of sociosexuality and gender in the relationship between relationship satisfaction and intentions toward infidelity: a moderated mediation model,” was authored by Paula Pricope, Tudor-Daniel Huțul, Adina Karner-Huțuleac, and Andreea Huțul.

A study published in the journal Psychopharmacology has found that the increase in motivation people experience from methamphetamine is separate from the drug’s ability to produce a euphoric high. The findings suggest that these two common effects of stimulant drugs likely involve different underlying biological processes in the brain. This research indicates that a person might become more willing to work hard without necessarily feeling a greater sense of pleasure or well-being.

The researchers conducted the new study to clarify how stimulants affect human motivation and personal feelings. They intended to understand if the pleasurable high people experience while taking these drugs is the primary reason they become more willing to work for rewards. By separating these effects, the team aimed to gain insight into how drugs could potentially be used to treat motivation-related issues without causing addictive euphoria.

Another reason for the study was to investigate how individual differences in personality or brain chemistry change how a person responds to a stimulant. Scientists wanted to see if people who are naturally less motivated benefit more from these drugs than those who are already highly driven. The team also sought to determine if the drug makes tasks feel easier or if it simply makes the final reward seem more attractive to the user.

“Stimulant drugs like amphetamine are thought to produce ‘rewarding’ effects that contribute to abuse or dependence, by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Findings from animal models suggest that stimulant drugs, perhaps because of their effects on dopamine, increase motivation, or the animals’ willingness to exert effort,” explained study author Harriet de Wit, a professor at the University of Chicago.

“Findings from human studies suggest that stimulant drugs lead to repeated use because they produce subjective feelings of wellbeing. In the present study, we tested the effects of amphetamine in healthy volunteers, on both an effort task and self-reported euphoria.”

For their study, the researchers recruited a group of 96 healthy adults from the Chicago area. This group consisted of 48 men and 48 women between the ages of 18 and 35. Each volunteer underwent a rigorous screening process that included a physical exam, a heart health check, and a psychiatric interview to ensure they were healthy.

The study used a double-blind, placebo-controlled design to ensure the results were accurate and unbiased. This means that neither the participants nor the staff knew if a volunteer received the actual drug or an inactive pill on a given day. The participants attended two separate laboratory sessions where they received either 20 milligrams of methamphetamine or a placebo.

During these sessions, the participants completed a specific exercise called the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task. This task required them to choose between an easy option for a small amount of money or a more difficult option for a larger reward. The researchers used this to measure how much physical effort a person was willing to put in to get a better payoff.

The easy task involved pressing a specific key on a keyboard 30 times with the index finger of the dominant hand within seven seconds. Successfully completing this task always resulted in a small reward of one dollar. This served as a baseline for the minimum amount of effort a person was willing to expend for a guaranteed but small gain.

The hard task required participants to press a different key 100 times using the pinky finger of their non-dominant hand within 21 seconds. The rewards for this more difficult task varied from about one dollar and 24 cents to over four dollars. This task was designed to be physically taxing and required a higher level of commitment to complete.

Before making their choice on each trial, participants were informed of the probability that they would actually receive the money if they finished the task. These probabilities were set at 12 percent, 50 percent, or 88 percent. This added a layer of risk to the decision, as a person might work hard for a reward but still receive nothing if the odds were not in their favor.

Throughout the four-hour sessions, the researchers measured the participants’ personal feelings and physical reactions at regular intervals. They used standardized questionnaires to track how much the participants liked the effects of the drug and how much euphoria they felt. They also monitored physical signs such as heart rate and blood pressure to ensure the safety of the volunteers.

Before the main sessions, the participants completed the task during an orientation to establish their natural effort levels. The researchers then divided the group in half based on these baseline scores. This allowed the team to compare people who were naturally inclined to work hard against those who were naturally less likely to choose the difficult task.

The results showed that methamphetamine increased the frequency with which people chose the hard task over the easy one across the whole group. This effect was most visible when the chances of winning the reward were in the low to medium range. The drug seemed to give participants a boost in motivation when the outcome was somewhat uncertain.

The data provides evidence that the drug had a much stronger impact on people who were naturally less motivated. Participants in the low baseline group showed a significantly larger increase in their willingness to choose the hard task compared to those in the high baseline group. For people who were already high achievers, the drug did not seem to provide much of an additional motivational boost.

