#cognitivecontrol — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #cognitivecontrol, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: May 16, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Unpredictable childhoods may hinder a young adult’s ability to take positive risks
A 7-year longitudinal study found that adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events tend to show higher levels of activation in the frontoparietal region of the brain during a cognitive control task. Because a maturing brain should require less effort to complete these tasks, this higher activation suggests a less efficient brain network. In turn, this inefficiency was associated with a lower willingness to take positive social risks (e.g., exploring a new career, voicing an unpopular opinion, starting a conversation) in young adulthood. The paper was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
Positive social risks are situations in which a person takes a chance in social life in order to create a positive outcome or long-term benefit. They include actions such as starting a conversation, apologizing first, asking for help, offering help, admitting a mistake, or expressing honest feelings. These actions are “risks” because the other person may reject us, criticize us, misunderstand us, or fail to respond warmly. They are “positive” because they can lead to trust, friendship, cooperation, forgiveness, learning, and stronger relationships.
For example, inviting a new classmate to join a group may feel uncomfortable, but it can help that person feel accepted. Telling the truth respectfully can also be a positive social risk because it may improve communication even if it feels difficult at first. Positive social risks are important because many valuable relationships and opportunities begin with someone being brave enough to act first. They also help people develop confidence, empathy, and social skills. Without positive social risks, people avoid rejection but also miss chances for connection, career advancement, and personal growth.
Study author Morgan Lindenmuth and his colleagues explored how unpredictable negative life events in childhood may be associated with positive social risk taking in adolescence and early adulthood through changes in cognitive development. Studies indicate that experiencing a chaotic environment in childhood is associated with a “fast” life strategy, leading to higher aggression and harmful risk-taking. The authors of this study hypothesized that an unpredictable environment may also reduce positive risk taking by altering how the developing brain wires its decision-making centers.
They conducted a longitudinal study that followed 167 adolescents from a southeastern state in the United States for 7 years. Participating adolescents were 13-14 years old at the start of the study. 78% of them identified as White.
During the study period, participants and their parents completed self-report questionnaires, and the teens completed behavioral and neuroimaging tasks once a year at the university offices of the study authors. Parents completed an assessment of negative life events in their children’s lives during the first 4 years of the study (using the Child and Adolescent Survey of Experiences). To measure “unpredictability,” the researchers specifically focused on four events related to instability: changes in cohabitation (someone moving in or out), parental job loss, and changes in residence (moving).
At these annual check-ins, study participants also completed an assessment of cognitive control (the Multi-Source Interference Task) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task required them to view three digits and press a button to indicate which one was different, testing their ability to ignore distractions and focus. When the study participants reached young adulthood (between 18 and 21 years old), they completed an assessment measuring their likelihood of engaging in positive social risk taking (the Domain Specific Risk-Taking Scale).
The researchers used statistical modeling to track the adolescents’ brain development over the four years of fMRI scans. The results showed that, generally, frontoparietal activation decreased as the teens got older, reflecting a maturing, more efficient brain network. However, adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events during this period had higher levels of frontoparietal activation by age 17, suggesting their cognitive control processing was less efficient than their peers.
In turn, this higher brain activation at age 17 was associated with slightly lower positive social risk taking when participants were between 18 and 21 years old.
The study authors tested a statistical mediation model proposing that unpredictability (as reported by parents when participants were 14-17 years old) hinders the development of the brain’s cognitive control centers, leading to increased, inefficient activation in the frontoparietal region at age 17. In turn, this less mature brain functioning leads to a lower willingness to take positive social risks in young adulthood (18-21 years of age). The results showed a significant “indirect effect,” meaning this chain of events is highly plausible.
“The findings have important implications for understanding the antecedents of risk-taking behaviors by highlighting the role of neurocognitive functioning in linking environmental unpredictability to positive social risk outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of how childhood experiences physically alter the brain and shape personality characteristics observed in adulthood. However, it should be noted that the observed associations were relatively weak, and simple bivariate correlations did not indicate a direct, straight-line association between unpredictability in adolescence and positive social risk taking in young adulthood (the connection only appeared when factoring in the brain development data).
