People tend to show a preference for baby-faced individuals over mature-faced ones (the babyface effect). However, little is known about whether and how this bias operates at early stages of processing, particularly within social attention. Given the central role of the gaze cueing effect (GCE) in social attention, the present study examined the influence of baby-facedness on GCE by systematically manipulating contextual factors. In Experiment 1, a within-block design was used to create a contrast context. The results showed that participants were more likely to follow the gaze direction of male mature-faced faces and female baby-faced faces. In contrast, Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 employed a between-block design and emotional music priming to construct bottom-up and top-down contexts, respectively. In both experiments, the modulatory effect of baby-facedness on GCE was no longer observed. These findings indicate that contextual factors can eliminate babyface-related attentional biases in social interactions. The present study provides empirical support for the eyeTUNE framework and offers practical insights for predicting, modulating, and controlling the babyface effect in real-world applications.

This study examined the effects of noise type, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and masking mechanism on speech perception by comparing keyword recognition and sentence comprehension across different noise environments. Results showed a significant interaction between noise type and task performance. Babble noise exacerbated the difference between tasks via semantic informational masking, exerting a greater disruption on sentence comprehension tasks that rely heavily on semantic processing. In modulated speech-shaped noise, both tasks exhibited similar dynamic masking release by utilizing “temporal dips”. In contrast, long-term speech-shaped noise primarily functioned through energetic masking, yielding task differences only at extreme SNRs. The weak correlation between the two tasks suggests they play a complementary role in clinical assessment. The study provides theoretical insights for the assessment of speech recognition capabilities in complex noise environments.

The perceptual span refers to the area from which readers extract useful information during a single fixation. Both oral and silent reading are fundamental modes of reading. Previous research has shown that the perceptual span to the right of fixation is smaller during oral than during silent reading in adults; however, it remains unclear whether a similar reduction occurs on the left side. This study employed the moving-window paradigm with an eye-tracker to investigate the bilateral perceptual span under these two reading modes, aiming to reveal the mechanisms of attentional resource allocation. The results showed that during silent reading, the perceptual span extended 1 character to the left and 3 characters to the right of fixation, whereas during oral reading, it spanned 1 character left and 2 characters right. These findings suggest that attentional allocation and internal processing differ between the two reading modes. During oral reading, readers allocate more attentional resources to foveal and left-parafoveal processing due to the demands of articulation and eye-voice coordination, thereby reducing resources available for right-parafoveal processing.

When individuals perform cognitive tasks such as reading or visual search, the spatial area from which they can extract meaningful information in a single glance is referred to as the perceptual span. The size of this span directly influences the process and speed of stimulus information processing, which in turn, affects efficiency of search tasks. While previous research has shown that perceptual learning can enhance search efficiency, it remains unclear whether this improvement is attributable to an increased perceptual span. To investigate the effect of perceptual learning on perceptual span, this study combined the moving window paradigm with a conjunction search task. A dynamically adjusted visual window was used to control the amount of information accessible to the participants. The results demonstrate that perceptual learning enhances search efficiency by increasing perceptual span.

Cognitive control capacity (CCC) is an important quantitative indicator for measuring cognitive control ability, reflecting the amount of information that an individual’s brain can process simultaneously per unit of time. To explore the impact of cognitive control capacity on emotion regulation, this study recruited 100 college students and asked them to complete the Majority Function Task-Masked. Based on their cognitive control capacity scores, participants were divided into groups: the top 33% were assigned to the high cognitive control capacity group, and the bottom 33% to the low cognitive control capacity group. In Study 1, both groups completed the Emotion Regulation Self-Efficacy Scale to examine the effect of cognitive control capacity on emotion regulation self-efficacy. In Study 2, they completed an emotion regulation task to examine its effect on emotion regulation effectiveness. The results showed that individuals with high cognitive control capacity had higher emotion regulation self-efficacy when regulating emotions such as frustration and distress. Moreover, under high-intensity negative stimulus conditions, the high cognitive control capacity group used cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and distraction strategies more effectively than the low cognitive control capacity group.

Meta-analysis techniques were used to investigate the changes of early and late brain amplitude induced by pain empathy, and to explore the moderating effects of age and stimulus type. A meta-analysis of 246 effect sizes from 72 studies found significant pain empathy effects on the early components N1, N2, and the late components P3 and LPP. Cognitive empathy and emotional empathy continued to develop from preschool to middle childhood, and then cognitive empathy gradually dominated, reaching a peak in adolescence and then decreasing. The proportion of emotional empathy increased during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The moderating effect of stimulus type was significant, with auditory stimulation showing anadvantage over facial and limb stimulation. The results of this study provide more quantitative evidence for the lifelong development of empathy.

