Front Psychol [JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
Children's privacy, autonomy, and digital identity in sharenting research: a scoping review with bibliometric mapping.
Akay O
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369314 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Research on digital parenting and sharenting has expanded rapidly, yet the literature remains distributed across media studies, child development, communication, law, and health-related domains. This disper...
INTRODUCTION: Research on digital parenting and sharenting has expanded rapidly, yet the literature remains distributed across media studies, child development, communication, law, and health-related domains. This dispersal has limited integrative understanding of how parental online disclosure is linked to children's privacy, autonomy, digital identity, and digitally mediated visibility. METHODS: This study synthesized publications indexed in Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus at the intersection of digital parenting and sharenting. Guided by a structured review question, the study was conducted as a scoping review with bibliometric mapping and reported in line with PRISMA-ScR principles. The review aimed to map conceptual, thematic, and evidentiary patterns across an interdisciplinary corpus rather than to perform quality-weighted effect synthesis. Records were screened against four explicit eligibility criteria concerning children's privacy, online visibility, digital identity, consent, and parent-child boundary regulation. The final corpus comprised 252 English-language articles and reviews published between 1992 and 2025. Narrative synthesis was combined with bibliometric mapping using bibliometrix in R and VOSviewer to identify thematic concentrations, intellectual linkages, and temporal trends. RESULTS: The field showed limited early output, followed by sustained growth after 2016 and marked acceleration from 2019 onward. The literature has consolidated around a conceptual core defined by sharenting, social media, children, privacy, and digital parenting. Communication Privacy Management, privacy calculus, mindful sharenting, and psychological ownership emerged as recurrent interpretive frameworks. Across the corpus, children's privacy, consent, boundary negotiation, and digital identity increasingly functioned as organizing concerns, while more recent studies showed stronger engagement with platformized visibility, influencer culture, and rights-based governance. Intellectual mapping indicated a coherent citation base anchored in foundational work on sharenting, adolescents' perceptions, and children's privacy. CONCLUSION: The review indicates that sharenting is no longer examined solely as an everyday parental sharing practice. It is increasingly treated as a psychologically and ethically consequential process through which children's online identities are constructed, negotiated, and exposed in platformed environments. The study clarifies the conceptual and intellectual structure of the field and highlights the need for more child-centered, cross-cultural, and psychologically explicit research.
Correction: The effect of working memory load on interference inhibition in table tennis athletes: the moderating role of motor expertise.
Chen H
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369313 · Full text
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1812346.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1812346.].
Psychological responses and cognitive mechanisms of university teachers in using generative AI in teaching: a configurational path analysis based on the MOA framework.
Chen M, Xu Z, Li S
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369312 · Full text
OBJECTIVE: The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into educational contexts has prompted significant attention to teachers' psychological responses and cognitive mechanisms as users of AI in...
OBJECTIVE: The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into educational contexts has prompted significant attention to teachers' psychological responses and cognitive mechanisms as users of AI in teaching. While existing studies often focus on linear models that examine the net effects of single factors on technology acceptance, there is a lack of research exploring the complex psychological mechanisms behind teachers' GenAI use behaviors from a multi-factorial perspective. This study, based on the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) framework, investigates the multi-path psychological drivers of university teachers' acceptance of GenAI in teaching. METHODS: A survey was conducted with 258 teachers from Longyan University who have experience using GenAI in teaching. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study examined how motivational factors (hedonic motivation, performance expectancy), opportunity factors (social influence, facilitating conditions, and interactivity), and ability factors (AI literacy, technical self-efficacy) interact through different combinations to trigger high levels of GenAI acceptance in teaching. RESULTS: The findings reveal that no single psychological or situational factor within the MOA framework independently explains high levels of GenAI adoption. Teachers' use of GenAI results from the synergistic interaction of multiple psychological responses and cognitive conditions. Six effective configurational paths were identified, categorized into three psychological models: performance expectancy-driven under technical self-efficacy, hedonic motivation-driven under ability support, and hedonic motivation-driven in high-interaction contexts. CONCLUSION: This study uncovers the multi-path psychological mechanisms behind university teachers' adoption of GenAI in teaching, expanding the explanatory power of the MOA framework in educational psychology and human-AI interaction research. The results offer empirical evidence for understanding teachers' psychological responses and decision-making processes in AI-supported teaching and provide theoretical insights for promoting healthy and effective AI usage behaviors among teachers.
