2025 in Review: Revisiting Top Research From APS’s Journals
How does getting older affect verbal fluency? What’s the best way to teach children math skills? How have psychology results changed since the replication crisis?
This year, psychological scientists tackled profound and varied questions to help us better understand ourselves and the world around us. Below we list some of the most downloaded articles from each of APS’s six peer-reviewed research journals in 2025.
Psychological Science
Verbal fluency selectively predicts survival in old and very old age
Paolo Ghisletta, Stephen Aichele, Denis Gerstorf, et al.
Intelligence is known to predict survival, but it remains unclear whether cognitive abilities differ in their relationship to survival in old age. We analyzed longitudinal data of 516 healthy adults (age: M = 84.92 years, SD = 8.66 years at Wave 1) from the Berlin Aging Study (Germany) on nine tasks of perceptual speed, episodic memory, verbal fluency, and verbal knowledge, and a general composite intelligence score. There were eight waves, with up to 18 years of follow-up; all participants were deceased by the time of analysis. We used a joint multivariate longitudinal survival model to estimate the unique contribution of each cognitive ability in terms of true (i.e., error-free) current value and current rate of change when predicting survival. Additional survival covariates included age at first occasion, sex, sociobiographical status, and suspected dementia. Only the two verbal-fluency measures were uniquely predictive of mortality risk. Thus, verbal fluency showed more salient associations with mortality risk than did measures of perceptual speed, episodic memory, and verbal knowledge.
Clinical Psychological Science
The relationship between environmental sensitivity and common mental-health problems in adolescents and adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Tom Falkenstein, Luke Sartori, Margherita Malanchini, et al.
Environmental sensitivity is a personality trait reflecting individual differences in response to environmental influences. Although the link between common personality traits and psychopathology is well established, trait sensitivity is often overlooked despite its association with mental health. In this study, we systematically reviewed literature on sensitivity and mental-health outcomes and conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the relationship of sensitivity with depression and anxiety. The review included 33 studies (N = 12,697; 62.51% female; age: M = 25.35 years) and revealed positive correlations between sensitivity and depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, and social phobia; correlations ranged from r = .05 to r = .65. The overall effect size was substantial for depression (r = .36, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [.30, .42], p < .001) and anxiety (r = .39, 95% CI = [.34, .44], p < .001). Findings confirm a robust association with mental health, and we explore its potential to inform treatment and prevention.
Perspectives on Psychological Science
A systematic review and new analyses of the gender-equality paradox
Agneta Herlitz, Ida Hönig, Kåre Hedebrant, and Martin Asperholm
Some studies show that living conditions, such as economy, gender equality, and education, are associated with the magnitude of psychological sex differences. We systematically and quantitatively reviewed 54 articles and conducted new analyses on 27 meta-analyses and large-scale studies to investigate the association between living conditions and psychological sex differences. We found that sex differences in personality, verbal abilities, episodic memory, and negative emotions are more pronounced in countries with higher living conditions. In contrast, sex differences in sexual behavior, partner preferences, and math are smaller in countries with higher living conditions. We also observed that economic indicators of living conditions, such as gross domestic product, are most sensitive in predicting the magnitude of sex differences. Taken together, results indicate that more sex differences are larger, rather than smaller, in countries with higher living conditions. It should therefore be expected that the magnitude of most psychological sex differences will remain unchanged or become more pronounced with improvements in living conditions, such as economy, gender equality, and education.
Current Directions in Psychological Science
The psychology of poverty: Current and future directions
Ye Rang Park, Yuen Ho, Kristina Hallez, et al.
An emerging literature on “the psychology of poverty” suggests that the experience of poverty itself has psychological consequences, some of which may make escaping poverty more difficult. We synthesize the evidence base from both psychology and economics using an organizing framework comprising four sets of mechanisms: cognitive function, mental health, beliefs, and preferences. We discuss the strength of the evidence supporting both how poverty affects these four mechanisms and how these four mechanisms in turn affect poverty. As our review shows, the existing evidence has clearly established proof of concept that psychological factors exist in the experience of and response to poverty. However, there is still a lack of evidence on whether these effects are meaningful in magnitude and lead to the perpetuation of poverty. We conclude by summarizing promising future directions for research that could help close these evidence gaps, with important implications for the design of poverty reduction policies.
Psychological Science in the Public Interest
What the science of learning teaches us about arithmetic fluency
Nicole M. McNeil, Nancy C. Jordan, Alexandria A. Viegut, and Daniel Ansari
High-quality mathematics education not only improves life outcomes for individuals but also drives innovation and progress across society. But what exactly constitutes high-quality mathematics education? In this article, we contribute to this discussion by focusing on arithmetic fluency. The debate over how best to teach arithmetic has been long and fierce. Should we emphasize memorization techniques such as flashcards and timed drills or promote “thinking strategies” via play and authentic problem solving? Too often, recommendations for a “balanced” approach lack the depth and specificity needed to effectively guide educators or inform public understanding. Here, we draw on developmental cognitive science, particularly Sfard’s process–object duality and Karmiloff-Smith’s implicit–explicit knowledge continuum, to present memorization and thinking strategies not as opposing methods but as complementary forces. This framework enables us to offer specific recommendations for fostering arithmetic fluency based on the science of learning. We define arithmetic fluency, provide evidence on its importance, describe the cognitive structures and processes supporting it, and share evidence-based guidance for promoting it. Our recommendations include progress monitoring for early numeracy, providing explicit instruction to teach important strategies and concepts, implementing well-structured retrieval practice, introducing time-limited practice only after students demonstrate accuracy, and allocating sufficient time for discussion and cognitive reflection. By blending theory, evidence, and practical advice, we equip educators and policymakers with the knowledge needed to ensure all children have access to the opportunities needed to achieve arithmetic fluency.
Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
One decade into the replication crisis, how have psychological results changed?
Paul C. Bogdan
A psychology article’s p values say a lot about how its studies were conducted and whether its results are likely to replicate. Examining p values across the entire literature can, in turn, shed light on the state of psychology overall and how it has changed since the start of the replication crisis. In the present research, I investigate strong (p < .01) and weak (.01 ≤ p < .05) p values reported across 240,355 empirical psychology articles from 2004 to 2024. Over this period and across every subdiscipline, the typical study has begun reporting markedly stronger p values. Nowadays, articles reporting strong p values are also more often published in top journals and receive more citations. Yet it also appears that robust research is still not correspondingly linked to career success given that researchers at the highest ranked universities tend to publish articles with the weakest p values. Investigating language usage suggests that two-thirds of this association can be explained by highly ranked universities preferring laborious, expensive, and subtle research topics even though these generally produce weaker results. Altogether, these findings point to the strength of most contemporary psychological research and suggest academic incentives have begun to promote such research. However, there remain key questions about the extent to which robustness is truly valued compared with other research aspects.
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