Social desirability affects several aspects of human life. However, the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying individual differences in social desirability remain unclear. This study explored the neuroanatomical basis of individual differences in social desirability using regional gray matter density (rGMD) as a brain indicator in a sample of 158 Chinese college students (79 males; M = 21.42, SD = 1.96). Next, we tested the serial effects of callous-unemotional traits (a personality inhibitor of social desirability) and the uncovered brain structural correlation on individual differences in social desirability. Our results indicated that rGMD in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) is associated with individual differences in social desirability. Additionally, callous-unemotional traits were negatively associated with individual differences in social desirability through lower rGMD in the right dmPFC. This study provides the serial effects of personality inhibitor and neural correlate on individual differences in social desirability, which facilitates a more complete understanding of social desirability from the perspective of inhibition, and suggests a neuropsychological mechanism underlying lower-order personality traits.

This EEG and eye-tracking study investigated affective influences on cognitive preparation using a precued pro-/antisaccade task with emotional faces as cues. Negative information interfered with preparatory processes with high but not low executive function load.

Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy technique, this study identified lower brain network efficiency in children with anxiety and/or depression compared to healthy controls, with caregivers' evaluation of mood correlating with brain network efficiency.

Olfaction, often regarded as a unique chemical sensation, plays a pivotal role in shaping our quality of life and mental well-being. Numerous studies have highlighted the significant relationship between olfactory function and depressive symptoms. However, the complex mechanisms underlying how olfactory function affects the development of depressive symptoms remain largely unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of hedonic capacity in the link between olfactory function and depressive symptoms. We recruited 1661 young adults, along with an additional 381 participants who had experienced COVID-19-related olfactory dysfunction, to complete a series of self-report questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, olfactory dysfunction, and hedonic capacity. A subset of 327 participants completed a follow-up survey 3 months later. Our sequential mediation analyses revealed that olfactory function indirectly influenced depressive symptoms through chemosensory pleasure. Moreover, it impacted pleasure derived from social activities by modulating chemosensory pleasure. Notably, this mediating effect persisted over the 3-month period and was evident even in participants with hyposmia, highlighting the lasting importance of chemosensory hedonic capacity. These findings suggest that both chemosensory and social hedonic capacities are crucial in the complex relationship between olfactory function and depressive symptoms. This insight not only deepens our understanding of the developmental psychopathology of depression but also offers a new perspective for its prevention.

This study examined the impact of facial attractiveness and group identity of male proposers on the fairness decision-making of female participants in an ultimatum game. Results showed that participants were more likely to accept unfair offers from both attractive proposers and in-group proposers.

Stressor forecasting predicts the likelihood of a stressful event occurring in an upcoming timeframe and can significantly influence everyday experiences. The current study aimed to understand how stressor forecasting may moderate links between hourly stress and affective experiences over the course of a day. An ecological momentary assessment approach was used to collect data from 304 participants about their predicted stressor forecasting and hourly stress to personally relevant stressors and affective experiences 10 times within a day. We predicted that stressor forecasting would moderate the relationship between stress and affective experiences (separately for negative and positive affect). Stressor forecasting significantly moderated the links between stress and negative affect, but not between stress and positive affect. These findings emphasize the meaningful implications that adverse stressor forecasting can have on daily wellbeing, which may lead to the development and maintenance of chronic stress.

Evidence suggests that the motivation and pleasure deficit of negative symptoms determines the social functioning in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Alexithymia is defined as the diminished ability to identify and describe emotion feelings, and influences patients' social functioning. However, little is known regarding the relationship between motivation and pleasure, alexithymia, and social functioning in nonclinical populations. This network analysis study aimed to investigate the interactions between motivation and pleasure, alexithymia and social functioning in a sample of 2889 college students. The flow network and item-level regularized partial correlation network were constructed. Centrality estimation and relative importance metrics were also estimated. The network structures between subgroups with high and low social anhedonia were compared. Our resultant networks showed that the motivation factor was closely connected with social functioning. The relative importance analysis found that, among other nodes, the motivation factor accounted for the highest proportion of variance of social functioning in the nonclinical sample. Although the two subgroups with high and low social anhedonia differed significantly in network structures, they generally shared a similar edge structure. The two subgroups only exhibited significant difference in the connection between the social pleasure factor and recreation/work pleasure factor of the motivation and pleasure. Our findings supported the important role of the motivation factor in determining social functioning in nonclinical population.

