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| Open AccessEstimating effects of parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores
Understanding how parents’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence their children’s educational trajectories is important for educational, family and economic policy. Here, the authors investigate parental influence on children’s education using genetic approaches.
- Perline A. Demange
- , Jouke Jan Hottenga
- & Rosa Cheesman
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Article
| Open AccessMapping effective connectivity of human amygdala subdivisions with intracranial stimulation
The amygdala is known to be engaged in emotional and autonomic function, yet the detailed functional connectivity of the human amygdala remains unclear. Here, the authors examine effective connectivity in the amygdala of patients with epilepsy using direct focal electrical stimulation.
- Masahiro Sawada
- , Ralph Adolphs
- & Hiroyuki Oya
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| Open AccessNeuronal congruency effects in macaque prefrontal cortex
Stimulus-induced conflicts impair behavior in conflict tasks resulting in a phenomenon known as the behavioral congruency effect. Here, the authors investigate the neural underpinnings of this phenomenon and report a neuronal congruency effect in macaque prefrontal cortex to explain this impairment.
- Tao Yao
- & Wim Vanduffel
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| Open AccessNarrative thinking lingers in spontaneous thought
Some experiences linger in our minds, while others quickly fade. Here, the authors show that the extent to which our recent experiences linger into subsequent thought increases as a function of processing depth.
- Buddhika Bellana
- , Abhijit Mahabal
- & Christopher J. Honey
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| Open AccessNeurocomputational mechanisms of confidence in self and others
Estimating confidence in the decision making ability of others is important for cooperative behaviour. Here the authors combine computational modelling and fMRI to investigate how the brain supports this process.
- Dan Bang
- , Rani Moran
- & Stephen M. Fleming
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| Open AccessPredicting memory from the network structure of naturalistic events
Naturalistic experiences often have complex structure, consisting of multiple inter-related events. Here, the authors show that the semantic and causal interconnectedness of events in narratives positively predicts memory performance and neural responses associated with memory encoding and recall.
- Hongmi Lee
- & Janice Chen
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Article
| Open AccessA macroscopic link between interhemispheric tract myelination and cortico-cortical interactions during action reprogramming
Myelination is a key regulator of brain function. Here the authors use MR-based myelin measures to examine if cortico-cortical interactions, as assessed by paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, are affected by variations in myelin in the human brain.
- Alberto Lazari
- , Piergiorgio Salvan
- & Heidi Johansen-Berg
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Article
| Open AccessPeople infer communicative action through an expectation for efficient communication
Humans can quickly infer when someone’s body movements are meant to be communicative. Here, the authors show that this capacity is underpinned by an expectation that communicative actions will efficiently reveal that they lack an external goal.
- Amanda Royka
- , Annie Chen
- & Julian Jara-Ettinger
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Article
| Open AccessVisual timing-tuned responses in human association cortices and response dynamics in early visual cortex
Early visual cortical responses increase with event duration and frequency, while later timing-tuned responses quantify event timing. Here, the authors show timing tuning gradually emerges up the visual hierarchy, and separates temporal and spatial event features.
- Evi Hendrikx
- , Jacob M. Paul
- & Ben M. Harvey
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Article
| Open AccessMnemonic construction and representation of temporal structure in the hippocampal formation
Activity patterns in the hippocampus resemble temporal relations of learned event sequences. Here, the authors show that these relational memories arise through mnemonic construction and are generalized to reflect the temporal event structure.
- Jacob L. S. Bellmund
- , Lorena Deuker
- & Christian F. Doeller
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Article
| Open AccessFunctional but not obligatory link between microsaccades and neural modulation by covert spatial attention
Covert visual spatial attention modulates neural activity and biases the direction of small eye movements, known as microsaccades. Here, the authors show that these two markers co-vary, but that microsaccades are not necessary for neural modulation by attention to occur.
- Baiwei Liu
- , Anna C. Nobre
- & Freek van Ede
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Article
| Open AccessLongitudinal evidence that Event Related Potential measures of self-regulation do not predict everyday goal pursuit
Self-regulation helps people to achieve their goals, and has been studied across modalities. Here, the authors present longitudinal evidence suggesting that common neural and behavioral measures of self-regulation derived from laboratory tasks do not predict everyday goal pursuit.
