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28.10.26

The psychology of technological change

A publication about what intelligent systems, interfaces and digital environments do to attention, judgement, identity, behaviour and human agency.

Current pressure

  1. 01Attention14
  2. 02Identity14
  3. 03Human–technology interaction12
  4. 04Cognition11
Cover essaySleep & arousal × AutonomyReported11 min

Sleep that does not have to be earned

A wearable that shifts REM without a pill is a real, early result. What it is not, yet, is a new moral of the night.

PSYTECH / FIG. 01Data figure

A change in sleep architecture

What changed in the study — and what does the number measure?

Reported study summary · 28 participants overall

Reported differences in minutes
EndpointDifference
Time to first REM−43 minutes
REM duration+15.9 minutes

Difference in minutes as summarised by the authors; negative means earlier onset, positive means longer duration. Different endpoints, not a combined benefit score. Endpoint samples may differ from the overall study. No uncertainty intervals are drawn; consult the paper for endpoint-level analysis.

Evidence boundary

REM timing and duration are physiological endpoints. These differences do not establish lasting clinical benefit or recovery in daily life.

Sources & figure notes
  1. Tang et al. · Nature Communications (2026)Primary research

    Abstract and Introduction, pp. 1–2; reported summary differences in REM latency and duration.

    Used for: Time to first REM; REM duration

Original PSYTECH figure · AI-assisted editorial construction · no human review recorded

Read the cover story ↗PSYTECH / Nou Heravi
THE QUESTION

How does timing, fatigue or arousal change the way the technology is used?

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03

Social cognition × Emotion regulation / Source-bounded

Too tired to be judged by humans?

Across four experiments, greater social jet lag was linked to stronger preference for AI evaluators, largely through social anxiety — and the effect depended on whether AI was framed as neutral.

PSYTECH / FIG. 01Mechanism diagram

Who feels safer to judge you?

How could sleep timing alter evaluator preference?

Reported pathway · four interrelated studies

    1. Source reports
      Social jet lag

      Mismatch between biological timing and social schedule.

    Reported anxiety pathway

    1. Source reports
      Social anxiety

      Anticipated pressure of human judgement.

    Reported mediation

    1. Source reports
      AI evaluator preference

      A less threatening evaluation option in the study settings.

Evidence boundary

This is the authors’ reported pathway, not a universal causal chain. Preferences in study scenarios do not establish behaviour in consequential hiring or dating.

Sources & figure notes
  1. Computers in Human Behavior · study abstractPrimary research

    Abstract: four interrelated studies and the reported social-anxiety pathway. Full methods and endpoint-level results were not inspected for this figure.

    Used for: Social jet lag; Social anxiety; AI evaluator preference

  2. Tech Xplore · research summarySecondary account

    Source of the published brief and the perceived-objectivity condition. No percentages from this summary are reproduced in the figure.

    Used for: Perceived AI objectivity

Original PSYTECH figure · AI-assisted editorial construction · no human review recorded

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04

Cognition × Emotion regulation / Source-bounded

Can machine learning spot student distress in wartime?

A study of 225 university students in Lebanon tested whether machine-learning models could identify depression, anxiety and stress during the 2024 war — with promising internal performance and a clear need for independent validation.

PSYTECH / FIG. 01Evidence map

A screening signal is not a diagnosis

How far can an internally tested model travel?

Cross-sectional study · one university · 225 students

  1. Source reports
    Measured screening status

    PHQ-9, GAD-7 and PSS-10 outcomes in the surveyed sample.

  2. Source reports
    Internal prediction

    Models evaluated using data from this institution.

  3. Open question
    External use

    Calibration, subgroup error and outcomes need independent testing.

Survey → internal evaluation: one institutional sample. The gap to external use is not filled by high internal accuracy.

Evidence boundary

Internal performance cannot establish transportability, diagnostic validity or improved access to effective support.

Sources & figure notes
  1. Hoteit et al. · Scientific Reports (2026)Primary research

    Study abstract and the source-bounded PSYTECH brief: cross-sectional survey of 225 AUB students; internal model evaluation and external-validation limits.

    Used for: Measured screening status; Internal prediction; External use

Original PSYTECH figure · AI-assisted editorial construction · no human review recorded

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Signal desk

What is moving before it becomes ordinary.

Not a trend board. A monitored field of technological changes with plausible psychological consequence.

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01

watch · promoted

When synthetic media becomes believable enough to share

Video shows AI likenesses of people linked to Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party appearing to admit to wrongdoing A political ad from Spain’s main opposition party that used a deepfake video of the prime minister’s wife has sparked outrage and set off a wider debate on AI, as the deeply polarised country gears up for general elections

Long form

Essays for questions that deserve time.

Essay archive ↗

Essay / Executive function × Attention / Reported

The classroom without a pocket

Phone bans are not a morality play. They are a mixed empirical literature about attention, equity, and what a developing control system is asked to practise.

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Essay / Executive function × Memory / Reported

The mind that outsources thinking

When fluent machines answer before we finish forming the question, judgment does not vanish overnight. It thins — rehearsal by rehearsal — until expertise becomes a feeling we can no longer check.

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The human index

Browse by what changes in us.

PSYTECH organises technological change around psychological processes rather than companies or products.

Open the full index ↗
01attention1402identity1403human technology interaction1204cognition1105social cognition1006executive function707autonomy608emotion regulation5

Editorial system

PSYTECH / METHOD

The machine can scan the world. It does not get to lower the standard of proof.

The newsroom combines broad source discovery with strict evidence boundaries, construct mapping, duplication control, provenance and release audit. Automation provides range and speed; PSYTECH's editorial structure keeps the reporting specific, psychologically meaningful and inside what the source supports.

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