Signals

Lightweight spiking neural networks for human activity recognition on resource-constrained edge wearable devices

An evidence-bounded PSYTECH brief on the human implications of a verified technology signal.

human technology interaction

An explainable multi-modal graph learning framework with attention-based GCN-GAT for EEG-based depression detection

An evidence-bounded PSYTECH brief on the human implications of a verified technology signal.

attention · cognition · emotion regulation

Stanford scientists discover a seafood that can reverse signs of aging

A substance found in edible sea squirts appeared to reverse several signs of aging in older mice. Plasmalogen supplements improved memory and learning, strengthened connections between brain cells, reduced inflammation, and even helped the mice grow thicker, darker hair. Researchers believe the compounds may encourage

memory

Gut-selective integrin-targeted therapy improves metabolic pathways in the early immune activation mouse model of autism spectrum disorder a

Gut-selective integrin-targeted therapy improves metabolic pathways in the early immune activation mouse model of autism spectrum disorder as revealed by untargeted metabolomics

attention

Wearable ultrasound patch boosts REM sleep without drugs or surgery

A new wearable patch may help people reach REM sleep faster and remain there longer without medication or surgery. In a study of 28 participants, the device shortened the time to REM by 43 minutes and extended it by about 16 minutes. Researchers also observed signs of improved stress regulation and changes in brain cir

emotion regulation · sleep arousal · stress

Wearable ultrasound patch and REM architecture

A UT Austin–led Nature Communications study (n = 28) reported faster onset and longer REM with a skin-worn ultrasound/EEG patch. Early, small, and not a licensed treatment — a signal about administered rest, not a verdict.

sleep arousal · autonomy

AI can tell if your brain is aging faster than you are

A person’s sleeping brain may reveal warning signs of dementia long before memory problems begin. Researchers used machine learning to analyze EEG recordings from about 7,000 adults and found that an older-than-expected “brain age” was tied to a sharply higher dementia risk. Every additional 10 years of brain aging rai

memory · sleep arousal

Scientists discover the brain cells that keep you motivated

A group of brain cells called orexin neurons appears to help us keep working when reaching a reward becomes increasingly difficult. Blocking their activity weakened motivation in rats, pointing to a possible new target for understanding why people sometimes struggle to sustain goal-directed behavior.

executive function · reward

Wearable ultrasound patch boosts REM sleep without drugs or surgery

A new wearable patch may help people reach REM sleep faster and remain there longer without medication or surgery. In a study of 28 participants, the device shortened the time to REM by 43 minutes and extended it by about 16 minutes. Researchers also observed signs of improved stress regulation and changes in brain cir

emotion regulation · sleep arousal · stress

Models that estimate brain age from MRI

Deep-learning brain-age estimators continue to improve on group data. Individual-level meaning, uncertainty, and the psychology of being scored remain under-specified.

identity · perception

Scientists discover the brain cells that keep you motivated

A group of brain cells called orexin neurons appears to help us keep working when reaching a reward becomes increasingly difficult. Blocking their activity weakened motivation in rats, pointing to a possible new target for understanding why people sometimes struggle to sustain goal-directed behavior.

executive function · reward

Orexin neurons and sustained effort (animal work)

Nagoya University work in rats links orexin activity to persistence under increasing effort. Necessary in that paradigm — not evidence that human drive is a consumer switch.

reward · executive function

The age a model assigns you

When software estimates how fast a brain is ageing, a private process becomes a score. Identity and threat follow the number — not, automatically, the tissue.

identity · stress · perception · executive function

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.

sleep arousal · autonomy · reward · stress

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.

executive function · attention · development · habit

Screens and teenage sleep: what the mixed science actually says

Public debate treats “screen time” as one exposure. The literature is more granular — evening light, interruption, and displaced opportunity — and still serious enough for design.

sleep arousal · attention · development

An explainable multi-modal graph learning framework with attention-based GCN-GAT for EEG-based depression detection

An evidence-bounded PSYTECH brief on the human implications of a verified technology signal.

attention · cognition · emotion regulation

Motivation is not a mood — it is a circuit people will sell

Animal work on orexin and persistence is real. The leap from rat breakpoint to a human product is not.

reward · executive function · autonomy

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.

executive function · memory · autonomy

Notification debt: the invisible cognitive tax

Every unread badge is a half-open loop. The cost is not the glance. It is the residue in working memory.

attention · stress · executive function

Habit is not a feature — it is a capture strategy

Product teams celebrate retention. Psychologists study habit. When those languages blur, design starts optimising for compulsion while calling it care.

habit · attention · reward

Empathy at scale: what chatbots cannot borrow

Language models can produce caring sentences. Empathy, in the human literature, is not only sentences.

social cognition · attachment · emotion regulation

When search replaces memory, what do we still know?

External memory is ancient — notebooks, maps, other people. Instant search changes the bargain: we outsource not only facts, but the paths that once made facts ours.

memory · executive function · attention

When the machine becomes company

Always-available agents do not only answer questions. They enter the attachment system — quietly changing who we reach for first when the mind will not settle.

attachment · emotion regulation · reward