Psychological Science

Visual working memory (vWM) is often linked to conscious experience and visual imagery, but it is typically described as a system that stores separate, independent items. These assumptions are difficult to reconcile, given the unified nature of conscious experience. Here, we test the hypothesis that vWM relies on at least two distinct representations: an underlying, unconscious memory trace and a consciously accessible, integrated representation. A total of 216 participants performed a change-detection task, in which they rated their perceptual awareness of the memory display during the maintenance interval. Critically, we manipulated the statistical properties of the displays (average item size and size variability) to probe sensitivity to unified ensemble-level structure. Results revealed a dissociation between subjective and objective measures. Perceptual awareness increased for displays with larger, more variable items, whereas objective performance improved for displays with smaller, less variable items. Despite this difference, subjective awareness still predicted performance, and even incorrect responses showed consistent biases rather than random guesses. Importantly, individual differences in imagery vividness (VVIQ) were selectively associated with subjective awareness and estimation bias, but not with objective correctness. These precision biases were further shaped by display statistics, suggesting that multiple representations can guide behavior. Together, our findings support a reinterpretation of vWM performance in which task responses can draw on both unconscious and consciously accessible representations. One possible explanation for these behavioral patterns is that subjective experience reflects integrated, ensemble-like representations, while objective performance depends more strongly on item-specific information. Public significance statementsWorking memory allows us to temporarily hold and use information, and differences in this ability are closely linked to broader cognitive skills such as intelligence. This study shows that these differences may not depend only on how much information people can store, but also on how they experience it: some individuals appear to rely more on consciously accessible, image-like representations, especially when memory is uncertain or prone to error. By demonstrating that subjective experience and the vividness of imagery can shape behavior independently of objective accuracy, these findings suggest that how we use memory may be as important as how much we can store, with implications for understanding individual differences in cognition.

Population fertility patterns are closely linked to socioeconomic inequality, with educational attainment (EA) being a key predictor of completed fertility. While EA is partially heritable, the extent to which EA-associated genetic variation relates to fertility independently of education remains unclear, particularly outside Western European and North American populations. Using data from [~]40,000 women and [~]10,000 men in the Estonian Biobank, we examine sex-specific associations between EA polygenic scores (PGSEA) and completed fertility. We extend prior work by distinguishing cognitive and non-cognitive EA components, accounting for age at first pregnancy (AFP), and applying within-family analyses to assess the role of direct genetic effects. Among women, PGSEA is negatively associated with fertility, with a significantly stronger association for the non-cognitive than the cognitive EA polygenic score. The association between PGSEAand fertility is moderated by EA and changes sign across AFP strata, from negative among women with earlier AFP to positive among those with later AFP. Importantly, this association is not attenuated in within-family models, consistent with a predominant role of direct genetic effects. Among men, associations are weak or slightly positive and stable across education groups. Overall, EA-related genetic variation is associated with fertility through pathways that appear largely independent of educational attainment, suggesting that shared genetic influences operate through multiple mechanisms that differ by sex and reproductive timing. SignificanceEducational attainment is closely linked to completed fertility, yet the mechanisms behind this relationship remain not fully understood. Using a population-based cohort from Estonia, we show that genetic variants associated with education relate to fertility in markedly different ways for women and men and that these associations cannot be explained by education level alone. Differences between cognitive and non-cognitive education-related genetic components further point to multiple life-course pathways linking genetics and reproduction. Family-based analyses suggest that these associations are largely consistent with direct genetic effects and not driven by correlated family environments. Together, our findings suggest that education-related genetic variation shapes fertility through multiple sex-specific and life-course-dependent pathways, rather than acting solely through educational attainment.

