Reviews & Analysis

Visual temporal attention involves the prioritization of certain points in time at the expense of others. In this Review, Denison synthesizes experimental results and computational models of voluntary temporal attention and distinguishes it from related phenomena.

Personality is relatively stable over long timescales but remains malleable to some degree. In this Review, Jackson and Wright examine the mechanisms responsible for intentional and naturally occurring change as well as mechanisms that promote stability, thereby limiting potential change.

Focal neuromodulation approaches are promising therapeutic options for challenging-to-treat neurological and psychiatric symptoms, but might indirectly or directly affect cognition. In this Review, Rabin et al. describe the cognitive effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation and ablative techniques.

Sounds are generated by interactions between objects in the world. In this Review, Winkler and Denham describe how representations of sources and actions enable humans to segment complex auditory experience into meaningful units.

A sense of belonging can provide LGBTQ+ people with the opportunity to thrive and promote psychological well-being. In this Review, Matsick et al. summarize factors that influence belonging based on sexual orientation and gender diversity using a multi-pronged approach.

Visual memory has traditionally been thought of as all-or-none, with items remembered perfectly or completely forgotten. In this Review, Brady and colleagues synthesize work that indicates that visual memory representations in working memory and long-term memory are not all-or-none but are instead noisy and hierarchical.

People frequently use their own minds as a point of departure when generating inferences about the minds of others, and such self-referential information often persists in biasing social inferences. In this Review, Todd and Tamir discuss features that amplify and attenuate egocentrism during mentalizing.

Impairments in social cognition are typical in schizophrenia–bipolar spectrum disorders. In this Review, Lewandowski and colleagues characterize impairments across social cognitive domains and illness phases including links with community functioning, and make recommendations for assessment and intervention.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mobile sensing methods can overcome methodological challenges to naturalistic observation and facilitate research about the link between everyday behaviours and psychological constructs. In this Review, Harari and Gosling describe illustrative findings from mobile sensing studies in psychology and propose a research agenda to guide future work.

Collective narcissism — a belief that one’s group is exceptional and deserves special treatment — arises when group identity is motivated by frustrated psychological needs. In this Review, Cislak and Cichocka describe the implications of collective narcissism in the national context and how such national narcissism explains contemporary social and political phenomena.

Responses to potentially traumatic events go beyond the typical binary classification based on the presence or absence of psychopathology. In this Review, Bonanno et al. describe multiple outcome trajectories following adversity and consider how the different components of regulatory flexibility can promote resilience.

The ability to think spatially is associated with STEM success. In this Review, Taylor and colleagues discuss how visualizations engage spatial thinking and the role of visualizations across STEM fields.

Embodied theories propose that concept knowledge involves simulations of sensory information. In this Review, Muraki et al. discuss how studying individuals with an inability to form mental images can provide insight into the relationship between mental imagery and these mental simulations.

Social touch plays a vital part in human development and psychological well-being, but relevant research is often siloed across disciplines. In this Review, Suvilehto and colleagues integrate across areas and approaches to draw conclusions regarding the purpose, participants and use of social touch.