The psychology of meat-eating offers a fascinating window into moral reasoning, cognition and emotion, as well as applications in the shift toward more sustainable and ethical alternatives to meat consumption. One key observation in this field is the so-called “meat paradox” – the tendency for people to simultaneously eat meat while also caring about animals. One way to resolve this conflict and reduce cognitive dissonance is for people to separate the concept of meat from animals, mentally disengaging from the origins of meat in order to make the act of consumption more ethically acceptable. Another potential explanation is a motivated “denial of mind”, in which people believe that animals lack the mental capacity to experience suffering; therefore, eating an animal is not a harm that the animal will experience. In support of the latter hypothesis, Bastian et al (2012) found that animals judged to have greater mental capacities were also judged to less edible, and that simply reminding meat eaters that an animal was being raised for the purposes of meat consumption led to denial of its mental capacities.

 

Using a large-scale online design in 1000 participants, Jacobs et al. (2022) propose a replication of two studies from Bastian et al. (2012): asking how the perceived mental capabilities of animals relates to both their perceived edibility and the degree of moral concern they elicit, and whether learning that an animal will be consumed influences perceptions of its mental capabilities. Among various exploratory analyses, the authors will also examine whether the perception of animal minds (in animals consumed for meat) varies systematically according to species.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/cru4z

 

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. 
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

 

 

1. Bastian, B., Loughnan, S., Haslam, N., & Radke, H. R. M. (2012). Don’t mind meat? The denial of mind to animals used for human consumption. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 247–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211424291

 

2. Jacobs, T. P., Wang, M., Leach, S., Loong, S. H., Khanna, M., Chan, K. W., Chau, H. T., Tam, Y. Y. & Feldman, G. (2022). Revisiting the motivated denial of mind to animals used for food: Replication and extension of Bastian et al. (2012), in principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/cru4z

Sleep is known to be crucial for human memory, but what about dreams? Previous research has shown that the content of dreams can be manipulated by specific stimuli or tasks prior to sleep, but whether incorporating tasks into dreams influences memory consolidation is less clear. Some studies have shown an association between incorporating memory tasks into dreams and later memory performance, while others show either no effect or weaker effects. Potential reasons for this variation include the targeting of different stages of sleep – including rapid eye moment (REM) and non-REM stages (NREM) – small sample sizes, and the fact that many previous studies do not employ declarative memory tasks, which have been found to benefit more from sleep compared with tasks that target procedural memory.

 

In the current study. Schoch et al. (2023) ask whether dreams are an epiphenomenon of sleep-dependent memory processing or, instead, whether they play a key role in memory consolidation – and if so, whether that role differs for subjective experiences during NREM and REM sleep stages. Using a declarative memory task, a serial awakening paradigm (in which participants are woken and tested during NREM or REM stages), and targeted memory reactivation (TMR), the authors will test two main hypotheses: that incorporating picture categories of a declarative memory task leads to immediate (next morning) and sustained (4 days later) improvement in memory performance (especially for NREM dreams); and second, whether TMR influences the reported content of dreams. The authors also build in a range of control analyses to confirm that the task was incorporated successfully into dreams and that TMR benefited memory performance.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review, initially at Nature Communications before being transferred to PCI RR for further evaluation (see review history below for details). Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/7dwjz

 

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

 

 

1. Schoch, S. F., Ataei, S., Salvesen, L., Schredl, M., Windt, J., Bernadi, G., Rasch, B., Axmacher, N., & Desler, M. (2023). The relationship of memory consolidation with task incorporations into dreams – A registered report, in principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/7dwjz

As children grow, their cognition develops alongside their metacognition – the awareness and understanding of their own thought processes. One important aspect of cognitive development is learning effective strategies for exploring new situations and testing surprising claims, prompting the question of how improvement in cognition and reasoning is related to metacognitive understanding of these processes. For example, as children develop more targeted and efficient exploration strategies to test a surprising claim (e.g. “of these three rocks, the smallest one is the heaviest”), metacognitive understanding of why they are uncertain or skeptical may be crucial to testing the claim effectively and, in the long run, developing more complex reasoning and logical skills.

 

In this lab-based study of 175 children, Hermansen et al. (2022) will test the role of metacognition in shaping how children search for information to test surprising claims. Using a series of measures – including an experimental task involving comparative claims (e.g. “this rubber duck sinks much faster than this metal button”) – the authors will ask whether older (relative to younger) children express more uncertainty about surprising claims, propose more plausible reasons for their uncertainty, and are more likely to suggest specific empirical tests for a claim. Furthermore, they will investigate whether prompting children to reflect on their uncertainty helps them devise an efficient test for the claim, and whether any such benefit of prompting is greater for younger children.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).

 

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/uq6dw
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. 
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 

 

1. Hermansen T. K., Mathisen, K. F., & Ronfard, S. (2022). Knowing why: Children’s reflection on their own uncertainty about an adult’s surprising claim increases their tendency to test that claim, in principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/uq6dw

Social media is a popular tool for online discussion and debate, bringing with it various forms of hostile interactions –  from offensive remarks and insults, to harassment and threats of physical violence. The nature of such online toxicity has been well studied, but much remains to be understood regarding strategies to reduce it. Existing theory and evidence suggests that a range of responses – including those that emphasise prosociality and empathy – might be effective at mitigating online toxicity. But do such strategies work in practice?

 

In the current study, Young Reusser et al (2023) propose an experiment to test the effectiveness of three types of responses to online toxicity – Benevolent Correction (including disagreement), Benevolent Going Along (including joking/agreement), or Retaliation (additional toxicity) – on how able participants feel to contribute to conversations, their belief that the toxicity would be reduced by the intervention, and their belief that justice had been restored. The findings promise to shed light on approaches for improving the health of online discourse.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
 
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/hfjnb (under temporary private embargo)

 

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. 

 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

 

 

1. Young Reusser, A. I., Veit, K. M., Gassin, E. A., & Case, J. P. (2023). Responding to Online Toxicity: Which Strategies Make Others Feel Freer to Contribute, Believe That Toxicity Will Decrease, and Believe that Justice Has Been Restored? In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/hfjnb

Infant-directed speech (IDS) – colloquially known as “baby talk” – is a form of speech produced by parents that may be important for emotional bonding with children while also helping infants with early language development. In contrast to adult-directed speech (ADS), IDS is characterised by a higher and broader pitch range, slower speech rate, and shorter/simpler syntax. A significant body of research has studied the dynamics of IDS and shown that infants prefer IDS over ADS, however the great majority of this work has focused on maternal speech, leaving much to be discovered about the differences and similarities between paternal and maternal IDS, the relative preference infants exhibit for paternal IDS compared with ADS, and the role of paternal interaction in shaping these dynamics.

 

Using a Norwegian sample of 70 fathers and children, the proposed study by Robberstad et al. (2022) takes an important step into this less-explored domain, asking whether (and if so, how) fathers employ IDS when interacting with infants, whether any such modulation of speech is related to the amount of time they spend as a caregiver, whether infants show the same preferences for IDS over ADS in fathers as observed previously in mothers, and whether that preference is related to the amount of exposure the infant has to parental speech. The authors will analyse speech modulation using acoustic analysis, while preference for IDS will be tested using eye-tracking to measure infants’ overt gaze orientation while listening to IDS vs ADS.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).

 

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/c43xu
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. 
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 

 

1. Robberstad, S., Kartushina, N. & Mayor, J. (2022). Fathers learning on the job: Role of paternity leave duration on paternal infant-directed speech and preference for male infant-directed speech in infants, in principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/sjupt