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13 papers
This review says our sense of being a body comes from the brain combining many body signals. It describes three parts of bodily self-consciousness: self-identification (feeling a body is mine), self-location (where I feel I am), and the first-person perspective (the point from which I see). Experiments that create mismatched…
This 2022 paper by Stephen Porges presents Polyvagal Theory as a way to study how feelings of safety come from the body's nervous system. It proposes that safety is not just a mood but has measurable brain–body signals. The paper explains neural pathways (like the ventral vagal complex and a…
This paper reviews research showing that belonging is a basic human need and explains why it matters for schools. It summarizes many studies that link school belonging with better mental health, higher achievement, and lower dropout, and it includes an email interview with Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary about their…
This article proposes a clear, provisional definition of “emotional well-being” (EWB) to bring order to a crowded field. The authors reviewed prior definitions, consulted experts, and used concept mapping to create an umbrella concept that includes things like life satisfaction, sense of purpose, and positive emotions. They say the literature…
This article updates a theory about how personality traits form. The author reviews their 2008 model and then expands it by bringing in ideas from evolutionary biology. The revised model adds two systems called “pliable” and “elastic” to help explain how traits change or stay the same. The paper is…
Scientists reviewing lab rat studies say juvenile 'play fighting' helps shape the social brain. Research over the past 100+ years shows that when young rats are deprived of normal peer play during the juvenile period, adult rats show socio-cognitive problems and changes in neurons in the prefrontal cortex, especially the…
This article reviews where human imitation comes from and what it is for. The authors define imitation as when watching someone causes matching body movements. They argue that many studies suggest imitation is built by general sensorimotor learning after birth, not by a special innate imitation system. They review evidence,…
This study followed 4,285 U.S. children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study to look at patterns of addictive use of social media, mobile phones, and video games from about ages 11 to 15. The researchers found that high or steadily increasing patterns of addictive use were common. Those high…
This review explains why fatigue is hard to study and how artificial intelligence (AI) might help. Fatigue is a personal, subjective feeling that shows up in many ways and comes from many interacting body systems. That makes it hard to measure, compare across people, and link to clear biological causes.…
This Nature News article reports that reports of people developing psychosis after using generative AI chatbots have risen in recent months. It says chatbots can reinforce delusional beliefs and that, in rare cases, users have had psychotic episodes. The piece points to early research (including 2025 preprints) and describes psychosis…
This paper traces the tuning fork from early ideas about bone hearing in the 1500s to its use in music and medicine today. The fork is a two-pronged metal tool that makes a steady pitch when struck. Doctors began using it to test hearing in the 1800s with the Weber…
This editorial introduces a Research Topic about how the brain combines different senses to make a sense of the body. The collected studies look at touch, space, body image, and rehab methods and show the brain is flexible in how it uses sensory signals. The editors also say we still…