Confirmation bias impacts judgments and decisions across a range of domains including finance, policy and science. Here we examine whether explicitly labelling information as true or false disrupts a core underlying computational mechanism that can generate this pervasive bias - asymmetric learning. Human participants (Study 1: N=47; Study 2: N=57) completed a 2 alternative forced choice (2AFC) task previously used to test for the presence of confirmation bias. Participants made choices between pairs of options that could win or lose money and received either factual or counterfactual feedback after each choice. We introduced a key novel feature into the task - providing explicit cues that signalled to participants whether feedback they had seen was true (verified) or false (debunked). Learning in response to feedback was attenuated under false compared to true labels but was present under both. Fitting participants choices to computational models enabled us to examine how sensitivity to the feedback varied as a function of both the label (true/false) and confirmation (confirmatory/disconfirmatory). This revealed a distinct pattern of learning rates typical of confirmation bias (enhanced learning from positive prediction errors for chosen options and from negative prediction errors for unchosen options) in response to both true and false labels. The findings highlight how confirmation bias plays an important role in the effectiveness of interventions designed to verify true and/or debunk false claims. Verification is less likely to succeed when information disconfirms prior beliefs. Conversely, debunking false claims is unlikely to succeed when the information confirms ones prior beliefs.

Goal-directed behavior often requires sustained effort across a sequence of interdependent decisions, yet the determinants of persistence in such contexts remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated how individuals regulate persistence in a novel sequential effort-based task in which they controlled an avatar through successive checkpoints to reach a final goal and could make repeated attempts following failure. At each attempt, participants could choose either to persist in the same task or to disengage toward an easier but less rewarding alternative. We found that decisions to persist or disengage were jointly shaped by multiple interacting factors. Disengagement increased with task difficulty and lower skill level. It also increased with repeated attempts and time-on-task, indexing fatigue, and with accumulated errors, indexing lack of progress. Conversely, proximity to the goal promoted persistence and shaped decision dynamics by reducing choice conflict during persistence decisions and increasing hesitation during disengagement near the goal. Notably, clearing the first checkpoint produced a sharp increase in persistence, suggesting that early success plays a pivotal role. Furthermore, persistence reflected both retrospective and prospective evaluations of effort, with prior investment promoting commitment and anticipated effort reducing it. Finally, disengagement was preceded by short-term performance decline but not by gradual increases in decision conflict, suggesting relatively abrupt strategy shifts following repeated failures. Together, these findings provide a comprehensive account of persistence in sequential effortful tasks, showing that decisions to persist or disengage are jointly shaped by multiple factors related to fatigue, (lack of) progress, goal proximity, and early success.

Saccades made during memory maintenance prioritize memory for the saccade target, but it is unclear if this benefit is specific to a location or extends across memorized objects. In three experiments, we examined whether saccadic selection spreads to other locations within the same object. In Experiment 1, we asked observers to remember three oriented Gabors presented either within contour-defined objects or without object structure. A subsequent movement cue prompted observers to move their eyes to the indicated location. We then probed memory for stimuli at locations equidistant from the saccade target, in either the same or a different object. Memory was best for stimuli at locations congruent with the saccade target, and consistently weaker for other stimuli presented in the same or a different object than the saccade target. In Experiment 2, we created more complex objects by adding more object features to the stimulus. Again, memory performance was best for stimuli congruent with the saccade target location, whereas memory in incongruent trials was worse and similar for stimuli in the same and different object as the saccade target. In Experiment 3, we tested if saccadic selection is present and propagates within the object in a change detection task. Again, memory performance (i.e., change detection) was best at the saccade target location. However, this memory benefit also spread to other locations within the same object. Our results imply that saccadic selection in visual working memory is primarily space-based but can also spread towards locations within the object where a saccade was directed.

We study how confidence in perceptual decisions depends on whether it is communicated verbally (e.g., "very likely") or numerically (e.g., "80% certainty"). We find that verbal expressions more reliably distinguish correct from incorrect choices than numerical reports, challenging the common assumption that numerical probabilities provide more precise representations of uncertainty. Additionally, in a dyadic decision-making task in which participants can revise their initial reports based on a partners choice and expressed confidence, verbal and numerical reports are equally effective in supporting accurate revisions of initial judgments. Together, these results underscore the effectiveness of verbal expressions as a means of conveying decision confidence.

