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(https://www.psypost.org/a-short-nap-boosts-problem-solving-by-strengthening-hidden-connections/) A short nap boosts problem-solving by strengthening hidden connections
Jan 30th 2025, 08:00

A recent study published in the (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.14419) Journal of Sleep Research provides evidence that sleep, particularly rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, enhances problem-solving ability through analogical transfer. The researchers found that participants who took a nap were more successful at solving complex problems after sleep than those who remained awake. This improvement appeared to result from the nap group’s increased ability to recognize structural similarities between different problems rather than improved memory of prior problems.
The researchers conducted this study to explore how sleep might enhance creative problem-solving, particularly when individuals struggle to recognize connections between different problems. Analogical problem-solving involves applying knowledge from a previously encountered problem to solve a new, structurally similar problem. However, people often fail to transfer knowledge effectively because they focus too much on superficial differences rather than underlying similarities.
Prior research suggests that REM sleep facilitates creative problem-solving by strengthening connections between weakly related memories. This sleep stage, characterized by vivid dreaming, rapid eye movements, and heightened brain activity, may help integrate and reorganize information in novel ways. The researchers tested this theory by investigating whether a nap could improve participants’ ability to solve problems they had previously struggled with.
“My previous research has focused on understanding how memories change during sleep. However, the reorganization of knowledge that occurs during memory consolidation undoubtedly impacts other aspects of cognition as well. I was specifically interested in how the initiation and/or strengthening of connections between new and old memories can assist in problem solving,” said study author (https://faculty.txst.edu/profile/1922277) Carmen E. Westerberg, a professor at Texas State University and head of the (https://cognitiveneuroscience.wp.txstate.edu/) Cognitive Neuroscience Lab.
For their study, the researchers recruited 58 participants aged 18 to 29 from Texas State University and randomly assigned them to one of two groups: a nap group or a wake group.
At the start of the experiment, participants were presented with eight source problems, one at a time. Each problem was displayed on a screen, and participants had three minutes to attempt to solve it. Afterward, they were shown the correct solution and asked to remember it.
Next, they were presented with eight target problems, which were structurally similar to the source problems but had different surface features. Participants had three minutes to attempt to solve each target problem, but unlike the source problems, they were not shown the solutions. These target problems were used to assess whether participants could apply knowledge from the earlier source problems to solve new but related problems.
After these initial problem-solving tasks, participants took a two-hour break. The nap group slept in a quiet, dark room in the laboratory while researchers monitored their brain activity using electroencephalography. The wake group remained awake and was instructed not to sleep, use drugs, or consume alcohol.
At the end of the break, participants attempted to solve the target problems they had previously been unable to solve. They also completed a memory test to recall the solutions to the source problems and rated how similar they perceived the source and target problems to be.
The researchers found that participants who took a nap solved significantly more target problems after the break than those who remained awake. This effect was not due to differences in initial problem-solving ability, as both groups had similar solution rates before the break.
Additionally, the nap and wake groups did not differ in their ability to remember the source problem solutions, indicating that the benefit of sleep was not merely due to improved memory. Instead, participants who napped perceived greater similarity between source and target problems, suggesting that sleep helped them recognize deeper connections that were not initially apparent.
“The main takeaway is that if you have a difficult problem that you cannot solve, processes that occur while you are sleeping may give you insights after waking that could help to solve the problem,” Westerberg told PsyPost.
Furthermore, within the nap group, the amount of time spent in REM sleep predicted the proportion of target problems solved after the break. This finding suggests that REM sleep plays a key role in enhancing problem-solving ability by strengthening weak associations between related ideas.
“I was surprised that REM sleep specifically was implicated in increased problem solving, given that participants spent a relatively short amount of time in REM during their naps—approximately 13 minutes on average,” Westerberg remarked. “Apparently even small amounts of REM sleep can boost problem-solving ability.”
