ReviewFrontiers in psychology2026
Psychological uncertainty in human experience and behavior: a systematic review on measurements, induction, and effects.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Uncertainty influences our experiences, emotions, and interactions, and can play a role in the adoption of automated technologies. However, the concept of uncertainty is not clearly defined. This systematic literature review synthesizes evidence from 27 peer reviewed articles explicitly addressing the word uncertainty, on the definitions, measurements, inductions, and positive and negative effects of uncertainty in relation to human experience and behavior. Based on our analysis, we provide a definition of psychological uncertainty, which highlights the nature of psychological uncertainty as a context-dependent state, of which the effects vary per source. This review also reports on measurements of uncertainty, which most frequently are based on Likert/multiple-choice self-reporting. Furthermore, this review summarizes the different methods for inducing participants in a state of uncertainty, which are recall of uncertain events, varying or withholding information, and altering predictability. Lastly, this review reports on the moderators of uncertainty and provides one single definition of psychological uncertainty for future work to implement and refine. The results from this review can inform future studies, refine theoretical frameworks, and guide the development of practical applications in psychology and human factors.
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Registered trials
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.