Diminished social pleasure has been reported in people with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies suggested that emotional expressivity is closely correlated with social pleasure. However, the underlying psychological mechanisms between traits related to schizophrenia and ASD, emotional expressivity, and social pleasure remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between subclinical schizotypal and autistic traits, facial expressions, and social pleasure. Eighty-six healthy participants (mean age = 20.35 ± 0.26 years, 44 males) were recruited to complete an emotion elicitation task and an autobiographical recalling task, while their facial expressions were videotaped for computerized analysis using the FaceReader. The intensity of different facial expressions (happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, and disgusted), valence, and arousal were extracted. The self-report Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS), Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS) were administered to measure subclinical traits and social pleasure. Partial correlation analysis and moderation analysis were performed. Both schizotypal and autistic traits were negatively correlated with social pleasure. The moderation effects of angry facial expression for both schizotypal and autistic traits on their associations with social pleasure were significant. In addition, scared and surprised facial expressions moderated the associations between positive and negative dimensions of schizotypy and social pleasure, while arousal moderated the associations between autistic traits and social pleasure. Our study identified different moderating effects of facial emotion expressions on schizotypal and social anhedonia and autistic traits and social anhedonia, thereby revealing possible different psychopathological mechanisms underlying similar social anhedonia in subclinical populations.

Past studies have illustrated that we tend to prioritize remembering information that is relevant to ourselves, resulting in a self-reference effect. This effect is often influenced by emotions associated with the stimuli, frequently showcasing a self-positivity bias. However, these effects have only been observed in individual memory, without any consideration given to a social collaboration setting. The current study intended to clarify these effects in ongoing and enduring social collaboration. Participants were instructed to encode personality trait adjectives, displayed in different colors with various emotional valences, using either self-reference or other-reference methods. They were then tasked with individually or collaboratively recalling the words along with their associated encoding task, followed by individual recall. Our data indicated evidence of the self-reference effect in item memory during both ongoing and enduring collaborative sessions. This effect was evident for words studied in red, but the pattern was reversed for those in green. Additionally, the self-positivity bias was observed when retrieving the source of the encoding task during ongoing collaborative sessions. A reversed self-positivity bias was observed in item memory for words that were studied in green. An unexpected finding was that whether participants collaborated or not did not influence the effects we were investigating. Overall, we have extended the self-reference effect and self-positivity bias to the social collaboration setting, demonstrating that these effects remain consistent even in collaborative environments. This suggests that the underlying theories driving the effects are not contingent on social interaction. Moving forward, potential future directions for research are considered.

Patching one eye of an adult human for a few hours has been found to promote the dominance of the patched eye, which is called short-term monocular deprivation effect. Interestingly, recent work has reported that prolonged eye-specific attention can also cause a shift of ocular dominance toward the unattended eye though visual inputs during adaptation are balanced across the eyes. Considering that patching blocks all input information from one eye, attention is presumably deployed to the opposite eye. Therefore, the short-term monocular deprivation effect might be, in part, mediated by eye-specific attentional modulation. Yet this question remains largely unanswered. To address this issue, here we asked participants to perform an attentive tracking task with one eye patched. During the tracking, participants were presented with both target gratings (attended stimuli) and distractor gratings (unattended stimuli) that were distinct from each other in fundamental visual features. Before and after one hour of tracking, they completed a binocular rivalry task to measure perceptual ocular dominance. A larger shift of ocular dominance toward the deprived eye was observed when the binocular rivalry testing gratings shared features with the target gratings during the tracking compared to when they shared features with the distractor gratings. This result, for the first time, suggests that attention can boost the strength of the short-term monocular deprivation effect. Therefore, the present study sheds new light on the role of attention in ocular dominance plasticity.

