International Journal of Psychological Studies, Issue: Vol.18, No.2

Beyond Access: Motivational Readiness as a Determinant of Digital Health Information Seeking Among African American Women

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:25:09 +0000

Efforts to reduce chronic disease disparities increasingly rely on digital health platforms to deliver prevention information and behavioral guidance. However, the availability of online health resources does not guarantee that individuals will engage with them or incorporate digital information into health decision making. This study examined digital health information seeking among African American women by assessing motivational readiness to use the Internet for health information and exploring how participants evaluated a culturally tailored nutrition and physical activity portal. Guided by the Transtheoretical Model, digital health engagement was conceptualized as a behavioral process shaped by readiness and cognitive evaluation. A cross-sectional mixed methods design was used with 206 African American women who reviewed the portal and completed structured survey measures and open-ended responses. Quantitative measures included the Website Attitudes and Beliefs scale (WAB-10) and the Stage of Change for Using the Computer and Internet to Access Health Care Information scale (SOCCIAHCI-7). Analyses included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and backward stepwise multiple regression to examine predictors of portal evaluation, while qualitative responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Regression results indicated that stronger endorsement of website clarity and usability, lower educational attainment, and higher self-perceived weight status were associated with more favorable portal evaluations. Qualitative findings showed that participants evaluated the portal based on trust conveyed through respectful tone, culturally relevant representation, and navigational simplicity. Overall, the findings suggest that digital health engagement reflects behavioral readiness and interpretive processes involving trust, representation, and contextual relevance rather than technological access alone.

The Method of Loci: A Survey Review

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:54:13 +0000

The method of loci (MoL), or memory palace technique, is a classical mnemonic in which information is encoded as images placed along an ordered sequence of familiar locations. Relevant studies were identified through targeted searches of Google Scholar using broad terms such as “method of loci,” “memory palace,” “spatial mnemonics,” and related keywords. This paper reviews MoL across historical origins, cognitive mechanisms, neural pathways, clinical applications, virtual and mixed reality implementations, and educational applications. Sources were selected primarily from peer-reviewed journal articles, with additional studies located through reference lists of key papers and prior reviews on mnemonic techniques and spatial memory. Mechanistically, evidence indicates that MoL effectiveness depends on explicit binding between items and spatial loci, rich visual imagery consistent with dual-coding accounts, and context reinstatement during retrieval. Familiar environments further strengthen encoding through self-referential and autobiographical pathways. Neuroimaging findings suggest that superior performance reflects strategy-driven functional reorganization rather than brain enlargement. Novices show greater reliance on frontal executive control regions while memory experts shift toward a posterior navigation. Clinical evidence varies by population: results are most consistent in depression and mild cognitive impairment/early dementia. Early feasibility work in ADHD indicates MoL can be engaging and may improve memory and symptoms, but adherence challenges remain. Clinical evidence in the efficacy of schizophrenia is little and does not currently seem favorable. Across studies of virtual memory palaces, immersive systems sometimes improve recall, confidence, or engagement relative to desktop or no-strategy controls, but advantages over traditional MoL are inconsistent and appear sensitive to training time, environmental cue familiarity, user VR experience, and cognitive load. Educational studies suggest benefits for vocabulary, grammar, and mathematical learning, though classroom usage is constrained by the effort required to learn the technique. Because the literature spans diverse populations, experimental designs, and technological implementations, conclusions should be interpreted with awareness of variation in study methods, training duration, and sample sizes.

Childhood and Adult Playfulness: Links with Well-Being and Interpersonal Relationships

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

This study examined the relationships between childhood and adult playfulness and their associations with psychological well-being, relationships, and parental bonding. Participants (N = 455) completed a survey with measures of retrospective childhood playfulness, Adult Playfulness Trait Scale (APTS), WHO-5 well-being scale, Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) about current close relationships, and retrospective Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Results revealed a small, significant positive correlation between childhood and adult playfulness, specific to the Fun-Seeking Motivation subscale of the APTS. Both playfulness measures were positively correlated with well-being. Childhood playfulness was positively associated with parental care and negatively associated with parental protectiveness, suggesting that autonomy-supportive parenting environments facilitate playful development. Multiple regression analysis indicated that adult playfulness was significantly predicted by age, well-being, closeness to others, dependence on others (negatively), childhood playfulness, and gender, with the model accounting for 14% of variance. The findings support a dual-pathway model in which adult playfulness is shaped by both developmental factors rooted in childhood experience and concurrent social factors in adult life. These results contribute to understanding playfulness as a psychologically meaningful trait embedded within developmental and social contexts.

