Anxiety is a prevalent emotional disorder that can be divided into several subtypes, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder, all of which are characterized by fear as the primary emotional component. Mental imagery, a complex cognitive phenomenon, is characterized by the generation of sensory representations in the absence of direct sensory input, and is particularly relevant to the study of visual perception and its associated neural correlates. The current review examines the role of visual mental imagery in the context of fear and anxiety, its neural underpinnings, and potential therapeutic applications.
The discussion of the relation between mental imagery and fear begins by examining the impact of mental imagery on fear with respect to its defining attributes, neural substrates, and the temporal course of its manifestation. Research has revealed that mental imagery, serving as a "simulation" akin to actual visual perception, engages a multitude of brain regions that are identical to those activated during genuine sensory experiences. Consequently, this mental simulation exerts equivalent effects on the induction and modulation of fear responses. The neural underpinnings of this phenomenon implicate a complex interplay between the sensory cortices. Visual mental imagery is known to engage the primary visual cortex (V1, V2, and V3), with a robust body of neuroimaging research highlighting the similarities in neural activation patterns between actual visual perception and mental imagery. The vividness and modifiability of mental imagery are critical in shaping emotional responses, particularly fear, which is a cardinal feature of various anxiety disorders. Individuals with anxiety-related conditions may exhibit exaggerated fear responses to innocuous stimuli due to the involuntary generation of threatening mental images that are closely linked to their core fears and can provoke both physiological and emotional responses. The neural substrates of mental imagery have been extensively investigated, with studies demonstrating that the primary visual cortex is involved in processing both actual visual stimuli and mental imagery. The cortical surface area of V1 has been found to be negatively correlated with the intensity of mental imagery, suggesting a role in the modulation of imagery vividness. The temporal dynamics of mental imagery have been studied using event-related potentials (ERPs), revealing early neural activities associated with face recognition, such as the N170 component, which occurs around 170ms post-stimulus onset. The integration of top-down imagery signals with bottom-up perceptual signals is reflected in the P2 component (200ms-260ms). Furthermore, the early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP) components have been implicated in the emotional response associated with mental imagery, with enhanced activity observed during the processing of negative mental imagery.
Additionally, the recruitment of other brain regions, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, during mental imagery processing points to a distributed neural network underlying the generation of imagery related to fear. Mental imagery has been shown to influence the acquisition, generalization, and extinction of conditioned fear responses. Fear conditioning, a well-established paradigm in the study of fear and anxiety, involves the pairing of a neutral stimulus (CS) with an aversive stimulus (US), leading to the development of a conditioned response (CR) to the CS in the absence of the US. Research has indicated that mental imagery can facilitate the acquisition of fear, with the imagined presence of a threat capable of eliciting a fear response similar to that provoked by actual perception. Moreover, fear acquired through perception can generalize to mental imagery, thereby perpetuating the cycle of fear in individuals with anxiety-related disorders. Subsequently, clinical interventions utilizing mental imagery, such as imaginal exposure and imagery rescripting, have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of anxiety-related disorders. Imaginal exposure involves the repetitive presentation of fear-related mental images to attenuate the distress associated with fear memories. Imagery rescripting allows individuals to alter the narrative of traumatic memories by envisioning a new, safer outcome, thereby modifying the emotional significance of the memory. Both approaches have shown promise in reducing fear and improving symptoms associated with anxiety-related disorders.
Finally, acknowledging the limitations of current research within the conditioned fear paradigm, the discussion shifts towards the potential for future studies to further explore the neural mechanisms and clinical interventions related to fear learning from the perspective of mental imagery. This approach could provide novel insights into the intricate interplay between mental imagery and fear, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the cognitive and neural processes that underlie fear conditioning and its modulation. By leveraging the unique advantages of mental imagery as a research tool, future studies can contribute to the development of more targeted and effective therapeutic strategies for the treatment of fear-related disorders, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of clinical interventions and improving patient outcomes.
In conclusion, mental imagery represents an important avenue for understanding and treating anxiety-related psychological conditions. The vividness and malleability of mental imagery, its neural correlates, and its impact on fear learning and extinction offer valuable insights for the development of targeted therapeutic interventions. Future research endeavors should focus on delineating the neural mechanisms underlying mental imagery in the context of fear generalization and extinction, investigating the effects of vivid mental imagery on fear, and examining the differential neural activation patterns between individuals with anxiety-related disorders and healthy controls during the processing of fear-related mental imagery. These investigations have the potential to enhance our understanding of the role of mental imagery in fear and anxiety, thereby informing the development of more effective treatment strategies.

Behavioral inhibition can be categorized into reactive inhibition and intentional inhibition. Several studies have used the free-choice task (e.g., the Go/No-go/Choose task) to investigate the temporal dynamics of intentional inhibition, but have reported inconsistent findings. The present study aims to develop a novel task (i.e., the Free Two-Choice Oddball Task) and re-evaluate the temporal dynamics of intentional inhibition.
Thirty-seven female undergraduates were recruited to perform the Free Two-Choice Oddball task, in which free choice trials were integrated with conventional Two-Choice Oddball task (including Reactive Standard trials and Reactive Deviant trials). They were asked to press button “1” for Reactive Standard trials, button “2” for Reactive Deviant trials, and intentionally choose to press button “1” or “2” for free choice trials. To ensure a prepotent drive to press button “1”, the Reactive Standard trials, Reactive Deviant trials, and Intentional trials (i.e., free choice trials) were set at a ratio of 4:1:2. In formal task, 714 trials were divided into 6 blocks of 119 trials each. Behavioral data and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performing the task. For ERP data, N2 and P3 components were focused. For N2, the fronto-central electrodes (Fz, FC1, FC2, FCz, Cz) were selected as the region of interest, and the average amplitudes were measured in the 240~300 ms time window. For P3, the central-parietal electrodes (C1, C2, Cz, CP1, CP2, CPz, P1, P2, Pz) were selected, the early P3 amplitudes were measured in the 300~440 ms time window, and the late P3 amplitudes were measured in the 460~700 ms time window. Moreover, to further differentiate between early and late P3 components, a temporal principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted, the electrodes are the same as above, and the time windows for PCA early P3 and PCA late P3 were 380~460 ms and 530~640 ms respectively.
At the behavioral level, the Action Source (Reactive, Intentional) × Stimulus category (Standard, Deviant) ANOVA on response times (RT) showed a significant interaction effect. Further analyses showed that, for both the Reactive and Intentional conditions, the Deviant stimuli were associated with longer RTs than the Standard stimuli. Moreover, the Intentional condition showed longer RTs than the Reactive condition for Standard stimuli, but the opposite pattern was observed for Deviant stimuli. At neural level, the Action source (Reactive, Intentional) × Stimulus category (Standard, Deviant) ANOVA on N2 amplitudes only showed a significant main effect of Action source, with more pronounced amplitudes for the Intentional condition than for the Reactive condition. For the traditional averaged early P3 component, the ANOVA only showed a significant main effect of Stimulus category, with larger amplitudes for the Deviant stimuli than for the Standard stimuli. Meanwhile, the analysis on PCA early P3 component showed a significant interaction effect. Further analyses showed that, for both the Reactive and Intentional conditions, the Deviant stimuli elicited larger amplitudes than the Standard stimuli. Moreover, the Intentional condition showed larger amplitudes than the Reactive condition for Standard stimuli, but a reverse pattern was observed for Deviant stimuli. For the late P3 component (both the traditional and PCA results), the ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect. Further analyses showed that, for the Reactive condition, the Deviant stimuli elicited larger amplitudes than the Standard stimuli, while for the Intentional condition, the Deviant stimuli elicited smaller amplitudes than the Standard stimuli. Moreover, the Intentional condition showed larger amplitudes than the Reactive condition for Standard stimuli, but a reverse pattern was observed for Deviant stimuli. Finally, correlation analyses revealed negative associations between the RT and ERP indices of intentional inhibition, including RT delay, N2 differences, and early P3 differences (i.e., the differences between Intentional Deviant stimuli and Intentional Standard stimuli, both the traditional and PCA results). However, only a significant negative correlation was found between the inhibition rate and RT delay, while no significant correlations were observed between the inhibition rate and ERP indices of intentional inhibition.
In summary, the present study suggests that the temporal dynamics of intentional inhibition may encompass the updating of a current and well-prepared response program (indicated by the N2 component), the implementation of inhibitory performance (indicated by the early P3 component), and the subsequent evaluation of inhibitory performance (indicated by the late P3 component). Moreover, these findings also indicate that the Free Two-Choice Oddball task not only captures neural activity associated with intentional inhibition but also provides behavioral evidence for this cognitive process (specifically, the updating process and the implementation of inhibitory performance), making it a more suitable research paradigm in this field.