The benefits of tea consumption as a special diet for health and life satisfaction have attracted considerable attention; however, it is not clear whether the effect of tea consumption on self-rated health (SRH) and self-rated life satisfaction (SRL) is equal among all types of tea, and it is unclear whether these associations are impacted by gender and age in older adults. This study aimed to examine the associations between tea consumption, SRH and SRL in older adults and to explore the role of gender and age. Participants aged 65-105 (N = 78,345) were interviewed in the years 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2018 in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study (CLHLS). Generalized estimation equations (GEE) with the identity link function were adopted to estimate the cross-sectional associations of tea consumption with SRH and SRL. GEE with the logic link function were used to explore the longitudinal associations of tea consumption with SRH decline and SRL decline. Drinking tea at present, especially scented tea, was significantly associated with better SRH and SRL for older adults. Male participants benefited more from tea consumption than females, and the protective effect of green tea consumption on improving SRH and SRL in males was evident. Older adults aged 90-105 with current tea consumption daily had better SRH and reduced risk of SRL decline.

Research on psychological richness in China and in adolescents is limited. We validated the 17-item Psychologically Rich Life Questionnaire in a sample of 1794 Chinese high school students. Internal consistency was adequate, and a two-factor structure was found.

In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, online assessment has emerged as an increasingly popular method for testing children. This review aims to review key advantages and disadvantages of online assessment in young children, specifically in the area of literacy and mathematics assessment. We first consider the recent history of online assessment and give evidence from our own experiences with online assessments in both Cebu, Philippines and Hong Kong. We then discuss the benefits of conducting assessments online. One of the key strengths of online assessments is the efficient use of resources, such as ease of staff training, increased participation and decreased costs for both participants and researchers. Difficulties related to testing environment, parental interference and exclusion of certain populations are also highlighted as focal challenges that must be considered when designing and implementing online assessment. The reliability and validity of online assessments are then specifically discussed in relation to the question of how to best ensure that online measures function as intended, stressing the importance of establishing separate norms for the various administration modes. Notably, online assessments delivered via phone screen must have separate norms than those delivered on a computer screen, as device differences may account for differences in performance. Finally, we present broader considerations for designing online assessments with young children. This includes practical tips for pilot testing, user interface design, data confidentiality and automatic scoring, both to enhance the efficiency of future online assessments and increase participation. Specifically, online assessments for children must account for their developing attentional abilities, meaning assessments should be brief, engaging and contain clear task instructions. The implementation of these considerations will support the development of more reliable, valid and inclusive assessments which will allow researchers and practitioners to support equitable and feasible online testing moving forward.

The first year of parenthood is considered to be a challenging period, associated with the transformation of family relations. The links between family relations and parenting are widely studied. However, in most research only a limited number of indicators is investigated, and there is a lack of data on the agreement between mothers' and fathers' evaluations of family relations. The aims of the present study were to explore (1) the structure and measurement invariance of marital relations and parenting constructs for mothers and fathers; (2) the associations among the measures of marital relations and parenting in mothers and fathers; (3) the agreement between mothers and fathers in their perception of marital relations, as well as cross-parent cross-measure associations of marital relations and self-rated parenting; (4) average differences between the parents in their perception of marital relations and parenting. The data from 352 Russian-speaking married couples participating in the Wave 3 of the Prospective Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Study (PLIS) were collected when the children were 9 months old. Seven measures of family relations (marital relations, grandparents' support) and nine measures of parenting were obtained. The statistical analyses included the exploratory factor analysis, assessment of measurement invariance, comparative and correlational analysis. The result showed that measures were organised into coherent factor-based groupings: (1) marital relations, (2) support from grandparents, (3) childcare and affection, and (4) harsh parental discipline. Six of 12 measures showed partial scalar invariance between mothers and fathers. Moderate within-measure correlations were observed between mothers' and fathers' assessments of family relations; and weak correlations-for parenting. Mother-father cross-measure correlations were moderate for family relations, but negligible for parenting. Small to moderate average differences between mothers and fathers were found for all measures. The results highlight the need to consider similarities and differences between mothers' and fathers' experiences in future research and practice.