The paper, “Environmental Unpredictability Predicts Positive Social Risk Taking through Neural Cognitive Control,” was authored by Morgan Lindenmuth, Celina Meyer, Jacob Lee, Laurence Steinberg, Brooks Casas, and Jungmeen Kim-Spoon.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #UnpredictableChildhoods #PositiveSocialRisks #CognitiveControl #Frontoparietal #Neuroscience #BrainDevelopment #AdolescentToAdult #RiskTaking #Neurodevelopment #SocialCognition
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DATE: May 16, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Unpredictable childhoods may hinder a young adult’s ability to take positive risks
A 7-year longitudinal study found that adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events tend to show higher levels of activation in the frontoparietal region of the brain during a cognitive control task. Because a maturing brain should require less effort to complete these tasks, this higher activation suggests a less efficient brain network. In turn, this inefficiency was associated with a lower willingness to take positive social risks (e.g., exploring a new career, voicing an unpopular opinion, starting a conversation) in young adulthood. The paper was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
Positive social risks are situations in which a person takes a chance in social life in order to create a positive outcome or long-term benefit. They include actions such as starting a conversation, apologizing first, asking for help, offering help, admitting a mistake, or expressing honest feelings. These actions are “risks” because the other person may reject us, criticize us, misunderstand us, or fail to respond warmly. They are “positive” because they can lead to trust, friendship, cooperation, forgiveness, learning, and stronger relationships.
For example, inviting a new classmate to join a group may feel uncomfortable, but it can help that person feel accepted. Telling the truth respectfully can also be a positive social risk because it may improve communication even if it feels difficult at first. Positive social risks are important because many valuable relationships and opportunities begin with someone being brave enough to act first. They also help people develop confidence, empathy, and social skills. Without positive social risks, people avoid rejection but also miss chances for connection, career advancement, and personal growth.
Study author Morgan Lindenmuth and his colleagues explored how unpredictable negative life events in childhood may be associated with positive social risk taking in adolescence and early adulthood through changes in cognitive development. Studies indicate that experiencing a chaotic environment in childhood is associated with a “fast” life strategy, leading to higher aggression and harmful risk-taking. The authors of this study hypothesized that an unpredictable environment may also reduce positive risk taking by altering how the developing brain wires its decision-making centers.
They conducted a longitudinal study that followed 167 adolescents from a southeastern state in the United States for 7 years. Participating adolescents were 13-14 years old at the start of the study. 78% of them identified as White.
During the study period, participants and their parents completed self-report questionnaires, and the teens completed behavioral and neuroimaging tasks once a year at the university offices of the study authors. Parents completed an assessment of negative life events in their children’s lives during the first 4 years of the study (using the Child and Adolescent Survey of Experiences). To measure “unpredictability,” the researchers specifically focused on four events related to instability: changes in cohabitation (someone moving in or out), parental job loss, and changes in residence (moving).
At these annual check-ins, study participants also completed an assessment of cognitive control (the Multi-Source Interference Task) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task required them to view three digits and press a button to indicate which one was different, testing their ability to ignore distractions and focus. When the study participants reached young adulthood (between 18 and 21 years old), they completed an assessment measuring their likelihood of engaging in positive social risk taking (the Domain Specific Risk-Taking Scale).
The researchers used statistical modeling to track the adolescents’ brain development over the four years of fMRI scans. The results showed that, generally, frontoparietal activation decreased as the teens got older, reflecting a maturing, more efficient brain network. However, adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events during this period had higher levels of frontoparietal activation by age 17, suggesting their cognitive control processing was less efficient than their peers.
In turn, this higher brain activation at age 17 was associated with slightly lower positive social risk taking when participants were between 18 and 21 years old.
The study authors tested a statistical mediation model proposing that unpredictability (as reported by parents when participants were 14-17 years old) hinders the development of the brain’s cognitive control centers, leading to increased, inefficient activation in the frontoparietal region at age 17. In turn, this less mature brain functioning leads to a lower willingness to take positive social risks in young adulthood (18-21 years of age). The results showed a significant “indirect effect,” meaning this chain of events is highly plausible.
“The findings have important implications for understanding the antecedents of risk-taking behaviors by highlighting the role of neurocognitive functioning in linking environmental unpredictability to positive social risk outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of how childhood experiences physically alter the brain and shape personality characteristics observed in adulthood. However, it should be noted that the observed associations were relatively weak, and simple bivariate correlations did not indicate a direct, straight-line association between unpredictability in adolescence and positive social risk taking in young adulthood (the connection only appeared when factoring in the brain development data).
