Publications

You can find all my publications on this page, or on ORCID, Zotero, or Google Scholar. You can also find preprints of most of my work on PsyArXiv. The list below is automatically updated from the OpenAlex API every month (see how.)

Articles

  • The smoke-detector principle of pathogen avoidance: A test of how the behavioral immune system gives rise to prejudice (Leeuwen, Jaeger, Axelsson, Becker, Hansson, Lasselin, Lekander, Vuorre & Tybur, 2025) Evolution and Human Behavior
    Abstract
    Motivations to avoid infectious disease seem to influence prejudice toward some groups, including groups not explicitly associated with infectious disease. The standard explanation for this phenomenon is based on signal detection theory and proposes that some prejudices partially arise from pathogen detection mechanisms that are biased toward making false alarms (false positives) in order to minimize misses (false negatives). Therefore, pathogen detection mechanisms arguably categorize a broad array of atypical features as indicative of infection, which gives rise to negative affect toward people with atypical features. We tested a key hypothesis derived from this explanation: specific appearance-based prejudices are associated with tendencies to make false alarms when estimating the presence of infectious disease. While this hypothesis is implicit in much work on the behavioral immune system and prejudice, direct tests of it are lacking and existing relevant work contains important limitations. To test the hypothesis, we conducted a cross-sectional study using a large U.S. sample ( N = 1450). Using signal detection theory methods, we assessed tendencies to make false alarms when identifying infection threats. We further assessed prejudice toward multiple relevant social groups/categories. Results showed weak evidence for the key hypothesis: for only one of four tested target groups were tendencies to make false alarms in sickness detection significantly associated with prejudice. However, this relation was not significant when controlling for a potential confound. These results cast doubt on the notion that individual differences in appearance-based prejudices arise from individual differences in tendencies to make false alarms in assessing pathogen threats.
  • Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players (Ballou, Vuorre, Hakman, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2025) Royal Society Open Science
    Abstract
    Studies on video games and well-being often rely on self-report measures or data from a single game. Here, we study how 703 casually engaged US adults' time spent playing for over 140 000 h across 150 Nintendo Switch games relates to their life satisfaction, affect, depressive symptoms and general mental well-being. We replicate previous findings that playtime over the past two weeks does not predict well-being, and extend these findings to a wider range of timescales (1 h to 1 year). Equivalence tests were inconclusive, and thus we do not find evidence of absence, but results suggest that practically meaningful effects lasting more than 2 h after gameplay are unlikely. Our non-causal findings suggest substantial confounding would be needed to shift a meaningful true effect to the observed null. Although playtime was not related to well-being, players' assessments of the value of game time-so-called gaming life fit-were. Results emphasize the importance of defining the gaming population of interest, collecting data from more than one game, and focusing on how players integrate gaming into their lives rather than the amount of time spent.
  • From social media to artificial intelligence: improving research on digital harms in youth (Mansfield, Ghai, Hakman, Ballou, Vuorre & Przybylski, 2025) The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
    Abstract
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  • How do video games affect mental health? A narrative review of 13 proposed mechanisms. (Ballou, Hakman, Vuorre, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2025) Technology Mind and Behavior
    Abstract
    Researchers have proposed a variety of mechanisms through which playing video games might affect mental health by displacing more psychosocially beneficial activities, satisfying or frustrating basic psychological needs, relieving stress, and many more. However, these mechanisms and their underlying causal structures are rarely made explicit. Here, we review 13 proposed effects of gaming on mental health. For each, we specify a counterfactual—that is, what concrete aspect of gaming should be changed in a hypothetical alternative universe to produce the effect of interest—and illustrate these with example directed acyclic graphs. In doing so, we hope to encourage more focused efforts to propose, falsify, and iterate on (causal) theories using well-established formal methods of causal inference. Only in doing so can the field realize its potential to inform clinical interventions, regulation, game design, and the behavior of players and parents.
  • How should we investigate variation in the relation between social media and well-being? (Johannes, Masur, Vuorre & Przybylski, 2024) Meta-Psychology
    Abstract
    Most researchers studying the relation between social media use and well-being find small to no associations, yet policymakers and public stakeholders keep asking for more evidence. One way the field is reacting is by inspecting the variation around average relations—with the goal of describing individual social media users. Here, we argue that this approach produces findings that are not as informative as they could be. Our analysis begins by describing how the field got to this point. Then, we explain the problems with the current approach of studying variation and how it loses sight of one of the most important goals of a quantitative social science: generalizing from a sample to a population. We propose a principled approach to quantify, interpret, and explain variation in average relations by: (1) conducting model comparisons, (2) defining a region of practical equivalence and testing the theoretical distribution of relations against that region, (3) defining a smallest effect size of interest and comparing it against the theoretical distribution. We close with recommendations to either study moderators as systematic factors that explain variation or to commit to a person-specific approach and conduct N=1 studies and qualitative research.
  • Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study (Vuorre, Ballou, Hakman, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2024) Games Research and Practice
    Abstract
    Do video games affect players’ well-being? In this case study, we examined 162,325 intensive longitudinal in-game mood reports from 67,328 play sessions of 8,695 players of the popular game PowerWash Simulator. We compared players’ moods at the beginning of play sessions with their moods during play and found that the average player reported 0.034 (0.032, 0.036) visual analog scale (VAS; 0-1) units greater mood during than at the beginning of play sessions. Moreover, we predict that 72.1% (70.8%, 73.5%) of similar players experience this affective uplift during play, and that the bulk of it happens during the first 15 minutes of play. We do not know whether these results indicate causal effects or to what extent they generalize to other games or player populations. Yet, these results based on in-game subjective reports from players of a popular commercially available game suggest good external validity and as such offer a promising glimpse of the scientific value of transparent industry–academia collaborations in understanding the psychological roles of popular digital entertainment.
  • A Tutorial for Deception Detection Analysis or: How I Learned to Stop Aggregating Veracity Judgments and Embraced Signal Detection Theory Mixed Models (Zloteanu & Vuorre, 2024) Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
    Abstract
    Abstract Historically, deception detection research has relied on factorial analyses of response accuracy to make inferences. However, this practice overlooks important sources of variability resulting in potentially misleading estimates and may conflate response bias with participants’ underlying sensitivity to detect lies from truths. We showcase an alternative approach using a signal detection theory (SDT) with generalized linear mixed models framework to address these limitations. This SDT approach incorporates individual differences from both judges and senders, which are a principal source of spurious findings in deception research. By avoiding data transformations and aggregations, this methodology outperforms traditional methods and provides more informative and reliable effect estimates. This well-established framework offers researchers a powerful tool for analyzing deception data and advances our understanding of veracity judgments. All code and data are openly available.
  • Learning from errors versus explicit instruction in preparation for a test that counts (Metcalfe, Xu, Vuorre, Siegler, Wiliam & Bjork, 2024) British Journal of Educational Psychology
    Abstract
    These results indicate that engaging the students interactively to focus on errors, and the reasons for them, facilitates productive failure and learning from errors.
  • A multiverse analysis of the associations between internet use and well-being. (Vuorre & Przybylski, 2024) Technology Mind and Behavior
    Abstract
    Internet technologies’ and platforms’ potential psychological consequences remain debated. While these technologies have spurred new forms of commerce, education, and leisure, many are worried that they might negatively affect individuals by, for example, displacing time spent on other healthy activities. Relevant findings to date have been inconclusive and of limited geographic and demographic scope. We examined whether having (mobile) internet access or actively using the internet predicted eight well-being outcomes from 2006 to 2021 among 2,414,294 individuals across 168 countries. We first queried the extent to which well-being varied as a function of internet connectivity. Then, we examined these associations’ robustness in a multiverse of 33,792 analysis specifications. Of these, 84.9% resulted in positive and statistically significant associations between internet connectivity and well-being. These results indicate that internet access and use predict well-being positively and independently from a set of plausible alternatives.
