Duration perception refers to the perception of the interval between two successive events, or the duration of an event, which is a part of time perception. Our perception of the world is closely related to how we perceive the duration information. For example, we need precise timing to perform daily actions, such as perceiving, speaking, playing the piano or video games, or driving a car. However, it has been shown that the perceived durations are distorted by many factors, such as attention, emotion, magnitude, and sensory history. Moreover, the plasticity of duration perception is evident not only in the perception of a single duration, but also in more complex scenarios. For example, when someone asks you how much time you have actually spent studying today, you have to add up the time you spent studying between breaks to answer this question. Typically, we tend to overestimate the duration of time in our mental summation.
The mathematical axioms of commutativity and identity do not seem to hold in mental summation, which could be influenced by the order of the operands, resulting in the order effect. However, we know little about how the order effect arises in mental summation. To answer this question, the present study investigated the order effect and its underlying mechanism of the three-element mental summation of auditory duration. We assumed that if the order effect of mental summation is contingent on the overall increasing or decreasing trend of the operational sequence, it will be weakened or even disappear when the overall trend of the sequence is disrupted. Alternatively, if the order effect depends on the magnitude (i.e., duration) of the operational elements at a specific position (e.g., the last position) in the operational sequence, the order effect will be guaranteed as long as the magnitude at that position is maintained.
To test these hypotheses, two experiments were designed with the auditory sequential presentation paradigm. Twenty-six volunteers participated in Experiment 1 and 24 participated in Experiment 2. Specifically, in Experiment 1, we conducted a 4(sequence type: increasing, decreasing, uniform, random) × 3(sum of durations: 840ms, 1680ms, 2520ms) within-subject design. In Experiment 2, a 2(regularity of the overall trend: regular, irregular) × 2(magnitude of the last position: long, short) within-subject design was employed. In the duration reproduction task, participants were asked to reproduce the total duration of the first, second, and third auditory stimulus by pressing and releasing a button.
The results showed that there were significant operational momentum effects in the mental summation of auditory durations. That is, we found that the sum of the three durations was overestimated in all conditions. Moreover, the order effect of the three-element mental summation of auditory durations was observed. Specifically, the sum of the three durations in the increasing condition was significantly greater than that in the random condition, while the sum was significantly smaller in the decreasing condition than that in the random condition. More importantly, Experiment 2 further found that the main effect of the magnitude of the last position was significant: the sum was significantly larger in the long condition than that in the short condition, while the main effect of regularity of the overall trend and their interaction were not significant. It suggests that the order effect of mental summation of auditory durations is determined by the magnitude of the last position rather than the overall trend of the operational sequence: the greater the magnitude of the last position, the greater the overestimation effect in mental summation.
In summary, this study has uncovered the internal mechanism of the order effect of mental summation of auditory durations. It indicates that when summing several different durations, the latest duration is weighted most heavily. This effect is similar to the recency effect of memory.

The perception of sensory stimuli is a challenging task for the brain, because incoming sensory information is contaminated by noise. To establish a stable and sensitive representation of the external environment, the brain integrates stimulus information over time. Therefore, the perception of a current stimulus depends not only on the current stimulus input, but also on prior perceptual experiences. This phenomenon is known as “serial dependence”. Although previous studies have found that the serial dependence effect mainly manifests itself as a perception bias toward previous stimuli, recent research has shown that different types of prior information affect subsequent perceptual processing differently in duration perception: the previous stimulus duration leads to a repulsive effect (stimulus serial dependence effect), while the previous decision results in an attractive effect (decisional serial dependence effect).
The serial dependence effect does not always occur to the same extent, and its strength is influenced by various factors. The continuity fields theory suggests that the spatial consistency of stimuli is an important factor influencing the serial dependence effect, which has been confirmed by research on visual serial dependence effects. However, given the differences between the visual and auditory systems in processing spatial information, it is unclear whether the spatial consistency of auditory stimuli affects the auditory serial dependence effect. Moreover, as a peripheral organ receiving auditory input, ears may also be a potential factor influencing auditory serial dependence effect, which has not been explored so far. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the influences of auditory space and ear consistencies on the serial dependence effect in duration perception.
Two experiments with the modified temporal bisection task were conducted in the present study, where participants were asked to make judgments regarding whether the duration of each auditory stimulus was shorter or longer than the established reference duration. Each experiment included 24 naïve participants. Specifically, Experiment 1 used a 2 (auditory space of present stimuli: left vs. right) × 2 (consistency of auditory spaces between previous and present trials: consistent vs. inconsistent) within-subjects design to investigate the effects of auditory space and its consistency on the serial dependence effects in duration perception. In Experiment 2, a similar 2 (the ear position: left vs. right) × 2 (consistency of ear positions between previous and present trials: consistent vs. inconsistent) within-subject design was used to investigate the effects of ear position and its consistency on the serial dependence effects in duration perception.
The results showed that when the previous and present auditory stimuli were from the same space or ear, as well as when they were from different spaces or ears, the previous stimulus duration led to a significantly repulsive serial dependence effect, whereas the previous decision resulted in a significantly attractive serial dependence effect. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the strength of the stimulus serial dependence effect between the spatial or ear consistency and inconsistency conditions. However, the strength of the decision serial dependence effect in the spatial or ear consistency condition was significantly greater than that in the inconsistency condition. These results suggest that the stimulus serial dependence effect can be fully transferred across different auditory spaces or ears, while the decisional serial dependence effect is partially constrained by auditory spaces or ears.
The present study provides evidence for opposing effects of previous stimulus duration and previous decision on the subsequent perceptual decisions on auditory durations. It implies that the brain utilizes different prior information through different mechanisms for auditory duration processing. More specifically, the stimulus serial dependence effect is not sensitive to the auditory space or ear, suggesting that it may originate from higher-level brain areas. The decisional serial dependence effect, on the other hand, is partially dependent on both auditory space and ear. This suggests that the decisional prior can be categorized according to auditory space and ear, which would selectively affect subsequent duration decisions. These findings may help to understand the mechanisms of different serial dependence effects.

Featural and configural information are the two main ways in which individuals process faces. Featural processing involves the recognition of local facial details, while configural processing involves the perception of spatial relationships between facial features. An increasing number of electrophysiological studies have shown differences in neural mechanisms, with the right hemisphere of the brain being more sensitive to configural faces than to featural faces. Configural and featural faces also elicit different ERP components, with the early ERP component being more sensitive to configural faces and the later ERP component being more sensitive to featural faces. Social information, such as facial expressions and race, can influence both types of processing, potentially due to differences in attention. However, it is unclear how featural and configural processing differ in terms of attention and how they are affected by facial social information. Gaze direction, as a key aspect of social attention, may play an important role in attracting attention during face processing. Further research is needed to explore the impact of eye gaze on different face processing mechanisms.
This study used the N2pc component to investigate the differences in attention between configural and featural processing, as well as the impact of gaze direction, in a visual search task. The N2pc is believed to indicate the shift of attention to a target during visual search, and is measured by comparing the brain activity on the side of the target versus the opposite side. The study employed a 2 (target face type: configural, featural) × 2 (eye gaze: direct, averted) within-subjects experimental design. Participants were asked to search for a specific target face in two blocks: one with configural faces and the other with featural faces, with gaze direction randomized within each block. For example, in the configural face target condition, participants had to identify one configural face among three featural faces in target-present trials. In target-absent trials, all four faces were featural faces. In both target-present and target-absent trials, all faces had averted or direct gaze.
The results of the study showed that the N2pc component was elicited by the configural face, but not by the featural faces during the 260-360 ms. There was no impact of eye direction on this response. In terms of the N170 component, the featural face elicited a larger amplitude and earlier latency than the configural face. This advantage in processing featural faces was more pronounced in the averted gaze condition than in the direct gaze condition. The findings suggest that different types of faces can evoke different levels of attention, with configural faces more likely to attract spatial selective attention. This could be due to the faster processing of holistic information compared to feature information during face perception. The N170 component for featural faces was larger and occurred earlier than for configural faces, suggesting that the advantage in processing featural faces is evident in the stage of encoding facial structure information. Interestingly, the influence of gaze was only observed in the N170 component but not in the N2pc component. This may indicate that gaze can affect the processing of facial configuration and features, but this effect may change over time. At the face encoding stage represented by the N170 component, averted gaze faces were processed with higher priority compared to direct gaze faces, making it easier to differentiate between configural and featural faces. Consistent with previous research on social cues, while gaze direction can impact the processing of different types of faces, it does not affect the attention evoked by the faces themselves. Therefore, whether in averted or direct gaze conditions, only configural faces were able to elicit the N2pc component. In short, the current study has affirmed that the effect of gaze on configural and featural processing is not due to attentional changes, but rather by affecting the encoding process.

