Theoretical and Quantitative Disconnect When Modeling Adverse Childhood Experiences Using a Common Factor Framework: An Argument for Causal Indicator Models in Stressor Research

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are highly impactful stressors that increase individuals’ risk for a plethora of negative health outcomes. Further, minoritized groups and under-resourced individuals are at higher risk for ACEs, positioning these stressors as plausible mechanisms driving health disparities. Given this fact, a strong methodological foundation is necessary to ensure maximal clinical value. As emphasized by Jensen, Bernard, & Lanier (2024), this foundation must start with rigorous ACEs measurement—a goal that requires careful matching between ACEs measures and the scoring procedures used. To amplify their message while advocating for an alternative approach that may better reflect ACEs conceptualization, we write this commentary to highlight the merits of causal indicator models as a better match between theory and methodology

Wider than the Sky: An Alternative to “Mapping” the World onto the Brain

This paper reevaluates the conventional topographic model of brain function, stressing the critical role of philosophical inquiry in neuroscience. Since the 1930s, pioneering studies by Penfield and subsequent advancements in visual neuroscience by Hubel and Wiesel have popularized the concept of cortical maps as representations of external and internal states. Yet, contemporary research in various sensory systems, including visual cortices in certain animals, questions the universal applicability of this model. We critique the restrictive influence of this paradigm and introduce an alternative conceptualization using the olfactory system as a model. This system's genetic diversity and dynamic neural encoding serve as a foundation for proposing a rule-based, adaptive framework for neural processing, akin to the dynamic routing in GPS technology, which moves beyond fixed spatial mappings

Why Self-Determination Theory Needs Computational Modelling: The Case of Competence and Optimal Challenge

Computational modelling is a powerful tool to specify psychological theories, render them severely testable, and implement them into digital applications. Yet it has seen little uptake in Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Here, we demonstrate that SDT’s verbal definitions of competence and optimal challenge are underspecified in theoretically and practically relevant ways. Conceptual analyses of key texts identifies four verbal facets of competence definitions that need not co-occur and are inconsistently reflected in common self-report measures and operationalisations. Optimal challenge is insufficiently specified to be severely tested or implemented in practice, and entails a logical and empirical incoherence. Finally, SDT lacks a cognitive model of competence. We outline how computational modelling, inspired by the AI field of computational intrinsic motivation, can help resolve resulting issues

Behavioral and neuroanatomical effects of soccer heading training in virtual reality: A longitudinal fMRI case study

Virtual reality (VR) technology has received considerable attention over the last few years, with applications in many performance domains including training of sports-related mental and motor skills. The exact psychological and neurobiological mechanisms underlying potential VR training effects in athletes, however, remain largely unknown. The present longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) case study reports behavioral and neuroanatomical effects of VR soccer (a.k.a. football) heading training in a male adult amateur player. The study was conducted over 8 weeks, starting with a pre-test, followed by a 4-week VR training phase, during which weekly fMRI assessments and the first behavioral post-test were conducted. After an additional 4-week retention phase, the final fMRI assessment and the second behavioral post-test were conducted. Substantial improvement in real-life heading performance was accompanied by both structural and functional neuroanatomical changes. The comparison of the T1-weighted images revealed an increase in GM volume in the left thalamus and an increase in WM volume in the bilateral cerebellum. Furthermore, the analysis of the surface images showed an increase in cortical thickness in the right insula, left inferior temporal gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left posterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. The seed-based correlation analyses of the resting-state fMRI data revealed manifold increases in functional connectivity within and between important brain networks. This study contributes to the growing literature on VR training in athletes and provides the world’s first evidence on fundamental neurobiological mechanisms underlying neuroplasticity related to VR training effects in sports

Episodic details are better remembered in plausible relative to implausible counterfactual simulations

