Németh Lab - Brain, Memory and Language Lab - MEMO

Our new paper is out!

“Obsessive-compulsive tendencies shift the balance between competitive neurocognitive functions”

Adaptive behaviour depends on a balance between processes that automatically extract regularities and flexible, goal-directed control. We asked whether obsessive–compulsive (OC) tendencies alter the interaction between these systems, not only in clinical OCD, but across the non-clinical continuum.

In a study of 404 participants, statistical learning and cognitive flexibility showed an antagonistic relationship: better performance in one tended to be associated with poorer performance in the other. Crucially, this trade-off weakened as OC tendencies increased.

Our findings suggest that OC traits may reshape how automatic learning and executive control are coordinated, even below the diagnostic threshold. More broadly, they highlight why cognitive functions should be studied as interacting systems rather than in isolation.

Congratulations to first author Bianka Brezóczki, and many thanks to Teodóra Vékony, Bence Farkas, and Flóra Hann for this wonderful collaboration!

Read the paper:
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)02229-7

New article from Andrea Kóbor and Eszter Tóth-Fáber

Tóth-Fáber, E., and A.Kóbor. 2026. “Alpha and Theta Oscillations Differentiate Escalating Risk Levels During Reward Anticipation in Sequential Decision Making.” Psychophysiology63, no. 6: e70333.

https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70333.

Congrats!!!

We warmly invite you to attend Bianka Brezóczki ’s doctoral pre-defense.
https://www.ppk.elte.hu/brezoczki-bianka-muhelyvita

Bianka Brezóczki

Brezóczki Bianka műhelyvitája Az ELTE PPK Pszichológiai Doktori Iskola tisztelettel meghívja Önt Brezóczki Bianka „Neurocognitive mechanisms across the spectrum of obsessive-compulsive tendencies: th

If childhood adversity is harmful, are its cognitive consequences always and only negative?
Do we need to question deficit models?

In our new paper, we studied implicit statistical learning: the ability to unconsciously detect patterns in the world around us. This is one of the basic learning mechanisms that helps people adapt to regularities in their environment. It is also relevant for real-life skills, including motor learning, sports, music, and language.

What we found was not what a simple deficit model would predict.

People with greater childhood adversity did not show worse learning overall. They reached a similar final level, but they learned faster.

So this is not about saying adversity is “good.” It is not.

But it does suggest that adversity may shape cognition in more complex ways than we often assume. Sometimes the difference may lie not in whether people learn, but in how quickly they become sensitive to the structure of their environment.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/4/252007/481272/

BBence FarkasTTeodóra VékonyBBianka Brezóczki

Faster adult implicit probabilistic statistical learning following childhood adversity Abstract. According to deficit models, early life adversity disrupts normal development, leading to long-term emotional, behavioural and cognitive difficul

Our new paper is out in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

ADHD-Like Traits Reshape the Balance Between Inhibitory Control and Predictive Processes

We studied how ADHD-like traits relate to response inhibition and statistical learning in a non-clinical sample of university students. We found that higher ADHD-like traits were linked to poorer inhibitory control. We also found that the typical advantage in statistical learning associated with weaker inhibition became reduced as ADHD-like traits increased.

The results suggest that ADHD-like traits reshape the interaction between cognitive control and predictive learning processes, supporting a dimensional view of ADHD.

ADHD-Like Traits Reshape the Balance Between Inhibitory Control and Predictive Processes - Karolina Horváth, Bianka Brezóczki, Adrienn Holczer, Teodóra Vékony, Dezső Németh, 2026 Objective: Adaptive behavior relies on a dynamic balance between flexible, goal-directed control, and efficient, automatic processes. This equilibrium is often ...