The latest data from the World Health Organization shows that there are more than 1 billion obese people in the world, of which 340 million are teenagers and 39 million are children. In China, the overweight and obesity rate among children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years is as high as 19 percent, and the overweight and obesity rate among children under 6 years of age is more than 10 percent. Childhood obesity is associated with serious physical, psychological and cognitive problems, including cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders, diabetes, increased risk of suicide, and impaired attention, social skills and executive function, and requires urgent attention from society as a whole.
Obesity is a chronic metabolic disease that is harmful to health because energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, leading to excessive accumulation of body fat. The onset and development of childhood obesity is influenced by a combination of genetics, environment, eating behaviors, and motion, and human brain plays an important role in the process of overeating that leads to obesity. The brain's control of eating involves several brain systems, including the homeostatic system, the attention system, the emotion and memory systems, and the cognitive control and reward systems. These neural circuits interact to control energy intake and expenditure. In the study of obesity-brain association, researchers have focused more on the role of the reward system and the inhibitory control system (cognitive control) and referred to these two systems as the dual brain systems. Previous studies have focused on the association between single brain system (reward sensitivity or inhibitory control) and childhood obesity, while there is a lack of systematic exploration of the interactions of dual brain systems. Examining the interactions of multiple brain regions can help to identify susceptible populations at risk for obesity more accurately. Taken together, the available evidence suggests that children with overweight or obese (OW/OB) show extensive structural differences in the brain reward and inhibitory control systems compared with normal ones, such as larger volume of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, thinner orbitofrontal cortex, and reduced gray matter volume and cortical thickness in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus. They also have lower functional connectivity in reward networks (e.g., the striatum-orbitofrontal cortex) and control networks compared to typically developing children. In addition, altered functional connectivity between reward and control-related networks was observed in children with a higher BMI. However, no associations between childhood obesity and their brain activity have been found in reward and inhibitory control-related tasks. Future studies may consider exploring the neural mechanisms of childhood obesity in depth in the following aspects. (1) Researchers could focus on the unique role of causal interactions between the brain's reward and inhibition control systems in childhood obesity, and further reveal whether and how the basis/mechanisms of these neural interactions are involved in the onset and maintenance of childhood obesity. (2) A dynamic developmental perspective is needed to explore the bidirectional relationship between changes in children's BMI and changes in brain structure and function. (3) Applying machine learning modeling in a large sample of children to explore robust predictors of childhood obesity to identify individuals at high risk for increased risk of overweight and obesity. (4) Considering the important role of genetic variation in morphological differences in the cerebral cortex and eating behavior. In general, more large-scale longitudinal studies are needed in the future, beginning in early childhood, with multiple repeated measures of obesity, brain function and structure, and cognition, combining resting-state and task-state designs, and adequately modelled over time, to gain insight into the potential differences in neural and behavioral processes across developmental stages.

From the moment we are born, humans begin to interact with the world through emotions, which play a central role in early communication. Music is a particularly powerful medium for expressing and understanding emotions, and prior research has shown that even young children possess an innate ability to recognize the emotions conveyed through musical pieces. However, to fully grasp the development of this emotional understanding, it is crucial to investigate even younger populations. While the majority of studies on musical emotion perception have focused on children older than three years, only a limited number of studies have explored infants’ responses to emotional music, and the findings have been somewhat inconsistent. Our study aims to contribute to this growing area of research by examining whether infants can distinguish between different emotions in music. To do this, we measured changes in their pupil size while they listened to various types of emotionally expressive music, a method that offers objective insight into emotional arousal and cognitive engagement. In particular, pupil dilation is known to reflect heightened emotional or cognitive responses, often increasing in response to negative emotional stimuli compared to positive ones.
The study included 34 infants aged 5 to 9 months (mean age = 6.84 ± 1.57 months, with 13 females), all of whom had normal hearing. Two additional infants were unable to complete the experiment due to crying or falling asleep during the sessions. Each infant was exposed to a piece of happy music and a piece of sad music, presented in a counterbalanced sequence to control for order effects, while viewing a simple animated video designed for infants. We recorded the changes in pupil diameter using a Tobii Spectrum 600 eye-tracker. To validate the emotional content of the musical stimuli, we asked 83 adults between the ages of 16 to 50 to rate the music used in the study. Of the adult evaluators, 82% rated the happy music as happy or relatively happy, while 89% rated the sad music as sad or relatively sad. This helped ensure that the emotional content of the music was perceived as intended by adult listeners.
A 2×2 ANOVA examined the between-subjects variable of music order (happy first/sad first) and the within-subjects variable of music emotion type (happy/sad). There were no significant main effects for either order (F(1, 32)= .004, p > .05; BF_incl= .264) or music emotion (F(1, 32) = .187, p > .05; BF_incl= .320), but their interaction was significant (F(1, 32)=8.968, p < .01, η²= .219; BF_incl=12.865). For the group that heard happy music first, pupil dilation was smaller during sad music (paired-samples t-test, p < .05). For the group that heard sad music first, pupil dilation was smaller during happy music (paired-samples t-test, p = .062). Thus, pupil dilation was not directly linked to specific emotional content, and when the emotional type of music changed, participants' pupil dilation decreased.
The findings suggest that music that conveys distinct emotions to adults did not elicit significant changes in pupil size in infants. This finding implies that infants at this age may be unable to differentiate between happy and sad emotions in music. Interestingly, the reduction in pupil dilation following a change in music emotion suggests that infants may not yet be highly sensitive to emotional shifts in music, especially if they have not had sufficient time to become familiar with the musical stimuli.
These findings advance our understanding of how infants under one year old perceive emotional content in music. While some previous research suggests that infants can distinguish emotional music, it remains unclear whether they are responding to the acoustic features of the music or genuinely perceiving the emotions being conveyed. More definitive evidence of emotional perception seems to emerge between 12 and 18 months of age. Future research should focus on how infants within this age range process emotional information and social cues in music, possibly exploring whether music influences infants’ emotions and whether they use music to anticipate the emotions of others. This line of research could further elucidate the role of emotional prosody in the development of human emotional perception and social cognition.

Anxiety is a type of negative emotional experience that puts the individual in a state of physiological tension and high arousal, with symptoms such as nervousness, restlessness, and insomnia. Anxiety is common among adolescents and can lead to many physical and psychological problems. Therefore, studying the developmental characteristics of anxiety in adolescence has important practical implications. Most of the predecessors have discussed the risk outcomes of anxiety (gambling, substance abuse, suicide, etc.), but few have discussed the dynamic characteristics of adolescent anxiety. In addition, previous studies mainly rely on Western adolescents, and the development of anxiety in Chinese adolescents is less often studied. Therefore, based on latent growth modeling and growth mixture modeling, this study explored the development trend of adolescent anxiety in junior middle school students in China for the first time, to provide an important theoretical and practical basis for preventing anxiety symptoms and improving the mental health level of adolescents.
The anxiety level of students in 2 junior high schools was assessed 3 times in 2 years by cluster sampling method. In this study, the anxiety subscale in the simplified Chinese version of the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to measure the anxiety level of junior high school students. There were 684 adolescents participating in the first wave, 698 in the second wave, 600 in the third wave, and 483 in all three measurements. The results of the Chi-square test and t-test indicate that there were no significant differences between the loss subjects and the effective subjects in terms of gender (χ²(1)=2.45, p > .05), father's education level (χ²(6)=7.71, p > .05), mother's education level (χ²(6)=3.88, p > .05), subjective socioeconomic status (χ²(9)=10.41, p > .05), and anxiety level (t(652)=-1.28, p > .05). This indicates that there was no structured loss of subjects, and as a result, we deleted the data of the missing samples. Finally, the sample included in this study was 483 adolescents who participated in all three waves. They were in the seventh (239) and eighth (244) grades at the time of the first wave, with an average age of 13.05 ± .75 years. Of these, 255 (52.80%) were male, 217 (44.93%) were female, and 11 (2.28%) did not report their gender. In this study, SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3 were used for data analysis. Firstly, latent growth modeling was established to explore the overall developmental trend of adolescent anxiety. Secondly, a growth mixture modeling was constructed to explore the heterogeneity of the development trend of adolescent anxiety, in which the model with 2 categories was the best-fitting model. Finally, we examined the moderating role of gender in the developmental characteristics of adolescent anxiety.
The results showed that: (1) Within 2 years, the anxiety level of junior high school students showed a linear decline trend; (2) There were 2 developmental trajectories of adolescent anxiety——low-risk group and high-risk group: 89.65% of adolescents belonged to the low-risk group, the initial anxiety level was low, and the anxiety level decreased with time; 10.35% of adolescents were classified into the high-risk group, with the initial anxiety levels being high and remaining relatively stable; (3) Gender played a moderating role in the developmental trend of adolescent anxiety. In terms of the overall developmental trend of adolescent anxiety, the anxiety level of girls was significantly higher than that of boys. In terms of the heterogeneous developmental trajectory of adolescent anxiety, girls were more likely to belong to the high-risk group.
For the first time, this study used tracking data to unveil the developmental patterns of anxiety among Chinese middle school students via growth mixture modeling. The findings revealed that the majority of adolescents exhibited a declining trend in anxiety levels, with only a small fraction experiencing sustained high anxiety. This research holds significant implications for understanding the trajectory of anxiety development among Chinese adolescents and contributes valuable insights to the study of their emotional development. Moreover, it provides an essential theoretical and practical foundation for targeted prevention and intervention strategies for adolescent anxiety.

