Decision making is often necessary before performing an action. Traditionally, it has been assumed that decision making and motor control are independent, sequential processes. challenge this view, and demonstrate that the decision-making process significantly impacts on the formation and retrieval of motor memory by tagging it with the level of confidence.

While decision theories have evolved over the past five decades, their focus has largely been on choices among a limited number of discrete options, even though many real-world situations have a continuous-option space. Recently, theories have attempted to address decisions with continuous-option spaces, and several computational models have been proposed within the sequential sampling framework to

For decades, cognitive scientists have debated what kind of representation might characterize human concepts. Whatever the format of the representation, it must allow for the computation of varied properties, including similarities, features, categories, definitions, and relations. It must also support the development of theories, categories, and knowledge of procedures. Here, we discuss why vector-based

People regularly encounter various types of conflict. Here, we ask if, and, if so, how, different types of conflict, from lab-based Stroop conflicts to everyday-life self-control or moral conflicts, are related to one other. We present a framework that assumes that action–goal representations are hierarchically organized, ranging from concrete actions to abstract goals. The framework’s key assumption

Cognitive impairments are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD). We have linked this deficit to attenuated midfrontal 1–8-Hz activity that fails to engage cortical cognitive networks. We discuss the consequences of these impairments and how they might be leveraged for PD-specific neurophysiological markers and for novel brain stimulation paradigms.

Online communication is central to modern social life, yet it is often linked to toxic manifestations and reduced well-being. How and why online communication enables these toxic social effects remains unanswered. In this opinion, we propose three roots of online toxicity: disembodiment, limited accountability, and disinhibition. We suggest that virtual disembodiment results in a chain of psychological

Emerging evidence highlights the importance of metacognition – the capacity for insight into the reliability and fallibility of our own knowledge and thought – in politically contested domains. The present synthesis elucidates why metacognition matters in politically charged contexts and its potential impact on how individuals form beliefs, process evidence, and make decisions.

The brain exhibits a remarkable ability to learn and execute context-appropriate behaviors. How it achieves such flexibility, without sacrificing learning efficiency, is an important open question. Neuroscience, psychology, and engineering suggest that reusing and repurposing computations are part of the answer. Here, we review evidence that thalamocortical architectures may have evolved to facilitate

Disputes between rival theories of consciousness have often centered on whether perceptual contents can be decoded from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Failures to decode from the PFC are taken to challenge ‘cognitive’ theories of consciousness such as the global workspace theory and higher-order monitoring theories, and decoding successes have been taken to confirm these theories. However, PFC decoding

Creativity often entails gaining a novel perspective, yet it remains uncertain how this is accomplished. Atypical salience processing may foster creative thinking by prioritizing putatively irrelevant information, thereby broadening the material accessible for idea generation and inhibiting attentional fixedness; in essence, motivating creative individuals to incorporate information that others overlook

There is a major gap in our understanding of how childhood social isolation causes adult social dysfunction. To stimulate future developmental mechanistic studies, we present two conceptual models which highlight that isolation can disrupt developmental events that are concurrent (social deprivation model) or subsequent (developmental mismatch model) to adverse experience.

Humans have a protracted postnatal helplessness period, typically attributed to human-specific maternal constraints causing an early birth when the brain is highly immature. By aligning neurodevelopmental events across species, however, it has been found that humans are not born with especially immature brains compared with animal species with a shorter helpless period. Consistent with this, the rapidly

We propose a computational framework for high-dimensional brain–body states as transient embodiments of nested internal and external dynamics governed by interoception. Unifying recent theoretical work, we suggest ways to reduce arbitrary state complexity to an observable number of features in order to accurately predict and intervene in pathological trajectories.