Fairness decisions often integrate affective responses within a social context, yet emotion regulation in this literature has been largely studied as a self-directed process rather than an interpersonal one. We examined how individual differences in other-directed emotion regulation--measured with the Emotion Regulation of Others and Self (EROS) scale--relate to behavioral and neural responses during fairness decisions in 138 adults completing a variant of the Ultimatum Game with human and computer partners during fMRI. Behaviorally, participants who more strongly endorsed worsening others emotions rejected unfair offers more frequently, and this tendency interacted with offer fairness to amplify rejection of unfair offers. At the neural level, the left anterior insula tracked offer unfairness more strongly in social versus nonsocial contexts, consistent with sociality modulating the neural encoding of fairness. Right dlPFC activation during socially unfair offers was greater among individuals who preferred to improve others emotions. Connectivity analyses revealed that social fairness sensitivity predicted stronger amygdala-orbitofrontal and amygdala-dmPFC coupling; the latter was further amplified among individuals higher in other-directed emotion worsening. Together, these findings identify interpersonal emotion regulation as an understudied source of variation in the affective and prefrontal systems supporting fairness-based social decisions.

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibit high clinical overlap, but categorical diagnostic boundaries obscure their shared, dynamic physiological vulnerabilities during real-world sensory processing. Methods: We analyzed multimodal eye-tracking synchrony in a large transdiagnostic pediatric cohort (N = 2,026) during naturalistic viewing of four distinct media paradigms. A novel 2D complex correlation framework captured gaze inter-subject correlation (ISC) magnitude and spatiotemporal phase divergence, while 1D pupil ISC measured autonomic arousal synchrony. Linear models evaluated dimensional (RDoC) and categorical (2x2 ANCOVA) diagnostic frameworks alongside rigorous medication and severity controls. Results: Dimensional models revealed a domain-general vulnerability: autistic traits independently predicted widespread reductions across gaze synchrony in all media contexts, and pupillary synchrony in narrative-driven contexts, whereas continuous ADHD traits showed minimal independent effects. In contrast, severe spatiotemporal misalignment (phase divergence) did not scale dimensionally but emerged strictly at clinical boundaries, reflecting highly idiosyncratic spatial locking in isolated ASD. Furthermore, categorical models demonstrated a robust, non-additive interaction: the clinical co-occurrence of ADHD paradoxically buffered against this severe spatiotemporal decoupling. Crucially, this protective phenotype was localized strictly to character-driven social narratives and remained highly significant after rigorously adjusting for daily stimulant medication, outlier instability, and baseline autism trait severity. Conclusions: These findings validate model-free physiological synchrony as a candidate transdiagnostic biomarker. Rather than compounding impairment, comorbid ASD and ADHD reflect competing, non-additive neurocognitive strategies that yield distinct, context-dependent visual phenotypes.

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the slowing of response times (RTs) for stimuli presented at previously inspected locations relative to novel locations. However, the exact processing stage(s) at which IOR occurs, and its nature across different response modalities, remain debated. By reanalyzing RT data from a target-target IOR paradigm with a single noisy accumulator model, we tested whether IOR could occur at sensory or attentional stages of processing, or at later stages of decision and action selection. We considered IOR under two conditions: manual and saccadic responses. The within-trial Gaussian noise parameter best explained both manual and saccadic IOR, suggesting that in both modalities, IOR may result from a more fluctuating accumulation of evidence for repeated locations. These results support the hypothesis that target-target IOR may primarily involve attentional-level mechanisms. Significance statementWe respond more slowly to a stimulus that is presented within a short interval in the same location ("inhibition of return"), a bias thought to promote efficient visual exploration. Using evidence-accumulation modeling of manual and eye-movement reaction times from two previous studies, we found that the key change linked to inhibition of return is greater within-trial variability (noise) in evidence accumulation, not a higher decision threshold. Understanding which processing stage is affected can help connect behavioral effects to the brain networks that support attention and orienting.

Human perception is shaped by both sensory input and prior knowledge or expectations. But how does prior contextual information influence rapid visual processing? Here, we combined eye tracking with feature-based encoding models across two experiments to predict detection latencies in a core visual task: rapid face detection in natural scenes (N = 38 per experiment). In the first experiment, we manipulated the presence of faceless scene previews. In the second experiment, we additionally restricted peripheral visual input using a moving-window paradigm, thereby increasing reliance on prior information. Across both experiments, prior context facilitated face detection, particularly for challenging images. This facilitation was already evident in the very first eye movement, suggesting that previews shape perceptual strategies from the outset. To quantify what information guided behavior, we modeled detection latencies using a set of image-based predictors capturing (i) sensory information and (ii) a scene-derived spatial prior: the expected face location. Both predictor classes explained latency variation across images. Among sensory predictors, the difference in deep neural network responses induced by the presence of the face provided the strongest out-of-sample prediction of detection latency. Critically, when scene previews were available, the contribution of the spatial prior increased, while reliance on sensory-driven features was generally reduced. Together, these findings indicate that prior scene context shifts the balance of information used for rapid face detection from sensory-driven to expectation-based spatial guidance.