Resource allocation plays a crucial role in children’ socialization process, reflects the level of children's social development. Resources encompass both quantity and value attributes, and children’ development of cognitive and fair allocation based on resource value typically lags behind the cognitive and allocation based on resource quantity, represents a more advanced cognitive and behavioral approach. Reciprocity is one of the fundamental norms of social interaction, and can be divided into direct reciprocity and indirect reciprocity. Indirect reciprocity acts as a significant mechanism in fostering the development of prosocial behavior in children. Upstream indirect reciprocity pertains to individuals being more inclined to assist a third party due to past assistance received from others, while downstream indirect reciprocity refers to individuals having a higher likelihood of receiving help from a third party as a result of previously offering help to others. Previous research primarily focused on indirect reciprocity in quantity-based resource allocation, with limited exploration in value-based resource allocation. Examining children’s performance of indirect reciprocity in value-based resource allocation is instrumental in understanding their development of moral cognition and prosocial behavior within intricate social interaction settings, thereby plays a pivotal role in enhancing children’s prosocial behavior and socialization. Therefore, this study focused on the allocation behavior and indirect reciprocity based resource value, two experiments were designed to investigate the behavior and the indirect reciprocity of value-based resource allocation in 5- to 6-year-old children.
Experiment 1 aimed to examine the behavior characteristics of children's value-based resource allocation with controlling quantity of resources, and 60 children aged 5- to 6-year-old were recruited for experiment 1. On the first step, children were asked to choose the favorite(assigned with high-value) and least favorite (assigned with low-value ) sticker types, and then pick out four favorite stickers (high-quality resources) and four least favorite stickers (low-quality resources) from the chosen sticker types. On the second step, participants were tasked with allocating any four of the eight stickers to a virtual child. Encode children's allocation behavior into fairness, selfish, and altruistic patterns based on the proportion of allocated high and low value stickers. The results show that the proportion of children adopting selfish pattern is significantly higher than that of fairness and altruism.
Experiment 2 aimed to examine the indirect reciprocity of children's value-based resource allocation, and 180 children aged 5- to 6-year-old were recruited for the experiment. Initially, participants were asked to selecting four high- and four low-value stickers as owned resources. Subsequently, present the virtual participants' resource allocation patterns under two social interaction settings, and then asked participants to allocate resources. In the setting of upstream indirect reciprocity, participants were first allocated four of eight stickers(four high-value and four low-value) by virtual child A, according to fair, or selfish, or altruistic schemes, followed by instructions to assign four of eight stickers they owned(four high-value and four low-value) to virtual child C. In the downstream indirect reciprocity setting, participants observed virtual child A allocating four of eight stickers (four high-value and four low-value) fairly, or selfishly, or altruistically to virtual child B, then were tasked with allocating four of eight stickers to virtual child A. Chi-square and stratified chi-square tests were used to compare the proportion differences of children adopting fair, selfish, and altruistic patterns under different conditions. Results show that regardless of their role as recipients or observers, 5- to 6-year-old children could perceive others’ allocation patterns based on resource value, and exhibited upstream and downstream indirect reciprocity in subsequent resource allocation.
In summary, the 5- to 6-year-old children can perceive the value of resources clearly, and demonstrate them in value-based resource allocation. Without controlling any social context, 5- to 6-year-old children exhibit a tendency of selfish in value-based resource allocation. With considering the effects of social interaction contexts and allocation patterns of others, when being recipients of initial resources allocation, 5- to 6-year-old children exhibit a upstream indirect reciprocity in subsequent value-based resources allocation, and exhibit a downstream indirect reciprocity when being bystanders.

Although existing research has identified the role of social exclusion in stimulating malevolent creativity and explored the mediating roles of intrapersonal emotions (e.g., anger) and behavioral tendencies (e.g., aggression, negative coping styles), it has relatively neglected the roles of intrapersonal cognition and interpersonal emotional processing. Taking a step further, this study explores whether the need for uniqueness (as an intrapersonal cognitive process) and empathic concern (as an interpersonal emotional processing tendency) mediate the relation between social exclusion and malevolent creativity.
Study 1 recruited 279 university students (236 female, mean age 20.12 years) to complete the scales of social exclusion, need for uniqueness, empathic concern, and malevolent creative behavior; Study 2 recruited 127 university students (115 female, mean age 20.62 years) to complete a malevolent creative problem-solving task (MCT) under different exclusion conditions and to report on-task feelings of need for uniqueness and empathic concern.
Correlation analysis showed that: (1)Social exclusion was positively correlated with need for uniqueness, malevolent creative behavior, MCT originality and malevolence; and negatively correlated with empathic concern; (2) The need for uniqueness was positively correlated with malevolent creative behaviors, MCT fluency, originality, and malevolence; (3) Empathic concern was negatively associated with malevolent creative behaviors, MCT fluency and malevolence. Mediation analyses showed that (1) The need for uniqueness and empathic concern mediated the relationship between social exclusion and malevolent creative behavior; (2) The need for uniqueness mediated the link between social exclusion and MCT originality and malevolence; (3) Empathic concern mediated the link between social exclusion and MCT fluency and malevolence.
The above results support our hypotheses and suggest that social exclusion can stimulate individuals' malevolent creativity by promoting the need for uniqueness and inhibiting empathic concern tendencies. According to the cognitive dissonance theory, after experiencing social exclusion, individuals can mitigate negative emotional experiences (e.g., sadness and anger) accompanying exclusion by classifying themselves as different from others. As the need for uniqueness increases, individuals can better inhibit the interference of conventional ideas and recombine existing elements in more novel and unique ways to produce new ideas or products. However, social exclusion can also contribute to defensive emotional numbness. While this state reduces an individual's emotional sensitivity to painful experiences, it also reduces their ability to assess and regulate interpersonal emotional information, undermines their tendency to empathize and care for the suffering of others, and thus are more likely to utilize their creative potential to generate original ideas for harming or retaliating against others.
There are some limitations in this study. First, the current research did not examine how to decrease the stimulatory effect of social exclusion on malevolent creativity. Future studies could design more targeted behavioral (e.g., positive mindfulness stress reduction training) or neurological (e.g., use of non-invasive neuromodulation techniques such as tDCS to influence empathy-related brain regions) intervention programs to reduce the emergence of malevolent creativity by attenuating the inhibitory effect of social exclusion on empathic concern. Second, the boundary conditions that modulate the link are not yet clear. Future research could examine whether other individual (e.g., psychological resilience and emotion regulation) or situational (e.g., social support and organizational climate) factors modulate the influence of social exclusion on malevolent creativity to enhance the understanding of the complex influencing mechanisms underlying it. Finally, although we controlled for the effect of gender on the statistical results, the unbalanced gender distribution (male participants comprised only 15.41% and 10.40% of the sample in Studies 1 and 2, respectively) remains a research limitation. Future studies could recruit more gender-balanced samples from different age and occupational backgrounds to further test the robustness of the results.

In recent years, approximately 10 million young people enter college each year in China. According to the life course theory, the transition from high school to college represents a significant turning point in an individual's life trajectory, and the adjustment during this period can profoundly influence their future development. Consequently, it is of significant positive importance to explore the influencing mechanism behind college students' adjustment. The stress buffer model of social support posits that social support acts as a buffer against the adverse effects of stressful events, thereby positively influencing college adjustment. However, previous studies have predominantly employed cross-sectional designs, which have proven inadequate for establishing causality. Furthermore, the self-determination theory posits that individuals possess three basic psychological needs, when these needs are met, individuals tend to progress towards self-improvement and exhibit positive outcomes in terms of adaptation. Consequently, social support can promote adjustment by fulfilling individuals' psychological needs. The ecological systems theory posits that adolescent development emerges from the interplay between personal attributes and environmental influences, including familial and scholastic elements. Among them, intentional self-regulation stands out as a significant factor at the individual level. Based on the aforementioned theoretical perspectives, the present study aims to explore the influence of social support on college adjustment, as well as the function of basic psychological needs satisfaction and intentional self-regulation.
The study recruited 5519 college freshmen (46.60% male) from 20 universities. Data were collected in three waves. Participants completed the Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire, the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale at time 1. After a 5-week interval (time 2), they completed the Basic Psychological Needs Scales and the Intentional Self- regulation Test. After an interval of 5 weeks (time 3), they completed the Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire. A total of 4668 valid questionnaires were collected.
In this study, SPSS26.0 was used to conduct descriptive analysis and correlation analysis. PROCESS 3.5 was used for simple mediation model analysis and moderated mediation model analysis. The correlational analysis showed that social support, college adjustment, basic psychological needs satisfaction and intentional self-regulation were positively correlated respectively. We took family origin, parental education level, family economic status, initial college adjustment, and resilience as control variables. The results showed that: (1) Social support significantly positively predicted college adjustment. (2) The satisfaction of basic psychological needs played a partial mediating role in the relationship. (3) Intentional self-regulation played a moderating role in the model, could enhance the promoting effect of the satisfaction of basic psychological needs on college adjustment, and social support on basic psychological needs satisfaction.
The current study has significantly advanced our understanding of the longitudinal relationship between social support and the process of college adjustment, while also illuminating the important role of the basic psychological needs satisfaction and intentional self-regulation. Our findings have positive implications for the promotion of freshmen' s college adjustment. On the one hand, we must recognize the beneficial role of social support and bolster the strength derived from various sources to facilitate the adjustment of freshmen. In the context of freshmen adjustment within educational practices, universities ought to establish a social support system that encompasses both the entities providing support and the varieties of support available. On the other hand, it is imperative to bolster psychological resources, focus on psychological needs, and ignite the intrinsic motivation for self-development among college freshmen. Universities should focus on meeting students' basic psychological needs and enhancing their capacity for intentional self-regulation. Educators should understand students' basic psychological needs, establish environments that fulfill their basic psychological needs throughout the educational, administrative, and service processes, and foster intentional self-regulation in the course of mental health education.