One limitation of the study is that sleep was restricted to a short afternoon nap, which may not fully reflect how sleep impacts problem-solving over a longer period. While the results suggest that REM sleep played a key role in improving analogical transfer, it remains unclear whether the same effect would be observed following a full night’s sleep, which includes longer durations of deep sleep stages.
“My long-term goals are to extend these findings to overnight sleep and to examine how REM sleep may contribute to other types of creative problem solving and decision-making,” Westerberg said.
The study, (https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14419) “An afternoon nap facilitates analogical transfer in creative problem solving”, was authored by Carmen E. Westerberg, Sean E. Fickle, Chloe E. Troupe, Anna Madden-Rusnak, and Rebecca G. Deason.

(https://www.psypost.org/do-women-really-talk-more-than-men-scientists-have-a-surprising-answer-in-huge-new-replication-study/) Do women really talk more than men? Scientists have a surprising answer in huge new replication study
Jan 30th 2025, 06:00

A new study published in the (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-66513-001?doi=1) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that the long-standing stereotype of women being significantly more talkative than men is largely overstated. By analyzing the daily word use of thousands of participants across a diverse range of contexts, researchers found that while women spoke slightly more words per day than men the difference was relatively small and highly variable across individuals.
The perception that women talk more than men is a widely held belief, reinforced by media, literature, and cultural narratives. A study published in 2007, which examined data from 396 participants who wore a voice recorder, challenged this notion, finding that men and women spoke roughly the same number of words per day—about 16,000.
While the 2007 study attracted significant attention, critics argued that its sample was too small and lacked diversity. Additionally, new research since then has suggested that talkativeness might vary by age and social context. Given these concerns and the persistence of the stereotype in public discourse, the researchers aimed to conduct a large-scale replication to provide a more robust and generalizable estimate of gender differences in daily word use.
This study is based on an earlier study ((https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1139940) Mehl et al., 2007), which demonstrated that there was no significant difference in talkativeness between men and woman at the level of words spoken per day. However, that study received criticism for relying on a sample of primarily college-aged adults,” explained corresponding author Colin Tidwell, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona.
“Those criticisms came at the time of the replication discussion in the field of psychology and as such made for an important discussion in our lab about the importance of replicating previous findings using the method employed. Finally, the stereotype that women talk more than men is still societally pervasive yet there is little empirical evidence to support the stereotype; this replication study gave us a great opportunity to further investigate the stereotype with far more data (five times more data than the original, in fact).”
To improve upon past research, the new study used data from 22 different samples collected over 14 years (2005–2019) across four countries: the United States, Switzerland, Serbia, and Australia. The dataset included a total of 2,197 individuals. The researchers used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a device that intermittently recorded short snippets of ambient sound throughout participants’ waking hours. This method allowed them to capture natural speech patterns in real-world settings without relying on self-reported estimates, which can be biased by personal perceptions or societal expectations.
Participants in the study ranged in age from 10 to 94 years old, with subgroups representing adolescence (10–17 years), emerging adulthood (18–24 years), early and middle adulthood (25–64 years), and older adulthood (65+ years). The researchers aimed to explore whether word use varied across these different life stages. Additionally, they examined whether stress levels influenced talkativeness, as some theories suggest that women may use speech as a coping mechanism in response to stress.
After collecting 631,030 ambient audio recordings, human transcribers counted the number of words spoken by each participant. The data was then processed using linguistic analysis software to estimate the total number of words spoken per day. The researchers also accounted for factors such as the duration of recording periods and the estimated number of waking hours per day to ensure a consistent comparison across participants.
At the broadest level, the study confirmed that women spoke slightly more words per day than men, but the difference was small—about 1,073 words on average. Given the high variability in individual talkativeness, the researchers concluded that there was not enough statistical certainty to determine whether this difference was meaningful. In other words, while the data suggested a small gap, it was not strong enough to confidently state that women are significantly more talkative than men.