The paper, “Environmental Unpredictability Predicts Positive Social Risk Taking through Neural Cognitive Control,” was authored by Morgan Lindenmuth, Celina Meyer, Jacob Lee, Laurence Steinberg, Brooks Casas, and Jungmeen Kim-Spoon.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #UnpredictableChildhoods #PositiveSocialRisks #CognitiveControl #Frontoparietal #Neuroscience #BrainDevelopment #AdolescentToAdult #RiskTaking #Neurodevelopment #SocialCognition
-
DATE: May 16, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Unpredictable childhoods may hinder a young adult’s ability to take positive risks
A 7-year longitudinal study found that adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events tend to show higher levels of activation in the frontoparietal region of the brain during a cognitive control task. Because a maturing brain should require less effort to complete these tasks, this higher activation suggests a less efficient brain network. In turn, this inefficiency was associated with a lower willingness to take positive social risks (e.g., exploring a new career, voicing an unpopular opinion, starting a conversation) in young adulthood. The paper was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
Positive social risks are situations in which a person takes a chance in social life in order to create a positive outcome or long-term benefit. They include actions such as starting a conversation, apologizing first, asking for help, offering help, admitting a mistake, or expressing honest feelings. These actions are “risks” because the other person may reject us, criticize us, misunderstand us, or fail to respond warmly. They are “positive” because they can lead to trust, friendship, cooperation, forgiveness, learning, and stronger relationships.
For example, inviting a new classmate to join a group may feel uncomfortable, but it can help that person feel accepted. Telling the truth respectfully can also be a positive social risk because it may improve communication even if it feels difficult at first. Positive social risks are important because many valuable relationships and opportunities begin with someone being brave enough to act first. They also help people develop confidence, empathy, and social skills. Without positive social risks, people avoid rejection but also miss chances for connection, career advancement, and personal growth.
Study author Morgan Lindenmuth and his colleagues explored how unpredictable negative life events in childhood may be associated with positive social risk taking in adolescence and early adulthood through changes in cognitive development. Studies indicate that experiencing a chaotic environment in childhood is associated with a “fast” life strategy, leading to higher aggression and harmful risk-taking. The authors of this study hypothesized that an unpredictable environment may also reduce positive risk taking by altering how the developing brain wires its decision-making centers.
They conducted a longitudinal study that followed 167 adolescents from a southeastern state in the United States for 7 years. Participating adolescents were 13-14 years old at the start of the study. 78% of them identified as White.
During the study period, participants and their parents completed self-report questionnaires, and the teens completed behavioral and neuroimaging tasks once a year at the university offices of the study authors. Parents completed an assessment of negative life events in their children’s lives during the first 4 years of the study (using the Child and Adolescent Survey of Experiences). To measure “unpredictability,” the researchers specifically focused on four events related to instability: changes in cohabitation (someone moving in or out), parental job loss, and changes in residence (moving).
At these annual check-ins, study participants also completed an assessment of cognitive control (the Multi-Source Interference Task) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task required them to view three digits and press a button to indicate which one was different, testing their ability to ignore distractions and focus. When the study participants reached young adulthood (between 18 and 21 years old), they completed an assessment measuring their likelihood of engaging in positive social risk taking (the Domain Specific Risk-Taking Scale).
The researchers used statistical modeling to track the adolescents’ brain development over the four years of fMRI scans. The results showed that, generally, frontoparietal activation decreased as the teens got older, reflecting a maturing, more efficient brain network. However, adolescents who experienced more unpredictable life events during this period had higher levels of frontoparietal activation by age 17, suggesting their cognitive control processing was less efficient than their peers.
In turn, this higher brain activation at age 17 was associated with slightly lower positive social risk taking when participants were between 18 and 21 years old.
The study authors tested a statistical mediation model proposing that unpredictability (as reported by parents when participants were 14-17 years old) hinders the development of the brain’s cognitive control centers, leading to increased, inefficient activation in the frontoparietal region at age 17. In turn, this less mature brain functioning leads to a lower willingness to take positive social risks in young adulthood (18-21 years of age). The results showed a significant “indirect effect,” meaning this chain of events is highly plausible.
“The findings have important implications for understanding the antecedents of risk-taking behaviors by highlighting the role of neurocognitive functioning in linking environmental unpredictability to positive social risk outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of how childhood experiences physically alter the brain and shape personality characteristics observed in adulthood. However, it should be noted that the observed associations were relatively weak, and simple bivariate correlations did not indicate a direct, straight-line association between unpredictability in adolescence and positive social risk taking in young adulthood (the connection only appeared when factoring in the brain development data).
The paper, “Environmental Unpredictability Predicts Positive Social Risk Taking through Neural Cognitive Control,” was authored by Morgan Lindenmuth, Celina Meyer, Jacob Lee, Laurence Steinberg, Brooks Casas, and Jungmeen Kim-Spoon.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #UnpredictableChildhoods #PositiveSocialRisks #CognitiveControl #Frontoparietal #Neuroscience #BrainDevelopment #AdolescentToAdult #RiskTaking #Neurodevelopment #SocialCognition
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DATE: May 11, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The four ways exercise helps you handle aversive experiences
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-physical-exercise-rewires-the-brain-to-process-negative-emotions/
A new framework suggests that physical activity acts as an external tool to help the brain harmonize how it processes negative experiences and aversive information. The study outlines how both a single workout and a long-term exercise habit can shape specific cognitive pathways to support better emotional regulation. The research was published in Mental Health and Physical Activity.