Speech fluency and coherence are two important indicators for assessing age-related changes in speech production, representing the global and local processing of speech planning in older adults respectively. With increasing age, older adults often exhibit off-topic and declines in fluency. Previous studies have relied primarily on controlled laboratory experiments that predominantly focused on the vocabulary and sentence-level analysis, which may not fully capture the complexity of real-life speech situations. In addition, these studies have typically examined age-related changes in fluency and coherence independently without considering the interaction, leading to inconsistent results.
The term “natural language” refers to the spontaneous speech in real-life contexts. In the context of natural communication, the environment is characterized by complexity and variability, which may affect the quality of speech production in elderly individuals due to changes in their language abilities and cognitive functions. However, it is often overlooked that older adults engage in a trade-off between verbal fluency and coherence within natural situations, influenced by external factors and their own cognitive abilities. They assess their cognitive abilities, increase fluency by relying on familiar topics, and compromise global discourse coherence; alternatively, they may slow down the pace of conversation to allow for more time to plan and sustain social interaction. By employing these adaptive strategies, older adults demonstrate a discernible trade-off between fluency and coherence.
The trade-off and adaptive changes of the elderly individuals in discourse communication can be explained by the pragmatic change hypothesis at the social level and the inhibition deficit hypothesis at the cognitive level. According to the pragmatic change hypothesis, older adults exhibit changes in speech production due to their increased focus on conversational processes and the opportunities for interaction, aiming to achieve specific communication goals. Therefore, older adults must make trade-offs to maintain the quality of information exchange, sacrificing some fluency for a tightly focused discourse or deviating from the topic to ensure fluency in speech, which is closely related to individual communicative motivations and task demands. Individual cognitive function, particularly inhibitory control function, plays a crucial role in speech production. Inhibitory control skills help maintain conversation topics, update the content of speech, and facilitate transformation. The inhibition deficit hypothesis suggests that the older adults struggle with suppressing task-irrelevant thoughts and content, making them more prone to introducing unrelated topics during conversations. This leads to more irrelevant information entering working memory and consequently affecting coherent speech expression. At the same time, older adults may also reduce fluency by slowing their speaking rate to allow sufficient time to inhibit irrelevant information interference.
Previous studies have shown a significant overlap between the brain regions involved in the speech fluency task and those involved in the coherent propositional speech task. Specifically, bilateral frontal lobes, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and angular gyrus, have been identified as shared neural substrates underlying the trade-off between speech fluency and coherence. Additionally, several distinct regions play crucial roles in either verbal fluency or coherence processing independently, such as the superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus involved in fluency processing, and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex involved in coherence processing.
There is a lack of systematic research on the dynamic pattern of fluent and coherent speech in older adults. In the future, it is necessary to go beyond the single evaluation standard of speech aging and use natural language processing technology to analyze the speech in interactive situations with brain imaging studies. The comprehensive exploration should include various factors influencing speech aging and investigate how older adults can effectively balance their limited cognitive resources to achieve optimal adaptation based on their cognitive abilities. These discussions will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying adaptive changes in speech aging and facilitate targeted improvement of speech production in older adults.

Junzi personality, which is cultivated by the fine traditional Chinese culture, is of great significance in cultivating a positive social mentality in the new era. As a self-transcending emotion, awe is also an important pillar within the positive mentality. It has been found to promote humility, invigorate the pursuit of the authentic self, and improve the meaning of life. Some empirical evidence has revealed that the Junzi personality is closely linked to awe, which also resonates deeply with the wisdom of Confucius. In addition, Confucian theory of personality suggests that the transformation of the ideal personality (Junzi personality) into its real-world manifestations gives rise to diverse personality forms, each characterized by different levels and features of awe (e.g., “There are three things that Junzi stands in awe of.”).
However, previous research using a variable-centered approach has largely overlooked the intricate relationships between the various sub-dimensions of the Junzi personality and awe. Given these limitations, a paradigm shifting towards a person-centered approach is warranted. We employed the person-centered approach to divide the sample into subgroups, and then analyzed the differences of awe among diverse subgroups. What’s more, we used network analysis models to construct a network to depict the associations (edge-weight) between Junzi personality and awe in diverse groups, and determined the core node by the centrality index (Expected Influence, EI). Therefore, this research not only explored the differences in quantity and quality of the Junzi personality among different subgroups of Chinese undergraduates, but also conducted an in-depth exploration of the relationship between Junzi personality and awe through various analysis methods.
Our study used a cluster sampling method to recruit 1235 Chinese undergraduate students (M_age = 19.45, SD_age = 1.30, 69.6% female) for the questionnaire survey. Participants were asked to fill out the Inventory of Junzi Personality in Confucius’s Thought and the Dispositional Awe Scale for Chinese Undergraduates. We utilized latent profile analysis (LPA) to explore the heterogeneity of Junzi personality and took advantage of regression mixture model (RMM) and network analysis (NA) to explore the relationship between Junzi personality and awe in different personality profiles.
The results of LPA indicated that there was personality heterogeneity, and the threefold profiles model of Junzi personality had the best fitting index. The threefold profiles model was specifically composed of the “Juanzhe (prudent person)” group, the “Zhongxingzhe (people who adhere to the middle way)” group and the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group. Among them, the score of the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group in four dimensions of Junzi personality, including “Wisdom, benevolence, and courage”, “Respectfulness and propriety”, “Conversancy with righteousness and cherishment of benign rule” and “Self-cultivation rather than contentions with others”, excluding “Refraining from what should not be done”, was higher than that of the other two groups. Furthermore, the result from RMM showed that personality heterogeneity can be used as a means to identify individual levels of awe, there were significant differences in awe among different subgroups. Specially, the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group had the highest level of awe than other groups, the “Zhongxingzhe (people who adhere to the middle way)” group was the second, and the “Juanzhe (prudent person)” group had the lowest level of awe.
The result of NA showed that the global strength remained invariant. However, the network structure, core nodes, and edge weights varied across different groups. Specifically, in all three groups, the core nodes are “Awe of life”, “Awe of morality”, “Awe of nature”, and “Respectfulness and propriety”. However, in the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group, the EI of “Respectfulness and propriety” is higher than other groups, while the EI of the three nodes of awe (“Awe of life”, “Awe of morality”, “Awe of nature”) is relatively lower. Moreover, the positive association between “Respectfulness and propriety” and “Wisdom, benevolence, and courage” is more pronounced, as is the negative association between “Refraining from what should not be done” and “Awe of relationship”.
In conclusion, this finding provides partial empirical support for the Confucian concept of the “Three things Junzi stands in awe of”, and highlights the profound influence of traditional fine Chinese culture on contemporary Chinese undergraduates, which contributes to strengthening cultural confidence. In addition, this study provides some suggestions on how to cultivate an ideal personality under the traditional culture in the new era based on the heterogeneity of Junzi personality in undergraduates. Last but not least, this study further reveals the relationship between Junzi personality and awe, which provides several insights for improving the level of awe, which makes certain contributions to cultivating self-esteem, self-confidence, rationality, composure, and optimism among our people.

Music activity is one of the human activities that trigger spontaneous social influence, and the interpersonal synchronous activity accompanied by music can be seen everywhere in life, such as choral singing by musical groups, square dances in residential areas, and ceremonial dragon boat races or ethnic synchronized group dances. As music research has become an international hotspot, this paper discusses the role it plays in human survival. From an evolutionary perspective, social bonding is beneficial for the formation of social groups and is essential for human survival against natural threats. Interpersonal synchrony can promote social bonding between people, and music plays a role in this. Why does musical interpersonal synchrony promote social bonding?
There is a natural link between music, synchronization and social bonding. We believe that musical interpersonal synchronous activity promotes social bonding, which is a complex social psychological phenomenon. There are three aspects to this process: physical, psychological and social. First, this article discusses two elements of music itself, rhythm elements and emotional arousal elements, which can provide an external framework for the process of social bonding facilitated by interpersonal synchronous activities. Different forms of musical activity have different effects in this regard. Second, referring to the "physio-psycho-social" framework, this article analyzes the mechanism of the influence of musical interpersonal synchronous activities on social bonding, in order to find out whether and how musical interpersonal synchronous activities promote social bonding, and to point out the direction for the development of subsequent theoretical research and intervention research.
The study found that interpersonal synchronous activity under musical conditions promotes social bonding, and that physiological mechanisms underlie the psychological mechanisms that contribute to this process. Furthermore, social factors influence the extent to which physiological and psychological mechanisms facilitate social bonding through interpersonal synchronous activity under musical conditions. Specifically, physiological mechanisms, the brain network and inter-brain synchronization are activated, along with the release of neurohormones such as endogenous opioids and oxytocin. Moreover, activation of the dopamine reward system provides additional support for inter-brain synchronization, thereby promoting social bonding between individuals. Regarding psychological mechanisms consist primarily of cooperation, perceived similarity, and collective effervescence. Social factors include internal and external groups, face-to-face and virtual synchrony, and group size. The mechanisms that influence musical interpersonal synchronous activity in promoting social bonding under different group sizes have similarities and differences. For example, perceived similarity and cooperation in psychological mechanisms exist mainly in small groups (binary interaction and multi-person interaction), with perceived similarity dominating in binary interaction and cooperation dominating in multi-person interaction. The collective effervescence is more appropriate to explain social bonding in large groups. The physiological mechanisms involved in brain network and interbrain synchronization, the endogenous opioid system, the dopaminergic reward system and oxytocin are applicable to all three population sizes, in which the mirror nervous system is the physiological basis for perceiving similarity. The physiological and psychological mechanisms involved in interpersonal synchronous activity of music at these three different scales have different emphases, which has some reference value for future researchers to choose the group size when designing studies. However, the specific interaction between physiology and psychology still needs to be further investigated.
In this study, the explanatory models for musical interpersonal synchronous activity that promotes social bonding show inconsistencies. A comprehensive and systematic framework that can capture the complex mechanisms has yet to be established. In the future, more attention should be paid to analyzing the mechanisms behind musical interpersonal synchronous activity that promotes social bonding in large groups. Furthermore, related intervention studies are relatively limited. In the future, it would be preferable to conduct additional intervention studies on music interpersonal synchronization to improve social bonding performance in autism groups. There is a need for more research on musical interpersonal synchronous activity to identify more explanatory variables. In addition, different intervention methods should be derived to promote social bonding among children and help them adapt better to the school community.