“At the level of descriptive statistics, our study found that women tend to talk about 13,349 words per day compared to 11,950 for men—but the difference is pretty small and varies a lot from person to person,” Tidwell told PsyPost. “Some people spoke fewer than 100 words a day, while others talked over 120,000! However, our analyses show that there wasn’t enough statistical certainty to confidently determine whether women speak significantly more words per day than men or if the two genders are practically equivalent in their daily word use.”
One of the most interesting findings emerged when examining word use by age group. While the gender difference was relatively small among adolescents (513 words) and emerging adults (841 words), it was much larger among early and middle adults, where women spoke approximately 3,275 more words per day than men. This was the only group for which the researchers could confidently conclude a meaningful difference. In contrast, among older adults (65+ years), the difference reversed slightly, with men speaking about 788 more words per day than women, though this finding was less statistically robust.
“The gap was a bit bigger for adults in their early and middle adulthood, but overall, our findings indicate that the stereotype of women being way more talkative than men is overstated and is likely contextually-dependent,” Tidwell said. “At this moment in time, we can only make informed speculations about why it is that the early and middle adulthood group’s amount of words spoken per day might be consistent with the stereotype.”
The researchers also investigated whether stress played a role in the gender difference. Based on previous theories suggesting that women might use speech as a coping mechanism, they expected to see a stronger gender gap in talkativeness among individuals experiencing high levels of stress. However, the data did not support this idea. The results showed that stress had no meaningful impact on the number of words spoken per day for either gender.
In addition to examining actual word use, the study also looked at participants’ self-perceptions of their talkativeness. Women generally rated themselves as more talkative than men, but this self-assessment did not always align with the recorded data. Among emerging adults, for example, the gender difference in self-reported talkativeness was three times larger than the actual difference in words spoken per day. This suggests that societal stereotypes may shape people’s beliefs about how talkative they are, even if those beliefs do not match their actual behavior.
The study also raised an intriguing question about whether overall daily spoken word use has declined over time. “Were quite surprised to find that, as we say in the study, ‘One unexpected aspect of the preliminary descriptive analyses that caught our interest was that the present study estimated the number of words spoken per day at about 3,000 words lower than the original study,'” Tidwell explained. “This would suggest a decrease of 3,000 words spoken per day over the course of a decade. That’s a lot of words lost!”
Despite its large sample size and diverse data sources, the study has some limitations. Tidwell highlighted the key concerns: “the Bayesian ROPE analyses showed large statistical uncertainty, that our sample was relatively homogenous in terms of a variety of diversity variables (thus reducing its generalizability), and that our method did not investigate the potential for difference in words per day based on social contexts. Also, our study was limited to binary gender categories, which doesn’t account for how nonbinary or gender-diverse individuals might experience or express talkativeness.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000534) Are Women Really (Not) More Talkative Than Men? A Registered Report of Binary Gender Similarities/Differences in Daily Word Use,” was authored by Colin A. Tidwell, Alexander F. Danvers, Valeria A. Pfeifer, Danielle B. Abel, Eva Alisic, Andrew Beer, Sabrina J. Bierstetel, Kathryn L. Bollich-Ziegler, Michelle Bruni, William R. Calabrese, Christine Chiarello, Burcu Demiray, Sona Dimidjian, Karen L. Fingerman, Maximilian Haas, Deanna M. Kaplan, Yijung K. Kim, Goran Knezevic, Ljiljana B. Lazarevic, Minxia Luo, Alessandra Macbeth, Joseph H. Manson, Jennifer S. Mascaro, Christina Metcalf, Kyle S. Minor, Suzanne Moseley, Angelina J. Polsinelli, Charles L. Raison, James K. Rilling, Megan L. Robbins, David Sbarra, Richard B. Slatcher, Jessie Sun, Mira Vasileva, Simine Vazire, and Matthias R. Mehl.

(https://www.psypost.org/newborn-neurons-in-adults-may-protect-against-cognitive-decline/) Newborn neurons in adults may protect against cognitive decline
Jan 29th 2025, 16:00

Your brain can still make new neurons when you’re an adult. But how does the rare birth of these new neurons contribute to cognitive function?