  • Balance between solitude and socializing: everyday solitude time both benefits and harms well-being (Weinstein, Vuorre, Adams & Nguyen, 2023) Scientific Reports
    Abstract
    Two literatures argue that time alone is harmful (i.e., isolation) and valuable (i.e., positive solitude). We explored whether people benefit from a balance between their daily solitude and social time, such that having 'right' quantities of both maximizes well-being. Participants (n = 178) completed a 21-day diary study, which quantified solitude time in hours through reconstructing daily events. This procedure minimized retrospective bias and tested natural variations across time. There was no evidence for a one-size-fits-all 'optimal balance' between solitude and social time. Linear effects suggested that people were lonelier and less satisfied on days in which they spent more hours in solitude. These detrimental relations were nullified or reduced when daily solitude was autonomous (choiceful) and did not accumulate across days; those who were generally alone more were not, on the whole, lonelier. On days in which people spent more time alone they felt less stress and greater autonomy satisfaction (volitional, authentic, and free from pressure). These benefits were cumulative; those who spent more time alone across the span of the study were less stressed and more autonomy satisfied overall. Solitude time risks lowering well-being on some metrics but may hold key advantages to other aspects of well-being. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on June 1, 2022. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5KXQ3 .
  • Global Well-Being and Mental Health in the Internet Age (Vuorre & Przybylski, 2023) Clinical Psychological Science
    Abstract
    In the last 2 decades, the widespread adoption of Internet technologies has inspired concern that they have negatively affected mental health and psychological well-being. However, research on the topic is contested and hampered by methodological shortcomings, leaving the broader consequences of Internet adoption unknown. We show that the past 2 decades have seen only small and inconsistent changes in global well-being and mental health that are not suggestive of the idea that the adoption of Internet and mobile broadband is consistently linked to negative psychological outcomes. Further investigation of this topic requires transparent study of online behaviors where they occur (i.e., on online platforms). We call for increased collaborative efforts between independent scientists and the Internet-technology sector.
  • Impact of digital screen media activity on functional brain organization in late childhood: Evidence from the ABCD study (Miller, Mills, Vuorre, Orben & Przybylski, 2023) Cortex
    Abstract
    The idea that the increased ubiquity of digital devices negatively impacts neurodevelopment is as compelling as it is disturbing. This study investigated this concern by systematically evaluating how different profiles of screen-based engagement related to functional brain organization in late childhood. We studied participants from a large and representative sample of young people participating in the first two years of the ABCD study (ages 9-12 years) to investigate the relations between self-reported use of various digital screen media activity (SMA) and functional brain organization. A series of generalized additive mixed models evaluated how these relationships related to functional outcomes associated with health and cognition. Of principal interest were two hypotheses: First, that functional brain organization (assessed through resting state functional connectivity MRI; rs-fcMRI) is related to digital screen engagement; and second, that children with higher rates of engagement will have functional brain organization profiles related to maladaptive functioning. Results did not support either of these predictions for SMA. Further, exploratory analyses predicting how screen media activity impacted neural trajectories showed no significant impact of SMA on neural maturation over a two-year period.
  • An intensive longitudinal dataset of in-game player behaviour and well-being in PowerWash Simulator (Vuorre, Magnusson, Johannes, Butlin & Przybylski, 2023) Scientific Data
    Abstract
    The potential impacts that video games might have on players' well-being are under increased scrutiny but poorly understood empirically. Although extensively studied, a level of understanding required to address concerns and advise policy is lacking, at least partly because much of this science has relied on artificial settings and limited self-report data. We describe a large and detailed dataset that addresses these issues by pairing video game play behaviors and events with in-game well-being and motivation reports. 11,080 players (from 39 countries) of the first person PC game PowerWash Simulator volunteered for a research version of the game that logged their play across 10 in-game behaviors and events (e.g. task completion) and 21 variables (e.g. current position), and responses to 6 psychological survey instruments via in-game pop-ups. The data consists of 15,772,514 gameplay events, 726,316 survey item responses, and 21,202,667 additional gameplay status records, and spans 222 days. The data and codebook are publicly available with a permissive CC0 license.
  • Estimating the association between Facebook adoption and well-being in 72 countries (Vuorre & Przybylski, 2023) Royal Society Open Science
    Abstract
    Social media's potential effects on well-being have received considerable research interest, but much of past work is hampered by an exclusive focus on demographics in the Global North and inaccurate self-reports of social media engagement. We describe associations linking 72 countries' Facebook adoption to the well-being of 946 798 individuals from 2008 to 2019. We found no evidence suggesting that the global penetration of social media is associated with widespread psychological harm: Facebook adoption predicted life satisfaction and positive experiences positively, and negative experiences negatively, both between countries and within countries over time. Nevertheless, the observed associations were small and did not reach a conventional 97.5% one-sided credibility threshold in all cases. Facebook adoption predicted aspects of well-being more positively for younger individuals, but country-specific results were mixed. To move beyond studying aggregates and to better understand social media's roles in people's lives, and their potential causal effects, we need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry.
  • A co-produced online cultural experience compared to a typical museum website for mental health in people aged 16–24: A proof-of-principle randomised controlled trial (Sheriff, Vuorre, Riga, Przybylski, Adams, Harmer & Geddes, 2022) Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
    Abstract
    Online engagement with arts and culture has the potential to impact on mental health in a measurable way in YP with high unmet mental health needs.
  • Curiosity: The effects of feedback and confidence on the desire to know. (Metcalfe, Vuorre, Towner & Eich, 2022) Journal of Experimental Psychology General
    Abstract
    In 10 experiments, we investigated the relations among curiosity and people's confidence in their answers to general information questions after receiving different kinds of feedback: yes/no feedback, true or false informational feedback under uncertainty, or no feedback. The results showed that when people had given a correct answer, yes/no feedback resulted in a near complete loss of curiosity. Upon learning they had made an error via yes/no feedback, curiosity increased, especially for high-confidence errors. When people were given true feedback under uncertainty (they were given the correct answer but were not told that it was correct), curiosity increased for high-confidence errors but was unchanged for correct responses. In contrast, when people were given false feedback under uncertainty, curiosity increased for high-confidence correct responses but was unchanged for errors. These results, taken as a whole, are consistent with the region of proximal learning model which proposes that while curiosity is minimal when people are completely certain that they know the answer, it is maximal when people believe that they almost know. Manipulations that drew participants toward this region of "almost knowing" resulted in increased curiosity. A serendipitous result was the finding (replicated four times in this study) that when no feedback was given, people were more curious about high-confidence errors than they were about equally high-confidence correct answers. It was as if they had some knowledge, tapped selectively by their feelings of curiosity, that there was something special (and possibly amiss) about high-confidence errors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
  • Time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being (Vuorre, Johannes, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2022) Royal Society Open Science
    Abstract
    Video games are a massively popular form of entertainment, socializing, cooperation and competition. Games' ubiquity fuels fears that they cause poor mental health, and major health bodies and national governments have made far-reaching policy decisions to address games' potential risks, despite lacking adequate supporting data. The concern-evidence mismatch underscores that we know too little about games' impacts on well-being. We addressed this disconnect by linking six weeks of 38 935 players' objective game-behaviour data, provided by seven global game publishers, with three waves of their self-reported well-being that we collected. We found little to no evidence for a causal connection between game play and well-being. However, results suggested that motivations play a role in players' well-being. For good or ill, the average effects of time spent playing video games on players' well-being are probably very small, and further industry data are required to determine potential risks and supportive factors to health.
  • Time Spent Playing Two Online Shooters Has No Measurable Effect on Aggressive Affect (Johannes, Vuorre, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2022) Collabra Psychology
    Abstract
    There is a lively debate whether playing games that feature armed combat and competition (often referred to as violent video games) has measurable effects on aggression. Unfortunately, that debate has produced insights that remain preliminary without accurate behavioral data. Here, we present a secondary analysis of the most authoritative longitudinal data set available on the issue from our previous study (Vuorre et al., 2021). We analyzed objective in-game behavior, provided by video game companies, in 2,580 players over six weeks. Specifically, we asked how time spent playing two popular online shooters, Apex Legends (PEGI 16) and Outriders (PEGI 18), affected self-reported feelings of anger (i.e., aggressive affect). We found that playing these games did not increase aggressive affect; the cross-lagged association between game time and aggressive affect was virtually zero. Our results showcase the value of obtaining accurate industry data as well as an open science of video games and mental health that allows cumulative knowledge building.
