Psychology news

• People watching: Different brain pathways responsible for person, movement recognition

  12-01-2015 21:45
  The ability to understand different movements, such as walking, skipping and jumping, engages different brain mechanisms from those that recognize who is initiating the action. A new study illustrates for the first time how individuals with prosopagnosia, or face blindness, are still able to recognize other people's movements.
  
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• Experience of pain relies on multiple brain pathways, not just one

  12-01-2015 19:55
  People's mindsets can affect their experience of pain. For example, a soldier in battle or an athlete in competition may report that an injury did not feel especially painful in the heat of the moment. But until now it has been unclear how this phenomenon works in the brain.
  
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• First evidence of neuroinflammation in brains of chronic pain patients

  12-01-2015 19:54
  
  A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital investigators has found, for the first time, evidence of neuroinflammation in key regions of the brains of patients with chronic pain. By showing that levels of an inflammation-linked protein are elevated in regions known to be involved in pain transmission, the study paves the way for the exploration of potential new treatment strategies and possibly for biomarkers reflecting pain conditions.
  
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• New research on what the nose 'knows' reveals an unexpected simplicity

  12-01-2015 19:54
  
  Two types of neuronal processors found in the rat olfactory bulb solve the difficult problem of identifying constantly fluctuating environmental odors through linear summation. A team working for 5 years across two continents have made thist surprising discovery, explaining that it's an operation no less straightforward than the one a child uses to add or multiply numbers.
  
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• Possible new target for treating brain inflammation found

  12-01-2015 19:39
  An enzyme that produces a class of inflammatory lipid molecules in the brain has been identified by researchers. Abnormally high levels of these molecules appear to cause a rare inherited neurodegenerative disorder, they report.
  
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• Curcumin's ability to fight Alzheimer's studied

  12-01-2015 17:04
  One of the most promising new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease may already be in your kitchen. Curcumin, a natural product found in the spice turmeric, has been used by many Asian cultures for centuries, and a new study indicates a close chemical analog of curcumin has properties that may make it useful as a treatment for the brain disease.
  
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• Do viruses make us smarter?

  12-01-2015 15:31
  
  Inherited viruses that are millions of years old play an important role in building up the complex networks that characterize the human brain, researchers say. They have found that retroviruses seem to play a central role in the basic functions of the brain, more specifically in the regulation of which genes are to be expressed, and when.
  
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• Drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease boosts radiation effectiveness in melanoma laboratory models with brain metastasis

  12-01-2015 15:30
  A drug used to treat Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) helps radiation be more effective when it was administered to laboratory models with melanoma that had metastasized to the brain, researchers have demonstrated.
  
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• Computers judge personality better than friends

  12-01-2015 14:48 via bbc.com
  
  By analyzing "likes" on Facebook, a computer model deduced a person's character on five key traits better than brothers, mothers and even some partners.
  
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• How optimism might be good for your heart

  12-01-2015 14:47 via time.com
  
  New research links a positive attitude with better cardiovascular health.
  
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• Mobile phone separation anxiety is real

  12-01-2015 14:45 via usatoday.com
  
  Study shows that the effects of being separated from one's phone turns out to be both psychological and physiological.
  
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• Naps may be good for a baby's learning

  12-01-2015 14:44 via well.blogs.nytimes.com
  A new study suggests that sleeping after learning and memorizing aids infants in retaining new information.
  
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• Brain protein aids influenza recovery, scientists find

  12-01-2015 14:30
  A brain protein that boosts the healing power of sleep and speeds an animal's recovery from the flu has been discovered by researchers who say that the discovery could lead to alternative treatments for influenza and other infectious diseases, possibly by using intranasal sprays to stimulate the production of the brain protein, called AcPb.
  
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• The brain thinks, the spinal cord implements: Research team identifies important control mechanisms for walking

  12-01-2015 14:29
  
  Even after complete spinal paralysis, the human spinal cord is able to trigger activity in the leg muscles using electrical pulses from an implanted stimulator. Now researchers have succeeded in identifying the mechanisms the spinal cord uses to control this muscle activity. These mechanisms still work even if the neural pathways from the brain are physically interrupted as the result of a spinal cord injury. This is the first time throughout the world that the spinal-cord activation patterns fo
  
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• The Teenage Brain review – a science-based bid to understand an ‘alien species’

  12-01-2015 12:00
  
  A neuroscientist’s attempt to produce a parental study aid on teenagers is accessible and well-pacedOne unwanted side effect of parenting teenagers has persistently bothered me over the years, this being how it distorts one’s own perhaps halcyon view of being “teenage”. It seems that one moment you’re looking fondly back at teen times, musing misty-eyed and rosy-spectacled: “What a magical, exciting vivid stage – human fireworks exploding, personality buds blooming, life full of po
  
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• Workers' feedback vital to reduce time wasted in meetings

  12-01-2015 11:00
  
  Meetings in some organisations would be more cost effective and focused, taking less time, if employees had the opportunity to give feedback on how they are run and were involved in making...
  
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• Teachers on the front line following attack in Boston

  12-01-2015 11:00
  
  Results of a survey to be published in School Mental Health, published by Springer, suggest that while teachers are well-tuned to student psychological distress following a crisis, support varies...
  
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