Objectives: Racial discrimination experiences contribute to health disparities and can influence individuals’ health. Yet, pathways by which discrimination-related experiences affect alcohol craving remain understudied using experimental designs. Additionally, limited research has examined possible differential effects of “major” discrimination and microaggression experiences in everyday life on alcohol craving. This between-groups experiment examined causal effects of everyday racial discrimination on stress, negative emotions, and alcohol craving. We also tested indirect pathways by which discrimination-related experiences were linked to alcohol craving via stress and negative emotions. Method: People of color and Indigenous peoples participated in the study (N=184; Mage=23.90; 47.8% women; 48.9% community adults). Participants were randomized to one of four experimental conditions, in which they experienced in virtual environments either “major” discrimination, microinsult, microinvalidation, or daily hassles unrelated to race/racism. Participants’ levels of stress, negative emotions, and alcohol craving were assessed immediately before and after experimental simulations. Results: Compared to daily hassles unrelated to race/racism, simulated racial discrimination elicited greater stress and negative emotions. Daily hassles caused greater alcohol craving among those who endorsed higher levels of coping motives for drinking. We observed minimal differences in stress and negative emotions across the three racial discrimination conditions, and found no evidence supporting indirect links between racial discrimination and alcohol craving via stress and negative emotions. Conclusion: Everyday racial discrimination—regardless of intensity level—is more stressful than daily hassles unrelated to race/racism. Future research should examine cumulative effects of racial discrimination, and understanding individual difference factors that moderate its immediate and delayed effects.

Evidence about the relationship between lighting and crime is mixed. Although a review of evidence found that improved road/ street lighting was associated with reductions in crime, these reductions occurred in daylight as well as after dark, suggesting any effect was not due only to changes in visual conditions. One limitation of previous studies is that crime data are reported in aggregate and thus previous analyses were required to make simplifications concerning types of crimes or locations. We addressed this issue by working with a UK police force to access records of individual crimes. We used these data to determine whether the risk of crime at a specific time of day is greater after dark than during daylight, using a case and control approach to analyse ten years of crime data. We compared counts of crimes in ‘case’ hours, that are in daylight and darkness at different times of the year, and ‘control’ hours, that are in daylight throughout the year. From these counts we calculated odds ratios as a measure of the effect of darkness on risk of crime. The results supported our three hypotheses: 1) The risk of overall crime occurring after dark was greater than during daylight (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.23–1.34); 2) The risk of crime occurring after dark varied depending on crime category, with five out of fourteen crime categories having odds ratios greater than 1.0; and 3) The risk of crime occurring after dark varied depending on geographical area, with 25 out of 172 Middle Super Output Areas in South Yorkshire having odds ratios greater than 1.0. Our results suggest darkness increases the risk of Bicycle Theft, Burglary, Criminal damage, Robbery – personal, and Vehicle offences, and that some areas may be at more risk of crime occurring after dark than others. These findings suggest the crime types where outdoor lighting may help reduce the risk of crime after dark.

Deciding whether two face photographs depict the same person or not can be a challenging task, and there are substantial individual differences in face matching ability. Far less is known about differences in metacognitive ability; that is, how well people can estimate the quality of their own face matching judgements. The purpose of this Registered Report was to determine the relationship between first-order performance in a face matching task, and three metacognitive measures: metacognitive sensitivity (the information exploited by metacognition), metacognitive efficiency (the quality of metacognitive processing itself), and metacognitive bias (the overall tendency towards high or low confidence). Participants completed a 200-trial unfamiliar face matching task, providing a second-order (metacognitive) confidence rating after each first-order (cognitive) response. Cognitive performance and metacognitive sensitivity showed a substantial positive association (rs = .60), suggesting that they were based on overlapping information, with poorer performers having lower quality information available. Once these differences in the information available to metacognition were accounted for, the quality of metacognitive processing itself (metacognitive efficiency) did not vary systematically with cognitive performance (rs = .00). Moreover, poor performers were not less or more confident overall than good performers, as cognitive performance and metacognitive bias did not correlate significantly (rs = .11). These findings allow us to move beyond consideration of group-level insight and inform regarding individual differences in cognitive and metacognitive abilities.

Selective reporting is the exclusion of some study results from research reports, usually those that do not support claims of intervention effectiveness. Selective reporting inflates the perceived effects of an intervention and may mislead researchers and professionals to erroneous conclusions and courses of action. This registered report systematically investigated selective reporting in single-case experimental research studies in special education by comparing data and results reported in dissertation research published between 2010 and 2015 to respective published journal articles. Our search yielded 1,810 dissertations, of which 124 were published as journal articles and coded for discrepancies. Of the 41 dissertation-article pairs with discrepancies, we found 10 (8%) pairs that appeared to selectively report results for one or more participants and/or dependent variables. Published articles tended to report a greater number of experimental effects with larger effect sizes than dissertations. Researchers using single-case experimental designs should resist selective reporting and adopt open and transparent reporting practices.

Women are widely assumed to be more talkative than men. Challenging this assumption, Mehl et al. (2007) provided empirical evidence that men and women do not differ significantly in their daily word use, speaking about 16,000 words per day (WPD) each. However, concerns were raised that their sample was too small to yield generalizable estimates and too age and context homogeneous to permit inferences beyond college students. This registered report replicated and extended the previous study of binary gender differences in daily word use to address these concerns. Across 2,197 participants (more than five-fold the original sample size), pooled over 22 samples (631,030 ambient audio recordings), men spoke on average 11,950 WPD and women 13,349 WPD, with very large individual differences (120,000 WPD). The estimated gender difference (1,073 WPD; d = 0.13; 95% CrI [316, 1,824]) was about twice as large as in the original study. Smaller differences emerged among adolescent (513 WPD), emerging adult (841 WPD), and older adult (−788 WPD) participants, but a substantially larger difference emerged for participants in early and middle adulthood (3,275 WPD; d = 0.32). Despite the considerable sample size(s), all estimates carried large statistical uncertainty and, except for the gender difference in early and middle adulthood, provide inconclusive evidence regarding whether the two genders ultimately speak a practically equivalent number of WPD, based on the preregistered ± 1,000 WPD regions of practical equivalence criterion. Experienced stress had no meaningful effect on the gender difference, and no clear pattern emerged as to whether the gender difference is accentuated for subjectively rated compared with objectively observed talkativeness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Background: As family caregivers of patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation have multifaceted caregiving responsibilities (such as medical, household, financial) of long duration, they also have multiple physical, social, psychological, and informational needs. Objective: This study explored the prevalence of electronic health record patient portal use by family caregivers for managing both their own and their hematopoietic cell transplantation care recipient’s health, as well as potential factors associated with portal use. Methods: An electronic caregiver health survey, first developed via cognitive interviewing methods of hematopoietic cell transplantation caregivers, was distributed nationally (in the United States) by patient advocacy organizations to family caregivers of hematopoietic cell transplantation patients. It was used to assess self-reported caregiver demographics, caregiving characteristics, depression and anxiety with the Patient Health Questionnaire–4, coping with the Brief COPE, and caregiver portal use to manage care recipient’s and their own health. Results: We found that 77% of respondents (720/937) accessed electronic health record patient portals for their care recipients, themselves, or both. Multivariate models indicated use of care recipient electronic health record portals by caregivers was more likely with young, White, married, low-income caregivers caring for a parent, residing with the care recipient, and experiencing more caregiver depression. Caregiver use of their own electronic health record portal was more likely with young, White, high-income caregivers caring for a parent and experiencing chronic medical conditions of their own. Partially due to multicollinearity, anxiety and coping did not contribute independently to this model. Conclusions: Findings from the survey could open avenues for future research into caregiver use of technology for informational support or intervention, including wearables and mobile health.