A structured participatory preference-tuning and VR-based framework for age-friendly spatial configuration: quantifying short-term psychophysiological responses and immediate affective states through dynamic virtual environment adaptation.
Zhu J, Gao WS, Wang L … +5 more , Zou Y, Wang J, Yuan D, Qian N, Guo R
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369311 · Full text
The global population is aging at an increasing rate, and appropriate environmental design is crucial for the mental well-being of older adults. However, the associations between spatial configuration and psychological w...
The global population is aging at an increasing rate, and appropriate environmental design is crucial for the mental well-being of older adults. However, the associations between spatial configuration and psychological well-being in older adults remain insufficiently understood. To this end, a methodology integrating VR with structured participatory preference refinement was hereby proposed to assess the short-term psychophysiological responses and immediate affective states of older adults under simulated spatial configuration changes. Through conducting two semi-structured interviews with 50 elderly individuals, seven key design characteristics were identified, including ceiling height, spatial openness, natural light intensity and indoor noise levels. These insights were then translated into quantifiable experimental variables using empathy mapping and dual-cycle participatory design methodologies. Subsequently, a randomised experiment involving 18 VR scenarios was designed and 40 elderly individuals were selected as participants. Their physiological parameters (skin conductance level and heart rate) and psychological responses (measured using PANAS) were recorded. The results provide preliminary exploratory evidence suggesting associations between natural light intensity, indoor noise levels, spatial openness and older adults' short-term psychophysiological responses. These findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating rather than confirmatory, due to the non-independence of repeated-measures data and the exploratory nature of the orthogonal screening design. These results align broadly with prior literature, and the primary contribution of this study lies in its integrated methodological workflow. This study identified significant associations between spatial layout and short-term psychophysiological responses as well as immediate affective states in older adults. It supports the feasibility of integrating VR and participatory design, and provides observed associations and plausible interpretations for future age-friendly environment research.
Rethinking AI-assisted writing instruction: feedback literacy scripts, calibration training, and student writing development.
Dai Z
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369310 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: As generative AI becomes increasingly integrated into writing instruction, the central educational challenge is not only to provide feedback but also to help students interpret, evaluate, and use such feedb...
INTRODUCTION: As generative AI becomes increasingly integrated into writing instruction, the central educational challenge is not only to provide feedback but also to help students interpret, evaluate, and use such feedback critically. This study examined whether two metacognitive interventions-a Feedback Literacy Script (FRAC) and an Assessment-Performance Calibration Activity (APCA)-could improve students' writing quality and self-assessment accuracy in AI-assisted writing. METHODS: A 2 × 2 mixed factorial design was employed with 120 undergraduate English majors assigned to four conditions: regular AI use, FRAC only, APCA only, and FRAC+APCA. Across four writing task points, the study collected data on writing quality gain, self-assessment accuracy, overconfidence, effective feedback uptake, and revision depth. RESULTS: The findings showed differentiated effects of the two interventions. FRAC had a stronger direct effect on writing quality, effective feedback uptake, and deep revision, suggesting that feedback literacy training primarily improved how students processed and enacted AI feedback. APCA showed the clearest effect on self-assessment accuracy and overconfidence reduction, indicating that calibration training more directly strengthened students' internal judgment. The combined intervention produced the highest gains in overall writing quality and the strongest retention after AI support was removed, but it did not outperform APCA alone in self-assessment accuracy. DISCUSSION: These findings indicate that better writing and more accurate self-evaluation are related but distinct outcomes in AI-assisted writing. The study suggests that the educational value of AI-assisted writing depends less on feedback abundance itself than on whether learners can evaluate feedback, calibrate self-judgment, and transform external support into independent revision ability.
Fertility Social Mentality Scale for Women of Childbearing Age: a scale development study.
