Distinct audio and visual accumulators co-activate motor preparation for multisensory detection.

Detecting targets in multisensory environments is an elemental brain function, but it is not yet known whether information from different sensory modalities is accumulated by distinct processes, and, if so, whether the processes are subject to separate decision criteria. Here we address this in two experiments (n = 22, n = 21) using a paradigm design that enables neural evidence accumulation to be traced through a centro-parietal positivity and modelled alongside response time distributions. Through analysis of both redundant (respond-to-either-modality) and conjunctive (respond-only-to-both) audio-visual detection data, joint neural-behavioural modelling, and a follow-up onset-asynchrony experiment, we found that auditory and visual evidence is accumulated in distinct processes during multisensory detection, and cumulative evidence in the two modalities sub-additively co-activates a single, thresholded motor process during redundant detection.

Work time reduction via a 4-day workweek finds improvements in workers' well-being.

Time spent on the job is a fundamental aspect of working conditions that influences many facets of individuals' lives. Here we study how an organization-wide 4-day workweek intervention-with no reduction in pay-affects workers' well-being. Organizations undergo pre-trial work reorganization to improve efficiency and collaboration, followed by a 6-month trial.

Speech sequencing in the human precentral gyrus.

Fluent speech production is mediated by serially ordering and preparing motor plans corresponding to target speech sounds, a process known as speech-motor sequencing. Here we used high-density direct cortical recordings while 14 participants spoke utterances with varying phonemic and syllabic sequence complexity after reading a target sequence and a delay period. Phasic activations corresponding to speech production and auditory feedback were observed, but also sustained neural activity that persisted throughout all task phases including the target presentation, the delay period and production of the sequence.

Majority support for global redistributive and climate policies.

We document majority support for policies entailing global redistribution and climate mitigation. Surveys on 40,680 respondents in 20 countries show strong majority support for a global carbon price funding equal cash transfers, called the Global Climate Scheme (GCS). Through our surveys on 8,000 respondents in the USA, France, Germany, Spain and the UK, we test several hypotheses that could reconcile strong stated support with scarce occurrences in public debates.

Playing repeated games with large language models.

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used in applications where they interact with humans and other agents. We propose to use behavioural game theory to study LLMs' cooperation and coordination behaviour. Here we let different LLMs play finitely repeated 2 × 2 games with each other, with human-like strategies, and actual human players.

Differences in psychologists' cognitive traits are associated with scientific divides.

Scientific research is often characterized by schools of thought. We investigate whether these divisions are associated with differences in researchers' cognitive traits such as tolerance for ambiguity. These differences may guide researchers to prefer different problems, tackle identical problems in different ways, and even reach different conclusions when studying the same problems in the same way.

Multimodal population study reveals the neurobiological underpinnings of chronotype.

The rapid shifts in society have altered human behavioural patterns, with increased evening activities, increased screen time and changed sleep schedules. As an explicit manifestation of circadian rhythms, chronotype is closely intertwined with physical and mental health. Night owls often exhibit unhealthier lifestyle habits, are more susceptible to mood disorders and have poorer physical fitness compared with early risers.

A meta-analysis of technology use and cognitive aging.

The first generation who engaged with digital technologies has reached the age where risks of dementia emerge. Has technological exposure helped or harmed cognition in digital pioneers? The digital dementia hypothesis predicts that a lifetime of technology exposure worsens cognitive abilities. An alternative hypothesis is that such exposures lead to technological reserve, wherein digital technologies promote behaviours that preserve cognition.

Skill dependencies uncover nested human capital.

Modern economies require increasingly diverse and specialized skills, many of which depend on the acquisition of other skills first. Here we analyse US survey data to reveal a nested structure within skill portfolios, where the direction of dependency is inferred from asymmetrical conditional probabilities-occupations require one skill conditional on another. This directional nature suggests that advanced, specific skills and knowledge are often built upon broader, fundamental ones.

Associations between common genetic variants and income provide insights about the socio-economic health gradient.

We conducted a genome-wide association study on income among individuals of European descent (N = 668,288) to investigate the relationship between socio-economic status and health disparities. We identified 162 genomic loci associated with a common genetic factor underlying various income measures, all with small effect sizes (the Income Factor). Our polygenic index captures 1-5% of income variance, with only one fourth due to direct genetic effects.

Plasma proteomic signatures of social isolation and loneliness associated with morbidity and mortality.

The biology underlying the connection between social relationships and health is largely unknown. Here, leveraging data from 42,062 participants across 2,920 plasma proteins in the UK Biobank, we characterized the proteomic signatures of social isolation and loneliness through proteome-wide association study and protein co-expression network analysis. Proteins linked to these constructs were implicated in inflammation, antiviral responses and complement systems.