With the rapid development of science and technology, our country has made extraordinary achievements in a wide range of fields, including but not limited to aerospace, aviation, and maritime industries. The relentless march of technological innovation has led to an expansion of the domains in which humanity operates. In particular, the transformation of the equipment manufacturing industry has resulted in increasingly intricate work environments and task demands, placing a premium on the cognitive efficiency of those in operational roles. Consequently, there has been a surge in scholarly interest in employing psychological techniques to bolster the fundamental cognitive faculties of individuals. In this context, spatial ability emerges as a pivotal element of human intelligence with a profound impact on personal growth and survival. The current study is dedicated to exploring the potential of cognitive enhancement training, with an emphasis on spatial working memory, to elevate spatial ability in individuals.
A cohort of 166 participants was recruited, with an equal division between those classified as high performers and low performers based on their proficiency in spatial navigation tasks. For the purpose of training, 83 participants from the low-performance group were selected, a decision informed by the desire to avoid the ceiling effect. The participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: a behavioral training group, a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) group, a combined behavioral and tDCS training group, and a control group. The experimental protocol followed a structured sequence of pre-test, training, and post-test. During the pre-test phase, all participants performed spatial navigation and spatial working memory updating tasks while wearing physiological monitoring devices to collect heart rate variability (HRV) data. Over the span of seven days, participants in the experimental groups underwent five training sessions, while the control group did not receive any training. Post-training, all participants were subjected to post-test evaluations. The study adopted a two-factor design, with group allocation as the between-subjects factor and the temporal progression of testing as the within-subjects factor. One participant in the combined behavioral and tDCS training group was not included in the analysis.
The results of the study revealed significant improvements in the spatial working memory abilities of participants in the combined behavioral and tDCS training group when compared to their counterparts in the tDCS and control groups. Additionally, the behavioral training group evidenced a marked enhancement in working memory capacity, surpassing the improvements observed in the tDCS and control groups. These results suggest that both the combined training and the behavioral training are effective in significantly augmenting an individual's spatial working memory, a finding that distinguishes these interventions from the more modest effects observed in the tDCS and control groups. Furthermore, the study identified a notable increase in the accuracy of spatial navigation tasks and a concomitant decrease in reaction times for participants in the combined training, behavioral training, and tDCS groups. This evidence highlights the efficacy of cognitive enhancement training, which utilized spatial working memory updating exercises, in significantly enhancing participants' spatial navigation abilities. Physiological data collected during the study also indicated a significant uptick in participants' LogHF values across the combined training, behavioral training, and tDCS groups. This physiological change signifies a substantial reduction in spatial anxiety levels in the trained participants. Moreover, the mediation analysis revealed that spatial working memory updating training can effectively lower spatial anxiety, which in turn, improves performance in spatial navigation tasks. These findings support the study's hypothesis that cognitive enhancement training, by mitigating spatial anxiety, can lead to enhanced spatial navigational skills.
In summary, the findings of this study provide compelling evidence for the efficacy of cognitive enhancement training in improving an individual's spatial navigation capabilities. The study further shows that such training can indirectly refine spatial navigation skills by effectively reducing spatial anxiety. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between cognitive training and spatial abilities, with valuable implications for the development of training programs aimed at enhancing operational performance in complex environments.

Monetary and social rewards (e.g., praise) are common incentives that drive motivation and reinforce behaviors linked to future gains. Individuals with depression often confront social dysfunction and anhedonia, a diminished interest in pleasurable activities, raising questions about potential differences in the neural mechanisms that process these rewards. This review summarizes the neural processes involved in the processing of monetary and social rewards at two critical stages: anticipation and consumption. It first examines how these rewards activate neural systems in healthy individuals, before exploring the alterations in reward processing observed in those with subclinical depression and depressive disorders. Lastly, the review identifies unresolved questions in this field and aims to inspire future research that will deepen our understanding and inform clinical strategies for treating anhedonia symptoms.
Neuroimaging evidence using the broadly applied incentive delay tasks has connected reward processing to brain reward circuits, particularly the ventral striatum. Specifically, studies in healthy populations demonstrate that compared to non-reward cues, anticipating monetary and social rewards elicited heightened activations in the reward and action preparation brain networks, including the nucleus accumbens, caudate, and supplementary motor area. Social rewards additionally engage the mentalizing system for social signal evaluation, involving areas such as the temporoparietal junction and precuneus. EEG studies indicate that components such as cue-P3, contingent negative variation (CNV), and stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) elicited by reward cues serve as markers of anticipatory responses, with more desirable rewards yielding larger amplitudes. During reward consumption, enhanced activation is observed in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), brain regions involved in encoding the value of either monetary or social reward feedback. Notably, there is limited evidence suggesting neural differences in processing monetary vs. social rewards: monetary rewards predominantly activate the thalamus, whereas social rewards engage emotional brain regions like the amygdala. Moreover, EEG findings suggest that reward-related positivity (RewP) and feedback-P3 are crucial markers of reward consumption, with more favored rewards showing larger amplitudes.
Anhedonia in individuals with depression may stem from abnormalities in either or both stages of reward anticipation and consumption, though conclusive evidence remains elusive. Research shows that depressed individuals exhibit deficits in anticipatory pleasure for both monetary and social rewards, characterized primarily by attenuated ventral striatal activation, reduced functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and striatum/putamen, and altered activation in the anterior cingulate cortex. Notably, the impaired anticipation of social rewards is more pronounced than that of monetary rewards, marked by insufficient activation in areas such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and reduced CNV amplitudes. Intriguingly, depression does not seem to affect individuals’ anticipation of social rewards from humanoid robots, suggesting significant potential for artificial intelligence devices to restore social functions among depressed individuals. Concerning consumption anhedonia, deficits in social reward processing are particularly prominent in depressed populations, as evidenced by altered feedback-related negativity (FRN) and feedback-P3 amplitudes, as well as aberrant activity in the striatum and insula.
Several critical avenues warrant further exploration. First, research on neuromodulation aimed at rectifying aberrant pleasure processing is limited. While existing studies have shown that excitatory brain stimulation over the DLPFC via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can enhance anticipation for monetary rewards in patients with major depressive disorder, its effects on consumption pleasure remain largely unexplored. Investigating neuromodulation or neurofeedback targeting value-encoding regions, such as the OFC/VMPFC could provide insights into alleviating consumption anhedonia. Additionally, transferring intervention strategies from monetary to social reward processing and assessing the efficacy in targeting the social brain require further examination. Second, comparative studies should rigorously control for the levels of “wanting” and “liking” associated with monetary and social rewards. Research in healthy populations indicates that reaction times differ between social and monetary incentive paradigms but converge when these levels are accounted for. Similarly, while studies reveal no significant group differences in reward anticipation between healthy and depressed individuals, healthy participants exhibit greater effort and faster responses with increasing reward levels, a pattern not seen in the depressed group. Furthermore, a critical review of comparative studies on monetary and social rewards highlights differences in dimensions such as timing, familiarity, processing priority, and certainty. Future research should carefully control for these potential factors and further investigate the effects of reward types on processing. Third, exploring the feasibility of using artificial intelligence devices to assist depressed individuals in restoring social reward processing and other social functions holds great promise. Studies suggest that interactions with intelligent robots can improve emotional connections and alleviate depressive symptoms, suggesting the therapeutic potential of artificial intelligence devices. Future research should explore these possibilities to offer novel insights and improve treatment outcomes and quality of life for individuals with depression and anhedonia.

Emotions, as one of the fundamental cognitive functions of humans, are the result of long-term adaptation during the process of human evolution. Research has shown that people tend to have more profound impressions of information that carries emotions. Emotions play an important role in individuals' information processing. Language serves as an important medium for emotional expression, and among many emotional stimuli, emotional words are crucial materials for conveying linguistic information and emotional stimuli. Therefore, they are essential materials for emotion research. With the progress of research, emotional words have been further categorized into emotional - label words and emotional load words. These two types of words express different levels of emotional intensity. Furthermore, although emotionally charged vocabulary is prioritized in information processing, it is also subject to constraints imposed by attentional resources. Attentional resources may have different effects on different types of vocabulary. The role of attentional resources in the memory processes for these two types of emotional words is still under exploration. Therefore, this study examined the differences in memory for emotional label words and emotional load words to better understand how emotions influence memory and to provide guidance for learning.
The number of participants was determined using G*Power 3.1 software based on effect size criteria used in previous studies. A total of 98 participants were involved in two experiments. The experimental procedure was programmed in E-Prime 2.0. In Experiment 1, attentional resources were obtained by setting different levels of interference from task-relevant words. Participants were required to memorize either 1 or 3 words simultaneously and to examine emotional label words and emotional load words of different valences under conditions of sufficient or limited attentional resources. A three-factor mixed design was employed: 2 (emotional word type: emotional label words, emotional load words) × 3 (valence: positive, neutral, negative) × 2 (task difficulty: easy, difficult). Emotional type and valence were internal variables of the participants, while task difficulty was an external variable. During the learning phase, participants were asked to memorize the words, and during the testing phase, they were asked to make old/new judgments. Reaction times and accuracy of word judgments were recorded.
The study found that under conditions of sufficient attentional resources (easy task), emotional label words showed faster reaction times and higher accuracy than emotional load words, with the recognition accuracy of positive emotional label words being higher than that of negative emotional label words. Under conditions of limited attentional resources (difficult task), there were no significant differences in reaction times or accuracy between emotional label words and emotional load words. Experiment 2, building on Experiment 1, further adjusted the level of attention by manipulating the presentation time of emotional stimuli during the learning phase and examined whether there were memory differences between emotional label words and emotional load words of different valence under two presentation conditions: above threshold and below threshold. The design consisted of 2 (emotional word type: emotional label words, emotional load words) × 3 (valence: positive, neutral, negative) × 2 (presentation time: 60ms, 500ms). Participants were required to memorize words during the learning phase and to make old/new judgments during the testing phase, with reaction times and accuracy of word judgments recorded.
The results showed that when words were presented above threshold, attentional resources were relatively abundant, and there were no significant differences in reaction times between emotional label words and emotional load words. Recognition accuracy was higher for emotional label words than for emotional load words, but there were no significant differences in recognition accuracy between positive emotional label words and negative emotional label words. When words were presented below threshold, attentional resources were relatively scarce, and although there were no significant differences in recognition accuracy between emotional label words and emotional load words, emotional load words showed faster reaction times than emotional label words, with positive emotional load words exhibiting faster reaction times than positive emotional label words.
This study identified a type effect of emotional words during the emotional information memory process, which was modulated by attentional resource levels. Specifically, under conditions of sufficient or relatively abundant attentional resources, emotional label words were better maintained in individual attention and memory compared to emotional load words, with individuals showing a preference for positive stimuli. Under conditions of limited or relatively scarce attentional resources, both emotional label words and emotional load words were affected, but the effect was more pronounced for emotional label words, with emotional load words showing faster processing than emotional label words.

