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In hundreds of articles published over the past two decades, nanoparticles have been described as probes for sensing and imaging of a variety of intracellular cytosolic targets. However, nanoparticles generally enter cells by endocytosis with only a small fraction reaching the cytosol. Most of those articles do not describe the mechanisms of nanoparticles entry into the cell and therefore the paradox of sensing a target in the cytosol when most particles do not access that compartment remains. To address this paradox, we are initiating a replication project of some of the most influential articles in this field with the aim of confirming their ability to detect their targets and getting additional insights into their intracellular localisation. Thus, this article is a pre-registered report for the first replication of this project, namely the replication of Zhu et al ‘Carbon‐Dot‐Based Dual‐Emission Nanohybrid Produces a Ratiometric Fluorescent Sensor for In Vivo Imaging of Cellular Copper Ions’. To achieve our aim, we will carry out both a direct replication of the experiments in the original article, with the addition of some experiments and controls, and a conceptual replication where we test the claim that this ratiometric probe is able to sense intracellular copper levels in a more biologically relevant system. We hope that this study will contribute to a better understanding of the intracellular fate of nanoparticles and, with the help of the scientific community, help set standards in the design and reporting of studies in this field.

Common explanations for replication failures in neuroscience and psychophysiology include the exploitation of researcher degrees of freedom and ambiguous or inappropriate methodology, creating an environment in which flexibility during data processing and analysis could increase the probability of erroneous or irreplicable findings. The present registered report described preregistration practices in EEG/ERP studies, quantified adherence to preregistration, and estimated expected replication/discovery rates. Out of 506 preregistrations and 25 registered reports screened, 385 met eligibility. The EEG/ERP preregistrations resulted in 92 published manuscripts. For the preregistered studies, 57–99% included the minimal necessary methodological detail for replication. Adherence to preregistration in the 92 published studies averaged 60%. Exploratory analyses indicated that registered reports had the highest average adherence (92%), followed by articles explicitly mentioning preregistration (60%), and then by those not mentioning preregistration (39%). Only 16% of published studies fully adhered to preregistered plans or disclosed all deviations. Preregistered studies reported more methodological details (64% vs. 61%) and more frequently justified sample sizes and data exclusion than companion non-preregistered studies. A z-curve analysis indicated that selective reporting was likely present in published preregistered studies. Although preregistration can enhance transparency and reduce researcher bias in EEG/ERP research, current practices fall short. Ambiguity in preregistrations and inconsistent adherence undermine utility of preregistration. Moving forward, researchers should prioritize clarity and accessibility in preregistrations, and journals should implement policies to ensure the review of preregistration adherence.

A growing body of work in social and affective neuroscience suggests that emotion plays an instrumental role in error monitoring processes, rather than only a moderating one. High-powered replications of studies that support this idea, however, are lacking. Here, we attempted a preregistered replication of our own study that had provided evidence for the functional role of emotions in error monitoring: that a neural signal of error monitoring—the error-related negativity—is reduced when participants undergo a misattribution of arousal procedure (Inzlicht & Al-Khindi, 2012). Like a previous replication attempt (Rodilla et al, 2016), our misattribution procedure failed to reduce the amplitude of the ERN. However, it also failed its manipulation check to reduce state anxiety, limiting the conclusions we can draw. Nonetheless, these findings are consistent with the view that our original study may have been a false positive. We discuss these findings in the context of the replication crisis in psychology and of work on the emotional properties of the ERN.

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Does religion promote prosocial behaviour? Despite numerous publications that seem to answer this question affirmatively, divergent results from recent meta-analyses and pre-registered replication efforts suggest the issue is not yet settled. Additional uncertainty lingers around whether (a) the effects of religious cognition on prosocial behaviour obtain through implicit cognitive processes, explicit cognitive processes, or both; and (b) whether religious cognition increases generosity only among people disinclined to share with anonymous strangers. Here we propose two experiments designed to address these concerns. In Experiment 1 we will seek to replicate Shariff and Norenzayan’s demonstration of the effects of implicit religious priming on Dictator Game offers to anonymous strangers; unlike Shariff and Norenzayan, however, we will use an online environment where anonymity is virtually assured. In Experiment 2, we will introduce a “taking” option to allow greater expression of baseline selfishness. In both experiments, we will seek to activate religious cognition implicitly and explicitly. Finally, we will use multiple methods to meta-analyse all available experiments that test the effect of religious priming on Dictator Game transfers. Our results will provide new insight into an important interdisciplinary issue, and guidance on how best to activate religious cognition in the laboratory.

