Emotion dysregulation, and specifically emotional instability, characterizes adults with ADHD. This study utilized ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of emotional states to monitor dynamic patterns of intra-individual emotional instability over different time scales – overall emotional variability over time, and emotional lability, as reflected in the daily and intra-daily fluctuations in emotional states. We further examined the interaction of these emotional instability factors with the subjective experience of emotion regulation difficulties. Young adults with (n = 57) and without (HC; n = 54) ADHD diagnosis completed a self-report questionnaire for emotion regulation difficulties, followed by a 5-day EMA protocol of 5 emotion reports/day. Individuals with ADHD displayed significantly higher intra-individual emotional variability, but no group differences were found for emotional lability, both between and across days. This higher emotional variability was linked to self-reported emotion regulation difficulties in the ADHD group. Finally, using cluster analysis, we found a higher probability of individuals with ADHD being included in a cluster characterized by elevated emotional variability and emotion regulation difficulties. This study demonstrates that young adults with ADHD may experience a broader range of emotions in their daily lives, which may be related to the way they evaluate their challenges in emotion regulation. The findings highlight the need to address emotion dysregulation difficulties in clinical practice, as understanding these emotional dynamics could enhance personalized therapeutic strategies for ADHD, and help design interventions tailored to the breadth and intensity of emotional experiences in ADHD.

This paper reports an expansion of the English as a Second Language (L2) component of the Multilingual Eye Movement Corpus (MECO L2), an international database of eye movements during text reading. While the previous Wave 1 of the MECO project (Kuperman et al., 2023) contained English L2 reading data from readers with 12 different L1 backgrounds, the newly collected dataset adds eye-tracking data on English text reading from 13 distinct first-language (L1) backgrounds (N = 661), as well as participants’ scores on component skills of English proficiency and information about their demographics and language background and use. The paper reports reliability estimates, descriptive statistics, and correlational analyses, as means to validate the expansion dataset. Consistent with prior literature and MECO’s Wave 1, trends in the MECO Wave 2 data include a weak correlation between reading comprehension and oculomotor measures of reading fluency, and a greater L1-L2 contrast in reading fluency than reading comprehension. Jointly with Wave 1, the MECO project includes English reading data from more than 1200 readers representing a diversity of native writing systems (logographic, abjad, abugida, alphabetic) and 19 distinct L1 backgrounds. We provide multiple pointers to new venues of how L2 reading researchers can mine this rich publicly available dataset.

Interval timing, the ability of animals to estimate the passage of time, is thought to involve diverse neural processes rather than a single central “clock” (Paton & Buonomano, 2018). Each of the different processes engaged in interval timing follows a different dynamic path, according to its specific function. For example, attention tracks anticipated events, such as offsets of intervals (Rohenkohl & Nobre, 2011), while motor processes control the timing of the behavioral output (De Lafuente et al., 2024). However, which processes are involved and how they are orchestrated over time to produce a temporal decision remains unknown. Here, we study motor preparation in the temporal bisection task, in which Human (Female and male) participants categorized intervals as “long” or “short”. In contrast to typical perceptual decisions, where motor plans for all response alternatives are prepared simultaneously (Shadlen & Kiani, 2013), we find that temporal bisection decisions develop sequentially. While preparation for “long” responses was already underway before interval offset, no preparation was found for “short” responses. Furthermore, within intervals categorized as “long”, motor preparation was stronger at interval offset for faster responses. Our findings support the two-stage model of temporal decisions, where “long” decisions are considered during the interval itself, while “short” decisions are only considered after the interval is over. Viewed from a wider perspective, our study offers methods to study the neural mechanisms of temporal decisions, by studying the multiple processes that produce them.

Significance Statement Interval timing is thought to rely on multiple neural processes, yet little is known about which processes are involved, and how they are organized in time. We recorded the EEG of Human participants while they performed a simple temporal decision task, and focused on mu-beta activity, a signature of motor preparation. In typical non-temporal perceptual decisions, mu-beta activity reflects the accumulation of evidence. We find that in temporal decision-making, mu-beta reflects the commitment of the decision instead. This distinction stems from the uniqueness of temporal decisions, in which alternatives are considered sequentially rather than simultaneously. Studying temporal decisions as the dynamic orchestration of multiple neural processes offers a new approach to study the neural mechanisms underlying the perception of time.

Aim

To explore the need for a personal measure of cognitive decline (Personal Cognitive Decline, Personal-CD), in individuals with Pediatric Onset Multiple Sclerosis (POMS), focusing on declines relative to estimated previous abilities rather than the normative standards. We explored the significance of both Personal-CD, defined as a decline in cognitive performance relative to individual's estimated premorbid abilities, as well as Cognitive Impairment (CI), defined as performance below -1.5 SD of the normative means.

Method

A cohort observational study included 31 POMS patients (20 females, mean age 15.8 years) recruited from a pediatric neuroimmunology clinic, with a 94 % consent rate. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessments across six cognitive domains and psychological questionnaires on anxiety and depression. A high rate of participants who showed academic excellence (n = 11) was found, who were compared to those with typical academic performance (n = 20).