People often engage in episodic counterfactual thinking, or mentally simulating how the experienced past might have been different from how it was. A commonly held view is that mentally simulating alternative event outcomes aids in managing future uncertainty and improving behavior, for which episodic counterfactual simulations need to be remembered. Yet, the phenomenological factors influencing the memorability of counterfactual simulations remain unclear. To investigate this, we conducted two experiments using a paradigm where participants recalled autobiographical memories. After one week, they created counterfactual mental simulations of these memories, integrating a new object into each one and rating them on various phenomenological characteristics. Memory for these counterfactual mental simulations was tested the next day by recalling the new object. Across the two experiments we found that objects included in more plausible counterfactual simulations were better remembered compared to implausible counterfactual simulations. Our findings suggest that generating episodic counterfactual simulations perceived as plausible enhances their memorability, similar to other memory phenomena in which schematic knowledge improves subsequent episodic memory

The three world problem: How to do philosophy of mind without metaphysics

This article suggests that the influence of philosophy of mind and metaphysics in the study of consciousness, has become excessive and is not well-founded. Metaphysical terms are often ill-defined and equivocal, and philosophy of mind relies largely on weak, concrete arguments which lack the power of more abstract mathematical formulations. An example is given of a mathematical argument, the Three Worlds Problem, which cannot be adequately addressed or challenged within a traditional metaphysical framework

Threat and Worry, but not Issue Salience, Show Similar Patterns in Means, Correlations, and Ideological Associations

Societal threat perception, worry, and issue salience are central to research in psychology and political science, and previous research suggests considerable overlap between the three measures. Yet, they have not yet been empirically distinguished. This study addresses whether the empirical patterns of these three measures are consistent and whether they yield congruent conclusions about political ideology across twelve societal issues. Using data from a diverse Dutch sample (N = 1863), we first show that threat and worry, but not salience, produce similar empirical patterns in terms of means and correlations, as citizens find issues more important than threatening or worrying. Next, we find that threat and worry correlate similarly with ideology, whereas issue salience often overestimates this relationship (Type M error) but rarely reverses its direction (Type S error). These findings clarify the unique roles of threat, worry, and issue salience in (political) psychology, offering a framework for future research on the threat-politics link

Why Bayesians Need Not be Puzzled by Probability Puzzles

In “Taking a Chance in the Classroom: Puzzling Probabilities of Probability Puzzles” [Vol. 37, No. 3 of CHANCE], Kicab Castaneda-Mendez presents a critical analysis of popular probability puzzles. Here I argue that these probability puzzles are salvaged when one adopts a Bayesian interpretation of probability as degree of coherent belief

Face Pareidolia is Sensitive to Spectral Power and Orientation Energy

The human visual system is sensitive to statistical regularities in natural images. This includes general properties like the characteristic 1/f power-spectrum fall-off coefficient observed across diverse natural scenes and category-specific properties like the bias favoring horizontal contrast energy for face recognition. Here, we examined the sensitivity of face pareidolia in adult observers to these image properties using fractal noise images and an unconstrained pareidolic face detection task. We presented participants in separate experiments with (Experiment 1) noise patterns with varying spectral fall-off coefficients and (Experiment 2) noise patterns with bandpass orientation filtering such that either horizontal or vertical contrast energy was limited. In both experiments, we found that face pareidolia rates were sensitive to these manipulations. In Experiment 1, we found that fractal noise patterns with steeper fall-off coefficients (favoring coarser appearance) led to lower rates of pareidolic face detection. In Experiment 2, we found that despite the clear bias favoring horizontal contrast energy in a wide range of face recognition tasks, both horizontal and vertical orientation bandpass filtering reduced rates of face pareidolia relative to isotropic images. We suggest that these results indicate that detecting pareidolic faces depends on the availability of face- like information across many low-level channels rather than a favored scale or orientation that is face-specific

How Dyadic Patterns in Intimate Relationships Can Maintain and Exacerbate Relationship Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Symptoms

Relationship obsessive compulsive disorder (ROCD) is a form of OCD where obsessive thoughts focus on romantic partners and relationships. Past research has detailed the harmful effects of ROCD on affected individuals and their relationships. However, no work to date has identified relationship mechanisms that may play a pivotal role in affecting the course and severity of ROCD. In the present article, we outline how dyadic patterns of interaction can contribute to ROCD via (a) dyadic reinforcement of cognitive distortions (e.g., by promoting the overvaluation of thoughts) and (b) dyadic avoidance patterns (e.g., accommodation, demand-withdrawal). Further, we provide recommendations for clinicians regarding how to identify and intervene upon maladaptive relationship dynamics in ROCD cases