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Historically EEG task time-frequency measures were assumed to reflect brain oscillations, but recent evidence indicates that aperiodic activity can confound accurate measurement of neural oscillations. Here, we capitalize on recent tools for parameterizing oscillations in time-frequency maps. This Registered Report will provide empirical evidence on which features of task-induced EEG time-frequency power are oscillatory and which are aperiodic.

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Please see "Stage 1" for preprint, Qualtircs survey, and simulated data and code

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Norton et al., 2007, demonstrated a counterintuitive phenomenon that knowing other people better and/or having more information about them is associated with decreased liking. They summarized it as ambiguity leads to liking, whereas familiarity can breed contempt. In a Registered Report with a US Prolific undergraduate student sample (N = 801), we directly replicated Studies 1a, 1b and 2 and conceptually replicated Studies 3 and 4 from Norton et al., 2007. Extending their research, we also proposed that curiosity provides an alternative path to liking, hypothesizing that curiosity mediates the relationship between knowledge and liking. Overall, we found weak support for the original findings. Consistent with the original article, participants believed they would like someone who they knew more about (original: h = 0.52–0.70; replication: h = 0.55–0.75) and that knowledge positively predicts liking (original: h = 0.21–0.45; replication: h = 0.57–0.76). However, we found no indication of the number of traits known influencing liking (original: r = −0.43 to −0.005; replication: r = −0.05 to 0.06) or perceived similarity to the target (d = 0.00), for a mediating effect of perceived similarity, for a dissimilarity cascade effect, or for changes in liking or perceived similarity as a factor of learning more about the target. In our extensions, we found support for a positive relationship between curiosity and liking (r = 0.62–0.70), but not for knowledge and curiosity (r = −0.06 to 0.05). Overall, our findings suggest that learning more about others may not influence perceptions of liking, similarity or curiosity towards them. Materials, data and code are available on https://osf.io/j6tqr/. This Registered Report has been officially endorsed by Peer Community in Registered Reports: https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.rr.100947.

Dunsmoor and Murphy (2014) found that conditioned fear spreads from typical to atypical category exemplars but not vice versa, paralleling the principles of category-based induction. Their work was foundational in establishing that fear can generalize within conceptual structures along a dimension of category typicality and offers insight into how higher-order reasoning might be integrated in classic conditioning. This registered report aims to replicate and extend the finding of Dunsmoor and Murphy by investigating how idiosyncratic category structures and trait anxiety affect the asymmetry effect in conceptual fear generalization. It includes several methodological improvements and a comparison of different methods for processing skin conductance responses to allow for an identification of the source of contradicting findings on the effect in the literature.

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Although high status is often considered a desirable quality, this may not always be the case. Different factors may moderate the value of high status along a dimension such as wealth (e.g. gender, perceiver income/education). For example, studies ...

Stage 1 IPA at Royal Society Open Science

Stage 1 IPA at Royal Society Open Science

Background: Military trauma teams are commonly operating in civilian hospitals during peacetime; in a war situation they must adjust their practices to the austere conditions. Simulations can replicate austere conditions to allow training in a safe environment that tolerates errors. Gamification, understood as the use of game elements to motivate and engage learners in nongame contexts, is gaining interest in medical education and military training. Applying game elements in the design of military trauma management simulations has the potential to provide learners with active learning opportunities and prepare them for providing medical services under austere conditions. Although gamification is known for its engaging and motivational benefits, there are controversies about its pedagogical value. The controversies can be attributed to the fact that various gamification strategies may consist of a different combination of game elements, leading to different outcomes. Objective: This systematic review aims to understand how game elements are used in the design of simulations in military trauma management training and their reported outcomes. Methods: We have designed a search strategy for the purpose of the review. Two researchers will independently assess the identified studies based on the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selection process will be represented using a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram. The search will be repeated and updated as necessary prior to publication of the review. Two reviewers will independently extract and manage the data for each of the articles using a structured data extraction form. Any disagreement that arises between reviewers will be resolved through discussion, and a third review author will be consulted when needed. We are going to conduct a thematic synthesis of the extracted game element descriptions. The results are going to be presented in a diagrammatic or tabular form, alongside a narrative summary. The quality of the studies will be assessed. Results: We implemented and tested the developed search strategy in May 2023. We retrieved 1168 study abstracts, which were reduced to 630 abstracts after deduplication. We have piloted the screening on 20% (126/630) of the identified abstracts in groups of 2 reviewers. Conclusions: Although gamification has the potential to motivate learners in various ways, there is a lack of understanding about specific game elements and how they can inform instructional design in different contexts. Our findings will increase the understanding of how game elements are used in the design of simulations in military trauma management training and, thus, contribute to more effective development of future simulations.