Humans comprehend language incrementally, updating the representation of sentence meaning with each incoming word. These updates are guided by the distance between each perceived word and prior expectations--the prediction error. The alignment between large language models (LLMs) and cortical activity inspires the hypothesis that the cortical computation of prediction error is Surface-based, driven by statistical patterns of word form co-occurrence. In contrast, psycholinguistic models propose that prediction error computation is Meaning-based, driven by word semantics. We used polysemic words with ambiguous semantics to distinguish these models: ambiguity would introduce uncertainty into meaning representations and hence the prediction error, if Meaning-based, but would not affect the prediction error, if Surface-based. We examined how ambiguity influenced prediction error signatures in self-paced reading times and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) neural responses during sentence processing. While an LLM-based proxy of prediction error robustly predicted reading times and neural responses to unambiguous words, it failed to predict either under ambiguity. That is, prediction error computation was altered by uncertainty in word meaning, which supports the Meaning-based model and corroborates the essential role of word meaning in predictive language processing. Our findings highlight an important limitation of LLMs as in silico models of the human language faculty.

The willingness to exert cognitive effort is essential but is constrained by the subjective cost of effort. Although effortful tasks are often avoided, positive bias about ones own performance may help sustain engagement with cognitive demands. Here, participants completed an effort-based decision-making task and reported trial-by-trial predictions of their own performance, allowing us to quantify performance prediction error (PPE) as the discrepancy between subjective and objective accuracy. The results showed that PPE was predominantly positive and increased with effort level, indicating greater overestimation under higher cognitive demands. Using a computational model, we show that choices were best explained by a learning model in which rewarded trials accompanied by positive PPE decreased subsequent sensitivity to effort. A confidence-based control model did not provide a better account of choices, suggesting that this effect was better captured by positive performance bias than by confidence alone. Our findings provide a computational account of how biased self-evaluation may attenuate the subjective cost of cognitive effort and extend the positive bias literature to the task need for cognitive effort.

Studies of visual discrimination in rodents can confound the effects of cue salience with reward value, making it difficult to determine which factor guides choice behavior. We examined this issue by testing how changes in relative salience affect decision dynamics in rats performing a two-alternative forced-choice task in which rats chose between visual cues associated with high or low sucrose rewards. After initial training with high and low luminance cues, we introduced a novel cue of intermediate luminance as a "luminance shift" test. The intermediate luminance cue substituted for either the brighter or dimmer cue and had the same reward value as the cue that it replaced. We found that while rats maintained a preference for the higher-value option, the introduction of a perceptually more similar cue consistently reduced choice preference and eliminated latency differences compared to baseline. Using drift diffusion modeling, we determined that the luminance shifts primarily caused a reduction in the drift rate (the speed of evidence accumulation), reflecting increased difficulty in cue discrimination. This finding suggests that the relative salience of the options determines the efficiency of evidence accumulation in value-based decisions. Furthermore, this effect on drift rate shows a dissociation from our previous work (Palmer et al., 2024), where prefrontal cortex inactivation specifically affected only the decision threshold. Our results demonstrate that relative salience influences deliberation, with low-level perceptual features shaping the computational dynamics of value-based choice. Our findings clarify the distinct contributions of sensory input and prefrontal function in the decision process. Significance StatementThis study reveals that changes in the relative salience of visual stimuli shape the computational dynamics of value-based decisions. We trained rats to make visually guided choices and found that relative differences in the brightness of the stimuli affect how quickly the rats made decisions and how often they chose a higher-value option. Our findings, together with a recent study on the role of the prefrontal cortex in value-guided decisions (Palmer et al., 2024), suggest that separate factors influence choice dynamics in rodents: visual salience affects the speed of deliberation, while prefrontal activity regulates caution. This study helps clarify how sensory and higher cognitive variables relate to the distinct computational components of the decision process.

