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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-May-2026 16:16 ET (11-May-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)

Research explores effect of parental depression symptoms on children’s reward processing

Binghamton University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In newly published research, Binghamton University doctoral student Elana Israel, MS ’22, explores which depressive symptoms largely affect children’s neural responses to feedback.

Journal: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

New report demonstrates how harnessing digitally generated data can transform humanitarian aid

University of Liverpool
Reports and Proceedings

A new report from the University of Liverpool and the United Nations Migration Agency - International Organization for Migration (IOM) demonstrates how harnessing digital data collected from mobile phone applications and social media platforms can transform the way humanitarian agencies track and respond to population displacement during crises.

Phonetic or morpholexical issues? New study reveals L2 French ambiguity

Waseda University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study explores how Japanese learners of French produce ambiguous speech errors. Using a specialized assessment tool, researchers found that many mistakes once considered purely “phonetic” may actually be rooted in morpholexical misunderstanding, and vice-versa. The findings offer teachers valuable guidance for improving pronunciation pedagogy and error correction. This work opens new possibilities for assessing ambiguity in second-language speech and better understanding the interplay between sound and meaning in learning French.

Journal: Language Testing in Asia

Pleasant-sounding words are easier to remember

University of Vienna
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Which words do we find beautiful? And do beautifully sounding words stick better in memory? A new study led by linguist Theresa Matzinger from the University of Vienna suggests that the phonemic composition of words influences as how beautiful we perceive them to be, and how well we remember them. The findings have just been published in the journal PLOS One.

Journal: PLOS One

Marriage, emotional support may protect against obesity through brain-gut connection, study finds

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Strong social relationships, particularly high-quality marriages, may help protect against obesity by influencing a complex communication system between the brain and gut, according to new research by UCLA Health.

Journal: Gut Microbes

Socially aware AI helps autonomous vehicles weave through crowds without collisions

ELSP
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from Tongji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have developed a socially aware prediction-to-control pipeline that lets autonomous vehicles safely navigate dense crowds by anticipating multiple ways pedestrians might move. Instead of betting on a single forecast, their system combines a Social GAN trajectory predictor with a real-time Model Predictive Control (MPC) planner, treating each predicted path as a moving obstacle. In dynamic crowd simulations, the integrated Social GAN+MPC controller achieved zero safety violations and maintained comfortable motion, all while meeting strict real-time computing limits—offering a practical route toward zero-collision autonomous driving in busy urban environments.

Journal: Robot Learning

Concern over harmful medical advice from social media influencers

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Biased or misleading medical advice shared by social media influencers can cause harm and requires coordinated action by governments and platforms to protect the public, argue experts in The BMJ today.

Journal: The BMJ