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IntroductionElucidating the enduring effects of childhood social capital is vital for shaping future well-being. Here, we investigate the impact of childhood social capital (SC) and parental engagement on adult psychological well-being and cognitive performance.MethodsUtilizing a cohort of 292 Japanese university students, we assessed the influences of SC and parental time during childhood on adult outcomes. Participants retrospectively reported their early childhood experiences, focusing on social interactions and parental involvement.ResultsOur findings reveal a significant positive correlation between childhood SC and adult subjective well-being, particularly in its positive dimensions. Additionally, maternal involvement during childhood is associated with cognitive abilities in adulthood, as measured by Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis highlights the substantial impact of childhood SC on adult well-being, elucidating the intricate interplay between social and parental contributions to developmental trajectories.DiscussionThese results highlight the crucial roles of both parental and non-parental figures in fostering social, emotional, and cognitive development from childhood to adulthood, underscoring the importance of nurturing supportive relationships throughout early life to promote positive developmental outcomes.

Abstract The global virtual reality (VR) market is significantly expanding and being challenged with an increased demand owing to COVID-19. Unfortunately, VR is not useful for everyone due to large interindividual variability existing in VR suitability. To understand the neurobiological basis of this variability, we obtained neural structural and functional data from the participants using 3T magnetic resonance imaging. The participants completed one of two tasks (sports training or cognitive task) using VR, which differed in the time scale (months/minutes) and domain (motor learning/attention task). Behavioral results showed that some participants improved their motor skills in the real world after 1-month training in the virtual space or obtained high scores in the 3D attention task (high suitability for VR), whereas others did not (low suitability for VR). Brain structure analysis revealed that the structural properties of the superior and inferior parietal lobes contain information that can predict an individual’s suitability for VR.

Persistence of a distant goal is an important personality trait that determines academic and social success. Recent studies have shown that individual differences in persistence involve both genetic and environmental factors; however, these studies have not examined the role of maternal factors on a young children's persistence. The present study examined whether mothers' persistence is associated with persistence in children aged 3–6 years. In addition, the associations between mothers' persistence/parenting style and children's self-control/social development (prosocial behaviors and difficulties) were examined. Our results showed that maternal persistence is essential for the child's persistence. Children's self-control and social development were also associated with the mothers' persistence and parenting style. Our findings suggest that a young child's persistence may develop under the influence of a familiar adult (i.e., mother) and characterizes their social development, highlighting the importance of persistence in parenting.

A person depicted in portrait paintings does not appear slanted even when observers move around. The gaze is also fixed to the observer. This constancy in angle of face/body orientation or gaze direction is called the Mona Lisa effect. Do observers realize the portrait was physically slanted when the effect occurs? What is the relationship between the effect for face/body and gaze? To answer these questions, we separately measured the perceived angle of face, gaze, and background while varying the physical slant of portrait itself. The stimulus was a computer generated face (19 × 12 deg) presented on a 3D LCD display. It was surrounded by a 24 × 24 deg black-contour frame filled with a noise texture. There were also no-frame and/or no-texture conditions. The slant was varied between ±30 deg. The observer was asked to judge the direction of gaze and the orientation of face or background in separate sessions. It was found that the perceived gaze almost always directed toward the observer regardless of slant angle or existence of frame or background. In contrast, the face orientation was judged facing the observer only in 40–50% of trials, and it was facing at the correct angle in 50–60% of trials. The background was perceived correctly in most trials. These results demonstrate special characteristics of eyes. The gaze is always directed to you even when the portrait is slanted and the background is perceived slanted. The face has intermediate characteristics: it is sometimes directed to you, but sometimes it appears slanted.