Why do some experiences endure in memory better than others? Here we explore the possibility that learning fluctuates rhythmically several times per second, with fortuitously timed experiences being more memorable. Although such fleeting opportunities for encoding would evade our awareness, they are predicted by a prominent model describing how theta rhythms in the brain coordinate memory-the Separate Phases for Encoding and Retrieval (SPEAR) model. In a preregistered study, we adapted a dense sampling approach to reconstruct the millisecond time course of memory encoding in n = 125 participants. We found that memory encoding fluctuated at a theta rhythm (3-10 Hz), that these rhythms were not a by-product of rhythmic attention and that-like theta rhythms in the brain-memory rhythms were modulated by putative markers of acetylcholine. Our findings provide behavioural evidence consistent with the SPEAR model of episodic memory.

We study the effects of social media political advertising by randomizing subsets of 36,906 Facebook users and 25,925 Instagram users to have political ads removed from their news feeds for 6 weeks before the 2020 US presidential election. We show that most presidential ads were targeted towards parties' own supporters and that fundraising ads were the most common. On both Facebook and Instagram, we found no detectable effects of removing political ads on political knowledge, polarization, perceived legitimacy of the election, political participation (including campaign contributions), candidate favourability and turnout. This was true overall and for both Democrats and Republicans separately.

Self-regulation is critical yet inconsistently defined across neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs). This preregistered (CRD42023350582), PRISMA-aligned overview of reviews aimed to (1) review and summarize definitions and models of self-regulation, (2) synthesize key self-regulation-related constructs and (3) identify common self-regulation measures in NDC populations. We searched Ovid Medline/PsycINFO/Embase, Web of Science-Core Collection and Cochrane Databases (inception to September 2024). We included 35 narrative, 2 scoping, 7 systematic and 3 meta-analytic peer-reviewed reviews of human studies on autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and intellectual disability that addressed self-regulation across emotional, cognitive and behavioural domains. We found that, despite varied terminology, elevated dysregulation was consistently reported across the included reviews. Inductive content analysis of the included reviews identified core psychological constructs related to self-regulation and their developmental and environmental-contextual interplays; the findings converged into a domain-general, transdiagnostic self-regulation framework emphasizing interdependent integration of emotional, cognitive and behavioural processes across contexts. Finally, a meta-summary from 332 primary empirical studies from the included scoping, systematic and meta-analytic reviews (69 autism, 130 intellectual disability and 133 attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) revealed measurement gaps with 521 identified measurements relying heavily on parent-report questionnaires. Risk of bias assessed through the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist revealed methodological heterogeneity. This overview of reviews offers guidance for aligning research, assessments and interventions with a domain-general, developmental understanding of self-regulation across NDCs.

Digital, self-guided, single-session interventions (SSIs) deliver structured psychological support within one interaction. Here we crowdsourced 66 diverse 10-min SSIs for depression and, with input from researchers and lived-experience experts, selected 11 for testing in a preregistered online randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT06856668 ). US adults (N = 7,505) experiencing elevated depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to 1 of the 11 crowdsourced SSIs, a validated behavioural activation SSI (active comparator) or a control condition without intervention content. Nearly all SSIs improved psychological outcomes immediately after completion (d ≤ 0.37). However, only two SSIs significantly reduced depression at 4-week follow-up (d = 0.14 and 0.15). Unexpectedly, completing an SSI made participants feel less confident and less interested in making changes to overcome depression at 4 weeks, on average (d = 0.05). Future work should aim to leverage SSIs' immediate benefits to promote sustained behaviour change or service engagement.

Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple intergroup conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a ninth-century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex sociospatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. We show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence consistent with deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.

The fundamental characteristics of math ability in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specifically proficiency and variability, remain inadequately understood. Here, in this systematic review and meta-analysis, we addressed this gap by synthesizing evidence on math ability in autistic individuals relative to the non-autistic population. Searches in multiple databases yielded 66 studies. Risk of bias was assessed using an adapted Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Random-effects meta-analyses used Hedges' g and natural logarithm of variability ratio (lnVR) as effect sizes. Publication bias was adjusted for using the precision-effect test and precision-effect estimate with standard errors, as well as a three-parameter selection model. Results show that, compared with the non-autistic population, as represented by standardized norms (mean 100, s.d. 15; 3,051 participants) and typically developing (TD) control groups (2,351 participants), individuals with ASD exhibit significantly lower math scores (ASD versus norms: Hedges' g = -0.360, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.605 to -0.114; ASD versus TD: Hedges' g = -0.696, 95% CI -0.947 to -0.445) and greater variability (ASD versus norms: lnVR 0.159, 95% CI 0.102 to 0.216; ASD versus TD: lnVR 0.298, 95% CI 0.199 to 0.396). Group discrepancies were moderated by intelligence, age or their interactions. The math-intelligence relationship in ASD provides a theoretical framework for understanding their mathematical development. In addition, the ASD-TD discrepancy has widened over the past four decades. These findings underscore the need for sustained, individualized mathematical education for ASD and investigation of the developmental trajectories of mathematical skills in ASD. Methodological challenges in the field included potential publication bias and insufficient rigour in sample matching.