The maximizing mindset is a prevalent decision-making strategy characterized by the pursuit of the best choices through investing greater resources and diligence in the decision-making process. It is not only a personality trait, but can also be temporarily induced by situational factors and then change individual behaviors. Some research has highlighted the positive impact of the maximizing mindset, such as achieving better outcomes among the substitutes and producing a greater sense of well-being. However, other studies discourage individuals from adopting the maximizing mindset for decision making, revealing negative effects such as decreased satisfaction and increased propensity for immoral behavior. To address this gap, this paper develops a systematic framework to explain its double-edged sword effect.
The current research on the double-edged sword effect of the maximizing mindset mainly focuses on three topics: moral behavior, future-oriented behavior, and individual well-being. First, the paper examines the impact of the maximizing mindset on moral behavior, drawing on social comparison theory and self-regulation theory. The maximizing mindset leads individuals to engage in downward social comparisons. When faced with someone in need, such comparisons can trigger emotional responses (e.g., sympathy) and cognitive changes (e.g., self-efficacy) that increase individuals' willingness to donate. Conversely, when faced with service failures, these comparisons incline individuals to share positive word-of-mouth regarding unsatisfactory purchases to maintain their relative position. The goal of achieving the best choice, as a central feature of the maximizing mindset, evokes feelings of scarcity, prompting individuals to engage in immoral behaviors (e.g., cheating others). It is worth noting that the individual’s behavioral motivation (altruism vs. egoism) plays a moderating role in the double-edged sword effect of the maximizing mindset on moral behavior.
Second, the paper examines the dual effects of the maximizing mindset on future-oriented behavior through the lens of construal level theory and cognitive resource theory. On the one hand, individuals with the maximizing mindset are more likely to consider the future consequences of their current actions, leading to more future-oriented behavior (e.g., saving resources in advance). On the other hand, the maximizing mindset reduces individuals’ multitasking ability, leads them to ignore past experiences, and makes them inclined to allocate substantial cognitive resources to the task at hand, which causes them to overestimate available future time resources and exhibit a weak ability to anticipate future needs.
Lastly, the paper explores the impact of the maximizing mindset on individual well-being, drawing on social comparison theory. Individuals with the maximizing mindset achieve better outcomes than others and derive meaning from the process of goal attainment, which enhances satisfaction and psychological well-being. Meanwhile, they experience greater decision-making pressure, leading to negative emotions such as regret, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. Furthermore, choice focus (process vs. outcome), outcome valence, and cultural background (Western vs. non-Western) can moderate the negative impact of the maximizing mindset on individual well-being.
Overall, as a decision-making instrument, the maximizing mindset facilitates superior choices for individuals, but it can also concurrently lead to psychological strain and adverse outcomes. The double-edged sword effect of the maximizing mindset can be explained by four important theories: social comparison theory, self-regulation theory, construal level theory, and cognitive resource theory. While social comparison theory and self-regulation theory link the regulation of individuals’ emotions and behaviors, construal level theory and cognitive resource theory account for the focus and allocation of resources during the decision-making process. Together, these theories complement each other to form a comprehensive explanatory framework for the double-edged sword effect of the maximizing mindset. Through the discovery of emerging social phenomena such as minimalism consumption and human-AI interaction, future research could further explore important moderating factors that affect the double-edged sword effect of the maximizing mindset and consider new directions for improving individual well-being.

Negotiation, as one of the common means of reaching an agreement in government-enterprise cooperation, is a process in which two or more parties seek appropriate ways to resolve conflicts and achieve goals. However, due to different levels of mastery of information, the demand for resources, and the existence of other conditions, the power of the negotiating parties is not always equal. In China, the same applies to the bargaining power of the government and enterprises. Previous studies have shown that the bargaining power affects the choice of negotiating strategies. Accordingly, this study proposes that negotiating subjects with strong bargaining power will engage in more unethical negotiation tactics, such as traditional competitive bargaining, attacking an opponent's network, false promises, misrepresentation, and inappropriate information gathering. This study investigates the effect of bargaining power on the use of unethical negotiation tactics by both political and enterprise negotiators in government-enterprise negotiations. It explores the role of stimulating risk-seeking preferences by negotiators in the relationship between bargaining power and unethical negotiation tactics.
There were 572 participants in behavioral experiments (between-subject design) of this study. Firstly, the bargaining power (high vs. low) was manipulated using the situational framing material. Then, the Self-reported Inappropriate Negotiation Strategies Scale (SINS) and the Stimulating Risk-Taking Scale (SRT) were used to measure participants’ choice of unethical negotiation tactics, and their stimulating risk-taking preferences. This study tested the hypotheses using IBM SPSS Statistics 23 software and ANOVA analysis. Prior to analysis, this study virtually assigned the variables (negotiation role: government = 1, enterprise = 2; bargaining power: the government has more negotiating power = 1, the enterprise has more negotiating power = 2). Specifically, the two-way ANOVA analysis and simple effect analysis were first performed to investigate whether the use of unethical negotiation tactics, including traditional competitive bargaining, attacking an opponent's network, false promises, misrepresentation, and inappropriate information gathering, is differentiated by negotiation role, bargaining power, and the interaction of both. Three-way ANOVA analysis and simple effect analysis were then used to test the moderated effect of stimulus risk-taking. Group setting dummy variables (stimulus risk-taking was first ranked and then coded according to 27% of the ranking results) were performed for stimulus risk-taking (low(the first 27%) = -1, high(the last 27%) = 1). The results showed that: (1) Enterprise negotiators with strong bargaining power are more likely to adopt the traditional competitive bargaining strategy and to attack an opponent's network strategy. (2) Government negotiators with strong bargaining power are more likely to adopt a traditional competitive bargaining strategy but less likely to use an inappropriate information gathering strategy. (3) Bargaining power and the role of the negotiator have no interaction effect on false promises, or misrepresentation. (4) The stimulated risk-taking preference of the negotiator regulates the relation between government-enterprise relative bargaining power and attacking an opponent's network. Under the highly stimulated risk-seeking preference, the interaction of negotiation role and bargaining power has an increased positive effect on attacking an opponent's network.
The government-enterprise relationship is a key aspect of promoting China's rapid economic development. The cooperation between the government and enterprises will be further strengthened. As a means in the construction of government-enterprise cooperation, the negotiation will appear frequently, and its results will have a certain impact on social and economic development. The current study explored the mechanisms between bargaining power, negotiation role, and unethical negotiation tactics. It revealed the important role of individual character in stimulus risk-taking preferences in the above relation. This study enriched the literature on micro-research in the fields of government and enterprise negotiation. The findings can provide theoretical guidelines for more effective and fair government-business negotiations. It is of great significance to promote the success of the negotiations and form government-enterprise cooperation.