  • Curiosity and the desire for agency: wait, wait … don’t tell me! (Metcalfe, Kennedy-Pyers & Vuorre, 2021) Cognitive Research Principles and Implications
    Abstract
    Past research has shown that when people are curious they are willing to wait to get an answer if the alternative is to not get the answer at all-a result that has been taken to mean that people valued the answers, and interpreted as supporting a reinforcement-learning (RL) view of curiosity. An alternative 'need for agency' view is forwarded that proposes that when curious, people are intrinsically motivated to actively seek the answer themselves rather than having it given to them. If answers can be freely obtained at any time, the RL view holds that, because time delay depreciates value, people will not wait to receive the answer. Because they value items that they are curious about more than those about which they are not curious they should seek the former more quickly. In contrast, the need for agency view holds that in order to take advantage of the opportunity to obtain the answer by their own efforts, when curious, people may wait. Consistent with this latter view, three experiments showed that even when the answer could be obtained at any time, people spontaneously waited longer to request the answer when they were curious. Furthermore, rather than requesting the answer itself-a response that would have maximally reduced informational uncertainty-in all three experiments, people asked for partial information in the form of hints, when curious. Such active hint seeking predicted later recall. The 'need for agency' view of curiosity, then, was supported by all three experiments.
  • A cultural experience to support mental health in people aged 16–24 during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a typical museum website: study protocol of an online randomised controlled trial (Sheriff, Vuorre, Riga, Przybylski, Adams, Harmer & Geddes, 2021) Trials
    Abstract
    ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04663594. Registered on 11 December 2020 (submitted in same form 27 November 2020). Protocol v1.0: 27 November 2020. Date recruitment began: 4 December 2020. Recruitment complete (estimate): February 2021.
  • There Is No Evidence That Associations Between Adolescents’ Digital Technology Engagement and Mental Health Problems Have Increased (Vuorre, Orben & Przybylski, 2021) Clinical Psychological Science
    Abstract
    Digital technology is ubiquitous in modern adolescence, and researchers are concerned that it has negative impacts on mental health that, furthermore, increase over time. To investigate if technology is becoming more harmful, we examined changes in associations between technology engagement and mental health in three nationally representative samples. Results were mixed across types of technology and mental health outcomes: Technology engagement had become less strongly associated with depression in the past decade, but social media use more strongly associated with emotional problems. We detected no changes in five other associations, or differential associations by gender. There is therefore little evidence for increases in the associations between adolescents' technology engagement and mental health. Information about new digital media has been collected for a relatively short time; drawing firm conclusions about changes in their associations with mental health may be premature. We urge transparent and credible collaborations between scientists and technology companies.
  • Video game play is positively correlated with well-being (Johannes, Vuorre & Przybylski, 2021) Royal Society Open Science
    Abstract
    People have never played more video games, and many stakeholders are worried that this activity might be bad for players. So far, research has not had adequate data to test whether these worries are justified and if policymakers should act to regulate video game play time. We attempt to provide much-needed evidence with adequate data. Whereas previous research had to rely on self-reported play behaviour, we collaborated with two games companies, Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America, to obtain players' actual play behaviour. We surveyed players of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons for their well-being, motivations and need satisfaction during play, and merged their responses with telemetry data (i.e. logged game play). Contrary to many fears that excessive play time will lead to addiction and poor mental health, we found a small positive relation between game play and affective well-being. Need satisfaction and motivations during play did not interact with play time but were instead independently related to well-being. Our results advance the field in two important ways. First, we show that collaborations with industry partners can be done to high academic standards in an ethical and transparent fashion. Second, we deliver much-needed evidence to policymakers on the link between play and mental health.
  • Measures of relative metacognitive accuracy are confounded with task performance in tasks that permit guessing (Vuorre & Metcalfe, 2021) Metacognition and Learning
    Abstract
    Abstract This article investigates the concern that assessment of metacognitive resolution (or relative accuracy—often evaluated by gamma correlations or signal detection theoretic measures such as d a ) is vulnerable to an artifact due to guessing that differentially impacts low as compared to high performers on tasks that involve multiple-choice testing. Metacognitive resolution refers to people’s ability to tell, via confidence judgments, their correct answers apart from incorrect answers, and is theorized to be an important factor in learning. Resolution—the trial-by-trial association between response accuracy and confidence in that response’s accuracy—is a distinct ability from knowledge, or accuracy, and instead indicates a higher-order self-evaluation. It is therefore important that measures of resolution are independent of domain-knowledge accuracy. We conducted six experiments that revealed a positive correlation between metacognitive resolution and performance in multiple-choice mathematics testing. Monte Carlo simulations indicated, however, that resolution metrics are increasingly negatively biased with decreasing performance, because multiple-choice tasks permit correct guessing. We, therefore, argue that the observed positive correlations were probably attributable to an artifact rather than a true correlation between psychological abilities. A final experiment supported the guessing-related confound hypothesis: Resolution and performance were positively correlated in multiple-choice testing, but not in free-response testing. This study brings to light a previously underappreciated limitation in assessing metacognitive resolution and its relation to task performance in criterion tasks that may involve guessing.
  • A large-scale study of changes to the quantity, quality, and distribution of video game play during a global health pandemic. (Vuorre, Zendle, Petrovskaya, Ballou & Przybylski, 2021) Technology Mind and Behavior
    Abstract
    Video game play has been framed as both protective factor and risk to mental health during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We conducted a statistical analysis of changes to video game play during the pandemic to better understand gaming behavior and in doing so provide an empirical foundation to the fractured discourse surrounding play and mental health. Analyses of millions of players’ engagement with the 500 globally most popular games on the Steam platform indicated that the quantity of play had dramatically increased during key points of the pandemic; that those increases were more prominent for multiplayer games, suggesting that gamers were seeking out the social affordances of video game play; and that play had become more equally distributed across days of the week, suggesting increased merging of leisure activities with work and school activities. These results provide a starting point for empirically grounded discussions on video games during the pandemic, their uses, and potential effects.
  • An Online Cultural Experience for Mental Health in People Aged 16-24 Compared to a Typical Museum Website: A Randomised Controlled Trial (Sheriff, Vuorre, Riga, Przybylski, Adams, Harmer & Geddes, 2021) SSRN Electronic Journal
    Abstract
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  • Supplemental Material for A Large-Scale Study of Changes to the Quantity, Quality, and Distribution of Video Game Play During a Global Health Pandemic (Vuorre, Zendle, Petrovskaya, Ballou & Przybylski, 2021) Technology Mind and Behavior
    Abstract
    Video game play has been framed as both protective factor and risk to mental health during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We conducted a statistical analysis of changes to video game play during the pandemic to better understand gaming behavior and in doing so provide an empirical foundation to the fractured discourse surrounding play and mental health. Analyses of millions of players’ engagement with the 500 globally most popular games on the Steam platform indicated that the quantity of play had dramatically increased during key points of the pandemic; that those increases were more prominent for multiplayer games, suggesting that gamers were seeking out the social affordances of video game play; and that play had become more equally distributed across days of the week, suggesting increased merging of leisure activities with work and school activities. These results provide a starting point for empirically grounded discussions on video games during the pandemic, their uses, and potential effects.
  • Sharing and organizing research products as R packages (Vuorre & Crump, 2020) Behavior Research Methods
    Abstract
    A consensus on the importance of open data and reproducible code is emerging. How should data and code be shared to maximize the key desiderata of reproducibility, permanence, and accessibility? Research assets should be stored persistently in formats that are not software restrictive, and documented so that others can reproduce and extend the required computations. The sharing method should be easy to adopt by already busy researchers. We suggest the R package standard as a solution for creating, curating, and communicating research assets. The R package standard, with extensions discussed herein, provides a format for assets and metadata that satisfies the above desiderata, facilitates reproducibility, open access, and sharing of materials through online platforms like GitHub and Open Science Framework. We discuss a stack of R resources that help users create reproducible collections of research assets, from experiments to manuscripts, in the RStudio interface. We created an R package, vertical, to help researchers incorporate these tools into their workflows, and discuss its functionality at length in an online supplement. Together, these tools may increase the reproducibility and openness of psychological science.
