Depressed mood, a better predictor of social-distancing compliance and candidate for intervention compared to working memory capacity

Xie et al. (1) report that a higher working memory (WM) capacity increases social-distancing compliance, even after accounting for relevant covariates (e.g., mood and personality traits), and that this effect is partly mediated by a facilitating benefit-over-cost analysis about social-distancing practice. In light of these findings, the authors suggest that interventions aiming to increase WM capacity might help to enhance compliance to social-distancing practice in times of crisis. After reanalyzing the data, we suggest that their conclusions should be nuanced with respect to 1) the disproportionate focus on WM capacity relative to other factors that equally explain the outcome and 2) the partial statistical control over factors’ indirect effects on social distancing. … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: medhi.marot{at}etu.uca.fr. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1