When people encounter upsetting information, their brains initiate a series of cognitive processes. This emotional generation sequence typically involves four distinct stages: situation, attention, evaluation, and response. The initial situation provides the input, and the brain’s attention systems determine which elements to prioritize.
Following this perception, a goal-directed evaluation interprets the scenario. The body then forms a psychological and physiological response based on that assessment. Because these responses feed back into the system, an unchecked negative reaction can create a loop that intensifies future distress.
Emotion regulation is the act of managing these responses to achieve a stable mental balance. This regulation can happen at various points in the emotional sequence. It might occur explicitly, where a person uses conscious effort to distract themselves or reframe a situation.
Regulation can also occur implicitly, driven by deeply ingrained habits and unconscious mental beliefs about how to cope with stress. Finally, regulation can be automatic. A primary example is mindfulness, which involves observing emotional states with gentle awareness rather than trying to suppress them.
Researchers Haiting Zhu and Yifan Zhang wanted to understand exactly how physical activity influences these different regulatory systems. While past evidence highlighted that physical movement improves overall mood, the exact psychological mechanisms linking movement to aversive information processing remained scattered across different scientific disciplines.
Zhu and Zhang reviewed existing behavioral and neurological research to build a unified theoretical model. They synthesized findings from cognitive psychology, affective science, and exercise physiology to detail how the brain manages negative stimuli. Their framework divides the benefits of physical activity into two distinct categories: acute exercise and habitual exercise.
An acute bout of exercise refers to a single, structured session of physical activity. According to the researchers, this single session functions as an immediate external activator. It alters emotion by simultaneously engaging four essential cognitive pathways: attention, executive function, memory, and reward motivation.
The first impacted pathway is attention. During a moderate-intensity workout, the brain redirects focus away from internal worries and physical symptoms of distress. It shifts cognitive resources toward external sensory input and the mechanics of movement.
Studies utilizing visual attention tests demonstrate that moving the body biases attention toward pleasant stimuli while turning focus away from unpleasant images. This immediate reorientation prevents the mind from becoming trapped in early stages of distress.
The second pathway involves executive function, which encompasses higher-level mental skills like flexible thinking and self-control. A single session of physical activity increases activation in areas of the frontal region of the brain associated with updating information and inhibiting impulses.
With these neural resources energized, a person becomes substantially better at cognitive reappraisal. This means they are more capable of evaluating a stressful event from a new, constructive perspective. Behavioral tests measuring conflict resolution and impulse control show that physical exertion improves a person’s ability to quickly resolve emotional clashes.
The third mechanism is memory modification. Emotional regulation frequently requires the suppression of unwanted memories to prevent repetitive, anxious thinking. When people cannot disengage from bad memories, they fall into rumination, a state heavily associated with clinical depression.
The study proposes that physical activity enhances a person’s capacity for memory control. Highly demanding physical activities, especially those requiring complex motor skills and visual tracking, compete for the same mental resources the brain uses to process memories.
When a memory is recalled, it briefly becomes unstable and must be re-encoded by the brain. Engaging in a challenging physical task during this window can disrupt this restabilization process. This disruption ultimately reduces how intensely that negative memory can be felt in the future.
The fourth and final acute pathway involves reward-based motivation. Moderate aerobic conditioning triggers the release of specific neurochemicals like dopamine in the brain’s mesolimbic circuitry. This area is heavily involved in how humans process pleasure and anticipation.
Activating this reward system creates immediate feelings of accomplishment and positive reinforcement. The motivational energy provided by these chemicals sustains the ongoing effort required for emotional regulation. It shifts the brain’s overall state from defensive avoidance to goal-directed engagement.
Habitual exercise, meaning structured physical activity maintained over an extended period, operates differently. While single workouts provide temporary relief, habitual exercise builds upon the accumulated psychological rewards of those individual sessions.
The researchers view habitual exercise as an upward-spiraling cycle. As people repeatedly experience the satisfying feedback of a workout, their brains internalize these adaptive coping mechanisms. This prolonged engagement transforms short-lived chemical boosts into stable personality traits.
In this continuous cycle, improved executive function and memory control become automatic baselines. People with active routines develop stronger chronic capacities for cognitive reappraisal. Their automatic responses to stress become less defensive and more flexible over time.
