We evaluate the ability of the asset pricing models of Liu, Stambaugh and Yuan (2019), hereafter LSY, and Fama and French (2018) to price Chinese stocks. Following the methodology specified in the pre-registered report (Gharghori and Nguyen, 2025), we employ spanning regressions and maximum Sharpe ratios to compare models. Our results show that the LSY models exhibit higher Sharpe ratios and outperform both conventional and modified Fama-French models in spanning regressions. In contrast to developed markets, the investment factor carries a negative premium in China. Additionally, the LSY models do not span this factor. Consequently, the model that delivers the highest Sharpe ratio is the one that augments the LSY four-factor model with the investment factor of Fama-French.

The cognitive mechanisms and benefits of active learning in early child development are poorly understood. The current study investigated 20–23‐month‐old infants’ curiosity‐driven information selection in a novel word learning task, designed to identify any potential advantage for active learning over passive learning. In a gaze‐contingent eye‐tracking paradigm, infants in one condition were given the opportunity to structure their own information seeking to actively create word learning opportunities for themselves, while infants in two other conditions engaged in learning novel words passively. Infants’ learning of word‐object associations was compared across active and passive learning paradigms. The results indicate no advantage of active information selection on retention of novel words above and beyond passive learning, with infants across all conditions retaining novel words above chance. This study provides a crucial insight advancing our understanding of early word learning, and of the mechanisms and benefits of active, curiosity‐based learning in infants.

Background: Integrated care for HIV patients in rural and economically disadvantaged regions remains a critical challenge. This study aims to develop a three-dimensional evaluation index system to assess the effectiveness of integrated medical care and prevention for HIV patients in county-level regions of China. The framework encompasses disease prevention, clinical treatment, and the integration of medical services with public health interventions. Objective: The primary objective of this study is to develop a scientifically validated, three-dimensional evaluation index system for assessing the effectiveness of integrated medical care and prevention for HIV patients in county-level regions of China. Methods: A structured Delphi method will be employed to establish consensus among experts on key evaluation indicators. The study will begin with focus group discussions (FGDs) guided by Valentijn’s Rainbow Model, followed by multiple rounds of Delphi surveys to refine the indicator system. The 75 experts will include clinical professionals, public health specialists, health policy researchers, and NGO representatives. Experts will participate in iterative rounds, ranking and validating indicators using statistical methods such as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Kendall’s W coefficient to assess consensus. Results: The Delphi study was initiated in April 2025, with three rounds of questionnaires distributed between May and September 2025. Data analysis is ongoing, and the finalized county-level HIV integration index system is expected to be published by Spring 2026. The study is projected to complete by January 2026. Conclusions: The developed evaluation system will offer a comprehensive and scientifically validated tool for assessing healthcare outcomes in resource-constrained settings, contributing to policy improvements for HIV service integration in China and other low-resource settings globally.

Background: Data-driven medical health information processing has become a new development trend in obstetrics. Electronic medical records (EMRs) are the basis of evidence-based medicine and an important information source for intelligent diagnosis. To obtain diagnostic results, doctors combine clinical experience and medical knowledge in their diagnosis process. External medical knowledge provides strong support for diagnosis. Therefore, it is worth studying how to make full use of EMRs and medical knowledge in intelligent diagnosis. Objective: This study aims to improve the performance of intelligent diagnosis in EMRs by combining medical knowledge. Methods: As an EMR usually contains multiple types of diagnostic results, the intelligent diagnosis can be treated as a multilabel classification task. We propose a novel neural network knowledge-aware hierarchical diagnosis model (KHDM) in which Chinese obstetric EMRs and external medical knowledge can be synchronously and effectively used for intelligent diagnostics. In KHDM, EMRs and external knowledge documents are integrated by the attention mechanism contained in the hierarchical deep learning framework. In this way, we enrich the language model with curated knowledge documents, combining the advantages of both to make a knowledge-aware diagnosis. Results: We evaluate our model on a real-world Chinese obstetric EMR dataset and showed that KHDM achieves an accuracy of 0.8929, which exceeds that of the most advanced classification benchmark methods. We also verified the model’s interpretability advantage. Conclusions: In this paper, an improved model combining medical knowledge and an attention mechanism is proposed, based on the problem of diversity of diagnostic results in Chinese EMRs. KHDM can effectively integrate domain knowledge to greatly improve the accuracy of diagnosis.

While the rapid rise in corporate artificial intelligence (AI) investment is widely viewed as a strategic necessity, its impact on stock price crash risk remains contested. This pre-registered report argues two opposing predictions. On one hand, AI investment may mitigate the stock price crash risk via improving information transparency and external monitoring for firms. On the other hand, the centralized capital investment in AI and the uncertainty involved may increase the stock price crash risk. To identify these two possible predictions, we exploit the “New-generation Artificial Intelligence Polit Zone Policy” in China as an exogenous shock and examine the impact of AI investment on firms' stock price crash risk, along with the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, we investigate whether AI investment affects firm value. This study contributes to the literature on the economic consequences of AI investment and provides new insights into stock price crash risk and corporate risk governance.