Background Preterm birth (PTB) rates among Hispanic/Latina individuals in the United States have risen over the past decade. Data suggests this rise may be driven in part by psychosocial stress. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a marker of cumulative cellular aging that shortens under chronic stress, may capture stress-related biological vulnerability, but has not been examined as a potential population-level contributor to PTB in Hispanic/Latina pregnancies. Objective To examine the association between mid-pregnancy maternal LTL and PTB in a population-based Hispanic/Latina cohort. Methods In a case-control study nested within a California singleton birth cohort (n = 436 Hispanic/Latina individuals; 215 PTB, 221 term births), LTL was measured by quantitative PCR from biobank specimens collected from 15 to 20 weeks of gestation. Covariates from linked birth certificate and hospital discharge records were included. Logistic regression estimated ORs and 95% CIs of PTB by LTL examined continuously and by percentile category (<=10th, 11th-89th, >=90th) with and without adjustment for covariates. Results Mean and median LTL did not differ between PTB and term births. LTL at or below the 10th percentile was associated with elevated odds of PTB relative to full-term birth (12.6% versus 4.3%; ORc = 3.2, 95% CI 1.3-7.9), persisting after partial (ORadj1 = 3.2, 95% CI 1.3-8.3) and full covariate adjustment (ORadj2 = 3.4, 95% CI 1.3-9.3). Subgroup analyses showed consistent directional patterns across PTB subgroups and for early term birth (ORadj2 = 5.1, 95% CI 1.5-17.0). Conclusions Mid-pregnancy maternal LTL <=10th percentile was associated with more than three times the odds of PTB, with risk concentrated at the extreme low tail of the distribution. Consistent with a cumulative allostatic load model, markedly short LTL at mid-gestation may reflect elevated stress-related biological risk for preterm delivery. These findings support upstream investment in stress reduction and prospective LTL research in high-burden populations.

Evidence suggests that information represented more reliably in neural activity patterns across repeated exposures is more likely to be remembered. However, this relationship varies across category-selective regions of the ventral visual cortex. Specifically, for house stimuli neural reliability has been robustly linked to memory outcomes in the parahippocampal place area (PPA), but less consistently for faces in the fusiform face area (FFA). The reason for this mismatch is unknown. To address this discrepancy, we implemented a novel within-category manipulation by presenting highly face-like and non-face-like house stimuli during fMRI, followed by a memory test. Non-face-like houses were more likely to be remembered than face-like houses. Although face-likeness did not elicit face-selective responses in the FFA, representational reliability in ventral visual cortices, particularly in the FFA, showed an association with individual differences in memory performance. Finally, symmetry emerged as a potential perceptual factor underlying differences in mnemonic outcomes.

Anhedonia - the diminished capacity to experience or anticipate pleasure - is among the most common consequences of early-life unpredictability, yet how these co-occurring conditions jointly shape real-world decision-making remains unknown. Here, we use a sequential foraging-under-threat task to probe motivational conflict decisions in 357 individuals varying in early-life unpredictability and anhedonia symptoms. We find that unpredictability and anhedonia exert opposing influences on choice: unpredictability shifts behavior away from the survival-optimal policy in a sex-dependent manner, while anhedonia promotes adherence to it, partly through heightened sensitivity to unexpected threatening outcomes. A mediation analysis reveals that anhedonia partially buffers the deleterious effects of unpredictability on decision quality. These results demonstrate that co-occurring conditions can mask one anothers behavioral signatures and suggest that the heterogeneous expression of transdiagnostic constructs like anhedonia may reflect context-dependent adaptations to distinct underlying etiologies.