- Blair Saunders
- , Marina Milyavskaya
- & Michael Inzlicht
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Article
| Open AccessProsocial correlates of transformative experiences at secular multi-day mass gatherings
Mass gatherings may elicit experiences of profound personal change. Here the authors show across six field sites that reporting of transformative experiences at mass gatherings are common, increase over time, and predict lasting increases in participants’ circle of moral regard.
- Daniel A. Yudkin
- , Annayah M. B. Prosser
- & M. J. Crockett
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Article
| Open AccessMothers with higher twinning propensity had lower fertility in pre-industrial Europe
The question of whether women who produce twins are more fertile than other women has been debated. Here, the authors analyze a large dataset of pre-industrial birth outcomes and find evidence against the idea of higher fertility and instead that more births lead to more twinning opportunities.
- Ian J. Rickard
- , Colin Vullioud
- & Alexandre Courtiol
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Article
| Open AccessModulation of biological motion perception in humans by gravity
Utilizing spaceflight and its ground-based analog, the authors show how the Earth’s gravity sustains the human brain’s orientation-dependent sensitivity to biological motion signals based on neural computations of visual and vestibular gravitational cues.
- Ying Wang
- , Xue Zhang
- & Yi Jiang
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Article
| Open AccessAccuracy prompts are a replicable and generalizable approach for reducing the spread of misinformation
Prompting people to consider accuracy can improve the quality of news they share online. Here, using an internal meta-analysis, the authors show that this effect is replicable and generalizes across headlines, types of accuracy prompt, and various participant characteristics.
- Gordon Pennycook
- & David G. Rand
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| Open AccessAn energizing role for motivation in information-seeking during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic
Information-seeking behavior in humans is often viewed as irrational rather than utility maximizing. Here the authors describe data obtained in Spring 2020 showing that participants’ concern about COVID-19 was related not only to their drive to seek information about the virus, but also to their curiosity about other more general topics.
- Yaniv Abir
- , Caroline B. Marvin
- & Daphna Shohamy
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| Open AccessA computational theory of the subjective experience of flow
Flow is a desired but elusive state characterized by the subjective experience of immersion and engagement in an activity. Here, the authors develop and empirically validate a formal model that specifies variables and computations involved in the subjective experience of flow.
- David E. Melnikoff
- , Ryan W. Carlson
- & Paul E. Stillman
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Article
| Open AccessElectrocorticographic evidence of a common neurocognitive sequence for mentalizing about the self and others
The individual roles of default network regions in social thinking remain unclear. Using electrocorticography, the authors show a spatiotemporal hierarchy of neurocognitive specialization across temporoparietal and prefrontal default network regions.
- Kevin M. Tan
- , Amy L. Daitch
- & Matthew D. Lieberman
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| Open AccessAdverse biobehavioral effects in infants resulting from pregnant rhesus macaques’ exposure to wildfire smoke
Little is known about the consequences of prenatal exposure to wildfire smoke on biobehavioural outcomes. Here, the authors show that infant rhesus monkeys exposed early in gestation to wildfire smoke from the 2018 Camp Fire in California show more inflammation, blunted cortisol and altered behaviour outcomes compared to non-exposed animals.
- John P. Capitanio
- , Laura A. Del Rosso
- & Bill L. Lasley
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| Open AccessA probabilistic map of emotional experiences during competitive social interactions
Emotions motivate decision-making but are difficult to measure. Here the authors use a data driven, machine learning approach to reveal that social choices are linked to a diverse array of emotions, including disappointment and sadness.
- Joseph Heffner
- & Oriel FeldmanHall
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| Open AccessCumulative lifetime stressor exposure assessed by the STRAIN predicts economic ambiguity aversion
Uncertainty is a factor in most decisions. Here the authors quantify tolerance for two forms of economic uncertainty—risk and ambiguity—and show that greater lifetime stressor exposure (as assessed by a comprehensive lifetime stressor exposure inventory) was associated with higher aversion to decisions involving ambiguity, but not risk.
- Candace M. Raio
- , Benjamin B. Lu
- & Paul Glimcher
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| Open AccessWindows of developmental sensitivity to social media
The relationship between social media use and well-being might change across adolescent development. Here, the authors use cross sectional and longitudinal data to show that distinct developmental windows of sensitivity to social media emerge in adolescence, dependent on age and sex.
- Amy Orben
- , Andrew K. Przybylski
- & Rogier A. Kievit
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| Open AccessIn-degree centrality in a social network is linked to coordinated neural activity
Convergent processing of external stimuli may contribute to social connectedness. Here the authors show that people with high in-degree centrality in a social network have similar neural responses to their peers and to each other and that less-central individuals have idiosyncratic responses.