People often need to evaluate and make decisions based on quantitative information. Exploring effective ways to present quantitative information is crucial for enhancing the marketing effectiveness of advertisements and the persuasive role of public propaganda. Previous research has demonstrated that manipulating construal levels can alter individuals’ attention toward units or numerical information. Still, little attention has been paid to how to combine color design to enhance the persuasiveness of quantity information representation. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of numbers and units on quantity information evaluation and related behaviors under different color backgrounds (black and white or color) through two pretests and three experiments.
Pretest 1 examined the impact of different colors on construal levels using the Behavior Identification Form (BIF). Pretest 2 measured the relationship between unit/numerical information and construal level. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (color: black-and-white vs. color) × 2 (unit: small vs. large) between-subjects design, using a building construction background to investigate the impact of units on evaluating quantity information in black-and-white or color backgrounds. Experiments 2a and 2b were conducted in an experimental consumer decision-making scenario, using two different methods to measure consumer behavior (Experiment 2a: purchase intentions; Experiment 2b: willingness to pay), to investigate whether color and units, based on their impact on the perception of quantity information differences, would further influence consumer behavior and to test the robustness of the research findings.
Two pretests showed that black-and-white images led to a higher construal level compared to color images, and units were associated with a higher construal level compared to numerical information. Pretests showed that both color and number were related to low construal levels, and both black-and-white and unit were related to high construal levels. Additionally, the research demonstrated that the color background could moderate the quantity effect of quantitative information presentation. In the black-and-white background, individuals paid more attention to units. A large unit compared to a small unit led to a greater perceived quantity difference (Experiment 1), a stronger purchase intention (Experiment 2a), and a higher willingness to pay for a larger table (Experiment 2b). In the colored background, individuals paid more attention to numerical information, which in turn affected the perceived quantity difference and willingness to pay.
In summary, this study explored the representational effects of quantitative information in different color conditions based on the construal level theory, extending various fields such as research on color aftereffects and factors regulating the effectiveness of quantitative information representation. Particularly, this article offers a new perspective on recent research that suggests that different color background cues can affect the importance of units in quantitative information representation. As color is a ubiquitous visual stimulus in daily life, this research will help to provide appropriate presentation methods for quantitative information in combination with color backgrounds, thereby enhancing the practical effectiveness of decision-making facilitation strategies. From a consumer management perspective, when consumers compare quantitative attributes, color and unit may play a role, further influencing consumer choices. In addition to color background, future studies can explore the impact of construal levels on the evaluation of quantitative information from factors such as temperature, self-control depletion, and emotion.

Uncertain products are items whose exact attributes are unknown to consumers at the time of purchase, essentially offering the opportunity to obtain any specific attribute from a set of possibilities. The introduction of uncertainty into products, such as probabilistic items and blind boxes, has become a common strategy, reflecting strong consumer interest at the market. However, this consumption pattern reveals complex consumer psychology. While uncertain products can evoke positive emotions like surprise and satisfy the need for stimulation, they may also trigger anxiety due to potential expectation mismatches. This study investigates the impact of perceived luck on consumer preferences for uncertain products. This study demonstrates that perceived bad luck reduces preference for these products due to heightened expectations of negative outcomes. Importantly, the research reveals that this effect can be mitigated by performing a fling gesture with a smartphone.
Study 1 (N=360) examined the effect of perceived bad luck on consumer preferences for uncertain products. Participants were randomly assigned to 3-cell (perceived luck: bad vs. good vs. control) between-subjects design. Results revealed that participants in the perceived bad luck condition exhibited significantly lower attitudes and purchase intentions towards uncertain products compared to those in the perceived good luck or control conditions. Notably, no significant difference was found between the perceived good luck and control conditions. The study also ruled out need for variety as an alternative explanation for these effects.
Study 2 (N=240) tested the mediating effect of expectations of negative outcomes. Participants’ perceived luck was manipulated through a simulated a daily experience (snatching a red envelope in WeChat). This study employed a 2-cell (perceived luck: bad vs. good) between-subjects design. Results replicated the findings from Study 1, demonstrating that perceived bad luck (vs. perceived good luck) reduces consumers’ preference for uncertain products, as evidenced by lower purchase intentions and less favorable product attitudes. Importantly, expectations of negative outcomes were found to mediate this effect. While mood also significantly mediated the relationship, its effect was substantially weaker than that of negative outcome expectancies.
Study 3 (N=480) tested the moderating effect of performing a fling gesture with smartphones on the effect of perceived luck on preference for uncertain products. Participants’ perceived luck was manipulated through a promotional game. All participants were randomly assigned to a 2 (perceived luck: bad vs. good) × 2 (fling gesture with smartphones: yes vs. no) between-subjects design. Results replicated the findings in study 2 that perceived bad luck (vs. perceived good luck) reduces consumers’ preference for uncertain products due to stronger expectations of negative outcomes. However, performing a fling gesture on a smartphone moderates the effect. Specifically, the negative effect of perceived bad luck on preferences for uncertain products was attenuated after participants performed the fling gesture.
Study 4 (N=95) employed a Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) to examine the proposed association between “fling” and negativity. The study used a 2 × 2 mixed design: task compatibility (compatible vs. incompatible, within-subjects) and task order (compatible first vs. incompatible first, between-subjects). Response time served as the dependent variable. Results showed participants reacted faster in compatible tasks (associating “fling” with negative words) compared to incompatible tasks (associating “fling” with positive words).
To summarize, this study explores the negative impact of perceived luck, particularly bad luck, on consumers' preferences for uncertain products. Importantly, we found that expectations of negative outcomes mediate this effect. We also investigated a method to mitigate this negative impact: performing a fling gesture with a smartphone. This research provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the relationship between perceived luck and consumer behavior towards uncertain products. Additionally, it offers valuable insights for companies to design effective coping strategies, enabling them to better leverage marketing strategies involving uncertainty to achieve their goals.

The psychology of being moved (感动), characterized as a passive and involuntary emotional state triggered by external stimuli, has garnered increasing academic interest for its profound social and psychological implications. This study aims to systematically explore the attributes and eliciting mechanisms of the emotion, building on evidence from diverse methodological perspectives, including questionnaires, experimental studies, cognitive neuroscience, and cross-cultural research. By synthesizing findings, it examines the subjective experiences, physiological responses, and key factors involved in eliciting the emotion, as well as their interconnections. Furthermore, the research highlights the broader implications of being moved, particularly its role in fostering personal growth, enhancing social cohesion, and contributing to societal governance.
The study identifies the primary emotional attributes of being moved through self-reported studies, indicating that chills, tears, and a sense of warmth in the chest area are common subjective experiences. These subjective feelings often correspond to physiological responses involving both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Chills, frequently accompanied by goosebumps, are linked to increased heart rate and heightened skin conductance, reflecting arousal mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. In contrast, tears are associated with parasympathetic activity, inducing a state of physiological calmness. The co-occurrence of chills and tears during emotional arousal represents a unique interplay of both nervous systems, underpinning the distinctiveness of being moved. Additionally, subjective warmth in the chest may reflect metaphorical expressions of positive emotional states, potentially associated with vagus nerve activation.
The paper further investigates the theoretical underpinnings of the emotion, employing three primary frameworks: relational models theory, attachment theory, and core values theory. Relational models theory posits that being moved arises from the sudden strengthening of communal relationships, as supported by empirical evidence linking the emotion to heightened social connections. Attachment theory extends this perspective by suggesting that the emotion is evolutionarily rooted in attachment mechanisms that enhance social bonds and prosocial behaviors. Furthermore, the extended attachment hypothesis highlights the role of “dearness,” wherein individuals perceive significance in abstract entities, such as art or moral values, as an extension of attachment processes. Core values theory, meanwhile, situates being moved within the context of universal moral and aesthetic principles, emphasizing the role of self-transcendence and meaningfulness. Events or experiences that instantiate core values such as friendship, peace, or beauty are particularly potent in evoking the emotion, providing a broader explanatory framework that integrates relational and attachment perspectives.
Cross-cultural studies reveal significant variability in the elicitation and expression of being moved across different societies. In collectivist cultures such as China, the emotion is often elicited by acts of altruism, moral integrity, or self-sacrifice, emphasizing the individual’s role within the collective. Conversely, in individualistic Western cultures, being moved frequently arises from personal achievement, struggle, or resistance, highlighting its motivational and transformative dimensions. These findings underscore the importance of cultural context in shaping the triggers, expressions, and functions of the emotion, calling for further cross-cultural investigations to examine its universality and cultural specificity.
The paper emphasizes the broader implications of being moved, noting its capacity to enhance prosocial behaviors, strengthen social bonds, and foster a sense of moral and cultural identity. Experimental evidence suggests that experiences of being moved can promote empathy, reduce prejudice, and even inspire pro-environmental behaviors. On an individual level, the emotion serves as a reflective state, enabling personal growth and shifts in cognitive frameworks. Adolescents’ emotional experiences of being moved, for example, may play a critical role in shaping identity development and emotional resilience. On a societal level, the emotion can be strategically utilized in public policy, education, and media to reinforce shared values, foster social cohesion, and enhance collective well-being.
In conclusion, the psychology of being moved represents a complex interplay of emotional, physiological, and social mechanisms, deeply embedded in cultural contexts and evolutionary processes. Future research should prioritize experimental designs that explore the causality between cognitive appraisals and physiological responses, leveraging advanced neuroscientific tools such as fMRI and EEG to track dynamic changes in neural activity. Additionally, investigating individual differences in emotional sensitivity and empathy may offer valuable insights into personalized interventions. Finally, the cross-cultural dimensions of being moved remain an essential avenue for exploration, with implications for fostering global understanding and collaboration. By advancing theoretical and empirical knowledge, research on being moved can provide a robust foundation for practical applications, enhancing personal development and societal governance.

