Neural specialization with generalizable representations underlies children's cognitive development of attention
Am Psychol. 2024 Feb 1. doi: 10.1037/amp0001283. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTFrom childhood to adulthood, the human brain develops highly specialized yet interacting neural modules that give rise to nuanced attention and other cognitive functions. Each module can specialize over development to support specific functions, yet also coexist in multiple neurobiological modes to support distinct processes. Advances in cognitive neuroscience have conceptualized human attention as a set of cognitive processes anchored in highly specialized yet interacting neural systems. The underlying mechanisms of how these systems interplay ...
Source: The American Psychologist - February 1, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Lei Hao Siya Peng Ying Zhou Xu Chen Jiang Qiu Wenbo Luo Liping Zhuang Jiahua Xu Yanpei Wang Haowen Su Haoran Guan Jing Luo Shuping Tan Jia-Hong Gao Yong He Tanya M Evans Jin Fan Sha Tao Qi Dong Shaozheng Qin Source Type: research
William R. Safarjan (1943-2023)
This article memorializes William R. Safarjan (1943-2023). Dr. Safarjan spent much of his career working as a clinical psychologist for the California Department of State Hospitals at Atascadero State Hospital, 1984-2009. During his professional career, Dr. Safarjan served in many roles with the California Psychological Association, including president in 1998, liaison to the California Psychological Association, and membership chair and chair of the research political action committee. He served as vice chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) membership committee, chair of the APA committee of state leaders,...
Source: The American Psychologist - February 1, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Erin Safarjan Karen Sheppard Source Type: research
The free will capacity: A uniquely human adaption
Am Psychol. 2024 Feb 1. doi: 10.1037/amp0001296. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHerein, I characterize free will (FW) is an evolved functional capacity within the mature human mind, which provides us with numerous adaptive benefits. The FW capacity was selected for because it enables us to respond effectively to momentary contingencies, via on-the-spot deliberation. But FW also extricates us from the present moment, enabling us to generate and decide between imagined long-term futures. Based upon a compatibilist philosophical definition of FW, I present a creative process model of how the FW capacity works, the goal breakth...
Source: The American Psychologist - February 1, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kennon M Sheldon Source Type: research
WEIRD-Confucian comparisons: Ongoing cultural biases in psychology's evidence base and some recommendations for improving global representation
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan 25. doi: 10.1037/amp0001298. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe realization that most behavioral science research focuses on cultures labeled as WEIRD-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (Arnett, 2008; Henrich et al., 2010; Thalmayer et al., 2021)-has given an impetus to extend the research to more diverse populations. Confucian East Asian societies have relatively strong social and technological infrastructure to advance science and thus have gained much prominence in cross-cultural studies. This has inadvertently fostered another bias: the dominance of WEIRD-Confucian comparisons a...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 25, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kuba Krys Igor de Almeida Arkadiusz Wasiel Vivian L Vignoles Source Type: research
I forgot that you existed: Role of memory accessibility in the gender citation gap
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan 25. doi: 10.1037/amp0001299. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTRecent studies have found a citation gap in psychology favoring men. This citation gap is subsequently reflected in differences in h-index scores, a crude measure but important one for impact on career advancement. We examine a potential reason for the gap: that male researchers are more likely to come to mind than female researchers (i.e., a difference in memory accessibility). In a survey, faculty from psychology departments in R1 institutions in the United States listed up to five names they considered experts in their field and up to five n...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 25, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Veronica X Yan Katherine Muenks Marlone D Henderson Source Type: research
Approaching psychology's current crises by exploring the vagueness of psychological concepts: Recommendations for advancing the discipline
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan 25. doi: 10.1037/amp0001300. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPsychology is currently facing a multilayered crisis stemming from the fact that the results of many psychological studies cannot be replicated (replication crisis), that psychological research has neglected cross-cultural and cross-temporal variation (universality crisis), and that many psychological theories are ill-developed and underspecified (theory crisis). In the present article, we use ideas derived from debates in theoretical and philosophical psychology as a basis for responding to all three crises. In short, we claim that psychologic...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 25, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Fabian Hutmacher David J Franz Source Type: research
Ethical challenges in the use of digital technologies in psychological science: Introduction to the special issue
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):1-8. doi: 10.1037/amp0001286.ABSTRACTDigital technologies are pervasive in every aspect of our daily lives. The proliferation of such technologies has also influenced the conduct of biomedical, behavioral, and social research. The articles in this special issue provide illustrative examples of the range of applications of digital technologies in psychological science research across a variety of populations. They highlight ethical, legal, and social issues that emerge when digital technologies are employed in psychological science research in the current era of rapid technological change, increas...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Leah L Light Sangeeta Panicker Lise Abrams Jina Huh-Yoo Source Type: research
Ethical applications of digital community-based research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families