Understanding why individuals are more confident of the existence of invisible scientific phenomena (e.g., oxygen) than invisible religious phenomena (e.g., God) remains a puzzle. Departing from conventional explanations linking ontological beliefs to direct experience, we introduce a model positing that testimony predominantly shapes beliefs in both scientific and religious domains. Distinguishing

Behavior is guided by the compatibility of expectations based on past experience and the outcome. In a recent study, report that absolute prediction error (PE)-related heart-evoked potentials (HEPs) differ according to the cardiac cycle phase at outcome, and that the magnitude of this effect positively correlates with reward learning in healthy adults.

investigated the effects of haloperidol, a D2/D3 dopamine antagonist, on social attributions. Using computational modeling, they demonstrate that haloperidol increases belief flexibility, reducing paranoia-like interpretations by enhancing sensitivity to social context and reducing self-relevant perspective taking, offering a mechanistic explanation for its therapeutic potential in schizophrenia.

Nonmedical use of psychostimulants for cognitive enhancement is widespread and growing in neurotypical individuals, despite mixed scientific evidence of their effectiveness. Sleep benefits cognition, yet the interaction between stimulants, sleep, and cognition in neurotypical adults has received little attention. We propose that one effect of psychostimulants, namely decreased sleep, may play an important

Should policymaking assume humans are irrational? Using empirical, theoretical, and philosophical arguments, we suggest a more useful frame is that human behavior is reasonable. Through identifying goals and systemic factors shaping behavior, we suggest that assuming people are reasonable enables behavioral science to be more effective in shaping public policy.

Our ability to perceive multiple objects is mysterious. Sensory neurons are broadly tuned, producing potential overlap in the populations of neurons activated by each object in a scene. This overlap raises questions about how distinct information is retained about each item. We present a novel signal switching theory of neural representation, which posits that neural signals may interleave representations

Recently, Orhan and Lake demonstrated the computational plausibility that children can acquire sophisticated visual representations from natural input data without inherent biases, challenging the need for innate constraints in human learning. The findings may also reveal crucial properties of early visual learning and inform theories of human visual development.

The motivations to protect oneself and others have often been seen as conflicting. Here, we discuss recent evidence that self-defensive mechanisms may in fact be recruited to enable the helping of others. In some instances, the defensive response to a threat may even be more decisive in promoting helping than the response to a conspecific’s distress (as predicted by empathy-altruism models). In light

Salient objects often capture attention in a purely exogenous way, followed by inhibition of their locations after a period. Yet, the neural circuits underlying the exogenous attention remain underspecified. explore this by uncovering large-scale cortical gradients associated with exogenous attention within the human cortex.

Adolescents growing up in the 21st century face novel challenges that affect today’s adolescents differently compared with previous generations. Adolescents’ prosocial values and social engagement can contribute in unique ways to combatting societal challenges. Participatory research provides tools to transform adolescents’ prosocial motivations into drivers for societal change.

Many human behavioral and brain imaging studies have used narratively structured stimuli (e.g., written, audio, or audiovisual stories) to better emulate real-world experience in the laboratory. However, narratives are a special class of real-world experience, largely defined by their causal connections across time. Much contemporary neuroscience research does not consider this key property. We review

Concepts of empathy, sympathy and compassion are often confused in a variety of literatures. This article proposes a pattern-theoretic approach to distinguishing compassion from empathy and sympathy. Drawing on psychology, Western philosophy, affective neuroscience, and contemplative science, we clarify the nature of compassion as a specific pattern of dynamically related factors that include physiological

A central challenge for cognitive science is to explain how abstract concepts are acquired from limited experience. This has often been framed in terms of a dichotomy between connectionist and symbolic cognitive models. Here, we highlight a recently emerging line of work that suggests a novel reconciliation of these approaches, by exploiting an inductive bias that we term the relational bottleneck

Humans and other primates skillfully navigate the complex cognitive interplay of cooperative behaviors. However, the neural resources we rely on to do so are poorly understood. found that neuronal activity in a visual-frontal domain general cortical network is shaped during the training of a cooperative behavior to highlight relevant sensory inputs.