Long-term routines that specifically incorporate mind and body awareness, such as yoga or Tai Chi, offer unique benefits. These practices cultivate an internal focus on physical sensations, training the brain to sustain present-focused attention even under emotionally charged conditions.
Habitual engagement is particularly effective at treating emotion regulation deficits. By repeatedly disrupting negative thought patterns and reinforcing positive action, regular motion lowers the everyday accessibility of anxious worry. This explains why an active lifestyle acts as a strong protective buffer against mood disorders.
There are constraints to this proposed model that require consideration. The researchers note that the psychological benefits of movement are not completely uniform across all populations.
Variables such as a person’s age, baseline physical fitness, and preexisting mental health status can alter how their brain reacts. For instance, an intense workout that feels highly rewarding to a trained athlete might produce a completely different stress response in an untrained individual.
Additionally, some neurological evidence shows that while aerobic exertion increases brain wave responses to positive images in healthy adults, it might not produce the exact same electrical brain activity in individuals with depression. These differences highlight the need for tailored interventions.
Much of the current evidence relies on measuring data at a single point in time or focusing exclusively on an isolated workout. These methodological limitations restrict how well scientists can track the exact timeline of emotional improvement.
Moving forward, the researchers emphasize the need for mechanism-based experiments. By tracking cognitive skills and clinical outcomes over extended periods, future studies could isolate exactly how short-term dopamine bursts develop into lifelong emotional stability.
The study, “The moving brain: A cross-pathways framework linking exercise to the modulation of aversive information processing,” was authored by Haiting Zhu and Yifan Zhang.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-physical-exercise-rewires-the-brain-to-process-negative-emotions/
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #exerciseandemotion #emotionalregulation #mentalhealthandphysicalactivity #acuteworkoutbenefits #habitualexercise #cognitivecontrol #memorymodulation #rewardmotivation #mindfulmovement #emotionalsuccessthroughfitness
-
DATE: May 11, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The four ways exercise helps you handle aversive experiences
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-physical-exercise-rewires-the-brain-to-process-negative-emotions/
A new framework suggests that physical activity acts as an external tool to help the brain harmonize how it processes negative experiences and aversive information. The study outlines how both a single workout and a long-term exercise habit can shape specific cognitive pathways to support better emotional regulation. The research was published in Mental Health and Physical Activity.
When people encounter upsetting information, their brains initiate a series of cognitive processes. This emotional generation sequence typically involves four distinct stages: situation, attention, evaluation, and response. The initial situation provides the input, and the brain’s attention systems determine which elements to prioritize.
Following this perception, a goal-directed evaluation interprets the scenario. The body then forms a psychological and physiological response based on that assessment. Because these responses feed back into the system, an unchecked negative reaction can create a loop that intensifies future distress.
Emotion regulation is the act of managing these responses to achieve a stable mental balance. This regulation can happen at various points in the emotional sequence. It might occur explicitly, where a person uses conscious effort to distract themselves or reframe a situation.
Regulation can also occur implicitly, driven by deeply ingrained habits and unconscious mental beliefs about how to cope with stress. Finally, regulation can be automatic. A primary example is mindfulness, which involves observing emotional states with gentle awareness rather than trying to suppress them.
Researchers Haiting Zhu and Yifan Zhang wanted to understand exactly how physical activity influences these different regulatory systems. While past evidence highlighted that physical movement improves overall mood, the exact psychological mechanisms linking movement to aversive information processing remained scattered across different scientific disciplines.
Zhu and Zhang reviewed existing behavioral and neurological research to build a unified theoretical model. They synthesized findings from cognitive psychology, affective science, and exercise physiology to detail how the brain manages negative stimuli. Their framework divides the benefits of physical activity into two distinct categories: acute exercise and habitual exercise.
An acute bout of exercise refers to a single, structured session of physical activity. According to the researchers, this single session functions as an immediate external activator. It alters emotion by simultaneously engaging four essential cognitive pathways: attention, executive function, memory, and reward motivation.
The first impacted pathway is attention. During a moderate-intensity workout, the brain redirects focus away from internal worries and physical symptoms of distress. It shifts cognitive resources toward external sensory input and the mechanics of movement.
Studies utilizing visual attention tests demonstrate that moving the body biases attention toward pleasant stimuli while turning focus away from unpleasant images. This immediate reorientation prevents the mind from becoming trapped in early stages of distress.
The second pathway involves executive function, which encompasses higher-level mental skills like flexible thinking and self-control. A single session of physical activity increases activation in areas of the frontal region of the brain associated with updating information and inhibiting impulses.
With these neural resources energized, a person becomes substantially better at cognitive reappraisal. This means they are more capable of evaluating a stressful event from a new, constructive perspective. Behavioral tests measuring conflict resolution and impulse control show that physical exertion improves a person’s ability to quickly resolve emotional clashes.