This pre-registered study aims to address a critical yet underexplored question: To what extent does board gender diversity, specifically the presence of women on boards (WOB), influence corporate dividend payout policies within a bank-based (financial) system? This report further plans to examine how dividend payouts are affected by bank–firm relationships. In particular, it investigates whether WOB function as a substitute for, or complement to, bank monitoring in enhancing dividend payouts in a bank-based system. The anticipated findings are expected to contribute to policy discourse surrounding Japan's Corporate Governance Code, which intends to promote greater board gender diversity, and to the broader debate concerning “Who are effective monitors in influencing corporate payout behavior within bank-based systems?”

Background: Background: Latina adolescents report low levels of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and high lifetime risk of lifestyle-related diseases. There is a lack of MVPA interventions targeted at this demographic despite documented health disparities. Given their high rates of using mobile technology, interventions delivered through mobile devices may be effective for this population. Objective: Objective: The current paper examines efficacy of the Chicas Fuertes intervention in increasing MVPA across six months in Latina adolescents. Methods: Methods: Participants were Latina adolescents (ages 13-18) in San Diego County who reported being underactive (<150 minutes/week of MVPA). All participants received a wearable fitness tracker (Fitbit Inspire HR); half were randomly assigned to also receive the multimedia intervention. Intervention components included a personally tailored website, personalized texting based on Fitbit data, and social media. The primary outcome was change in minutes of weekly MVPA from baseline to six months (6m), measured by ActiGraph accelerometers and the 7-Day Physical Activity Recall Interview. Changes in daily steps using Fitbit devices were also examined to test intervention efficacy. Results: Results: Participants (N=160) were 15.3 years old on average, and mostly second generation in the U.S. For ActiGraph-measured MVPA, participants in the Intervention group (N=83) increased from a median of 0 min/week at baseline (IQR 26) to 64 min/week at 6m (IQR 28) compared to Control participants, who showed increases from a median of 0 at baseline (IQR 24) to 41 min/week at 6m (IQR 21) (P=.04). Self-reported MVPA increased in the Intervention group from a median of 119 min/week at baseline (IQR 122.5) to 147 min/week at 6m (IQR 85) compared to Control participants, who showed increases from a median of 120 (IQR 186.25) at baseline to 124 min/week at 6m (IQR 69) (P=.03). Steps also increased in both groups, with the Intervention group showing significantly greater increases (P=.03). Conclusions: Conclusions: This intervention was successful in using a tailored technology-based strategy to increase MVPA in Latina adolescents and provides a promising approach for addressing a key health behavior. Given the scalable technology used, future studies should focus on broad scale dissemination to address health disparities. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04190225; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04190225?id=NCT04190225

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to improve pre-service speech-language pathologists (SLPs) behavior management knowledge and self-efficacy through adaptive intervention options. Method: Using a sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial, we aimed to identify the best pathways to knowledge that considers an individual's response to instruction. We initially randomly assigned participants to either read a practitioner article or complete an online video module on two evidence-based behavior support practices.  Results: Through a series of re-randomizations and intervention components, results suggested that overall knowledge improved across participants regardless of intervention sequence. We intended to explore moderators of intervention efficacy (content engagement, self-efficacy) and assess social validity; however, our final sample was too small for a meaningful analysis.  Conclusion: Implementation of the SMART design was a challenge to full participation. We couch the discussion of our results in the context of the design, implementation, and areas of learning and promise, and directions for future research.

Pooling resources toward a shared goal is central to human cooperation, yet contributions often decline over time as free-riders (and the anticipation thereof) destabilize the interaction. Prior research highlights that incentives, norms, and preferences as stabilize cooperation, but has largely overlooked the role of when we decide—particularly in relation to one another. We propose that relational timing functions as a cue that shapes expectations of cooperation and as a signal of cooperative intent. We employed a repeated four-player public goods game (30 rounds), manipulating whether participants receive (a) timing feedback and (b) contribution feedback (2 x 2 between subjects design). We hypothesize that timing feedback increases cooperation. Competing process hypotheses predict that stable temporal dynamics reinforce cooperation most when contribution feedback is present (reinforcement hypothesis) or, alternatively, when it is absent (signaling hypothesis). Exploratory analyses examine how cooperation unfolds across rounds and whether temporal stability predicts sustained cooperation.

Patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) face severe dietary potassium restrictions, reducing their quality of life (QOL) and potentially worsening their prognosis. Sodium zirconium cyclosilicate (SZC) is a novel selective potassium binder that lowers potassium levels, with minimal effects on other electrolytes. The Y-QOL study will evaluate whether SZC can improve QOL by easing the burden of dietary restrictions. This 8-week, multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, open-label trial will enroll 200 outpatients with hyperkalemia (potassium level 5.5–6.4 mEq/L after a 2-day inter-dialytic interval) on thrice-weekly HD. Participants will be randomized to receive SZC (starting dose 5 g on non-dialysis days, adjustable to 15 g based on serum potassium levels) plus dietary guidance, or dietary guidance alone to maintain serum potassium levels at 4.0–5.4 mEq/L. The primary endpoint is changes in The 7-item QOL Disease-specific Impact Scale (QDIS-7) scores at week 8 from baseline. Secondary endpoints include additional QOL scores, nutritional status, inflammation markers, Bristol Stool Form Scale, serum potassium reduction, and safety. Recruitment began on January 24, 2024, and the study will conclude on March 31, 2026. The Y-QOL study aims to determine the effectiveness of SZC in improving QOL by reducing serum potassium levels in patients with hyperkalemia undergoing HD.

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.

Inter-brain synchrony (IBS) has emerged as a promising marker of the neural processes that support social interaction, cooperation, and moral evaluation. Previous hyperscanning research shows that IBS increases during tasks involving joint attention, cooperation, or shared intentionality. Yet little is known about how agency, the extent to which individuals can influence outcomes, and outcome valence, interact to shape neural alignment between people. Real-world social contexts often involve asymmetries in control and responsibility, and these dynamics may critically influence how individuals coordinate and evaluate one another's decisions. The present registered report outlines two experiments designed to test the relationship between agency and outcome valence with IBS. In the first experiment, agency (high vs. low) and outcome valence (reward vs. punishment) are jointly manipulated during moral adjudications of economic game offers. We predict that high-agency contexts, especially when linked to punishment of unfairness, will enhance IBS by fostering shared responsibility and coordinated evaluation. In the second experiment, asymmetric agency roles (equal, unilateral, none) are introduced to examine whether unequal distributions of control reduce IBS. We also explore directional influences from higher-to lower-agency partners. By systematically manipulating both the degree of agency and the valence of social outcomes, this research aims to advance theoretical accounts of joint moral decision-making and hierarchical social interaction. The findings will contribute to understanding how responsibility, fairness, and power dynamics shape neural alignment that underpins cooperative and moral behaviour.

The UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale is a well-established psychometric instrument for assessing impulsivity, a key multidimensional psychological construct encompassing distinct facets that are differentially associated with numerous psychopathological and neuropathological symptoms across various disorders. To facilitate its integration in clinical and research settings, Billieux et al. (2012) developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of a 20-item short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS-P-20), reducing assessment time to approximately one-third of that of the original version of the psychometric instrument. Despite its widespread popularity, legitimate concerns were raised about the content validity of this short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Indeed, the inevitable loss of construct-level content coverage in short-form development, although often unaddressed by researchers, warrants in-depth examination. Therefore, the present registered report aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a revised short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale through an expert-driven and data-driven methodological approach to short-form development emphasizing item-level and construct-level content validity. Taken together, the present registered report provides professionals in clinical and research settings (1) a revised short English-language psychometric instrument for assessing impulsivity – i.e., the revised 20-item short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS-P-20-R) – that presents strong psychometric properties, notably addressing the legitimate concerns critically highlighted about the content validity of the UPPS-P-20, and (2) a data-driven methodological approach to construct-level content validity in short-form development – i.e., the R package shortr – that can be adopted to develop short versions of any psychometric instrument.

Response training, such as with the Go/NoGo task, reduces the value of trained items by requiring participants to repeatedly inhibit their responses to appetitive cues that typically elicit approach tendencies. This devaluation is thought to reflect a reduction in motivational conflict between cue-driven approach and task demand for response withholding. In this registered report, we examined whether individual differences in Pavlovian learning style, measured via a sign-tracking bias during a separate Pavlovian conditioning task, are associated with the topography of event-related potentials recorded during a food-related Go/NoGo task. We also assessed whether this bias correlates with participants’ reaction times and commission errors during the task.We found a covariance between sign-tracking bias and pre-training topographic electrophysiological responses during the P3 ERP component, but no association with training-induced plastic modification. Additionally, we found positive evidence for an absence of relationship between sign-tracking bias and behavioral responses at pre-training (r = 0.0, BF01 &gt; 3), and weak evidence for its absence post-training (r = 0.1, BF01 &lt; 3). These findings indicate that sign tracking bias modulates the activity of a specific brain network involved in inhibition of responses to appetitive cue. However, the absence of modulation induced by training suggests that food Go/NoGo training operates through pathways independent of the sign-tracking bias.