To understand why the drug changed behavior, the researchers used a mathematical model to analyze the decision-making process. This model helped the team separate how much a person cares about the difficulty of a task from how much they value the reward itself. It provided a more detailed look at the internal trade-offs people make when deciding to work.

The model showed that methamphetamine specifically reduced a person’s sensitivity to the physical cost of effort. This suggests that the drug makes hard work feel less unpleasant or demanding than it normally would. Instead of making the reward seem more exciting, the drug appears to make the work itself feel less like a burden.

This change in effort sensitivity was primarily found in the participants who started with low motivation levels. For these individuals, the drug appeared to lower the mental or physical barriers that usually made them avoid the difficult option. In contrast, the drug did not significantly change the effort sensitivity of those who were already highly motivated.

Methamphetamine did not change how sensitive people were to the probability of winning the reward. This indicates that the drug affects the drive to work rather than changing how people calculate risks or perceive the odds of success. The volunteers still understood the chances of winning, but they were more willing to try anyway despite the difficulty.

As the researchers expected, the drug increased feelings of happiness and euphoria in the participants. It also caused the usual physical changes associated with stimulants, such as an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Most participants reported that they liked the effects of the drug while they were performing the tasks.

A major finding of the study is that the boost in mood was not related to the boost in productivity. The participants who felt the highest levels of euphoria were not the same people who showed the greatest increase in hard task choices. “This suggests that different receptor actions of amphetamine mediate willingness to exert effort and feelings of wellbeing,” de Wit explained.

There was no statistical correlation between how much a person liked the drug and how much more effort they were willing to exert. This provides evidence that the brain processes that create pleasure from stimulants are distinct from those that drive motivated behavior. A person can experience the motivational benefits of a stimulant without necessarily feeling the intense pleasure that often leads to drug misuse.

The findings highlight that “drugs have numerous behavioral and cognitive actions, which may be mediated by different neurotransmitter actions,” de Wit told PsyPost. “The purpose of research in this area is to disentangle which effects are relevant to misuse or dependence liability, and which might have clinical benefits, and what brain processes underlie the effects.”

The results also highlight the importance of considering a person’s starting point when predicting how they will respond to a medication. Because the drug helped the least motivated people the most, it suggests that these treatments might be most effective for those with a clear deficit in drive.

The study, like all research, has some limitations. The participants were all healthy young adults, so it is not clear if the results would be the same for older people or those with existing health conditions. A more diverse group of volunteers would be needed to see if these patterns apply to the general population.

The study only tested a single 20-milligram dose of methamphetamine given by mouth. It is possible that different doses or different ways of taking the drug might change the relationship between mood and behavior. Using a range of doses in future studies would help researchers see if there is a point where the mood and effort effects begin to overlap.

Another limitation is that the researchers did not directly look at the chemical changes inside the participants’ brains. While they believe dopamine is involved, they did not use brain imaging technology to confirm this directly. Future research could use specialized scans to see exactly which brain regions are active when these changes in motivation occur.

“The results open the door to further studies to determine what brain mechanisms underlie the two behavioral effects,” de Wit said.

The study, “Effects of methamphetamine on human effort task performance are unrelated to its subjective effects,” was authored by Evan C. Hahn, Hanna Molla, Jessica A. Cooper, Joseph DeBrosse, and Harriet de Wit.

Most adults in the United States experience the intense rush of passionate love only about twice throughout their lives, according to a recent large-scale survey. The study, published in the journal Interpersona, suggests that while this emotional state is a staple of human romance, it remains a relatively rare occurrence for many individuals. The findings provide a new lens through which to view the frequency of deep romantic attachment across the entire adult lifespan.

The framework for this research relies on a classic model where love consists of three parts: passion, intimacy, and commitment. Passion is described as the physical attraction and intense longing that often defines the start of a romantic connection. Amanda N. Gesselman, a researcher at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, led the team of scientists who conducted this work.

The research team set out to quantify how often this specific type of love happens because earlier theories suggest passion is high at the start of a relationship but fades as couples become more comfortable. As a relationship matures, it often shifts toward companionate love, which is defined by deep affection and entwined lives rather than obsessive longing. Because this intense feeling is often fleeting, it might happen several times as people move through different stages of life.