Background: Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation (tcVNS) is a promising alternative to implantable stimulation of the vagus nerve. With demonstrated potential in myriad applications, ranging from systemic inflammation reduction to traumatic stress attenuation, closed-loop tcVNS during periods of risk could improve treatment efficacy and reduce ineffective delivery. However, achieving this requires a deeper understanding of biomarker changes over time. Objective: The aim of the present study was to reveal the dynamics of relevant cardiovascular biomarkers, extracted from wearable sensing modalities, in response to tcVNS. Methods: Twenty-four human subjects were recruited for a randomized double-blind clinical trial, for whom electrocardiography and photoplethysmography were used to measure heart rate and photoplethysmogram amplitude responses to tcVNS, respectively. Modeling these responses in state-space, we (1) compared the biomarkers in terms of their predictability and active vs sham differentiation, (2) studied the latency between stimulation onset and measurable effects, and (3) visualized the true and model-simulated biomarker responses to tcVNS. Results: The models accurately predicted future heart rate and photoplethysmogram amplitude values with root mean square errors of approximately one-fifth the standard deviations of the data. Moreover, (1) the photoplethysmogram amplitude showed superior predictability (P=.03) and active vs sham separation compared to heart rate; (2) a consistent delay of greater than 5 seconds was found between tcVNS onset and cardiovascular effects; and (3) dynamic characteristics differentiated responses to tcVNS from the sham stimulation. Conclusions: This work furthers the state of the art by modeling pertinent biomarker responses to tcVNS. Through subsequent analysis, we discovered three key findings with implications related to (1) wearable sensing devices for bioelectronic medicine, (2) the dominant mechanism of action for tcVNS-induced effects on cardiovascular physiology, and (3) the existence of dynamic biomarker signatures that can be leveraged when titrating therapy in closed loop. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02992899; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02992899

Background: Asthma hospital encounters impose a heavy burden on the health care system. To improve preventive care and outcomes for patients with asthma, we recently developed a black-box machine learning model to predict whether a patient with asthma will have one or more asthma hospital encounters in the succeeding 12 months. Our model is more accurate than previous models. However, black-box machine learning models do not explain their predictions, which forms a barrier to widespread clinical adoption. To solve this issue, we previously developed a method to automatically provide rule-based explanations for the model’s predictions and to suggest tailored interventions without sacrificing model performance. For an average patient correctly predicted by our model to have future asthma hospital encounters, our explanation method generated over 5000 rule-based explanations, if any. However, the user of the automated explanation function, often a busy clinician, will want to quickly obtain the most useful information for a patient by viewing only the top few explanations. Therefore, a methodology is required to appropriately rank the explanations generated for a patient. However, this is currently an open problem. Objective: The aim of this study is to develop a method to appropriately rank the rule-based explanations that our automated explanation method generates for a patient. Methods: We developed a ranking method that struck a balance among multiple factors. Through a secondary analysis of 82,888 data instances of adults with asthma from the University of Washington Medicine between 2011 and 2018, we demonstrated our ranking method on the test case of predicting asthma hospital encounters in patients with asthma. Results: For each patient predicted to have asthma hospital encounters in the succeeding 12 months, the top few explanations returned by our ranking method typically have high quality and low redundancy. Many top-ranked explanations provide useful insights on the various aspects of the patient’s situation, which cannot be easily obtained by viewing the patient’s data in the current electronic health record system. Conclusions: The explanation ranking module is an essential component of the automated explanation function, and it addresses the interpretability issue that deters the widespread adoption of machine learning predictive models in clinical practice. In the next few years, we plan to test our explanation ranking method on predictive modeling problems addressing other diseases as well as on data from other health care systems. Trial Registration:

Background: Automatic biases, such as attentional biases and avoidance and interpretative biases, have been purported to be responsible for several psychiatric disorders. Gamification has been considered for cognitive bias modification, mainly to address the core issues of diminishing motivation to train over time, as bias modification intervention tasks tend to be highly repetitive. While a prior review has suggested how gamification strategies could be applied to such tasks, there remains a lack of systematic evaluation of gamified cognitive bias modification interventions in the literature. Objective: The objective of this review is to understand the overall effectiveness of a gamified approach for cognitive bias modification and inform future research that seeks to integrate gamification technologies into existing conventional bias modification interventions. Methods: To identify the relevant articles for our review, the following search terminologies were used: (“cognitive bias” OR “attention bias” OR “interpret* bias” OR “approach bias” OR “avoidance bias”) AND (“training” OR “modification” OR “practice” OR “therapy”) AND (“gamification” OR “game elements” OR “game” OR “gaming” OR “game mechanics”). PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases were searched systematically for articles published after 2000. Articles were included if they described a gamified cognitive bias modification task and included participants with underlying psychopathological symptoms. Data were systematically extracted from the identified articles, and a qualitative synthesis was performed. Results: Four studies evaluated gamified cognitive bias modification interventions. Two studies included participants with anxiety symptoms, one with affective symptoms, and one with alcohol problems. The conventional visual probe task paradigm was used in 3 studies, and the attentional visual search task paradigm was used in the last study. We found gaming elements incorporated to include that of animations, sounds, feedback, and a point-scoring system for response time and difficulty. Of the 4 identified studies, only 2 reported their gamified interventions to be effective. Conclusions: Our review is the first to systematically synthesize the evidence for gamified cognitive bias modification interventions. The results arising from our review should be considered in the future design and conceptualization of gamified cognitive bias modification interventions. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/10154

In this registered report, we stress-tested existing models for predicting the ideology-prejudice association, which varies in size and direction across target groups. Previous models of this relationship use perceived ideology, status, and choice in group membership of target groups to predict the ideology-prejudice association across target groups. These analyses show that models using only the perceived ideology of the target group are more accurate and parsimonious in predicting the ideology-prejudice association than models using perceived status, choice, and all three characteristics in one model. Here, we stress-tested the original models by testing the models’ predictive utility with new measures of explicit prejudice, a comparative operationalization of prejudice, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and additional target groups. In Study 1, we directly tested the previous models using absolute measures of prejudice that closely resemble the measures used in the original study. Our results indicated that the models replicate with distinct, yet conceptually similar measures of prejudice. As in previous work, our ideology-only and ideology, status, and choice models were the best predictors of the ideologyprejudice association. In Study 2, we developed new ideology-prejudice models for a comparative operationalization of prejudice using both explicit measures and the Implicit Association Test. We tested these new models using data from the Ideology 2.0 project collected by Project Implicit. Our results indicate that this model-building strategy was not effective for relative or IAT prejudice measures. We found no significant differences in predictive ability between the models. These results indicate that the ideology-only and ideology, status, and choice models are effective in predicting the ideology-prejudice association in a variety of absolute prejudice measures, but our results suggest this may not generalize to relative or IAT measures.