  • Memory, stress, and the hippocampal hypothesis: Firefighters' recollections of the fireground (Metcalfe, Brezler, McNamara, Maletta & Vuorre, 2019) Hippocampus
    Abstract
    Nadel, Jacobs, and colleagues have postulated that human memory under conditions of extremely high stress is "special." In particular, episodic memories are thought to be susceptible to impairment, and possibly fragmentation, attributable to hormonally based dysfunction occurring selectively in the hippocampal system. While memory for highly salient and self-relevant events should be better than the memory for less central events, an overall nonmonotonic decrease in spatio/temporal episodic memory as stress approaches traumatic levels is posited. Testing human memory at extremely high levels of stress, however, is difficult and reports are rare. Firefighting is the most stressful civilian occupation in our society. In the present study, we asked New York City firefighters to recall everything that they could upon returning from fires they had just fought. Communications during all fires were recorded, allowing verification of actual events. Our results confirmed that recall was, indeed, impaired with increasing stress. A nonmonotonic relation was observed consistent with the posited inverted u-shaped memory-stress function. Central details about emergency situations were better recalled than were more schematic events, but both kinds of events showed the memory decrement with high stress. There was no evidence of fragmentation. Self-relevant events were recalled nearly five times better than events that were not self-relevant. These results provide confirmation that memories encoded under conditions of extremely high stress are, indeed, special and are impaired in a manner that is consistent with the Nadel/Jacobs hippocampal hypothesis.
  • Ordinal Regression Models in Psychology: A Tutorial (Bürkner & Vuorre, 2019) Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
    Abstract
    Ordinal variables, although extremely common in psychology, are almost exclusively analyzed with statistical models that falsely assume them to be metric. This practice can lead to distorted effect-size estimates, inflated error rates, and other problems. We argue for the application of ordinal models that make appropriate assumptions about the variables under study. In this Tutorial, we first explain the three major classes of ordinal models: the cumulative, sequential, and adjacent-category models. We then show how to fit ordinal models in a fully Bayesian framework with the R package brms, using data sets on opinions about stem-cell research and time courses of marriage. The appendices provide detailed mathematical derivations of the models and a discussion of censored ordinal models. Compared with metric models, ordinal models provide better theoretical interpretation and numerical inference from ordinal data, and we recommend their widespread adoption in psychology.
  • Tip-of-the-tongue states predict enhanced feedback processing and subsequent memory (Bloom, Friedman, Xu, Vuorre & Metcalfe, 2018) Consciousness and Cognition
    Abstract
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  • Curating Research Assets: A Tutorial on the Git Version Control System (Vuorre & Curley, 2018) Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
    Abstract
    Recent calls for improving reproducibility have increased attention to the ways in which researchers curate, share, and collaborate on their research assets. In this Tutorial, we explain how version control systems, such as the popular Git program, support these functions and then show how to use Git with a graphical interface in the RStudio program. This Tutorial is written for researchers with no previous experience using version control systems and covers both single-user and collaborative workflows. The online Supplemental Material provides information on advanced Git command-line functions. Git presents an elegant solution to specific challenges to curating, sharing, and collaborating on research assets and can be implemented in common workflows with little extra effort.
  • Cross domain self-monitoring in anosognosia for memory loss in Alzheimer's disease (Chapman, Colvin, Vuorre, Cocchini, Metcalfe, Huey & Cosentino, 2018) Cortex
    Abstract
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  • Bayesian evaluation of behavior change interventions: a brief introduction and a practical example (Heino, Vuorre & Hankonen, 2018) Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine
    Abstract
    Bayesian analytical methods are now available to researchers through easy-to-use software packages, and we recommend using them to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for their conceptual and practical benefits.
  • Using Visual Illusions to Examine Action-Related Perceptual Changes (Vuorre, 2018) Columbia Academic Commons (Columbia University)
    Abstract
    Action has many influences on how and what we perceive. One robust example of the relationship between action and subsequent perception, which has recently received great attention in the cognitive sciences, is the “intentional binding” effect: When people estimate the timing of their actions and those actions’ effects, they judge the actions and effects as having occurred closer together in time than two events that do not involve voluntary action (Haggard, Clark, & Kalogeras, 2002). This dissertation examines the possible mechanisms and consequences of the intentional binding effect. First, in Chapter 1, I discuss previous literature on the relationships between experiences of time, action, and causality. Impressions of time and causality are psychologically related: The perceived timing of events impacts, and is impacted by, perceived causality. Similarly, one’s experience of causing and controlling events with voluntary action, sometimes called the sense of agency, shapes and is shaped by how those events’ timing is perceived—as shown by the intentional binding effect. In Chapter 2 I present a series of experiments investigating a hypothesized mechanism underlying the intentional binding effect: Actions may lead to a slowing of subjective time, which would explain the intentional binding effect by postulating a shorter experienced duration between action and effect. This hypothesis predicts that, following action, durations separating any two stimuli would appear subjectively shorter. We tested this hypothesis in the context of visual motion illusions: Two visual stimuli are presented in short succession and if the duration between the stimuli (inter-stimulus interval; ISI) is short, participants tend to perceive motion such that the first stimulus appears to move to the position of the second stimulus. If actions shorten subjective durations, even in visual perception, people should observe motion at longer ISIs when the stimuli follow voluntary action because the two stimuli would be separated by less subjective time. Three experiments confirmed this prediction. An additional experiment showed that verbal estimates of the ISI are also shorter following action. A control experiment suggested that a shift in the ability to prepare for the stimuli, afforded by the participant initiating the stimuli, is an unlikely alternative explanation of the observed results. In Chapter 3 I further investigate whether temporal contiguity of actions and their effects, which is known to impact intentional binding, affects perceptions of visual motion illusions. Two experiments showed that temporal contiguity modulates perceptions of illusory motion in a manner similar to contiguity’s effect on intentional binding. Together, these results show that actions impact perception of visual motion illusions and suggest that general slowing of subjective time is a plausible mechanism underlying the intentional binding effect.
  • Within-subject mediation analysis for experimental data in cognitive psychology and neuroscience (Vuorre & Bolger, 2017) Behavior Research Methods
    Abstract
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  • Voluntary action alters the perception of visual illusions (Vuorre & Metcalfe, 2017) Attention Perception & Psychophysics
    Abstract
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  • Investigating the Prospective Sense of Agency: Effects of Processing Fluency, Stimulus Ambiguity, and Response Conflict (Sidarus, Vuorre, Metcalfe & Haggard, 2017) Frontiers in Psychology
    Abstract
    How do we know how much control we have over our environment? The sense of agency refers to the feeling that we are in control of our actions, and that, through them, we can control our external environment. Thus, agency clearly involves matching intentions, actions, and outcomes. The present studies investigated the possibility that processes of action selection, i.e., choosing what action to make, contribute to the sense of agency. Since selection of action necessarily precedes execution of action, such effects must be prospective. In contrast, most literature on sense of agency has focussed on the retrospective computation whether an outcome fits the action performed or intended. This hypothesis was tested in an ecologically rich, dynamic task based on a computer game. Across three experiments, we manipulated three different aspects of action selection processing: visual processing fluency, categorization ambiguity, and response conflict. Additionally, we measured the relative contributions of prospective, action selection-based cues, and retrospective, outcome-based cues to the sense of agency. Manipulations of action selection were orthogonally combined with discrepancy of visual feedback of action. Fluency of action selection had a small but reliable effect on the sense of agency. Additionally, as expected, sense of agency was strongly reduced when visual feedback was discrepant with the action performed. The effects of discrepant feedback were larger than the effects of action selection fluency, and sometimes suppressed them. The sense of agency is highly sensitive to disruptions of action-outcome relations. However, when motor control is successful, and action-outcome relations are as predicted, fluency or dysfluency of action selection provides an important prospective cue to the sense of agency.
  • How action selection influences the sense of agency: An ERP study (Sidarus, Vuorre & Haggard, 2017) NeuroImage
    Abstract
    Sense of agency (SoA) refers to the feeling that we are in control of our actions and, through them, of events in the outside world. One influential view claims that the SoA depends on retrospectively matching the expected and actual outcomes of action. However, recent studies have revealed an additional, prospective component to SoA, driven by action selection processes. We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to clarify the neural mechanisms underlying prospective agency. Subliminal priming was used to manipulate the fluency of selecting a left or right hand action in response to a supraliminal target. These actions were followed by one of several coloured circles, after a variable delay. Participants then rated their degree of control over this visual outcome. Incompatible priming impaired action selection, and reduced sense of agency over action outcomes, relative to compatible priming. More negative ERPs immediately after the action, linked to post-decisional action monitoring, were associated with reduced agency ratings over action outcomes. Additionally, feedback-related negativity evoked by the outcome was also associated with reduced agency ratings. These ERP components may reflect brain processes underlying prospective and retrospective components of sense of agency respectively.
