Psychology news

• Can light therapy help the brain?

  02-04-2015 22:16
  
  An innovative therapy that applies red and near-infrared light to the brain is now being tested for Gulf War Illness, traumatic brain injury, and PTSD.
  
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• Adolescent drinking affects adult behavior through long-lasting changes in genes

  02-04-2015 22:15
  
  Binge-drinking during adolescence may perturb brain development at a critical time and leave lasting effects on genes and behavior that persist into adulthood. The findings were reached using an animal model.
  
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• Deconstructing brain systems involved in memory and spatial skills

  02-04-2015 22:13
  
  In work that reconciles two competing views of brain structures involved in memory and spatial perception, researchers have conducted experiments that suggest the hippocampus -- a small region in the brain's limbic system -- is dedicated largely to memory formation and not to spatial skills, such as navigation.
  
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• Scientists create artificial link between unrelated memories

  02-04-2015 19:27
  
  The ability to learn associations between events is critical for survival, but it has not been clear how different pieces of information stored in memory may be linked together by populations of neurons. In a new study synchronous activation of distinct neuronal ensembles caused mice to artificially associate the memory of a foot shock with the unrelated memory of exploring a safe environment.
  
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• With geomagnetic compass hooked to the brain, blind rats act like they can see

  02-04-2015 19:27
  
  By attaching a microstimulator and geomagnetic compass to the brains of blind rats, researchers have found that the animals can spontaneously learn to use new information about their location to navigate through a maze nearly as well as normally sighted rats. Researchers say the findings suggest that a similar kind of neuroprosthesis might also help blind people walk freely through the world.
  
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• Alcohol-dependent hospital patients die earlier from multiple morbidities

  02-04-2015 18:00
  A new study finds that alcohol-dependent hospital patients die from multiple morbidities 7.6 years earlier than patients without a history of alcohol dependence.
  
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• Visual objects are represented by a distributed network in human brain

  02-04-2015 15:21
  New research involves recording single-neuron activity in the brains of epilepsy patients who require electrodes implanted to monitor seizures. With the electrodes in place, processes such as perception and memory can be studied at the level of individual neurons.
  
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• The brain-belly connection: Scientists find key genetic triggers in weight-regulating brain cells

  02-04-2015 14:16
  
  The little voice inside your head that tells you to eat, or stop eating, isn’t a little voice – it’s actually a cluster of about 10,000 specialized brain cells. And now, scientists have found tiny triggers inside those cells that give rise to this “voice”, and keep it speaking throughout life.
  
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• How to improve your luck and win the lottery twice (possibly) | Richard Wiseman

  02-04-2015 13:48
  
  And guess what – it has nothing to do with how many tickets you buyA British couple have just won £1m in the EuroMillions lottery for a remarkable second time. In doing so, they have beaten odds of more than 283 billion-to-one. So are they exceptionally lucky, and is there anything we can all do to increase the chances of experiencing such good fortune? Related: British couple celebrate winning second £1m EuroMillions prize Lucky people tend to be very relaxed, more likely to see t
  
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• How to succeed in negotiations? Choose your words carefully, say psychologists

  02-04-2015 12:00
  Whether you are buying, selling or asking for a pay rise, the words you use in your negotiation could affect the outcome, according to a new study.
  
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• Getting the message across: Can active symbols on road signs save lives?

  02-04-2015 12:00
  If you're traveling at 60 miles per hour, just a few milliseconds can mean the difference between life and death when you need to come to a quick stop.
  
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• What makes a child feel unsafe in their neighbourhood?

  02-04-2015 11:00
  Differences in the way children and adults perceive the world extend to their sense of safety in their social and physical environments and this in turn can impact their health, say researchers at...
  
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• Poses of power are less powerful than we thought

  02-04-2015 11:00
  Hands pressed to the hips or perhaps leaning back with arms crossed behind the head are typical poses of power.
  
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• People in MTV docusoaps are more ideal than real

  02-04-2015 11:00
  More midriff, cleavage and muscle is seen in MTV's popular television docusoaps such as The Real World, Jersey Shore or Laguna Beach than in the average American household.
  
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• New Western University study reveals exercise further combats cigarette cravings

  02-04-2015 11:00
  Tobacco use kills more than five million people per year and smoking is the world's single most preventable cause of death.
  
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• Do consumers think products are better when companies donate to charity?

  02-04-2015 11:00
  Does hearing about a company's charitable donations raise your opinion of their products?
  
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• Crowdsourced tool for depression

  02-04-2015 10:00
  Peer-to-peer application outperforms conventional self-help technique for easing depression, anxietyResearchers at MIT and Northwestern University have developed a new peer-to-peer networking...
  
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• Adverse childhood experiences may increase the risk of asthma, study finds

  02-04-2015 10:00
  Being exposed to domestic violence or other adverse experiences during childhood may increase a child's risk of developing asthma, according to new research.
  
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• Ex-military personnel who serve less than 4 years 'are at increased risk of suicide'

  02-04-2015 09:00
  Personnel who separate from military service after a short period are at increased risk of suicided compared with peers who serve for 4 years or longer.
  
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• Democracy v Psychology: why people keep electing idiots | Dean Burnett

  02-04-2015 08:05
  
  The 2015 election campaigns are under way, and it’s clear that doing or saying unintelligent things are no barrier to political success. Unfortunately, there are several psychological mechanisms that lead to apparent idiots being elected into powerful positions. Politicians. Their reputation is very poor. In fairness, this is largely their own fault, but it would be foolish to assume every politician is like this. If they were, the whole infrastructure would collapse before you could say “ca
  
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