The researchers wanted to see if social factors like age, gender, or sexual orientation influenced how often someone falls in love. Some earlier studies on university students suggested that most young people fall in love at least once by the end of high school. However, very little data existed regarding how these experiences accumulate for adults as they reach middle age or later life.

To find these answers, the team analyzed data from more than 10,000 single adults in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 99. Participants were recruited to match the general demographic makeup of the country based on census data. This large group allowed the researchers to look at a wide variety of life histories and romantic backgrounds.

Participants were asked to provide a specific number representing how many times they had ever been passionately in love during their lives. On average, the respondents reported experiencing this intense feeling 2.05 times. This number suggests that for the average person, passionate love is a rare event that happens only a few times in a century of living.

A specific portion of the group, about 14 percent, stated they had never felt passionate love at all. About 28 percent had felt it once, while 30 percent reported two experiences. Another 17 percent had three experiences, and about 11 percent reported four or more. These figures show that while the experience is common, it is certainly not a daily or even a yearly occurrence for most.

The study also looked at how these numbers varied based on the specific characteristics of the participants. Age showed a small link to the number of experiences, meaning older adults reported slightly more instances than younger ones. This result is likely because older people have had more years and more opportunities to encounter potential partners.

The increase with age was quite small, which suggests that people do not necessarily keep falling in love at a high rate as they get older. One reason for this might be biological, as the brain systems involved in reward and excitement are often most active during late adolescence and early adulthood. As people transition into mature adulthood, their responsibilities and self-reflection might change how they perceive or pursue new romantic passion.

Gender differences were present in the data, with men reporting slightly more experiences than women. This difference was specifically found among heterosexual participants, where heterosexual men reported more instances of passionate love than heterosexual women. This finding aligns with some previous research suggesting that men may be socialized to fall in love or express those feelings earlier in a relationship.

Among gay, lesbian, and bisexual participants, the number of experiences did not differ by gender. The researchers did not find that sexual orientation on its own created any differences in how many times a person fell in love. For example, the difference between heterosexual and bisexual participants was not statistically significant.

The researchers believe these results have important applications for how people view their own romantic lives. Many people feel pressure from movies, songs, and social media to constantly chase a state of high passion. Knowing that the average person only feels this a couple of times may help people feel more normal if they are not currently in a state of intense romance.

In a clinical or counseling setting, these findings could help people who feel they are behind in their romantic development. If someone has never been passionately in love, they are part of a group that includes more than one in ten adults. Seeing this as a common variation in human experience rather than a problem can reduce feelings of shame.

The researchers also noted that people might use a process called retrospective cognitive discounting. This happens when a person looks back at their past and views old relationships through a different lens based on their current feelings. An older person might look back at a past “crush” and decide it was not true passionate love, which would lower their total count.

This type of self-reflection might help people stay resilient after a breakup. By reinterpreting a past relationship as something other than passionate love, they might remain more open to finding a new connection in the future. This mental flexibility is part of how humans navigate the ups and downs of their romantic histories.

There are some limitations to the study that should be considered. Because the researchers only surveyed single people, the results might be different if they had included people who are currently married or in long-term partnerships. People who are in stable relationships might have different ways of remembering their past experiences compared to those who are currently unattached.

The study also relied on people remembering their entire lives accurately, which can be a challenge for older participants. Future research could follow the same group of people over many years to see how their feelings change as they happen. This would remove the need for participants to rely solely on their memories of the distant past.

The participants were all located in the United States, so these findings might not apply to people in other cultures. Different societies have different rules about how people meet, how they express emotion, and what they consider to be love. A global study would be needed to see if the “twice in a lifetime” average holds true in other parts of the world.

Additionally, the survey did not provide a specific definition of passionate love for the participants. Each person might have used their own personal standard for what counts as being passionately in love. Using a more standardized definition in future studies could help ensure that everyone is answering the question in the same way.

The researchers also mentioned that they did not account for individual personality traits or attachment styles. Some people are naturally more prone to falling in love quickly, while others are more cautious or reserved. These internal traits likely play a role in how many times someone experiences passion throughout their life.

Finally, the study did not include a large enough number of people with diverse gender identities beyond the categories of men and women. Expanding the research to include more gender-diverse individuals would provide a more complete picture of the human experience. Despite these gaps, the current study provides a foundation for understanding the frequency of one of life’s most intense emotions.