A recommendation of: Federica Ruzzante, Gustavo Cevolani, Folco Panizza Scrolling to wisdom: the impact of social media news exposure on knowledge perception https://osf.io/s3e49

Although in recent years some studies have found evidence suggesting that working memory (WM) may operate on unconscious perceptual contents, decisive demonstrations of the existence of unconscious WM are lacking. In the present Registered Report, we replicate the first study on this topic by Soto et al. (Working memory without consciousness. Curr Biol 2011;21:R912–3.): a visual discrimination task asking participants to report the direction in which a subliminal Gabor grating was rotated after a 2-s delay. We acquired a multisite sample from 19 laboratories, with a larger number of participants (N = 531) and trials (720 in two sessions) than those typically used in previous studies. As a result, a large-sample, international, and open-access dataset is now available for researchers and future analyses. Furthermore, some minimal baseline requirements were guaranteed for the experimental task (i.e. number of valid trials, motivation, and consistent labels for the Perceptual Awareness Scale). The results showed (1) above-chance WM performance in cue-present trials reported as unseen (.55 accuracy), (2) a significant positive correlation between WM performance and cue detection sensitivity (r = .228), and (3) a significant above-chance intercept in the regression of performance on sensitivity (β0 = .521). These findings suggest that WM can operate on unconscious representations, although it remains positively associated with perceptual sensitivity. Crucially, because measurement error could compromise the interpretation of these three results, we provide evidence for our measures’ excellent reliability and, more fundamentally, for their validity.

While agency detection has been used to explain religious phenomena, there are two competing theories regarding the neurocognitive mechanism underlying it: hyperactive agency detection device (HADD) and the predictive processing-based model. Those two theories differ in their predictions regarding the impact of feeling of threat on agency detection. The present study aimed to put this hypothesized effect to a new test in virtual reality. One hundred ninety-nine participants explored an agentless, foggy virtual forest, instructed to press a button whenever they perceive a being. While all participants were primed to expect a stable number of agents, we manipulated the description of beings, introducing them as either hostile or neutral, depending on the group. We also measured participants’ heart rate and their reported anxiety during the task. To test our hypotheses, we performed a Wilcoxon’s test for our main analysis. Two linear regressions models have been run to examine the moderating effect of arousal and whether anxiety mediates the relationship between priming and agency detection. We also performed a test of statistical equivalence and exploratory analyses. The study did not confirm that people are more likely to falsely detect agents when they expect them to be dangerous, which casts doubt on HADD conceptualized as a threat-triggered mechanism. However, we found several patterns in both quantitative and qualitative data which call for further studies on the topic of agency detection as a building block of religious and spiritual phenomena.

Recent advances in gene editing technology promise much for medical advances and human well-being. However, in parallel domains, there have been objections to the use of such biotechnologies. Moreover, the psychological factors that govern the willingness to use gene editing technology have been underexplored to date. In this registered report, we sought to test whether pathogen disgust sensitivity is linked with opposition to gene editing. U.K.-based adult participants (N = 347) were recruited to this study. Gene editing attitudes reflected two largely distinct latent factors concerning enhancing human traits and treating medical disorders. In contrast to prediction, pathogen disgust sensitivity was related to greater support for gene editing in both of these domains. This result suggests that gene editing, at least in the current study, is not viewed as pathogenic, or that the perceived benefits of gene editing outweigh any perceived pathogen risk.

Nudges have become increasingly popular among policymakers as a tool to stimulate desirable behavior for individuals or society. One of the most prevailing assumptions of nudges is that they make use of automatic processing. Yet, this assumption has received little attention in experimental research. In two preregistered and high powered studies, we investigated this hypothesized working mechanism by using a nudge that has most typically been described as a Type 1 nudge: defaults. In both studies, we used a scenario in which participants could choose from a list of green amenities, which were either preselected (opt-out condition) or not (opt-in condition). In Study 1, we investigated the effectiveness of this default nudge under Type 1 processing by manipulating cognitive load. In Study 2, we investigated its effectiveness under Type 2 processing by explicitly instructing half of the participants to deliberate upon their choice. Both studies revealed strong and robust evidence for the default effect. Study 1 further revealed that this default effect was statistically equivalent under cognitive load. Study 2 revealed that the default effect was not attenuated when participants deliberated upon their decision, but instead showed a main effect of deliberation. Together, this implies that default nudges are not dependent on elaborate processing in order to be effective, but that deliberation can in parallel lead to different choice outcomes.

Although the concept of inclusion of the other in the self (IOS) has been successfully assessed with explicit self-report measures, implicit procedures have been neglected in past literature. The present article explores the validity of such an implicit measure by proposing several extensions and adaptions. We addressed methodological problems of a me/not-me response latency task developed in this literature by proposing changes in material, calculation of indices and implemented the task in an online environment. We also addressed earlier problems with statistical power and proposed a more powerful way of statistical analyses using mixed models. The me/not-me task is based on the idea that higher overlap between self and other traits results in faster response times of characterizing such a trait as descriptive of the self. This relationship should be observed for close others but not for non-close others. In a sample of 339 U.S American adults, we experimentally manipulated the nature of the target (close vs. distant) and participants engaged in the adapted me/not-me paradigm. Results indicated that trait match had a stronger negative effect on response times for participants in the close condition. The effect was also stronger for participants rating the target higher on the IOS self-report scale. We also provided convergent validity of the me/not-me procedure with other constructs ostensibly measuring interpersonal closeness. Future applications and possible limitations are discussed.

Research into emotional mimicry has found that the extent to which we mimic others depends on group membership and the emotion at hand. Particularly, negative emotions are mimicked more when expressed by the perceiver’s ingroup. It is, however, still debated what process underlies emotional mimicry and whether previous findings of enhanced mimicry of negative emotions expressed by ingroup members are robust. We therefore first aimed to replicate Study 2 of van der Schalk, Fischer et al. (2011), specifically testing the finding of differences in emotional mimicry for models from different ethnic groups. Moreover, we extended the study by (1) including nonverbal emotional vocalizations and (2) including all negative emotions that were previously studied in a group mimicry context, that is, anger, fear, and sadness, in addition to happiness. We test two alternative explanations of emotional mimicry: whether emotional mimicry is a matched-motor response or whether emotional mimicry is influenced by meaning and context as proposed by the Emotion Mimicry in Context view. The results do not replicate the findings of van der Schalk, Fischer et al. (2011). For the facial and vocalization stimuli, we did not find emotional mimicry effects for anger, fear, or sadness, neither did we find effects of group membership. We only found emotional mimicry effects for happiness (action units 6 and 12) in the facial study. We discuss various explanations for the lack of findings, with the within-subjects design as most likely explanation.

Across a diversity of contexts, men tend to exhibit greater intergroup bias than do women. However, in the domain of dating, this trend is reversed, such that women more strongly prefer to date men of their own racial group. Researchers employing an evolutionary perspective suggest that this sex difference can be explained by an evolutionary history in which men and women faced distinct adaptive challenges in their interactions with outgroup men. For women, outgroup men posed a recurrent threat of sexual coercion. Given the importance of reproductive choice in female mating strategies, this may have exerted selection pressure for psychological mechanisms that promote avoidance of outgroup men. Here we pre-registered a two-study design to examine whether women’s intergroup dating bias, manipulated via nationality to control for racial stereotypes, could be altered by manipulating the formidability of outgroup dating targets, thereby ameliorating or exacerbating their perceived threat. The design did not produce the predicted pattern of intergroup bias, suggesting that the manipulation of group status may need to be stronger. Implications and future directions are discussed.