The third mechanism is memory modification. Emotional regulation frequently requires the suppression of unwanted memories to prevent repetitive, anxious thinking. When people cannot disengage from bad memories, they fall into rumination, a state heavily associated with clinical depression.
The study proposes that physical activity enhances a person’s capacity for memory control. Highly demanding physical activities, especially those requiring complex motor skills and visual tracking, compete for the same mental resources the brain uses to process memories.
When a memory is recalled, it briefly becomes unstable and must be re-encoded by the brain. Engaging in a challenging physical task during this window can disrupt this restabilization process. This disruption ultimately reduces how intensely that negative memory can be felt in the future.
The fourth and final acute pathway involves reward-based motivation. Moderate aerobic conditioning triggers the release of specific neurochemicals like dopamine in the brain’s mesolimbic circuitry. This area is heavily involved in how humans process pleasure and anticipation.
Activating this reward system creates immediate feelings of accomplishment and positive reinforcement. The motivational energy provided by these chemicals sustains the ongoing effort required for emotional regulation. It shifts the brain’s overall state from defensive avoidance to goal-directed engagement.
Habitual exercise, meaning structured physical activity maintained over an extended period, operates differently. While single workouts provide temporary relief, habitual exercise builds upon the accumulated psychological rewards of those individual sessions.
The researchers view habitual exercise as an upward-spiraling cycle. As people repeatedly experience the satisfying feedback of a workout, their brains internalize these adaptive coping mechanisms. This prolonged engagement transforms short-lived chemical boosts into stable personality traits.
In this continuous cycle, improved executive function and memory control become automatic baselines. People with active routines develop stronger chronic capacities for cognitive reappraisal. Their automatic responses to stress become less defensive and more flexible over time.
Long-term routines that specifically incorporate mind and body awareness, such as yoga or Tai Chi, offer unique benefits. These practices cultivate an internal focus on physical sensations, training the brain to sustain present-focused attention even under emotionally charged conditions.
Habitual engagement is particularly effective at treating emotion regulation deficits. By repeatedly disrupting negative thought patterns and reinforcing positive action, regular motion lowers the everyday accessibility of anxious worry. This explains why an active lifestyle acts as a strong protective buffer against mood disorders.
There are constraints to this proposed model that require consideration. The researchers note that the psychological benefits of movement are not completely uniform across all populations.
Variables such as a person’s age, baseline physical fitness, and preexisting mental health status can alter how their brain reacts. For instance, an intense workout that feels highly rewarding to a trained athlete might produce a completely different stress response in an untrained individual.
Additionally, some neurological evidence shows that while aerobic exertion increases brain wave responses to positive images in healthy adults, it might not produce the exact same electrical brain activity in individuals with depression. These differences highlight the need for tailored interventions.
Much of the current evidence relies on measuring data at a single point in time or focusing exclusively on an isolated workout. These methodological limitations restrict how well scientists can track the exact timeline of emotional improvement.
Moving forward, the researchers emphasize the need for mechanism-based experiments. By tracking cognitive skills and clinical outcomes over extended periods, future studies could isolate exactly how short-term dopamine bursts develop into lifelong emotional stability.
The study, “The moving brain: A cross-pathways framework linking exercise to the modulation of aversive information processing,” was authored by Haiting Zhu and Yifan Zhang.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-physical-exercise-rewires-the-brain-to-process-negative-emotions/
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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DATE: May 11, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The four ways exercise helps you handle aversive experiences
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-physical-exercise-rewires-the-brain-to-process-negative-emotions/
A new framework suggests that physical activity acts as an external tool to help the brain harmonize how it processes negative experiences and aversive information. The study outlines how both a single workout and a long-term exercise habit can shape specific cognitive pathways to support better emotional regulation. The research was published in Mental Health and Physical Activity.
When people encounter upsetting information, their brains initiate a series of cognitive processes. This emotional generation sequence typically involves four distinct stages: situation, attention, evaluation, and response. The initial situation provides the input, and the brain’s attention systems determine which elements to prioritize.
Following this perception, a goal-directed evaluation interprets the scenario. The body then forms a psychological and physiological response based on that assessment. Because these responses feed back into the system, an unchecked negative reaction can create a loop that intensifies future distress.
Emotion regulation is the act of managing these responses to achieve a stable mental balance. This regulation can happen at various points in the emotional sequence. It might occur explicitly, where a person uses conscious effort to distract themselves or reframe a situation.