  • Integrating prospective and retrospective cues to the sense of agency: a multi-study investigation† (Sidarus, Vuorre & Haggard, 2017) Neuroscience of Consciousness
    Abstract
    Sense of agency (SoA) refers to the experience of voluntary control over one's own actions, and, through them, over events in the outside world. Recent accounts suggest that SoA involves an integration of various cues. These include prospective cues, for example, related to the fluency of action selection, and retrospective cues, linked to outcome monitoring. It remains unclear whether these cues may have independent effects on SoA, and, in particular, how their relative contributions may change during instrumental learning. In the present study, we explored these issues by conducting a multi-study analysis of seven published and unpublished studies on the role of prospective cues to the SoA. Our main question was how the effects of selection fluency on SoA might change as information about action-outcome contingencies is gathered. Results show that selection fluency can have a general and consistent influence on the SoA, independent of outcome monitoring. This suggests selection fluency is used as a heuristic cue, to prospectively inform our SoA. In addition, our results show that the influence of selection fluency on SoA may change systematically as action-outcome contingencies are gradually learned. We speculate that dysfluent selection may impair formation of mental associations between action and outcome.
  • The relation between the sense of agency and the experience of flow (Vuorre & Metcalfe, 2016) Consciousness and Cognition
    Abstract
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  • On the (non)persuasive power of a brain image (Michael, Newman, Vuorre, Cumming & Garry, 2013) Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
    Abstract
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Preprints

  • Building collaborative digital behavioural science: A cross-sector agenda from video games research (Norwood, Ballou, Foldes, Hakman, Mansfield, Vuorre, Aljedawi, Ellis, Etchells, Evans, Farmer, Ferguson, Ivory, Kaye, Larrieu, Nielsen, Parry, Pattison, Quandt, Reinfelde, IJzerman, Sweeney, Thomas, Xiao & Przybylski, 2026) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Digital environments such as video games are central to contemporary life, yet progress in understanding their range of impacts has been hindered by limited data access, skewed funding, imbalanced research agendas, and inadequate coordination between academia, industry, policymakers, and community stakeholders. To address this lack of progress, we conducted a multi-stage modified Delphi study (n = 85 round one; n = 59 round two) followed by an in-person World Café workshop (n = 30) involving experts from most major game studios, international policy bodies, NGOs, research funders, and academia. Across online and in-person stages, participants identified shared priorities for future research and articulated practical steps needed to advance them. Using preferential-rank Single Transferable Vote analysis and reflexive thematic synthesis, we derived four cross-cutting conditions which had general consensus across stakeholders as necessary for coordinated progress: (i) strengthening evidence, (ii) improving communication, (iii) fostering collaboration, and (iv) building literacy. We translate these into a cross-sector roadmap outlining concrete near-, mid-, and long-term actions for researchers, industry, policymakers, funders, and civil society. Although developed in the context of video games, the structural barriers and proposed solutions generalise to behavioural science as a whole. Our findings show that while progress can often be difficult in digital behavioural science, applying the often underutilised Delphi and World Café methods allowed for the creation of both convergent priorities and a concrete path forward that stakeholders across sectors support. We see this as a foundation for building a more cumulative, transparent, and collaborative science of human behaviour in digital environments.
  • All BANG, little buck: Need-related experiences are weakly linked with behavior in the video game domain (Ballou, Foldes, Vuorre, Hakman, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2026) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Psychological theories of media use often assume that subjective motivation affects observable behavior. Using video games as a test case, we examine this assumption by pairing repeated self-reports of motivation with objective digital trace data at scale. Across two datasets comprising tens of thousands of hours of gaming behavior, we test predictions derived from self-determination theory and the Basic Needs in Games (BANG) model, which posit that autonomy, competence, and relatedness experiences drive engagement. Study 1 (preregistered) analyzes 11k daily observations from 555 U.S. players with 30 days of multi-platform digital trace data. Study 2 (exploratory) examines 102k sessions from 9k PowerWash Simulator players, linking in-game experience prompts to behavioral logs. In both studies, need satisfaction was robustly associated with subjective states but showed weak or null associations with short-term gaming behavior, including subsequent play, session length, and return latency, across extensive preregistered and robustness analyses. These findings reveal a substantial motivation–behavior gap and suggest that SDT-based accounts may overestimate the role of need satisfaction in explaining when or how much people play. Data and code are available under a CC0 license at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18352505.
  • A Beta Way: A Tutorial For Using Beta Regression in Psychological Research (Geller, Kubinec, Parlett & Vuorre, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Rates, percentages, and proportions are common outcomes in psychology and the social sciences. These outcomes are often analyzed using models that assume normality, but this practice overlooks important features of the data, such as their natural bounds at 0 and 1. As a result, estimates can become distorted. In contrast, treating such outcomes as Beta-distributed respects these limits and can yield more accurate estimates. Despite these advantages, the use of Beta models in applied research remains limited. Our goal is to provide researchers with practical guidance for adopting Beta regression models, illustrated with an example drawn from the psychological literature. We begin by introducing the Beta distribution and Beta regression, emphasizing key components and assumptions. Next, using data from a learning and memory study, we demonstrate how to fit a Beta regression model in R with the Bayesian package `brms` and how to interpret results on the response scale. We also discuss model extensions, including zero-inflated, zero- and one-inflated, and ordered Beta models. Basic familarity with regression modeling and R is assumed. To promote wider adoption of these methods, we provide detailed code and materials at https://github.com/jgeller112/Beta_regression_tutorial.
  • Open Play: A longitudinal dataset of multi-platform video game digital trace data and psychological measures (Ballou, Foldes, Vuorre, Hakman, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    A major limitation to understanding digital technology use, and its potential psychological consequences, is the lack of sufficiently detailed, multidimensional, and accurate data. We present a dataset of 2.0K individuals’ video game play telemetry data from Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Xbox, paired with psychological measures across multiple dimensions of mental health, motivations, well-being, and cognitive ability. The data were collected under a preregistered design that included 12 weeks of survey data (thirty daily surveys, six biweekly surveys, three biweekly cognitive tests), and digital trace data for 43 months. Cleaned data include 1.5M hours of video game play across 10,475 titles, 23K responses to 14 survey instruments, and 2.9K attention ability measures to facilitate examining longitudinal associations between play behaviors and psychological functioning. Data and codebook are available under a CC0 (with supplemental reidentification clause) license at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17536656.
  • Psychological Wellbeing, Sleep, and Video Gaming: Analyses of Comprehensive Digital Traces [Stage 1 Programmatic Registered Report] (Ballou, Foldes, Hakman, Vuorre, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    The increasing prevalence of video gaming has raised questions about its psychological effects, yet research has been hampered by challenges in accessing comprehensive behavioral and psychological data. We aim to address these gaps by collecting digital trace data across multiple gaming platforms and pairing it with intensive longitudinal psychological data. Using open-source software and collaborating with industry, we will track gameplay for 1,000 US emerging adults and 1,000 UK adults across Nintendo Switch, Xbox (US only), Steam, and iOS and Android for three months. Participants will complete 30 daily surveys (US sample) and six biweekly panel surveys (both regions) assessing subjective wellbeing, sleep quality, and need satisfaction.Three preregistered manuscripts, along with open code and data, will explore games’ influence from three perspectives: basic psychological needs, sleep, and the structure of games. Study 1 will test relationships between in-game needs, needs in general, and subsequent play behavior, to assess whether gaming contributes to flourishing or compensation. Study 2 will examine the impact of late-night gaming on sleep quality, sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and wellbeing exploring whether chronotype (natural inclination to be more active and alert in the morning, as opposed to evening) moderates these relationships. Study 3 will test the relation between multi-platform playtime and wellbeing, and its potential moderation by game genre. Together, these studies will inform associations between play and psychological wellbeing in rare detail by using more granular digital trace data.
