Differentiating the relationships between traditional and new media use and sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic: roles of psychological distress and age

BackgroundNumerous studies have consistently demonstrated a decline in sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objective of this study is to explore the impact of engaging with pertinent epidemic information through the media amid the COVID-19 crisis on individuals’ sleep quality and the underlying mechanisms through which this influence operates.MethodsAn online cross-sectional study design was employed. A total of 1,063 British adults (36.2% males; Mage = 38.85, SDage = 13.36, ranging from 18 to 77 years old) participated in the study and completed our questionnaires, which included media usage frequency during the pandemic, the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the Ten-item Personality Inventory (TIPI).ResultsPearson’s correlation analyses indicated that there was no significant correlation between COVID-19-related traditional media use (television, radio, newspaper) and psychological distress or sleep quality. However, exposure to information related to COVID-19 through new media use (Facebook, Tik Tok, Twitter) was correlated with greater psychological distress and poorer sleep quality. A moderated mediation analysis showed that psychological distress fully mediated the relationship between new media use and poor sleep, which was moderated by age, with the association between psychological distress and poor sleep quality being stronger among older adults.ConclusionExposure to information of COVID-19 via new (but not traditional) media use deteriorated sleep quality through greater psychological distress, and this relationship was stronger among older adults

Exploring sex differences: insights into gene expression, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, cognition, and pathology

Increased knowledge about sex differences is important for development of individualized treatments against many diseases as well as understanding behavioral and pathological differences. This review summarizes sex chromosome effects on gene expression, epigenetics, and hormones in relation to the brain. We explore neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, cognition, and brain pathology aiming to explain the current state of the art. While some domains exhibit strong differences, others reveal subtle differences whose overall significance warrants clarification. We hope that the current review increases awareness and serves as a basis for the planning of future studies that consider both sexes equally regarding similarities and differences

A Multilab Replication of the Ego Depletion Effect

There is an active debate regarding whether the ego depletion effect is real. A recent preregistered experiment with the Stroop task as the depleting task and the antisaccade task as the outcome task found a medium-level effect size. In the current research, we conducted a preregistered multilab replication of that experiment. Data from 12 labs across the globe (N = 1,775) revealed a small and significant ego depletion effect, d = 0.10. After excluding participants who might have responded randomly during the outcome task, the effect size increased to d = 0.16. By adding an informative, unbiased data point to the literature, our findings contribute to clarifying the existence, size, and generality of ego depletion

Replication of the effect of mating priming on decision making

Shanks et al. (2015) showed that the effect of mating priming on conspicuous consumption and risk taking was an delusion. However, there is a major problem in the inclusive criterion of their meta-analysis. There were studies investigating the effect of showing sexual models to males on males' temporal discounting. This effect should be different from the effect of mating priming in which participants were asked to imagine a date with an attractive parter. Shanks, D. R., Vadillo, M. A., Riedel, B., Clymo, A., Govind, S., Hickin, N., … Puhlmann, L. M. C. (2015). Romance, Risk, and Replication: Can Consumer Choices and Risk-Taking Be Primed by Mating Motives? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(6), 142–158. doi:10.1037/xge000011

Ego depletion with Stroop as the depleting task

This is a pre-registered experiment conceptually replicating the ego depletion effect