Neurons are the (https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-life-and-death-neuron) cells that govern brain function, and you are born with most of the neurons you will ever have during your lifetime. While the brain undergoes most of its development during early life, (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2018.04.004) specific regions of the brain continue to generate new neurons throughout adulthood, although at a much (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2018.04.004) lower rate. Whether this process of neurogenesis actually happens in adults and what function it serves in the brain is (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2018.04.004) still a subject of debate among scientists.
Past research has shown that people with (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01044-2) epilepsy or (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0375-9) Alzheimer’s disease and other (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl5163) dementias develop fewer neurons as adults than people without these conditions. However, whether the absence of new neurons contributes to the cognitive challenges patients with these neurological disorders face is unknown.
We are part of a team of (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J5OQpewAAAAJ&hl=en) stem cell researchers, (https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/michael-anthony-bonaguidi/) neuroscientists, neurologists, (https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/charles-liu/) neurosurgeons and neuropsychologists. Our newly published research reveals that the new neurons that form in adults’ brains are linked to how you learn from (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2024.11.002) listening to other people.
New neurons and learning
Researchers know that new neurons contribute to (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-019-0484-2) memory and learning in mice. But in humans, the (https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0675-20.2020) technical challenges of identifying and analyzing new neurons in adult brains, combined with their rarity, had led scientists to doubt their significance to brain function.
To uncover the relationship between neurogenesis in adults and cognitive function, we studied patients with (https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1528-1157.2001.10401.x) drug-resistant epilepsy. These patients underwent cognitive assessments prior to and donated brain tissue during surgical procedures to treat their seizures. To see whether how many new neurons a patient had was associated with specific cognitive functions, we looked under the microscope for markers of neurogenesis.
We found that new neurons in the adult brain are linked to reduced cognitive decline – particularly in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2024.11.002) verbal learning, or learning by listening to others.
This was very surprising to us. In mice, new neurons are known for their role in helping them learn and navigate new spaces (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-019-0484-2) through visual exploration. However, we did not observe a similar connection between new neurons and spatial learning in people.
Improving cognition
Talking with others and remembering those conversations is an integral part of day-to-day life for many people. However, this crucial cognitive function (https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21230) declines with age, and the effects are more severe with (https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnn.0000208290.57370.a3) neurological disorders. As (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health) aging populations grow, the burden of cognitive decline on health care systems worldwide will increase.
Our research suggests that the link between newborn neurons and verbal learning may be foundational to developing treatments to restore cognition in people. Enhancing new neuron generation could be a potential strategy to improve brain health and restore cognition in aging and in people with epilepsy or dementia. But for now, these ideas are just goals and any future treatments are a long way off.
Importantly, our finding that new neurons function differently in mice and in humans emphasizes the critical need to study biological functions like neurogenesis in people whenever possible. This will ensure that research conducted in animal models, such as mice, is relevant to people and can translate to the clinic.
Current drugs for epilepsy primarily aim to reduce seizures, with limited focus on addressing the cognitive decline patients experience. To enhance cognitive outcomes for patients, we started a (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05179083?term=NCT05179083) clinical trial focusing on boosting new neuron production and cognition in epilepsy patients through aerobic exercise. We are currently in the early Phase 1 of the clinical trial, which seeks to establish the safety of the study. Thus far, two patients have successfully and safely finished the study. We plan to recruit eight more patients to exercise and complete this phase.
By bringing together (https://theconversation.com/tenacious-curiosity-in-the-lab-can-lead-to-a-nobel-prize-mrna-research-exemplifies-the-unpredictable-value-of-basic-scientific-research-214770) basic science in the lab and clinical research in people, a better understanding of brain regeneration could help support brain health throughout the lifespan.
 
This article is republished from (https://theconversation.com) The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the (https://theconversation.com/adults-grow-new-brain-cells-and-these-neurons-are-key-to-learning-by-listening-245249) original article.