From infancy, we spend considerable time absorbing social information from the external world. Social information processing, which starts with looking at facial expressions, affects behavior and cognition. Previous research has demonstrated that looking behaviors at social cues such as faces may differ in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by using eye-tracking studies with real photographs and movies. However, mixed results have been reported. In this study, we examined whether autistic traits in adults affected gaze behavior when participants viewed paintings. The eye-tracking results indicate that gaze patterns change over time during a 20-s free-viewing task. Although the fixations were not influenced during the first 10 s of the viewing, autistic tendencies affected gaze behavior after the overview of the painting was completed: the higher the autism-spectrum quotient scores, the shorter the fixation duration and the fewer the fixations on the facial areas of the paintings during the latter 10 s of viewing time. This result indicates that the atypical gaze behavior was more likely to be modulated by a generalized attentional process for endogenous orienting with reduced interest in social cues. Gaze patterns of viewing paintings may be used to predict autistic tendencies among people undiagnosed but suspected of having ASD.

Visual attention is intrinsically rhythmic and oscillates based on the discrete sampling of either single or multiple objects. Recently, studies have found that the early visual cortex (V1/V2) modulates attentional rhythms. Both monocular and binocular cells are present in the early visual cortex, which acts as a transfer station for transformation of the monocular visual pathway into the binocular visual pathway. However, whether the neural site of attentional rhythms is in the monocular or binocular visual pathway needs further study. In the current study, we leveraged the anatomical features of the monocular and binocular pathway to design a paradigm with same-eye and different-eye presentations of cues and targets. By combining this approach with EEG recordings and analysis the impulse response function (TRF), we aimed to address this question. In Experiment 1, we reset the phase of attentional rhythms in one monocular channel (left eye or right eye) by a dichoptic cue and tracked the impulse response function (TRF) of the monocular channel in the left and right eye separately. We found no significant differences in the respective TRFs and their spectra for each eye, suggesting that attention rarely switched between the two eyes, indicating that the binocular visual pathway, not the monocular visual pathway, is the neural site of attentional rhythms. These results were verified when resetting the phases of attentional rhythms by a binocular cue in Experiment 2. These results suggest that attentional rhythms may be sensitive to activities in the binocular visual pathway.

Anhedonia is believed to be transdiagnostic symptom exist in various disorders including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. However, very few studies attempted to profile subclinical samples with schizophrenia, depressive, and autistic symptoms using measures of anhedonia scales. This study adopted a cluster analytical approach to examine the anhedonia profile in 46 individuals with schizotypal trait (ST), 43 subthreshold depression (SD), 27 autistic trait (AT), and 41 healthy controls. They completed a set of checklists capturing different dimensions of anhedonia including the anticipatory and consummatory interpersonal pleasure scale, the temporal experience of pleasure scale, the motivation and pleasure scale and the belief about pleasure scale. Cluster analysis was conducted on these measures among the merged sample of ST, SD, and AT. To validate the clusters, we administered measures on nonsocial reward processing, self-reported empathy, and social functioning. A three-cluster solution was found to be the best fit. Cluster 1 (n = 48) showed high pleasure experience, motivation, and belief about pleasure and spread evenly across three groups. Cluster 2 (n = 31) was characterized by low levels of anticipatory and consummatory pleasure specifically for the social domain, largely comprised of individuals with ST. Cluster 3 (n = 37) showed low levels of consummatory pleasure, motivation, and belief about pleasure, largely comprised of individuals with SD. The resultant clusters differed in social process and functioning. The current findings suggested distinct anhedonia subtypes within different subclinical populations. These findings may have implications for early detection and prevention for anhedonia.

The postgraduate entrance examination frenzy is a widespread and intense phenomenon in China. As the number of students who failed the examination surged, the ensuing mental health problems became prominent. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an online ACT-based group resilience course, which incorporated the six core components of ACT and integrated elements of Chinese culture, in alleviating psychological distress among students who failed the examination. It also explored the mechanism by which the intervention affected changes in psychological distress. A total of 61 participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 31) and the control group (n = 30). They attended an 8-day group course, with 2-h sessions each day. The study outcomes were psychological distress, resilience, psychological flexibility (PF), and psychological inflexibility (PI). These outcomes were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Linear mixed models (LMMs) showed significant group × time interactions for all outcome variables, except for stress, which showed a marginally significant interaction. Post hoc analyses revealed significant improvements in depression, resilience, and PF at both post-intervention and at the 1-month follow-up. Additionally, significant reductions in anxiety and a marginally significant reduction in stress were observed at the 1-month follow-up. However, no significant reduction was found in PI. The multiple mediation model showed that the intervention improved psychological distress by increasing resilience and PF. These findings suggest that online resilience group intervention is generally effective in enhancing resilience and alleviating psychological distress and is acceptable to students who have failed the postgraduate entrance examination, as evidenced by high participant engagement and satisfaction.