The survival advantage effect refers to an evolved mechanism in the human memory system that helps people better recall information related to survival or information processed in survival contexts. It has been extensively studied in the retrospective memory domain, and the results indicate that its effects are consistent. However, the role of survival processing in prospective memory (the memory designated for future intentions) is not sufficiently elucidated. Prospective memory is the ability to successfully carry out an intention, referring to the memory of a planned event in a specific situation or at a specific time in the future, and includes prospective and retrospective components. The prospective component involves the observation and recognition of goal cues, and the retrospective component involves the extraction of future intentions. Both of these components are necessary for prospective memory tasks in daily life. Therefore, this study used two experiments to examine whether survival advantages affect prospective memory and whether these effects are localized to the prospective or retrospective components.
Experiment 1 manipulated the correlation between target cues and survival situations under different encoding conditions and cognitive loads, with the aim of investigating whether prospective memory has survival advantage effects under different cognitive loads. In Experiment 1, we used a 2 (cognitive load: high, low) × 2 (encoding conditions: survival processing, hedonic evaluation) × 3 (relevance levels: high survival relevance, medium survival relevance, low survival relevance) mixed design. The encoding condition was designated as a between-subjects variable. The remaining two variables were intra-subject variables. The experiment adopted the classic dual-task paradigm of prospective memory, including ongoing tasks and prospective memory tasks. The ongoing tasks were divided into 1-back and 2-back tasks, corresponding to low and high cognitive load. The results of Experiment 1 showed that under low cognitive load conditions, the performance of the survival processing group was better than that of the hedonic evaluation group. Only the prospective memory accuracy of high survival relevance was significantly higher than that of medium and low survival relevance. Therefore, prospective memory exhibits the survival advantage effect.
In Experiment 2, which was based on Experiment 1, we used the experimental separation method to differentiate the two components of prospective memory to gain a deeper understanding of how the survival advantage effect specifically affects prospective memory components. In Experiment 2, we adopted a 2 (cognitive load: high, low) × 2 (encoding conditions: survival processing, hedonic evaluation) × 3 (relevance levels: high survival relevance, medium survival relevance, low survival relevance) mixed design. The encoding condition was designated as the between-subjects variable. The remaining two variables were within-subject variables. As with Experiment 1, the results of Experiment 2 reveal that under low cognitive load conditions, the accuracy of prospective memory for survival processing is higher. Only high survival-related prospective memory has a significantly higher accuracy than medium and low survival-related prospective memory. The results of Experiment 2 further confirmed the findings of Experiment 1-prospective memory exhibited a significant survival advantage effect. In addition, the prospective component is consistent with the overall performance of prospective memory. The retrospective component only shows survival advantage effects when it is related to moderate survival. The results indicate that both prospective memory and its components have a survival advantage effect.
The study innovatively combines the classical survival processing paradigm with the dual-task paradigm of prospective memory to uncover how the human brain processes, stores, and retrieves survival-related information and efficiently uses memory across multiple tasks in complex environments. The findings provide new insights into how to use prospective memory more effectively in learning, work, and life. Furthermore, the results showed that prospective memory and its components exhibited a survival advantage effect. The consistency effect cannot fully explain the survival advantage effect.

Wayfinding is a crucial process for individuals to navigate and explore their environment in daily life. Compared to the traditional use of paper maps, modern navigation aids have been found to hinder individuals' spatial knowledge of their environment. Previous research has shown that navigation factors, such as navigation mode and scale, impact how individuals perceive and process spatial information. For example, the user-aligned mode helps individuals form an egocentric representation of space, while the north-on-top mode promotes the formation of an allocentric representation. Additionally, small-scale maps assist in establishing spatial relationships between objects using an allocentric representation, while large-scale maps provide a perspective of nearby space, facilitating an egocentric representation. However, there is a trade-off between wayfinding performance and spatial knowledge acquisition. To address this trade-off, this study aims to investigate which combination of navigation factors best supports spatial knowledge acquisition. Previous research has limitations, such as not controlling for scale as an independent variable and lacking a measurement task that assesses all three types of spatial knowledge. To address these gaps, this study established a measurement task for each type of spatial knowledge and used two scales (1:50 and 1:200) as independent variables, while continuing to include the commonly-studied north-on-top and user-aligned modes. The aim of this research was to investigate the impact of mobile navigation factors (navigation mode, scale) on individuals' wayfinding performance and spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual 3D environment, considering the factor of gender.
In Experiment 1, 96 participants (48 males, 48 females) were recruited. Participants were first required to complete a virtual spatial task consisting of two phases: wayfinding and return. After completing all ten routes, the participants were required to complete the spatial knowledge test, which consisted of five tasks such as landmark recognition and route sequencing tasks. The scores from these tests were collected and analyzed, and three factors were extracted using factor analysis. Building on the typical measurement task defined in Experiment 1, Experiment 2 employed a 2 (scale: small scale 1:200, large scale 1:50) x 2 (navigation mode: user-aligned mode, north-on-top mode) x 2 (gender: male, female) between-subjects design. The dependent variables in this experiment were participants' scores on the spatial knowledge measurement task and wayfinding performance. The number of participants was 96 (calculated by G-power), and the experimental procedure was the same as in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 revealed the following: there were significant interactions between gender and navigation mode in route knowledge acquisition. Specifically, males performed significantly better in the north-on-top mode compared to the user-aligned mode, while the opposite was true for females. On large-scale maps, the user-aligned mode was more conducive to route knowledge acquisition than the north-on-top mode, aligning with an egocentric representation. Conversely, on small-scale maps, the north-on-top mode was more convenient than the user-aligned mode, aligning with an allocentric representation. A main effect of navigation modes on wayfinding performance was observed, with subjects' wayfinding performance being better in the user-aligned mode than in the north-on-top mode. The results of both experiments indicated an interaction between navigation mode and scale: combinations of navigation factors that suit the individual can help individuals establish a consistent spatial frame of reference, thereby enhancing the acquisition of route knowledge.
The innovations of this article are as follows. First, this study has refined the spatial knowledge measurement task and established a comprehensive measurement task for three types of spatial knowledge, thus providing new ideas on how to reduce measurement errors and conduct measurements systematically and efficiently. Second, based on the spatial reference framework theory, this study found that the influence of mobile navigation factors on spatial knowledge learning and wayfinding performance is conditional. When navigation factors facilitate individuals to process environmental information with a consistent reference framework, it promotes the acquisition of route knowledge.

Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with various psychological disorders that seriously harm individuals’ health and interpersonal relationships, so it is important to explore effective methods of negative emotion regulation. In addition to cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies, researchers have paid attention to the role of executive function, particularly working memory updating in emotion regulation. Some studies have shown that activating or training working memory updating can directly reduce negative emotion, while others have indicated that working memory updating decreases negative emotion by promoting cognitive reappraisal, because updating and reappraisal both involve the rapid switching of cognitive contents and the processes of replacing old information with new information. However, most studies have focused on conscious cognitive reappraisal and few studies have explored the effect of working memory updating on automatic cognitive reappraisal. Moreover, the transfer effect of working memory updating training on emotion regulation is controversial. To solve above problems, the present study used two experiments to investigate the effect of working memory updating on negative emotion regulation and its training transfer effect.
Study 1 explored the effects of working memory updating on negative emotion and the relationship between updating and conscious and automatic cognitive reappraisal. Experiment adopted a 2 (working memory updating: with, without) × 3 (cognitive reappraisal: conscious cognitive reappraisal, automatic cognitive reappraisal, none) between-subjects design. A total of 120 normal healthy undergraduate students were randomly assigned to 6 experimental conditions, 20 in each group. Five testing stages within a single experimental session: baseline, unpleasant emotions evoked task, working memory updating task, cognitive reappraisal task, and emotional regulation task. Participants’ subjective emotional experience and electrodermal activity (EDA) were collected. Study 2 examined the effect of working memory updating training on the emotion regulation ability. Another 60 normal healthy undergraduate students were recruited and assigned randomly to the working memory updating training group and the corresponding active control group. The training group received 20 days of adaptive visual n-back training programs, and the control group participated in the simple digital parity tasks for the same period. Before and after the training session, participants were asked to complete the visual n-back Task, and the conscious or automatic cognitive reappraisal emotion regulation tasks.
The results of Study 1 showed that working memory updating effectively reduced EDA but not unpleasant emotional experience. Additionally, both conscious and automatic cognitive reappraisal significantly decreased unpleasant emotional experience and EDA, with no difference. Furthermore, working memory updating improved the emotion regulation efficiency of both conscious and automatic cognitive reappraisal, and significantly reduced unpleasant emotional experience and EDA after reappraisal. The results of Study 2 showed that the training group significantly improved the correct rate of the visual n-back Task than the active control group. The decreases of unpleasant emotional experience and EDA in the conscious and automatic cognitive reappraisal working memory updating training groups during the post-test phase were significantly higher than that in the pre-test phase. The negative emotional experience decreased more in the conscious cognitive reappraisal training group, and the EDA decreased more in the automatic cognitive reappraisal training group.
In conclusion, the present study suggests that working memory updating as an implicit emotion regulation strategy could significantly reduce the physiological consequences of negative emotion. The facilitating effect of working memory updating on conscious and automatic cognitive reappraisal was demonstrated. In addition, adaptive working memory updating training produced a transfer effect and effectively improved emotion regulation ability, which has a broad application prospect. For future research, it is necessary to investigate the neurophysiological mechanism and influencing factors of working memory updating on emotion regulation, and focus on the lasting effect of training.