This pre-registered study is going to investigate the relationship between mixed-ownership reform and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We try to address four questions in this study: 1) Does the involvement of non-state shareholders foster SOEs to apply AI? 2) If so, what's the underlying mechanism driving this effect? 3) Does the effect of mixed-ownership reform on AI adoption vary across different types of SOEs? 4) What's the economic consequence of enhanced AI applications in SOEs? To address these questions, we are going to utilize a comprehensive dataset of A-share listed SOEs from 2008 to 2023. This paper contributes to the literature on the drivers of AI adoption and provides new insights into the high-quality development of SOEs.

Numerous aspects of resistance exercise—such as the structural components of training sessions, program design, and physical training parameters—have been extensively analyzed. However, the psychological factors affecting resistance training have received less attention. Factors such as goal setting, attentional focus, and feedback are recognized as potential influences on its effectiveness. Upon reviewing the relevant literature, several limitations and knowledge gaps have been identified within each of these three topics in resistance training. Among these issues, two concerns were consistently noted: the lack of non-acute training studies and low statistical power. These problems may be attributed to the limited research resources available for a single study. Therefore, instead of planning three small-scale trials exploring the effects of goal setting, attentional focus, and feedback on resistance training, this Stage 1 registered report outlines a factorial design that combines the investigation of these research questions into a single study with a larger sample size. The results are proposed to be published in separate articles addressing the outcomes of goal setting, attentional focus, and feedback.

Dementia-causing diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), are one of the greatest health concerns facing the aging world population. A key feature of AD is excessive accumulation of amyloid-beta, leading to synapse and cell loss in brain structures, such as the hippocampus. This neurodegeneration is preceded by impaired neuron function, notably reduced synaptic inhibition. Metabotropic GABAB receptors (GABABRs) may be modulated by amyloid precursor protein (APP) and are reported to be progressively lost from neuronal membranes of hippocampal pyramidal neurons. However, it remains unknown whether functional GABABR-mediated signaling changes over aging and whether or not pharmacological intervention can prevent receptor loss. In this study, we combine electrophysiological and biochemical analysis of hippocampal neurons in the Amyloid Precursor Protein/Presenilin-1 (APP/PS1) mouse model of AD from acute brain slices and organotypic slice cultures prepared from male and female mice to determine if functional GABABRs are lost and the effect of pharmacological modulation. Overall, we found that GABABR expression decreased with age, independent of genotype, with no evidence for postsynaptic GABABR loss in CA1 pyramidal cells at any age. We did observe a genotype-dependent reorganization of postsynaptic GABABR-mediated IPSCs, which was independent of age. Presynaptic GABABR-mediated inhibition was impaired in APP/PS1 mice, also independent of age. We observed that chronic GABABR modulation differentially regulated function but was independent of genotype. Overall, our data show that functional GABABR signaling is altered in APP/PS1 mice, independent of age, increasing our understanding of amyloidopathy-induced dysfunction.

Introduction Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is widely performed, yet insufficient tendon-bone healing remains a key contributor to graft failure. Stem cell-based interventions, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and stem cell-derived products (e.g., exosomes/extracellular vesicles), have shown potential to enhance tendon-bone integration in preclinical models. However, findings across animal studies are heterogeneous and have not been comprehensively synthesized. This review aims to evaluate the effects of stem cell-based therapies on tendon-bone healing after ACL reconstruction in animal models. Methods and analysis This protocol follows PRISMA-P. We will search PubMed, Embase, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from inception to the final search date. Controlled animal studies comparing ACL reconstruction with stem cell-based interventions versus controls will be included. Primary outcomes are biomechanical properties (ultimate failure load and stiffness). Secondary outcomes include micro-CT measures of bone integration (e.g., bone volume fraction, bone mineral density) and histological outcomes (e.g., interface maturation or validated scoring systems). Risk of bias will be assessed using SYRCLE’s tool. Random-effects meta-analyses will be performed, with prespecified subgroup analyses by stem cell type, delivery method, animal species, and follow-up time. Sensitivity analyses and publication-bias assessments will be conducted where appropriate. PROSPERO registration CRD420251137985.

Regulatory fragmentation arises when multiple government departments oversee the same domain. This study will develop a novel firm-level measure of regulatory fragmentation in China by leveraging departmental regulations and normative documents issued by State Council ministries from 2000 to 2023. Using this measure, we will examine how fragmented regulatory oversight affects firm outcomes across several key dimensions, including period costs, productivity, profitability, and firm growth. To identify a potential channel, we will analyze labor input and hypothesize that regulatory fragmentation escalates compliance complexity, thereby compelling firms to hire additional employees to manage regulatory demands. We will also explore heterogeneous effects across firms with different ownership, and distinguish between burdens arising from “regulatory duplication” and “regulatory inconsistency”. By introducing the first comprehensive index of State Council regulatory activity, this study will provide new evidence from China and contribute to the comparative understanding of how regulatory fragmentation shapes firm behavior across different stages of economic development and under alternative forms of state organization.