Developing sensory systems may have heightened sensitivity to exaggerated features that emphasize diagnostic information, as shown by the benefits of infant-directed speech for language acquisition. Here, we examine this sensory exaggeration hypothesis in the visual domain by testing whether cartoons elicit stronger and more consistent neural representations than realistic movies in human infants. We collected fMRI data while 24 awake infants (4-15 months) watched the same 3-minute clip of the opening sequence from the original animated version of The Lion King (1994) and its shot-for-shot remake with photorealistic CGI (2019). A computer vision model confirmed that the movies differed in low-level features while depicting similar high-level content. Consistent with sensory exaggeration, the animated version yielded more reliable neural responses and better decoding of visual features than the CGI version throughout occipital cortex. This effect was not observed in adults nor in higher-order regions in infants and could not be explained by differential head motion or looking time. These results suggest that the developing visual system may be attuned to diagnostic features and that cartoons may (unwittingly) exploit this early neural preference.

Understanding speech in noisy environments (SPIN) is an important everyday ability, and engaging in musical activities has been proposed as a factor that may support this ability. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying a potential musical advantage in SPIN perception remain unclear. Here we investigated whether musical sophistication is associated with better SPIN perception in a large population-based sample, and whether this relationship is mediated by auditory working memory (AWM), verbal working memory (VWM), or non-verbal intelligence. We recruited 203 participants and measured SPIN perception at both word and sentence levels. Musical sophistication was assessed using the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI). AWM was measured using delayed matching of tone frequency or the modulation rate of amplitude modulated white noise, VWM was based on backward digit span task, and non-verbal intelligence used matrix reasoning. Mediation analyses revealed that AWM fully mediated the relationship between musical sophistication and SPIN perception, whereas VWM showed no mediation effect. Non-verbal intelligence showed a partial mediating effect. Additional control analyses using structural equation modelling revealed that the indirect effect through AWM remained significant after accounting for age, hearing thresholds, and non-verbal intelligence. Together, these findings suggest that individuals with greater musical sophistication demonstrate better daily life listening abilities, and that superior auditory working memory may be the key cognitive mechanism underlying this advantage.

The sensory content and temporal structure of stimuli have been shown to consistently bias duration perception. Temporal intervals filled with continuous sensory input ("filled intervals"), are often perceived as lasting longer than intervals marked only by their onset and offset ("empty intervals"). Despite this robust behavioral finding, it remains unclear whether filled and empty intervals rely on similar or distinct neural mechanisms and, more generally, how sensory format shapes the neural processing of millisecond time. To address this question, we asked twenty-one healthy participants to reproduce visual durations across different stimulus configurations while high-density scalp EEG was recorded. Behavioral results revealed differences in performance across stimulus configurations. Event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded at occipito-parietal and fronto-central electrodes between 0.1 and 0.4 s after duration offset were modulated in amplitude by both stimulus duration and format. These modulations scaled with the sensory load of the stimulus and its duration, suggesting a common underlying mechanism. A Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) of the ERP data showed that perceived time was represented more strongly than physical time particularly at occipito-parietal electrodes, but only within the 0.2-0.3 s post-offset window, where stimulus format exerted a pronounced effect on the ERP signal. These findings highlight the role of sensory processing in shaping duration perception and its neural coding, and reveal an early neural signature of perceived time in occipito-parietal electrodes. 1 Significance statementOur perception of subsecond durations is distorted by the sensory content of stimuli. Here, we investigated how stimulus configuration shapes the neural correlates of visual duration perception. Specifically, we asked whether temporal intervals filled with continuous sensory input are processed differently from those lacking such content. We found that, between 0.2 and 0.3 s after interval offset, ERP amplitudes were modulated by stimulus content, and in this same temporal window the EEG signal reflected the perceptual bias. These findings support the view that duration processing and perception are deeply rooted in sensory processing.

Does attention operate within afterimages? Here we show that it does, using a novel pupillometry-based paradigm. Participants fixated centrally while bright and dark peripheral stimuli were presented, and a central cue directed attention to one of them. Over time, the stimuli perceptually faded due to adaptation and were then removed, leaving strong, negative afterimages. We found that pupil size tracked the brightness of the attended stimulus both during perceptual fading, when stimuli were present but perceptually weakened, and during perception of afterimages, when no physical stimuli were present. In the latter case, pupil size reflected the brightness of the negative afterimage rather than the preceding physical stimulus. This finding shows that covert attention can be directed within afterimages. More broadly, the results suggest that attention to afterimages bridges the gap between external and internal attention, challenging the notion of a strict dichotomy and supporting the view that this distinction is better understood as a continuum.