With the development of Internet, college students’ online aggressive behavior has become a serious problem in recent years. According to the previous researches, the average rate of online aggressive behavior of college students is 59.5% in China. Exposed to online aggression may change personal emotions, behavior and cognition and finally make individual aggressive. It is thus necessary to find out which factors influence online aggressive behavior of college students. In particular, cyber ostracism and moral disengagement were believed to be strong predictors, so the purposes of the present study are to explore the moderating role of moral disengagement between cyber ostracism and online aggressive behavior with longitudinal study.
We surveyed 2000 college students four times with the Cyber Ostracism Questionnaire (COQ), the Moral Disengagement Questionnaire (MDQ), and the Online Aggressive Behavior Scale (OABS). Data were collected and analyzed with SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 8.3, and the correlation analysis, parallel process latent growth curve model, latent growth models of change rate interaction and latent moderated structural equations were used to analyze the relations among key variables.
The results showed that: (1) Cyber ostracism, moral disengagement, and online aggressive behavior were significantly positively correlated with each other at the time point T1, T2, T3 and T4. (2) The total effect model revealed that the data fit the theoretical model well (χ²/df = 4.39, TLI = .95, CFI = .94, RMSEA = .06, SRMR = .06); The slope of cyber ostracism had a significant effect on the slope of online aggressive behavior (β = .29, p < .001); and the intercept of cyber ostracism had a significant effect on the intercept of online aggressive behavior (β = .24, p < .001). (3) The latent moderated structural equations model fit (AIC = 24789.84, BIC = 24974.46, -2LL = -12359.92) better than the baseline model (AIC = 31293.04, BIC = 31641.19, -2LL = -15580.51); The interaction slope and intercept of cyber ostracism and moral disengagement had a significant effect on the slope of online aggressive behavior (β = -.42, p < .001; β = -.21, p < .05). The slope of cyber ostracism and moral disengagement had a significant effect on the slope of online aggressive behavior (β = .62, p < .001; β = -.88, p < .001); The intercept of cyber ostracism had a significant effect on intercept of online aggressive behavior (β = .35, p < .001). Overall, the development parameters of moral disengagement played moderating roles between the development parameters of cyber ostracism and online aggressive behavior among college students.
In summary, our findings provide evidence that moral disengagement moderates the relation between cyber ostracism and online aggressive behavior. That is, cyber ostracism is the core factor inducing online aggression of college students, and moral disengagement is a key moderating role.

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems among school-aged students. The psychopathology network theory conceptualizes depression as a network system of interconnected symptoms. Yet, information on the central symptoms, the structure of depressive symptoms, and the longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms is still limited among Chinese students in late childhood. Thus, using three waves of data from this group, the present study aimed to explore the structure and change of the depression network, as well as the longitudinal associations among depressive symptoms through the network analysis.
A total of 3042 Chinese 4th grade students (50.6% male, M_age = 9.36 years old, SD = 0.51 years old) were included in this study.Depressive symptoms were assessed using the short version of the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI-S) at three time points, spaced six months apart (Time 1 (T1): November 2021, Time 2 (T2): May 2022, and Time 3 (T3): November 2022).The data were analyzed in SPSS 24.0 and R 4.2.2.For the regularized partial correlation network, the Graphical Gaussian Model (GGM) estimated the structure of the depression network at three time points.Strength was used in this study to quantify the role of each node.Regarding the cross-lagged panel network, a regression model using a series of nodes logistic regression was used to calculate auto-regressive effects (a node at T1 predicted itself at T2) and cross-lagged effects (a node at T1 predicted another node at T2).Centrality indices, specifically in-expected influence centrality and out-expected influence centrality, were used to differentiate the effects that a node predicting other nodes and being predicted by others.Additionally, network comparison tests (i.e., a network structure invariance test, a global strength invariance test, and an edge strength invariance test) were performed to assess the differences in network structure and core symptoms across three time points.
The regularized partial correlation network analysis showed that self-hatred consistently exhibited the highest strength values over time, marking it as a stable central symptom within the depression network.In addition, sadness exhibited the second-highest strength values at T1.In contrast, irritability had showed the second-highest strength values at T2 and T3, highlighting its escalating significance in the network over time.Network comparison tests highlighted that the network structure at T2 and T3 differed from that at T1.The global strength of the depressive symptoms network at T2 and T3 was stronger than the network at T1, suggesting a strengthening connectivity among symptoms over time.Furthermore, cross-lagged panel network analysis also showed that self-hatred was the overall essential influential symptom, which could give rise to other depressive symptoms and, conversely, be exacerbated by other depressive symptoms over time.The study also observed temporal shifts in symptom centrality.Specifically, loneliness displayed the highest out-expected influence centrality on the T1→T2 network, with strong association with T2 self-hatred and T2 friendlessness.Negative body image had the highest out-expected influence centrality on the T2→T3 network, with strong association with T3 self-hatred.Moreover, irritability consistently presented the highest in-expected influence centrality across both T1→T2 and T2→T3 networks, marking it as a prominent outcome within the depression network.
The current study enhances the knowledge of children’s depression symptomatology through the longitudinal network analysis.By combining regularized partial correlation network analysis and cross-lagged panel network analysis, the findings corroborate that self-hatred and irritability consistently emerge as core symptoms at all time points, while other highly central symptom vary across time points.Consequently, it is imperative to prioritize the prevention and intervention of children’s depression by focusing on central symptoms, namely self-hatred and irritability.Meanwhile, time-specific strategies targeting the central symptoms could prove instrumental in preventing the onset and escalation of depression in children.

The "conspiracy theories" that have appeared or been measured in previous psychological studies are not uniform. Goertzel (1994) conducted the first quantitative study of belief in conspiracy theories from a psychological perspective. Since then, conspiracy theories have often been interpreted as a homogeneous phenomenon, and are often conceptualized as a "mentality" or a stable personal tendency to "believe that conspiracies will happen". In recent years, more and more researchers have shifted their focus from a "stable" conspiracy mentality to beliefs in specific conspiracy theories. They have often investigated specific conspiracy beliefs regarding the content of events in society in the context of real events that have occurred. However, general conspiracy mentality and specific conspiracy beliefs are often conflated as the two most central variants of conspiracy theory in empirical research in psychology. Therefore, this paper first makes a detailed theoretical analysis of these two variants of conspiracy theories.
General conspiracy mentality refers to a psychological tendency that individuals prefer to attribute significant events to conspiracy theories, rather than to specific events. Specific conspiracy beliefs (or beliefs in conspiracy theories) refer to the belief that a specific significant (particularly negative) social event is the result of the covert actions of some powerful secret groups. In our current work, we summarize four similarities and five major differences between the two. In particular, we tease apart different previous measures of general conspiracy mentality and specific conspiracy beliefs. Most importantly, we believe that belief in specific conspiracy theories may depend on both the general conspiracy mentality and the context of the event. It is inappropriate to homogenize various specific conspiracy beliefs into a unidimensional mentality. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between general conspiracy mentality and specific conspiracy beliefs.
It has become an important trend in current conspiracy psychology research to distinguish general conspiracy mentality from specific conspiracy belief, and to investigate the latter or both in empirical research. In recent years, researchers have categorized specific conspiracy beliefs differently when examining their antecedents and aftereffects. Following the existential threat model of conspiracy theories, social identity theory, and evolutionary function theory of conspiracy theories, we propose that specific conspiracy beliefs can be divided into two new variants of conspiracy theories: beliefs in ingroup conspiracy theories and beliefs in outgroup conspiracy theories.
Examples of beliefs in ingroup versus outgroup conspiracy theories can be the struggle of different political parties in elections or a struggle for political and economic interests between different countries. It can also be consistent animosity between different nationalities. Previous research has found that ingroup and outgroup conspiracy beliefs may arise from different motivational processes, and that believing in ingroup and outgroup conspiracy theories may have different social consequences. These two findings highlight the need to distinguish between these two variants.
From the theoretical point of view, the existential threat model of conspiracy theory emphasizes the important role of an "antagonistic outgroup" when sense-making process leads individuals to believe in conspiracy theory. According to evolutionary psychology, conspiracy theories are associated with "hostile coalitions". According to social identity theory, positive social identity is enhanced when people are aware of the superiority of their group over the outgroup, whereas they may take steps to regain ingroup status when their group is in a position of relative weakness, such as believing in conspiracy theories of their opposing outgroup or other powerful outgroups. All of these theories suggest that we need to categorize groups when examining specific conspiracy beliefs. Moreover, an increasing number of empirical studies have explored the relationships between ingroup versus outgroup conspiracy beliefs and different variables by distinguishing between them. Some researchers have also examined the possible different consequences of ingroup versus outgroup conspiracy theories. Thus, this paper explains the necessity, rationality and demand for re-categorizing specific conspiracy beliefs from an intergroup perspective from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.
In conclusion, by continuously conceptualizing and refining different variants of conspiracy theories, we can avoid disagreements in future conspiracy-related research, clarify and refine our understanding of conspiracy theories, and prevent future research from overgeneralizing this central conceptualization of conspiracy theories. We also admit that there are many doubts and challenges in our current work. However, the relationship and distinction between the different variants of conspiracy theory is a fundamental question that frames the overall research of conspiracy psychology, so this still needs to be explored in greater depth by researchers.