Imagining a movement without executing it has measurable effects on physical performance, learning, and rehabilitation. However, these effects rely on our ability to imagine performing actions, a complex, covert skill that is difficult to quantify. While movement imagery ability can be assessed by behavioural methods or measuring its neural correlates, the relationship between these measures is uncertain. This Registered Report will determine the association between three key behavioural processes during movement imagery – generation, maintenance and manipulation – and well-established neurophysiological measures of corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition during imagery, obtained via Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. A behavioural battery including a questionnaire, a ‘mental chronometry’ task, and a hand rotation task will be collected alongside the amplitude of Motor Evoked Potentials and the change in Short Interval Cortical Inhibition during imagery. Bayesian correlations will assess the association between these measures to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the neuro-behavioural correlates of movement imagery.

A recommendation of: Peter Szecsi, Miklos Bognar, Barnabas Szaszi Do Scarcity-Related Cues Affect the Sustained Attentional Performance of the Poor and the Rich Differently? https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/nk4d9_v3?view_only=

Background Studies based on teachers’ self-reports often find that teachers use different disciplinary practices towards students from minoritized ethnic-racial groups and of low socioeconomic status (SES) than towards their peers. However, these studies do not investigate actual student and teacher behaviour or underlying mechanisms. It is also unclear whether the results stemming mostly from US-based studies can be transferred to contexts outside the US. Aims The present study addresses these issues and investigates teachers’ disciplinary behaviour using videographies of real-life classrooms in Germany. This enables us to observe actual student and teacher behaviour simultaneously and investigate potential teacher-based discrimination towards students of an ethnically minoritized group and of low SES. We also examine teachers’ stereotypes as potential moderators. Sample The study is based on secondary data and includes a sample containing information on 18 teachers and around 200 students. The exact sample sizes will be available only after the analyses. Methods Student and teacher behaviour was coded in 34 10-min video sequences from 18 German and mathematics classes by trained raters blind to the research questions. The resulting data will be analysed together with demographic and questionnaire data available in the dataset using a series of multilevel logistic regressions. Results As this study is submitted as a stage I registered report, currently no results can be reported. Conclusions Results of this study will provide valuable information on classroom processes in which teacher-based discrimination might be observable. It will also elucidate the role of teachers’ stereotypes as a potential mechanism.

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: eHealth interventions are widely used in clinical trials and increasingly in care settings as well; however, their efficacy in real-world contexts remains unknown. ReMindCare is a smartphone app that has been systematically implemented in a first episode of psychosis program (FEPP) for patients with early psychosis since 2018. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of ReMindCare after 19 months of use in the clinic and varying use by individual patients. Methods: The integration of the ReMindCare app into the FEPP started in October 2018. Patients with early psychosis self-selected to the app (ReMindCare group) or treatment as usual (TAU group). The outcome variables considered were adherence to the intervention and number of relapses, hospital admissions, and visits to urgent care units. Data from 90 patients with early psychosis were analyzed: 59 in the ReMindCare group and 31 in the TAU group. The mean age of the sample was 32.8 (SD 9.4) years, 73% (66/90) were males, 91% (83/90) were White, and 81% (74/90) were single. Results: Significant differences between the ReMindCare and TAU groups were found in the number of relapses, hospitalizations, and visits to urgent care units, with each showing benefits for the app. Only 20% (12/59) of patients from the ReMindCare group had a relapse, while 58% (18/31) of the TAU patients had one or more relapses (χ2=13.7, P=.001). Moreover, ReMindCare patients had fewer visits to urgent care units (χ2=7.4, P=.006) and fewer hospitalizations than TAU patients (χ2=4.6, P=.03). The mean of days using the app was 352.2 (SD 191.2; min/max: 18-594), and the mean of engagement was 84.5 (SD 16.04). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first eHealth intervention that has preliminarily proven its benefits in the real-world treatment of patients with early psychosis.

This pre-registered study explores the impact of intergenerational succession on the international strategy of family businesses. Conceptualizing succession as a critical inflection point in corporate governance, we examine whether leadership transition to a next-generation family member influences a firm's likelihood to initiate or expand international operations. Drawing on agency theory, socioemotional wealth, and dynamic capabilities, we propose that successor characteristics—such as foreign education or work experience—affect global strategic orientation. Using a quasi-natural experimental design, we will employ a difference-in-differences approach to evaluate how succession events affect internationalization outcomes, while also investigating the moderating roles of founder retention and governance professionalization. This study aims to provide theoretical insights into strategic transformation in family firms and generate practical implications for succession planning and globalization strategies, particularly in emerging market contexts.

