Psychology

Image Memorability Predicted N400 Encoding Signals More Than Recognition

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Image Memorability Predicted N400 Encoding Signals More Than Recognition

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience found that image memorability, the stable tendency of an image to be remembered across people, predicted N400 brain responses at encoding even after later recognition success was modeled. Key Findings 24 analyzed participants: Researchers recorded event-related potentials (ERPs), scalp-measured brain responses time-locked to image viewing, …

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Early Antidepressant Treatment Linked to Higher Negative Affect and Impulsivity in Bipolar Euthymia

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Early Antidepressant Treatment Linked to Higher Negative Affect and Impulsivity in Bipolar Euthymia

TL;DR: A 2026 cross-sectional study in PLOS One found that euthymic bipolar disorder patients with early systematic antidepressant treatment had higher negative affect and higher attentional, non-planning, and total impulsivity scores than matched patients without that early antidepressant history. Key Findings 124 bipolar patients studied: Researchers compared 62 patients with early systematic antidepressant treatment and …

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CBT-I Plus Medication Improved Chronic Insomnia More Than Medication Alone

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CBT-I Plus Medication Improved Chronic Insomnia More Than Medication Alone

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), a structured behavioral sleep treatment, plus sleep medication improved chronic insomnia more than medication alone, but adding medication to CBT-I did not improve the critical insomnia outcomes. Key Findings 15 analyzable articles: Researchers screened 1,179 articles, …

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Social Media Abstinence Did Not Improve Mood or Life Satisfaction in 10-Study Meta-Analysis of 4,674 Adults

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Social Media Abstinence Did Not Improve Mood or Life Satisfaction in 10-Study Meta-Analysis of 4,674 Adults

TL;DR: A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis in Scientific Reports pooled 10 social media abstinence experiments (N = 4,674 adults; abstinence 1–28 days) and found no significant effect on positive affect, negative affect, or life satisfaction. Key Findings Positive affect was unchanged: pooled Hedges’ g = 0.03 (95% CI [−0.11, 0.16], p = 0.69) across 9 studies and 14 …

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Lower-Body Cues Matched Whole-Body Accuracy in Female Body Size Judgments

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Lower-Body Cues Matched Whole-Body Accuracy in Female Body Size Judgments

TL;DR: A 2025 study in BMC Biology found that people judged female body size about as accurately from lower-body images as from whole-body images, but isolated thigh regions alone were not enough. Key Findings Two body-perception experiments: Researchers tested 99 participants in Experiment 1 and 116 participants in Experiment 2 using a bodyline task. Lower-body …

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IQ at Age 23 Predicted Socioeconomic Status at Age 27, With Genes Explaining 69-98% of the Link in TwinLife Germany

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IQ at Age 23 Predicted Socioeconomic Status at Age 27, With Genes Explaining 69-98% of the Link in TwinLife Germany

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Scientific Reports used the German TwinLife panel (228 monozygotic and 212 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs) to show that intelligence quotient (IQ) at age 23 predicted four socioeconomic status (SES) outcomes at age 27, with genetic factors explaining 69-98% of the IQ-SES association. Key Findings IQ at age 23 predicted SES …

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Children and Adolescents With ADHD Had Roughly 6x the Depression Rate of Peers in 24-Study Meta-Analysis

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Children and Adolescents With ADHD Had Roughly 6x the Depression Rate of Peers in 24-Study Meta-Analysis

TL;DR: A 2025 meta-analysis in the Journal of Attention Disorders pooled 24 studies (N=6,815) and estimated that 11.31% of children and adolescents with ADHD had co-occurring depression — about six times the rate seen in neurotypical peers in head-to-head case-control studies (~12% vs ~2%). Key Findings Pooled depression rate of 11.31% across 24 studies: The …

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Mendelian Randomization Found Brain Structure Causally Contributed to ADHD and Autism

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Mendelian Randomization Found Brain Structure Causally Contributed to ADHD and Autism

TL;DR: A 2026 Mendelian randomization study in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry used genetic data to test direction of effect between brain structure and neurodevelopmental conditions, and found that increased surface area in the superior frontal gyrus raised ADHD risk while increased surface area in the orbital frontal gyrus protected against autism — with …

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Language and Theory of Mind Brain Systems Were Already Distinct in 3- to 9-Year-Old Children

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Language and Theory of Mind Brain Systems Were Already Distinct in 3- to 9-Year-Old Children

TL;DR: A 2026 Communications Biology fMRI study found that language and theory of mind, the ability to infer other people’s mental states, were already neurally distinct in children aged 3-9 rather than slowly separating during development. Key Findings Children show distinct neural specificity for language and theory of mind in superior temporal lobe — just …

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Intestinal Epithelial Serotonin Reduced Anxiety and Depression-Like Behavior via Vagus in Mice; In Utero SSRI Linked to Infant Constipation

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Intestinal Epithelial Serotonin Reduced Anxiety and Depression-Like Behavior via Vagus in Mice; In Utero SSRI Linked to Infant Constipation

TL;DR: A 2024 Gastroenterology study found that intestinal epithelial serotonin reduced anxiety- and depression-like behavior in mice through vagal signaling, while prenatal SSRI exposure in a human cohort predicted infant functional constipation independent of maternal depression. Key Findings Gut-only serotonin reuptake transporter ablation reduced anxiety and depression-like behavior: Targeting SERT only in the intestinal epithelium …

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