Exposure to a disaster such as an earthquake is closely linked with mental disorders. Anxiety is one of the most common psychological problems among adolescents exposed to serious earthquakes. Adolescence is a vulnerable and critical period of physical and mental development. If mental health problems, such as depressive disorders, are not treated in time after a disaster, adolescents may suffer a lifelong psychological crisis. Based on the spatial perspective, prior studies have explored the psychological outcome caused by disaster events and have indicated some controversial results such as the “Psychological Typhoon Eye Effect” and “Ripple Effect”. However, limited studies have used the geographical method to evidence spatial distribution characteristics of mental health symptoms and their correlates. Furthermore, prior studies mainly focused on the spatial distribution of mental health issues among adult populations after hurricanes or floods. Few studies have investigated the geospatial distribution of mental disorders among Chinese adolescents after an earthquake, although it is one of the most frequent disasters in the world. Further research is urgently needed to identify and understand the spatial distribution of anxiety symptoms and relevant influencing factors, which benefit filling research gaps. This study aimed to explore the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors (e.g., distance to the epicenter, rate of depressive symptoms, sibling rate, mental health course attendance rate, and distance to the medical center) for anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents after the earthquake.
There were two datasets from geographic data (such as government databases, Amap and Baidu Map) and a self-report questionnaire. One month after the earthquake, a total of 1761 questionnaires were sent out to five schools in Luxian, and 1425 valid questionnaires were received (response rate = 80.92%). Participants reported demographic information, including age, sex, siblings, mental health course attendance, and residence information. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to screen the depression and anxiety, respectively. Based on the computer software of SPSS20.0, Arcgis10.2, and MGWR2.2, spatial autocorrelation, ordinary least squares regression, geographically weighted regression, and multi-scale geographically weighted regression were used to study spatial distribution characteristics, influencing factors, and spatial variability of anxiety symptoms.
Based on a sample of 1425 Chinese adolescents (Mage=15.32 years old; SD=1.18 years old; 44.21% are female), the prevalence of anxiety symptoms was 21.75%. The results showed that the spatial distribution of anxiety incidence rates among adolescents showed a decreasing trend from the center of the disaster to the peripheral areas of the earthquake. The spatial distribution of anxiety incidence rates among adolescents showed a psychological ripple effect. Furthermore, a cluster of high anxiety was observed at the border of intensity areas eight and seven, whereas a cluster of low anxiety was observed at the edge of intensity area six. Moreover, the results of the ordinary least squares regression model indicated that the depression rate positively influenced the anxiety rate and was the most influential factor, followed by distance to medical care, one-child rate, and the rate of having attended a mental health course, all of which were positively associated with the anxiety rate. Distance from the disaster center, the second most influential factor, was negatively associated with anxiety rates. Additionally, the results of spatial variability displayed that regression coefficients of depression rates were highest in the western and northern parts of Luxian. The anxiety rate in villages or communities close to the Second People’s Hospital of Luxian was more likely to be influenced by the distance to medical care.
Based on the spatial differences of anxiety-influencing factors, more medical and psychological resources should be allocated to the center of the disaster but they should also be extended to the areas on the periphery of the earthquake’s impact. The study benefits the efficient allocation of first-aid psychological support and the development of related mental health interventions after a disaster.

The growing age diversity in organizations presents challenges and opportunities for managers to maintain intergenerational harmony and stimulate intergenerational knowledge transfer in the service of organizational development. Previous scholars have mostly studied the positive impact of intergenerational knowledge transfer on organizations or individuals from different theoretical perspectives. However, few studies have examined the impact mechanism of intergenerational employees’ contact quality on mutual knowledge sharing from a positive intergenerational interaction perspective. Additionally, most of the existing research assumes that intergenerational knowledge transfer occurs in a top-down manner, neglecting to examine the two-way knowledge construction process involved in intergenerational knowledge transfer. To address the above gaps, this study adopted the cross-level common fate model (CL-CFM), which better explains the interdependence in intergenerational mutual knowledge sharing at the dyadic and individual level. Based on the CL-CFM, this study disentangled the interpersonal effect of intergenerational contact quality on mutual knowledge sharing and the cross-level chain mediating role of self-expansion and intergenerational mindfulness.
In this study, we obtained survey data from 174 age-diverse coworker dyads data based on the paired sampling method of field survey. Specifically, we collected survey data from 174 older employees (>45 years old) and asked each of them to designate a younger employee (with an age difference of 10 years or more) to complete the corresponding questions in the questionnaire, resulting in a matched “older-younger employee” data set. Mplus 8.0 software was used to test our theoretical model. The results showed that (a) intergenerational contact quality at the dyadic level positively predicted mutual knowledge sharing at the dyadic level (β = .66, p < .001). (b) Intergenerational contact quality at the dyadic level positively predicted self-expansion at the individual level (β_older = .38, p < .001; β_younger = .87, p < .001), and self-expansion at the individual level positively predicted intergenerational mindfulness at the individual level. Specifically, older employee’s self-expansion positively predicted downward mindfulness (β_{actor effect} = .28, p < .001), whereas younger employee’s self-expansion positively predicted upward mindfulness (β_{actor effect} = .29, p < .001). Younger employee’s self-expansion also positively predicted older employee’s downward mindfulness (β_{partner effect} = .38, p < .001), but not vice versa (β_{partner effect} = -.11, p > .05). (c) Individual-level self-expansion and intergenerational mindfulness had chain mediating effects between intergenerational contact quality at the dyadic level and mutual knowledge sharing at the dyadic level. There were three significant paths. Path 1 was “intergenerational contact quality - older employee’s self-expansion - older employee’s downward mindfulness - mutual knowledge sharing” (effect = .04); path 2 was “intergenerational contact quality - younger employee’s self-expansion - younger employee’s upward mindfulness - mutual knowledge sharing” (effect = .09), and path 3 was “intergenerational contact quality - younger employee’s self-expansion - older employee’s downward mindfulness - mutual knowledge sharing” (effect = .19).
Our findings contribute to the literature in three ways. First, this study models the process of mutual knowledge sharing among intergenerational employees based on the cross-level common fate model, which methodologically enriches the literature on knowledge sharing. Second, this study demonstrates that high-quality intergenerational contact contributes to intergenerational knowledge transfer from the perspective of positive intergenerational interactions in the workplace, extending the antecedent research on intergenerational knowledge transfer while providing support for intergroup contact theory. Finally, this study combines the self-expansion theory and the social mindfulness theory to unpack the interpersonal motivational mechanisms by which high-quality intergenerational contact achieves mutual knowledge sharing, adding new theoretical explanations to existing research on intergenerational knowledge transfer and helping to inspire research on intergenerational relationships in the Chinese context.

Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly exemplified by tools such as ChatGPT, has emerged as a key player in the landscape of content co-creation, breaking away from the long-standing reliance on humans as co-creators. However, most existing research has focused on the foundational concepts and practical applications of human-AI content co-creation, with little attention paid to the differences in individuals’ willingness to co-create content with AI compared to humans. To address this gap, the current study adopts cognitive load theory and self-efficacy theory to explore the mechanisms by which individuals’ content co-creation intentions are influenced based on the type of co-creator. Specifically, this research aims to answer two questions: (1) What are the underlying psychological mechanisms by which different co-creators (human vs. AI) influence individuals’ content co-creation intentions? (2) What are the boundary conditions that affect the influence of different co-creators on individuals’ content co-creation intentions?
To explore these questions, this study formulates three research hypotheses, which were tested through three primary studies and an additional supplementary study. In Study 1, a between-subjects design with a single factor (co-creator types: human vs. AI) was utilized to examine the psychological mechanisms through which co-creator types affect content co-creation intentions. The sample consisted of 168 undergraduate students from a comprehensive university in China. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and bootstrapping for mediation analysis were employed to test hypotheses 1 and 2. In Study 2, the sample and task scenarios were altered and 216 participants were recruited from the Credamo platform to replicate the findings of Study 1. Study 3 employed a 2 (co-creator types: human vs. AI) × 2 (task types: cognitive analytical task vs. emotional social task) between-subjects experimental design to examine the moderating effect of task types on the relationship between co-creator types and content co-creation intentions. A total of 272 participants were recruited from the Credamo platform, and hypotheses 3, 3a, and 3b were tested using ANOVA and bootstrapping for moderating effects. Study 4, a complementary study, recruited 180 participants from the Credamo platform to examine the influence of technical proficiency on the relation between co-creator types and content co-creation intentions.
The research reveals that (1) The effect of co-creator types on content co-creation intention was mediated by cognitive load and creative self-efficacy. Specifically, co-creating with AI decreased individuals’ cognitive load and thereby increased their willingness to co-create content. In contrast, co-creating with humans enhanced individuals’ creative self-efficacy, and thereby increased their willingness to co-create content. (2) The type of task moderated the mediation process. For cognitive analytical content co-creation tasks, co-creating with AI enhanced content co-creation intention, whereas for emotional social tasks, co-creating with humans enhanced content co-creation intention. (3) Technical proficiency served as a boundary condition affecting human-AI content co-creation intention. Individuals with higher technical proficiency experienced a more significant reduction in cognitive load and enhanced creative self-efficacy, which increased their intention to co-create content.
This research contributes in three key ways. (1) While prior studies have examined individual collaboration willingness in human-machine collaboration tasks based on predefined rules and division of labor, this paper focuses on content co-creation tasks that involve deeper human-AI interaction, and further investigates individuals’ willingness to engage in human-AI content co-creation, and thereby enriches the theoretical understanding of human-AI content co-creation. (2) While prior research has primarily focused on content co-creation intentions among human team members, this paper extends the scope by comparing the psychological mechanisms underlying different co-creators’ effects on individual content co-creation intentions, thereby enhancing the theoretical understandings of content co-creation intentions. (3) The study delineates the boundary conditions for the impact of task types on individual content co-creation intentions, thereby expanding the research framework for understanding human-AI content co-creation.

