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1. Spring Break or Heart Break? Extending Valence Bias to Emotional Words

   https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620972296  

   Harp, Nicholas R.; Brown, Catherine C.; Neta, Maital (November 2020, Social Psychological and Personality Science)

   null (Ed.)

   Ambiguous stimuli are useful for assessing emotional bias. For example, surprised faces could convey a positive or negative meaning, and the degree to which an individual interprets these expressions as positive or negative represents their “valence bias.” Currently, the most well-validated ambiguous stimuli for assessing valence bias include nonverbal signals (faces and scenes), overlooking an inherent ambiguity in verbal signals. This study identified 32 words with dual-valence ambiguity (i.e., relatively high intersubject variability in valence ratings and relatively slow response times) and length-matched clearly valenced words (16 positive, 16 negative). Preregistered analyses demonstrated that the words-based valence bias correlated with the bias for faces, r s (213) = .27, p < .001, and scenes, r s (204) = .46, p < .001. That is, the same people who interpret ambiguous faces/scenes as positive also interpret ambiguous words as positive. These findings provide a novel tool for measuring valence bias and greater generalizability, resulting in a more robust measure of this bias. 

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2. Mixed-Valence Superstructure Assembled from a Mixed-Valence Host–Guest Complex

   https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b05322  

   Liu, Zhichang; Frasconi, Marco; Liu, Wei-Guang; Zhang, Yu; Dyar, Scott M.; Shen, Dengke; Sarjeant, Amy A.; Goddard, William A.; Wasielewski, Michael R.; Stoddart, J. Fraser (July 2018, Journal of the American Chemical Society)
3. Imaging Dielectric Breakdown in Valence Change Memory

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202102313  

   Hubbard, William_A; Lodico, Jared_J; Chan, Ho_Leung; Mecklenburg, Matthew; Regan, Brian_C (September 2021, Advanced Functional Materials)

   Abstract Dielectric breakdown (DB) controls the failure, and increasingly the function, of microelectronic devices. Standard imaging techniques, which generate contrast based on physical structure, struggle to visualize this electronic process. Here in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) electron beam‐induced current (EBIC) imaging of DB in Pt/HfO₂/Ti valence change memory devices is reported. STEM EBIC imaging directly visualizes the electronic signatures of DB, namely local changes in the conductivity and in the electric field, with high spatial resolution and good contrast. DB is observed to proceed through two distinct structures arranged in series: a volatile, “soft” filament created by electron injection; and a non‐volatile, “hard” filament created by oxygen‐vacancy aggregation. This picture makes a physical distinction between “soft” and “hard” DB, while at the same time accommodating “progressive” DB, where the relative lengths of the hard and soft filaments can change on a continuum. 

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4. Mixed-valence halide perovskites

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2025.216719  

   Deschene, Christina R; Zwanziger, Clara; Matheu, Roc; Karunadasa, Hemamala I (September 2025, Coordination Chemistry Reviews)
5. Behavioral plasticity and the valence of indirect interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70157  

   Fahimipour, Ashkaan_K; Gil, Michael_A; Hein, Andrew_M (July 2025, Ecology)

   Abstract Behavioral plasticity in animals influences direct species interactions, but its effects can also spread unpredictably through ecological networks, creating indirect interactions that are difficult to anticipate. We use coarse‐grained models to investigate how changes in species behavior shape indirect interactions and influence ecological network dynamics. As an illustrative example, we examine predators that feed on two types of prey, each of which temporarily reduces activity after evading an attack, thereby lowering vulnerability at the expense of growth. We demonstrate that this routine behavior shifts the indirect interaction between prey species from apparent competition to mutualism or parasitism. These shifts occur when predator capture efficiency drops below a critical threshold, causing frequent hunting failures. As a result, one prey species indirectly promotes the growth of the other by relaxing its density dependence through a cascade of network effects, paradoxically increasing predator biomass despite decreased hunting success. Empirical capture probabilities often fall within the range where such dynamics are predicted. We characterize such shifts in the qualitative nature of species interactions as changes ininteraction valence, highlighting how routine animal behaviors reshape community structure through cascading changes within ecological networks. 

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