To be able to implement nudges in an effective and ethically defensible manner, it is important to understand why some persons find nudges objectionable. Drawing on moral foundations theory, we investigated the moral roots of attitudes to pro-self nudges (which benefit the agent) and pro-social nudges (which benefit society). This registered report is based on a preregistered replication and extension (N = 607) of a first non-preregistered study (N = 629) with diverse samples of Swedish adults. We found that (a) individualizing moral intuitions concerning harm prevention and fairness were associated with the perceived acceptability of the nudges, (b) binding moral intuitions concerning in group loyalties, traditions, and sanctity were associated with the perception that nudges infringe on the agent’s freedom, and (c) individualist concern with freedom from the government’s interference in human lives, and with liberty in general, was associated with the perception that nudges restrict the agent’s freedom and are not acceptable. Opponents of nudging identified through cluster analysis exhibited high concern with liberty and low concern with individualizing and egalitarian values. These results were similar across studies and nudges, and they were consistent with our hypotheses, although individualist concern with freedom from the government specifically was the most robust unique predictor of opposition to nudges. Taken together, our findings suggest that opposition to nudges is rooted in attitudes concerning the conflict between public promotion of social goals, such as well-being, justice, or equality, and respect for the individual’s freedom from interference from the government.

Research shows that high levels of media multitasking (either situationally induced or chronic) may be associated with decreased cognitive function. Since cognitive capacity is required for efficient correction of one’s judgment after learning that the basis of the judgement is no longer valid, we expected that high levels of media multitasking would decrease one’s ability to adequately update one’s beliefs. We ran two studies in which participants were asked to form an impression of a target person based on their profile on a professional networking site. The profile contained either neutral information (control condition) or a negative comment which was later disproven (false-information conditions). We additionally manipulated media multitasking demands (in Study 1) or measured participants’ frequency of media multitasking (Study 2) and tested whether the level of media multitasking is related to the degree to which the initial attitudes were adjusted after learning that the negative comment was false. We found a significant but rather small effect of the manipulation in Study 1 indicating that participants in both multitasking conditions had more negative attitudes after the correction compared to the baseline, but not to the mono-tasking condition. Crucially, media multitasking demands did not impact attitude adjustment. The results of Study 2 showed that the relationship between media-multitasking frequency measured with a scale and attitude adjustment was non-significant. Overall, the findings provide no evidence that media multitasking – whether experimentally manipulated or chronic – plays a role in correction after misinformation. The study data and code are available at https://osf.io/xu6qd/

Research suggests that individuals often overlook beneficial subtractive strategies when solving problems. Subtractive strategies, which include reducing demand for goods and services (e.g., reducing car use), have a high climate mitigation potential. Yet, these may be systematically overlooked in favor of additive strategies like adopting new technologies (e.g., buying an electric car). This Registered Report investigates subtraction neglect in the context of personal climate action. When asked to think of the most effective personal climate mitigation actions, does priming people to think about additive and subtractive strategies increase the likelihood that they suggest subtractive climate actions? We investigate this research question via an online experiment conducted in the United Kingdom. Participants who received a brief prompt introducing both strategy types proposed significantly more subtractive actions than those who were not made aware of additive and subtractive strategies. The findings suggest that raising awareness of subtractive strategies can shift attention toward underused yet impactful climate actions.

Are regulatory interventions delayed reactions to market failures or can regulators proactively pre-empt corporate misbehavior? From a public interest view, we would expect “effective” regulation to ex ante mitigate agency conflicts between corporate insiders and outsiders, and prevent corporate misbehavior from occurring or quickly rectify transgressions. However, regulators are also self-interested and may be captured, uninformed, or ideological, and become less effective as a result. In this registered report, we develop a historical time series of corporate (accounting) scandals and (accounting) regulations for a panel of 26 countries from 1800 to 2015. An analysis of the lead-lag relations at both the global and individual country level yields the following insights: (1) Corporate scandals are an antecedent to regulation over long stretches of time, suggesting that regulators are typically less flexible and informed than firms. (2) Regulation is positively related to the incidence of future scandals, suggesting that regulators are not fully effective, that explicit rules are required to identify scandalous corporate actions, or that new regulations have unintended consequences. (3) There exist systematic differences in these lead-lag relations across countries and over time, suggesting that the effectiveness of regulation is shaped by fundamental country characteristics like market development and legal tradition.

Several studies have shown that problematic use of online sexual activities (OSAs) can constitute a dysfunctional coping strategy that reflects a compensatory usage of the Internet. Yet, some specific risk factors—widely investigated in the field of general problematic Internet use—have to date been scarcely studied within the context of OSA. Hence, the goal of this study was to test a theoretical model in which self-esteem, loneliness, and social anxiety are hypothesized to predict the type of OSAs favored and their potential addictive use. To this end, an online survey was conducted in a sample of self-selected men who used OSAs on a regular basis (N = 209). Results showed that low self-esteem is positively associated with loneliness and high social anxiety, which were in turn positively related to involvement in two specific OSAs: use of pornography and the search for online sexual contacts. Higher engagement in these OSA activities was related to symptoms of addictive usage. These findings underline the importance in psychological interventions of taking into account the specific OSA practiced to improve self-esteem and to reduce loneliness and symptoms of social anxiety.

Objective: We replicated research by ten Brinke and Porter (2012), who reported that a combination of four behavioral cues (word count, tentative words, upper face surprise, lower face happiness) could accurately discriminate deceptive murderers from genuinely distressed individuals, pleading for the return of a missing relative. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that each of the four behavioral cues identified in the original study would be similarly related (i.e., size, direction, significance) to veracity in a novel set of pleaders. With these cues as predictors, we also hypothesized that logistic regression models—separately testing the original and replication samples—would produce similar accuracy rates exceeding chance in discriminating genuine from deceptive pleaders. Method: We gathered a new sample of public appeals, including 82 genuine and 14 deceptive pleaders. After establishing ground truth, we transcribed video-recorded pleas and coded them for the presence of upper face surprise and lower face happiness. We used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to determine word count and the proportion of tentative words in each appeal. Results: We found support for several hypotheses. Tentative words were used significantly more by deceptive (vs. genuine) pleaders in both the original and replication samples. Deceptive pleaders used significantly fewer words in both samples, although this relationship was significant only in the original sample. Liars in both samples smiled more than truth-tellers, although this relationship was statistically significant only in the replication sample. However, predictive accuracy was poor and did not differ from chance in the replication sample. Conclusions: Findings do not provide a tidy picture of the reliability of behavioral cues to deception. Although some behavioral cues did replicate across samples, others did not. More research will be necessary to understand the factors that produce variable findings across samples, despite using the same methods of investigation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Prior experiments indicated that reading literary fiction improves mentalising performance relative to reading popular fiction, non-fiction, or not reading. However, the experiments had relatively small sample sizes and hence low statistical power. To address this limitation, the present authors conducted four high-powered replication experiments (combined N = 1006) testing the causal impact of reading literary fiction on mentalising. Relative to the original research, the present experiments used the same literary texts in the reading manipulation; the same mentalising task; and the same kind of participant samples. Moreover, one experiment was pre-registered as a direct replication. In none of the experiments did reading literary fiction have any effect on mentalising relative to control conditions. The results replicate earlier findings that familiarity with fiction is positively correlated with mentalising. Taken together, the present findings call into question whether a single session of reading fiction leads to immediate improvements in mentalising.

