Psychology news

• Mapping 'switches' that shaped the evolution of the human brain

  05-03-2015 21:21
  
  Thousands of genetic 'dimmer' switches, regions of DNA known as regulatory elements, were turned up high during human evolution in the developing cerebral cortex, according to new research.
  
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• Smoking affects sleep

  05-03-2015 20:58 via huffingtonpost.com
  
  Smoking regularly can wreak havoc on the body's natural sleep routine, and some of that damage cannot be undone.
  
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• LGBT people in rural areas struggle to find good medical care

  05-03-2015 20:55 via cnn.com
  
  People who wait to seek care, worried they won't find an LGBT-friendly doctor, can face serious medical consequences.
  
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• John Muranka hopes to give Bradford City a psychological edge over Reading

  05-03-2015 19:01
  
  Valley Parade side have been playing mind games with the help of a sports psychologist as they prepare for their quarter-final match on Saturday
  • BT Sport to show Bradford FA Cup quarter-final free to airBradford City’s players sometimes call him “the lifeguard” but to Reading John Muranka represents a hidden enemy. For the past five years the west Yorkshire-based psychologist-cum-life coach has been working with assorted Bradford players, doing his bit to help the team reach the 2013
  
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• Bradford play mind games as they seek FA Cup advantage over Reading

  05-03-2015 19:01
  
  City’s psychologist and ‘lifeguard’ John Muranka on how the power of positive thinking can help them reach the semi-finals
  • BT Sport to show Bradford FA Cup quarter-final free to airBradford City’s players sometimes call him “the lifeguard” but, to Reading, John Muranka represents a hidden enemy. For the past five years the West Yorkshire-based psychologist-cum-life coach has been working with assorted Bradford players, doing his bit to help the team reach the 2013 League Cup fina
  
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• Abnormal brain rhythms tied to problems with thinking in schizophrenia

  05-03-2015 18:56
  By studying specially bred mice with specific developmental and cognitive traits resembling those seen in schizophrenia, researchers have provided new evidence that abnormal rhythmic activity in particular brain cells contributes to problems with learning, attention, and decision-making in individuals with that disorder.
  
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• Drug to control appetite could also fight anxiety

  05-03-2015 18:56
  Did you know that our body produces its own marijuana-like compound to protect us against anxiety? A study reveals a new biological pathway that regulates this system and suggests that a drug currently in clinical trials to treat obesity might also provide an attractive way to combat anxiety disorders.
  
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• From chick to bedside: Removing the Wnt barrier

  05-03-2015 18:55
  Kick starting a process that might repair the damage done in cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis could begin with disabling a driver that helps block regeneration, say researchers.
  
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• Autistic features linked to prenatal exposure to commonly found fire retardants, phthalates

  05-03-2015 18:51
  Exposure during pregnancy to a combination of fire retardant chemicals and phthalate chemicals -- both present in the average home -- can contribute to autistic-like behaviors in the offspring, according to an animal study.
  
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• Exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy affects the brain two generations later, rat study shows

  05-03-2015 18:51
  Prenatal exposure to low doses of the environmental contaminants polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, change the developing brain in an area involved in metabolism, and some effects are apparent even two generations later, a new study finds. Hereditary effects included increased body weight, but only in descendants of females -- and not males -- exposed to PCBs in the womb.
  
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• Human brains age less than previously thought

  05-03-2015 17:04
  
  Older brains may be more similar to younger brains than previously thought. In a new paper, researchers demonstrate that previously reported changes in the aging brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging may be due to vascular (or blood vessels) changes, rather than changes in neuronal activity itself.
  
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• Neuroscientists perform important step towards cell therapy for diseases of the cerebral cortex

  05-03-2015 17:03
  Researchers at the ULB – IRIBHM and ULB Neuroscience Institute – have tested the therapeutic potential of cortical neurons generated at the laboratory, by transplantation in the brains of adult mice. Their research is published in the journal Neuron1.
  
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• The strange world of felt presences

  05-03-2015 14:10
  
  What links polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, sleep paralysis, and hearing voices? On 20 May 1916, Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean reached Stromness, a whaling station on the north coast of South Georgia. They had been walking for 36 hours, in life-threatening conditions, in an attempt to reach help for the rest of their party: three of their crew were stuck on the south side of island, with the remainder stranded on Elephant Island. To reach the whaling station, the three men had
  
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• New care model enhances psychological, cognitive and physical recovery of ICU survivors

  05-03-2015 10:00
  The Critical Care Recovery Center care model -- the nation's first collaborative care concept focusing on the extensive cognitive, physical and psychological recovery needs of intensive care unit...
  
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• Anxious people more apt to make bad decisions amid uncertainty

  05-03-2015 10:00
  Highly anxious people have more trouble deciding how best to handle life's uncertainties.
  
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• Chappie review – robot boy grows up to become angry robot teen

  05-03-2015 09:25
  
  Elysium director Neill Blomkamp has come up with an entertaining spin on the Robocop theme in this South Africa-set tale of law-enforcement ‘scouts’It seems there’s some battery-life left in the Robocop storyline. Neill Blomkamp has created an entertaining new variation on the traditional droid theme – in fact, it’s a witty tribute to Robocop itself, wittier and more interesting than the recent dull remake. After the disappointment of Elysium, Blomkamp is back on his game.Chappie is a
  
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• Successful cognitive behavioral therapy in youth equals decreased thinking about suicide

  05-03-2015 09:00
  Penn Medicine researchers found that patients who did not respond to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety in childhood had more chronic and enduring patterns of suicidal ideation at 7 to 19...
  
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• Male images seen by left side of the brain

  05-03-2015 03:27
  A new study has found that people are quicker to categorize a face as being male when it is shown to the left side of the brain.
  
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