Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-09DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109344
Marc Sato
A long-standing controversial issue in speech perception concerns the automatic nature of audiovisual speech integration, independent of attentional and cognitive load. From this question, the present EEG study aimed to determine whether visual load and associated task difficulty can modulate audiovisual speech integration and, if so, at what stage of neural processing. To this end, four syllable discrimination tasks differing in the degree of visual discrimination and speaker variability were performed in auditory, visual, and audiovisual modalities. Early and late effects of audiovisual integration, as well as late effects of visual load, were observed on auditory evoked responses. Crucially, the neural binding of acoustic and visual speech signals was not modulated by either visual discrimination or speaker variability. These results support an automatic integration of acoustic and visual speech cues, independent of visual load, during audiovisual syllable discrimination.
{"title":"Visual load does not modulate neural processing of audiovisual speech integration","authors":"Marc Sato","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A long-standing controversial issue in speech perception concerns the automatic nature of audiovisual speech integration, independent of attentional and cognitive load. From this question, the present EEG study aimed to determine whether visual load and associated task difficulty can modulate audiovisual speech integration and, if so, at what stage of neural processing. To this end, four syllable discrimination tasks differing in the degree of visual discrimination and speaker variability were performed in auditory, visual, and audiovisual modalities. Early and late effects of audiovisual integration, as well as late effects of visual load, were observed on auditory evoked responses. Crucially, the neural binding of acoustic and visual speech signals was not modulated by either visual discrimination or speaker variability. These results support an automatic integration of acoustic and visual speech cues, independent of visual load, during audiovisual syllable discrimination.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109344"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145743453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mental imagery varies dramatically across individuals, from vivid scene construction to the complete absence of visual experience, as seen in aphantasia. While the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is traditionally associated with abstract, schematic representations, emerging theories suggest it also contributes to constructing perceptually rich, temporally extended mental scenarios. To test this, we developed a 7T fMRI experiment that varied imagery demands across conditions: participants memorized richly detailed scenarios, more constrained stationary objects, and semantic definitions for three abstract German words (e.g., hope). During scanning and eye-tracking, the same cue word was presented on every trial, but participants vividly re-engaged with one of three learned representations (scenario construction, object construction, or semantic definitions). Using the same word across conditions enabled us to disentangle perceptual richness from semantic scaffolding and to test directly whether vmPFC represents imagery-rich scenarios rather than functioning solely as a conceptual coordinator. Univariate analyses revealed increased activation in vmPFC, medial temporal regions, and occipital cortex during scenario construction. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that the vmPFC was the only region examined in which classifier accuracy for scenarios exceeded that of object construction and semantic definitions, supporting its role in representing imagery-rich details rather than solely abstract schemas. Eye movement patterns further distinguished conditions, reflecting differences in constructive processes. These findings advance models of vmPFC function, highlighting its contribution to integrating perceptual richness with conceptual meaning in temporally extended mental scenarios.
{"title":"Seeing more than schemas: the vmPFC represents imagery-rich mental scenarios","authors":"Sorit Achmed Ali , Pitshaporn Leelaarporn , Rüdiger Stirnberger , Maren Bilzer , Nadja Abdel Kafi , Julia Taube , Yilmaz Sagik , Cornelia McCormick","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109370","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mental imagery varies dramatically across individuals, from vivid scene construction to the complete absence of visual experience, as seen in aphantasia. While the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is traditionally associated with abstract, schematic representations, emerging theories suggest it also contributes to constructing perceptually rich, temporally extended mental scenarios. To test this, we developed a 7T fMRI experiment that varied imagery demands across conditions: participants memorized richly detailed scenarios, more constrained stationary objects, and semantic definitions for three abstract German words (e.g., hope). During scanning and eye-tracking, the same cue word was presented on every trial, but participants vividly re-engaged with one of three learned representations (scenario construction, object construction, or semantic definitions). Using the same word across conditions enabled us to disentangle perceptual richness from semantic scaffolding and to test directly whether vmPFC represents imagery-rich scenarios rather than functioning solely as a conceptual coordinator. Univariate analyses revealed increased activation in vmPFC, medial temporal regions, and occipital cortex during scenario construction. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that the vmPFC was the only region examined in which classifier accuracy for scenarios exceeded that of object construction and semantic definitions, supporting its role in representing imagery-rich details rather than solely abstract schemas. Eye movement patterns further distinguished conditions, reflecting differences in constructive processes. These findings advance models of vmPFC function, highlighting its contribution to integrating perceptual richness with conceptual meaning in temporally extended mental scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109370"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145998120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2026-01-17DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109371