Background: Previous research has reported that two of the major barriers to help-seeking for individuals at risk of suicide are stigma and geographical isolation. Mobile technology offers a potential means of delivering evidence-based interventions with greater specificity to the individual, and at the time that it is needed. Despite documented motivation by at-risk individuals to use mobile technology to track mental health and to support psychological interventions, there is a shortfall of outcomes data on the efficacy of mobile health (mHealth) technology on suicide-specific outcomes. Objective: The objective of this study is to develop a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile technology-based interventions for suicide prevention. Methods: The search includes the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL: The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CRESP and relevant sources of gray literature. Studies that have evaluated psychological or nonpsychological interventions delivered via mobile computing and communication technology, and have suicidality as an outcome measure will be included. Two authors will independently extract data and assess the study suitability in accordance with the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Studies will be included if they measure at least one suicide outcome variable (ie, suicidal ideation, suicidal intent, nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior, suicidal behavior). Secondary outcomes will be measures of symptoms of depression. Where studies are sufficiently homogenous and reported outcomes are amenable for pooled synthesis, meta-analysis will be performed. A narrative synthesis will be conducted if the data is unsuitable for a meta-analysis. Results: The review is in progress, with findings expected by summer 2018. Conclusions: To date, evaluations of mobile technology-based interventions in suicide prevention have focused on evaluating content as opposed to efficacy. Indeed, previous research has identified mobile applications that appear to present harmful content. The current review will address a gap in the literature by evaluating the efficacy of stand-alone mobile technology tools in suicide prevention. It is imperative that research identifies the evidence base for such tools in suicide prevention in order to inform policy, guide clinical practice, inform users and focus future research. Trial Registration: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42017072899; https:// www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.asp?ID=CRD42017072899  (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/ 6tZAj0yqJ)

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) apps provide innovative solutions for improving treatment adherence, facilitating lifestyle modifications, and optimizing blood pressure control in patients with hypertension. Despite their potential benefits, the adoption and recommendation of mHealth apps by physicians in Germany remain limited. This reluctance may be due to a lack of understanding of the factors influencing physicians’ willingness to incorporate these digital tools into routine clinical practice. Understanding these factors is crucial for fostering greater integration of mHealth apps in hypertension care. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between physicians’ information needs and acceptance factors, and how these elements can support the effective integration of mHealth apps into daily medical routines. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study involving 24 semistructured telephone interviews with physicians, including 14 cardiologists and 10 general practitioners, who are involved in the treatment of hypertensive patients. Participants were selected through purposive sampling to ensure a diverse range of perspectives. Thematic analysis was conducted using MAXQDA software (Verbi GmbH) to identify key themes and subthemes related to the acceptance and use of mHealth apps. Results: The analysis revealed significant variability in physicians’ information needs regarding mHealth apps, particularly concerning their functionalities, clinical benefits, and potential impact on patient outcomes. These informational gaps play a critical role in determining whether physicians are willing to recommend mHealth apps to their patients. Key determinants influencing acceptance were identified, including the availability of robust knowledge about the apps, high-quality and reliable data, generational shifts within the medical profession, solid evidence supporting the effectiveness of the mHealth apps, and clearly defined areas of application and responsibilities within the physician-patient relationship. The study found that acceptance of mHealth apps could be significantly increased through targeted educational initiatives, enhanced data quality, and better integration of these tools into existing clinical workflows. Furthermore, younger physicians, more familiar with digital technologies, demonstrated greater openness to using mHealth apps, suggesting that generational changes may drive future increases in adoption. Conclusions: The successful integration of mHealth apps into hypertension management requires a multifaceted approach that addresses both the informational and practical concerns of physicians. By disseminating comprehensive knowledge about the variety, functionality, and proven efficacy of hypertension-related mHealth apps, health care providers can be better equipped to use these tools effectively. This approach necessitates the implementation of various knowledge transfer strategies, such as targeted training programs, peer learning opportunities, and active engagement with digital health technologies. As physicians become more informed and confident in the use of mHealth apps, their acceptance and recommendation of these tools are likely to increase, leading to more widespread adoption. Overcoming current barriers related to information deficits and data quality is essential for ensuring that mHealth apps are optimally used in routine hypertension care, ultimately improving patient outcomes and enhancing the overall quality of care. Trial Registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00029761; https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00029761