  • Three objections to a novel paradigm in social media effects research (Vuorre, Johannes & Przybylski, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    The study of social media effects on psychological well-being has reached an impasse: Popular commentators confidently assert that social media are bad for users but research results are mixed and have had little practical impact. In response, one research group has proposed a path forward for the field that moves beyond studying population averages to find effects that are specific to individuals.Here, we outline three objections to that research agenda. On a methodological level, the key empirical results of this programme—proportions of the population of individuals with negative, null, and positive social media effects—are not appropriately estimated and reported. On a theoretical level, these results do little to advance our understanding of social media and its psychological implications. On a paradigmatic level, this “personalized media effects paradigm” (Valkenburg et al., 2021a, p. 74) cannot inform inferences about individuals and therefore does not deliver what it claims.In this work we express our concern that this research approach may be contributing to confusing messaging to both societal stakeholders and scientists investigating how social media and well- being might be related. It is our sincere hope that describing these objections directly will prompt the field to work together in adopting better practices to ultimately develop a better understanding of well-being in the digital age.
  • Where Science Meets Discourse: What a Flawed Commentary of Three Papers Can Teach Us About Research on Well-Being in the Digital Age (Przybylski & Vuorre, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Research examining technology and psychological well-being has become increasingly important for health policy, international regulation, and behavioral science. A notable consequence of this increased attention has been an increasingly commentary-driven public discourse where influence and research contribution and careful analysis are not always proportionally aligned. While commentary can be useful, it can also introduce misunderstandings into the public, research, and policy ecosystems if it is not grounded in rigorous argumentation and empirical observation. Criticism lacking these qualities can nonetheless present valuable opportunities to address misunderstandings and improve science communication. In this paper we examine one such commentary on three of our papers. We address the four issues raised and clarify how each either misunderstands or misrepresents our work, and then translate these errors into broader lessons for those interested in understanding, conducting, and communicating behavioral research in the digital age.
  • Smell-e Technology: Bridging the gap between virtual and real-life food responses using an immersive multisensory VR food environment (Vries, Laan, Boesveldt, Vuorre, Leeuwen, Verboon, Masterson & Klippel, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technologies such as virtual supermarkets arean emerging medium to model individuals’ eating behaviour. However, existing VR environments elicit weaker responses to food (i.e., craving and salivation) than in real-life, limiting their validity as research tools. We developed an immersive multisensory VR food environment – with both visual and olfactory (smell) cues – and investigated whether it could bridge this gap in food responses, and whether effects may be mediated by an enhanced sense of presence. In a within-subjects lab-based experiment, participants (N = 70) were exposed to food and non-food cues in either a unisensory “vision only” VR condition, a multisensory “vision + olfaction” VR condition, or a real-life setting with a matched physical set-up. Food-specific craving and salivation were measured in all six conditions. Results showed that food-induced craving was weaker in all virtual conditions versus real-life. Salivary responses to food were also lower in unisensory VR exposure versus real-life. Compared to unisensory VR exposure, multisensory VR exposure led to a directional improvement in craving, higher salivary food responses after adjusting for hunger, and enhanced perceptions of presence and mental imagery. While we could not conclude equivalence between multisensory VR and real-life settings, the latter did not differ on salivary responses either. In conclusion, an immersive multisensory VR food environment with olfactory cues can credibly model craving responses, albeit to a weaker degree than in real-life. The added value of this technology may lie in enhancing conceptual mediators and approximating real-life salivation to food.
  • Estimating Signal Detection Models with regression using the brms R package (Vuorre, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Signal Detection Theory is a widely used framework for understanding decisions by distinguishing between response bias and true discriminability in various psychological domains. Manual calculation approaches to estimating SDT models' parameters, while commonly used, can be cumbersome and limited. In this tutorial I connect SDT to regression models that researchers are already familiar with in order to bring the flexibility of modern regression techniques to modeling of SDT data. I begin with a glance at SDT's fundamentals, and then show how to manually calculate basic SDT parameters. In the bulk of the tutorial, I show step-by-step implementations of various SDT models using the brms R package. I progress from analyses of binary Yes/No tasks to rating task models with multilevel structures, unequal variances, and mixtures. Throughout, I highlight benefits of the regression-based approach, such as dealing with missing data, multilevel structures, and quantifying uncertainty. By framing SDT models as regressions, researchers gain access to a powerful set of flexible tools while maintaining the conceptual clarity that makes SDT valuable. A regression-based approach not only simplifies SDT analyses but also extends SDT's utility through flexible parameter estimation with uncertainty measures and the ability to incorporate predictors at multiple levels of analysis.
  • Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in adult Nintendo players (Ballou, Vuorre, Hakman, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2025) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Studies on video games and well-being often rely on self-report measures or data from a single game. Here, we study how 703 US adults’ time spent playing for over 140,000 hours across 150 Nintendo Switch games relates to their life satisfaction, affect, depressive symptoms, and general mental well-being. We replicate previous findings that playtime over the past two weeks does not predict well-being, and extend these findings to a wider range of timescales (one hour to one year). Results suggest that relationships, if present, dissipate within two hours of gameplay. Our non-causal findings suggest substantial confounding would be needed to shift a meaningful true effect to the observed null. Although playtime was not related to well-being, players’ assessments of the value of game time—so called gaming life fit—was. Results emphasise the importance of defining the gaming population of interest, collecting data from more than one game, and focusing on how players integrate gaming into their lives rather than the amount of time spent.
  • The smoke-detector principle of pathogen avoidance: A test of how the behavioral immune system gives rise to prejudice (stage 1 registered report) (Leeuwen, Jaeger, Axelsson, Becker, Hansson, Lasselin, Lekander, Tybur & Vuorre, 2024) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Motivations to avoid infectious disease seem to influence prejudice toward some groups, including groups not explicitly associated with infectious disease. The standard explanation relies on signal detection theory and proposes that pathogen detection should be biased toward making many false alarms (false positives) and few misses (false negatives). Therefore, pathogen detection mechanisms arguably categorize a broad array of atypical features as indicative of infection, which gives rise to negative affect toward people with atypical features. We will test a key hypothesis derived from this explanation: specific appearance-based prejudices are associated with tendencies to make false alarms when estimating the presence of infectious disease. While this hypothesis is implicit in much work on the behavioral immune system and prejudice, direct tests of it are lacking and existing relevant work contains important limitations. We will conduct a cross-sectional study with a large US sample that includes measures of tendencies to make false alarms and prejudice toward multiple relevant social groups/categories.
  • Communicating causal effect heterogeneity (Vuorre, Kay & Bolger, 2024) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Advances in experimental, data collection, and analysis methods have brought population variability in psychological phenomena to the fore. Yet, current practices for interpreting such heterogeneity do not appropriately treat the uncertainty inevitable in any statistical summary. Heterogeneity is best thought of as a distribution of features with a mean (average person’s effect) and variance (between-person differences). This expected heterogeneity distribution can be further summarized e.g. as a heterogeneity interval (Bolger et al., 2019). However, because empirical studies estimate the underlying mean and variance parameters with uncertainty, the expected distribution and interval will underestimate the actual range of plausible effects in the population. Using Bayesian hierarchical models, and with the aid of empirical datasets from social and cognitive psychology, we provide a walk-through of effective heterogeneity reporting and display tools that appropriately convey measures of uncertainty. We cover interval, proportion, and ratio measures of heterogeneity and their estimation and interpretation. These tools can be a spur to theory building, allowing researchers to widen their focus from population averages to population heterogeneity in psychological phenomena.
  • How do video games affect mental health? A narrative review of 13 proposed mechanisms (Ballou, Hakman, Vuorre, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2024) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Researchers have proposed a variety of mechanisms through which playing video games might affect mental health: by displacing more psychosocially beneficial activities, satisfying or frustrating basic psychological needs, relieving stress, and many more. However, these mechanisms are rarely enumerated, and underlying causal structures are rarely made explicit. Here, we overview 13 proposed effects of gaming on mental health. For each, we attempt to draw out (often implicit) counterfactuals—that is, what concrete aspect of gaming should be changed in a hypothetical alternative universe to produce the effect of interest—and illustrate these with example directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). In doing so, we hope to provide a bird’s eye view of the field and encourage more focused and collaborative efforts to propose, falsify, and iterate on (causal) theories. Only in doing so can the field realize its potential to inform clinical interventions, regulation, game design, and the behavior of players and parents.
  • Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study (Vuorre, Ballou, Hakman, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2023) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Do video games affect players’ well-being? In this case study, we examined 162,325 intensive longitudinal in-game mood reports from 67,328 play sessions of 8,695 players of the popular game PowerWash Simulator. We compared players’ moods at the beginning of play session with their moods during play, and found that the average player reported 0.034 [0.032, 0.036] visual analog scale (VAS; 0-1) units greater mood during than at the beginning of play sessions. Moreover, we predict that 72.1% [70.8%, 73.5%] of similar players experience this affective uplift during play, and that the bulk of it happens during the first 15 minutes of play. We do not know whether these results indicate causal effects or to what extent they generalize to other games or player populations. Yet, these results based on in-game subjective reports from players of a popular commercially available game suggest good external validity, and as such offer a promising glimpse of the scientific value of transparent industry-academia collaborations in understanding the psychological roles of popular digital entertainment.
  • An intensive longitudinal dataset of in-game player behaviour and well-being in PowerWash Simulator (Vuorre, Magnusson, Johannes, Butlin & Przybylski, 2023) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    The potential impacts that video games might have on players’ well-being and mental health are under increased scrutiny but poorly understood empirically. Although extensively studied, a level of understanding required to address concerns and advise policy is lacking, at least partly because much of this science has relied on artificial settings and limited self-report data. We describe a large and detailed dataset that addresses these issues by pairing video game play behaviors and events with in-game well-being and motivation reports. 11,080 players (from 39 countries) of the first person PC game PowerWash Simulator volunteered for an experimental version of the game that logged their play across 10 in-game behaviors and events (e.g. task completion) and 21 variables (e.g. current position), and responses to 6 psychological survey instruments via in-game pop-ups. The data consists of 15,772,514 gameplay events, 726,316 survey item responses, and 21,202,667 additional gameplay status records, and spans 222 days. The data and codebook are publicly available with a permissive CC0 license.
  • Bayesian Generalized Linear Mixed Effects Models for Deception Detection Analyses (Zloteanu & Vuorre, 2023) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Historically, deception detection research has relied on factorial analyses of response accuracy to make inferences. But this practice overlooks important sources of variability resulting in potentially misleading estimates and may conflate response bias with participants’ underlying sensitivity to detect lies from truths. We offer an alternative approach using Bayesian Generalized Linear Mixed Models (BGLMMs) within a Signal Detection Theory (SDT) framework to address these limitations. Our approach incorporates individual differences from both judges and senders, which are a principal source of spurious findings in deception research. By avoiding data transformations and aggregations, this methodology outperforms traditional methods and provides more informative and reliable effect estimates. The proposed framework offers researchers a powerful tool for analyzing deception data and advances our understanding of veracity judgments. All code and data are openly available.
  • A multiverse analysis of the associations between internet use and well-being (Vuorre & Przybylski, 2023) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Internet technologies’ and platforms’ potential psychological consequences remain debated. While these technologies have spurred new forms of commerce, education, and leisure, many are worried that they might negatively affect individuals by, for example, displacing time spent on other healthy activities. Relevant findings to date have been inconclusive and of limited geographic and demographic scope. We examined whether having (mobile) internet access or actively using the internet predicted eight well-being outcomes from 2006 to 2021 among 2,414,294 individuals across 168 countries. We first queried the extent to which well-being varied as a function of internet connectivity. Then, we examined these associations’ robustness in a multiverse of 33,792 analysis specifications. 84.9% of these resulted in positive and statistically significant associations between internet connectivity and well-being. These results indicate that internet access and use predict well-being positively and independently from a set of plausible alternatives.
  • Estimating the association between Facebook adoption and well-being in 72 countries (Vuorre & Przybylski, 2022) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Social media's potential effects on well-being have received considerable research interest, but much of past work is hampered by an exclusive focus on demographics in the Global North and inaccurate self-reports of social media engagement. We describe associations linking 72 countries' Facebook adoption to the well-being of 946,798 individuals from 2008 to 2019. We found no evidence suggesting that the global penetration of social media is associated with widespread psychological harm: Facebook adoption predicted life satisfaction and positive experiences positively, and negative experiences negatively, both between countries and within countries but over time. Nevertheless, the observed associations were small and did not reach a conventional 97.5% one-sided credibility threshold in all cases. Facebook adoption predicted aspects of well-being more positively for younger individuals, but country-specific results were mixed. To move beyond studying aggregates and to better understand social media's roles in people's lives, and their potential causal effects, we need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry.
  • Global well-being and mental health in the internet age (Vuorre & Przybylski, 2022) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    In the last two decades the widespread adoption of internet technologies has inspired concern that they have negatively impacted mental health and psychological well-being. However, research on the topic is contested and hampered by methodological shortcomings leaving the broader consequences of internet adoption unknown. We show that the past two decades have seen only small and inconsistent changes in global well-being and mental health that are not suggestive of the idea that the adoption of internet and mobile broadband is consistently linked to negative psychological outcomes. Further investigation of this topic requires transparent study of online behaviours where they occur, namely on online platforms. We call for increased collaborative efforts between independent scientists and the internet technology sector.
  • Time spent playing two online shooters has no measurable effect on aggressive affect (Johannes, Vuorre, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2022) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    There is a lively debate whether playing games that feature armed combat and competition (often referred to as violent video games) has measurable effects on aggression. Unfortunately, that debate has produced insights that remain preliminary without accurate behavioral data. Here, we present a secondary analysis of the most authoritative longitudinal data set available on the issue from our previous study (Vuorre et al., 2021). We analyzed objective in-game behavior, provided by video game companies, in 2,580 players over six weeks. Specifically, we asked how time spent playing two popular online shooters, Apex Legends (PEGI 16) and Outriders (PEGI 18), affected self-reported feelings of anger (i.e., aggressive affect). We found that playing these games did not increase aggressive affect; the cross-lagged association between game time and aggressive affect was virtually zero. Our results showcase the value of obtaining accurate industry data as well as an open science of video games and mental health that allows cumulative knowledge building.
  • How should we investigate variation in the relation between social media and well-being? (Johannes, Masur, Vuorre & Przybylski, 2021) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Most researchers studying the relation between social media use and well-being find small to no associations, yet policymakers and public stakeholders keep asking for more evidence. One way the field is reacting is by inspecting the variation around average relations—with the goal of describing individual social media users. Here, we argue that this approach produces findings that are not as informative as they could be. Our analysis begins by describing how the field got to this point. Then, we explain the problems with the current approach of studying variation and how it loses sight of one of the most important goals of a quantitative social science: generalizing from a sample to a population. We propose a principled approach to quantify, interpret, and explain variation in average relations by: (1) conducting model comparisons, (2) defining a region of practical equivalence and testing the theoretical distribution of relations against that region, (3) defining a smallest effect size of interest and comparing it against the theoretical distribution. We close with recommendations to either study moderators as systematic factors that explain variation or to commit to a person-specific approach and conduct N = 1 studies and qualitative research.
  • Time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being (Vuorre, Johannes, Magnusson & Przybylski, 2021) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Video games are a massively popular form of entertainment, socialising, cooperation, and competition. Games’ ubiquity fuels fears that they cause poor mental health, and major health bodies and national governments have made far-reaching policy decisions to address games’ potential risks, despite lacking adequate supporting data. The concern-evidence mismatch underscores that we know too little about games’ impacts on well-being. We addressed this disconnect by linking six weeks of 38,030 players’ objective game-behaviour data, provided by six global game publishers, with three waves of their self-reported well-being that we collected. We found little to no evidence for a causal connection between gameplay and well-being. However, results suggested that motivations play a role in players’ well- being. For good or ill, the average effects of time spent playing video games on players’ well-being are likely very small, and further industry data are required to determine potential risks and supportive factors to health.