The study, “Twice in a lifetime: quantifying passionate love in U.S. single adults,” was authored by Amanda N. Gesselman, Margaret Bennett-Brown, Jessica T. Campbell, Malia Piazza, Zoe Moscovici, Ellen M. Kaufman, Melissa Blundell Osorio, Olivia R. Adams, Simon Dubé, Jessica J. Hille, Lee Y. S. Weeks, and Justin R. Garcia.

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology suggests that generative artificial intelligence can boost creativity among employees in professional settings. But the research indicates that these tools increase innovative output only when workers use specific mental strategies to manage their own thought processes.

Generative artificial intelligence is a type of technology that can produce new content such as text, images, or computer code. Large language models like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini use massive datasets to predict and generate human-like responses to various prompts. Organizations often implement these tools with the expectation that they will help employees come up with novel and useful ideas. Many leaders believe that providing access to advanced technology will automatically lead to a more innovative workforce.

However, recent surveys indicate that only a small portion of workers feel that these tools actually improve their creative work. The researchers conducted the new study to see if the technology truly helps and to identify which specific factors make it effective. They also wanted to see how these tools function in a real office environment where people manage multiple projects at once. Most previous studies on this topic took place in artificial settings using only one isolated task.

“When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, generative AI quickly became part of daily conversation. Many companies rushed to integrate generative AI tools into their workflows, often expecting that this would make employees more creative and, ultimately, give organizations a competitive advantage,” said study author Shuhua Sun, who holds the Peter W. and Paul A. Callais Professorship in Entrepreneurship at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business.

“What struck us, though, was how little direct evidence existed to support those expectations, especially in real workplaces. Early proof-of-concept studies in labs and online settings began to appear, but their results were mixed. Even more surprisingly, there were almost no randomized field experiments examining how generative AI actually affects employee creativity on the job.”

“At the same time, consulting firms started releasing large-scale surveys on generative AI adoption. These reports showed that only a small percentage of employees felt that using generative AI made them more creative. Taken together with the mixed lab/online findings, this raised a simple but important question for us: If generative AI is supposed to enhance creativity, why does it seem to help only some employees and not others? What are those employees doing differently?”

“That question shaped the core of our project. So, instead of asking simply whether generative AI boosts creativity, we wanted to understand how it does so and for whom. Driven by these questions, we developed a theory and tested it using a randomized field experiment in a real organizational setting.”

The researchers worked with a technology consulting firm in China to conduct their field experiment. This company was an ideal setting because consulting work requires employees to find unique solutions for many different clients. The study included a total of 250 nonmanagerial employees from departments such as technology, sales, and administration. These participants had an average age of about 30 years and most held university degrees.

The researchers randomly split the workers into two groups. The first group received access to ChatGPT accounts and was shown how to use the tool for their daily tasks. The second group served as a control and did not receive access to the artificial intelligence software during the study. To make sure the experiment was fair, the company told the first group that the technology was meant to assist them rather than replace them.

The experiment lasted for about one week. During this time, the researchers tracked how often the treated group used their new accounts. At the end of the week, the researchers collected data from several sources to measure the impact of the tool. They used surveys to ask employees about their work experiences and their thinking habits.

They also asked the employees’ direct supervisors to rate their creative performance. These supervisors did not know which employees were using the artificial intelligence tool. Additionally, the researchers used two external evaluators to judge specific ideas produced by the employees. These evaluators looked at how novel and useful the ideas were without knowing who wrote them.

The researchers looked at cognitive job resources, which are the tools and mental space people need to handle complex work. This includes having enough information and the ability to switch between hard and easy tasks. They also measured metacognitive strategies. This term describes how people actively monitor and adjust their own thinking to reach a goal.

A person with high metacognitive strategies might plan out their steps before starting a task. They also tend to check their own progress and change their approach if they are not making enough headway. The study suggests that the artificial intelligence tool increased the cognitive resources available to employees. The tool helped them find information quickly and allowed them to manage their mental energy more effectively.

The results show that the employees who had access to the technology generally received higher creativity ratings from their supervisors. The external evaluators also gave higher scores for novelty to the ideas produced by this group. The evidence suggests that the tool was most effective when workers already used strong metacognitive strategies. These workers were able to use the technology to fill specific gaps in their knowledge.