This study explores how peers influence the moral decisions of Chinese adolescents (12- to 16-year-olds, M = 14.32, n = 84) and young adults (18- to 26-year-olds, M = 20.92, n = 99) in moral dilemmas. Participants were asked to make moral decisions individually and then collectively within groups of three to reach a consensus in Trolly dilemma and Footbridge dilemma. They were also required to evaluate the degree to which they felt their decisions were moral. Results showed that adolescents tended to choose "action" (pull the lever in Trolly dilemma, or push the man in Footbridge dilemma) more than adults, and evaluate their "no action" choice as more immoral than young adults across both individual and group settings. Adolescents showed consistent decision-making patterns regardless of whether decisions were made individually or collectively, while adults were more likely to choose "no action" in group decision-making. Our results suggest that adolescents are more utilitarian than young adults when making decisions in moral dilemmas, compared to young adults. Young adults are less likely to make utilitarian choices when they are in groups than when they make decisions individually.

Prosocial risky behavior (PRB) refers to actions taken at personal risk for the benefit of others or societal welfare, combining risk-taking with prosocial intent, and involving the integrated processing of individual risk and social preferences. Building upon the review and evaluation of the definitions of PRB, existing research tools, theoretical models, and neural mechanisms, this paper elucidates the synergistic interaction and mechanisms of the emotional drive and cognitive reasoning systems in PRB. It constructs a dual-system collaborative model for PRB. Furthermore, to address the shortcomings of existing PRB research tools, such as limited cross-domain applicability and low reliability, this paper designs a PRB research paradigm within the economic decision-making domain. Combined with the dual-system collaborative model of PRB, this paper proposes a cognitive computational modeling concept for PRB and preliminarily verifies its reliability. Future research should conduct cross-cultural studies, utilizing cognitive neuroscientific technologies, to explore the cultural differences in the mechanisms underlying PRB, thereby enhancing the cross-cultural interpretive power of the constructed dual-system collaborative model of PRB. This broadens the theoretical explanatory pathways and research dimensions of PRB.

This study aimed to explore the mental health status of individuals seeking rhinoplasty before and 3 months after surgery. This study was conducted in 2022 at Velayat Hospital, involving patients aged 18-60 who were seeking rhinoplasty, selected using convenience sampling method. Exclusion criteria included prior nasal surgery and severe psychiatric disorders without clearance from a psychiatrist. The Symptom Check List-90-Revised questionnaire was employed to assess psychological disorders across 9 dimensions. Sixty patients were examined, consisting of 14 men and 46 women, with an average age of 31 years. A substantial 83.3% of participants sought rhinoplasty solely for cosmetic reasons, whereas 16.7% cited both cosmetic and breathing issues as motivations. Initially, 59 patients had scores indicating "good" mental health, with one showing "moderate" mental health. Three months after the surgery, all patients scored within "good" mental health. The findings revealed significant improvements in various dimensions of mental health, including depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive symptoms, with the exception of paranoid ideation. All three primary indicators of mental health demonstrated significant decrease post-surgery. The study highlights the positive impact of rhinoplasty on the mental health of patients, particularly among women, individuals over 20, and non-smokers. Notable improvements were observed across various mental health dimensions, with significant enhancements reported three months post-surgery. However, the findings underscore the need for careful consideration of psychological conditions when selecting candidates for surgery. Limitations, including a small male sample and lack of a control group, suggest further research is necessary.