(https://www.psypost.org/romantic-breakups-linked-to-lower-hippocampal-brain-volume-in-adults-with-childhood-trauma/) Romantic breakups linked to lower hippocampal brain volume in adults with childhood trauma
Jan 29th 2025, 14:00

A recent study published in the (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.16593) European Journal of Neuroscience sheds light on how childhood maltreatment may leave lasting impacts on brain structure, particularly in young adults who experience romantic relationship breakups. Researchers found that the combination of childhood maltreatment and the stress of a romantic breakup was associated with smaller hippocampal volumes, a brain region critical for memory and emotional regulation. This effect was not observed in individuals with childhood maltreatment who had not gone through a breakup, suggesting that later-life stressors might exacerbate the consequences of early adversity.
Childhood maltreatment has long been recognized as a significant risk factor for developing mental health disorders, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, in adulthood. Previous research has linked childhood maltreatment to smaller hippocampal volumes, but inconsistencies remain, particularly in younger populations. Interestingly, hippocampal volume reductions are rarely observed during childhood or adolescence but emerge later in adulthood. This has led researchers to hypothesize that these structural changes might result from an interaction between early adversity and subsequent life stressors.
“I was inspired by two lines of research: Behavioral research showed that maltreated individuals develop strategies that help them survive an abusive childhood, but do not necessarily prepare them well for growing into adulthood,” said study author Henriette Acosta of the Philipps University of Marburg and University of Turku.
“Maltreated individuals are more likely to experience hardship at handling developmental tasks in adolescence and young adulthood, such as dealing with romantic relationships and their breakups. Childhood maltreatment is also a known risk factor for the development of psychopathology.”
“In neuroscience, maltreated individuals consistently showed reduced hippocampal volumes in adulthood, but not in childhood. Reduced hippocampal volumes develop after chronic stress exposure and are a brain structural feature of many psychiatric disorders. I was interested whether these two lines of research can be bridged.”
The researchers recruited 196 healthy young adults with an average age of 24 years, half of whom were women. Participants were university students, and none had a history of major psychiatric disorders. They completed assessments to measure their exposure to childhood maltreatment and romantic relationship breakups. Childhood maltreatment was evaluated using the Childhood Trauma Screener, which captures experiences of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect. Romantic breakups were assessed using a questionnaire that asked participants about their history of ending committed relationships.
Participants then underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to measure the volume of their hippocampi. The hippocampus, located in the brain’s temporal lobe, is known for its role in memory and emotional regulation and is often implicated in stress-related disorders. The researchers analyzed how childhood maltreatment and romantic breakups interacted to influence hippocampal volume, controlling for factors such as age, sex, and total brain size.
The researchers found that childhood maltreatment alone was not significantly associated with hippocampal volumes in young adults. However, the combination of childhood maltreatment and the experience of at least one romantic breakup was linked to smaller hippocampal volumes in both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Specifically, individuals with a history of maltreatment and breakup exhibited smaller hippocampal volumes compared to those who had experienced childhood maltreatment but no breakup.
Interestingly, the results also suggested a potential dose-response relationship: greater levels of childhood trauma were associated with smaller hippocampal volumes in individuals who had experienced a breakup. In contrast, among participants who had not experienced a breakup, greater childhood trauma was weakly associated with larger hippocampal volumes, a finding the researchers speculated might reflect resilience in certain individuals.
These effects were slightly more pronounced in the left hippocampus than in the right and appeared to be stronger for experiences of neglect (deprivation) than abuse (threat). Additionally, participants who were living with a romantic partner at the time of the study showed weaker associations between maltreatment, breakups, and hippocampal volume, suggesting that stable relationships may act as a buffer against the negative effects of stress.
“Our brain imaging findings matched with the behavioral research observations that maltreated individuals (compared to non-maltreated individuals) experience more distress in coping with developmental tasks,” Acosta told PsyPost. “After the experience of a relationship breakup, hippocampal volumes were reduced in maltreated individuals, but not in non-maltreated individuals: The more severe the childhood maltreatment, the smaller the hippocampal volumes. Smaller hippocampal volumes are a feature of adult psychopathology. Importantly, childhood maltreatment per se was not associated with smaller hippocampal volumes in young adults.”