Overconfidence is prevalent despite being linked to various negative outcomes for individuals, organizations, and even societies. To explain this puzzling phenomenon, C. Anderson, Brion, et al. (2012) proposed a status-enhancement theory of overconfidence: Expressing overconfidence helps individuals attain social status. In this registered report, we conducted a direct replication of Study 5 by C. Anderson, Brion, et al. (2012), who found that individual differences in desire for status were positively correlated with being overconfident about one’s task performance relative to others. We also tested the generalizability of the key relationship to a different measure of desire for status. Furthermore, we complemented traditional significance testing with equivalence testing and Bayesian analysis to test a set of null hypotheses in the original study. We found support for the status-enhancement hypothesis: Desire for status had a positive association with overconfidence using both the original measure of desire for status (β = 0.19, 95% CI [0.09, 0.28]) and the alternative measure (β = 0.31, 95% CI [0.22, 0.39]). A follow-up extension study aimed to test this relationship causally by manipulating the social context where status motives may be stronger (a competitive vs. cooperative context) and testing whether such an effect is driven by state-level desire for status. We did not find a direct causal effect of social context on overconfidence but an indirect association via state-level desire for status: A competitive (vs. cooperative) group context increased desire for status (β = 0.34, 95% CI [0.18, 0.51]), which in turn predicted greater overconfidence (β = 0.38, 95% CI [0.31, 0.46]). (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

We propose an experimental evaluation of whether performance-based incentives for residential energy conservation remain effective when repeated. Building on our prior study with EVNHANOI, which found that both contests (rewards based on relative performance) and contracts (rewards based on absolute savings) reduced electricity use by 7–9%, with contests proving significantly more cost-effective, we aim to test whether these effects hold when households are repeatedly exposed to these incentives. Does the comparison of contests versus contracts change when households are repeatedly exposed to these? Does repeated exposure reduce energy conservation after households fail to earn a reward? To answer these questions, we will randomly assign 6,400 households in Hanoi to one of six groups. The first four groups vary by incentive type (contest or contract) and reward level (high or low). The fifth group will receive nudges without being offered explicit incentives to conserve energy, and the last group will be a pure control. Each treated household will participate in two consecutive two-week conservation periods. Using smart meter data, we will measure electricity consumption to assess both immediate effects and dynamic behavioral responses over time.

Local economic decline has contributed to the backlash against globalization, but we know little about the effects on citizens’ trust in global governance. While economic geography theory predicts that trust in international institutions is lower in historically poorer areas due to feelings of being left behind, the evidence is surprisingly mixed. In this article, we explain this puzzle by proposing reference dependence as a crucial cognitive bias leading individuals to evaluate local economic decline relative to their locale’s wealth in the past. Citizens in poorer areas evaluate economic outcomes against lower baselines, making economic decline less salient and reducing the tendency to attribute losses to international economic institutions (IEIs). This helps explain why richer areas, where decline is more salient, tend to blame IEIs. Our argument yields testable hypotheses, which this registered report proposes investigating in a survey experiment based on representative samples of the United States and two American counties experiencing economic decline. In a priming experiment, we will assess how raising the salience of local decline, and decline relative to other areas, affects trust in IEIs, and the extent this effect depends on both salience and blame attribution. The results are expected to explain why historically rich, declining areas are less likely to trust IEIs, than historically poor areas, across partisan lines and other group divisions.

Musicians are often regarded as a positive example of brain plasticity and associated cognitive benefits. This emerges when experienced musicians (e.g., musicians with more than 10 years of music training and practice) are compared with nonmusicians. A frequently observed behavioral finding is a short-term memory advantage of the former over the latter. Although available meta-analysis reported that the effect size of this advantage is medium (Hedges’s g = 0.5), no literature study was adequately powered to estimate reliably an effect of such size. This multilab study has been ideated, realized, and conducted in lab by several groups that have been working on this topic. Our ultimate goal was to provide a community-driven shared and reliable estimate of the musicians’ short-term memory advantage (if any) and set a method and a standard for future studies in neuroscience and psychology comparing musicians and nonmusicians. Thirty-three research units recruited a total of 600 experienced musicians and 600 nonmusicians, a number that is sufficiently large to estimate a small effect size (Hedges’s g = 0.3) with a high statistical power (i.e., 95%). Subsequently, we measured the difference in short-term memory for musical, verbal, and visuospatial stimuli. We also looked at cognitive, personality, and socioeconomic factors that might mediate the difference. Musicians had better short-term memory than nonmusicians for musical, verbal, and visuospatial stimuli with an effect size of, respectively, Hedges’s gs = 1.08 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.94, 1.22]; large), 0.16 (95% CI = [0.02 0.30]; very small), and 0.28 (95% CI = [0.15, 0.41]; small). This work sets the basis for sound research practices in studies comparing musicians and nonmusicians and contributes to the ongoing debate on the possible cognitive benefits of musical training.

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.