For employees who did not use these thinking strategies, the tool did not significantly improve their creative output. These individuals appeared to be less effective at using the technology to gain new resources. The study indicates that the tool provides the raw material for creativity, but the worker must know how to direct the process. Specifically, workers who monitored their own mental state knew when to use the tool to take a break or switch tasks.

This ability to switch tasks is important because it prevents a person from getting stuck on a single way of thinking. When the technology handled routine parts of a job, it gave workers more mental space to focus on complex problem solving. The researchers found that the positive effect of the technology became significant once a worker’s use of thinking strategies reached a certain level. Below that threshold, the tool did not provide a clear benefit for creativity.

The cognitive approach to creativity suggests that coming up with new ideas is a mental process of searching through different areas of knowledge. People must find pieces of information and then combine them in ways that have not been tried before. This process can be very demanding because people have a limited amount of time and mental energy. Researchers call this the knowledge burden.

It takes a lot of effort to find, process, and understand new information from different fields. If a person spends all their energy just gathering facts, they might not have enough strength left to actually be creative. Artificial intelligence can help by taking over the task of searching for and summarizing information. This allows the human worker to focus on the high level task of combining those facts into something new.

Metacognition is essentially thinking about one’s own thinking. It involves a person being aware of what they know and what they do not know. When a worker uses metacognitive strategies, they act like a coach for their own brain. They ask themselves if their current plan is working or if they need to try a different path.

The study shows that this self-awareness is what allows a person to use artificial intelligence effectively. Instead of just accepting whatever the computer says, a strategic thinker uses the tool to test specific ideas. The statistical analysis revealed that the artificial intelligence tool provided workers with more room to think. This extra mental space came from having better access to knowledge and more chances to take mental breaks.

The researchers used a specific method called multilevel analysis to account for the way employees were organized within departments and teams. This helps ensure that the findings are not skewed by the influence of a single department or manager. The researchers also checked to see if other factors like past job performance or self-confidence played a role. Even when they accounted for these variables, the link between thinking strategies and the effective use of artificial intelligence remained strong.

The data showed that the positive impact of the tool on creativity was quite large for those who managed their thinking well. For those with low scores in that area, the tool had almost no impact on their creative performance. To test creativity specifically, the researchers asked participants to solve a real problem. They had to provide suggestions for protecting employee privacy in a digital office.

This task required at least 70 Chinese characters in response. It was designed to see if the participants could think of novel ways to prevent information leaks or excessive monitoring by leadership. The external raters then scored these responses based on how original and useful they were. This provided a more objective look at creativity than just asking a supervisor for their opinion.

“The main takeaway is that generative AI does not automatically make people more creative,” Sun told PsyPost. “Simply providing access to AI tools is not enough, and in many cases it yields little creative benefit. Our findings show that the creative value of AI depends on how people engage with it during the creative process. Individuals who actively monitor their own understanding, recognize what kind of help they need, and deliberately decide when and how to use AI are much more likely to benefit creatively.”

“In contrast, relying on AI in a more automatic or unreflective way tends to produce weaker creative outcomes. For the average person, the message is simple: AI helps creativity when it is used thoughtfully: Pausing to reflect on what you need, deciding when AI can be useful, and actively shaping its output iteratively are what distinguish creative gains from generic results.”

As with all research, there are some limitations to consider. The researchers relied on workers to report their own thinking strategies, which can sometimes be inaccurate. The study also took place in a single company within one specific country. People in different cultures might interact with artificial intelligence in different ways.

Future research could look at how long-term use of these tools affects human skills. There is a possibility that relying too much on technology could make people less independent over time. Researchers might also explore how team dynamics influence the way people use these tools. Some office environments might encourage better thinking habits than others.

It would also be helpful to see if the benefits of these tools continue to grow over several months or if they eventually level off. These questions will be important as technology continues to change the way we work. The findings suggest that simply buying new software is not enough to make a company more innovative. Organizations should also consider training their staff to be more aware of their own thinking processes.

Since the benefits of artificial intelligence depend on a worker’s thinking habits, generic software training might not be enough. Instead, programs might need to focus on how to analyze a task and how to monitor one’s own progress. These metacognitive skills are often overlooked in traditional professional development. The researchers note that these skills can be taught through short exercises. Some of these involve reflecting on past successes or practicing new ways to plan out a workday.

