IntroductionAmong the religious factors that significantly contribute to believers’ well-being, research on the personal experience of divine forgiveness (DF) remains in its infancy. The aim of this study was to investigate similarities and differences in the conceptualization of DF, its conditional/unconditional nature, and the understanding of sin across the three main monotheistic religions.MethodsThis was achieved by interviewing theologians (N = 3) through a focus group and having lay believers (N = 229, 63.8% female, Mage = 33.09 years, SD = 13.81) from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism complete a self-report questionnaire.ResultsThe theologians’ and believers’ perspectives revealed that while there are shared aspects across religions (e.g., God’s mercy is greater than His justice), some differences are evident (e.g., the pathways to seek and achieve DF).DiscussionThese findings make a significant contribution to the psychology of religion, shedding light on universal and culturally specific dimensions of this multidimensional phenomenon.

Multiple systems in the brain track the passage of time and can adapt their activity to temporal requirements. While the neural implementation of timing varies widely between neural substrates and behavioral tasks, at the algorithmic level, many of these behaviors can be described using drift-diffusion models of decision-making. In this work, wedevelop a drift-diffusion model to fit performance in the temporal generalization task, in which participants are required to categorize an interval as being the same or different compared to a standard, or reference, duration. The model includes a drift-diffusion process which starts with interval onset, representing the internal estimate of elapsed duration, and two boundaries. If the drift-diffusion process at interval offset is between the boundaries, the interval is categorized as equal to the standard. If it is below the lower boundary or above the upper boundary, the interval is categorized as different. This model outperformed previous models in fitting the data of single participants and in parameter recovery analyses. We also used the drift-diffusion model to analyze data from two experiments, one comparing performance between vision and audition and another examining the effect of learning. We found that decision boundaries can be modified independently: While the upper boundary was higher in vision than in audition, the lower boundary decreased with learning in the task. In both experiments, timing noise was positively correlated with upper boundaries across participants, which reflects an accuracy-maximizing strategy in the task.

A fundamental question in cognitive science is how information from internal memory is combined with external sensory input when making decisions. We hypothesized that previously learned and currently perceived information trade off against each other, such that extracting information from one source reduces the gathering and usage of information from the other. To test this hypothesis, we designed a two-armed bandit task where each arm is composed of both learned and perceived elements. We monitored participants' gathering of perceptual information using eye tracking. Participants’ choices and gaze deployment showed a trade-off between the impact of learned and perceived information. The more a participant utilized internally stored learned information, the less they gathered perceptual information, and vice versa. Modeling participants' information gathering indicated that the trade-off results from the faster gathering of learned information, which, when used, makes it less valuable to further invest effort in gathering additional perceptual information. Preliminary findings also suggested that an individual’s tendency to primarily rely on one source of information is a stable individual trait. These findings reveal how humans balance between learning and perception in forming decisions.

The basic mechanisms that underlie developmental dyslexia – a difficulty in acquiring reading expertise – are still debated. We propose that such difficulties should be understood within the broad framework of learning and skill acquisition. Behavioral and neural studies, as well as computational analyses, imply that acquiring expertise has atypical dynamics in dyslexia, largely due to reduced perceptual memory, which is manifested in faster decay of perceptual traces of both speech and non-speech stimuli. This faster behavioral decay is associated with faster decay of neural adaptation to stimulus regularities in perceptual cortices. We propose that these atypical dynamics lead to a slower accumulation of language statistics, manifested in reduced complexity of perceptual categories, slower acquisition of words, and – counterintuitively – larger relative difficulties as exposure to stimuli grows.

Background

This study aims to understand learning and decision-making in suicidal behavior by investigating temporal dynamics of reward value encoding in individuals with late-life depression and a history of suicide attempts.

Methods

In a retrospective case-control study, 134 older adults (33 with depression and history of suicide attempts, 29 with depression and suicidal ideation but no past attempts, 32 with depression and no suicidal ideation/past attempts, and 40 psychiatrically healthy controls) completed an explore-exploit decision-making task during functional MRI (fMRI). Multilevel models of deconvolved fMRI time series, time-locked to trial events, interrogated whether temporal patterns of reward value encoding was associated with suicidal behavior.

Results

Suicidal behavior in general was associated with blunted ventral PFC (vPFC) value signals, but profiles varied as a function of attempt lethality. Specifically, low-lethality suicide attempts and excessive behavioral shifts were associated with abolished phasic responses to value updates in the default network vPFC and its connected regions, including the striatum, amygdala, and hippocampus. Additionally, an unexpected pattern of sustained negative value responses was observed in vPFC and striatal control subregions, and hippocampus of high-lethality suicide attempters.

Conclusions

Diverging patterns of decision-related responses may reflect different paths toward suicidal behavior. Impaired value updating in individuals with low-lethality suicide attempts suggests a failure to integrate recent outcomes alongside prior experience, potentially relating to over-reactivity to stressors and a lower threshold for suicide attempts. In contrast, increased control network responses to difficult choices in high-lethality attempters may underlie cognitive constriction and consideration of a narrow set of potential solutions.