Good self-control has been linked to adaptive outcomes such as better health, cohesive personal relationships, success in the workplace and at school, and less susceptibility to crime and addictions. In contrast, self-control failure is linked to maladaptive outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms by which self-control predicts behavior may assist in promoting better regulation and outcomes. A popular approach to understanding self-control is the strength or resource depletion model. Self-control is conceptualized as a limited resource that becomes depleted after a period of exertion resulting in self-control failure. The model has typically been tested using a sequential-task experimental paradigm, in which people completing an initial self-control task have reduced self-control capacity and poorer performance on a subsequent task, a state known as ego depletion. Although a meta-analysis of ego-depletion experiments found a medium-sized effect, subsequent meta-analyses have questioned the size and existence of the effect and identified instances of possible bias. The analyses served as a catalyst for the current Registered Replication Report of the ego-depletion effect. Multiple laboratories (k = 23, total N = 2,141) conducted replications of a standardized ego-depletion protocol based on a sequential-task paradigm by Sripada et al. Meta-analysis of the studies revealed that the size of the ego-depletion effect was small with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) that encompassed zero (d = 0.04, 95% CI [−0.07, 0.15]. We discuss implications of the findings for the ego-depletion effect and the resource depletion model of self-control.

In an anonymous 4-person economic game, participants contributed more money to a common project (i.e., cooperated) when required to decide quickly than when forced to delay their decision (Rand, Greene & Nowak, 2012), a pattern consistent with the social heuristics hypothesis proposed by Rand and colleagues. The results of studies using time pressure have been mixed, with some replication attempts observing similar patterns (e.g., Rand et al., 2014) and others observing null effects (e.g., Tinghög et al., 2013; Verkoeijen & Bouwmeester, 2014). This Registered Replication Report (RRR) assessed the size and variability of the effect of time pressure on cooperative decisions by combining 21 separate, preregistered replications of the critical conditions from Study 7 of the original article (Rand et al., 2012). The primary planned analysis used data from all participants who were randomly assigned to conditions and who met the protocol inclusion criteria (an intent-to-treat approach that included the 65.9% of participants in the time-pressure condition and 7.5% in the forced-delay condition who did not adhere to the time constraints), and we observed a difference in contributions of −0.37 percentage points compared with an 8.6 percentage point difference calculated from the original data. Analyzing the data as the original article did, including data only for participants who complied with the time constraints, the RRR observed a 10.37 percentage point difference in contributions compared with a 15.31 percentage point difference in the original study. In combination, the results of the intent-to-treat analysis and the compliant-only analysis are consistent with the presence of selection biases and the absence of a causal effect of time pressure on cooperation.

The asymmetric dominance effect or decoy effect emerges when a third inferior option is introduced to a choice set. The decoy option, although typically not chosen, impacts relative preference for the original two options. This decisional bias stands in contrast with rational choice theory, which dictates that choice behavior should remain consistent for the original options with the addition of different alternatives to a choice set such as the decoy. In the current study, we assessed the decoy effect in rhesus monkeys using a computerized task battery that introduced two different computerized tasks, including a matching-to-sample task and a psychomotor task called PURSUIT. Decoy tasks were designed such that they were inferior versions of these original task options, requiring longer time to completion (via slowed cursor speeds) and subsequently reduced reinforcement rates. Monkeys learned to associate unique icons for each task (including for decoy tasks), and used these icons to select their preferred task from a choice set of two to three task options. Monkeys learned to perform all tasks, but did not show evidence of the decoy effect using this task preference paradigm. We discuss the role of initial task preference (and task biases), task type (symbolic vs. perceptual), and decoy effect sizes in light of these findings. We contrast the current results to previous findings of the decoy effect in rhesus monkeys using a perceptual paradigm as well as to other evidence of the decoy effect in non-primate animal species.

Functional connectivity is frequently used to assess dynamic brain functioning and predict individual differences in behavioral outcomes, such as psychopathology. Inferences from functional connectivity analyses typically rely on group-averaged model statistics. However, heterogeneity between individuals may lead to group-level models that poorly reflect each individual. Poor individual-level precision may limit the ability to make individual-level predictions, which is necessary for key goals such as clinical translation. This registered report examined between-person heterogeneity in resting-state functional connectivity strength patterns by assessing similarity between group- and individual-level connectivity models in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. Using intraclass correlation coefficients, we found that a group-averaged region-of-interest-based connectivity model was a poor reflection of every individual. In contrast, a group-averaged model of between- and within-network connectivity was a good representation of most individuals. We then examined how individual-level distinctness from the group moderated predictive performance of several clinical and neurocognitive scales. Hypotheses that group-to-individual dissimilarity would worsen behavioral prediction were not supported with primary clinical outcomes. The little psychopathology reported in this sample was a notable limitation. In contrast, lower similarity to the group worsened prediction of performance on the pattern comparison test, providing minor support for hypotheses. Overall, results suggest that region-of-interest-based functional connectivity networks are highly heterogeneous and group-based models are inappropriate for individual-level inferences, but that network-based connectivity is largely similar across individuals. Additionally, we provide minor evidence of the impacts of heterogeneity on prediction that future studies should build on.

Background: Information and communication technology (ICT) has made remarkable progress in recent years and is being increasingly applied to medical research. This technology has the potential to facilitate the active involvement of research participants. Digital platforms that enable participants to be involved in the research process are called participant-centric initiatives (PCIs). Several PCIs have been reported in the literature, but no scoping reviews have been carried out. Moreover, detailed methods and features to aid in developing a clear definition of PCIs have not been sufficiently elucidated to date. Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to describe the recent trends in, and features of, PCIs across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Methods: We applied a methodology suggested by Levac et al to conduct this scoping review. We searched electronic databases—MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), Embase (Excerpta Medica Database), CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), PsycINFO, and Ichushi-Web—and sources of grey literature, as well as internet search engines—Google and Bing. We hand-searched through key journals and reference lists of the relevant articles. Medical research using ICT was eligible for inclusion if there was a description of the active involvement of the participants. Results: Ultimately, 21 PCIs were identified that have implemented practical methods and modes of various communication activities, such as patient forums and use of social media, in the field of medical research. Various methods of decision making that enable participants to become involved in setting the agenda were also evident. Conclusions: This scoping review is the first study to analyze the detailed features of PCIs and how they are being implemented. By clarifying the modes and methods of various forms of communication and decision making with patients, this review contributes to a better understanding of patient-centric involvement, which can be facilitated by PCIs.