“Our study therefore supports the notion that childhood maltreatment increases the individual’s sensitivity to stressors and the increased stress sensitivity renders the maltreated individual more susceptible to the development of psychopathology. Our results also provided some evidence that the experience of a stable committed romantic relationship in young adulthood partly acts as a resilience factor in the face of childhood maltreatment and past relationship breakups.”
But the study, like al research, includes some caveats. Notably, the study relied on retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment and romantic breakups, which may be subject to memory biases or underreporting. More detailed and longitudinal assessments could provide a clearer picture of how these experiences interact over time.
“The study was cross-sectional, and no causal relationships can be inferred,” Acosta noted. “Childhood trauma and relationship breakup experiences were assessed retrospectively which can bias the findings.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16593) The association between childhood adversity and hippocampal volumes is moderated by romantic relationship experiences,” was authored by H. Acosta, A. Jansen, and T. Kircher

(https://www.psypost.org/shared-reality-in-romantic-relationships-reduces-uncertainty-and-boosts-meaning-in-life-study-finds/) Shared reality in romantic relationships reduces uncertainty and boosts meaning in life, study finds
Jan 29th 2025, 12:00

A recent study published in the (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-57005-001?doi=1) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology highlights the role that shared reality with romantic partners plays in reducing uncertainty and enhancing a sense of meaning in life. The research reveals that when couples share a mutual understanding of their experiences, it not only strengthens their bond but also helps individuals make sense of the world around them, providing clarity and purpose.
Past research has extensively explored how individuals derive meaning through personal goals, achievements, and values, but there has been less focus on the interpersonal pathways that contribute to this process. Romantic relationships, often regarded as a key source of meaning, have traditionally been studied for their emotional and relational benefits, such as fostering feelings of belonging, love, and support.
The new research sought to investigate an understudied aspect of relationships: their epistemic function. In other words, it examined how romantic partners co-construct a shared understanding of the world, known as shared reality, and how this process helps individuals reduce uncertainty and experience greater meaning in life.
“I’ve always believed that one of the core purposes of our relationships is to help us make sense of the world. This became evident to me when I left for university—my new experiences and perspectives began to create a gap between me and my friends back home, as they could no longer help me understand the new aspects of my university life. This personal realization sparked my academic curiosity about shared experiences and eventually led me to the study of shared reality,” explained study author (https://catalinaenestrom.com/) M. Catalina Enestrom, a postdoctoral researcher at IESE Business School.
The research team conducted five separate studies using diverse methodologies, including cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal data collection, and experimental manipulations, to investigate the connection between shared reality, uncertainty, and meaning in life.
Study 1 was conducted to examine the relationship between shared reality and meaning in life within romantic couples. Enestrom and her colleagues recruited 103 romantic couples to participate in a laboratory study. Each couple engaged in a discussion where one partner shared their fears while the other partner responded naturally. The researchers measured participants’ self-reported shared reality and meaning in life using established scales and assessed shared reality behaviors, such as expressing agreement or finishing each other’s sentences, through behavioral coding of the interaction.
The findings revealed that couples who perceived a higher shared reality with their partner also reported greater meaning in life. This effect was evident even after controlling for relationship satisfaction, suggesting that shared reality offers benefits beyond general positivity about the relationship. Additionally, observable shared reality behaviors predicted self-reported shared reality and meaning in life.
Study 2 focused on the experiences of Black Americans following the murder of George Floyd. The researchers recruited 190 participants in romantic relationships, including both intraracial and interracial couples, and asked them to reflect on their shared reality with their partner regarding issues of racism and the sociopolitical climate. Participants completed measures of shared reality, uncertainty, and meaning in life.