Zhang B, Bu N, Xu S … +1 more , Li Z
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369309 · Full text
OBJECTIVE: To develop a scale to measure fertility social mentality among women of childbearing age in China and to assess its psychometric properties, including reliability, validity, and measurement invariance. METHODS...
OBJECTIVE: To develop a scale to measure fertility social mentality among women of childbearing age in China and to assess its psychometric properties, including reliability, validity, and measurement invariance. METHODS: A total of 496, 857, 607, 632 and 362 women of childbearing age were recruited to conduct exploratory factor analysis, reliability and validity testing, and measurement invariance testing, respectively. RESULTS: The Fertility Social Mentality Scale for Women of Childbearing Age comprises 27 items and consists of three factors: fertility social values, fertility social cognition, and fertility social emotions. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit of the three-factor structural model [ / = 3.735, CFI = 0.918, TLI = 0.910, SRMR = 0.065, RMSEA = 0.056 (90% CI: 0.053-0.060)]. The average variance extracted (AVE) values were 0.444, 0.466, and 0.509, respectively. Discriminant validity analysis showed that the correlation coefficients among dimensions were all lower than the square roots of the AVE. Criterion analysis revealed that the total score of the scale and its individual dimensions were significantly positively correlated with fertility efficacy and fertility behavior, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.468 to 0.727 and from 0.403 to 0.551, respectively. The Cronbach's coefficients for the total scale and the three factors were 0.924, 0.897, 0.871, and 0.892, respectively. The composite reliability (CR) values ranged from 0.765 to 0.809. The test-retest reliability coefficients for the total scale and each dimension were 0.953, 0.949, 0.924, and 0.890, respectively. CONCLUSION: The developed Fertility Social Mentality Scale for Women of Childbearing Age shows encouraging evidence of structural validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and measurement invariance. The scale may serve as a preliminary instrument for assessing fertility social mentality among women of childbearing age in China.
Effects of a structured physical activity intervention on mental health and psychological resilience among Chinese college students: a randomized controlled trial with mediation analysis.
Zhang W, Yang J
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369308 · Full text
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Mental health challenges among Chinese college students represent a significant public health concern. While physical activity is recognized as beneficial for mental health, high-quality randomized...
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Mental health challenges among Chinese college students represent a significant public health concern. While physical activity is recognized as beneficial for mental health, high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy of structured interventions and their underlying mechanisms in this population are limited. This study investigated the effects of an 8-week structured physical activity intervention on depression, anxiety, and psychological resilience among Chinese college students, and tested whether resilience mediates the intervention effects. METHODS: A three-arm RCT was conducted with 120 students exhibiting mild-to-moderate depression/anxiety symptoms. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling and randomly allocated to a team-based sports group ( = 40), an individual aerobic exercise group ( = 40), or a waitlist control group ( = 40). The 8-week intervention involved three supervised 60-min sessions per week. Outcomes including depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), and psychological resilience (CD-RISC-10) were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMM) for primary outcomes and the PROCESS macro bootstrap mediation procedure for mechanistic pathways. RESULTS: Both exercise groups demonstrated significant, large reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to the control group at post-intervention ( < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.14-1.38), with effects maintained at follow-up. Psychological resilience increased significantly in both intervention groups ( < 0.001). No significant differences were found between the team-based and individual exercise modalities. Mediation analysis revealed that increases in psychological resilience accounted for approximately 45% of the intervention effects on reducing depression and anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSION: Structured physical activity, whether team-based or individual, appears to be an effective intervention for reducing depression and anxiety and enhancing psychological resilience among Chinese college students. Psychological resilience appears to serve as a significant mediator of these mental health benefits. These findings suggest the integration of structured exercise programs into university mental health promotion strategies. Future research should investigate long-term sustainability through multi-site RCTs, longer follow-up periods, cross-cultural replication, and neurobiological mediating mechanisms.
Everyday decision-making in later life: the role of cognitive reserve and cognitive functions.