To not only survive, but also thrive, the brain must efficiently orchestrate distributed computation across space and time. This requires hierarchical organisation facilitating fast information transfer and processing at the lowest possible metabolic cost. Quantifying brain hierarchy is difficult but can be estimated from the asymmetry of information flow. Thermodynamics has successfully characterised

used an iterative rhythm reproduction paradigm with listeners from around the world to provide evidence for both rhythm universals (simple-integer ratios 1:1 and 2:1) and cross-cultural variation for specific rhythmic categories that can be linked to local music traditions in different regions of the world.

Beta oscillations are linked to the control of goal-directed processing of sensory information and the timing of motor output. Recent evidence demonstrates they are not sustained but organized into intermittent high-power bursts mediating timely functional inhibition. This implies there is a considerable moment-to-moment variation in the neural dynamics supporting cognition. Beta bursts thus offer

Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have driven interest in its potential application for lie detection. Unfortunately, the current approaches have primarily focused on technical aspects at the expense of a solid methodological and theoretical foundation. We discuss the implications thereof and offer recommendations for the development and regulation of AI-based deception detection.

In a recent paper, computed information and semantic density measures for hundreds of languages, and showed that these measures predict the pace and breadth of ideas in communication. Here, we summarize their key findings and situate them in a broader debate about the adaptive nature of language.

Humans often pursue idiosyncratic goals that appear remote from functional ends, including information gain. We suggest that this is valuable because goals (even prima facie foolish or unachievable ones) contain structured information that scaffolds thinking and planning. By evaluating hypotheses and plans with respect to their goals, humans can discover new ideas that go beyond prior knowledge and

There is ample evidence of wave-like activity in the brain at multiple scales and levels. This emerging literature supports the broader adoption of a wave perspective of brain activity. Specifically, a brain state can be described as a set of recurring, sequential patterns of propagating brain activity, namely a wave. We examine a collective body of experimental work investigating wave-like properties

Working memory (WM) is a fundamental aspect of cognition. WM maintenance is classically thought to rely on stable patterns of neural activities. However, recent evidence shows that neural population activities during WM maintenance undergo dynamic variations before settling into a stable pattern. Although this has been difficult to explain theoretically, neural network models optimized for WM typically

This article introduces a theoretical model of truth and honesty from a psychological perspective. We examine its application in political discourse and discuss empirical findings distinguishing between conceptions of honesty and their influence on public perception, misinformation dissemination, and the integrity of democracy.

Arousal level is thought to be a key determinant of variability in cognitive performance. In a recent study, show that peak performance in decision-making tasks is reached at moderate levels of arousal. They also propose a neurobiologically informed computational model that can explain the inverted-U-shaped relationship.

One major challenge of neuroscience is identifying structure in seemingly disorganized neural activity. Different types of structure have different computational implications that can help neuroscientists understand the functional role of a particular brain area. Here, we outline a unified approach to characterize structure by inspecting the representational geometry and the modularity properties of

The vividness of imagery varies between individuals. However, the existence of people in whom conscious, wakeful imagery is markedly reduced, or absent entirely, was neglected by psychology until the recent coinage of 'aphantasia' to describe this phenomenon. 'Hyperphantasia' denotes the converse – imagery whose vividness rivals perceptual experience. Around 1% and 3% of the population experience extreme

Neural analyses of response inhibition rely on separating trials with and without a behavioral response. Can researchers be sure the absence of a behavioral outcome equates to the presence of inhibitory control? We emphasize advancing response inhibition research by utilizing peripheral measures of response progress to define behavioral stopping contrasts.

The sense of agency, which refers to the subjective feeling of control, is an essential aspect of self-consciousness. We argue that distinguishing between the sensitivity and criterion of this feeling is important for discussing individual differences in the sense of agency and its connections with other cognitive functions.

