Psychology news

• Brain representations of social thoughts accurately predict autism diagnosis

  02-12-2014 20:48
  
  Researchers have created brain-reading techniques to use neural representations of social thoughts to predict autism diagnoses with 97 percent accuracy. This establishes the first biologically based diagnostic tool that measures a person's thoughts to detect the disorder that affects many children and adults worldwide.
  
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• Vitamin D deficiency, depression linked in international study

  02-12-2014 17:11
  Vitamin D deficiency is not just harmful to physical health -- it also might impact mental health, according to a team of researchers that has found a link between seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, and a lack of sunlight.
  
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• Tailor-made pharmaceuticals as basis for novel antidepressants

  02-12-2014 16:35
  
  SAFit-ligands provide the foundation for a mechanistically novel treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders. FKBP51 and FKBP52 are proteins which regulate multiple cellular activities. Most importantly in the context of psychiatric diseases, they interact in an antagonistic manner with receptors for stress hormones in the brain. FKBP51 inhibits while FKBP52 enhances the activity of the glucocorticoid receptor, thus playing a major role in the regulation of stress responses.
  
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• Creating bonds when memory fades

  02-12-2014 14:31 via today.com
  
  There are ways to stay emotionally connected even when a parent or loved one suffers from dementia.
  
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• Seasonal Affective Disorder and the difference from winter blues

  02-12-2014 14:30 via bbc.com
  
  Winter blues often involves a lack of sleep while SAD means people are permanently tired and spend longer in bed.
  
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• The Biology of Anxious Temperament May Lie With a Problem in an Anxiety 'Off Switch'

  02-12-2014 14:21
  Persistent anxiety is one of the most common and distressing symptoms compromising mental health. Most of the research on the neurobiology of anxiety has focused on the generation of increased anxiety, i.e., the processes that “turn on” anxiety. But what if the problem lay with the “off switch” instead? In other words, the dysfunction could exist in the ability to diminish anxiety once it has begun. A new report suggests that deficits in one of the brain’s off switches for anxiety, neu
  
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• Biology of anxious temperament may lie with a problem in an anxiety 'off switch'

  02-12-2014 14:21
  Persistent anxiety is one of the most common and distressing symptoms compromising mental health. Most of the research on the neurobiology of anxiety has focused on the generation of increased anxiety, i.e., the processes that “turn on” anxiety. But what if the problem lay with the “off switch” instead? In other words, the dysfunction could exist in the ability to diminish anxiety once it has begun. A new report suggests that deficits in one of the brain’s off switches for anxiety, neu
  
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• New cause of child brain tumor condition identified

  02-12-2014 14:21
  Doctors and scientists have identified changes in a gene, which can increase the risk of developing brain tumors in children with a rare inherited condition called Gorlin syndrome. Most people with Gorlin syndrome have a change in a gene called PTCH1, but the new research has revealed that changes in a gene called SUFU also cause Gorlin syndrome and it is children with a change in SUFU that are 20 times more likely to develop a brain tumor.
  
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• If psychosis is a rational response to abuse, let’s talk about it | Clare Allan

  02-12-2014 13:59
  
  Many people consider their “psychotic” experiences a vital survival tool, but above all they need to make sense of their experiences
  
  There is something of a sea change in the way we understand experiences that have traditionally been labelled as psychotic. In our culture at least, experiences such as hearing voices or seeing visions have long been viewed by the medical establishment as unequivocal symptoms of mental illness. Treatment has tended to focus on the suppression of such “sy
  
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• Pituitary abnormalities in veterans with PTSD revealed by PET/CT

  02-12-2014 10:00
  Hybrid imaging with positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) in the pituitary region of the brain is a promising tool for differentiating military veterans with post-traumatic...
  
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• Using social media for behavioral studies is cheap, fast, but fraught with biases

  02-12-2014 09:00
  
  The rise of social media has seemed like a bonanza for behavioral scientists, who have eagerly tapped the social nets to quickly and cheaply gather huge amounts of data about what people are thinking...
  
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• The SMART Playbook Earns 2014 Academics’ Choice Smart Book Award for Mind-Building Excellence

  02-12-2014 09:00 via pr.com
  The SMART Playbook has been honored with a 2014 Academics’ Choice Smart Book Award, a prestigious seal of educational quality, reserved only for the best mind-building media and toys. The independent Academics’ Choice Awards program and its seal of excellence are recognized worldwide by consumers and educational institutions as a mark of genuinely effective learning tools that stimulate the mind, and provide potential for [PR.com]
  
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• Do most people get PTSD after terrifying incidents?

  02-12-2014 02:44 via bbc.com
  
  The assumption that everyone is prone to developing the condition after witnessing a traumatic event isn’t the only myth that exists about post-traumatic stress disorder.
  
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• Science suggests intermittent fasting may have health benefits

  02-12-2014 02:41 via foxnews.com
  
  An eating schedule that involves "intermittent fasting" could help fight many related diseases of modern life, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's.
  
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• U.S. Supreme Court Unlikely to Protect Facebook Threats

  02-12-2014 02:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: L.A. Times - National NewsVictims of domestic violence and champions of unfettered free speech on the Internet will be pitted against each other Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court debates whether to make it harder to prosecute those who post threats directed at their ex-spouses or others on Facebook. .
  
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• Study Finds "Mean Girl" Behavior More Common Among Boys

  02-12-2014 02:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyDebunking the myth of the 'mean girl,' new research has found that boys use relational aggression -- malicious rumors, social exclusion and rejection -- to harm or manipulate others more often than girls. The longitudinal study followed a cohort of students from middle to high school and found that, at every grade level, boys engaged in relationally aggressive behavior more often than girls.
  
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• Do Dogs Understand Words or Emotions?

  02-12-2014 02:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - ScienceAlthough the new findings don't prove that dogs fully understand all of the emotional aspects of human speech, they do show that dogs are at least paying attention to it, said study co-author Victoria Ratcliffe, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Sussex in England. Though fascinating, the findings aren't all that surprising, Marc Bekoff, author of "Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence" (New...
  
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• Diabetes in Middle Age Linked to Memory Problems Later

  02-12-2014 02:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Google News - HealthA midlife diagnosis of diabetes or prediabetes may raise the risk of memory and thinking problems over the next 20 years, new research suggests. Having diabetes in midlife was linked with a 19 percent greater decline in memory and thinking (cognitive) skills
  
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• Diabetes in midlife linked to significant cognitive decline 20 years later

  02-12-2014 01:12
  People diagnosed with diabetes in midlife are more likely to experience significant memory and cognitive problems during the next 20 years than those with healthy blood sugar levels, new research suggests. The study is believed to be the longest of its kind following a cross-section of adults as they age.
  
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