Based on the dual function model of social adjustment, the present study adopted a person-centered approach to identify latent subgroups of adolescents in terms of positive and negative risk-taking behaviors, and examined the associations between positive and negative parent-adolescent relationship quality and these latent risk-taking subgroups. This study recruited 1583 middle school students via convenience sampling, and conducted analyses using the latent profile model and multinomial logistic regression. The results revealed four distinct latent subgroups of positive and negative risk-taking among adolescents: a positive risk-taking profile (14.0%), a negative risk-taking profile (9.9%), a low risk-taking profile (68.5%), and a co-occurrence profile (7.6%). Positive parent-adolescent relationship quality contributed to adolescents being classified into the positive risk-taking subgroup while reducing their likelihood of falling into the negative risk-taking subgroup, whereas negative parent-adolescent relationship quality increased the probability of adolescents being categorized into the negative risk-taking subgroup. The current findings provide empirical evidence for the dual function model of social adjustment and may provide significant implications for future research and the development of interventions.

To examine whether self-esteem and social support (family and peer support) jointly moderate the association between bullying victimization (traditional and cyber) and internet gaming disorder (IGD) among adolescents, a survey was conducted with 2561 adolescents. The results revealed that: 1) self-esteem alone did not buffer the association between bullying victimization and IGD; 2) when high self-esteem co-occurred with high family or peer support, the association between traditional victimization and IGD was attenuated; 3) high self-esteem buffered the negative effects of cyberbullying victimization only when accompanied by high peer support; 4) when high self-esteem was accompanied by low social support, the association between bullying victimization and IGD was exacerbated.

This study investigated the relationship between work-to-family conflict and parental burnout among mothers of primary and secondary school students, and explored the mediating role of educational anxiety and the moderating role of core self-evaluation. A survey was conducted among 2157 mothers of primary and secondary school students in Chongqing, Guizhou, and Henan using the Work-Family Conflict Scale (work-to-family conflict subscale), Parental Burnout Assessment, Parental Educational Anxiety Scale, and Chinese Core Self-Evaluations Scale. The results showed that: 1) maternal work-to-family conflict significantly and positively predicted the level of parental burnout; 2) educational anxiety partially mediated the impact of maternal work-to-family conflict on parental burnout; 3) core self-evaluation moderated the direct path and the second half of the mediation process. These findings suggest that relieving work-to-family conflict and educational anxiety and enhancing core self-evaluation may help alleviate parental burnout among mothers.

Within the framework of the Integrative Development-in-Sociocultural-Context Model, this study examined the relationship between perceived class climate and academic engagement among secondary vocational school students, as well as its underlying mechanisms. A sample of 1282 secondary vocational school students was recruited to fill out the Student-Perceived Classroom Interpersonal Harmony Scale, Professional Identity Scale, Academic Engagement Scale, and Personal Growth Initiative Scale. Results showed that: 1) perceived class climate positively predicted academic engagement; 2) professional identity partially mediated the relationship between the perceived class climate and academic engagement; 3) personal growth initiative moderated all paths within the mediation model “perceived class climate → professional identity → academic engagement”. The results have important theoretical and practical implications for improving the study engagement of secondary vocational school students.

Individuals’ emotional experiences during or after exercise directly affect the likelihood of future exercise repetition. The placebo effect can enhance the emotional benefits of exercise through the psychological mechanism of outcome expectation. Outcome expectation can be divided into induced expectation and habitual expectation. This study recruited 70 university students to participate in an outcome expectation intervention and examined the effects of eight weeks of induced expectation on exercise-related emotional benefits. The results showed that: 1) Outcome expectation produced a placebo effect on the emotional benefits of exercise. 2) Habitual expectation moderated the effect of induced expectation on exercise-related emotional benefits. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of induced expectation as a placebo intervention strategy and provides theoretical support for promoting sustained public participation in physical exercise and for enhancing the emotional “added value” gained through exercise.

Although AI chatbots have demonstrated positive effects on students’ learning engagement, the underlying factors that govern these benefits remain underspecified. Guided by person-environment fit and self-determination theories, this study employed response surface analysis to explore the relationship between individual innovativeness, chatbot novelty, and learning engagement. A sample of 511 college students participated in the study, with questionnaires assessing individual innovativeness, perceived chatbot novelty, and learning engagement. The results revealed that: 1) engagement increased as perceived novelty and innovativeness converged; 2) engagement was higher when both dimensions were high rather than low; and 3) learning engagement was greater when chatbot novelty exceeded individual innovativeness than in the reverse scenario. These findings extend the chatbot-education literature and provide evidence-based guidance for optimizing AI chatbots to foster engaged learning in the digital era.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping music creation, yet public attitudes toward AI-generated music may not be unitary, but may instead diverge across cognitive and evaluative dimensions. The cognitive dimension primarily concerns judgments of AI’s artistic agency, whereas the evaluative dimension manifests as aesthetic bias. Across two studies, we examined whether musical sophistication and AI literacy differentially predicted these two dimensions of attitude. Study 1, a questionnaire study (n=1203), found that both musical sophistication and AI literacy positively predicted perceived AI artistic agency, with AI literacy partially mediating the association between musical sophistication and AI artistic agency. Study 2 employed a creator-label manipulation paradigm (n=84) and found that aesthetic ratings were significantly lower when music was labeled as independently created by AI than when it was labeled as independently created by a human. Further exploratory analyses indicated that musical sophistication positively predicted this aesthetic bias, whereas AI literacy negatively predicted it, with these associations emerging primarily in the innovation style dimension. AI artistic agency was not significantly associated with aesthetic bias. These findings suggest that musical sophistication and AI literacy exhibit distinct patterns of association with cognitive and evaluative attitudes toward AI-generated music.