In 2015, the city of São Paulo, Brazil, began providing free public transportation to all secondary education students enrolled in public schools, benefiting nearly 1.5 million teenagers since its implementation. This study aims to evaluate the impacts of this policy, examining both short-term outcomes, such as secondary education enrollment, completion, proficiency, and concurrent participation in the formal labor market, as well as medium-term outcomes, including higher education enrollment, formal labor market participation, and wages after completing school. The analysis leverages a rich longitudinal dataset that tracks all Brazilian students through basic and higher education, as well as their participation in the formal labor market, from 2007 to 2023. To identify the policy’s impacts, we will implement a difference-in-differences strategy, comparing changes in outcomes for students in São Paulo after the policy’s adoption with changes observed for students in other Brazilian cities attending schools with similar pre-treatment characteristics. Additionally, we will examine heterogeneity in policy effects within São Paulo by comparing changes in outcomes between neighborhoods with higher and lower levels of public transportation accessibility. A preliminary analysis, based on this empirical strategy and using publicly available school-level data, estimated reductions in dropout rates of up to 3.4% in the first year of secondary education following the policy’s implementation. The individual-level analysis proposed in this registered report has already been approved and will be conducted in the Brazilian Ministry of Education’s Protected Data Room between August and September 2025.

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.

Everyday decision-making often involves choosing between multiple alternatives, and developing unified theories for this process would benefit broad disciplines of behavioral science. A key challenge lies in explaining behavioral irrationalities that arise specifically in multi-alternative decisions. This study, based on pre-registered procedures, investigated such non-normative behaviors in a three-choice dot numerosity discrimination task. We systematically manipulated the value of the lowest-numerosity alternative (the dud stimulus) and quantified its effects on choice, response time, and confidence. We then explained observed behaviors with a sequential evidence accumulation model featuring a “max vs. next” decision algorithm. This pseudo-optimal decisionmaking rule naturally accounted for a well-known non-normative choice pattern: the violation of the independence of irrelevant alternatives. Our model also explained a multi-choice metacognitive bias, known as the dud-alternative confidence boost, by identifying two critical time windows in confidence constructions: confidence is based on sensory evidence collected shortly after stimulus presentation and evidence gathered right after decision-making. These findings represent a significant advancement in understanding the dynamics underlying multi-choice irrationalities.

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/

Social interactions are fundamentally shaped by our expectations of others’ behavior, and one of the most powerful influences on these expectations is gender stereotypes. Previous research has explored the implications of affirming or violating these stereotypes, tacitly overlooking the impact of the expectations themselves. Here, we aim to investigate (1) the potential emotional responses that arise from the anticipation of affirmation or violation and (2) how these anticipatory states influence emotional reactions to stereotype-related targets. Specifically, we hypothesize that anticipating affirmation (/violations) of gendered expectations will elicit pleasant (/unpleasant) emotions regardless of the actual outcome, and that these anticipatory states will exert a similar influence on the emotional responses to stereotype-related targets. To explore those hypotheses, we will measure the intensity of emotional reactions to emotion-evoking images presented after an anticipatory cue regarding gender-stereotypical expectations (Study 1) or after encountering a cue and an affirming or violating social target (Study 2). To minimize response bias, we will employ evidence accumulation models to provide an indirect, easily interpretable, unbiased, and reliable measurement of emotion intensity. The results are expected to highlight the hitherto neglected aspect of outcome anticipation in person perception. Specifically, the results will highlight whether merely expecting stereotype-violating information triggers unpleasant emotions, potentially contributing to the persistence of prejudice and also tap into why and when individuals prefer (un) certainty.

Previous research on the relationship between conspiracy belief and democratic values is contradictory: there is evidence indicating that conspiracy believers are both less and more supportive of democratic ideas. We investigate this relationship using a fine-grained analysis of both plausible and implausible conspiracy beliefs and argue that even though conspiracy believers might perceive themselves as defenders of democracy, they are more likely to have antidemocratic attitudes. Furthermore, we propose two variables that could be responsible for the negative relationship between conspiracy belief and democratic principles. First, the lower cognitive ability and reduced motivation to process information associated with implausible conspiracy beliefs may undermine support for democracy. Second, a conspiracy worldview – shared by believers in both plausible and implausible conspiracy theories – may foster distrust towards those in power and, consequently, towards democracy as a system. Across three cross-sectional survey studies, we first establish that people who believe in implausible conspiracy theories are less supportive of democratic principles. Second, we find exploratory evidence for the idea that information processing explains the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and support for democratic principles. However, we do not find robust evidence that the conspiracy worldview contributes to a lower support for democratic principles. To test the causal influence of both variables, we will conduct an experiment in which we manipulate both participant's information-processing style and conspiracy worldview using fictitious vignettes. We expect that both a heightened conspiracy worldview and a more intuitive informationprocessing style will contribute to a decreased support for democratic principles in these scenarios.