Thaler K, Büchel J, Goettfried E … +5 more , Pertl MT, Delazer M, Unterberger I, Djamshidian A, Zamarian L
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369307 · Full text
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate decision-making competence of midlife and older adults, and its relationship with cognitive reserve and cognitive functions. METHODS: A total of 120 healthy adults (aged 50 to...
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate decision-making competence of midlife and older adults, and its relationship with cognitive reserve and cognitive functions. METHODS: A total of 120 healthy adults (aged 50 to 90 years) completed a decision-making task and various neurocognitive tests. In the decision-making task, participants encountered everyday scenarios with two options, including relevant and irrelevant numerical information, formatted as frequencies or percentages. In congruent trials, the relevant and irrelevant information pointed to the same decision, while in incongruent trials they pointed to opposing decisions. Cognitive reserve (CR) was measured using a composite index reflecting lifetime education, professional experiences, and engagement in cognitively demanding leisure activities. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated higher accuracy in congruent trials than in incongruent ones, with this difference being more pronounced among individuals with lower CR. Additionally, decision-making performance decreased with increasing age for both number formats, with a steeper decline observed in trials involving frequencies. CR, along with measures of judgement, mental calculation, and health numeracy, accounted for 41% of the variance in decision-making performance. CR also moderated the relationship between decision-making performance and health numeracy: participants with poorer numeracy skills performed accurately if their CR level was high. DISCUSSION: This study confirms the positive relationship between CR and decision-making ability in advanced age. Higher levels of CR are linked to reduced decline in health numeracy with age and lower susceptibility to conflicting information during decision-making.
Correction: From conceptual understanding to interdisciplinary innovation: the mediating mechanism of IESR among high school students.
Xu J, Mou Y, Yuan L
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369306 · Full text
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1739020.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1739020.].
A pilot and exploratory study on the effects of a board-game intervention on early mathematical reasoning in preschool children.
Koç H, Yıldız E, Karabekmez S
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369305 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: This study examined the effectiveness of a structured board-game intervention on early mathematical reasoning skills in preschool children. METHODS: This pilot and exploratory study used a quasi-experimenta...
INTRODUCTION: This study examined the effectiveness of a structured board-game intervention on early mathematical reasoning skills in preschool children. METHODS: This pilot and exploratory study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, 24 children aged 60-71 months were assigned to experimental ( = 12) and control ( = 12) groups. The intervention, implemented over 6 weeks, included five board games targeting cognitive and reasoning processes. Data were collected using the Early Mathematical Reasoning Skills Assessment Tool and analyzed using ANCOVA, change score comparisons, and interaction-based regression with Johnson-Neyman techniques. RESULTS: Controlling for pretest scores obtained from the Early Mathematical Reasoning Skills Assessment Tool, the experimental group showed significantly higher posttest mathematical reasoning performance than the control group. Moderation analyses indicated stronger effects for children with medium and high initial skill levels. Subdimension analyses revealed larger gains in data analysis-probability than in measurement. DISCUSSION: Overall, the findings suggest that board-game activities can effectively support early mathematical reasoning, although additional support may be needed for measurement-related skills. However, the findings should be interpreted as preliminary due to the pilot and exploratory nature of the study and require validation through larger-scale research.
Mood changes of children and adolescents in dance classes: a prospective repeated-measures study.
Henderson TC, Henderson PR, Robertson-Kraft C … +1 more , Levick JS
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369304 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Adolescent mental health in the United States has deteriorated markedly over the past decade, with diagnosed mental or behavioral health conditions among 12-to-17-year-olds increasing 35% between 2016 and 2...