- Elisa C. Baek
- , Ryan Hyon
- & Carolyn Parkinson
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| Open AccessModeling assortative mating and genetic similarities between partners, siblings, and in-laws
Assortative mating could violate the assumption of random mating used in many genetic studies. Here, the authors study more than 25,000 Norwegian families to find genetic similarity between partners, siblings, and in-laws in genetic factors related to educational attainment, height, and depression.
- Fartein Ask Torvik
- , Espen Moen Eilertsen
- & Eivind Ystrom
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Article
| Open AccessWhite matter myelination during early infancy is linked to spatial gradients and myelin content at birth
Myelination in early infancy develops at different rates. Here the authors describe this process whereby the back and top of the brain, as well as sections that are least mature at birth develop the fastest.
- Mareike Grotheer
- , Mona Rosenke
- & Kalanit Grill-Spector
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| Open AccessUsing language in social media posts to study the network dynamics of depression longitudinally
Depression network connectivity is a risk factor for developing depression. Here the authors show personalised networks of depression-related linguistic features were linked to network connectivity within a self-reported depressive episode.
- Sean W. Kelley
- & Claire M. Gillan
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| Open AccessEvent boundaries shape temporal organization of memory by resetting temporal context
Our memory is temporally organized, but our internal clock can be distorted. The authors demonstrate how environmental changes (termed event boundaries) affect memory for event order, and provide a computational model to explain these effects.
- Yi Pu
- , Xiang-Zhen Kong
- & Lucia Melloni
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessReply to: No specific relationship between hypnotic suggestibility and the rubber hand illusion
- P. Lush
- & A. K. Seth
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessNo specific relationship between hypnotic suggestibility and the rubber hand illusion
- H. Henrik Ehrsson
- , Aikaterini Fotopoulou
- & Manos Tsakiris
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Article
| Open AccessNational identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic
Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.
- Jay J. Van Bavel
- , Aleksandra Cichocka
- & Paulo S. Boggio
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Article
| Open AccessPremature commitment to uncertain decisions during human NMDA receptor hypofunction
In uncertain conditions, people make accurate decisions by considering multiple pieces of information. Here, the authors show that pharmacological n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor hypofunction is associated with elevated uncertainty and premature decisions based on unreliable evidence.
- Alexandre Salvador
- , Luc H. Arnal
- & Valentin Wyart
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Article
| Open AccessDynamic targeting enables domain-general inhibitory control over action and thought by the prefrontal cortex
The authors use fMRI to show that the ability to stop unwanted actions and thoughts arises from a common stopping mechanism that flexibly inhibits activity in diverse, content-specific brain areas.
- Dace Apšvalka
- , Catarina S. Ferreira
- & Michael C. Anderson
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Article
| Open AccessSources of confidence in value-based choice
The authors show that metacognitive awareness of choice certainty is closely linked to endogenous attentional states that guide decision behaviour.
- Jeroen Brus
- , Helena Aebersold
- & Rafael Polania
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Article
| Open AccessDeep neural network models reveal interplay of peripheral coding and stimulus statistics in pitch perception
The neural and computational mechanisms underpinning pitch perception remain unclear. Here, the authors trained deep neural networks to estimate the fundamental frequency of sounds and found that human pitch perception depends on precise spike timing in the auditory nerve, but is also adapted to the statistical tendencies of natural sounds.
- Mark R. Saddler
- , Ray Gonzalez
- & Josh H. McDermott
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| Open AccessComputational mechanisms of distributed value representations and mixed learning strategies
Real-world learning is particularly challenging because reward can be associated to many features of choice options. Here, the authors show that humans can learn complex learning strategies and reveal their underlying computational and neural mechanisms.
- Shiva Farashahi
- & Alireza Soltani
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| Open AccessBrain network coupling associated with cognitive performance varies as a function of a child’s environment in the ABCD study
Previous research suggests that, for children and adults, there is an association between better performance on cognitive tests and less functional connectivity between two brain networks. Here, the authors find that this association does not hold in a sample of children from households in poverty, highlighting the need for more diverse samples to incorporate a range of childhood environments in developmental cognitive neuroscience.
