Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39657809›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2024

A human working memory advantage for social network information.

Jack L Andrews, Karina Grunewald, Susanne Schweizer

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Social working memory in adolescence.Child development · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jack L AndrewsSchool of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0180-185X
Karina GrunewaldSchool of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Susanne SchweizerSchool of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-6153-8291

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As a social species, humans live in complexly bounded social groups. In order to navigate these networks, humans rely on a set of social-cognitive processes, including social working memory. Here, we designed a novel network memory task to study working memory for social versus non-social network information across 241 participants (18-65 years) in a tightly controlled, preregistered study. We show that humans demonstrate a working memory advantage for social, relative to non-social, network information. We also observed a self-relevant positivity bias, but an 'other' negativity bias. These findings are interpreted in the context of an evolutionary need to belong to one's social group, to identify risks to one's social safety and to appropriately track one's social status within a complex network of social relationships.

Indexed as

Memory, Short-TermAdolescentAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSocial SupportYoung Adultdepressionsocial cognitionsocial networksworking memory

Identifiers

PMID39657809
PMCPMC11631495

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.