Pub Date : 2024-03-15DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00295-z
Joshua J. Jackson, Amanda J. Wright
Although personality is relatively stable across the lifespan, there is also ample evidence that it is malleable. This potential for change is important because many individuals want to change aspects of their personality and because personality influences important life outcomes. In this Review, we examine the mechanisms responsible for intentional and naturally occurring changes in personality. We discuss four mechanisms — preconditions, triggers, reinforcers and integrators — that are theorized to produce effective change, as well as the forces that promote stability, thereby thwarting enduring changes. Although these mechanisms are common across theories of personality development, the empirical evidence is mixed and inconclusive. Personality change is most likely to occur gradually over long timescales but abrupt, transformative changes are possible when change is deliberately attempted or as a result of biologically mediated mechanisms. When change does occur, it is often modest in scale. Ultimately, it is difficult to cultivate a completely different personality, but small changes are possible. Personality is relatively stable over long timescales but remains malleable to some degree. In this Review, Jackson and Wright examine the mechanisms responsible for intentional and naturally occurring change as well as mechanisms that promote stability, thereby limiting potential change.
{"title":"The process and mechanisms of personality change","authors":"Joshua J. Jackson, Amanda J. Wright","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00295-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00295-z","url":null,"abstract":"Although personality is relatively stable across the lifespan, there is also ample evidence that it is malleable. This potential for change is important because many individuals want to change aspects of their personality and because personality influences important life outcomes. In this Review, we examine the mechanisms responsible for intentional and naturally occurring changes in personality. We discuss four mechanisms — preconditions, triggers, reinforcers and integrators — that are theorized to produce effective change, as well as the forces that promote stability, thereby thwarting enduring changes. Although these mechanisms are common across theories of personality development, the empirical evidence is mixed and inconclusive. Personality change is most likely to occur gradually over long timescales but abrupt, transformative changes are possible when change is deliberately attempted or as a result of biologically mediated mechanisms. When change does occur, it is often modest in scale. Ultimately, it is difficult to cultivate a completely different personality, but small changes are possible. Personality is relatively stable over long timescales but remains malleable to some degree. In this Review, Jackson and Wright examine the mechanisms responsible for intentional and naturally occurring change as well as mechanisms that promote stability, thereby limiting potential change.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140153420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-14DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00291-3
Micaela Wiseman, Isabella J. Sewell, Sean M. Nestor, Peter Giacobbe, Clement Hamani, Nir Lipsman, Jennifer S. Rabin
Focal direct-to-brain neuromodulation approaches, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and ablative techniques, hold tremendous therapeutic promise for challenging-to-treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. These interventions modulate brain circuits that contribute to clinical symptoms and overlap with the networks that support cognition. Depending on the reason for the intervention — whether it aims to improve clinical symptoms or cognitive symptoms — focal neuromodulation techniques might indirectly or directly affect cognitive processes. In this Review, we examine the effects of repetitive TMS, DBS and ablative techniques on post-intervention cognition in patients with psychiatric disorders (major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder and schizophrenia) and neurological conditions (Parkinson disease, essential tremor and Alzheimer disease). Our findings indicate that focal neuromodulation is generally safe from a cognitive standpoint and, in some cases, can improve aspects of cognition. We conclude with methodological recommendations aimed at advancing our knowledge of the cognitive effects associated with focal neuromodulation approaches. Focal neuromodulation approaches are promising therapeutic options for challenging-to-treat neurological and psychiatric symptoms, but might indirectly or directly affect cognition. In this Review, Rabin et al. describe the cognitive effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation and ablative techniques.