A commercial annuity is a financial product in which individuals protect themselves by purchasing insurance from private insurance companies at a young age, and choose between a lump sum payment and regular monthly installments. In return, they receive fixed regular payments until death. As China grapples with the pressing challenges of an aging population and an increasing social welfare burden, numerous studies have demonstrated the potential of commercial pension annuities as a viable solution for the government to mitigate longevity risk. However, despite the proven benefits of private pension annuities, their uptake by consumers remains limited. The current body of academic marketing research has not provided sufficient guidance on how best to stimulate consumer willingness to purchase commercial pension annuities. Therefore, further research is warranted to address this gap and provide insights for enhancing the uptake of commercial pension annuities.
The primary objective of this study is to address the research gap and determine an effective strategy to motivate individuals to purchase commercial pension annuities. Additionally, it aims to investigate the psychological mechanisms of consumers and the factors that influence the purchase of commercial pension annuities. To achieve these objectives, the study employs a moderated mediation model that combines double-entry mental accounting theory and the framing effect to examine the impact of commercial pension annuity on purchasing decisions. The study aims to investigate whether individuals prefer consumption annuity over investment alternatives. It also explores the underlying mechanism of this preference through two channels of double-entry mental accounting. The first channel captures the positive utility derived from consumption after payment, referred to as "the pleasure of consumption." The second channel records the disutility of paying for gains, known as "the pain of paying." Additionally, this study investigates the moderating effect of goal framing on this relationship.
The study was conducted using a situational experiment with 492 participants, using a 2 (annuity advertisement: consumption vs. investment) x 2 (goal framing: positive vs. negative) between-subjects design. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups and instructed to imagine purchasing a commercial pension annuity before completing scales. The collected data were then analyzed, and the primary findings were as follows. First, consumption annuity plans were found to be more effective in enhancing consumers' willingness to purchase commercial pension annuities. This is primarily due to consumers' tendency to avoid investment pension plans owing to uncertainty and concerns about potential financial losses. Second, the pleasure of consumption and the pain of payment were found to have a mediating effect. In other words, consumption annuities were found to increase consumers' enjoyment of consumption and thus positively influence their purchase intention. Lastly, a significant interaction effect was observed between the goal framing and the type of annuity advertisement on individuals' inclination to purchase. Specifically, under negative goal framing conditions, investment annuities were associated with lower consumption pleasure and a lower tendency to choose pension annuities.
In summary, this study provides valuable insights into the psychological mechanisms of "investment aversion" in consumer purchasing behavior toward commercial annuities. The findings highlight consumers' preference for consumption annuities and demonstrate the mediating role of double-entry mental accounting, as well as the moderating effect of negative goal framing in decision making. Moreover, the observed interaction between commercial pension annuity type and goal framing underscores the theoretical and practical implications of leveraging information framing in the private pension annuity insurance sector. Overall, these conclusions contribute to the existing literature on annuity consumption and have important marketing implications for enterprises operating in this sector. By enhancing our understanding of consumer psychology in pension planning, this research provides valuable guidance for developing more effective marketing strategies and product designs, potentially increasing the adoption of these crucial financial instruments among consumers.

Social mobility refers to the movement of individuals between different social hierarchies. Early research on social mobility mainly focused on objective social mobility. However, accumulating studies suggest that subjective perceptions of social mobility have important implications for individual psychology and behavior. The perceotion of social mobility refers to the perceived possibility of movement or change between different social classes or strata within a society. This review aims to highlight recent advances in the field of social mobility perception and to lay a foundation for future research.
Integrating research from several fields, the authors and first introduce the definition and research significance of the perception of social mobility. They then explain how individual psychological factors (e.g., cognitive style and psychological resources) and demographic factors (e.g., social mobility experience, subjective socioeconomic status, and objective socioeconomic status) predict the preception of social mobility. They then present the downstream effects of social mobility perception on mental health (e.g., emotions, well-being, and life satisfaction), social attitudes and values (e.g., belief in social justice, materialism, and long-term orientation), and behaviors (e.g., interpersonal and intrapersonal behaviors).
Next, the authors point out the limitations of current literature and the direction of future research. First, existing research overlooks the specific types of social mobility. There are four criteria to clarify social mobility. Based on the factors causing social mobility, it can be divided into mobility due to controllable factors and mobility due to uncontrollable factors. The authors suggest following the first approach because it aligns more closely with people’s lay perception of social mobility. Social mobility can also be classified based on different reference points and measurement indicators: absolute intergenerational mobility, relative intergenerational mobility, absolute intragenerational mobility, and relative intragenerational mobility. In addition, based on the judgment object, social mobility can be divided into personal and societal. Studies have found that people are more likely to exhibit optimistic bias when the estimation objects are more relevant to them. Based on direction, social mobility can be divided into upward and downward. However, when people think about social mobility, they tend to consider upward mobility, which is true for researchers as well. Current research often confuses these types, which may lead to inconsistent research fingdings. The authors suggest that future research should clearly specify the type of social mobility being studied.
Second, the authors suggest that future research can expand on how social environmental factors influence the perception of social mobility. On the one hand, it is possible to explore the influence of cultural factors. For example, individualistic versus collectivistic cultures might influence the perception of social mobility. In individualistic cultures, which emphasize personal independence and self-actualization, individuals are more likely to attribute success to personal effort and ability. In contrast, collectivist cultures emphasize group harmony and collective goals, with individual achievements often seen as a result of group support and cooperation. As a consequence, people in individualist cultures may perceive higher levels of social mobility. Power distance might also influence social mobility perception; the greater the power distance, the lower the perception of social mobility. On the other hand, it is possible to explore the impact of economic environmental factors on social mobility perception, including the level of economic development and economic inequality.
Lastly, current research lacks an integrated theoretical framework to understand the effects of social mobility perception. We propose that the perception of social mobility produces subsequent effects mainly through three pathways: psychological resources, motivation, and identity. Psychological resources can influence the perception of social mobility perception, and vice versa. Specifically, low social mobility perception might reduce the sense of control and self-efficacy. Additionally, the perception of social mobility might influence motivation, including approach-avoidance motivation and self-enhancement motivation. Furthermore, identity might be a mechanism for the effects of social mobility perception. High social mobility perception might lead to subsequent effects by increasing identity conflict and identity uncertainty.

Today’s world is experiencing the greatest changes in a century. Management practitioners are generally struggling with the difficult choice of “change or stay the same”. We believe that in the era of digital economy, where new technologies emerge in endlessly and product iteration deepens, organizations should not only carry out radical innovation but also consider incremental innovation. Therefore, we argue that balanced innovation, which balances both radical innovation and incremental innovation, is of great significance in the business activities of enterprises. However, previous studies on balanced innovation usually stay at the organizational level and fail to analyze the micro-psychological mechanism of balanced innovation at the individual level, which may not seem to take effect immediately, but it is still equally important. At the same time, analyzing the impact of a single leadership on balanced innovation often has limitations, because a single leadership may focus on different aspects of innovation activities. Therefore, we focus on two types of complementary change-oriented leadership, visionary leadership and vigilant leadership, and explore the psychological mechanism of the joint effect of the two types of leadership on the subordinate’s balanced innovation behavior.
Based on previous studies depicting the theoretical connotations of visionary leadership and vigilant leadership, we argue that the two have complementary relationships in terms of goals and behavioral logic. Referring to the existing definition of ambidextrous leadership, we combine the complementary relationship between visionary leadership and vigilant leadership to propose a visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership composed of the two. Furthermore, based on the social information processing theory, we take subordinates’ paradoxical mindset as the mediator and the environmental dynamics as the moderator to study the impact mechanism of visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership on subordinates’ balanced innovation. We tested our hypothesis by conducting a two-stage study with 301 participants in 53 teams. Data were collected using a visionary scale, a vigilant leadership scale, a paradoxical mindset scale, an environmental dynamics scale, a radical innovation scale, and an incremental innovation scale. The mechanism is analyzed by using the two-level structure equation model.
The results show that: (1) Visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership has a positive effect on subordinates’ balanced innovation. (2) Subordinates’ paradoxical mindset plays a mediating role in the process of visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership influencing balanced innovation. (3) Environmental dynamics plays a moderating role in the process of visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership influencing subordinates’ paradox mindset. The higher the environment dynamics, the stronger the positive effect of visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership on subordinates’ paradoxical mindset is. (4) Environmental dynamics also play a moderating role in the mediation process of visionary-vigilant ambidextrous leadership influencing balanced innovation through the paradoxical mindset.
The study makes important contributions. First, we revealed the mechanism of the joint influence of multiple leadership on subordinate balanced innovation, which fills the gap in existing research that focuses on the relationship between balanced innovation and single leadership. Second, based on the social information processing theory, we achieved a micro psychological portrayal of the trickle-down process in which leaders’ diversified change behaviors affect subordinates’ balanced innovation, making up for the lack of individual psychology in previous studies in the field of balanced innovation. Finally, we explored the interaction between vigilant leadership and other leadership, enriched and developed the theoretical construction of vigilant leadership. Vigilant leadership, as a new type of leadership proposed in recent years, has received little research attention. Previous studies have suggested that there may be complementary theoretical relationships between this type of leadership and other leadership, and have called for further research to explore this possibility. One contribution of this study is its response to existing studies. The conclusion of this paper can also provide action directions for organizational leaders to lead subordinates to perform balanced innovation, and guide managers to adopt a ambidextrous leadership that balances vision and vigilance when appropriate.