Stage 1 IPA at Royal Society Open Science

Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals in nonverbal tasks of cognitive control. For example, a meta-analysis of studies that compared the performance of bilinguals and monolinguals on conflict resolution tasks (e.g., the Stroop task) revealed a moderately significant bilingual advantage (Donnelly, Brooks, & Homer, 2015). At first blush, this finding augments our understanding of far transfer effects (how practice in one domain [language] results in changes to other [non-language] domains) and may inform educational policies and social practice. However, close inspection of the empirical data yield inconclusive results. For example, the effect reported in the above meta-analysis appears to be driven by data from a single study. Furthermore, the meta-analysis also revealed a large and significant main effect of ‘lab’ (research group). The inconsistent results, combined with publication bias (de Bruin, Treccani, & Della Sala, 2015), has led many scientists (e.g., Duñabeitia & Carreiras, 2015; Klein, 2016; Paap, Johnson, & Sawi, 2016) to question whether the bilingual advantage is real or merely an artefact of particular research practices. Moreover, significant bilingual advantages have not been observed in studies with large sample sizes (see Paap, Johnson, & Sawi, 2016, for discussion). To progress beyond the controversy and advance the science, in addition to carrying out more studies, we must come up with a theory that can account for the inconsistencies in the literature and explain when, how, and why learning two or more languages improve cognitive control. This is the focus of the current project.

This component contains the approved protocol of this registered report, as well as the exploratory data reported in the stage 1 registered report.

Sleep aids the consolidation of recently acquired memories. Evidence strongly indicates that sleep yields substantial improvements on recognition memory tasks relative to an equivalent period of wake. Despite the known benefits that sleep has on memory, researchers have not yet investigated the impact of sleep on eyewitness identifications. Eyewitnesses to crimes are often presented with a lineup (which is a type of recognition memory test) that contains the suspect (who is innocent or guilty) and fillers (who are known to be innocent). Sleep may enhance the ability to identify the guilty suspect and not identify the innocent suspect (i.e., discriminability). Sleep may also impact reliability (i.e. the likelihood that the identified suspect is guilty). In the current study, we manipulate the presence or absence of sleep in a forensically relevant memory task. Participants witness a video of a mock crime, make an identification, or reject the lineup, and rate their confidence. Critically, some participants sleep between witnessing the crime and making a lineup decision, while others remain awake. Based on prior memory research we predict that those in the sleep condition will have greater discriminability compared to those who had equivalent periods of wake. Sleep’s role in shaping reliability is completely unknown and our work will be the first to explore this variable. This work will be of significant theoretical and applied importance.

The aim of this study is to understand people’s experiences and emotions during time spent alone at home as a function of both motivation and preference for solitude. People who prefer to be alone (Burger, 1995) have been shown to be vulnerable to poor ill-being, although there are mixed findings concerning their ill-being in solitude. Further, it might be expected that higher preference for solitude would mean that individuals tolerate it better and therefore report less ill-being. A separate literature suggests that having autonomous motivation for spending time alone - seeing time alone as beneficial and valuable - moderated the effect of time alone on loneliness (Nguyen, Ryan, & Deci, 2018; Study 4). A study also showed that for first-year university students who don’t feel belonging to their school, having autonomous motivation for spending time alone buffer the negative link between low belonging and well-being (Nguyen, Werner, & Soenens, 2019). Further, endorsing self-determined reasons for spending time alone correlates negatively with ill-being outcomes like depression, loneliness, and anxiety (Thomas & Azmitia, 2019). Although preference and motivation for solitude show different patterns of influence on ill-being, those who prefer solitude may generally report more autonomous motivation for it as well, since autonomy reflects finding the value in solitude (Nguyen, Ryan, & Deci, 2018; Nguyen, Werner, & Soenens, 2019; Thomas & Azmitia, 2019). However, self-isolation offers a time when preference and autonomy would show more distinct relations. People who generally prefer social situations may now find the value in time spent alone, and it may be either their preference, or their motivation, driving the effects on ill-being. We plan to conduct a timely study when many people in places like the US and UK are likely to go into self-isolation now or in the next few days. Particularly, we will target those living alone, individuals who may be more prone to loneliness and psychological isolation.

Incentive structures shape scientists' research practices. One incentive in science is the priority rule, which allocates disproportionate rewards to the first scientist to discover a novel result. Priority rewards create a "race to publish," encouraging scientists to work quickly. To test whether this rush reduces the amount of information scientists collect before publishing, we developed a laboratory experiment in which participants played a research game. Players could choose how much information to acquire before making a claim, balancing the cost and benefits of gathering more data against the risk of being scooped by a competitor. We found that competition for priority led participants to collect significantly less information before publishing compared to non-competitive conditions, which resulted in a higher rate of false claims. Our experiment provides proof of concept that rewarding priority of publication can incentivize individuals to acquire less information, producing lower-quality research as a consequence.