Stefan Wiens, Mingailė Greičiūtė, Billy Gerdfeldter, Annika Andersson
A central feature of consciousness is the association between external events and subjective experiences of content. These experiences range from low level (detection) to high level (identification). For example, a visual experience may range from seeing something on a computer screen (detection) to seeing the digit 3 (identification). In research, neural processes that correlate with these experiences are called neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs). In vision, a candidate NCC is the visual awareness negativity (VAN) that is derived from event-related potentials, occurring about 200 ms after stimulus onset over posterior electrode sites. Because previous research does not resolve whether VAN is more sensitive to low-level experiences (detection awareness) than high-level experiences (identification awareness), we conducted two preregistered experiments. In both experiments, two staircases continuously adjusted stimulus opacity to separately target detection awareness and identification awareness. In Experiment 1, subjects viewed either individual digits (N = 15) or individual letters or digits (N = 15). For both types of stimuli, VAN was similarly sensitive to detection awareness and identification awareness. As a follow up, Experiment 2 (N = 28) examined whether stimulus size affects VAN to identification awareness using digit stimuli. Results showed identification VAN for both digit sizes, and VAN was unaffected by stimulus size. These results confirm the sensitivity of VAN to both low-level experiences (detection) and high-level experiences (identification). However, results emphasize the limited specificity of VAN in separating between low-level and high-level experiences, suggested by the similarity of VAN in both conditions.
{"title":"Electrophysiological correlates of detection and identification awareness for digits and letters","authors":"Stefan Wiens, Mingailė Greičiūtė, Billy Gerdfeldter, Annika Andersson","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109371","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109371","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A central feature of consciousness is the association between external events and subjective experiences of content. These experiences range from low level (detection) to high level (identification). For example, a visual experience may range from seeing something on a computer screen (detection) to seeing the digit 3 (identification). In research, neural processes that correlate with these experiences are called neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs). In vision, a candidate NCC is the visual awareness negativity (VAN) that is derived from event-related potentials, occurring about 200 ms after stimulus onset over posterior electrode sites. Because previous research does not resolve whether VAN is more sensitive to low-level experiences (detection awareness) than high-level experiences (identification awareness), we conducted two preregistered experiments. In both experiments, two staircases continuously adjusted stimulus opacity to separately target detection awareness and identification awareness. In Experiment 1, subjects viewed either individual digits (<em>N</em> = 15) or individual letters or digits (<em>N</em> = 15). For both types of stimuli, VAN was similarly sensitive to detection awareness and identification awareness. As a follow up, Experiment 2 (<em>N</em> = 28) examined whether stimulus size affects VAN to identification awareness using digit stimuli. Results showed identification VAN for both digit sizes, and VAN was unaffected by stimulus size. These results confirm the sensitivity of VAN to both low-level experiences (detection) and high-level experiences (identification). However, results emphasize the limited specificity of VAN in separating between low-level and high-level experiences, suggested by the similarity of VAN in both conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109371"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146003761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109352
Ashish K. Sahoo , Hajymyrat Geldimuradov , Kaleb E. Smith , Aaron Zygala , Yiming Cui , Mahsa Lotfollahi , Kuang Gong , Alina Zare , Steven M. Weisberg
Understanding the association between structural properties of the human brain and individual differences in behavior is an ongoing endeavor, challenged by the brain's complexity. Past approaches, limited by simplistic neural structure measures like brain volume or cortical thickness, have given way to more advanced modeling approaches. Empirical evidence using these simpler metrics occasionally shows that hippocampal structure relates to individual variation in spatial navigation ability, particularly for older individuals or for expert navigators (like London taxi drivers). Yet high-powered, pre-registered studies in typical younger adults revealed no association between hippocampal volume and navigation ability. Here, we follow a data-driven approach developing and comparing deep learning methods (graph convolution neural networks, GCNN; 3DCNN) to analyze whether complex aspects of brain structure predict spatial navigation ability in young populations. To that end, we trained GCNNs and 3DCNNs on a T1 MRI dataset (N = 90) to predict navigational ability as measured by an objective virtual reality test of spatial memory in which participants created as accurate a map as they could of a highly realistic virtual environment. Across all approaches, we found weak predictive value in held-out test data, despite good fits to training data. These results could indicate the need for much larger datasets, including more comprehensive behavioral measures (as this study was limited to one measure) to improve predictability but may also support the notion that hippocampal structural features may not be a primary factor associated with navigation ability in healthy younger adults.