The study, “How and for Whom Using Generative AI Affects Creativity: A Field Experiment,” was authored by Shuhua Sun, Zhuyi Angelina Li, Maw-Der Foo, Jing Zhou, and Jackson G. Lu.

A new study published in Evolution and Human Behavior suggests that modern women may not chemically signal fertility through vulvar body odor, a trait commonly observed in other primates. The findings indicate that men are unable to detect when a woman is in the fertile phase of her menstrual cycle based solely on the scent of the vulvar region. This research challenges the idea that humans have retained these specific evolutionary mating signals.

In the animal kingdom, particularly among non-human primates like lemurs, baboons, and chimpanzees, females often broadcast their reproductive status to males. This is frequently done through olfactory signals, specifically odors from the genital region, which change chemically during the fertile window. These scents serve as information for males, helping them identify when a female is capable of conceiving. Because humans share a deep evolutionary history with these primates, scientists have debated whether modern women retain these chemical signals.

A concept known as the “leaky-cue hypothesis” proposes that women might unintentionally emit subtle physiological signs of fertility. While previous research has investigated potential signals in armpit odor, voice pitch, or facial attractiveness, results have been inconsistent.

The specific scent of the vulvar region has remained largely unexplored using modern, rigorous methods, despite its biological potential as a source of chemical communication. To address this gap, a team led by Madita Zetzsche from the Behavioural Ecology Research Group at Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology conducted a detailed investigation.

The researchers recruited 28 women to serve as odor donors. These participants were between the ages of 20 and 30, did not use hormonal contraception, and had regular menstrual cycles. To ensure the accuracy of the fertility data, the team did not rely on simple calendar counting. Instead, they used high-sensitivity urinary tests to detect luteinizing hormone and analyzed saliva samples to measure levels of estradiol and progesterone. This allowed the scientists to pinpoint the exact day of ovulation for each participant.

To prevent external factors from altering body odor, the donors adhered to a strict lifestyle protocol. They followed a vegetarian or vegan diet and avoided foods with strong scents, such as garlic, onion, and asparagus, as well as alcohol and tobacco. The women provided samples at ten specific points during their menstrual cycle. These points were clustered around the fertile window to capture any rapid changes in odor that might occur just before or during ovulation.

The study consisted of two distinct parts: a chemical analysis and a perceptual test. For the chemical analysis, the researchers collected 146 vulvar odor samples from a subset of 16 women. They used a specialized portable pump to draw air from the vulvar region into stainless steel tubes containing polymers designed to trap volatile compounds. These are the lightweight chemical molecules that evaporate into the air and create scent.

The team analyzed these samples using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. This is a laboratory technique that separates a mixture into its individual chemical components and identifies them. The researchers looked for changes in the chemical profile that corresponded to the women’s conception risk and hormone levels. They specifically sought to determine if the abundance of certain chemical compounds rose or fell in a pattern that tracked the menstrual cycle.

The chemical analysis revealed no consistent evidence that the overall scent profile changed in a way that would allow fertility to be tracked across the menstrual cycle. While some specific statistical models suggested a potential link between the risk of conception and levels of certain substances—such as an increase in acetic acid and a decrease in a urea-related compound—these findings were not stable. When the researchers ran robustness checks, such as excluding samples from donors who had slightly violated dietary rules, the associations disappeared. The researchers concluded that there is likely a low retention of chemical fertility cues in the vulvar odor of modern women.

In the second part of the study, 139 men participated as odor raters. To collect the scent for this experiment, the female participants wore cotton pads in their underwear overnight for approximately 12 hours. These pads were then frozen to preserve the scent and later presented to the male participants in glass vials. The men, who were unaware of the women’s fertility status, sniffed the samples and rated them on three dimensions: attractiveness, pleasantness, and intensity.

The perceptual results aligned with the chemical findings. The statistical analysis showed that the men’s ratings were not influenced by the women’s fertility status. The men did not find the odor of women in their fertile window to be more attractive or pleasant than the odor collected during non-fertile days. Neither the risk of conception nor the levels of reproductive hormones predicted how the men perceived the scents.