INTRODUCTION: Adolescent mental health in the United States has deteriorated markedly over the past decade, with diagnosed mental or behavioral health conditions among 12-to-17-year-olds increasing 35% between 2016 and 2023, driven by a 61% rise in anxiety diagnoses and a 45% rise in depression. Community-based interventions combining physical activity, creative expression, and social connection represent a promising response. METHODS: This prospective repeated-measures study examined the association between structured dance education and mood among 256 children and adolescents (ages 5-17) at four studio locations. Over 4 months (February-May 2025), students completed 4,224 paired pre- and post-class mood ratings using a single-item emoji scale; the primary analytic sample comprised 4,059 sessions from 251 students. PANAS-C administrations provided a concurrent measure of dispositional affect, with each student's score anchored to the administration nearest the study close. Multilevel models accounted for the nested data structure (students contributing 1-109 sessions each). RESULTS: The intraclass correlation was 0.432. Post-class mood was significantly higher than pre-class mood (session-level Cohen's d = 0.27 [primary estimate] and per-student d_z = 0.43 [ < 0.001]) with 85.8% of sessions showing maintained or improved mood. A Tobit sensitivity analysis confirmed these patterns after adjusting for the 28.8% post-class ceiling rate. No covariate (including weekly frequency, class type, proficiency level, or instructor experience) explained significant additional variance. Individual differences dominated: random slopes improved model fit substantially (ΔAIC = 201). Convergent validity between the emoji scale and PANAS-C Positive Affect was significant ( = 0.19, = 0.011, = 175), with the strongest association among students attending 4-6 classes per week ( = 0.51, = 25). CONCLUSION: Dance participation was associated with a consistent acute mood benefit generalizing across genres, schedules, and experience levels; individual characteristics, rather than program features, accounted for most meaningful variation. The observational design precludes causal attribution.
Proactive psychological first aid in mass-casualty recovery: a theory-driven case analysis of the SIX Cs model.
Levy E, Farchi M
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369303 · Full text
This article presents a theory-driven case analysis of a proactive application of the SIX Cs Model of a proactive application of the SIX Cs Model of Psychological First Aid (PFA) during a mass-casualty body recovery miss...
This article presents a theory-driven case analysis of a proactive application of the SIX Cs Model of a proactive application of the SIX Cs Model of Psychological First Aid (PFA) during a mass-casualty body recovery mission conducted on October 8, 2023, in Kibbutz Be'eri, Israel, following the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Unlike conventional reactive PFA, which is delivered in response to acute distress, the present case illustrates a prospective implementation in which cognitive structuring, task rehearsal, role assignment, and sequenced closure were employed before, during, and after direct exposure to mass fatality. The intervention was led by a trained military team commander (the first author of this manuscript) who systematically operationalized the SIX Cs components (i.e. -internal mental structuring; - explicit, task-oriented information delivery; , and ) across three phases: pre-mission briefing, on-site execution, and post-mission After-Action Review (AAR). The case demonstrates how structured pre-exposure cognitive organization may help counteract anticipatory helplessness, reduce perceptual narrowing, and sustain engagement throughout sustained traumatic exposure. Possible neurological and psychological mechanisms underlying each component are discussed in relation to observable behavioral outcomes. The case offers a theoretical and conceptual basis for exploring the applicability of the SIX Cs Model in varied operational contexts, and suggests that proactive Psychological First Aid may constitute a distinct intervention modality warranting further systematic investigation.
Parental perspectives on children's social learning in four cultures.
Xu J, Wood L, Sutherland C … +7 more , Pope-Caldwell S, Mboumba O, Ondaye AE, Ngoma GR, Ndenguele R, Kiabiya Ntamboudila F, Lew-Levy S
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369302 · Full text
Social learning is key to the accumulation and transmission of cultural knowledge that underpins human evolutionary success. Cultural context is critical for understanding the content, mechanisms, and pathways through wh...
Social learning is key to the accumulation and transmission of cultural knowledge that underpins human evolutionary success. Cultural context is critical for understanding the content, mechanisms, and pathways through which social learning occurs. Although parents constitute an important part of children's social environment, parental perspectives on children's social learning across cultures are understudied. Here, we worked with BaYaka and Bandongo living in the Republic of the Congo, Scots living in Tayside, United Kingdom, and Chinese Americans living in the Greater Seattle Area, United States, representing considerable diversity across ecological, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. 303 parents/guardians answered free-list and open-ended questions regarding what and how children should learn from peers and adults. Across cultures, parents consistently reported that children should learn from adults via mechanisms like imitation and teaching, but with peers via collaboration. In terms of learning content, BaYaka and Bandongo parents more often reported that children should learn tasks, whereas Scottish and Chinese American parents focused on qualities and values. Overall, parental reports reveal cross-cultural regularities in normative social learning mechanisms, while systematic differences in content highlight the importance of accounting for cultural context when studying the interaction between how, what, and from whom children learn.