The findings showed that greater shared reality with a partner was associated with reduced uncertainty about racism and the broader sociopolitical environment, which in turn predicted a stronger sense of meaning in life. These results held even when controlling for relationship satisfaction, further emphasizing the unique role of shared reality in reducing uncertainty and enhancing meaning.
“My earlier interests were focused on how partners’ different life experiences might inhibit shared reality,” Enestrom told PsyPost. “For this reason, I collected a sample of Black Americans in romantic relationships with either other Black Americans or White Americans, hypothesizing that differences in experiences with racism and the broader sociopolitical climate—especially given the timing shortly after the murder of George Floyd—might affect their shared reality. To my surprise and delight, there were no differences in shared reality between intraracial and interracial couples. These findings suggest that even when partners come from different backgrounds, they can successfully create a shared understanding of the world together.”
Study 3 examined how shared reality with a romantic partner influenced meaning in a specific domain: work. The researchers recruited 155 frontline healthcare workers during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of significant uncertainty and stress. Participants completed surveys at two time points, six months apart, assessing shared reality with their partner, uncertainty about their work environment, and work-related meaning.
The findings revealed that shared reality at the onset of the pandemic predicted decreases in work-related uncertainty over time, which in turn was associated with greater meaning in work. These results suggest that even in highly stressful and uncertain work conditions, shared reality with a partner can provide clarity and purpose. Importantly, the effects of shared reality on uncertainty and meaning were independent of relationship satisfaction.
Study 4 used an experimental design to provide causal evidence for the relationship between shared reality, uncertainty, and meaning in life. Participants, who were in romantic relationships, were randomly assigned to recall either a high shared reality experience (e.g., feeling “on the same page” with their partner) or a low shared reality experience (e.g., feeling disconnected from their partner’s perspective). After the recall task, participants reported their levels of uncertainty about the recalled experience and their sense of meaning in life.
The results showed that recalling a high shared reality experience reduced uncertainty about the target of the experience, which in turn increased meaning in life. These effects were not explained by participants’ positive mood, conflict in the recalled experience, or relationship satisfaction, further supporting the robustness of the findings. However, there was no direct effect of the shared reality manipulation on meaning in life, suggesting that the relationship operates primarily through reducing uncertainty.
Study 5 adopted a novel experimental approach to explore shared reality as a couple-level construct. Participants read a vignette describing a hypothetical couple discussing a book. In one condition, the couple exhibited high shared reality behaviors, such as finishing each other’s sentences and expressing agreement about the book, while in the other condition, the couple disagreed about the book’s interpretation, demonstrating low shared reality.
Importantly, the couple’s relationship satisfaction was described as consistently high across both conditions to control for its influence. Participants then rated the couple’s uncertainty about the book and their sense of meaning during the discussion.
The findings mirrored those of Study 4: participants perceived the high shared reality couple as experiencing less uncertainty and greater meaning during the interaction. These results further confirmed that shared reality reduces uncertainty, which in turn fosters meaning, and highlighted that these effects are not merely a byproduct of relationship satisfaction.
“We invest significant time and energy in our relationships, and this research shows why that effort matters,” Enestrom said. “Close relationships, especially with romantic partners, help us make sense of the world and provide a sense of purpose. Building and nurturing these connections is key to navigating uncertainty and creating meaning in our lives.”
Future research could explore potential boundary conditions for these effects. For example, are there situations where a lack of shared reality might be beneficial? Additionally, the researchers are interested in examining how shared reality varies across different types of relationships and cultural contexts.
“My long-term goal is to explore how shared reality helps people reduce uncertainty and find meaning across different types of relationships and contexts,” Enestrom said. “I’m particularly interested in whether shared reality’s epistemic function—its ability to reduce uncertainty—might sometimes have drawbacks, such as in workplace settings where differing perspectives could fuel creativity. I also want to examine how shared reality varies across relationships (e.g., romantic, familial, or professional) and how factors like epistemic trust influence its outcomes. This could ultimately inform interventions to foster shared reality where it’s most beneficial.”