{"title":"Deep learning approaches to map individual differences in macroscopic neural structure with variations in spatial navigation behavior","authors":"Ashish K. Sahoo , Hajymyrat Geldimuradov , Kaleb E. Smith , Aaron Zygala , Yiming Cui , Mahsa Lotfollahi , Kuang Gong , Alina Zare , Steven M. Weisberg","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109352","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109352","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the association between structural properties of the human brain and individual differences in behavior is an ongoing endeavor, challenged by the brain's complexity. Past approaches, limited by simplistic neural structure measures like brain volume or cortical thickness, have given way to more advanced modeling approaches. Empirical evidence using these simpler metrics occasionally shows that hippocampal structure relates to individual variation in spatial navigation ability, particularly for older individuals or for expert navigators (like London taxi drivers). Yet high-powered, pre-registered studies in typical younger adults revealed no association between hippocampal volume and navigation ability. Here, we follow a data-driven approach developing and comparing deep learning methods (graph convolution neural networks, GCNN; 3DCNN) to analyze whether complex aspects of brain structure predict spatial navigation ability in young populations. To that end, we trained GCNNs and 3DCNNs on a T1 MRI dataset (N = 90) to predict navigational ability as measured by an objective virtual reality test of spatial memory in which participants created as accurate a map as they could of a highly realistic virtual environment. Across all approaches, we found weak predictive value in held-out test data, despite good fits to training data. These results could indicate the need for much larger datasets, including more comprehensive behavioral measures (as this study was limited to one measure) to improve predictability but may also support the notion that hippocampal structural features may not be a primary factor associated with navigation ability in healthy younger adults.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109352"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145827814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2026-01-04DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109356
Nathan M. LeFebre , Kutter D. Callaway , Kaitlyn A. Bennett , Lynn K. Paul , Warren S. Brown
The corpus callosum has been associated with some of the most complex processes of cognition, including creativity and imagination. Agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) is a congenital disorder, affecting approximately 1:4000 persons, in which the corpus callosum fails to develop. Even when FSIQ is in the average range, ACC results in a characteristic neuropsychological syndrome of reduced interhemispheric transfer of sensory-motor information, reduced cognitive processing speed, difficulties in complex reasoning and novel problem-solving, and reduced elaborative imagination and creative capacity. To further investigate the role of the corpus callosum in elaborative imagination, the present study compared aesthetic judgments from 22 adults with ACC (FSIQ >80) and 49 online comparison participants, as measured on the Assessment of Art Attributes (AAA). Participants viewed 24 paintings from the AAA, rating them on six sensory-perceptual attributes and eight higher-order conceptual attributes of visual art. All participants also completed measures of artistic experience and colorblindness. Compared to the control group, persons with ACC produced divergent rank orders for 13 of the 14 AAA attributes, but group mean differences were only observed across higher-level, conceptual attributes of art. These findings are broadly consistent with a previously reported pattern of greater impairment in judgments of conceptual aesthetics than sensory-perceptual features among populations with neuropsychological deficits, while revealing a more generalized qualitative difference in how people with ACC judge aesthetic attributes in works of art and lending further support for the role of the corpus callosum in imagination, creativity, and aesthetic appreciation.