How does artificial intelligence literacy affect university students' innovative behavior? A serial mediation analysis based on latent profiles.
Ma L, Liu T, Zhao C … +1 more , Niu T
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369301 · Full text
PURPOSE: Against the backdrop of the rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI), how university students can effectively leverage AI technologies to foster their innovative behavior has emerged as a c...
PURPOSE: Against the backdrop of the rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI), how university students can effectively leverage AI technologies to foster their innovative behavior has emerged as a critical issue in higher education. This study aims to explore the relationship and underlying mechanisms between AI literacy and university students' innovative behavior. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,040 university students in China. Data were collected using the AI Literacy (AIL) Scale, AI Anxiety (AIA) Scale, Cognitive Flexibility (CF) Scale, and Innovative Behavior (IB) Scale. RESULTS: AIL was significantly and positively correlated with CF ( = 0.346, < 0.001) and IB ( = 0.329, < 0.001), and significantly negatively correlated with AIA ( = -0.319, < 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed three significant indirect pathways: the independent mediating effect of AIA accounted for 13.44% of the total effect, the independent mediating effect of CF accounted for 14.15%, and their serial mediating effect accounted for 3.30%. Additionally, latent profile analysis identified three latent profiles of AI literacy: low AI literacy (15.29%), moderate AI literacy (37.02%), and high AI literacy (47.69%). Significant differences were observed in the serial mediation pathways across these distinct profiles. CONCLUSION: AIL was directly associated with university students' IB and showed indirect associations through the independent and serial mediation of AIA and CF. These findings extend the application of affordance theory in human-AI collaboration contexts and provide empirical evidence for higher education institutions to implement differentiated AI education and innovation cultivation strategies.
When technology awakens willingness but stalls action: the asymmetric psychological translation of managerial safety cognition.
Wei B, Cui S, Guo R … +3 more , Guo X, Zeng M, Su C
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369300 · Full text
Why does managerial prioritization of safety more readily correspond to frontline willingness than to frontline action? Drawing on upper echelons theory, the attention-based view, and organizational psychology research o...
Why does managerial prioritization of safety more readily correspond to frontline willingness than to frontline action? Drawing on upper echelons theory, the attention-based view, and organizational psychology research on the attitude-behavior gap, this study examines whether managerial safety cognition is associated with frontline safety outcomes through three organizational mechanisms: institutionalization, technological affordance, and team safety climate. Using multi-source, time-lagged data from 183 firms and 667 nested teams in Chinese high-risk industries, this study estimated random-intercept multilevel models and used supervisor-rated behavior for cross-source validation. Managerial safety cognition was positively associated with all three organizational mechanisms. Institutionalization and team safety climate were, in turn, associated with both safety motivation and safety participation. Technological affordance was associated with safety motivation but not safety participation, and formal coefficient comparison tests confirmed that this asymmetry was statistically significant. Performance pressure further bounded behavioral translation in an inverted-U pattern consistent with the job demands-resources model: moderate pressure strengthened, whereas excessive pressure weakened, the behavioral relevance of organizational mechanisms. The findings support an attentional-prioritization account in which top-level safety priorities reach the frontline through differentiated organizational pathways rather than through a single leadership-signal channel. Practically, the findings suggest that digital safety systems should be paired with formal accountability and team-level support if motivational readiness is to translate into proactive safety behavior.
The association between perceived usefulness of AI-generated art tools and self-reported creative design performance: a parallel mediation model of artistic perception, cognitive engagement, and aesthetic judgment.
Guosheng Z, Lei M
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369299 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: The rapid expansion of AI-generated art tools has transformed creative production, yet its psychological mechanisms in shaping design outcomes remain underexplored. This study examines the associations betw...
