Articles in 2023

Humans organize the visual world into meaningful perceptual objects. In this Review, Ayzenberg and Behrmann examine the maturation of object recognition from infancy through childhood and describe how children’s environments and visual capabilities shape early object recognition.

Studies of the effect of sleep on learning and memory sometimes reveal conflicting or unreliable results. In this Perspective, Nemeth and colleagues review methodological challenges and make recommendations for improving the reliability of research in this field.

The p-factor is a construct that is thought to explain and perhaps cause variation in all forms of psychopathology. In this Perspective, Watts et al. outline theoretical and statistical challenges in the p-factor literature that raise questions about whether general factors of psychopathology are useful summaries of psychopathology variation.

Some researchers equate insight with cognitive restructuring processes that occur when solvers reinterpret the problem, whereas others equate insight with phenomenological Aha! experiences that accompany solutions. In this Review, Wiley and Danek summarize both approaches to insight problem solving and consider the extent to which Aha! experiences co-occur with restructuring.

It is normal to deal with difficult situations during PhD studies. Students and their advisors can set themselves up for success and minimize potential challenges with foreknowledge and by making expectations and workflows explicit.

Peer review for a narrative review article can be quite different from the process for an empirical manuscript. We demystify the aims of and procedures for peer review at Nature Reviews Psychology.

Minoritized doctoral students are subject to cultural taxation — disproportionate expectations and obligations based on their race or ethnicity — that negatively impacts their PhD studies. Faculty members and departments should counteract this taxation to support students of colour.

Laypeople tend to believe that self-esteem influences the quality of relationships, but the empirical evidence is mixed. In this Review, Wood et al. summarize the current state of evidence for simple direct effects, propose that self-esteem is best understood as influencing relationships indirectly through a causal chain of mediators, and review evidence for such mediators.

Humans can rapidly and accurately recognize visual scenes and objects within them. In this Review, Peelen and colleagues discuss bidirectional interactions between object and scene processing and the role of predictive processing in visual inference.

Autistic individuals and people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders share traits and behaviours, which can interfere with diagnosis and treatment. In this Review, Schalbroeck and colleagues describe the shared and unique clinical and neuropsychological features of each condition and discuss clinical implications.

Self-control is traditionally viewed as an individual-level struggle, reflecting prevailing notions of individual autonomy and personal responsibility. In this Perspective, Hofmann calls for a multilevel approach to self-control that considers not only how individuals may proactively shape their environments, but also how structural factors often shape individuals’ environments beyond their control.

The current system of peer review drives racial and gender disparities in publication and funding outcomes and can suppress the perspectives of marginalized scholars. Established researchers have an opportunity to help to build a fairer and more inclusive peer review culture by advocating for and empowering their trainees.

Metacognition is the evaluation, control, or representation of one’s own cognition. In this Review, Mazancieux et al. discuss whether metacognition is general or specific across domains, focusing on memory and perception.

Who will achieve high marks in school, flourish in their career or become an Olympian? Current theories of achievement provide answers that are intuitively appealing but scientifically flawed. Consequently, most of what people believe about how to achieve success is likely to be incorrect.

Two articles in Nature Reviews Psychology propose a resilience-based approach to mental health outcomes that shifts attention from a binary view of psychopathology to diversity.