Background: Pediatric to adult health service (AHS) transition is an inevitable but challenging time for many adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with a chronic illness. As the responsibility of illness management begins to shift from parents to the AYA themselves, many AYAs fail to transition in a timely manner which has important health consequences. Mobile apps have the potential to assist AYAs in self-managing their condition during this vulnerable time, but empirical data on app uptake as well as efficacy with respect to transition outcomes and illness control are lacking. Objective: This pragmatic, single arm pilot trial aimed to evaluate AYA usage of a mobile app called ‘TransitionMate’ (TMApp) which was purpose-built to support chronic illness self-management for youth undergoing transition. Secondary aims were to assess AHS attendance and changes in illness control over the first 12 months post-transition. Upon demonstration of TMApp feasibility (≥70% of participants using TMApp at least once a month), a randomized controlled trial was planned to test efficacy of the app in relation to transition and illness control outcomes. Methods: AYAs aged 16-19 years who were transitioning out of two major pediatric hospitals in Sydney, Australia were recruited. Just prior to transition, participants’ demographic and clinical details were collected and TMApp was installed on their mobile devices. Participants were contacted by telephone at six and 12 months for information on self-reported usage, app usefulness and other feedback. Quantitative cohort-level usage data, including the number of times specific app features were accessed, was tracked via mobile analytics. At 12 months, electronic medical records (eMR) from participants’ designated AHS were accessed for data on AHS attendances, measures of illness control and unplanned hospitalizations. Results: 73 AYAs (30 male; median age 18 years) were recruited, with one withdrawing participation in the first month. Participants were primarily from three chronic illness subgroups: diabetes mellitus (n=23); inflammatory bowel disease (n=19); and cystic fibrosis (n=9). 50% of participants reported using TMApp at one month post-transition. Self-reported usage rates subsequently fell to 25% and 11% at six and 12 months, respectively. Mobile analytics data broadly corroborated self-reported usage. Eight participants who continued to use TMApp until 12 months gave a median usefulness rating of 8/10. Over two-thirds (68%) of participants successfully transitioned to their designated AHS by 12 months. Among the successful transitioners who had illness control data available on eMR, over 80% maintained a stable/improved illness status at six and 12 months. Conclusions: Results showed that TMApp was not used regularly enough by AYAs to demonstrate feasibility and justify progression to a randomized controlled trial. Despite low app uptake, over two-thirds of participants successfully transitioned suggesting that TMApp had minimal influence on transition outcomes. Clinical Trial: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000074998; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377349&isReview=true.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of work absence globally. Digital interventions have the potential to increase access to self-management support for individuals with persistent LBP. Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, usability and acceptability of an online educational programme (MyRelief) designed to support self-management strategies for people with persistent LBP Methods: A prospective uncontrolled feasibility study was conducted across four countries Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom between 2020 and 2021. Adults in employment with non-specific persistent low-back pain (>3months) with access to the internet were eligible to participate. Participants were given access to MyRelief, an eight unit evidence based educational self-management programme. Feasibility of the MyRelief programme was assessed using recruitment rates, a priori success threshold of >70% of the target sample (50 participants), retention <35% drop-out rate. Pre and post intervention measures of functional disability were assessed using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and health related quality of life using the EQ-5D-5L. Additional post intervention measures included the Patient enablement instrument (PEI) the System Usability Scale (SUS). Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, and qualitative feedback was analysed using a reflexive analytical approach. Results: The recruitment feasibility threshold was met (80%), forty participants (21 women,19 men) mean age of 57 years, mean pain duration 11.5 years enrolled in the study. 17 participants (11 male, 6 female) completed both the baseline and 12 week follow-up questionnaires. This represented a retention rate of 42.5% (n=17/40) and a dropout rate of 57.5% , which did not meet a priori criteria of < 35% dropouts. Approximately half of the participants presented with low baseline disability scores (mean ODI 24.0; 95%CI:18-31) with no significant change at follow-up (mean ODI 23.9; 95%CI:16- 31). EQ-5D-5L scores improved from 0.68 (95%CI: 0.608-0.76) to 0.72 (95%CI: 0.66-0.79) indicating a clinically significant change. PEI scores post intervention were high (mean 5.31) indicating good perceived enablement. The mean SUS score was 72.4 (95%CI: 67.5-73.3) indicating an good level of perceived ease-of-use. Over all the quality of outcome measure completion was high (100%). Qualitative feedback indicated areas for improvement relating to challenges around access and navigation within the website. Conclusions: The MyRelief study demonstrated feasibility in terms of recruitment but not retention. However low baseline disability levels are not representative of the wider persistent LBP population. Future studies should broaden recruitment strategies, in particular recruiting from healthcare settings to improve representativeness. Although usability met industry standards, qualitative feedback suggests that navigation and accessibility require further optimisation to better align with end-user preferences for online digital health interventions. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT04673773; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04673773

Background: Increasing demand on healthcare systems requires innovative and transformative solutions to deliver efficient, high-quality care. One promising approach is Digital Twin (DT) technology, which leverages real time data to create dynamic virtual representations of a physical entity (individuals or space) to anticipate future scenarios and support care decisions. While DTs have been explored in various sectors, their application in Hospital at Home (HaH), which delivers acute level care in home environments, remains unexplored. Objective: This review bridges a critical knowledge gap and examines the existing evidence on DT-enabling tools for managing patients with frailty in home settings. This will identify the underpinning architectural components required to inform a HaH-DT system which can support clinical decision-making. Methods: Six electronic databases (Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, Web of Science and Scopus) were searched, along with grey literature, to identifying primary studies published in English, between January 2019 and September 2025. Included studies had to report on the monitoring or management of patients with frailty within their own home, and information was charted on a pre-defined data collection form to answer the research objectives. Review articles, protocols, and conference abstracts were excluded. Results: Sixty-nine reports were included, of which 54% (n=37) used quantitative approaches, and 36% (n=25) were pilot or feasibility studies. Reports were analysed for DT-enabling tools and systematically mapped across the proposed five-layered DT architecture: sensing, communication, storage, analytics, and visualisation. Taxonomies of DT layers, their interconnections, and the classifications of the types of data collected (e.g., about the patient, the home environment, the use of medical equipment) are presented. This evidence identifies DT-enabling tools used for a variety of functions and a range of sensing technologies that exist (e.g., passive sensing via wearables, active physiological sensors, ambient sensors to detect motion/environmental changes). The most prevalent modes of communication were wireless and network-based (n=36), with the majority using Bluetooth (n=12). This review highlights better understanding of data management, in particular secure storage, is required within local healthcare systems. The emerging potential of predictive and prescriptive analytics, which can enable clinicians to predict risk, support clinical decision-making, or activate alert-triggered health interventions were mapped. Existing evidence suggests analytics methods are currently largely descriptive with a lack of advanced methods such as prescriptive analytics to enable recommendations of an optimal course of action, and the absence of diagnostic analytics which can highlight why a situation has occurred. Reported DT-enabling tools demonstrate patient-centered benefits, including enhanced motivation, reassurance, and personalised care. However, concerns persist regarding device accuracy, user acceptability, and implications for carers and organisational workflows. Conclusions: This review is among the first to systematically map DT-enabling tools to inform a potential HaH-DT in patients with frailty and organised by a 5-layered conceptual model. Understanding these architectural layers provides the foundations to enable stakeholders advance research and development in areas where there are knowledge gaps and consider how a HaH DT can effectively operate within current healthcare systems. By leveraging technology-enabled care in complex home-based settings, there is great potential to deliver safer, personalised and timely care.

