Adolescent experiences of sexting: A systematic review of the qualitative literature, and recommendations for practice.

INTRODUCTION: Sexting among adolescents continues to garner interest across disciplines due to its prevalence in the lives of young people and the potential for extremely negative outcomes associated with the behavior. The present review aimed to integrate the existing qualitative research on adolescent sexting experiences, to provide empirically-supported recommendations for professionals working with adolescents. METHODS: A search of four databases relating to adolescent experiences of sexting was conducted, resulting in the inclusion of 28 studies in the review. Quality appraisal of these studies was completed in line with the Critical Appraisal Skills Profile qualitative checklist. RESULTS: Major themes in the qualitative studies were synthesized to generate recommendations for professionals. These recommendations are categorized as (a) "proactive" (enhancing positive and contextualized education and attempting to mitigate the likelihood of young people having negative experiences with sexting), (b) "responsive" (management of disclosures of distressing experiences with sexting, including image-based sexual abuse [IBSA]), and (iii) "clinical" (increasing awareness among clinicians of pertinent issues concerning intervention with young people who are engaging in sexting, or who have been victimized by IBSA). CONCLUSIONS: The qualitative literature was found to provide rich insight into adolescent experiences of sexting, thus allowing for the generation of evidence-based recommendations which are consistent with young peoples' own interests and preferences. Limitations in the existing literature base were discussed (e.g., lack of specificity in methodological reporting), and suggestions were given for future research (including the need to explore sexting experiences of LGBTQ + adolescents in more depth).

Prior probability cues bias sensory encoding with increasing task exposure.

When observers have prior knowledge about the likely outcome of their perceptual decisions, they exhibit robust behavioural biases in reaction time and choice accuracy. Computational modelling typically attributes these effects to strategic adjustments in the criterion amount of evidence required to commit to a choice alternative - usually implemented by a starting point shift - but recent work suggests that expectations may also fundamentally bias the encoding of the sensory evidence itself. Here, we recorded neural activity with EEG while participants performed a contrast discrimination task with valid, invalid, or neutral probabilistic cues across multiple testing sessions. We measured sensory evidence encoding via contrast-dependent steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEP), while a read-out of criterion adjustments was provided by effector-selective mu-beta band activity over motor cortex. In keeping with prior modelling and neural recording studies, cues evoked substantial biases in motor preparation consistent with criterion adjustments, but we additionally found that the cues produced a significant modulation of the SSVEP during evidence presentation. While motor preparation adjustments were observed in the earliest trials, the sensory-level effects only emerged with extended task exposure. Our results suggest that, in addition to strategic adjustments to the decision process, probabilistic information can also induce subtle biases in the encoding of the evidence itself.

The impact of natural aging on computational and neural indices of perceptual decision making: A review.

It is well established that natural aging negatively impacts on a wide variety of cognitive functions and research has sought to identify core neural mechanisms that may account for these disparate changes. A central feature of any cognitive task is the requirement to translate sensory information into an appropriate action - a process commonly known as perceptual decision making. While computational, psychophysical, and neurophysiological research has made substantial progress in establishing the key computations and neural mechanisms underpinning decision making, it is only relatively recently that this knowledge has begun to be applied to research on aging. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of this work which is beginning to offer new insights into the core psychological processes that mediate age-related cognitive decline in adults aged 65 years and over. Mathematical modelling studies have consistently reported that older adults display longer non-decisional processing times and implement more conservative decision policies than their younger counterparts. However, there are limits on what we can learn from behavioural modeling alone and neurophysiological analyses can play an essential role in empirically validating model predictions and in pinpointing the precise neural mechanisms that are impacted by aging. Although few studies to date have explicitly examined correspondences between computational models and neural data with respect to cognitive aging, neurophysiological studies have already highlighted age-related changes at multiple levels of the sensorimotor hierarchy that are likely to be consequential for decision making behaviour. Here, we provide an overview of this literature and suggest some future directions for the field.