{"title":"Aesthetic judgement and appreciation in agenesis of the corpus callosum","authors":"Nathan M. LeFebre , Kutter D. Callaway , Kaitlyn A. Bennett , Lynn K. Paul , Warren S. Brown","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109356","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109356","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The corpus callosum has been associated with some of the most complex processes of cognition, including creativity and imagination. Agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) is a congenital disorder, affecting approximately 1:4000 persons, in which the corpus callosum fails to develop. Even when FSIQ is in the average range, ACC results in a characteristic neuropsychological syndrome of reduced interhemispheric transfer of sensory-motor information, reduced cognitive processing speed, difficulties in complex reasoning and novel problem-solving, and reduced elaborative imagination and creative capacity. To further investigate the role of the corpus callosum in elaborative imagination, the present study compared aesthetic judgments from 22 adults with ACC (FSIQ >80) and 49 online comparison participants, as measured on the Assessment of Art Attributes (AAA). Participants viewed 24 paintings from the AAA, rating them on six sensory-perceptual attributes and eight higher-order conceptual attributes of visual art. All participants also completed measures of artistic experience and colorblindness. Compared to the control group, persons with ACC produced divergent rank orders for 13 of the 14 AAA attributes, but group mean differences were only observed across higher-level, conceptual attributes of art. These findings are broadly consistent with a previously reported pattern of greater impairment in judgments of conceptual aesthetics than sensory-perceptual features among populations with neuropsychological deficits, while revealing a more generalized qualitative difference in how people with ACC judge aesthetic attributes in works of art and lending further support for the role of the corpus callosum in imagination, creativity, and aesthetic appreciation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109356"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145912393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-26DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109353
Frank Van Overwalle , Maria Arioli , Elien Heleven , Min Qiu , Natacha Deroost , Kris Baetens
Balgova et al. (2024) recently conducted a large-scale meta-analysis on mentalizing and on semantic cognition, to investigate the degree to which the neural correlates of these two processes are overlapping. The study found consistent neural overlap between the two processes, especially in the bilateral anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), although they also identified many areas of activation specific to mentalizing. Although we agree with their general conclusion, we investigated to what extent the semantic dataset was actually devoid of social content, and if not, how this would change the results. After careful screening and categorization of the “semantic” material, we found experiments that contained elements of social mentalizing (N = 36) and social action observation (N = 16), apart from nonsocial semantics (N = 46). ALE analyses on the social mentalizing and nonsocial semantic subsets from the original “semantic” full dataset, confirmed that semantic brain areas are activated when processing both social mentalizing and nonsocial semantic content, while mentalizing brain areas are uniquely activated when processing social mentalizing content. Specifically, semantic and mentalizing content activated the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and posterior medial frontal cortex (pmFC); and also the left ventral temporal lobe, supporting the graded multimodal hub model of semantic cognition. Critically, as we claimed, mentalizing content uniquely activated the temporal pole (TP), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although activation in the left TPJ was also shared with semantic processes. We conclude that a more careful distinction between social and nonsocial datasets guarantees more sensitive and valid analyses.
{"title":"There is more social in semantics! A brief commentary and reanalysis of Balgova et al. (2024)","authors":"Frank Van Overwalle , Maria Arioli , Elien Heleven , Min Qiu , Natacha Deroost , Kris Baetens","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109353","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109353","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Balgova et al. (2024) recently conducted a large-scale meta-analysis on mentalizing and on semantic cognition, to investigate the degree to which the neural correlates of these two processes are overlapping. The study found consistent neural overlap between the two processes, especially in the bilateral anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), although they also identified many areas of activation specific to mentalizing. Although we agree with their general conclusion, we investigated to what extent the semantic dataset was actually devoid of social content, and if not, how this would change the results. After careful screening and categorization of the “semantic” material, we found experiments that contained elements of social mentalizing (N = 36) and social action observation (N = 16), apart from nonsocial semantics (N = 46). ALE analyses on the social mentalizing and nonsocial semantic subsets from the original “semantic” full dataset, confirmed that semantic brain areas are activated when processing both social mentalizing and nonsocial semantic content, while mentalizing brain areas are uniquely activated when processing social mentalizing content. Specifically, semantic and mentalizing content activated the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and posterior medial frontal cortex (pmFC); and also the left ventral temporal lobe, supporting the graded multimodal hub model of semantic cognition. Critically, as we claimed, mentalizing content uniquely activated the temporal pole (TP), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although activation in the left TPJ was also shared with semantic processes. We conclude that a more careful distinction between social and nonsocial datasets guarantees more sensitive and valid analyses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109353"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145849957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-30DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109354
Anisha Khosla , R. Shayna Rosenbaum , Morris Moscovitch , Jennifer D. Ryan
Path integration (PI) allows organisms to navigate home by updating their location in reference to the route's starting point. We previously demonstrated a PI-like process in eye movements using an eyetracking version of commonly used PI tasks. As the hippocampus/medial temporal lobes (MTL) have been implicated in updating self-position via whole-body PI, we investigated whether the hippocampus/MTL is necessary for the spatial updating of gaze position. Using our eyetracking PI-analog task, we tested two individuals with hippocampal lesions, DA and BL; BL's hippocampal damage is relatively circumscribed to his dentate gyrus, but he has additional volume loss in the right precuneus and left superior-posterior parietal cortex. Participants followed routes with their eyes guided by visual onsets and, when subsequently cued, returned to the starting point or mid-route location. Surprisingly, despite DA's extensive MTL damage, his accuracy was comparable to that of control participants, but unlike the control participants, he showed increased saccade latency and little to no gaze revisits to enroute locations when returning to the start location. BL's accuracy was reduced relative to that of the control participants. Additionally, in contrast to DA, BL demonstrated an increased reliance on overt, enroute revisits. The behavior of the two amnesic cases, who each differ from the control participants and show distinct patterns from one another, suggests that spatial updating of gaze position reflects interactive processes supported by the hippocampus/MTL and posterior parietal cortex.