These null results were consistent even when the researchers looked at the data in different ways, such as examining specific hormone levels or the temporal distance to ovulation. The study implies that if humans ever possessed the ability to signal fertility through vulvar scent, this trait has likely diminished significantly over evolutionary time.

The researchers suggest several reasons for why these cues might have been lost or suppressed in humans. Unlike most primates that walk on four legs, humans walk upright. This bipedalism moves the genital region away from the nose of other individuals, potentially reducing the role of genital odor in social communication. Additionally, human cultural practices, such as wearing clothing and maintaining high levels of hygiene, may have further obscured any remaining chemical signals.

It is also possible that social odors in humans have shifted to other parts of the body, such as the armpits, although evidence for axillary fertility cues remains mixed. The researchers noted that while they found no evidence of fertility signaling in this context, it remains possible that such cues require more intimate contact or sexual arousal to be detected, conditions that were not replicated in the laboratory.

Additionally, the strict dietary and behavioral controls, while necessary for scientific rigor, might not reflect real-world conditions where diet varies. The sample size for the chemical analysis was also relatively small, which can make it difficult to detect very subtle effects.

Future research could investigate whether these cues exist in more naturalistic settings or investigate the role of the vaginal microbiome, which differs significantly between humans and non-human primates. The high levels of Lactobacillus bacteria in humans create a more acidic environment, which might alter the chemical volatility of potential fertility signals.

The study, “Understanding olfactory fertility cues in humans: chemical analysis of women’s vulvar odour and perceptual detection of these cues by men,” was authored by Madita Zetzsche, Marlen Kücklich, Brigitte M. Weiß, Julia Stern, Andrea C. Marcillo Lara, Claudia Birkemeyer, Lars Penke, and Anja Widdig.

Living in a modern environment often means enduring a constant hum of background noise and physical vibration. From the rumble of heavy traffic to the oscillation of industrial machinery, these invisible stressors can gradually erode mental well-being.

A new study suggests that a specific color of light might offer a simple way to counter the anxiety caused by this chronic environmental agitation. The research indicates that blue light exposure can calm the nervous system even when the physical stress of vibration continues. These findings were published in the journal Physiology & Behavior.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health challenges globally. They typically arise from a complicated mix of biological traits and social pressures. Environmental factors are playing an increasingly large role in this equation. Chronic exposure to low-frequency noise and vibration is known to disrupt the body’s hormonal balance. This disruption frequently leads to psychological symptoms such as irritability, fatigue, and persistent anxiety.

Doctors often prescribe medication to manage these conditions once a diagnosis is clear. These drugs usually work by altering the chemical signals in the brain to inhibit anxious feelings. However, pharmaceutical interventions are not always the best first step for early-stage anxiety. There is a growing demand for therapies that are accessible and carry fewer side effects. This has led scientists to investigate light therapy as a promising alternative.

Light does more than allow us to see. It also regulates our internal biological clocks and influences our mood. Specialized cells in the eyes detect light and send signals directly to the brain regions that control hormones. This pathway allows light to modulate the release of neurotransmitters associated with emotional well-being.

Despite this general knowledge, there has been little research on how specific light wavelengths might combat anxiety caused specifically by vibration. A team of researchers decided to fill this gap using zebrafish as a model organism. Zebrafish are small, tropical freshwater fish that are widely used in neuroscience. Their brain chemistry and genetic structure share many similarities with humans.

The study was led by Longfei Huo and senior author Muqing Liu from the School of Information Science and Technology at Fudan University in China. They aimed to identify if light could serve as a preventative measure against vibration-induced stress. The team designed a controlled experiment to first establish which vibrations caused the most stress. They subsequently tested whether light could reverse that stress.

The researchers began by separating the zebrafish into different groups. Each group was exposed to a specific frequency of vibration for one hour daily. The frequencies tested were 30, 50, and 100 Hertz. To ensure consistency, the acceleration of the vibration was kept constant across all groups. This phase of the experiment lasted for one week.

To measure anxiety in fish, the scientists relied on established behavioral patterns. When zebrafish are comfortable, they swim freely throughout their tank. When they are anxious, they tend to sink to the bottom. They also exhibit “thigmotaxis,” which is a tendency to hug the walls of the tank rather than exploring open water.

