Psychology news

• Even when we're resting, our brains are preparing us to be social

  28-05-2015 22:31
  Our brains are wired to prepare us, during quiet moments, to be socially connected to other people, neuroscientists report. Facebook is aligned with the state of our brains at rest -- which can explain why it's such a popular activity when we want to take a break.
  
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• Brain training induces lasting brain, mental health gains for veterans, civilians with brain injury

  28-05-2015 21:36
  In the first study of its kind, veterans and civilians with traumatic brain injury showed improved cognitive performance and psychological and neural health following strategy-based cognitive training. The study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of cognitive neuroscientists, rehabilitation specialists, and neuroimaging experts.
  
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• Readers recommend: songs that build | Peter Kimpton

  28-05-2015 21:20
  
  ... up momentum, energy, intensity, layers, volume or sheer emotion. From a whisper to a scream, suggest music that grows in unusual or powerful waysWhat a song.* It begins with nothing more than a hint of stillness, a tiny flick of wind through grass, a gnat’s heartbeat, a cricket’s wink, a cat hair’s whisper in the imagination. Then, emerging from beyond the frequency at which human biology can detect sound, an indeterminate buzzing, perhaps of an insect, a rhythmic crunching, and a rust
  
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• Scientists retrieve lost memories using optogenetics

  28-05-2015 20:28
  Researchers have found that memories that have been 'lost' as a result of amnesia can be recalled by activating brain cells with light. They reactivated memories that could not otherwise be retrieved, using a technology known as optogenetics.
  
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• How sleep helps us learn and memorize

  28-05-2015 20:28
  Sleep is important for long lasting memories, particularly during this exam season. New research suggests that sleeping triggers the synapses in our brain to both strengthen and weaken, which prompts the forgetting, strengthening or modification of our memories in a process known as long-term potentiation.
  
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• Gender and racial bias can be 'unlearnt' during sleep, new study suggests

  28-05-2015 20:13
  
  Playing auditory cues during sleep partially undid biases, raising possibility of using the technique to make permanent behavioural changesIn Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the overlords use “sleep teaching” to condition children to submit to their sinister moral values. Now scientists have found a more noble purpose for the technique in a study that suggests deep-rooted biases about race and gender could be “unlearnt” during a short nap. The findings appear to confirm the idea that
  
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• Western University study shows 88 per cent of Facebook users 'creep' ex-partners

  28-05-2015 19:00
  A new study from Western University shows that creeping an ex-partner on Facebook yields alarming levels of distress following a breakup.
  
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• Brain circuit that controls decisions that induce high anxiety identified

  28-05-2015 18:44
  Some decisions arouse far more anxiety than others. Among the most anxiety-provoking are those that involve options with both positive and negative elements, such choosing to take a higher-paying job in a city far from family and friends, versus choosing to stay put with less pay.
  
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• Sleep quality influences cognitive performance of autistic, neurotypical children

  28-05-2015 18:38
  One night of poor sleep significantly decreases performance on intelligence tests in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and also in neurotypical children (without ASD). The researchers observed the EEG measures of 13 autistic children and 13 neurotypical children (children with a mean age of 10 years old without an intellectual deficiency or sleep problem and who were not on medication) and found that disruptions in protective brain waves during sleep are associated with lower results
  
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• Researchers unravel a link between a genetic mutation and autistic behaviors, then find a way to undo it

  28-05-2015 18:38
  The mechanisms behind a genetic mutation that produces certain autistic behaviors in mice has been identified by researchers, as well as therapeutic strategies to restore normal behaviors.
  
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• Study finds that 5.8% of the general population have experienced psychotic episodes

  28-05-2015 16:00
  Psychotic episodes in the general population are relatively infrequent, suggests a new cross-national study published in JAMA Psychiatry.
  
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• Non-fatal suicidal behaviors in U.S. army administrative records and accompanying commentaries

  28-05-2015 16:00
  Although the U.S. Army suicide rate is known to have risen sharply over the past decade, information about medically documented, non-fatal suicidal behaviors is far more limited.
  
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• How can we best assess the neuropsychological effects of violent video game play? | Pete Etchells and Chris Chambers

  28-05-2015 15:53
  
  We’re issuing a call for pre-registered scientific studies that will help us to understand how playing violent video games affect our behaviourEvery time a research paper about violent video games makes it into the news, it feels like we’re in a time loop. Any claims that the study makes about the potential positive or (usually) negative effects of playing games tend to get over-egged to the point of ridiculousness. And that’s aside from the quality of the research itself – violent video
  
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• Unexpected brain structures tied to creativity, and to stifling it

  28-05-2015 14:41
  A surprising link has been found between creative problem-solving and heightened activity in the cerebellum, a structure located in the back of the brain and more typically thought of as the body's movement-coordination center.
  
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• Changing activity in the aging brain

  28-05-2015 14:20
  Normal aging affects our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks. But exactly how our brain functions change during this process is largely unknown. Now, researchers have demonstrated that aging changes the activity patterns in specific brain regions involved in memory and cognition.
  