{"title":"Spatial updating in amnesia using an eye movement analogue of a path integration task","authors":"Anisha Khosla , R. Shayna Rosenbaum , Morris Moscovitch , Jennifer D. Ryan","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109354","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109354","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Path integration (PI) allows organisms to navigate home by updating their location in reference to the route's starting point. We previously demonstrated a PI-like process in eye movements using an eyetracking version of commonly used PI tasks. As the hippocampus/medial temporal lobes (MTL) have been implicated in updating self-position via whole-body PI, we investigated whether the hippocampus/MTL is necessary for the spatial updating of gaze position. Using our eyetracking PI-analog task, we tested two individuals with hippocampal lesions, DA and BL; BL's hippocampal damage is relatively circumscribed to his dentate gyrus, but he has additional volume loss in the right precuneus and left superior-posterior parietal cortex. Participants followed routes with their eyes guided by visual onsets and, when subsequently cued, returned to the starting point or mid-route location. Surprisingly, despite DA's extensive MTL damage, his accuracy was comparable to that of control participants, but unlike the control participants, he showed increased saccade latency and little to no gaze revisits to enroute locations when returning to the start location. BL's accuracy was reduced relative to that of the control participants. Additionally, in contrast to DA, BL demonstrated an increased reliance on overt, enroute revisits. The behavior of the two amnesic cases, who each differ from the control participants and show distinct patterns from one another, suggests that spatial updating of gaze position reflects interactive processes supported by the hippocampus/MTL and posterior parietal cortex.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109354"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-09DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109345
Qianwen Gao , Wanxia Chen , Feng Zou , Yufeng Wang , Meng Zhang , Jinqi Cui , Xin Wu
Individuals exhibit ingroup bias in self-referential processing, yet how group values modulate this bias at the neural level remains unclear. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a minimal group paradigm, this study examined how group values moderate ingroup bias during self-referential judgments. In a 2 (group: ingroup vs. outgroup) × 2 (trait value: highly-valued vs. low-valued) within-participants design, participants judged whether neutral trait words described themselves. Behaviorally, reaction times were faster for ingroup and highly-valued traits. Endorsement rate was higher for ingroup-highly-valued traits than for outgroup-highly-valued traits, with no difference for low-valued traits. Electrophysiologically, early components (P1, P2) and the posterior Late Positive Potential (LPP) were unaffected. However, the anterior LPP was significantly enhanced for ingroup-highly-valued traits compared to both outgroup-highly-valued and ingroup-low-valued traits. Moreover, a negative correlation emerged between neural interaction strength (anterior LPP) and behavioral interaction strength (endorsement rate), suggesting that deeper neurocognitive internalization of group values corresponds to reduced behavioral reliance on group cues. These findings indicate that group values shape self-concept integration by modulating late elaborate self-processing, with the anterior LPP serving as a neural marker for value-self integration. This study elucidates the neurocognitive basis of how social context influences self-construction.