Results

CI was identified in 26 % of participants, primarily in those with typical academic performance, and was associated with disease-related disability (p = .02). In contrast, 45 % showed Personal-CD, particularly in the excellence group (73 %), found associated with depression (p = .01), but not with disease severity.

Interpretation

Personal-CD uncovered subtle cognitive decline overlooked by the use of standard CI measures, especially in high-achieving patients. These cognitive changes were associated with depressive symptoms rather than disease severity. Thus, albeit supporting the use of CI as associated with disease severity, the use of Personal-CD highlights also the role of psychological distress in coping with POMS.

More information today is becoming more accessible to more people at an ever-growing rate. How does epistemic curiosity operate in this expanding informational landscape? We test a novel theory which postulates that experienced curiosity is a function of two psychological factors: Interest, which is cognitive, “cool” and relatively stable in time, and Urge that is “hot” and quick to rise and decay. These factors determine one's experienced curiosity at any given point in time. Interestingly, these temporal dynamics may lead to time-dependent changes in epistemic choices. In a series of forced-choice experiments (n = 702), participants chose between receiving answers to either high-Urge or high-Interest questions. Consistent with predictions derived from our theory, we found a present-bias in preference for Urge. Our theory explains why, in stark contrast to individual interest and with the potential to derail public discourse, a competition for our attention inherently incentivizes the use of inciting and sensational information. We present and test a theory-based behavioral nudge that partially ameliorates these effects.

An especially critical task is to raise awareness of the effects of war on children, in general, and with reference to specific children whose circumstances might enhance their vulnerability. Starting points, from which we begin our discussion, are the abduction and separation of 3-year-old identical twins during the Hamas attacks on the South of Israel, on October 7, 2023. Emphasis is given to these twins’ circumstances and to all children’s heightened vulnerability to the detrimental effects of war-related trauma, including mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Specific attention is given to the profound bond between identical twins and the devastating consequences of separation on their immediate and long-term emotional well-being. Drawing on research findings surrounding children at war and on historical evidence for the effects of twin separation on individuals exposed to war, our commentary underscores the urgent need for awareness and condemnation of the direct targeting of children. We advocate the preservation of family ties as essential for fostering children’s resilience and emotional support. We also call upon professional organizations and the international community to prioritize the reunification of children with their families as a moral imperative in safeguarding the well-being and future of innocent children exposed to terrorism and conflict in war-torn regions.

Individuals’ preferences and decisions are often guided by contextual cues. One such contextual cue is one’s own behavior. Here we investigate the impact of observing one’s own decision behavior on the decision-making process as it unfolds. We introduce a novel feature of mouse-tracking, whereby participants visualize their decision trajectory as a visible line on the computer screen while engaging in decision-making tasks. We found that participants who observed their decision trajectory in making preference-based choices exhibited a reduced conflict between the options as was indicated by a smaller maximal deviation (MD) for both familiar (Study 1) and novel (Study 2) stimuli. We discuss future directions and applications for understanding various psychological phenomena and processes.

Background Theory of mind (ToM) is crucial for socioemotional interaction. ToM deficits may explain behavioral changes in dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Objective This study examined the psychometrics of a new ToM test in healthy adults, identified ToM differences in dementia syndromes, and assessed if ToM scores predict neuropsychiatric function and real-life behavior. Methods The UCSF Cognitive and Emotional Perspective Taking Test (CEPT) was evaluated in 195 healthy adults (age: 42.69 ± 16.20) and in a clinic cohort of 304 participants (age: 64.07 ± 9.2). Participants included healthy controls, AD, behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), non-fluent PPA (nfvPPA), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients. CEPT's psychometrics were assessed, and ToM differences and predictions of neuropsychiatric symptoms were analyzed using regression models. Results In controls, CEPT showed good validity and reliability. In patients, CEPT scores correlated with executive and emotional measures, but not language measures, showing good construct validity. Cognitive ToM was most impaired in AD and bvFTD, with less impairment in svPPA and PSP, and all patient groups showed impaired emotional ToM. ToM performance predicted real-life neuropsychiatric behavior, including anxiety, apathy, disinhibition, and aberrant motor behaviors. Conclusions ToM deficits appear early in dementia syndromes and predict neuropsychiatric behavior. Assessing ToM and social cognition with ecologically valid tasks may help identify altered social cognition in early neurodegeneration.

Given the current polarized climate in many parts of the world, finding effective interventions to address psychological factors that drive conflict is critical. Direct, face-to-face contact has the demonstrated potential to stem the tide of intergroup antipathy. However, modern socio-political conflicts often span great physical distances, making direct contact difficult, costly and rare. Programs for “virtual contact” have emerged in recent years, combining text-based computer-mediated communication with live video to extend intergroup contact’s benefits to broader audiences. While compelling, studies of such programs are typically conducted in laboratory settings, focusing only on change in outgroup attitudes. The current research tests how a semester-long virtual contact intervention that brings together non-Muslim US American students and Muslim students from the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia shapes varied intergroup processes, across two large-scale field quasi-experiments (combined N = 2886). Compared to before the intervention and a control group, participants who engaged in virtual contact showed greater self-outgroup overlap, improved outgroup attitudes, and less outgroup dehumanization and meta-dehumanization. This research provides evidence that virtual contact can be an effective tool for promoting better intergroup relations.