INTRODUCTION: The rapid expansion of AI-generated art tools has transformed creative production, yet its psychological mechanisms in shaping design outcomes remain underexplored. This study examines the associations between perceived usefulness of AI-generated art tools and self-reported creative design performance through three parallel mediating pathways: artistic perception, cognitive engagement, and aesthetic judgment. METHODS: Guided by aesthetic processing and cognitive engagement theories, a questionnaire survey was administered to Chinese university students enrolled in design-related programs, generating 387 valid responses. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The results show that perceived usefulness of AI-generated art tools is positively associated with all three mediators, each of which is positively associated with self-reported creative design outcomes. Cognitive engagement emerged as the strongest mediator, followed by aesthetic judgment and artistic perception. A significant direct effect also remained, indicating partial mediation. The overall model explained 53.2 percent of the variance in self-reported creative design performance, demonstrating both strong explanatory power and meaningful predictive relevance. DISCUSSION: These findings highlight the multifaceted ways in which perceived usefulness of AI-generated art tools is associated with the perceptual, cognitive, and evaluative processes that underpin creative design, offering valuable implications for design education, digital creativity research, and the integration of AI tools in creative industries.
Space Oddity: microgravity as a neurocognitive catalyst for transformative consciousness experiences.
Nezami A, Ferre ER
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369298 · Full text
Human consciousness has evolved under the constant pull of terrestrial gravity, yet its role in shaping perception and awareness has received limited theoretical attention. As spaceflight transitions from short missions...
Human consciousness has evolved under the constant pull of terrestrial gravity, yet its role in shaping perception and awareness has received limited theoretical attention. As spaceflight transitions from short missions to long-duration habitation, understanding how consciousness responds to non-terrestrial gravity becomes increasingly urgent. In this perspective, we synthesise behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging evidence to argue that Earth's gravity functions as a deeply entrenched within the brain's predictive architecture. This super-prior stabilises multisensory integration and constrains large-scale brain network organisation. Exposure to microgravity disrupts vestibular reliability, destabilising this super-prior and triggering cascades of prediction errors that necessitate widespread recalibration across cortical and subcortical systems. We show that these processes extend beyond sensorimotor adaptation, reshaping conscious experience through altered self-location, emotional regulation and perceptual coherence, and potentially underpinning transformative phenomena. Drawing computational parallels with psychedelic states, we propose that microgravity constitutes a non-pharmacological perturbation that transiently relaxes high-level priors, loosens hierarchical constraints and enhances global integration. By situating consciousness in an environment for which evolution offers no precedent, spaceflight provides a unique experiment for probing the contingent foundations of human awareness and the mechanisms through which consciousness can be transformed.
Self-regulated learning and academic engagement among university students: a latent mediation model of achievement emotions.
Shi F, Li J
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369297 · Full text
Drawing on SRL theory and control-value theory, this study tested a latent parallel mediation model linking self-regulated learning (SRL) to academic engagement via positive and negative achievement emotions. Participant...
Drawing on SRL theory and control-value theory, this study tested a latent parallel mediation model linking self-regulated learning (SRL) to academic engagement via positive and negative achievement emotions. Participants were 207 Chinese undergraduates who completed the MSLQ (SRL), AEQ-S (enjoyment/hope; anxiety/boredom), and the Student Engagement Scale. Latent SEM with MLR in Mplus showed excellent fit, χ(183) = 200.48, = 0.179; CFI = 0.991; TLI = 0.989; RMSEA = 0.021; SRMR = 0.040. SRL positively predicted positive emotions (β = 0.484, < 0.001) and negatively predicted negative emotions (β = -0.456, < 0.001); positive emotions were positively associated with engagement (β = 0.262, = 0.001) and negative emotions were negatively associated with engagement (β = -0.297, < 0.001). Both indirect effects were significant (β = 0.127, = 0.006; β = 0.136, = 0.001) and the direct SRL → engagement path remained significant (β = 0.332, < 0.001), supporting partial mediation and indicating that SRL was associated with engagement partly through higher positive emotions and lower negative emotions.
The modulatory effects of facial cues and familiarity in face recognition: a behavioral and eye-tracking investigation.