- Monica E. Ellwood-Lowe
- , Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
- & Silvia A. Bunge
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| Open AccessModeling serological testing to inform relaxation of social distancing for COVID-19 control
Serological testing remains a passive component of the current public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a mathematical model, the authors examine how testing for antibodies could have enabled policies in which seropositive individuals increased their relative levels of social interaction while offsetting transmission risks
- Alicia N. M. Kraay
- , Kristin N. Nelson
- & Benjamin A. Lopman
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| Open AccessIndividual differences in information-seeking
Information-seeking is important for learning, social behaviour and decision making. Here the authors investigate factors that associate with individual differences in information-seeking behaviour.
- Christopher. A. Kelly
- & Tali Sharot
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Article
| Open AccessFinding positive meaning in memories of negative events adaptively updates memory
Finding positive meaning in past negative events is associated with enhanced mental health. Here the authors show this adaptively updates memory, leading to enhanced positive emotion and content at future retrieval, which remains two months later.
- Megan E. Speer
- , Sandra Ibrahim
- & Mauricio R. Delgado
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| Open AccessA habenula-insular circuit encodes the willingness to act
A crucial component of voluntary behaviour is deciding that it is worth doing something rather than nothing. Here the authors show the brain network that encodes this decision, which includes the habenula and anterior insula.
- Nima Khalighinejad
- , Neil Garrett
- & Matthew F. S. Rushworth
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| Open AccessNoradrenergic arousal after encoding reverses the course of systems consolidation in humans
Memories are assumed to undergo a time-dependent systems consolidation, during which hippocampal contributions to memory decrease while neocortical contributions increase. Here, the authors show that noradrenergic arousal after encoding may reverse this course of systems consolidation in humans
- Valentina Krenz
- , Tobias Sommer
- & Lars Schwabe
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| Open AccessDynamics of history-dependent perceptual judgment
Identical physical inputs can evoke non-identical percepts. Here, the authors investigate the sources of such variability and find that rats and humans, trained to judge tactile vibration strength, express a robust sequential effect that could be modeled as the trial-by-trial incorporation of sensory history.
- I. Hachen
- , S. Reinartz
- & M. E. Diamond
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Article
| Open AccessHumans monitor learning progress in curiosity-driven exploration
Mechanisms underlying time-extended, curiosity-driven learning in humans are still poorly understood. Here, the authors present empirical evidence that humans rely on learning progress in deciding how to allocate time in free exploration of multiple learning activities.
- Alexandr Ten
- , Pramod Kaushik
- & Jacqueline Gottlieb
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Article
| Open AccessThe pupil responds spontaneously to perceived numerosity
Rapid and spontaneous estimation of number is observed in many animals. Here the authors show that perceived number of items modulates the pupillary light response in humans, confirming its spontaneous nature, and introducing pupillometry as a tool to study numerical cognition.
- Elisa Castaldi
- , Antonella Pomè
- & Paola Binda
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Article
| Open AccessHow social relationships shape moral wrongness judgments
Moral judgments depend on relational context, with different normative cooperative expectations – relational norms – embedded in different social relationships, such as parent-child, romantic partners, siblings, or acquaintances. Here, the authors show how relational norms for care, hierarchy, reciprocity, and mating are embedded in a set of everyday social relationships in the United States, and use this information to predict out-of-sample moral judgments in relational context.
- Brian D. Earp
- , Killian L. McLoughlin
- & Molly J. Crockett
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Article
| Open AccessNeural encoding of perceived patch value during competitive and hazardous virtual foraging
Humans adapt decision strategies in response to environmental demands. Here the authors show that decisions in a virtual foraging task can be modelled based on perceived patch value, which includes reward, competition and threat, and is associated with activity in ventromedial prefrontal and medial cingulate cortices.
- Brian Silston
- , Toby Wise
- & Dean Mobbs
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Article
| Open AccessEvidence from a long-term experiment that collective risks change social norms and promote cooperation
Large-scale cooperation is needed to reduce existential risks like those posed by pandemics and climate change. Here the authors demonstrate that social norms can emerge and sustain cooperation in situations of collective risk and that the level of risk influences the strength of the norms.
- Aron Szekely
- , Francesca Lipari
- & Giulia Andrighetto
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Article
| Open AccessSlow update of internal representations impedes synchronization in autism
Autism is characterized by diverse symptoms, including impaired social skills, motor and perceptual atypicalities. Here, using computational modelling, the authors show that impaired synchronization ability in autism stems from reduced error correction, supporting a slow-updating account of autism.
- Gal Vishne
- , Nori Jacoby
- & Merav Ahissar