Large language models (LLMs) have come closest among all models to date to mastering human language, yet opinions about their linguistic and cognitive capabilities remain split. Here, we evaluate LLMs using a distinction between formal linguistic competence (knowledge of linguistic rules and patterns) and functional linguistic competence (understanding and using language in the world). We ground this

Teenagers have a reputation for being fickle, in both their choices and their moods. This variability may help adolescents as they begin to independently navigate novel environments. Recently, however, adolescent moodiness has also been linked to psychopathology. Here, we consider adolescents’ mood swings from a novel computational perspective, grounded in reinforcement learning (RL). This model proposes

Which systems/organisms are conscious? New tests for consciousness (‘C-tests’) are urgently needed. There is persisting uncertainty about when consciousness arises in human development, when it is lost due to neurological disorders and brain injury, and how it is distributed in nonhuman species. This need is amplified by recent and rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI), neural organoids

The social world is inherently uncertain. We present a computational framework for thinking about how increasingly popular online environments modulate the social uncertainty we experience, depending on the type of social inferences we make. This framework draws on Bayesian inference, which involves combining multiple informational sources to update our beliefs.

In what sense does a large language model (LLM) have knowledge? We answer by granting LLMs ‘instrumental knowledge’: knowledge gained by using next-word generation as an instrument. We then ask how instrumental knowledge is related to the ordinary, ‘worldly knowledge’ exhibited by humans, and explore this question in terms of the degree to which instrumental knowledge can be said to incorporate the

How do passing moments turn into lasting memories? Sheltered from external tasks and distractions, sleep constitutes an optimal state for the brain to reprocess and consolidate previous experiences. Recent work suggests that consolidation is governed by the intricate interaction of slow oscillations (SOs), spindles, and ripples – electrophysiological sleep rhythms that orchestrate neuronal processing

Higher levels of physical activity are known to benefit aspects of brain health across the lifespan. However, the role of sedentary behavior (SB) is less well understood. In this review we summarize and discuss evidence on the role of SB on brain health (including cognitive performance, structural or functional brain measures, and dementia risk) for different age groups, critically compare assessment

Anhedonia is a reduction in enjoyment, motivation, or interest. It is common across mental health disorders and a harbinger of poor treatment outcomes. The enjoyment aspect, termed ‘consummatory anhedonia’, in particular poses fundamental questions about how the brain constructs rewards: what processes determine how intensely a reward is experienced? Here, we outline limitations of existing computational

In humans and other animals, individuals can actively respond to the specific needs of others. However, the neural circuits supporting helping behaviors are underspecified. In recent work, identified a new role for the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the encoding and regulation of targeted helping behavior (allolicking) in mice.

What drives our curiosity remains an elusive and hotly debated issue, with multiple hypotheses proposed but a cohesive account yet to be established. This review discusses traditional and emergent theories that frame curiosity as a desire to know and a drive to learn, respectively. We adopt a model-based approach that maps the temporal dynamics of various factors underlying curiosity-based exploration

Despite a constant deluge of sensory stimulation, only a fraction of it is used to guide behavior. This selective processing is generally referred to as attention, and much research has focused on the neural mechanisms controlling it. Recently, research has broadened to include more ways by which different species selectively process sensory information, whether due to the sensory input itself or to

Scholars have argued for centuries that affective states involve interoception, or representations of the state of the body. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of how signals from the body are transduced, transmitted, compressed, and integrated by the brains of humans to produce affective states. We suggest that to understand how the body contributes to affect, we first need to understand information

We explore meta-perceptions (i.e., what we think others think about reality), their impact on intergroup conflict, and the interventions correcting these often-erroneous perceptions. We introduce a two (direct or indirect) by two (with or without framing) framework classifying these interventions, and we critically assess the benefits and constraints of these approaches.

Is the role of our sensory systems to represent the physical world as accurately as possible? If so, are our preferences and emotions, often deemed irrational, decoupled from these 'ground-truth' sensory experiences? We show why the answer to both questions is 'no'. Brain function is metabolically costly, and the brain loses some fraction of the information that it encodes and transmits. Therefore