Nature Human Behaviour最新文献

Adaptation is the process by which we adjust internal models of the body, world and mind in response to sensory feedback. Although adaptation is studied extensively in the context of motor control, there is limited evidence that cognitive functions such as working memory are subject to the same error-driven adaptive control mechanism. To examine the possibility that internal spatial representations undergo adaptation, we had participants perform a task that interleaved a perceptual discrimination task and a spatial working memory task. Perceptual discrimination trials (85% of trials) presented an initial peripheral cue to exogenously capture attention, immediately followed by a displaced target stimulus. This sequence of events served to repeatedly induce a covert attentional allocation error. Interleaved spatial working memory trials (15% of trials) presented a stimulus at a pseudorandom peripheral location followed by a delay interval. On half of the working memory trials, the stimulus was surreptitiously presented at the same location as the initial attentional cue. We found that as attentional errors accumulated over the course of the experiment, participants’ spatial recall shifted to counteract the attentional error. The magnitude of this shift was proportional to the number of induced errors. Recall performance recovered rapidly following the offset of error trials. Multiple control experiments ruled out alternative explanations for these results, such as oculomotor confounds and attentional biases unrelated to error. These findings indicate that the computational mechanisms governing the adaptation of motor commands appear to similarly serve to adjust and calibrate spatial cognition.

To build and establish essential international networks, gain international experience and secure a position on the academic tenure track, early-career researchers are increasingly seeking employment opportunities abroad^1,2. Relocation to a foreign country — particularly one with a different culture and language — is an inherently challenging undertaking. Early-career researchers often encounter difficulties even before departing. A typical example would be the frustrating cycle between residence permit and employment contract: in many cases, obtaining a visa or residence permit is necessary to secure an employment contract. However, without proof of employment and a rental agreement, obtaining a visa can be difficult. In situations in which institutions fail to provide specialized and dedicated support, delays in the researcher’s arrival may occur that limit the ability of the early-career researcher to achieve and show their full potential within the host institution.

After arrival, those who do not speak the local language may face additional challenges³. Although researchers typically use a common language (often English), administrative staff of the employing institutions might not, which makes tasks such as completing paperwork and reading email correspondence difficult. These activities frequently require help from a bilingual third party, which is not always available or advisable for sensitive matters. Furthermore, such challenges often extend beyond the walls of the institution into daily life, including in finding accommodation, setting up a local bank account, navigating taxes, and scheduling private or occupational medical appointments.

How good are people at judging the veracity of news? We conducted a systematic literature review and pre-registered meta-analysis of 303 effect sizes from 67 experimental articles evaluating accuracy ratings of true and fact-checked false news (N_Participants = 194,438 from 40 countries across 6 continents). We found that people rated true news as more accurate than false news (Cohen’s d = 1.12 [1.01, 1.22]) and were better at rating false news as false than at rating true news as true (Cohen’s d = 0.32 [0.24, 0.39]). In other words, participants were able to discern true from false news and erred on the side of skepticism rather than credulity. We found no evidence that the political concordance of the news had an effect on discernment, but participants were more skeptical of politically discordant news (Cohen’s d = 0.78 [0.62, 0.94]). These findings lend support to crowdsourced fact-checking initiatives and suggest that, to improve discernment, there is more room to increase the acceptance of true news than to reduce the acceptance of fact-checked false news.

Adolescence (ages 10–24) is characterized by cognitive, behavioural and social development. Childhood environments are typically centred on home and care settings, whereas adolescents increasingly engage with peer and community environments. These changing environments confer risks of experiencing specific adversities at different ages. Despite the unique characteristics of adversities in adolescence and potential associations with lifespan outcomes, few frameworks exist to systematize adversities in adolescents. Here we review current research and propose an approach specific to this developmental period: the adverse adolescent experiences (AAEs) framework. Building on existing models (for example, the adverse childhood experiences framework), the AAEs focus on potentially traumatizing experiences during adolescence. The framework builds on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to conceptualize adversities at intrapersonal, interpersonal, community and societal levels. We argue that this approach can enhance our understanding of adolescent adversity, facilitate the study of its potential effects, and guide prevention and intervention efforts.

Although measures that have previously been suggested — such as the more intense and efficient monitoring of abuse, with the parallel application of more and stricter penalties³ — are necessary, they are not sufficient.

Modern universities evolved from monastic schools^4,5, and the academic hierarchy originates in religious hierarchy. The elementary cell of this structure is the master–disciple relationship⁴. Such structures I argue are not only obsolete, but also implicitly psychologically abusive.

The lived experience of urban life is shaped by personal mobility through dynamic relationships and resources, marked not only by access and opportunity, but also inequality and segregation. The recent availability of fine-grained mobility data and context attributes ranging from venue type to demographic mixture offer researchers a deeper understanding of experienced inequalities at scale, and pose many new questions. Here we review emerging uses of urban mobility behaviour data, and propose an analytic framework to represent mobility patterns as a temporal bipartite network between people and places. As this network reconfigures over time, analysts can track experienced inequality along three critical dimensions: social mixing with others from specific demographic backgrounds, access to different types of facilities, and spontaneous adaptation to unexpected events, such as epidemics, conflicts or disasters. This framework traces the dynamic, lived experiences of urban inequality and complements prior work on static inequalities experience at home and work.