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• Gay conversion therapy ruins lives. We cannot afford to keep it legal | Zach Stafford

  28-05-2015 13:30
  
  LGBT people often hate themselves after the torture of conversion therapy. That hate doesn’t just hurt them, it affects all of usMy very first cyber bully was a guy who did a stint in a religious conversion therapy program when I was in high school. Back then I wasn’t out of the closet, but I wasn’t necessarily in the closet either. People assumed I was gay – and rightfully so – but I wasn’t ready to talk about it in real life with the people I grew up with. So I reserved those conve
  
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• Can brands change their personality? Psychology has the answer

  28-05-2015 13:05
  
  Business psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic looks at how brands can turn their internal identity into public reputationThe concept of brand personality refers to the human-like attributes associated with brands. For example, Apple is cool, Hermes is elegant, and the Volkswagen Golf is understated. Much like in humans, brands develop their personality with time, as they mature. In some cases, this results from deliberate attempts to translate the vision of designers and marketers into a product
  
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• Homely men who misbehave can't win

  28-05-2015 13:00
  Findings about how attractiveness influences people have significance for online daters, jurorsWomen tolerate an unattractive man up to a point, but beware if he misbehaves.
  
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• 430,000-year-old skull fractures may represent earliest case of murder in humans

  28-05-2015 09:00
  A 430,000-year-old skull uncovered from a cave in northern Spain has fractures that researchers believe were intentional, representing the earliest case of murder in human history.
  
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• Glancing at Rooftop Greenery Can Boost Concentration Levels

  28-05-2015 06:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyGlancing at a grassy green roof for only 40 seconds markedly boosts concentration, a new study concludes. The green roof provided a restorative experience that boosted those mental resources that control attention, researchers say.
  
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• Exposure to Street Noise Linked to Obesity

  28-05-2015 06:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Time MagazineLiving next to a busy thoroughfare may affect more than just your mental well-being.
  
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• Do Chimps Have Rights? Judge Weighs Fate of Leo and Hercules

  28-05-2015 06:19 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: CBS News - U.S. NewsLawyer seeking to free 2 chimps from Stony Brook University tells judge their confinement for research is akin to slavery.
  
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• Vatican Says Irish Marriage Vote Is a "Defeat for Humanity"

  28-05-2015 06:10 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: CBS News - World NewsPredominantly Catholic nation held a public referendum on same-sex marriage, and the result has left the Catholic Church disappointed.
  
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• Nearly 1 in 3 Americans Support Equal Rights for Animals

  28-05-2015 06:10 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: CBS News - Science and TechnologyNew poll finds nearly one-third of Americans think animals deserve equal rights.
  
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• India's First Transgender College Principal

  28-05-2015 06:10 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: BBC News - Asia-PacificManobi Bandyopadhyay has endured discrimination and heartbreak on her way to becoming India's first transgender college principal, writes Soutik Biswas.
  
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• Eight Ads That Shatter Tired Gender Stereotypes

  28-05-2015 06:10 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: The GuardianAs the Cannes Lions festival creates a new award to recognise advertising that challenges gender norms, we look at some of the best past examples Glass is a wonderful thing. Windows, vases, spectacles, marbles. Such a shame about that whole glass-ceiling thing, isn’t it? Really tarnishes the whole image of glass. At least the Cannes Lions festival has managed to turn it into something positive, in the form of their new Glass Lion award ,...
  
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• Figures of French Resistance Inducted Into Paris Pantheon

  28-05-2015 06:01 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - Top HeadlinesFrance is honoring four people who resisted the Nazis during World War II by inducting them into Paris' Pantheon mausoleum, in a rare and highly symbolic ceremony aimed at uniting the French against extremism and anti-Semitism.
  
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• Cigarette Warnings on Packages Work Better with Pictures

  28-05-2015 06:01 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - HealthGruesome photographs on cigarette packages may deliver more effective anti-smoking messages than words, a new analysis finds. Researchers reviewed previous studies comparing images to text warnings on cigarette boxes and found pictures commanded more attention, elicited stronger emotional reactions, summoned more negative attitudes and made it more likely that smokers would vow to quit. “They say a picture is worth a thousand words – that...
  
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• Better understanding of links between pain, anxiety reveals treatment opportunities

  28-05-2015 01:16
  Anxiety is common in people suffering from chronic pain, and people with anxiety are more likely to suffer from chronic pain. Now researchers have found the biological basis for this link in the connections between neurons in a brain region known as the anterior cingulate cortex. Better yet, they have identified a molecule that can reduce chronic pain-related anxiety.
  
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• Molecules involved in Alzheimer's have a role in weakening of connections between neurons

  28-05-2015 01:16
  Molecules that are strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease are important players in a process called long-term depression (LTD), researchers have discovered. LTD is a process through which the strength of synapses, the connections between neurons, is selectively reduced. This new research suggests improperly regulated LTD could cause the degeneration of the connections between neurons that is a core feature of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
  
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• Weak electric current to the brain may improve thinking in people with schizophrenia

  28-05-2015 00:01
  Lightly stimulating the brain with electricity may improve short-term memory in people with schizophrenia, according to a new study. The procedure, known as transcranial direct current stimulation, involves placing sponge-covered electrodes on the head and passing a weak electrical current between them. It is widely regarded as safe, and the procedure is being studied as a treatment for depression and Alzheimer's-related memory loss, and to enhance recovery following strokes.
  
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