Reviews & Analysis

From infancy, humans learn the regularities of their world using statistical learning. In this Review, Forest et al. consider how statistical learning changes quantitatively and qualitatively across development, considering influences on the input to learning and the resulting memory representations.

Neurocognitive evidence indicates that episodic memory and semantic memory have a more extensive role in creative ideation. In this Perspective, Benedek et al. integrate this memory research within existing creativity theorizing to present a framework whereby creative ideas arise across four distinguishable stages.

Fear is an adaptive response to threat, but is also implicated in clinical conditions. In this Perspective, Beckers et al. argue that harnessing the potential of Pavlovian fear conditioning as a laboratory model of clinical anxiety requires moving beyond the study of fear acquisition to associated phenomena: extinction, generalization and avoidance.

Developments in information and communication technologies have substantially changed daily life. In this Review, Flayelle et al. formulate a theory-driven taxonomy that explains how the design features of online applications might lead to problematic usage patterns based on reinforcement learning and behavioural control theories.

Whether human face-processing specialization arrives innately at birth or arises through experience across development is an enduring debate. In this Perspective, Scott and Arcaro argue for an experience-based account whereby face-processing specialization emerges from associative and non-associative learning constrained by intrinsic neurobiological mechanisms.

Distortions of autobiographical memory recollection characterize a variety of mental health disorders. In this Review, Dalgleish and Hitchcock summarize key basic research findings in three domains of autobiographical memory distortion, and describe how these have been leveraged in pre-clinical and clinical interventions.

Working memory, or the ability to temporarily hold information in mind, underlies many everyday behaviours. In this Review, Naveh-Benjamin and Cowan discuss age-related changes in working memory capacity and how working memory interacts with other cognitive capacities, relating both to theories of working memory.

Complex spatial cognition supports seemingly simple actions such as picking up a coffee mug. In this Review, Fiehler and Karimpur discuss the spatial coding underlying such actions, highlighting high-level factors and suggesting that research should integrate across spatial scales.

Sexism encompasses attitudes that are both overtly negative and those that seem subjectively positive but are actually harmful. In this Review, Barreto and Doyle describe the predictors of ambivalent sexism and its effects on women, and consider societal shifts that might influence how sexism is manifested, experienced and understood.

Philosophers of science have identified epistemological criteria for evaluating the promise of a scientific theory. In this Perspective, Dale et al. propose that a principle of methodological variety should be one of these criteria, and argue that psychologists should actively cultivate methodological variety to advance theory.

Individuals with anorexia nervosa persistently exert effortful behaviour such as restrictive eating that most individuals find aversive. In this Perspective, Haynos et al. propose a novel mechanistic account for why such behaviours persist from the social psychology theory of learned industriousness.

Conspiracy theories have the potential to undermine governments, promote racism, ignite extremism and threaten public health efforts. In this Review, Hornsey et al. synthesize the literature on factors that shape conspiracy beliefs at the individual, intergroup and national level.

The majority of methods in psychology rely on averaging group data to draw conclusions. In this Perspective, Nickels et al. argue that single case methodology is a valuable tool for developing and extending psychological theories, with applied benefits of understanding neuropsychological deficits and developing interventions.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder frequently co-occur, and this combination is more difficult to treat than either disorder alone. In this Review, Kline and colleagues discuss effective treatments for this combination, focusing on trauma-focused treatments, and provide recommendations to improve treatment response and reduce dropout.

People feel lonely when their social needs are not met, which can lead to long-term health issues. In this Review, Luhmann et al. summarize empirical findings on differences in the prevalence of loneliness across time and space and consider macro-level factors that might account for these differences.

Remembering to execute in the future an intention that cannot be fulfilled when formed in the present is an essential cognitive skill. In this Review, Rummel and Kvavilashvili discuss how well theories of prospective memory account for the cognitive processes involved.

Retrieving information from memory influences memory in complex ways. In this Review, Roediger and Abel describe positive and negative effects of three facets of memory retrieval and the influence of context on each.

Human social groups depend on processes that enable social interactions. In this Review, Ristic and Capozzi present three attentional mechanisms that are flexibly and dynamically used to facilitate social interactions between individual group members as a function of the size of the social group.

Perceptual learning, or performance improvements after training on perceptual tasks, is a widespread phenomenon in visual perception. In this Review, Lu and Dosher describe findings regarding the specificity and transfer of perceptual learning, mechanisms of learning and key applications in visual rehabilitation.

Debates about human emotion traditionally pit biological and cultural influences against one another. In this Perspective, Lindquist et al. suggest that emotions are underpinned by neural mechanisms linked to physiological and action regulation, but discrete emotion categories are cultural artefacts that evolved through social transmission.