Background: Dental caries is a common chronic disease in children, yet large-scale surveillance is limited by the resource demands of clinical examinations. Digital tools like intraoral scanners may offer a scalable alternative for caries detection, enabling more efficient data collection for research and population-level oral health monitoring. Objective: To assess the diagnostic agreement between visual examination and on-screen assessment of 3D models generated by an intraoral scanner (IOS) in colour and supplemented with fluorescence for caries detection in primary teeth. Methods: Children participating in a clinical trial (n=216, mean age 5.6 years) underwent visual examination using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) and intraoral scanning using the TRIOS 4 IOS (3Shape TRIOS A/S Denmark). Four trained registered dental practitioners independently assessed each participant’s 3D models in colour, then supplemented with fluorescence, using a previously validated ICDAS index modified for on-screen assessments of 3D models. All 3D models were assessed again four weeks later. The time taken for intraoral scanning and on-screen assessment was recorded. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate and compare the likelihood of detecting caries between methods, and Bland–Altman plots were used to visualise agreement. Analyses were performed at the initial (ICDAS>01), moderate (ICDAS>03), and extensive (ICDAS>05) dental caries thresholds. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) estimated method agreement and examiner reliability. Results: 8,209 visible primary tooth coronal surfaces were analysed. The likelihood of detecting caries using colour assessment of 3D models was similar to visual examination at all disease thresholds: initial (odds ratio 1.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0–1.3), moderate (0.9, 0.7-1.1) and extensive (1.0, 0.7–1.3). When colour assessments were supplemented with fluorescence, the likelihood of detecting caries was 30% higher at the initial threshold relative to visual examination (1.3, 1.1-1.5) and similar at the moderate (0.9, 0.7-1.1) and extensive thresholds (0.9, 0.7-1.3). Bland-Altman plots showed a high level of agreement at both moderate and extensive thresholds. Examiner reliability using intraoral scans ranged from good to excellent. Conclusions: On-screen assessment of 3D models in colour shows greatest agreement with visual examination for caries detection at all disease thresholds. Clinical Trial: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12622001237774

Background: The global, nearly universal penetration of mobile phones has offered novel opportunities for delivering health services and communicating health-related information to individuals. A low-cost system that facilitates autonomous communication with individuals via mobile phones holds potential for expanding the reach of health messaging and service delivery in settings with human resource and infrastructure limitations. Objective: We sought to design a flexible, low-code system using open-source software that could be adapted to different contexts and technical environments and accommodate a wide range of automation needs. We report on key details of the mobile phone-based appointment reminder and incentive system (mParis), document its use, review implementation challenges and adaptations to address these challenges in the context of a quasi-randomized trial of mobile phone-based reminders and incentives as means of increasing the timeliness of routine childhood vaccinations in Tanzania, and outline other use cases that highlight the versatility of the system. Methods: The mParis instance described in this manuscript, which is hosted in Tanzania, sent automated, individualized vaccination reminders to the mobile phones of mothers of young children. Process workflows, based on the national childhood vaccination schedule of Tanzania, were programmed into mParis. Reminders for vaccinations due at ages 6, 10, and 14 weeks were sent 7 days and 1 day prior to and 14 days after each vaccination due date. A subset of messages included financial incentive offers to mothers for the timely vaccination of their children. We report on implementation outcomes, challenges, and adaptations to address these challenges. Results: Between August and December 2017, 412 pregnant women were enrolled into the trial. After mothers reported the birth of their children, individualized vaccination reminder messages were sent for vaccination due dates between January and July 2018. From March 2018, messages contained financial incentive offers. Of 1,397 messages sent, 1,122 SMS (80.3%) were recorded as delivered, 249 (18.8%) as expired and resent, 23 (1.6%) as failed, and 3 (0.2%) as sent but lacking delivery confirmation. 633 messages (45.3%) contained tiered incentive offers. Of 173 women who received at least one message, 67 (38.7%) were sent reminders only; 106 women (61.3%) were sent at least one incentivized message. Numerous challenges were encountered during the system’s implementation, despite its deliberate design to accommodate basic problems such as intermittent internet access and power failures. Continuous adaptation to increase the resilience of the system, complemented by limited backstops, resulted in a successful deployment. Conclusions: mParis’ open-source nature, auditability, and ability to autonomously execute algorithms in a low-resource setting with frequent infrastructure challenges suggest favorable prospects to automate health communication in a wide range of settings. mParis’ use in multiple other health-related research studies demonstrates its versatility and ability to accommodate challenges that may be encountered in diverse other contexts. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03252288

Background: Loneliness is a negative emotional state which is common in later life. The accumulative effects of loneliness have significant impact on physical and mental health of older adults. Automatic methods for detection and prediction are an emerging field to support early identification of loneliness. Objective: We aim to qualitatively explore the thoughts and preferences of people aged 65 and over regarding technologies to detect feelings of loneliness in later life. Methods: We conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with people aged 65 and over between September 2022 and August 2023. Data were analysed using a reflective thematic approach on NVIVO software. Results: Three themes were identified representing what older adults considered important in a system able to detect loneliness. 1) Interest and Control of Data, which was a priority for older adults; 2) Perceived Usefulness to Address Loneliness, which related to the importance of providing recommendations to reduce feelings of loneliness after detection; and 3) Personalisation as a Priority, which included the level of loneliness for which an alert was sent and selection of relevant individuals who would be sent a loneliness alert. Conclusions: Findings from this in-depth qualitative study provide important perspectives from people with lived-experience of loneliness on the context in which a sensor-based loneliness detection system would be most useful and acceptable to older adults. Future research will include such perspectives in the design of innovative technologies enabling the early detection of loneliness and access to timely interventions to tackle loneliness in later life.

Background: Smart displays and speakers offer voice interaction, which may be more accessible and appealing to older adults with chronic pain and other multimorbid conditions. Previous trials found stronger socioemotional benefits of ElderTree (vs control) among those with high primary care use and multiple chronic conditions. Objective: This study aims to test whether older adults with chronic pain and multiple other chronic conditions use and benefit more from ElderTree, an eHealth intervention targeting pain and quality of life, when delivered on a smart display. Methods: We recruited 269 participants from the University of Wisconsin-Madison health system and community organizations and randomly assigned 1:1:1 to (1) smart display with internet and ElderTree, plus usual care; (2) touchscreen laptop with internet and ElderTree, plus usual care; or (3) usual care alone. Participants were aged ≥60 years, had a chronic pain diagnosis or reported chronic pain, and at least 3 common chronic conditions. Primary outcomes were pain interference and psychosocial quality of life. Data sources were baseline, 4-month, and 8-month surveys and continuous ElderTree usage data. Results: No significant differences were found between the laptop versus smart display groups for pain interference (b=–0.11, 95% CI –1.07 to 0.85; P=.82) or psychosocial quality (b=–0.21, 95% CI –0.96 to 0.55; P=.56), nor between the combined laptop+smart display group versus control group for either outcome (pain interference: b=–0.41, 95% CI –1.23 to 0.41; P=.33; psychosocial quality of life: b=0.04, 95% CI –0.61 to 0.69; P=.90). Mediation was not tested because effects on primary outcomes were nonsignificant. Gender did not moderate the effect of laptop versus smart display groups in pain interference (b=–1.56, 95% CI –3.56 to 0.44; P=.13). Gender did moderate the effect of the combined laptop+smart display group versus control group (b=1.91, 95% CI 0.11 to 3.71; P=.04). Women showed a significant decrease in pain interference (b=–0.69, 95% CI –1.29 to –0.10; P=.02), whereas women in the control group showed no significant change (b=0.25, 95% CI –0.53 to 1.04; P=.53). Men in the combined group showed a nonsignificant decrease (b=–0.67, 95% CI –1.47 to 0.14; P=.10), whereas men in the control group showed a significant decrease (b=–1.61, 95% CI –2.88 to –0.35; P=.01). Participants assigned to the laptop versus smart display used ElderTree more frequently and had more favorable perceptions. Analyses of secondary and exploratory outcomes showed no significant differences between groups. Conclusions: We found no significant differences between the combined ElderTree group and the control group for changes over time in any primary, secondary, or exploratory outcomes. Moderation analyses indicated that only gender moderated study arm effects, and only for the laptop+smart display versus control group on changes over time in the two primary outcomes. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04798196; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04798196