Children's and parents' educational expectations play a significant role in predicting adolescent performance and depression, and depression in both adolescents and their parents can predict each other's depressive symptoms. The family systems theory posits that the family is a complex interactive system in which family members’ behaviour and emotions influence and regulate each other. As a key component of the family ecosystem, parents' educational expectations may influence the physical and mental development of adolescents through intergenerational transmission. Meanwhile, parental educational expectations can indirectly influence children's expectations for self-education. There was a significant difference between the father-son and mother-son relationships. However, the findings present inconsistencies regarding the relationship between educational expectations and adolescent depression. Further exploration of the relationship between educational expectations and depression is warranted. Therefore, this study explored how parents' and children's educational expectations influence their own (actor effects) and each other's (partner effects) depression, and analysed the mediating role of their respective academic evaluations in both actor effects and partner effects by using the actor-partner interdependence model.
The data were derived from the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS), which was conducted in 2018. This study selected a sample of children and their parents who had completed both individual and parental questionnaires as participants. A total of 2271 children participated in this study, each accompanied by either their father or mother. Among them, the demographic breakdown included 471 father-son pairs with a child average age of 12.58 years (SD = 1.68 years), 368 father-daughter pairs with a child average age of 12.42 years (SD = 1.74 years), 738 mother-son pairs with a child average age of 12.31 years (SD = 1.73 years), and 716 mother-daughter pairs with a child average age of 12.38 years (SD = 1.69 years). This study used a questionnaire survey method to measure levels of parental educational expectations, adolescent educational expectations, depression, and academic evaluation. The study first utilized SPSS 25.0 for descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, followed by Amos 24.0 to build the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM).
The findings of the study, based on the actor-partner interdependence model, indicated patterns between parental and adolescent education expectations and depression. Specifically, for father-son (father-daughter) relationships, a son's (daughter’s) educational expectations were found to be negatively associated with his own levels of depression, and intriguingly, a daughter's educational expectations were also negatively linked to her father's depressive symptoms. For the relationship between mother and son (daughter), the educational expectations of the son (daughter) and mother can negatively predict each other's depression. Meanwhile, in the actor-partner interdependence mediation model, the son's educational expectation affects both self and the mother's depression through his own and mother's academic evaluation, while the daughter's educational expectation affects both the self and the parent's depression through her own and the parent's academic evaluations. A father's educational expectations influence his daughter's depression through his own academic evaluation, while a mother's educational expectation influences daughter's depression through their own academic evaluations.
This study underscored the influence of parent-child roles on the relationship between parent-child educational expectations and depression. Specifically, it highlighted that children's depression was related to both child and parent educational expectations and academic evaluations, while the role of parents and children have different impacts. Meanwhile, the present study improved our understanding of the underlying mechanism of the relationship between the child and parent educational expectations and depression. This study highlighted the pivotal role of role identity and academic evaluation in mediating the relationship between educational expectations and depression. It not only provided a basis for enhancing parent-child relationships, but also offered targeted intervention strategies for families.

Chinese national identity refers to people's conscious awareness and emotional attachment to the Chinese nation as an ethnic entity. It not only affects individuals' psychological well-being and behavioral adaptation, but also has important impacts on ethnic harmony, social stability, and national identity. However, current research on Chinese national identity has mainly focused on theoretical explanation and policy analysis, with relatively little empirical research. Most existing studies have used questionnaire surveys to explore correlations between Chinese national identity and other variables, without examining causal relationships. Moreover, current empirical research on factors influencing Chinese national identity has not yet considered intergroup meta-perceptions. Existing research has found that intergroup meta-perceptions influence attitudes toward outgroups. Therefore, for different ethnic groups in China, does feeling that outgroups understand one’s ingroup facilitate Chinese national identity? The present research through three studies explores the effect of felt understanding on Chinese national identity and its underlying mechanism.
Study 1 surveyed 367 college students to examine the relationships among felt understanding, intergroup trust, and Chinese national identity. Study 2 manipulated felt understanding using a single-factor between-subjects design, with 165 college students assigned to a felt understanding group, a felt no understanding group, or a control group. Participants' intergroup trust and Chinese national identity were measured after the manipulation. To further establish the effect of felt understanding rather than felt liking on Chinese national identity, Study 3 adopted a 2 (felt understanding: understanding vs. no understanding) × 2 (felt liking: liking vs. no liking) between-subjects design with 192 college students. Participants were first exposed to manipulations of felt understanding and felt liking before their Chinese national identity was measured.
Study 1 found that felt understanding positively predicted Chinese national identity, with intergroup trust partially mediating the relationships between felt understanding and shared ingroup identity (Chinese nation) and Chinese national identity. Intergroup trust fully mediated the relationship between felt understanding and the sense of Community for the Chinese Nation. Study 2 showed that, compared to felt no understanding group and control group, the felt understanding group scored higher on common ingroup identity (Chinese nation) and Chinese national identity. Furthermore, intergroup trust mediated the effect of felt understanding on common ingroup identity (Chinese nation) and Chinese national identity. Study 3 revealed a significant multivariate main effect of felt understanding. The univariate main effect of felt understanding was significant for common ingroup identity (Chinese nation) and the sense of community for the Chinese nation, indicating higher Chinese national identity in the felt understanding condition than in the felt no understanding condition. There was also a significant multivariate main effect of felt liking, while the univariate main effect of felt liking was only significant for common ingroup identity (Chinese nation) but not for the others. This suggests that felt understanding promotes Chinese national identity more effectively than felt liking, further confirming the facilitating effect of felt understanding on Chinese national identity.
The research found that felt understanding facilitates Chinese national identity, intergroup trust mediates the relationship between felt understanding and Chinese national identity and felt understanding promotes Chinese national identity more effectively than felt liking. This research enriches the downstream effects of felt understanding. From the perspective of meta-perceptions and in the context of China's multi-ethnic society, it is the first to explore the effect of felt understanding on Chinese national identity and its underlying mechanism. It makes an original contribution to the antecedent variables and mechanisms for promoting Chinese national identity. At the same time, it provides an evidence-based rather than speculative way to consolidate the sense of community for the Chinese nation.

Human resources are the primary asset for enterprise development, and promotion is a key method to invigorate this resource. Promotion is critical for both organizations and employees. For organizations, decisions regarding promotion candidates affect the development of teams, departments, and the organization as a whole. For employees, promotion represents career success, indicating an increase in organizational status and salary. However, to increase internal competition, reduce the number of management positions, and control costs, organizations often offer limited promotion opportunities. This means that only a few employees can succeed, while the majority face promotion failure in promotional activities. Generally, promotion failure causes employees to miss their goals, hinders their development, and negatively impacts their psychological health and job performance. Specifically, behind each promoted employee, there are usually many unsuccessful candidates and ignoring this group can lead to reduced management efficiency, wasted resources, and loss of talent.
Despite its importance, academic and practical attention has historically focused more on promotion success, with interest in promotion failure emerging only in recent years. Overall, research indicates that employees who experience promotion failure exhibit various negative reactions. Although there have been some advances in the study of promotion failure, the research remains limited and fragmented, lacking coherent dialogue, which significantly hinders further research and practical application. Furthermore, existing studies primarily focus on employees’ negative reactions to promotion failure, lacking in-depth examination of the nature of these reactions, boundary conditions, and research topics, thus offering limited practical insights for promotion management.
Notably, a search for “promotion failure” in the CNKI database reveals that, to date, no research specifically addresses this issue in China. This indicates a severe disconnect between management practice and academic research on this common workplace phenomenon. To inspire future research and guide management practice, this paper aims to systematically review and synthesize existing studies and suggest future research directions. Specifically, this paper first reviews the emotional, cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral responses of employees to promotion failure. Then, it identifies three theoretical mechanisms—fairness heuristic, cognitive appraisal, and frustration-aggression—that explain these responses. Furthermore, it identifies the individual and situational factors that moderate the effects of promotion failure. The paper concludes by analyzing the existing research gaps and suggesting several directions for future research. For example, from “whether” to “frequency” — optimizing the measurement methods of promotion failure; from “negative” to “positive” — enriching the nature of the impacts of promotion failure; from “employee” to “leader” — expanding the subjects of promotion failure research; and from “Western” to “local” — exploring the boundary conditions of the effects of promotion failure. Moreover, we have not only proposed these research directions but also presented practical and theoretically valuable propositions to guide future research, providing a clear pathway for subsequent studies to build on. This paper is the first comprehensive review of promotion failure and aims to support academic research and management practice in this area, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
To sum up, promotion failure is a significant source of stress for employees and is very common in organizations. Unfortunately, research on this topic is still shallow, and Chinese scholars have yet to pay sufficient attention to this phenomenon. This paper systematically integrates relevant studies to address questions such as how, why, and when employees react to promotion failure. By offering a comprehensive review, this paper aims to provide researchers with a thorough understanding of the literature on promotion failure, thus facilitating a quicker entry into the field. Additionally, it aims to help employees and organizations better understand and manage the common occurrence of promotion failure, providing scientific guidance and deep insights for future organizational stress management practices.