Involuntary Musical Imagery Elicited by the Reflexive Imagery Task

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:56:04 +0000

We used the reflexive imagery task (RIT) to investigate how musical imagery can arise involuntarily in response to an external stimulus. In the basic RIT, participants are presented with visual objects and instructed not to think of the names of these objects. On a majority of the trials, the participants report that they thought of the name of the objects. The imagery elicited by RITs is of very short duration (e.g., the time it takes to subvocalize a name). It has been proposed that RIT effects cannot arise for imagery that extends beyond a single discrete unit (word/number) to multi-unit sequences. To investigate this matter, in our version of the RIT, participants heard and learned four simple, novel songs. The lyrics for each song consisted of numbers, counting from one to ten. The “minimal training” condition consisted of 10 presentations of each song; the “extended training” condition consisted of 30 presentations of each song. After training, participants were presented with fragments of each melody (fragments of different lengths) and instructed not to “sing in their minds” the remainder of the melody. Participants reported whether they involuntarily continued the melody as musical imagery and reported the number associated with the termination point of the experienced imagery. One-third of the participants experienced substantive, involuntary musical imagery. We discuss the theoretical implications of this finding with a focus on the timing issues associated with conscious processing.

Role of Gratitude’s Social Functions in the Development of Self-Esteem, Social Anxiety, and Depression

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:14:01 +0000

Gratitude is widely recognized as a protective factor against psychopathology, yet cross-cultural mechanisms linking it to depressive symptoms remain underexplored. This study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine self-esteem and social anxiety as mediators in the relationship between dispositional gratitude and depression among middle-aged adults from the United States (U.S., N = 1,255) and Japan (N = 1,027). Results reveal a dual-process model: a universal intrapersonal pathway and a culturally contingent interpersonal pathway. Across both cultures, higher gratitude was consistently associated with enhanced self-esteem, which in turn predicted lower depressive symptoms. However, social anxiety exhibited significant cultural differences: while gratitude predicted lower social anxiety in the U.S. sample, this effect was nonsignificant in the Japanese sample. This divergence is attributed to the “mixed emotional states” characteristic of collectivist contexts, where gratitude is often intertwined with indebtedness (on-gi) and the fear of imposing a burden (meiwaku). These psychological costs may sustain interpersonal vigilance, neutralizing the anxiety-reducing effects commonly observed in Western contexts. The findings suggest that although gratitude confers robust psychological benefits, the underlying mechanisms are shaped by cultural affordances. Consequently, gratitude-based interventions should be culturally tailored to account for the social obligations and reciprocity pressures inherent in interdependent societies.

Attitudes on Aging and Perceptions of Late-Life Suicide among Younger and Older Adults: A Test of the Cultural Scripts Model

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:05:08 +0000

Introduction. Suicide is a major public health concern among older adults. An important and emerging area of study concerns perspectives, attitudes, and cultural beliefs about suicide in later life. This study examined perspectives of younger and older adults on late-life suicide using the cultural scripts model, which proposes that suicidal behavior is more likely in contexts where it is culturally permissible. Method. Using a cross-sectional research design, younger adults (N = 376) and older adults (N = 70) read a fictional obituary of an older adult who died by suicide. Participants rated 10 potential precipitants and eight protective factors and completed measures of age stereotype, age distancing, suicidality, and reasons for living. Results. Among older adults, acceptability of late-life suicide was associated with age distancing (r = .30). Age stereotyping was associated with suicidality (r = .58), age distancing (r = .68), and acceptability of late-life suicide (r = .37). Compared to older adults, younger adults rated five precipitants as more likely to lead to suicide: family discord, employment change/retirement, relationship dissolution, social isolation, and terminal illness in a relative. Younger adults also agreed more with the decedent’s decision to die by suicide on ratings for six precipitants: family discord, death of a close relative, employment change/retirement, relationship dissolution, social isolation, and terminal illness in a relative. In contrast, older adults expressed greater agreement only in the context of severe health problems. Regarding protectants, older adults rated one protectant (financial resources) as more likely to prevent suicide and showed greater agreement with the decision not to die by suicide for three protectants: participation in religious activities, financial resources, and medical treatment for non-psychological illness. Discussion. Age cohort was associated with differences in interpretations of late-life suicide, supporting the value of the cultural scripts model for understanding age-related differences in suicide perceptions. Greater attention to age-related suicide scripts, particularly those that normalize suicide in the context of aging and illness, should be considered as part of comprehensive late-life suicide prevention efforts.