{"title":"Group values modulate ingroup bias in self-referential processing: Evidence from event-related potentials","authors":"Qianwen Gao , Wanxia Chen , Feng Zou , Yufeng Wang , Meng Zhang , Jinqi Cui , Xin Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109345","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109345","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Individuals exhibit ingroup bias in self-referential processing, yet how group values modulate this bias at the neural level remains unclear. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a minimal group paradigm, this study examined how group values moderate ingroup bias during self-referential judgments. In a 2 (group: ingroup vs. outgroup) × 2 (trait value: highly-valued vs. low-valued) within-participants design, participants judged whether neutral trait words described themselves. Behaviorally, reaction times were faster for ingroup and highly-valued traits. Endorsement rate was higher for ingroup-highly-valued traits than for outgroup-highly-valued traits, with no difference for low-valued traits. Electrophysiologically, early components (P1, P2) and the posterior Late Positive Potential (LPP) were unaffected. However, the anterior LPP was significantly enhanced for ingroup-highly-valued traits compared to both outgroup-highly-valued and ingroup-low-valued traits. Moreover, a negative correlation emerged between neural interaction strength (anterior LPP) and behavioral interaction strength (endorsement rate), suggesting that deeper neurocognitive internalization of group values corresponds to reduced behavioral reliance on group cues. These findings indicate that group values shape self-concept integration by modulating late elaborate self-processing, with the anterior LPP serving as a neural marker for value-self integration. This study elucidates the neurocognitive basis of how social context influences self-construction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"222 ","pages":"Article 109345"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145712265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-03DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109342
Emily E. Tighe , Jingjing (May) Liu , Jeanine K. Stefanucci , Bobby Bodenheimer , Sarah H. Creem-Regehr
Individuals differ in both their navigation abilities and preferences. As children age, their spatial abilities develop, which allows for an increase in the use of survey knowledge to support navigation along novel routes or with shortcuts. Gender differences in navigation also emerge from preadolescence to adolescence, corresponding to changes in hormones and experience. The current study aimed to examine differences in navigation strategy in individuals aged 8–40. Participants completed the dual solution paradigm (DSP) where they learned a virtual environment with a layout of unique objects and were then tested on their ability to navigate back to those objects. We measured average time to complete trials, success, and strategies to take learned or novel routes to better understand the differences in spatial knowledge and strategy preference across a wide age range. We also grouped our child population (ages 8–12, 13–17) and performed additional analyses to examine the impact puberty has on these measures. The results showed that male participants navigated more efficiently and had higher rates of success than female participants, overall. For male participants, as age increased, average time to complete trials decreased. The categorical analyses showed gender differences in success and time in adolescents but not preadolescents. There were no age or gender differences in strategy usage. Our results suggest that certain spatial abilities develop at different ages depending on gender and that by adolescence children are performing at adult levels when tasked with navigating efficiently in a maze environment. These findings allow us to better understand how gender differences in navigation develop before and after the onset of puberty.
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Pub Date : 2026-02-15Epub Date: 2025-12-24DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109348
Francesco Scaramozzino, Ryan McKay, Nicholas Furl
Background
Reduced data-gathering and altered sensory precision are associated with psychotic phenotypes in tasks engaging the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). We investigated whether PPC excitability - modulated via 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) - differentially affects these behavioural patterns in high vs. low psychotic phenotypes. Based on prior work, we hypothesised that delusional and hallucinatory traits would moderate TMS effects on sensory precision (proxied by drift rates), while hallucinatory traits would additionally moderate effects on decision thresholds.
Methods
We compared performance in both the random dot motion task (RDM) and the beads task in two groups of participants (total, N = 68) undergoing TMS or sham-TMS over the right PPC. Hierarchical drift-diffusion models estimated drift rates (sensory precision proxies) and decision thresholds. We evaluated differences between TMS and sham-TMS groups and tested for interactions of these TMS groups with delusional and hallucinatory phenotypes.
Results
In RDM, TMS increased decision thresholds compared to sham-TMS in the low psychotic phenotype group. This effect was not present in participants with higher psychotic phenotypes. Drift rates, in contrast, were lowered in participants with higher delusional phenotype. No significant effect was found on beads task performance.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest a causal role of PPC in decisions to end data-gathering during perceptual inference. The absence of this effect in the psychotic phenotype yields new hypotheses on the role of PPC excitability in neural mechanisms underlying decision-making patterns in the psychotic phenotype.
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