We describe and apply four research frameworks-community-based participatory research, transdisciplinary team science, representational ethics, and cross-cultural psychology-that can be integrated to offer practical solutions to ethical challenges in digital research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families. Then, as an illustration, we provide a case example of this approach using the Food, Culture, and Health Study conducted with Black Jamaican American and Somali American youth and families, who experience tridimensional acculturation due to their race and have been disproportionately impacted by the dual pan...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: H R Hodges Sarah Gillespie Fernanda Da Silva Cherubini Salma A Ibrahim Hattie Gibson Anisa M Ali Daad Susan Lycett Davis Saida M Abdi Vanisa Senesathith None Food Culture And Health Study Data Collection Team Gail M Ferguson Source Type: research
Navigating ethical challenges in psychological research involving digital remote technologies and people who use alcohol or drugs
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):24-38. doi: 10.1037/amp0001193.ABSTRACTDigital and remote technologies (DRT) are increasingly being used in scientific investigations to objectively measure human behavior during day-to-day activities. Using these devices, psychologists and other behavioral scientists can investigate health risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use, by closely examining the causes and consequences of monitored behaviors as they occur naturalistically. There are, however, complex ethical issues that emerge when using DRT methodologies in research with people who use substances. These issues must be identified a...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Walter Roberts Sherry A McKee Robert Miranda Nancy P Barnett Source Type: research
Ethical considerations in using sensors to remotely assess pediatric health behaviors
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):39-51. doi: 10.1037/amp0001196.ABSTRACTSensors, including accelerometer-based and electronic adherence monitoring devices, have transformed health data collection. Sensors allow for unobtrusive, real-time sampling of health behaviors that relate to psychological health, including sleep, physical activity, and medication-taking. These technical strengths have captured scholarly attention, with far less discussion about the level of human touch involved in implementing sensors. Researchers face several subjective decision points when collecting health data via sensors, with these decisions posing e...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Alexandra M Psihogios Sara King-Dowling Jonathan A Mitchell Meghan E McGrady Ariel A Williamson Source Type: research
The use of GNSS technology in smartphones to collect sensitive data on human mobility practices: Ethical challenges and potential solutions
This article examines how such research raises novel ethical concerns. To do so, we outline two research projects: one based in Northern Ireland (The Belfast Mobility Project) and the other in Chile (The Norm-Contact Mobility Project), drawing concrete examples of the ethical challenges encountered throughout both projects, which used global navigational satellite systems as a tool for data collection. We discuss new threats to participant confidentiality and anonymity, problems of "unanticipated" data collection and exploitation, emerging difficulties in achieving properly informed consent, and concerns regarding the repr...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Roberto Gonz ález Siugmin Lay Jonathan Huck John Dixon Source Type: research
Attitudes among the Australian public toward AI and CCTV in suicide prevention research: A mixed methods study
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):65-78. doi: 10.1037/amp0001215.ABSTRACTResearch is underway exploring the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) for suicide prevention research in public locations where suicides occur. Given the sensitive nature and potential implications of this research, this study explored ethical concerns the public may have about research of this nature. Developed based on the principle of respect, a survey was administered to a representative sample of 1,096 Australians to understand perspectives on the research. The sample was aged 18 and older, 53% female, and 9...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Rebecca C Hardy Kate Glastonbury Sandersan Onie Natasha Josifovski Adam Theobald Mark E Larsen Source Type: research
A framework for language technologies in behavioral research and clinical applications: Ethical challenges, implications, and solutions
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):79-91. doi: 10.1037/amp0001195.ABSTRACTTechnological advances in the assessment and understanding of speech and language within the domains of automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning present a remarkable opportunity for psychologists to learn more about human thought and communication, evaluate a variety of clinical conditions, and predict cognitive and psychological states. These innovations can be leveraged to automate traditionally time-intensive assessment tasks (e.g., educational assessment), provide psychological information and care (e.g., chatbots),...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Catherine Diaz-Asper Mathias K Hauglid Chelsea Chandler Alex S Cohen Peter W Foltz Brita Elvev åg Source Type: research
On conducting ethically sound psychological science in the metaverse
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):92-108. doi: 10.1037/amp0001211.ABSTRACTAs the next generation of the internet, the metaverse is an immersive three-dimensional (3D) world that incorporates both physical and virtual environments. The metaverse affords numerous advantages for advancing our theoretical and practical understanding of human cognition, emotion, and behavior, as well as shaping our methodological approach to conducting psychological science. However, undertaking research in a world that merges the physical and virtual, also presents new and unique ethical challenges that are not addressed by current ethical guidelines...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tracey Cockerton Ying Zhu Mandeep K Dhami Source Type: research
Visual digital data, ethical challenges, and psychological science
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):109-122. doi: 10.1037/amp0001192.ABSTRACTDigital visual data afford psychologists with exciting research possibilities. It becomes possible to see real-life interactions in real time and to be able to analyze this behavior in a fine-grained and systematic manner. However, the fact that faces (and other personally identifying physical characteristics) are captured as part of these data sets means that this kind of data is at the highest level of sensitivity by default. When this is combined with the possibility of automatic collection and processing, then the sensitivity risks are compounded. Here...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mark Levine Richard Philpot Sophie J Nightingale Anastasia Kordoni Source Type: research