{"title":"Cognitive effects of focal neuromodulation in neurological and psychiatric disorders","authors":"Micaela Wiseman, Isabella J. Sewell, Sean M. Nestor, Peter Giacobbe, Clement Hamani, Nir Lipsman, Jennifer S. Rabin","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00291-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00291-3","url":null,"abstract":"Focal direct-to-brain neuromodulation approaches, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and ablative techniques, hold tremendous therapeutic promise for challenging-to-treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. These interventions modulate brain circuits that contribute to clinical symptoms and overlap with the networks that support cognition. Depending on the reason for the intervention — whether it aims to improve clinical symptoms or cognitive symptoms — focal neuromodulation techniques might indirectly or directly affect cognitive processes. In this Review, we examine the effects of repetitive TMS, DBS and ablative techniques on post-intervention cognition in patients with psychiatric disorders (major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder and schizophrenia) and neurological conditions (Parkinson disease, essential tremor and Alzheimer disease). Our findings indicate that focal neuromodulation is generally safe from a cognitive standpoint and, in some cases, can improve aspects of cognition. We conclude with methodological recommendations aimed at advancing our knowledge of the cognitive effects associated with focal neuromodulation approaches. Focal neuromodulation approaches are promising therapeutic options for challenging-to-treat neurological and psychiatric symptoms, but might indirectly or directly affect cognition. In this Review, Rabin et al. describe the cognitive effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation and ablative techniques.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140153407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-12DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00287-z
István Winkler, Susan L. Denham
Sounds are generated by interactions between objects in the world and carry information about the sound’s sources and the objects’ sound-generating actions. This dual nature of auditory information poses a problem for defining and investigating auditory object representations in staged theories of perception. In this Review, we describe a framework for separating auditory source and action representations. Auditory source and action representations differ from each other in how they are formed, their relation to prediction, the information they carry, how they are experienced and remembered, and the brain responses associated with them. We also suggest that auditory source and action representations are part of event segmentation: structuring information about the environment and what is happening in it. In real life, auditory scenes are resolved together with other modalities, producing an integrated episodic description of the environment. Thus, event segmentation can guide the integration of information from different modalities and mediate the effects of learned knowledge on auditory scene analysis. We end by discussing how these insights offer important advantages for the development of more comprehensive theories and computational models of sound perception in natural scenes. Sounds are generated by interactions between objects in the world. In this Review, Winkler and Denham describe how representations of sources and actions enable humans to segment complex auditory experience into meaningful units.
{"title":"The role of auditory source and action representations in segmenting experience into events","authors":"István Winkler, Susan L. Denham","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00287-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00287-z","url":null,"abstract":"Sounds are generated by interactions between objects in the world and carry information about the sound’s sources and the objects’ sound-generating actions. This dual nature of auditory information poses a problem for defining and investigating auditory object representations in staged theories of perception. In this Review, we describe a framework for separating auditory source and action representations. Auditory source and action representations differ from each other in how they are formed, their relation to prediction, the information they carry, how they are experienced and remembered, and the brain responses associated with them. We also suggest that auditory source and action representations are part of event segmentation: structuring information about the environment and what is happening in it. In real life, auditory scenes are resolved together with other modalities, producing an integrated episodic description of the environment. Thus, event segmentation can guide the integration of information from different modalities and mediate the effects of learned knowledge on auditory scene analysis. We end by discussing how these insights offer important advantages for the development of more comprehensive theories and computational models of sound perception in natural scenes. Sounds are generated by interactions between objects in the world. In this Review, Winkler and Denham describe how representations of sources and actions enable humans to segment complex auditory experience into meaningful units.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140124594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-07DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00296-y
Carles Soriano-Mas
Multifaceted challenges hinder the establishment and growth of psychology research careers in European countries. Improving job security and ensuring fair compensation will increase the quality of research globally and strengthen psychological science.
{"title":"Navigating precarity in clinical and health psychology research","authors":"Carles Soriano-Mas","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00296-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00296-y","url":null,"abstract":"Multifaceted challenges hinder the establishment and growth of psychology research careers in European countries. Improving job security and ensuring fair compensation will increase the quality of research globally and strengthen psychological science.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140076356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-28DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00292-2
Figure support at Nature Reviews Psychology offers a unique opportunity to develop ‘dream figures’ for key concepts. Figure support at Nature Reviews Psychology offers a unique opportunity to develop ‘dream figures’ for key concepts.