The study, “(https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-57005-001?doi=1) Meaning-making with romantic partners: Shared reality promotes meaning in life by reducing uncertainty,” was authored by M. Catalina Enestrom, Maya Rossignac-Milon, Amanda L. Forest, and John E. Lydon.

(https://www.psypost.org/226017-2/) 30 minutes of aerobic exercise enhances cognition in individuals with ADHD, study finds
Jan 29th 2025, 10:00

A study in Taiwan found that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise induced cognition-enhancing effects in individuals with ADHD. These exercises enhanced short intracortical inhibition in individuals with ADHD while reducing it in healthy participants. The paper was published in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116108) Psychiatry Research.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that interfere with daily functioning. People with ADHD often struggle to focus on tasks, follow through on instructions, or organize their activities. Hyperactivity manifests as excessive movement or an inability to remain still, while impulsivity may lead to hasty decisions or interruptions during conversations.
ADHD is typically diagnosed in childhood, most often at the start of school. Children with ADHD often come into conflict with school rules due to their symptoms. These symptoms can persist into adulthood and are often accompanied by cognitive impairments. ADHD is the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder.
Study author Hsiao-I Kuo and his colleagues aimed to explore the physiological effects of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance, including inhibitory control and motor learning, in individuals with ADHD. They hypothesized that these exercises would enhance pathologically reduced short intracortical inhibition in individuals with ADHD while reducing it in healthy individuals. They also expected that aerobic exercise would enhance intracortical facilitation in healthy participants.
Intracortical facilitation refers to the enhancement of cortical excitability within the motor cortex region of the brain, mediated by excitatory interneurons that increase the responsiveness of neurons to incoming stimuli. Short intracortical inhibition, on the other hand, is a process that temporarily suppresses motor cortex activity through inhibitory interneurons, helping to regulate and fine-tune motor output. Aerobic exercises are physical activities that increase heart rate and breathing over a sustained period, such as walking, running, cycling, swimming, or dancing.
The study included 26 adults with ADHD and 26 healthy individuals. In each group, 16 participants were male and 10 were female, with an average age of 23–24 years. Participants with ADHD were recruited through the outpatient clinic of the Department of Psychiatry at the National Taiwan University Hospital, while healthy participants were recruited via online announcements.
There were two study conditions: experimental and control. In the experimental condition, participants completed 30 minutes of aerobic exercise on a stationary exercise bike. They began with a 5-minute warm-up, followed by 20 minutes of exercise at the target heart rate, and ended with a 5-minute cooldown. In the control condition, participants sat on the exercise bike for 30 minutes while watching nature videos.
Each session was repeated twice. In one set of sessions, the researchers had participants complete a set of cognitive tasks before and after the intervention. These cognitive tasks evaluated inhibitory control (using the stop signal task) and motor learning (using the serial reaction time task). The second set of tasks assessed intracortical facilitation and short intracortical inhibition of the motor cortex. To measure this, the researchers used transcranial magnetic stimulation to evoke motor-evoked potentials in specific muscles, with electromyography used to record the resulting muscle activations.
The results showed that individuals with ADHD exhibited enhanced short intracortical inhibition after aerobic exercise, while healthy individuals experienced a decrease in short intracortical inhibition. Additionally, the ADHD group showed improved inhibitory control and motor learning after exercising. Changes in short intracortical inhibition were associated with improvements in motor learning in participants with ADHD.
“Aerobic exercise had partially antagonistic effects in healthy controls, and ADHD patients. Furthermore, aerobic exercise-induced cognition-enhancing effects in ADHD depend on specific alterations of brain physiology, which differ from healthy humans,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the neural effects of aerobic exercise on adults with ADHD. However, the study was conducted on a relatively small group of young adults. Studies with larger samples and other demographic groups may yield different results.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116108) Acute aerobic exercise modulates cognition and cortical excitability in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls,” was authored by Hsiao-I Kuo, Michael A. Nitsche, Yen-Tzu Wu, Jung-Chi Chang, and Li-Kuang Yang.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

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