  • There is no evidence that associations between adolescents’ digital technology engagement and mental health problems have increased (Vuorre, Orben & Przybylski, 2021) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Digital technology is ubiquitous in modern adolescence, and researchers are concerned that it has negative impacts on mental health that, furthermore, increase over time. To investigate if technology is becoming more harmful, we examined changes in associations between technology engagement and mental health in three nationally representative samples. Results were mixed across types of technology and mental health outcomes: Technology engagement had become less strongly associated with depression in the past decade, but social media use more strongly associated with emotional problems. We detected no changes in five other associations, or differential associations by gender. There is therefore little evidence for increases in the associations between adolescents’ technology engagement and mental health. Information about new digital media has been collected for a relatively short time; drawing firm conclusions about changes in their associations with mental health may be premature. We urge transparent and credible collaborations between scientists and technology companies.
  • A large-scale study of changes to the quantity, quality, and distribution of video game play during the COVID-19 pandemic (Vuorre, Zendle, Petrovskaya, Ballou & Przybylski, 2021) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Video game play has been framed both as protective factor and risk to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted an objective analysis of changes to video game play during the pandemic to provide an empirical foundation to the fractured discourse surrounding play and mental health. Analyses of millions of players’ engagement with the 500 globally most popular games on the Steam platform indicated that the quantity of play had dramatically increased during key points of the pandemic; that those increases were more prominent for multiplayer games, suggesting that gamers were seeking out the social affordances of video game play; and that play had become more equally distributed across days of the week, suggesting increased merging of leisure activities with work and school activities. These data provide a starting point for empirically grounded discussions on video games during the pandemic, their uses, and potential effects.
  • A Cultural Experience to support Mental Health in People Aged 16-24 During COVID-19 Compared to a Typical Museum Website: Study Protocol of an Online Randomised Controlled Trial (Sheriff, Vuorre, Riga, Przybylski, Adams, Harmer & Geddes, 2021) Research Square (Research Square)
    Abstract
    Abstract Background: Despite the high prevalence of common mental disorders in adolescents and young adults, and their association with poor health and socio-economic outcomes throughout the lifespan, many young people do not seek or receive help for such disorders. There is growing interest in the community sector in supporting mental health in young people, however, there is little by way of experimental research in this area. During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown we designed an online cultural experience to reduce anxiety and depression and promote positive mental health in people aged 16-24. Methods/design: The O-ACE POP (Online Active Community Engagement Proof of Principle) study is a randomised controlled trial of an online cultural experience named Ways of Being, based on human centred narratives and viewpoints, compared with a typical museum website (the Ashmolean Museum). We aim to compare efficacy on mood, distress (depression and anxiety), flourishing and loneliness as well as investigating potential mechanisms of action, and feasibility of a larger scale RCT. Discussion: COVID-19 has provided a unique opportunity to design an innovative approach to supporting mental health in young adults . Findings derived from this study will allow us to evaluate the efficacy of this intervention and will inform the design of studies to further refine the resource and test it further. Trial Status Trial Registration: NCT04663594First Registered: 11 th Dec 2020 (submitted in same form 27 th Nov 2020)Protocol v1.0: 3 rd Dec 2020Date recruitment began: 4 th Dec 2020Recruitment complete (estimate): Feb 2021
  • Video game play is positively correlated with well-being (Johannes, Vuorre & Przybylski, 2020) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    People have never played more video games and many stakeholders are worried that this activity might be bad for players. So far, research has not had adequate data to test whether these worries are justified and if policymakers should act to regulate video game play time. We attempt to provide much-needed evidence with adequate data. Whereas previous research had to rely on self-reported play behaviour, we collaborated with two games companies, Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America, to obtain players’ actual play behaviour. We surveyed players of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons for their well-being, motivations, and need satisfaction during play and merged their responses with telemetry data (i.e., logged game play). Contrary to many fears that excessive play time will lead to addiction and poor mental health, we found a small positive relation between game play and affective well-being. Need satisfaction and motivations during play did not interact with play time but were instead independently related to well-being. Our results advance the field in two important ways. First, we show that collaborations with industry partners can be done to high academic standards in an ethical and transparent fashion. Second, we deliver much-needed evidence to policymakers on the link between play and mental health.
  • Sharing and organizing research products as R packages (Vuorre & Crump, 2020) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    A consensus on the importance of open data and reproducible code is emerging. How should data and code be shared to maximize the key desiderata of reproducibility, permanence, and accessibility? Research assets should be stored persistently in formats that are not software restrictive, and documented so that others can reproduce and extend the required computations. The sharing method should be easy to adopt by already busy researchers. We suggest the R package standard as a solution for creating, curating, and communicating research assets. The R package standard, with extensions discussed herein, provides a format for assets and metadata that satisfies the above desiderata, facilitates reproducibility, open access, and sharing of materials through online platforms like GitHub and Open Science Framework. We discuss a stack of R resources that help users create reproducible collections of research assets, from experiments to manuscripts, in the RStudio interface. We created an R package, vertical, to help researchers incorporate these tools into their workflows, and discuss its functionality at length in an online supplement. Together, these tools may increase the reproducibility and openness of psychological science.
  • Ordinal Regression Models in Psychology: A Tutorial (Bürkner & Vuorre, 2018) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Ordinal variables, while extremely common in Psychology, are almost exclusively analysed with statistical models that falsely assume them to be metric. This practice can lead to distorted effect size estimates, inflated error rates, and other problems. We argue for the application of ordinal models that make appropriate assumptions about the variables under study. In this tutorial article, we first explain the three major ordinal model classes; the cumulative, sequential and adjacent category models. We then show how to fit ordinal models in a fully Bayesian framework with the R package brms, using data sets on stem cell opinions and marriage time courses. Appendices provide detailed mathematical derivations of the models and a discussion of censored ordinal models. Ordinal models provide better theoretical interpretation and numerical inference from ordinal data, and we recommend their widespread adoption in Psychology.
  • Bayesian evaluation of behavior change interventions: A brief introduction and a practical example (Heino, Vuorre & Hankonen, 2017) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Introduction: Evaluating effects of behavior change interventions is a central interest in health psychology and behavioral medicine. Researchers in these fields routinely use frequentist statistical methods to evaluate the extent to which these interventions impact behavior and the hypothesized mediating processes in the population. However, calls to move beyond exclusive use of frequentist reasoning are now widespread in psychology and allied fields. We suggest adding Bayesian statistical methods to the researcher’s toolbox of statistical methods. Objectives: We first present the basic principles of Bayesian approach to statistics and why they are useful for researchers in health psychology. We then provide a practical example on how to evaluate intervention effects using Bayesian methods, with a focus on Bayesian hierarchical modeling. We provide the necessary materials for introductory level readers to follow the tutorial. Conclusion: Bayesian analytical methods are now available to researchers through easy-to-use software packages, and we recommend using them to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for their conceptual and practical benefits.
  • Curating Research Assets: A Tutorial on the Git Version Control System (Vuorre & Curley, 2017) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Recent calls for improving reproducibility have increased attention to the ways in which researchers curate, share and collaborate on their research assets. In this tutorial paper, we explain how version control systems, such as the popular Git program, address these challenges to reproducibility. We then present a tutorial on how to use Git with a graphical interface in the R Studio program. This tutorial is written for researchers with no previous experience using version control systems, and covers single-user and collaborative workflows. An online supplement provides information on advanced Git command line functions. Git presents an elegant solution to specific challenges to reproducibility, facilitates multi-site collaboration and productivity by allowing multiple collaborators to work on the same source files simultaneously, and can be implemented to common workflows with little extra effort. Git may also offer a suitable solution to transparent data and material sharing through popular online services, such as GitHub and Open Science Framework.
  • Within-subject mediation analysis (Vuorre & Bolger, 2017) PsyArXiv
    Abstract
    Statistical mediation allows researchers to investigate potential causal effects of experimental manipulations through intervening variables. It is a powerful tool for assessing the presence and strength of postulated causal mechanisms. Although mediation is used in certain areas of psychology, it is rarely applied in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. One reason for the scarcity of applications is that these areas of psychology commonly employ within-subjects designs, and it is only recently that statistical mediation has been worked out satisfactorily for such designs. Here, we draw attention to the importance and ubiquity of mediational hypotheses in within-subjects designs, and we present a general and flexible software package for conducting a Bayesian within-subjects mediation analyses in the R programming environment. We use experimental data from cognitive psychology to illustrate the benefits of within-subject mediation for theory testing and comparison.
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