{"title":"A figure is worth a thousand words","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00292-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00292-2","url":null,"abstract":"Figure support at Nature Reviews Psychology offers a unique opportunity to develop ‘dream figures’ for key concepts. Figure support at Nature Reviews Psychology offers a unique opportunity to develop ‘dream figures’ for key concepts.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-024-00292-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140009056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-21DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00285-1
Hongbo Yu, Xiaoxue Gao, Bo Shen, Yang Hu, Xiaolin Zhou
Social emotions such as guilt and gratitude serve adaptive functions critical to social interactions and relationships. Therefore, an ecologically valid approach to studying the psychological and neural mechanisms of social emotions is to elicit and measure them in social interactive contexts, where relevant adaptive goals and functions are salient. However, multiple psychological and neurocognitive processes might be simultaneously activated during real-time social interactions: traditional observation-based tasks and self-report measures alone are not sufficient to capture and dissociate these processes. In this Perspective, we draw on Marr’s levels-of-analysis framework to argue that a holistic consideration of the goals and functions of a social emotion (computation level), formal modelling of its underlying cognitive operations (algorithm level), and neuroscientific measures of the biological bases of these cognitive operations (implementation level) will afford the theoretical frameworks and methodological tools necessary to advance understanding of social emotions. To support this argument, we describe research that showcases the utility of creative combinations of interactive tasks, neural and behavioural measures, and computational modelling for advancing understanding of how social emotions arise and achieve their adaptive goals and functions. Social emotions such as guilt and gratitude serve adaptive functions critical to social interactions and relationships. In this Perspective, Yu and colleagues argue that to advance a mechanistic understanding of social emotions, an integrative approach is needed that considers goals and functions, cognitive operations and biological implementation.
{"title":"A levels-of-analysis framework for studying social emotions","authors":"Hongbo Yu, Xiaoxue Gao, Bo Shen, Yang Hu, Xiaolin Zhou","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00285-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00285-1","url":null,"abstract":"Social emotions such as guilt and gratitude serve adaptive functions critical to social interactions and relationships. Therefore, an ecologically valid approach to studying the psychological and neural mechanisms of social emotions is to elicit and measure them in social interactive contexts, where relevant adaptive goals and functions are salient. However, multiple psychological and neurocognitive processes might be simultaneously activated during real-time social interactions: traditional observation-based tasks and self-report measures alone are not sufficient to capture and dissociate these processes. In this Perspective, we draw on Marr’s levels-of-analysis framework to argue that a holistic consideration of the goals and functions of a social emotion (computation level), formal modelling of its underlying cognitive operations (algorithm level), and neuroscientific measures of the biological bases of these cognitive operations (implementation level) will afford the theoretical frameworks and methodological tools necessary to advance understanding of social emotions. To support this argument, we describe research that showcases the utility of creative combinations of interactive tasks, neural and behavioural measures, and computational modelling for advancing understanding of how social emotions arise and achieve their adaptive goals and functions. Social emotions such as guilt and gratitude serve adaptive functions critical to social interactions and relationships. In this Perspective, Yu and colleagues argue that to advance a mechanistic understanding of social emotions, an integrative approach is needed that considers goals and functions, cognitive operations and biological implementation.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139922346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-19DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00290-4
Marika Gobbo
{"title":"Approaching the neuroscience of language","authors":"Marika Gobbo","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00290-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00290-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139909871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-16DOI: 10.1038/s44159-024-00288-y
Andrea L. Howard
Graduate students in psychology need hands-on support to conduct research using quantitative techniques that exceed their curricular training. If supervisors are not willing or able to provide this support, student-led projects must be redesigned to leverage basic statistical skills learned in the classroom. Graduate students in psychology need hands-on support to conduct research using quantitative techniques that exceed their curricular training. Where supervisors are not willing or able to provide this support, student-led projects must be redesigned to leverage basic statistical skills learned in the classroom.
{"title":"Graduate students need more quantitative methods support","authors":"Andrea L. Howard","doi":"10.1038/s44159-024-00288-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44159-024-00288-y","url":null,"abstract":"Graduate students in psychology need hands-on support to conduct research using quantitative techniques that exceed their curricular training. If supervisors are not willing or able to provide this support, student-led projects must be redesigned to leverage basic statistical skills learned in the classroom. Graduate students in psychology need hands-on support to conduct research using quantitative techniques that exceed their curricular training. Where supervisors are not willing or able to provide this support, student-led projects must be redesigned to leverage basic statistical skills learned in the classroom.","PeriodicalId":74249,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139769151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}