Regulation can also occur implicitly, driven by deeply ingrained habits and unconscious mental beliefs about how to cope with stress. Finally, regulation can be automatic. A primary example is mindfulness, which involves observing emotional states with gentle awareness rather than trying to suppress them.
Researchers Haiting Zhu and Yifan Zhang wanted to understand exactly how physical activity influences these different regulatory systems. While past evidence highlighted that physical movement improves overall mood, the exact psychological mechanisms linking movement to aversive information processing remained scattered across different scientific disciplines.
Zhu and Zhang reviewed existing behavioral and neurological research to build a unified theoretical model. They synthesized findings from cognitive psychology, affective science, and exercise physiology to detail how the brain manages negative stimuli. Their framework divides the benefits of physical activity into two distinct categories: acute exercise and habitual exercise.
An acute bout of exercise refers to a single, structured session of physical activity. According to the researchers, this single session functions as an immediate external activator. It alters emotion by simultaneously engaging four essential cognitive pathways: attention, executive function, memory, and reward motivation.
The first impacted pathway is attention. During a moderate-intensity workout, the brain redirects focus away from internal worries and physical symptoms of distress. It shifts cognitive resources toward external sensory input and the mechanics of movement.
Studies utilizing visual attention tests demonstrate that moving the body biases attention toward pleasant stimuli while turning focus away from unpleasant images. This immediate reorientation prevents the mind from becoming trapped in early stages of distress.
The second pathway involves executive function, which encompasses higher-level mental skills like flexible thinking and self-control. A single session of physical activity increases activation in areas of the frontal region of the brain associated with updating information and inhibiting impulses.
With these neural resources energized, a person becomes substantially better at cognitive reappraisal. This means they are more capable of evaluating a stressful event from a new, constructive perspective. Behavioral tests measuring conflict resolution and impulse control show that physical exertion improves a person’s ability to quickly resolve emotional clashes.
The third mechanism is memory modification. Emotional regulation frequently requires the suppression of unwanted memories to prevent repetitive, anxious thinking. When people cannot disengage from bad memories, they fall into rumination, a state heavily associated with clinical depression.
The study proposes that physical activity enhances a person’s capacity for memory control. Highly demanding physical activities, especially those requiring complex motor skills and visual tracking, compete for the same mental resources the brain uses to process memories.
When a memory is recalled, it briefly becomes unstable and must be re-encoded by the brain. Engaging in a challenging physical task during this window can disrupt this restabilization process. This disruption ultimately reduces how intensely that negative memory can be felt in the future.
The fourth and final acute pathway involves reward-based motivation. Moderate aerobic conditioning triggers the release of specific neurochemicals like dopamine in the brain’s mesolimbic circuitry. This area is heavily involved in how humans process pleasure and anticipation.
Activating this reward system creates immediate feelings of accomplishment and positive reinforcement. The motivational energy provided by these chemicals sustains the ongoing effort required for emotional regulation. It shifts the brain’s overall state from defensive avoidance to goal-directed engagement.
Habitual exercise, meaning structured physical activity maintained over an extended period, operates differently. While single workouts provide temporary relief, habitual exercise builds upon the accumulated psychological rewards of those individual sessions.
The researchers view habitual exercise as an upward-spiraling cycle. As people repeatedly experience the satisfying feedback of a workout, their brains internalize these adaptive coping mechanisms. This prolonged engagement transforms short-lived chemical boosts into stable personality traits.
In this continuous cycle, improved executive function and memory control become automatic baselines. People with active routines develop stronger chronic capacities for cognitive reappraisal. Their automatic responses to stress become less defensive and more flexible over time.
Long-term routines that specifically incorporate mind and body awareness, such as yoga or Tai Chi, offer unique benefits. These practices cultivate an internal focus on physical sensations, training the brain to sustain present-focused attention even under emotionally charged conditions.
Habitual engagement is particularly effective at treating emotion regulation deficits. By repeatedly disrupting negative thought patterns and reinforcing positive action, regular motion lowers the everyday accessibility of anxious worry. This explains why an active lifestyle acts as a strong protective buffer against mood disorders.
There are constraints to this proposed model that require consideration. The researchers note that the psychological benefits of movement are not completely uniform across all populations.
Variables such as a person’s age, baseline physical fitness, and preexisting mental health status can alter how their brain reacts. For instance, an intense workout that feels highly rewarding to a trained athlete might produce a completely different stress response in an untrained individual.
Additionally, some neurological evidence shows that while aerobic exertion increases brain wave responses to positive images in healthy adults, it might not produce the exact same electrical brain activity in individuals with depression. These differences highlight the need for tailored interventions.
Much of the current evidence relies on measuring data at a single point in time or focusing exclusively on an isolated workout. These methodological limitations restrict how well scientists can track the exact timeline of emotional improvement.
