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In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 45 studies, covering a sample of 116,999 individuals across 22 countries, McGuire et al. find that cash transfers improve the subjective well-being and mental health of recipients in low- and middle-income countries.
Adolescents in Norway reported more depressive symptoms and less optimism during the COVID-19 pandemic, while alcohol and cannabis use decreased. Girls, younger individuals and those from low socio-economic backgrounds showed more adverse changes.
In two audit experiments with politicians and students, and an online experiment, Kirgios et al. show that women and racial/ethnic minorities seeking help are more likely to receive support when they explicitly mention their marginalized demographic identity.
What neural computations underlie the human sense of confidence? Geurts et al. show that subjective confidence is based on a probability distribution represented in cortical activity.
Serino et al. studied the sense of agency for actions generated via a brain–machine interface. They show that primary motor cortex encodes not only motor and sensory signals, but also subjective agency signals, enabling improved brain–machine interface proficiency.
Across 26 countries, Imhoff et al. find that conspiracy mentality is more prevalent at both ends of the political spectrum than the centre. This U-shaped pattern is accentuated for supporters of political parties not in government, particularly on the political right.
Skies of Manawak, a video game designed to train attentional control and executive processes, is associated with better reading skills in 8- to 12-year-old children that are maintained 6 months later and higher school grades 12–18 months later.
Our social lives involve interactions in many different domains, including networks of family members, friends, colleagues and online contacts. Su et al. show that networks with multiple domains of interaction tend to promote cooperative behaviour.
Xiao et al. report that toddlers with autism, who have reduced behavioural preference for motherese speech as indexed through eye tracking, also have impaired brain responses to motherese in language regions, while typical toddlers show the opposite pattern.