The team utilized a “novel tank test” to observe these behaviors. They placed the fish in a new environment and recorded how much time they spent in the lower half. The results showed that daily exposure to vibration made the fish act more anxious. The effect was strongest in the group exposed to 100 Hertz. These fish spent a statistically significant amount of time at the bottom of the tank.

The researchers also used a “light-dark box test.” In this setup, half the tank is illuminated and the other half is dark. Anxious fish prefer to hide in the dark. The fish exposed to 100 Hertz vibration spent much more time in the dark zones compared to the control group. This confirmed that the vibration was inducing a strong anxiety-like state.

After establishing that 100 Hertz vibration caused the most stress, the researchers moved to the second phase of the study. They wanted to see if light color could mitigate this effect. They repeated the vibration exposure but added a light therapy component. While the fish underwent vibration, they were bathed in either red, green, blue, or white light.

The blue light used in the experiment had a wavelength of 455 nanometers. The red light was 654 nanometers, and the green was 512 nanometers. The light exposure lasted for two hours each day. The researchers then ran a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests to see if the light made a difference.

The team found that the color of the light had a profound impact on the mental state of the fish. Zebrafish exposed to the blue light showed much less anxiety than those in the other groups. In the novel tank test, the blue-light group spent less time at the bottom. They explored the upper regions of the water almost as much as fish that had never been vibrated at all.

In contrast, the red light appeared to offer no benefit. In some metrics, the red light seemed to make the anxiety slightly worse. Fish under red light spent the longest time hiding in the dark during the light-dark box test. This suggests that the calming effect is specific to the wavelength of the light and not just the brightness.

The researchers also introduced two innovative testing methods to validate their results. One was a “social interaction test.” Zebrafish are social animals and usually prefer to be near others. Stress often causes them to withdraw. The researchers placed a group of fish inside a transparent cylinder within the tank. They then measured how much time the test fish spent near this cylinder.

Fish exposed to vibration and white light avoided the group. However, the fish treated with blue light spent a large amount of time near their peers. This indicated that their social anxiety had been alleviated. The blue light restored their natural desire to interact with others.

The second new method was a “pipeline swimming test.” This involved placing the fish in a tube with a gentle current. The setup allowed the scientists to easily measure swimming distance and smoothness of movement. Stressed fish tended to swim erratically or struggle against the flow. The blue-light group swam longer distances with smoother trajectories.

To understand the biological mechanism behind these behavioral changes, the scientists analyzed the fish’s brain chemistry. They measured the levels of three key chemicals: cortisol, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Cortisol is the primary stress hormone in both fish and humans. High levels of cortisol are a hallmark of physiological stress.

The analysis revealed that vibration exposure caused a spike in cortisol and norepinephrine. This hormonal surge matched the anxious behavior observed in the tanks. However, the application of blue light blocked this increase. The fish treated with blue light had cortisol levels comparable to the unstressed control group.

Even more striking was the effect on serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood and promotes feelings of well-being. The study found that 455 nm blue light specifically boosted serotonin levels in the fish. This suggests that blue light works by simultaneously lowering stress hormones and enhancing mood-regulating chemicals.

The authors propose that the blue light activates specific cells in the retina. These cells, known as intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, contain a pigment called melanopsin. Melanopsin is highly sensitive to blue wavelengths. When activated, these cells send calming signals to the brain’s emotional centers.

There are some limitations to this study that must be considered. The research focused heavily on specific frequencies and wavelengths. It is possible that other combinations of light and vibration could yield different results. The study also did not investigate potential interaction effects between the light and vibration in a full factorial design.

Additionally, while zebrafish are a good model, they are not humans. The neural pathways are similar, but the complexity of human anxiety involves higher-level cognitive processes. Future research will need to replicate these findings in mammals. Scientists will also need to determine the optimal intensity and duration of light exposure for therapeutic use.

The study opens up new possibilities for managing environmental stress. It suggests that modifying our lighting environments could protect against the invisible toll of noise and vibration. For those living or working in industrial areas, blue light therapy could become a simple, non-invasive tool for mental health.

The study, “Blue light exposure mitigates vibration noise-induced anxiety by enhancing serotonin levels,” was authored by Longfei Huo, Xiaojing Miao, Yi Ren, Xuran Zhang, Qiqi Fu, Jiali Yang, and Muqing Liu.