How human-AI feedback loops alter human perceptual, emotional and social judgements.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are rapidly advancing, enhancing human capabilities across various fields spanning from finance to medicine. Despite their numerous advantages, AI systems can exhibit biased judgements in domains ranging from perception to emotion. Here, in a series of experiments (n = 1,401 participants), we reveal a feedback loop where human-AI interactions alter processes underlying human perceptual, emotional and social judgements, subsequently amplifying biases in humans.

Sharing without clicking on news in social media.

Social media have enabled laypersons to disseminate, at scale, links to news and public affairs information. Many individuals share such links without first reading the linked information. Here we analysed over 35 million public Facebook posts with uniform resource locators shared between 2017 and 2020, and discovered that such 'shares without clicks' (SwoCs) constitute around 75% of forwarded links.

Positive association between Internet use and mental health among adults aged ≥50 years in 23 countries.

The Internet is increasingly important in addressing age-related mental health challenges. We used linear mixed models and meta-analyses to examine the association between Internet use and mental health among 87,559 adults aged ≥50 years from 23 countries. Internet use was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (pooled average marginal effect (AME), -0.

Human culture is uniquely open-ended rather than uniquely cumulative.

Theories of how humans came to be so ecologically dominant increasingly centre on the adaptive abilities of human culture and its capacity for cumulative change and high-fidelity transmission. Here we revisit this hypothesis by comparing human culture with animal cultures and cases of epigenetic inheritance and parental effects. We first conclude that cumulative change and high transmission fidelity are not unique to human culture as previously thought, and so they are unlikely to explain its adaptive qualities.

Building machines that learn and think with people.

What do we want from machine intelligence? We envision machines that are not just tools for thought but partners in thought: reasonable, insightful, knowledgeable, reliable and trustworthy systems that think with us. Current artificial intelligence systems satisfy some of these criteria, some of the time. In this Perspective, we show how the science of collaborative cognition can be put to work to engineer systems that really can be called 'thought partners', systems built to meet our expectations and complement our limitations.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental methods for modulating intrusive memories following lab-analogue trauma exposure in non-clinical populations.

Experiencing trauma leads to intrusive memories (IMs), a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which also occurs transdiagnostically. Understanding why IMs increase or decrease is pivotal in developing interventions to support mental health. In this preregistered meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42021224835), we included 134 articles (131 techniques, 606 effect sizes and 12,074 non-clinical participants) to investigate how experimental techniques alter IM frequency, intrusion-related distress and symptoms arising from lab-analogue trauma exposure.

An empirical investigation of the impact of ChatGPT on creativity.

This paper investigates the potential of ChatGPT for helping humans tackle problems that require creativity. Across five experiments, we asked participants to use ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) to generate creative ideas for various everyday and innovation-related problems, including choosing a creative gift for a teenager, making a toy, repurposing unused items and designing an innovative dining table.

Consumption patterns in prehistoric Europe are consistent with modern economic behaviour.

Have humans always sold and purchased things? This seemingly trivial question exposes one of the most conspicuous blind spots in our understanding of cultural evolution: the emergence of what we perceive today as 'modern' economic behaviour. Here we test the hypothesis that consumption patterns in prehistoric Europe (around 2300-800 BCE) can be explained by standard economic theory, predicting that everyday expenses are log-normally distributed and correlated to supply, demand and income. On the basis of a large database of metal objects spanning northern and southern Europe (n = 23,711), we identify metal fragments as money, address them as proxies of consumption and observe that, starting around 1500 BCE, their mass values become log-normally distributed.

Representation of internal speech by single neurons in human supramarginal gyrus.

Speech brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) translate brain signals into words or audio outputs, enabling communication for people having lost their speech abilities due to diseases or injury. While important advances in vocalized, attempted and mimed speech decoding have been achieved, results for internal speech decoding are sparse and have yet to achieve high functionality. Notably, it is still unclear from which brain areas internal speech can be decoded.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapies for emotional disorders.

Transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural psychotherapy (TD-CBT) may facilitate the treatment of emotional disorders. Here we investigate short- and long-term efficacy of TD-CBT for emotional disorders in individual, group and internet-based settings in randomized controlled trials (PROSPERO CRD42019141512). Two independent reviewers screened results from PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, medRxiv and OSF Preprints published between January 2000 and June 2023, selected studies for inclusion, extracted data and evaluated risk of bias (Cochrane risk-of-bias tool 2.