The theoretical basis for the association between high working memory capacity (WMC) and enhanced visuomotor adaptation is unknown. Visuomotor adaptation involves interplay between explicit and implicit systems. We examined whether the positive association between adaptation and WMC is specific to the explicit component of adaptation. Experiment 1 replicated the positive correlation between WMC and adaptation, but revealed this was specific to the explicit component of adaptation, and apparently driven by a sub-group of participants who did not show any explicit adaptation in the correct direction. A negative correlation was observed between WMC and implicit learning. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that when the task restricted the development of an explicit strategy, high WMC was no longer associated with enhanced adaptation. This work reveals that the benefit of high WMC is specifically linked to an individual’s capacity to use an explicit strategy. It also reveals an important contribution of individual differences in determining how adaptation is performed.

This systematic review aims to investigate the ways in which assistive and developing technologies can help children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience less stress and neurophysiological distress. According to recent CDC data, the prevalence of ASD in the United States has climbed to 1 in 36 children. The symptoms of ASD can manifest in a wide range of ways, and the illness itself exhibits significant variations. Furthermore, it has been closely linked to experiencing stress and worry in one’s life, which many people refer to as sensory processing disorder (SPD). SPD is a disorder that describes how people behave when they are exposed to environmental stimuli that they may not normally process by feeling more intense than what is causing them to worry and distress. One of the most significant limiting factors that can prevent someone from engaging in what they need to do in their everyday lives is stress. Individuals with ASD deal with stress on a regular basis, which has a big impact on how they function. In order to address a significant research vacuum concerning the use of assistive and emerging technologies to reduce stress in individuals with ASD, this systematic review aims to investigate performance, measuring techniques, and interventions by gathering data from the past 10 years. In order to determine the research hypothesis, particular research questions, and the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the studies, the research process entails gathering studies through systematic review analysis in accordance with the PRISMA principles. Experimental and observational studies on the use of assistive and emerging technologies for stress and anxiety management in children and adolescents with ASD that were published only in English met the inclusion criteria. Research not directly related to stress and anxiety outcomes, articles published in languages other than English, and research conducted outside of the designated time frame were also excluded. The study’s findings demonstrated that the technologies under examination had beneficial impacts on reducing stress; nonetheless, notable limitations were found that could compromise the replication and generalizability of legitimate and dependable applications in their utilization.

Although widely used across disciplines, the terms emotion and feeling remain conceptually ambiguous, particularly within developmental science. Emotion is defined as an evolutionarily conserved, biologically embedded system of action readiness and intersubjective communication, shaped by attentional, neural, and physiological reactivity to environmental salience. In contrast, feeling is conceptualized as the consciously experienced, representational outcome of emotional activation, emerging through cognitive appraisal and symbolic processing. Building upon this distinction, the review explores how emotion develops within parent–child dyads through coregulated neurocognitive and psychophysiological mechanisms. Drawing on empirical evidence from eye-tracking studies of visual attention to emotional faces, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) research on social-emotional activation in prefrontal brain regions, and cortisol-based assessments of hormonal synchrony, the paper highlights how emotional attunement and transmission are embedded in early caregiving interactions. The review also emphasizes the moderating role of environmental sensitivity—both in children and parents—in shaping these developmental pathways. By positioning emotion as a dynamic, intersubjective process and feeling as its emergent experiential correlate, this review offers a novel developmental framework for understanding affect and proposes directions for future research on resilience, dysregulation, and intervention.

Previous studies have documented the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) as a genetic susceptibility variant that contributes to variability in outcomes related to affective psychopathology, with the short allele associated with negative affectivity and the long allele associated with positive affectivity. In a separate but related line of research, extensive evidence suggests that frontal electroencephalography (EEG) hemispheric asymmetry in the alpha band is also associated with risk for affective psychopathologies, with leftward asymmetry associated with approach-related behavior patterns and rightward frontal EEG asymmetry associated with withdrawn behavioral tendencies. We examined frontal EEG hemispheric asymmetries in relation to5-HTTLPRgenotyping in 70 children between 4 and 6 years of age. Analyses revealed that frontal EEG lateralization interacted with genotype such that children homozygous for the short allele exhibited rightward frontal EEG asymmetries, children who were homozygous for the long allele consistently exhibited a positive pattern of leftward asymmetry, and heterozygotes exhibited equivalent left and right frontal activity. These findings suggest that the5-HTTLPRshort allele may provide a degree of susceptibility for later affective psychopathology in adolescence and adulthood, through mediation of frontal brain activity that is associated with cognitive–behavioral withdrawal tendencies and negative affectivity.

Background: Childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) are at heightened risk of long-term neurocognitive and emotional difficulties that can affect educational attainment, social participation, and overall quality of life. These outcomes vary across developmental stages and are influenced by treatment modality, age at diagnosis, and central nervous system (CNS) involvement. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science for articles published between January 2000 and June 2024. Search terms included combinations of “childhood cancer survivors,” “neurocognitive outcomes,” “executive function,” “emotional regulation,” and related MeSH terms. Inclusion criteria required peer-reviewed studies assessing CCS using standardized neuropsychological or emotional measures. Results: Evidence indicates persistent deficits in processing speed, working memory, and higher-order executive functions, with additional challenges in attention and memory. Emotional difficulties, including anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal, were prevalent and often co-occurred with cognitive impairments. Developmental timing of cancer and treatment was a key determinant of outcome. Family functioning, school reintegration support, and broader social environments emerged as important moderators of resilience. Conclusions: CCSs face complex, interrelated cognitive and emotional challenges that warrant early identification and ongoing, developmentally tailored intervention. Integrated approaches combining cognitive remediation and psychosocial support appear most effective. Future research should prioritize longitudinal designs, multi-informant assessments, and culturally sensitive frameworks to inform targeted prevention and rehabilitation strategies. Our synthesis highlights that deficits in processing speed and working memory are most pronounced following CNS-directed therapies during early developmental stages, whereas emotional vulnerabilities such as anxiety and social withdrawal often emerge later in adolescence. Interventions combining cognitive remediation, targeted psychosocial support, and structured school reintegration show the strongest evidence for improving adaptive outcomes. Coordinated survivorship care across healthcare, educational, and family systems is essential to sustain developmental recovery.

Previous studies have documented both neuroplasticity-related BDNF Val66Met and emotion regulation-related 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms as genetic variants that contribute to the processing of emotions from faces. More specifically, research has shown the BDNF Met allele and the 5-HTTLPR Short allele to be associated with mechanisms of negative affectivity that relate to susceptibility for psychopathology. We examined visual scanning pathways in response to angry, happy, and neutral faces in relation to BDNF Val66Met and 5-HTTLPR genotyping in 49 children aged 4- to 7-years. Analyses revealed that variations in the visual processing of facial expressions of anger interacted with BDNF Val66Met genotype, such that children who carried at least one low neuroplasticity Met allele exhibited a vigilance-avoidance pattern of visual scanning compared to homozygotes for the high neuroplasticity Val allele. In a separate investigation of eye gaze towards the eye versus mouth regions of neutral faces, we observed that short allele 5-HTTLPR carriers exhibited reduced looking at the eye region compared with those with the higher serotonin uptake Long allele. Together, these findings suggest that genetic mechanisms early in life may influence the establishment of patterns of visual scanning of environmental stressors, which in conjunction with other factors such as negative life events may lead to psychological difficulties and disorders in the later adolescent and adult years.