An Experimental Verification of Present-Biasedness

Wed, 27 May 2026 01:29:14 +0000

An experiment was originally intended to empirically estimate the strength of delayed reward discounting through the real option approach (Li, 2017). There we encountered an unknown effect we could not account for at the time. In this paper we offer an explanation of this anomaly. We hypothesize that when two of the three conditions for real option, namely, uncertainty and option to delay, are present, then a time-inconsistent behavior of present-biasedness would arise. When the third condition, namely, inability to reverse, is also present, then the full real option would emerge to cause delayed-reward-discounting behavior. We re-visited the original data and calculated the values of present-biasedness in the original experiment. Under different scenarios our calculations matched the observed anomaly.

Brain Activity Comparison during Abacus Calculation, Abacus-Based Mental Calculation, and Oral Reading: Implications for Metacognition

Sat, 30 May 2026 12:31:17 +0000

This study employed a single-case (N = 1) experimental design involving a 9-year-old boy. Brain activity was measured across 10 sessions between March and April 2025. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure frontopolar brain activity during four cognitive tasks: abacus calculation (AC), abacus-based mental calculation (AMC), oral reading of familiar text (OR_F), and oral reading of unfamiliar text (OR_UnF). In the AC task, calculations were performed using a physical abacus, whereas the AMC task was performed by mentally visualizing an abacus and tended to involve higher frontal pole activity than other tasks. In particular, the AMC task showed a moderate effect size on channel 8 compared with OR_F (p = 0.065, d = 0.637), although the difference was not statistically significant. From an educational perspective, these findings suggest that AMC may be associated with a process resembling self-regulated learning that involves self-monitoring and strategic cognitive control. Meanwhile, the results indicate that cognitive resources during OR_UnF are predominantly allocated to decoding processes, potentially leading to a relative decline in higher-order metacognitive activities. Furthermore, it was suggested that prefrontal cortex activity may vary during oral reading of familiar texts depending on the learner’s engagement and self-monitoring strategies. Overall, the results suggest that task difficulty and learning support conditions influence patterns of metacognitive engagement. However, the present study’s limitation to a single case necessitates larger-scale research to generalize the findings.

Neural and Cultural Influences on Music Perception across Contexts

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 05:35:44 +0000

Music, composed of structural elements such as pitch, rhythm, and tonality, is processed by the brain in ways that raise questions about whether music perception is universal or shaped by culture and experience. Some researchers argue that all humans rely on shared neural mechanisms for processing basic musical features, while others emphasize the role of training and exposure in shaping perception. This paper examines EEG and MEG studies to show how neural activity reflects both basic auditory processing and higher-level interpretation, as well as how the motor system supports rhythm perception through timing and synchronization. Evidence suggests that musical training enhances neural encoding of pitch, rhythm, and beat prediction, while even non-musicians can discriminate familiar and unfamiliar musical patterns through cultural exposure. Cross-cultural research further shows that language experience, motor engagement, and everyday rhythmic interaction contribute to auditory–motor integration. Overall, these findings suggest that music perception is not purely universal, but emerges from an interaction of biological mechanisms, experience, and cultural context, shaping the depth and richness of musical understanding.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for International Journal of Psychological Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2026

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:43:53 +0000

Reviewer Acknowledgements for International Journal of Psychological Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2026