Moral judgment is the process by which an individual makes a moral evaluation of someone's behavior according to the moral code when faced with a situation involving moral issues. Moral judgment itself has a strong social attribute. Most of the previous studies on moral dilemmas are based on the perspective of single individuals, and there is a lack of exploration of the psychological mechanism of moral decision-making in public situations or social situations where multiple people exist. In addition, the traditional moral dilemma paradigm based on the dual processing theory of moral judgment has been questioned by many researchers, who believe that it lacks ecological validity and is too absolute for the division between utilitarianism and deontology. The CNI model provides a comprehensive distinction of the cognitive processing involved in moral judgment and clarifies whether changes in moral decision-making are caused by sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to norms, or general action/inaction tendencies.
This study conducted two experiments to investigate the cognitive mechanisms of moral judgment in different social contexts, and the moral dilemma materials in each experiment were constructed based on the CNI model. Experiment 1 used the social observation paradigm, in which participants were asked to perform a moral judgment task under the supervision of two independent and unfamiliar observers, to investigate whether an individual's moral judgment would be affected by a simple decision exposure. The results showed that participants’ moral judgement was not affected by the presence or absence of the observer in the context of other people's observations.
In experiment 2, we conducted parallel judgment paradigms and joint judgment paradigm to investigate how the participants' moral decisions changed. To better explain the difference between the different social contexts, perceived stress and social approval were also measured during the moral judgment task. Participants did not know each other in each paradigm. In the parallel judgment paradigm, participants were asked to judge the same moral dilemma without verbal communication, and then the judgment results of both parties were published after they had completed their judgements. The purpose was to examine whether individuals' moral judgments would be influenced by social feedback when they received information about others' judgments. The results showed that in the parallel judgment context, participants' low decision acceptance was due to their inaction tendency. In the joint judgment paradigm, two participants were required to make a joint decision about the same dilemma without verbal communication, and both pairs were required to reach consensus decisions on each dilemma. The results showed that in the joint judgment situation, the low decision acceptance of the participants was partly due to increased sensitivity to moral norms and a more pronounced tendency to inaction, and they had lower levels of perceived stress and higher levels of social approval. This suggests that when the final decision result was shared by two people, the responsibility of the individual alone became smaller, and the corresponding pressure perception was reduced. Meanwhile, participants in the joint judgment group wanted to be approved and approved by the other person, and in order to achieve this, their moral decisions became more in line with the requirements of social norms to improve their image.
Taken together, the results of the two experiments suggest that individuals are more inclined to make unacceptable moral decisions in the presence of others, and that this seemingly more moral decision stems on the one hand from the increased sensitivity of moral norms caused by the desire for higher social approval, and on the other hand from the general inaction tendency caused by the dispersion of responsibilities. Our finding indicate that different social situations have different effects on moral judgment.

Felt understanding refers to ingroup members’ perception of whether outgroup members understand and accept the views of ingroup members, including their beliefs, values, experiences, and identities. Previous studies have examined the positive impact of felt understanding on relationships. Current studies research suggests that felt understanding helps elicit favorable feelings toward outgroups, increases an individual's willingness to cooperate with outgroup members, thereby affecting intergroup relationships, and enhances psychological compatibility. Psychological compatibility is the embodiment of positive intergroup relationships, refers to the state of psychological preparedness of individuals or groups to accept each other, willing to coexist in harmony, the degree of which reflects the status of intergroup relations. Under the background of China's multi-ethnic culture, the essence of establishing a firm sense of community among the Chinese nation and strengthening interaction, communication and integration among the various ethnic groups is to promote the psychological compatibility of different ethnic groups. Therefore, exploring ways to enhance ethnic psychological compatibility is of practical significance in maintaining national stability and promoting the common prosperity of all ethnic groups.
This study examined the facilitating effect of felt understanding on psychological compatibility through four studies. Study 1 examined the relationship between felt understanding, intergroup cooperation, and psychological compatibility through a questionnaire survey with 759 Han and minority college students. Study 2 manipulated felt understanding through the Felt Understanding Start-up Parameter, using a single-factor between-subjects design, with 188 Han Chinese college students to further explore the relationship between felt understanding and psychological compatibility and the mediating role of intergroup cooperation. Study 3 examined the effects of felt minority understanding on psychological compatibility with 302 minority college students as subjects. Study 4 selected 187 Han Chinese college students as subjects and further verified the facilitating effect of felt understanding on psychological compatibility by manipulating felt understanding and felt liking.
Study 1 found that felt understanding, intergroup cooperation, and psychological compatibility were all positively correlated, with intergroup cooperation mediating the relationship between felt understanding and psychological compatibility. Compared to the control and felt misunderstanding groups, Study 2 revealed that the felt understanding group reported closer psychological distance, higher sensory temperature and more positive ethnic impressions. Study 3 found that felt understanding, intergroup cooperation, and psychological compatibility among ethnic minorities were positively correlated, and that intergroup cooperation mediated the relation between felt understanding and psychological compatibility. Study 4 found a significant multivariate main effect of felt understanding. The univariate main effect of felt understanding was significant on all three measures of psychological compatibility, indicating higher psychological compatibility in the felt understanding condition than in the felt misunderstanding condition. There was also a significant multivariate main effect of felt liking, the univariate main effect of felt liking was significant on all three measures of psychological compatibility, indicating higher psychological compatibility in the felt liking condition than in the felt disliking condition. In addition, the results of multiple regression analyses indicated that felt understanding positively predicted psychological distance, sensory temperature, and ethnic impression, whereas felt liking only positively predicted psychological distance and sensory temperature, and did not predict ethnic impression. This suggests that felt understanding and felt liking may facilitate psychological compatibility.
Felt understanding was found to facilitate psychological compatibility, with intergroup cooperation playing a mediating role. This study enriches the downstream effects of felt understanding. On the one hand, this research explored the effects of felt understanding on psychological compatibility from a meta-perception perspective, thus extending the related research on felt understanding and psychological compatibility. On the other hand, it explores the effects of felt understanding on psychological compatibility between Han Chinese and national minorities, providing a basis for promoting intergroup harmony and strengthening ethnic compatibility.

Economic inequality not only adversely affects people’s physical and mental health, but is also linked to various social issues, including reduced civic engagement, increased social conflict, and higher crime rates. The underlying mechanism behind these negative outcomes in societies with high inequality is often attributed to reduced social cohesion. It is plausible that in less cohesive societies, individuals are less likely to participate in communal activities, advocate for policies that benefit the broader community, and provide material and emotional support to others. Therefore, this paper adopts a social psychological perspective to explore how economic inequality weakens social cohesion through a range of cognitive and motivational factors that arise from the interpersonal, intergroup, and normative processes.
Regarding the interpersonal level, we argue that high levels of inequality undermine social connections through processes of social comparison and status competition. Economic inequality, characterized by disparities in income or wealth, alters the framework and outcomes of social comparison. Specifically, individuals typically prefer upward comparison rather than downward comparison in terms of socioeconomic status. Consequently, people in more unequal contexts face a higher standard of comparison, and thus experience heightened status anxiety and desire for wealth in societies with high inequality. Given people generally view the gain and loss of wealth as the result of a zero-sum game, individuals in societies with high inequality are more likely to develop a competitive rather than cooperative mindset, thus eroding interpersonal trust and bonds.
At the intergroup level, we argue that economic inequality increases the likelihood of social conflict between different socioeconomic groups through processes of group categorization and social identity. Economic inequality accentuates wealth disparities between the rich and the poor, leading to a heightened tendency to perceive and categorize social groups on the basis of wealth. Such categorization diminishes the sense of shared destiny and fosters alienation and hostility between groups. At the same time, in societies with high levels of inequality, the affluent group becomes an advantaged group identity, which drives people’s desire to have more wealth for a positive group identity. How wealth is obtained or maintained depends on perceptions of social mobility and justice, thereby influencing intergroup dynamics. For instance, low levels of social mobility and injustice lead to the adoption of social competition strategies, resulting in increased social conflict and chaos.
Finally, at the level of social norms, economic inequality increases people's expectations of a competitive social climate through normative perceptions, which leads to less trust in social interactions. In societies with higher economic inequality, social strategies based on dominance and competition are more adaptive. Thus, people view economic inequality as an environmental feature and make inferences about the norms in that environment. Specifically, societies with high inequality are expected to foster a more competitive climate, which in turn increases individuals' social vigilance toward others.
Based on existing knowledge, several issues remain underexplored and warrant further attention. First, the three processes summarized in this paper have been studied relatively independently in existing empirical research. Future research should integrate these processes and explore their interactions at different psychological levels to better understand how economic inequality weakens social cohesion. Second, the conditions under which people adopt individual mobility or social competition strategies remain inadequately explored. The choice of strategy may depend on the level of economic inequality and on individuals' cognitions and beliefs, such as system-justifying ideologies and meritocratic beliefs. Third, while prior studies have highlighted that economic inequality increases competitive behaviors, recent studies have produced inconsistent results, with some finding that economic inequality enhances people's willingness to engage in instrumental cooperation. Thus, future studies should not solely focus on competition and cooperation but should thoroughly investigate the effects of economic inequality on various other facets of social relationships. Fourth, although existing empirical studies have examined the relationship between economic inequality and several indicators of social cohesion, there are still some key indicators (e.g., willingness to follow social rules and acceptance of external groups) that have not received attention. Future research can more comprehensively examine the relationship between economic inequality and social cohesion based on the three processes of interpersonal, intergroup, and normative. Finally, future studies should consider the potential role of culture in the impact of economic inequality on social cohesion. In contrast to Western societies, East Asian cultures place greater emphasis on social hierarchy, and individuals within these cultures tend to hold stronger beliefs in power distance. This heightened acceptance of inequality could significantly shape the dynamics of how economic inequality affects social relationships.