Background: With the ubiquity of smartphones, digital self-report instruments have enormous potential to support the general population in monitoring their mental health. A primary challenge for researchers committed to advancing this work is simply to scope the plethora of widely used candidate instruments. The overarching aim of this study was to address this challenge to support and guide future research in this burgeoning area. Objective: This study aimed to conduct a literature review of self-report instruments used in empirical studies to measure mental health (1) in the general population, (2) delivered in a digital format, and (3) in longitudinal designs. Given the wide range of recognized “mental health” constructs, the review’s search strategies were guided by Keyes’ dual continua model of mental health, recognizing both deficits- and strengths-based constructs. This study’s primary objective was to develop a first-of-its-kind ranking and synthesis of the most frequently used instruments that are potentially suitable for mental health self-monitoring. It was not an objective of this study to evaluate psychometric properties of the identified instruments—we hope the present ranking and synthesis will provide the foundation for future research into optimal digital, prospective self-report of mental health. Methods: Five major electronic databases were searched. Studies that administered digital mental health instruments (in English) repeatedly to community dwellers in the general adult population were eligible. The included studies were grouped by instruments for synthesis using a narrative approach. Results: Preliminary screening of 95,849 records identified 8460 eligible records, among which 1000 records were randomly selected over 4 iterations for full-text screening. A total of 223 records were included. We found that the top 30 most commonly used instruments accounted for 78.4% (308/393) of the total usage across studies. These instruments predominantly measure deficits-based mental health constructs. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 Items and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 Items were by far the most used instruments. The most commonly measured strengths-based constructs were life satisfaction and mental well-being. Conclusions: The findings of this review strongly suggest that scientific investigation of mental health constructs across time on digital platforms still prioritizes deficits-focused instruments originally developed for pen-and-paper administration using classical test theory. These findings are discussed in light of evidence in the literature that deficits-focused instruments demonstrate inferior distributional properties (floor effects) in the general population and theory suggesting that both deficits- and strengths-focused measurements are required to holistically assess mental health. Limitations of the review include the restricted focus on English language instruments and the pragmatic approach to selecting records for full-text screening. It is concluded that, in the smartphone age, it would be timely to develop new digital instruments framed by holistic models of mental health and using contemporary test construction approaches. Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42022306547; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42022306547

It is important to understand how persuasive the most-cited climate change messaging strategies are. In five replication studies, we found limited evidence of persuasive effects of three highly cited strategies (N = 3,216). We then conducted a registered report megastudy (N = 13,544) testing the effects of the 10 most-cited climate change messaging strategies on Americans’ pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour. Six messages significantly affected multiple preregistered attitudes, with effects ranging from 1 to 4 percentage points. Persuasiveness varied little across party lines, inconsistent with theories predicting heterogeneous effects for targeted messages. No message increased pro-environmental donations, suggesting costly behaviours are difficult to influence with messaging alone. Inference of mechanisms driving effects was limited as the most impactful messages influenced multiple mediating variables. Taken together, these results identify several persuasive strategies, while also highlighting the limits of short-form messages for increasing Americans’ support for action to address climate change.

A recommendation of: Matt N. Williams, Mathew D. Marques, Mathew Ling, Stephen R. Hill, John Kerr, Edward J. R. Clarke, Ahnya Martin, Robert M. Ross Do you really believe that? Examining the prevalence and predictors of belief in conspiracy theories when accounting for insincerity https://osf.io/saqdn/files/xeasj?view_only=5598eac28e0a4a619835eb8c9a192e80

Background: Chronic low back pain is the most prevalent chronic pain condition worldwide and access to behavioral pain treatment is limited. Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive technology that may provide effective behavioral therapeutics for chronic pain. Objective: We aimed to conduct a double-blind, parallel-arm, single-cohort, remote, randomized placebo-controlled trial for a self-administered behavioral skills-based VR program in community-based individuals with self-reported chronic low back pain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A national online convenience sample of individuals with self-reported nonmalignant low back pain with duration of 6 months or more and with average pain intensity of 4 or more/10 was enrolled and randomized 1:1 to 1 of 2 daily (56-day) VR programs: (1) EaseVRx (immersive pain relief skills VR program); or (2) Sham VR (2D nature content delivered in a VR headset). Objective device use data and self-reported data were collected. The primary outcomes were the between-group effect of EaseVRx versus Sham VR across time points, and the between–within interaction effect representing the change in average pain intensity and pain-related interference with activity, stress, mood, and sleep over time (baseline to end-of-treatment at day 56). Secondary outcomes were global impression of change and change in physical function, sleep disturbance, pain self-efficacy, pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance, pain medication use, and user satisfaction. Analytic methods included intention-to-treat and a mixed-model framework. Results: The study sample was 179 adults (female: 76.5%, 137/179; Caucasian: 90.5%, 162/179; at least some college education: 91.1%, 163/179; mean age: 51.5 years [SD 13.1]; average pain intensity: 5/10 [SD 1.2]; back pain duration ≥5 years: 67%, 120/179). No group differences were found for any baseline variable or treatment engagement. User satisfaction ratings were higher for EaseVRx versus Sham VR (P&lt;.001). For the between-groups factor, EaseVRx was superior to Sham VR for all primary outcomes (highest P value=.009), and between-groups Cohen d effect sizes ranged from 0.40 to 0.49, indicating superiority was moderately clinically meaningful. For EaseVRx, large pre–post effect sizes ranged from 1.17 to 1.3 and met moderate to substantial clinical importance for reduced pain intensity and pain-related interference with activity, mood, and stress. Between-group comparisons for Physical Function and Sleep Disturbance showed superiority for the EaseVRx group versus the Sham VR group (P=.022 and .013, respectively). Pain catastrophizing, pain self-efficacy, pain acceptance, prescription opioid use (morphine milligram equivalent) did not reach statistical significance for either group. Use of over-the-counter analgesic use was reduced for EaseVRx (P&lt;.01) but not for Sham VR. Conclusions: EaseVRx had high user satisfaction and superior and clinically meaningful symptom reduction for average pain intensity and pain-related interference with activity, mood, and stress compared to sham VR. Additional research is needed to determine durability of treatment effects and to characterize mechanisms of treatment effects. Home-based VR may expand access to effective and on-demand nonpharmacologic treatment for chronic low back pain. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04415177; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04415177