Future thinking, mentally projecting oneself into future events, scenarios, and circumstances, is common in everyday life. However, no scale has been developed to explore the functions of future thinking in China. This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the functions of future thinking scale (FoFTS). Based on a sample of 578 Chinese residents, confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the 10-factor structure of the Chinese version of FoFTS fit well. The reliability indexes across 10 factors were in an acceptable range. Acceptable convergent validity was reported considering its association with time perspective, future self-continuity, emotion regulation, and intertemporal decision-making. Additionally, the effect of age and the severity of emotional states on FoFTS were found. Overall, the Chinese FoFTS is a reliable and valid tool for examining the diverse purposes and roles of future thinking among Chinese adults, thereby enhancing the cross-cultural study of purposes for future thinking.

The present study examines the impact of induced social stress on facial trustworthiness judgments in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) and the associations between symptoms and trustworthiness ratings. Thirty-three individuals with SCZ and forty healthy controls (HC) were asked to rate the trustworthiness of 24 digitally morphed faces in two counterbalanced conditions. Mild social stress was induced by listening to loud noises from a busy street. BPRS, CAPE-42, and the Paranoia Scale measured the severity of symptoms. We did not observe significant differences in trustworthiness judgments between the patient and control groups. Social stress did not impact trust judgments. Paranoia was negatively connected to trustworthiness ratings in the control group. Subjective rating of stress in noise condition was negatively associated with paranoia only in the control sample. In the patient group, a negative correlation was found between trustworthiness ratings in stress conditions and the severity of self-reported negative symptoms. Our results suggest that mild social stress does not significantly affect trustworthiness judgments in either patients with SCZ or in HC. Differences between the patient and control groups in trustworthiness judgments were negligible. Overall, the results of this study can be considered mainly negative and contrast with previous studies. The stress induction paradigm or a smaller sample size might cause observed results. In controls, biased face perception was linked to trait paranoia. By contrast, in SCZ, other factors might impact trust perception and need further examination.

To examine the effects of mindfulness on shame and the mechanisms mediated by cognitive flexibility and self-compassion in a Chinese adult population in daily life, we conducted two studies. Study 1 was a cross-sectional study using the Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, the Self-Compassion Scale, and the Self-Conscious Affect-3, which were administered to 481 adults in Beijing and Chengdu. For Study 2, an 8-month follow-up study was conducted on 128 of the adults. The results of Study 1 showed that (1) the awareness of action and nonjudgment dimensions, and the total score of mindfulness were significantly correlated with shame; (2) cognitive flexibility and self-compassion could fully mediate the prediction of mindfulness on shame. The Study 2 showed that (1) mindfulness and shame were significantly negatively correlated in both phases of measurement; (2) controlling for T1 shame, T1 mindfulness was able to negatively predict T2 shame; controlling for T1 mindfulness, T1 shame was not able to predict T2 mindfulness. There is a longitudinal association between mindfulness and shame, and only mindfulness scores are predictive of the shame and not vice-versa; both cognitive flexibility and self-compassion can provide explanations for the prediction of shame by mindfulness. Enhancing levels of mindfulness can help alleviate individuals' shame levels.

The technique of transforming symptom's symbol into emptiness (TSSE) is a new mind-body treatment method proposed by Tianjun Liu in 2008. It integrates Qigong and concrete object-image thinking rooted in traditional Chinese culture into modern psychotherapy and proposes that mental and physical problems can be alleviated or eliminated in the process of movement. Accordingly, the therapist needs to guide the client with various symptoms to psychological nothingness where the client cannot see or feel these symptoms, and the purpose of healing can be achieved through the experience of emptiness. TSSE is divided into static and dynamic operations and consists of 10 steps. The static operation includes trio relaxation exercises (the body, breath, and mind), identifying the target symptom, visualizing the target symptom as an object-image, visualizing a symbolic carrier, and filling out record sheet A. The dynamic operation includes trio relaxation exercises again, moving the symbolic object into the carrier, moving the carrier with the symbolic object into psychological nothingness, moving back and assessment, and filling out record sheet B. The effectiveness of TSSE can be evaluated by the therapist's judgment based on the client's performance and by the difference between the symptom impact scores recorded in sheets A and B. TSSE has been proven to be an effective psychosomatic treatment solution by some empirical studies conducted in China. Future research can combine other technologies, such as fMRI and fNIRS, to further explore the potential effective mechanisms of TSSE.