Zhang G, Yang Y, Chen H … +3 more , Xie X, Huang J, Du X
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369296 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Face recognition is essential for social interaction, yet the extent to which internal facial features and external facial cues contribute to identity recognition remains incompletely understood. In particu...
INTRODUCTION: Face recognition is essential for social interaction, yet the extent to which internal facial features and external facial cues contribute to identity recognition remains incompletely understood. In particular, it remains unclear how external appearance changes, such as hairstyle and hair color, influence the recognition of familiar and unfamiliar faces across perceptual and memory-based processing stages. METHODS: This study examined the modulatory effects of external facial cues and face familiarity using behavioral measures and eye-tracking. Thirty-four native Chinese-speaking adults completed a modified visual paired comparison face memory task, and 31 of them also completed a face matching task. Facial stimuli included familiar Chinese celebrities and unfamiliar faces, with systematic manipulations of hairstyle and hair color. In the face matching task, participants judged whether two simultaneously presented faces depicted the same identity. In the face memory task, participants first encoded a single face and then judged recognition when the familiarized face was paired with either a different identity or the same identity with altered external cues. Eye movements were analyzed across predefined areas of interest, including internal features, internal non-feature regions, and external regions. RESULTS: In the face matching task, external cue variations did not significantly affect accuracy but increased reaction times, particularly for unfamiliar faces. Reaction times were longer when hairstyle or hair color differed, and hair color changes showed a stronger disruptive effect for unfamiliar than familiar faces. In the face memory task, hairstyle manipulations selectively affected recognition accuracy for unfamiliar faces, whereas hair color manipulations did not show the same pattern. Eye-tracking results showed that participants consistently prioritized internal facial features across tasks. However, gaze allocation and gaze transition patterns were flexibly modulated by face familiarity and external cue variations. During memory encoding, familiar faces elicited relatively greater attention and transitions involving external regions, whereas unfamiliar faces were associated with a more internally focused scanning pattern. During recognition, external cue changes, especially hairstyle changes, increased dwell time on the target face and altered comparison-related gaze dynamics. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that face recognition is a dynamic process shaped by the interaction between external facial cues, familiarity, and task demands. Internal facial features remained the primary source of identity-relevant information, but external cues influenced processing efficiency, memory-based recognition, and visual exploration. Familiar faces appeared more robust to external appearance changes, whereas unfamiliar faces were more susceptible to disruptions caused by changes in external cues, particularly hairstyle. The results provide a more comprehensive account of how facial identity information is extracted and integrated across perceptual and memory-based recognition stages, and offer a foundation for future research on face recognition in populations with atypical face processing.
The relationship between parental-child attachment consistency and shyness in adolescents with depressive disorders.
Zhang M, Gou F, Ma X … +4 more , Dang L, Zhang Y, Gu L, Tian X
Front Psychol · 2026 · PMID 42369295 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Shyness is a common socio-emotional problem among adolescents with depressive disorders, and parent-child attachment may be associated with adolescents' social functioning. However, the independent and combin...
BACKGROUND: Shyness is a common socio-emotional problem among adolescents with depressive disorders, and parent-child attachment may be associated with adolescents' social functioning. However, the independent and combined effects of maternal and paternal attachment on shyness remain unclear. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 252 adolescents diagnosed with depressive disorders in Ningxia, China. Questionnaires were used to assess maternal and paternal attachment security and shyness. Polynomial regression combined with response surface analysis was applied to examine the associations between maternal and paternal attachment consistency and shyness, controlling for gender. RESULTS: Both maternal and paternal attachment were significantly negatively correlated with shyness, indicating that higher attachment security was associated with lower shyness levels. Response surface analysis revealed that adolescents exhibited the lowest levels of shyness when both maternal and paternal attachment were high and consistent. Differences between parental attachment were not significantly associated with shyness. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that secure maternal and paternal attachments are associated with lower levels of shyness in adolescents with depressive disorders. High and consistent parental attachment was associated with a more stable emotional context, which was associated with adolescents' social confidence and emotion regulation. Interventions should focus on improving both the quality and consistency of parental attachment in relation to adolescent shyness and socio-emotional adaptation.
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