Tobacco use remains the largest preventable cause of disease and death. The current recommended method of tobacco control is to promote smoking cessation among smokers. Episodic future thinking (EFT), which refers to a projection of the self into the future to pre-experience an event, has been considered a promising approach to promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. Prior studies have indicated that smokers exhibited lower cravings and less smoking behavior after receiving EFT training. According to the Transtheoretical Model, smoking cessation involves progressing through a series of stages that include increasing willingness to quit and developing a plan of quitting. However, little research has examined the effects of EFT on changes in willingness to quit and the formulation of action plans for quitting smoking among smokers. Additionally, both the Construal Level Theory and Self-Continuity Model suggest that EFT could effectively change the mindset about future thoughts. According to these theories, EFT might have general functions for human behavior change. In fact, EFT can be classified as universal EFT and context-specific EFT according to goal correlation, and it can be also classified as process simulation EFT and outcome simulation EFT according to the form of mindset. However, the different effects of various types of EFT on behavioral intention to quit smoking among smokers remain unknown. Therefore, the present study conducted two experiments to explore the effects of different types of EFT on smoking cessation intentions and smoking action plans.
Experiment 1 aimed to examine the differential influences of universal EFT and context-specific EFT on behavioral intention to quit smoking. 68 male smokers were recruited and randomly assigned to either the quit-goal-related EFT group or the quit-goal-unrelated EFT group. During the experiment, participants completed three rounds of imagery tasks, envisioning scenarios one month, one year, and ten years into the future. Participants in the quit-goal-related EFT group were instructed to imagine positive events following an attempt to quit smoking, while those in the quit-goal-unrelated EFT group imagined positive events unrelated to cigarettes. The results showed that the smokers in the quit-goal-related EFT group exhibited a greater increase in willingness to quit smoking after the EFT manipulation compared with quit-goal-unrelated EFT, and there were no significant differences in smoking action plans between the two groups.
Experiment 2 aimed to examine the differential influences of process simulation EFT and outcome simulation EFT on behavioral intention to quit smoking. 66 male smokers were recruited and randomly assigned to either the process simulation EFT group or the outcome simulation EFT group. The manipulation of the EFT types in Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1, except that the process simulation group also engaged in visualizing the strategies employed to achieve successful outcomes in smoking cessation. The results showed that the smokers in the process simulation EFT group exhibited a greater increase in willingness to quit smoking and intention to implement an action plan to quit smoking after EFT manipulation compared with the outcome simulation EFT group.
In conclusion, the present study indicated that smokers who engaged in the EFT manipulation by imagining the process of achieving smoking cessation-related goals would increase their willingness and plans to quit smoking compared to those who imagined the outcomes of goal achievement. In other words, the function of EFT is enhanced when specific situations are designed for certain behaviors. These findings suggest that the influence of different types of EFT should be considered when using the theories of Construal Level Theory and the Self-Continuity Model to explain the role of EFT in smoking cessation behavior. Additionally, participants’ goal pursuit for specific behaviors and the form of simulation should also be considered when designing EFT training programs.

The relative deprivation theory suggests that the feeling of unfairness induced by intergroup comparison influences collective action through group relative deprivation. Although previous studies have confirmed the effect of fairness on collective action, it remains unclear how procedural justice affects online collective action intentions and under what conditions this effect is stronger. Online collective action, as a new form of traditional collective action, not only has a great impact on the Internet space, but also may impact the real world, guide public opinion, and may negatively affect the harmonious development of society. Therefore, the first aim of the current study was to establish the situational material of procedural justice in the Chinese cultural context. The second aim of the current study was to explore the cognitive-emotional mechanism of online collective action intentions. The last aim of the current study was to examine the moderating effect of group identification on the cognitive-emotional mechanism of group relative deprivation.
In the preliminary experiment (N = 128), we used a single-factor between-subjects design to examine the manipulation effectiveness of procedural justice using the “dormitory allocation problem” as the situational material. In Experiment 1 (N = 136), we also used a single-factor between-subjects design to explore how high and low procedural justice influence online collective action intentions through group relative deprivation. Experiment 2 (N = 128) used a 2 (procedural justice: high vs. low) × 2 (group identification: high vs. low) between-subjects design to further examine the individual differences in the mediating role of group relative deprivation. By dividing participants into high and low subgroups of procedural justice and group identification, we tested the influence of the interaction between procedural justice and group identification on relative group deprivation, which in turn influences online collective action intentions.
The results are as follows: 1) we successfully manipulated procedural justice by integrating the localized procedural justice principle with the three core principles of procedural justice. Individuals in the high procedural justice group (M = 3.54, SD = .88) perceived higher procedural justice (t [126] = -8.24, p <.001, Cohen’s d = 1.56) than those in the low procedural justice group (M = 2.15, SD = .90). 2) Group relative deprivation was found to play a mediating role in the influence of procedural justice on online collective action intentions (95% CI = [-.29, -.06]): low procedural justice would cause higher group relative deprivation (β = -.05, t = -6.94, p <.001), thereby contributing to higher levels of online collective action intentions (β =.35, t = 3.67, p <.001). 3) Group identification performed a mediated moderating role on the influence of different levels of procedural justice on group relative deprivation (β = -.17, t = -2.35, p < .05): under conditions of high-group identification, procedural justice had an indirect adverse effect on online collective action intentions via group relative deprivation (95% CI = [-.52, -.10]), whereas under conditions of low-group identification, the mediating effect of group relative deprivation between procedural justice and online collective action intentions would be smaller (95% CI = [-.30, -.10]).
In conclusion, from the perspective of the interaction between the external environment (procedural justice) and the psychological process (group identity), this study explored the influence of procedural justice on group cognition, emotion, and behavior, as well as its boundary conditions. In particular, the current study examined when the fair process effect was stronger from the perspective of group identification, providing a new theoretical basis and empirical support for the individual’s psychological and behavioral response in the context of inter-group interaction, and having important implications for future research on inter-group relationship. These findings offer important implications for preventing the occurrence and development of online collective action and provide important references and effective practical guidance for promoting fair management practices and building a harmonious society.

Interpersonal conflict is the most common stressor on campus for adolescents. School bullying has characteristics that are different from daily interpersonal conflicts, repeatability, persistence and concealment. Therefore, school bullying has a more serious negative impact on the physical and mental health of adolescents compared to daily interpersonal conflicts.
At present, most studies focus on the relationship between school bullying or daily interpersonal conflicts and the psychological crisis in adolescents, but few studies examine whether there are different classes of bullying victimization and daily interpersonal conflicts in adolescents, and whether these classes have a covariant relation with the level of psychological crisis. Thus, this study aims to reveal different classes of interpersonal conflict (including daily interpersonal conflicts and school bullying) among adolescents and their relations with psychological crisis. Moreover, the aim of the present study is to explore the roles of painful feelings and pain avoidance in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and psychological crisis among adolescents based on the three-dimensional psychological pain model.
In this study, 2249 middle school students were recruited, and the latent class analysis (LCA) was used to explore different latent classes of interpersonal conflict. The study also investigated the covariant relation of different latent classes and psychological crisis, as well as the mediating role of psychological pain between interpersonal conflict and psychological crisis.
The results showed that (1) there were 3 latent classes of school bullying and daily interpersonal conflict, which were the low bullying victimization - low conflict class (75.01%), low bullying victimization - high conflict class (22.56%) and high bullying victimization - high conflict class (2.43%). (2) There is a covariant relation between the latent classes and psychological crisis, showing that the high bullying victimization - high conflict group has the highest level of psychological crisis, and the low bullying victimization - low conflict group has the lowest level of psychological crisis. (3) Painful feelings and pain avoidance play a significant mediating role in the relationship between different latent classes and non-lethal crisis state (CS), as well as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Only pain avoidance plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between different latent classes and suicide attempt (SA).
The results suggested that interpersonal conflict is a relatively common phenomenon. However, the existence of low victimization-high conflict class indicates that daily interpersonal conflict and school bullying don’t necessarily occur at the same time, bullying is a special form of interpersonal conflict. In addition, bullying can cause high level of negative emotional experience in middle school students, so that individuals take crisis behavior to avoid and reduce negative emotional experience. Compared with daily interpersonal conflicts, bullying will lead to stronger psychological imbalance of victims and more serious impact on mental health. Moreover, bullying victimization and daily interpersonal conflict will affect individuals in a cumulative way. Therefore, when middle school students experience more environmental risks, they will have higher levels of psychological crisis. Therefore, the high bullying victimization - high conflict class have the highest level of non-lethal crisis and fatal psychological crisis. Finally, only pain avoidance mediated the latent classes of interpersonal conflict and SA, suggesting that unlike NSSI, the high level of pain feeling induced by school bullying is not necessarily the trigger factor for suicidal behavior, and the pain avoidance motivation is more closely related to SA.
The study provides some implications for the crisis intervention, which should focus on those students who suffer from dual pressures of bullying and daily interpersonal conflict. In addition to dealing with interpersonal conflict and stressful events, cognitive intervention strategies can also help alleviate the adverse effects of psychological crisis by reducing adolescents’ pain feelings and pain avoidance motivation.