Secondary education is an important component of China’s education system. With the upgrading of industrial structure and the advancement of a new round of vocational education reform, it is crucial to understand how to enhance the adaptability of secondary vocational students in achieving career transitions. Previous research has revealed the significant influences of family environment on adolescents' career development. However, compared to regular high school students whose main career development goal is academic achievement, secondary vocational students tend to be more employment-oriented. Considering that secondary vocational students are still in the stage of adolescence where their physical and mental development is not yet mature, they face challenges in career transitions that are difficult to handle independently. Therefore, they need more trust and guidance from their parents in this process. Particularly, in the Chinese cultural context, where there is a long-standing tradition of high parent-child dependency, one of the important motivations for children's career development is to bring honor to their families. Moreover, fathers and mothers also play different roles in the process of their children's career development. Therefore, it has positive theoretical and practical significance to thoroughly explore the longitudinal predictive role of parent-child relationship quality on the career adaptability of secondary vocational students in China and its underlying mechanisms within the Chinese cultural background.
According to the career construction theory, self-efficacy serves as a core mechanism mediating the development of career adaptability in response to situational factors. Given that academic achievement and career decision-making are the most prominent career development tasks for vocational students, this study examined the longitudinal predictive role of father-child and mother-child relationships on the career adaptability of secondary vocational students in the Chinese cultural background, as well as the mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy in this relationship. The study employed a cluster sampling method and collaborated with a secondary vocational college in an eastern province of China to conduct an online questionnaire survey of 1214 participants in their first year of high school. The study conducted three waves of follow-up surveys. Participants completed the questionnaires on father-son/mother-son relationships, academic self-efficacy, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career adaptability at Time 1. Additionally, participants responded to questions regarding gender, age, subjective family socioeconomic status, and academic performance. After a six-month interval (Time 2), they completed the questionnaires on academic self-efficacy and career decision-making self-efficacy again. Following another six-month interval (Time 3), they completed the career adaptability scale.
Controlling for gender, grade, socioeconomic status, and Time 1 career adaptability, the results from the study sample revealed that: (1) Father-child relationships can positively predict the career adaptability of secondary vocational students, while the direct predictive effect of mother-son relationships is not significant. (2) Mother-child relationships can promote the development of career adaptability in secondary vocational students through academic self-efficacy and career decision-making self-efficacy, whereas the quality of father-child relationships longitudinally predicts career adaptability in secondary vocational students only through career decision-making self-efficacy.
Our study has theoretical and practical implications. First, by adopting a relational perspective and considering both parent-child relationships and mother-child relationships, we explore the longitudinal associations between parent-child relationships and the career adaptability of secondary vocational school students, as well as the mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy. This contributes to establishing a more comprehensive “Family Relationships - Campus Learning - Career Development” model and further deepens the theoretical and localized research findings on parent-child relationships and career adaptability development. Additionally, the results of this study indicate that a good parent-child relationship can enhance the self-efficacy of secondary vocational students in both academic and career decision-making aspects, thereby promoting the development of their career adaptability. Furthermore, the influence of father-child relationships on the career adaptability of secondary vocational students in China may be more prominent in terms of vocational attributes, and it is necessary to pay sufficient attention to the role of fathers in guiding their children's career development in the future.

Psychological tests mainly include cognitive tests and personality tests. In cognitive tests, participants can make a correct choice when they know the correct answer, regardless of the guessing factor. However, in personality tests, participants are free to improve their scores. Previous studies have shown that traditional personality tests are prone to acquiescence response, halo effect, impression management, and other abnormal responses.
Many methods used to detect abnormal responses are only proposed for ability tests, but are lacking for personality tests. With the wide application of personality tests in the field of talent assessment, it becomes more urgent to detect whether there is an abnormal response in the test. The development of forced-choice questionnaires avoids the disadvantages of traditional personality tests to some extent. However, personality test is still affected by response style and random response, especially by back random response. Because the length of personality tests is long or the motivation of the participants is low, the participants are prone to random response in the latter part of the test (BRR). BRR is a common abnormal phenomenon in psychological tests. It can increase the error of potential trait estimation, which cannot reflect the real trait level of the participants. At the same time, it can seriously reduce the reliability and validity of the test.
Change point analysis is a popular method for detecting abnormal responses in psychological tests. The advantage of CPA is that it can identify not only the abnormal response of a particular participant, but also detect the specific location of the change point (Shao, 2016). Therefore, the CPA method can help researchers clean up the abnormal part of the data independently without deleting all the data of the participants during data analysis. In this way, the influence of abnormal response can be reduced, the valid data can be retained to the maximum extent and the accuracy of parameter estimation can be improved.
On the basis of previous studies and in combination with the special nature of CPA and BRR, the study applied the existing methods of CPA to forced-choice questionnaires for the first time. Under the framework of MUPP-2PL, the existing methods L_max, R_max, and W_max of CPA were compared and verified through simulation study. This was to provide an effective and reasonable method for detecting abnormal participants in forced-choice questionnaires.
Monte Carlo simulation was used in this study. Firstly, under the framework of MUPP-2PL, the distribution characteristics of L_max, R_max, and W_max in different test length and dimension correlation were discussed, and the 95th percentile of their respective experience distribution was obtained as the critical value (i. e. the criterion for judging whether BRR existed in the process of the test). Secondly, the detection effects of L_max, R_max, and W_max on BRR were verified under different BRR prevalence, dimension correlation, BRR severity and test length.
In all the experimental conditions, the type-I errors of L_max, R_max, and W_max were close to the level of significance ( α = .05). The power of is much higher than that of the other two methods. The absolute lag of is relatively the most accurate. The results of potential trait estimation showed that the accuracy of potential trait estimation was significantly improved after the CPA method was used to clean the abnormal response data. In general, the results of all CPA methods for BRR detection in forced-choice questionnaires were satisfactory and the results of the three methods were highly consistent ( κ > .61, p < .001). In addition, the results of empirical data have also reached similar conclusions. The labeling overlap rate of W_max and L_max for abnormal subjects reached 46. 7%, but the labeling overlap rate of R_max, W_max, and L_max were lower respectively.

Cognitive ability refers to the capacity to process, store, and retrieve information, and it is a strong predictor of short- and long-term achievements such as academic performance, social skills, health, wealth, and involvement in criminal activities. Common cognitive enhancement methods include cognitive training, neurofeedback, and electrical stimulation. However, these methods have several shortcomings, including long training sessions, fixed training parameters, and inconsistent training outcomes. Recently, machine learning has provided an opportunity to obtain more intelligent, personalized, and precise cognitive training solutions, which can overcome the shortcomings of previous methods and maximize training effectiveness. Therefore, this study first introduced common cognitive enhancement and machine learning methods. Then, the relationship between machine learning and cognitive enhancement was analyzed, and a comprehensive overview of the application of machine learning in cognitive enhancement was provided. Finally, the challenges and potential directions for future research were discussed.
Cognitive training is the most common cognitive enhancement method that can effectively improve the performance on training tasks and structurally similar untrained tasks. Meanwhile, successful cognitive training may potentially enhance the performance on transfer tasks and show maintenance effects (i.e., cognitive control, reasoning, intelligence, and cross-modal tasks). However, cognitive training can be time-consuming and has inconsistent effectiveness. Neurofeedback enables individuals to self-regulate their brain activity through signals such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and can significantly improve attention, working memory, and cognitive control. However, neurofeedback equipment is expensive, training parameters may be overly simplified, and the training process is affected by emotions. Electrical stimulation techniques are used to activate or inhibit specific brain regions, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Studies have shown that both single and repetitive stimulation can improve executive control, attention, and multitasking abilities. Moreover, the combination of electrical stimulation with cognitive training can further improve training outcomes. However, the underlying mechanism is still unclear, and problems such as fixed parameters and inconsistent training effects remain.
Supervised machine learning is extensively used in the fields of neuroscience and psychology. Specifically, algorithms and labeled datasets are used to train machine learning models that can recognize patterns, and then these models are used to predict labels for new data. Supervised machine learning can be divided into regression algorithms, classification algorithms, and deep learning. Specifically, regression algorithms predict the scores of psychological traits by outputting continuous values, including linear regression, stepwise regression, lasso regression, ridge regression, elastic net regression, and support vector regression. For classification tasks such as determining whether an individual has a psychological disorder, algorithms like logistic regression, linear discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines, decision trees, and random forests are adopted. Additionally, deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and transformer networks are particularly suitable for complex cognitive tasks because of their ability to automatically learn feature representations.
There is a mutually beneficial relationship between machine learning and cognitive enhancement. On the one hand, machine learning helps to overcome the limitations of cognitive enhancement methods and maximize the effectiveness of training. Specifically, machine learning can assist in the selection of difficulty levels and training programs before the training. Meanwhile, machine learning can be employed to adjust the task difficulty and electrical stimulation parameters during the training process. Another scenario involving machine learning during the training process is neurofeedback decoding, where machine learning is utilized to decode task-related brain activity patterns, which are then used as indicators for implementing precise real-time neurofeedback. As for training effects, machine learning can be adopted to analyze the relationship between brain data and cognitive abilities, which helps to reduce the number of assessment tasks. On the other hand, the integration and enhancement of brain signals can improve the performance of machine-learning models. This brings a new meaning to cognitive training from the perspective of machine learning.
It is noteworthy that related research is still in the exploratory stage and faces several challenges. First, in terms of training evaluation, existing cognitive prediction models have relatively low accuracy, and this issue can be addressed in future research through algorithm selection, multimodal fusion, feature selection, and hyperparameter tuning. Second, sample diversity is crucial for personalized cognitive training and assessment. Future research should focus on increasing the sample size and diversity of publicly available datasets. Third, model interpretability can help researchers to understand the mechanisms underlying cognitive training. Therefore, future research should flexibly apply interpretability methods in traditional machine learning models and develop interpretable deep learning methods to ensure the interpretability of deep learning models.