Psychology news

• Scientists create mice with a major genetic cause of ALS, frontotemporal dementia

  22-05-2015 19:16
  A novel mouse has been developed that exhibits the symptoms and neurodegeneration associated with the most common genetic forms of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease), both of which are caused by a mutation in the a gene called C9ORF72.
  
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• How a schizophrenia risk gene affects the brain

  22-05-2015 18:00
  Scientists have for the first time shown how the disruption of a key gene involved in mental illness impacts on the brain.
  
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• Subconscious learning shapes pain responses

  22-05-2015 17:00
  In a new study led from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, researchers report that people can be conditioned to associate images with particular pain responses - such as improved tolerance to pain ...
  
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• An evolutionary heads-up: The brain size advantage

  22-05-2015 16:53
  Animals with large brains are considered to be more intelligent and more successful than those with smaller brains. Researchers have now provided the first experimental evidence that large brains provide an evolutionary advantage. Large-brained female fish have a higher survival rate than those with small brains when faced with a predator, although brain size surprisingly did not influence male survival.
  
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• Why can't we all sing well? Eurovision and the science of song

  22-05-2015 16:05
  
  The Eurovision final raises many questions, but here’s a scientific one: why, when we’re all capable of song, are some of us are Abba whilst others are Scooch? The Eurovision Song Contest, the continent’s annual carnival of the wacky and the weird, celebrates its 60th birthday in Vienna on Saturday night. Without it we would never have seen Russia in uproar over an Austrian drag queen, been introduced to Finnish death metal in its purest form, or witnessed the Irish attempt to win with an
  
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• Obese teens' brains unusually susceptible to food commercials, Dartmouth study finds

  22-05-2015 16:00
  A Dartmouth study finds that TV food commercials disproportionately stimulate the brains of overweight teenagers, including the regions that control pleasure, taste and -- most surprisingly -- the...
  
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• Douglas study on neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb

  22-05-2015 16:00
  Towards a better understanding of the mechanisms of depression A new study published by the team of Naguib Mechawar, Ph.D.
  
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• The hard problem: Tom Stoppard on the limits of what science can explain

  22-05-2015 15:00
  
  Can evolution explain acts of kindness, and morality? We arranged a debate between a sceptical Tom Stoppard and the evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. Stuart Jeffries acted as refereeWhen Tom Stoppard was writing The Hard Problem, his play about the conundrum of human consciousness, one of the scientists he consulted was American evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. The play offers, among other things, a challenge to Wilson’s view that altruism, as a consciously motivated action,
  
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• New mechanism for Alzheimer's disease confirmed

  22-05-2015 14:33
  Decreased removal of toxic peptides in the brain causes the onset and first clinical signs of Alzheimer's disease, research suggests, rather than overproduction as has previously been assumed. This information can now be used to target specific genes to enhance their function in the brain of elderly or people at risk.
  
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• Depressed people may have difficulty following emotional speech

  22-05-2015 14:32
  Psychoacoustics identifies five basic types of emotional speech: angry, fearful, happy, sad and neutral. In order to fully understand what's happening with speech perception, a research team studied how depressed individuals perceive these different kinds of emotional speech in multi-tonal environments.
  
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• Why government censorship [in no way at all] carries greater risks than benefits | Dean Burnett

  22-05-2015 14:18
  
  Recent revelations show that Theresa May hoped to censor TV shows using anti-extremism laws, and the government seem keen to pursue this strategy. But the actual evidence presents a few [made up by lefties] problems A leaked memo reveals that Home Secretary Theresa May planned to introduce powers to screen and censor TV shows under the guise of combatting extremism. This was not well received by other [stupid] members of the government, in an exclusive story by the [traitorous, commie-loving] Gu
  
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• Snacking on protein can improve appetite control and diet quality in teens

  22-05-2015 14:00
  Soy-protein snacks promote feelings of fullness and reduce unhealthy eating habits in young peopleSome study participants ate a chocolate-peanut-caramel-flavored pudding snack formulated with...
  
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• Why Baltimore and Ferguson might embrace gardening and find healing | Marianne E Krasny

  22-05-2015 13:30
  
  There are countless stories of people caring for nature in dozens of “broken” places – from post-Soviet Russia to urban parks in earthquake-stricken HaitiWords like “war zone,” “riots,” “gangs” and “looting” littered headlines about Baltimore this month. USA Today summed up the news on their front page with the words “Broken Baltimore” pasted in front of a phalanx of police in riot gear. President Obama spoke gloomily about how we can continue to expect cycles of urban
  
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• Chronic gambling and depression often occur together, researchers find

  22-05-2015 12:00
  A new study finds young men who are chronic gamblers are also likely to be suffering from depression, and impulsive boys are more likely to become gambling adults.
  
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