Moving forward, the researchers emphasize the need for mechanism-based experiments. By tracking cognitive skills and clinical outcomes over extended periods, future studies could isolate exactly how short-term dopamine bursts develop into lifelong emotional stability.
The study, “The moving brain: A cross-pathways framework linking exercise to the modulation of aversive information processing,” was authored by Haiting Zhu and Yifan Zhang.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-physical-exercise-rewires-the-brain-to-process-negative-emotions/
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #exerciseandemotion #emotionalregulation #mentalhealthandphysicalactivity #acuteworkoutbenefits #habitualexercise #cognitivecontrol #memorymodulation #rewardmotivation #mindfulmovement #emotionalsuccessthroughfitness
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Attention and Focus Abilities Peak Between Ages 27 and 36
Summary: Researchers analyzed 139 neuroimaging studies spanning ages 5 to 85 to map the brain’s activity in cognitive…
#NewsBeep #News #Science #aging #attention #brainaging #brainresearch #cognitivecontrol #focus #GB #neurobiology #Neuroscience #ScienceChinaPress #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/113250/ -
Symphony of the Mind: Exploring Cognitive Control and Emotional Resilience
#CognitiveControl #Mindfulness #EmotionalResilience #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #DialecticalBehaviorTherapy #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfDiscovery #CopingSkills #Neurodevelopment #TherapeuticInterventions #MindAndBody #PersonalGrowth #MentalWellness #SymphonyOfTheMind #EmotionalRegulation
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Symphony of the Mind: Exploring Cognitive Control and Emotional Resilience
#CognitiveControl #Mindfulness #EmotionalResilience #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #DialecticalBehaviorTherapy #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfDiscovery #CopingSkills #Neurodevelopment #TherapeuticInterventions #MindAndBody #PersonalGrowth #MentalWellness #SymphonyOfTheMind #EmotionalRegulation
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Symphony of the Mind: Exploring Cognitive Control and Emotional Resilience
#CognitiveControl #Mindfulness #EmotionalResilience #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #DialecticalBehaviorTherapy #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfDiscovery #CopingSkills #Neurodevelopment #TherapeuticInterventions #MindAndBody #PersonalGrowth #MentalWellness #SymphonyOfTheMind #EmotionalRegulation
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Symphony of the Mind: Exploring Cognitive Control and Emotional Resilience
#CognitiveControl #Mindfulness #EmotionalResilience #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #DialecticalBehaviorTherapy #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfDiscovery #CopingSkills #Neurodevelopment #TherapeuticInterventions #MindAndBody #PersonalGrowth #MentalWellness #SymphonyOfTheMind #EmotionalRegulation
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Symphony of the Mind: Exploring Cognitive Control and Emotional Resilience
#CognitiveControl #Mindfulness #EmotionalResilience #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #DialecticalBehaviorTherapy #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfDiscovery #CopingSkills #Neurodevelopment #TherapeuticInterventions #MindAndBody #PersonalGrowth #MentalWellness #SymphonyOfTheMind #EmotionalRegulation
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Kristina Krasich & Anna Ghelfi present “Mental Control and Effort Differ Across Different Kinds of Mental Action”
A visual task tested
- relationships between perceived control & effort (positive correlation)
- whether they differ for seemingly passive or active activities(no)
- moreCollaborators: Samuel Murray, Felipe De Brigard, & Joshua Shepard
Dr. Krasich on gScholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T-vc59sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aoAnna Gelfi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaghelfi26/
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Tomorrow is a @dzne lecture series by André Fenton on “#Memory, #learning to learn, and #cognitivecontrol” ✌️
⏰ June 20, 2023, 12 pm CET
🌎 https://bonn-neuroscience.de/seminars/memory-learning-to-learn-and-cognitive-control/
📍 #DZNE, #Venusberg, #Bonn -
New paper led by @JasonGullifer in Psych Science:
Bilingual Language Experience and Its Effect on Conflict Adaptation in Reactive Inhibitory Control Tasks - Jason W. Gullifer, Irina Pivneva, Veronica Whitford, Naveed A. Sheikh, Debra Titone, 2022
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976221113764#.Y5B-GUdaSok.twitter
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Hi fedifolks 👋
I am a postdoc at #UQ #Psychology, but will be heading to #UNSW in February to set up a lab of my very own.
I am interested in how #learning shapes #attention and #cognitivecontrol, with a focus on understanding the #computational and #neural underpinnings of #learningtransfer and why we often suck at doing two things at once.
Always up for a cup of tea and a chat about #statistics, #openscience or how we need to overthrow our current publishing model.