Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure.

Piers Steel

Psychological Bulletin • Summary & key facts • 2007 • 3,145 citations

This paper reviews research on procrastination and runs a meta-analysis of 691 correlations. It finds that some personality traits (neuroticism, rebelliousness, sensation seeking) have only weak links to procrastination. Strong and consistent predictors include task aversiveness, task delay, low self-efficacy, impulsiveness, and low conscientiousness (including poor self-control, distractibility, poor organization,…

Muscle fatigue: what, why and how it influences muscle function

Roger M. Enoka, Jacques Duchateau

The Journal of Physiology • Summary & key facts • 2007 • 1,374 citations

This review explains that muscle fatigue can come from many different causes and that there is no single global cause. Fatigue is usually measured as a drop in the maximum force or power a muscle can make, but people can still do less-demanding tasks after that drop begins. Which processes…

Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity in an open-label natural setting

Luisa Prochazkova, Dominique P. Lippelt, Lorenza S. Colzato, Martin Kuchař, Zsuzsika Sjoerds, Bernhard Hommel

Psychopharmacology • Summary & key facts • 2018 • 176 citations

In a natural, open-label study at a microdosing event, researchers tested people before and while they expected the effects of a psychedelic truffle microdose. They found better performance on a task that measures convergent thinking and on a task that measures divergent thinking. A short test of fluid intelligence did…

The acute effects of classic psychedelics on memory in humans

C. J. Healy

Psychopharmacology • Summary & key facts • 2021 • 91 citations

This 2021 review of human studies found that classic psychedelics (for example psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca) tend to reduce performance on standard memory tests in a dose-dependent way: low doses usually showed no impairment and higher doses caused more impairment. At the same time, these drugs often made autobiographical memories feel…

The Association Between Vulnerable/Grandiose Narcissism and Emotion Regulation

Leonie Anne Kathrin Loeffler, Anna K. Huebben, Sina Radke, Ute Habel, Birgit Derntl

Frontiers in Psychology • Summary & key facts • 2020 • 39 citations

This study tested 60 healthy adults (30 women, 30 men) to see how two types of narcissism — vulnerable and grandiose — relate to emotion regulation. Researchers used questionnaires and a lab task that asked people to either feel naturally or use reappraisal (change how they think) while viewing sad…

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Do White Noise or Pink Noise Help With Task Performance in Youth With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or With Elevated Attention Problems?

Joel T. Nigg, Alisha M. Bruton, Michael B. Kozlowski, Jeanette M. Johnstone, Sarah L. Karalunas

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry • Summary & key facts • 2024 • 26 citations

Attention deficits linked with proclivity to explore while foraging

David L. Barack, Vera U. Ludwig, Felipe Parodi, Nuwar Ahmed, Elizabeth M. Brannon, Arjun Ramakrishnan, et al.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences • Summary & key facts • 2024 • 21 citations

This pre-registered study tested whether ADHD-like traits relate to how people search for rewards. In an online task, participants chose either to keep collecting from a depleting patch or to leave and go to a new one. They also completed a well-validated ADHD self-report screen. People left patches sooner when…

Neurophysiological activity following rewards and losses among female adolescents and young adults with borderline personality disorder.

Jeremy G. Stewart, Paris Singleton, Erik M. Benau, Dan Foti, Hannah Allchurch, Cynthia S. Kaplan, et al.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology • Summary & key facts • 2019 • 16 citations

This study recorded brain activity (EEG) while 68 females aged 13–23 (35 with borderline personality disorder, 33 healthy) did a guessing task with equal wins and losses. People with BPD showed less difference in their brain responses to wins versus losses than healthy peers. Time-frequency tests suggested this smaller difference…

Inattention and task switching performance: the role of predictability, working memory load and goal neglect

Gizem Arabacı, Benjamin A. Parris

Psychological Research • Summary & key facts • 2019 • 12 citations

Two studies tested how self-rated inattention relates to switching between tasks. Study 1 found that higher inattention (but not hyperactivity/impulsivity) was linked with larger switch costs when the next task could be predicted and working memory load was high. Study 2 found this link was not explained by predictability or…