Psychology

AI Political Deepfakes Damaged Politician Reputations Even When Viewers Knew the Videos Were Fake

May 22, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 three-wave experimental study in Communication Research (N=3,000+ adults across the US and the Netherlands) found that AI-generated political deepfake videos damaged the reputations of targeted politicians even when viewers correctly suspected the footage was fake — and standard fact-checks restored authenticity perception without reversing the reputational harm. Key Findings Three-wave experiment, 3,000+ …

TRD Brain Networks Decoupled Structure From Function

May 22, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in npj Mental Health Research found that a 308-person multimodal MRI study found treatment-resistant depression carried a distinct structure-function decoupling pattern, and machine-learning models separated TRD from non-resistant depression with AUCs up to 0.95. Key Findings 72 TRD patients analyzed: The final sample included 72 patients with treatment-resistant depression, 152 with …

A Tolerance Threshold Explained Social Conventions

May 22, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in PNAS found that across convention-learning experiments, people explored uncertain options at first, then committed once enough evidence crossed a Tolerance Principle threshold rather than simply copying others or optimizing probabilities. Key Findings Two-stage learning fit behavior: Participants behaved probabilistically while uncertain, then shifted into stable choices once accumulated evidence crossed …

Teen Diet Review Favored Patterns Over Nutrients

May 22, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2025 study in Nutrients found that a systematic review of adolescent diet and mental health found the clearest readout for whole dietary patterns, while single nutrients and supplement-style interventions looked less consistent. Key Findings 19 studies reviewed: The review covered six randomized controlled trials and 13 prospective cohort studies. Diet patterns looked clearer: …

Coffee Intake Shifted Gut Microbes, Stress, and Cognition Markers

May 22, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 human microbiome and intervention study in Nature Communications found that coffee drinkers showed distinct gut microbiome composition and lower several microbial metabolites, while caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee shifted stress and mood measures in the intervention phase. Key Findings Study type: a study of habitual coffee intake, caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, gut microbes, …

Cocaine-Alcohol Use Changed PL-to-NAc Relapse Circuit in Rats

May 22, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 rat study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that chemogenetically inhibiting a prelimbic cortex to nucleus accumbens core pathway blocked cue-triggered cocaine seeking after cocaine alone, but did not block relapse-like behavior after sequential cocaine and alcohol use. Key Findings The model tested sequential polysubstance use: rats self-administered cocaine, then some received access to 20% …

Eye Tracking Found Hyper-Scanning and Hyper-Pursuit in Anxiety Disorders

May 21, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in The British Journal of Psychiatry found that people with anxiety disorders showed hyper-scanning during neutral image viewing and hyper-pursuit during moving-dot tracking, suggesting that eye-tracking could capture measurable patterns of anxiety-related vigilance. Key Findings 307-person sample: Researchers compared 91 patients with anxiety disorders, 118 with depressive disorders, and 98 healthy …

AI Therapy Chatbot Reduced PHQ-9 Depression Scores in Pilot Trial

May 21, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 randomized feasibility trial in JMIR Mental Health found both a structured AI therapy chatbot and ChatGPT reduced PHQ-9 depression scores versus assessment-only control, but neither AI condition improved anxiety significantly or beat the other. Key Findings PHQ-9 depression scores fell: The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a depression-symptom scale, improved more with AI …

South African Adolescent Substance Use Was High in 30-Study Meta-Analysis

May 21, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Drug and Alcohol Review estimated high adolescent substance-use exposure in South Africa, with lifetime alcohol use at 35.09%, tobacco at 25.47%, and cannabis at 10.47% across community and school-based studies. Key Findings 30 publications were included: Researchers synthesized 202 prevalence estimates from South African adolescent samples. Total …

Reward Uncertainty Mapped Mood and Anxiety Signals in Teen fMRI Study

May 21, 2026 by BrainASAP

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that reward uncertainty, measured with functional MRI (fMRI), a brain-scan method, engaged different adolescent brain networks during waiting for a possible reward versus learning the outcome, with anxiety and anhedonia tied to different parts of that response. Key Findings 84 adolescents were scanned: The sample included psychotropic-medication-free youth …

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