To address the issues of low wayfinding efficiency and negative user experience in underground spaces, Study 1 conducted on-site investigations of existing underground parking garages to assess current conditions, while Study 2 employed VR technology to experimentally examine the impact of color zoning and guidance sign spacing on wayfinding performance and user experience. The results demonstrated that employing color zoning combined with a sign spacing of 20m significantly reduced wayfinding time and decreased the number of pauses and observations. User evaluations of the wayfinding process were also significantly improved. This positive effect was found to be more pronounced during journeys involving longer wayfinding distances. The findings indicate that this approach (color zoning with 20m sign spacing) facilitates the acquisition of spatial knowledge and is effective in enhancing both wayfinding performance and user experience within underground environments.

This study employed a 2(facial attractiveness: attractive, unattractive)×3(group identity: in-group, out-group, unknown-group) within-subjects design to investigate how male facial attractiveness and group identity influence females’ trust decisions. Experiment 1 examined the truster’s decision-making. When feedback was unknown, trusters showed a higher investment rate to attractive trustees. Under the unattractive condition, trusters invested more in in-group trustees. When receiving gain feedback, trusters reinvested a larger amount to attractive trustees. The trend of reinvestment amounts across different groups was: in-group > unknown group > out-group. Experiment 2 examined the trustee’s decision-making. Trustees expected that attractive trusters would have a higher willingness to invest. However, neither the truster’s facial attractiveness nor group identity had a significant effect on reciprocation rate. In summary, the “beauty premium” plays a dominant role in trust decisions, outweighing the “in-group favoritism” effect. This decision-making pattern exhibits asymmetry between the roles of truster and trustee.

This study employed a “risky helping task” combined with cognitive computational modeling techniques to investigate the intrinsic cognitive computational mechanisms underlying individual moral decision-making in risky contexts. Through two experiments, the moderating role of emotions (positive/negative) was further explored. Experiment 1 revealed that college students’ behavior in risky helping decisions was simultaneously influenced by two cognitive biases: loss aversion (α parameter) and guilt aversion (β parameter). As the risk of helping failure increased, individuals’ loss aversion intensified while guilt aversion weakened, leading to a decrease in the subjective value (ΔSV) assessment of risky helping options and a reduction in helping behavior. The turning point for risk aversion occurred at a 30% risk level. Experiment 2 further found that, compared to the neutral emotion group (risk aversion turning point at 40%), the positive emotion group exhibited a delayed risk aversion turning point at 60%, with significantly reduced loss aversion and guilt aversion. Moreover, they assigned higher subjective value to risky helping options and ultimately made more helping choices. The negative emotion group showed stronger loss aversion, assigned lower subjective value, and made less helpful choices compared with the neutral group. The results indicate that moral decision-making in risky contexts follows an integrated “loss-guilt aversion” processing model, where the risk of helping failure suppresses helping behavior by enhancing loss aversion, while positive emotions can effectively buffer the negative impact of risk. This study provides computational evidence for understanding the cognitive processes of moral decision-making and the role of emotional interventions.

Workplace injustice events are a primary source of employee dissatisfaction and complaint behaviors. However, the psychological cognition and complaint responses that arise after employees experience such events remain underexplored in the existing literature. Drawing on event system theory and self-concept theory, this study investigated the differential impact mechanisms of workplace injustice event intensity on employee complaints. An empirical analysis of 350 survey samples revealed that workplace injustice event intensity had a significant positive effect on employee verbal complaints and action complaints, and a significant negative effect on silent complaints. Self-threat perception mediated the relationship between workplace injustice event intensity and employee complaints. Resilience played a significant moderating role, specifically by mitigating the positive effect of self-threat perception on action complaints and strengthening the negative effect of self-threat perception on silent complaints. In other words, when facing the same unjust event and accompanying self-threat perception, employees with higher resilience exhibited a greater tendency towards silent complaints. The findings of this study offer practical insights for managing employee complaints in organizational settings.