“Core threats” are the ultimate feared consequences motivating avoidance behaviors and underpinning surface-level fears. For example, the surface fear of contamination may stem from core threats such as death, suffering, or harming loved ones. Whereas traditional models of anxiety recognize the role of motivation, they have not emphasized how global motivations shape threat appraisal and avoidance. We distinguish core threats from core beliefs: while core beliefs describe how individuals view themselves, others, and the world (which typically influence the likelihood of core threats), core threats specify why outcomes matter emotionally—what makes them motivating (i.e., why are they individually costly). Core threats provide the motivational structure that organizes diverse fears across anxiety disorders and beyond. They help explain generalization, persistence, and relapse. Phenomenologically, core threats are highly individualized, reflecting personal values over diagnostic categories. Contemporary models of treatment of anxiety often emphasize metacognitive regulation processes while treating fear content as interchangeable or secondary. We propose a complementary perspective: motivationally guided appraisals determine what becomes threatening and why. We formalize this perspective in a computational framework that distinguishes motivational drivers of avoidance, including core threats, distress intolerance, and exaggerated duration. Just as categories are organized around central exemplars, fear structures are organized around motivationally central threats. Conditioning research mirrors this principle: fear generalizes more strongly from central exemplars and remains sensitive to the value of the underlying outcome. Targeting core threats—the motivational focus of fear—offers a pathway to engage broader fear networks, improve generalization, reduce relapse, and guide personalized interventions.

While emotions are pivotal in intergroup conflicts, individuals are less motivated to feel peace-promoting emotions in extreme conflicts. In the current research, we investigated whether virtual reality (VR) can be harnessed to overcome this limitation by utilizing two of its features: (a) the ability to simulate reality in an immersive way, and (b) to allow people to experience a situation from different perspectives immersively. Two studies done outside the lab (N = 346) on Jewish-Israelis showed that watching conflict-related scenes using VR increased empathy and other peace-promoting emotions and attitudes. Additionally, the results showed that VR could be used to assist emotion-regulation interventions, namely, cognitive reappraisal (CR) and perspective-taking (PT), by allowing participants to immersively experience a scene from the desired perspective (a “bystander,” detached perspective for CR and an outgroup perspective for PT). Both features were found to have a distinct contribution in affecting participants’ emotions. However, most effects were found only among rightists, suggesting VR is beneficial when motivation to feel peace-promoting emotions is low. Our findings suggest that interventions should be carefully tailored to the audience, the context, and the desired effect.

3,4-Methylenedioxmethamphetamine (MDMA) has been shown to enhance social cognition, partly through its effects on oxytocin, a neuropeptide involved in social cognition. Despite growing evidence linking MDMA to increased oxytocin levels, no study has systematically examined this relationship across different doses, times, and participant characteristics. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the effects of MDMA administration on peripheral oxytocin levels in humans. A systematic search identified ten studies, comprising 39 effect size estimates. Multilevel meta-analyses were conducted using Hedge’s g as the primary outcome, with dose, time of measurement, and sex as moderators. Results revealed that oxytocin levels increased over time, peaking between 150 and 200 min, before declining. The dose did not significantly predict oxytocin changes, and a trend suggested that samples with a higher proportion of female participants exhibited smaller increases in oxytocin levels. These findings suggest that MDMA transiently elevates oxytocin levels in a time-dependent manner, potentially contributing to its prosocial effects. Importantly, these findings may guide oxytocin-informed timing of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Standardization of methods and larger sample sizes are needed to clarify these effects and optimize the therapeutic benefits of MDMA.

Cognitive scientists have long debated the capabilities of non-conscious perception, defined as the level of processing of external stimuli that people do not consciously experience. While much is known about non-conscious visual perception, the auditory modality has received less focus. Here, we examine the level of processing for audible and intelligible spoken words that participants did not notice during the performance of another difficult visual task. Using repeated occurrences of such inattentional deafness, alongside objective and subjective awareness probes, we measure the processing of supraliminal, but undetected words. In two pre-registered EEG experiments (N = 67), we show a unique, temporally late, neural response that differentiates words from pseudowords in the absence of conscious awareness. Additionally, an exploratory analysis found a behavioral interference of undetected words with visual task performance. Both results were contingent on the relevance of word detection to participants, implying that auditory non-conscious processing is not automatic but goal-dependent. Overall, our results support flexible capabilities for non-conscious speech perception, suggesting the ability to integrate acoustic information over time.

There is a growing interest in understanding insight or illness awareness in anxiety; however, most assessment instruments were designed for psychosis. The unique features of anxiety highlight the need for tailored measures to accurately evaluate insight. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight in Anxiety (SAI-A), a clinician-rated scale for assessing insight in anxiety disorders. We interviewed 46 participants diagnosed with anxiety disorders, conducted SAI-A interviews, and administered self-report measures. Using correlation and principal component analysis (PCA), we identified and assessed scale components, ensuring their reliability and consistency. The SAI-A demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties, including convergent validity with an established self-report measure (r = −0.39, p = 0.008) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.70). It showed moderate to strong agreement, interrater reliability (weighted kappa = 0.53, intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.67), and test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.65). Two distinct insight components emerged: awareness of disorder and need for treatment. Higher overall SAI-A scores correlated with symptom severity and impairment (r = 0.56, r = 0.51, p < 0.001, respectively) and medication usage. The SAI-A is a valid and reliable assessment tool, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing insight in the context of anxiety disorders.