Eco-Affective Cognition: How Environmental Change Shapes Perception, Emotion, and Decision-Making

As global environmental change accelerates, humans are increasingly exposed to a spectrum of climate-related stressors such as extreme weather events, ecosystem degradation, pollution, biodiversity loss, and landscape instability. These pervasive conditions impact not only physical health but also fundamental processes of perception, attention, risk evaluation, emotion–cognition interactions, and higher-order decision-making. Growing evidence shows that environmental instability shapes how people detect threats, allocate attention, interpret uncertainty, and engage in reasoning. Climate-related emotional states—such as eco-anxiety, solastalgia, ecological grief, and future-oriented worry—influence judgment, memory, executive function, and behavioural intentions, while hope, agency, and collective efficacy are key drivers of adaptation and engagement. Despite a surge in relevant studies, contributions remain fragmented across fields and lack integrative cognitive frameworks, pointing to the need for a comprehensive synthesis of how environmental change modulates psychological function.

The central goal of this Research Topic is to consolidate the emerging science of eco-affective cognition. We aim to bring together research that examines how dynamic environmental contexts modulate perception, emotion, memory, reasoning, and both individual and collective decision-making. Specific objectives include identifying perceptual biases toward environmental threats, understanding the effects of climate stressors on attention and vigilance, and exploring the cognitive–affective mechanisms underlying states such as eco-anxiety, solastalgia, and ecological grief. We seek to illuminate how emotional salience shapes reasoning and behaviour, the influence of hope, moral emotions, and efficacy in evaluation and adaptation, and how identity, social cognition, and collective processes underpin climate engagement or denial. By integrating complexity-based perspectives and methodological innovations, this topic ultimately aims to inform effective climate risk communication, policy development, and psychological support strategies.

This Research Topic welcomes methodological and theoretical contributions spanning laboratory studies, field research, and computational modelling, with a focus on the mechanisms linking environmental change to cognition and affect. We encourage submissions on, but not limited to, the following themes:

- Perception, attention, and environmental threat processing—including perceptual biases, attentional control, and experimental paradigms on emotional salience

- Cognitive and affective mechanisms in reasoning and decision-making—such as emotional influences on risk perception, pro-environmental behaviour, and roles of hope and efficacy

- Social cognition, identity, and collective responses—including climate engagement or denial, group dynamics, and justice-related cognition

- Multilevel and complexity-based approaches—addressing dynamic systems, non-linear processes, early warning indicators, and modelling eco-cognitive dynamics

- Digital, physiological, and behavioural biomarkers—such as digital phenotyping, stress biomarkers, spatial mapping, and methodological pipelines for in-the-wild cognition

Urban Environments and Population Mental Health

This Collection addresses mental health in urban contexts, examining how urban design, environmental exposures, inequality, and climate-related urban stressors shape population mental health. Emphasis is placed on population-level, spatial, data-driven, and policy-relevant approaches, with a strong focus on cities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Particular emphasis is placed on population-level outcomes, mental health inequalities, and vulnerable populations, as well as on innovative quantitative, qualitative, mixed, and data-driven approaches. Contributions integrating environmental data, spatial analysis, digital tools, and novel surveillance methods are especially encouraged.

2026

2026

Bringing Visibility to Marginalized Populations: Neuroscience of Aging in Older Adults Facing Social Vulnerability

2025

Despite significant advances in neuroscience and aging research, the experiences of older adults from marginalized and socially vulnerable populations remain largely underexplored. Factors such as socioeconomic disadvantage, racial and ethnic minority status, limited access to healthcare, and social isolation can intensify the challenges of aging, with implications for cognitive health and overall well-being. Understanding the unique neurobiological and psychosocial aging processes in these populations is crucial for developing inclusive models of aging and targeted interventions to reduce health disparities.

This Research Topic seeks to address the critical gap in our understanding of how social vulnerability shapes the neuroscience of aging in marginalized older adults. While the prevalence of cognitive decline, neurodegenerative disorders, and mental health issues may be higher in these groups, the underlying neural mechanisms and psychosocial contributors are not well understood. By bringing together research on the intersectionality of aging, social determinants of health, and neurobiological outcomes, we hope to shed light on the specific risks and resilience factors for older adults facing social vulnerability. Our aim is to stimulate research that informs culturally sensitive interventions, community-based strategies, and policy changes that can improve brain health and quality of life for these populations.

We welcome contributions that advance our knowledge of the neuroscience of aging in older adults who are socially vulnerable or marginalized. Relevant themes include, but are not limited to:

- Neural correlates of aging in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage, racial/ethnic minority status, or other marginalizing factors
- Impact of chronic stress, social isolation, and discrimination on cognitive aging and brain health
- Interventions and community programs aimed at reducing neurocognitive disparities
- Methodological innovations in studying marginalized populations in neuroscience and aging research
- Resilience, protective factors, and culturally tailored strategies that support healthy cognitive aging
- Policy perspectives and recommendations for supporting brain health equity in aging

Manuscript Submission Deadline 14 March 2026

Manuscript Submission Deadline 04 November 2026

Manuscript Submission Deadline 29 August 2026