Curiosity, as the strong desire to acquire new information, plays a crucial role in human behaviors. While recent research has delved into the effects, behavioral manifestations, and neural underpinnings of curiosity, the absence of standardized assessment tools for measuring curiosity may hinder advancements in this field. Here, we translated different curiosity scales into Chinese and tested each translated scale by examining its reliability and structural validity. Our results showed that the scores derived from these scales have comparable reliability to those original versions. The confirmatory factor analysis results of the curiosity scales were consistent with previous results. We also found significant associations between different types of curiosity within taxonomy and demonstrated that personality traits such as impulsive sensation seeking, intolerance of uncertainty, and openness can jointly predict trait curiosity. Additionally, we confirmed the social dimension of curiosity, showing that loneliness partially mediates the relationship between social anxiety and social curiosity. This study provides validated Chinese versions of curiosity scales and elucidates the mechanisms of curiosity from multiple perspectives, potentially advancing curiosity research in the Chinese and cross-cultural contexts.

The development of empathy and the establishment of peer relationships significantly influence the quality of preschoolers' social lives. Past research consistently demonstrates a strong correlation between empathy and peer relationships. However, debates persist regarding causality. To provide evidence on this matter, we conducted a year-long longitudinal study involving 160 preschoolers at T1, with 137 children (mean age = 60.99 months, SD = 3.51; 66 males) retained at T2, 1 year later. Our study employed a two-wave design and cross-lagged panel analysis. Data on empathy and peer relationships were collected through empathy story tasks and peer nominations. For the analysis of peer nominations, we selected three centrality measures from social network analysis: degree centrality (number of direct friendships), closeness centrality (proximity between network members), and betweenness centrality (control/mediation of information exchange). Results from the cross-lagged panel analysis reveal that preschoolers' affective and cognitive empathy at T1 positively and significantly predict peer relationships at T2. Specifically, both forms of empathy predict degree centrality and closeness centrality. Additionally, hierarchical linear modeling indicates that, even after controlling for affective empathy, cognitive empathy significantly predicts both degree centrality and closeness centrality at T2. These findings underscore the importance of nurturing empathy, especially cognitive empathy, to enhance peer relationships among preschoolers. Consequently, educators can play a vital role in improving peer relationships by intervening in empathy development, promoting greater social interaction.

Children's brain is able to track the linguistic structures in continuous speech. When there was no prior knowledge, we found that children also automatically detected and tracked the statistical structures in auditory tone steam as reflected by neural entrainment, but their ability was immature.

Mindfulness plays an important role in reducing post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and promoting posttraumatic growth (PTG) among traumatized populations. However, the mechanism at the emotional level has not been fully examined. Thus, we aimed to investigate the possible mediating roles of trauma-related shame and guilt. A total of 814 college students (M = 19.55, SD = 1.89) with traumatic experiences in China were recruited. Traumatic experiences, mindfulness, trauma-related shame, and trauma-related guilt were assessed in the first survey. Six months later, PTSS and PTG were assessed in the second survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that mindfulness was associated with less PTSS through shame and guilt. However, though directly associated with more PTG, mindfulness could also negatively predict PTG by evoking less guilt. Mindfulness can be a way to cope with traumatic experiences and related psychological consequences. However, although mindfulness can reduce PTSS by suppressing negative trauma-related shame and guilt, it can also limit the realization of PTG by inhibiting the adaptive sides of these emotions.

The Geneva Sentimentality Scale (GSS) measures the experience of being moved and its effects on behavior. Despite the prevalence of this emotional response, it has not been extensively studied in China. This study aims to adapt and revise the GSS for Chinese college students to assess its cross-cultural consistency. A sample of 1328 students aged 18-24 years participated in the study, with 127 randomly selected for retesting after an 8-week interval. Exploratory factor analysis reveals that the Chinese version of the GSS includes three factors (emotional labels, tears of joy, and warm feelings in the chest), with a total of nine items. The internal consistency coefficients for the three factors and the overall scale are high, and the total score remains stable over time. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) shows that the three-factor model has a good fit. Multigroup CFA indicates measurement invariance across genders. The results also demonstrate good discriminant and convergent validity for the scale. Overall, the GSS is a reliable and flexible tool for assessing the emotion of being moved among Chinese college students.