Psychology news

• Readers recommend: songs about books | Peter Kimpton

  18-06-2015 21:00
  
  Climb those library ladders and dust off the shelves to find music influenced by or making reference to authors, characters, quotes or plots in novels or any other form of the printed volume
  “So many books, so little time.” - Frank Zappa.The voracious reader, the ebullient book fan, the edgy eccentric, the pithy polymath – what better characteristics are there for the process of songwriting? It was just over 20 years this week that I was lucky enough to be present at a recording, in the ol
  
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• Not like riding a bike: New motor memories need stabilizing

  18-06-2015 20:59
  Well-practiced motor skills like riding a bike are extremely stable memories that can be effortlessly recalled after years or decades. In contrast, a new study shows that changes to motor skill memories occurring over the course of a single practice session are not immediately stable.
  
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• Musicians don't just hear in tune, they also see in tune

  18-06-2015 19:45
  Auditory melodies can enhance a musician's visual awareness of written music, particularly when the two match, a new experiment shows. That is the conclusion of the latest scientific experiment designed to puzzle out how the brain creates an apparently seamless view of the external world based on the information it receives from the eyes.
  
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• Link found between neighborhood quality, cellular aging

  18-06-2015 18:22
  Regardless of chronological age, people who live in neighborhoods with high crime, noise, and vandalism are biologically more than a decade older than those who do not, according to a study.
  
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• Changing faces: We can look more trustworthy, but not more competent

  18-06-2015 18:16
  We can alter our facial features in ways that make us look more trustworthy, but don't have the same ability to appear more competent, a team of psychology researchers has found.
  
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• New sleep genes found

  18-06-2015 18:16
  A protein called Taranis could hold the key to a good night's sleep, researchers have found. The researchers examined thousands of mutant fly lines and found a mutant, called taranis, that slept a lot less than normal flies. Using a series of genetic and biochemical experiments, the researchers tracked how Taranis interacted with other proteins and saw that Taranis bound to a known sleep regulator protein called Cyclin A.
  
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• Emotional brains 'physically different' from rational ones

  18-06-2015 16:41
  Researchers have found physical differences in the brains of people who respond emotionally to others' feelings, compared to those who respond more rationally.
  
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• New model to study HIV latency in brain cells

  18-06-2015 16:38
  Over 35 million people worldwide are currently infected by HIV. Antiviral therapies can keep the virus from multiplying. However, no drug can cure infection so far, because various cell types continue to carry the virus in a latent, i.e. quiescent, state. Scientists have now established a model for latent HIV infection of brain cells. The researchers used this model to identify various compounds that affect latency of the virus in the brain.
  
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• Brain receptor found to significantly affect cocaine addiction

  18-06-2015 16:34
  By manipulating the activity of Activin receptors in the brain, researchers report that they were able to increase or decrease cocaine-taking and relapse behavior in animal models. The study focused on receptors in regions of the brain involved in pleasure and reward.
  
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• Study looks at risk, family relatedness for Tourette syndrome, tic disorders

  18-06-2015 16:00
  The risk for tic disorders, including Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders, increased with the degree of genetic relatedness in a study of families in Sweden, according to an article...
  
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• Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

  18-06-2015 16:00
  Previous studies have led researchers to believe that individuals with social anxiety disorder/social phobia have too low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
  
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• BBC reveals mind control experiment – for choosing what to watch next

  18-06-2015 15:39
  
  Broadcaster’s latest prototype taps viewers’ brainwaves to choose what to choose next on its iPlayer catch-up servicePaging the Daily Mail: BBC in mind-control shock! Except this story is unlikely to become a front-page scandal, since it involves viewers’ brainwaves controlling their TVs, rather than the other way around.The broadcaster has revealed details of its latest tech experiment, which involved working with digital agency This Place to create a “Mind Control TV” prototype for u
  
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• Is technology making us more creative?

  18-06-2015 11:00
  
  While the web has facilitated a glut of unoriginal and trivial content, technology deserves some credit for lifting the barriers that inhibit creativityCreativity is the ability to generate novel, useful ideas and innovation is the successful implementation of those ideas. With this in mind, it is tempting to suggest that technology has made us more creative: the digital revolution has clearly produced a large number of innovative products and services. Some of them have become multibillion poun
  
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• Medical resources allocated equally across groups, but more efficiently across individuals

  18-06-2015 11:00
  People make dramatically different decisions about who should receive hypothetical transplant organs depending on whether the potential recipients are presented as individuals or as part of a larger...
  
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• Using Virtual Reality to Overcome Fear, Reduce Prejudice

  18-06-2015 09:14 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: USA Today - TechnologyA Silicon Valley company, Altspace VR, recently launched a social virtual reality platform built around shared experiences, such as watching movies and playing games. And Google is trying to make virtual reality an affordable mainstream reality through its Cardboard initiatives. While most of these virtual reality efforts are focused on game play and other forms of entertainment, the work at Stanford is squarely aimed on the potential social...
  
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• Noteworthy Woman to Appear on $10 Bill, U.S. Treasury Announces

  18-06-2015 09:14 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: The GuardianSlavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman the apparent front runner as ‘historic decision’ is made to honour a woman in permanent design of currency A woman will soon feature on US bank notes for the first time in 150 years after a successful campaign to celebrate the centenary of female suffrage. But the surprise decision comes with a catch: whoever is chosen will have to share the honour with a man. Treasury secretary Jack Lew announced the...
  
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• Impact of Insecticides on the Cognitive Development of 6-Year-Old Children

  18-06-2015 09:14 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyResearchers have provided new evidence of neurotoxicity in humans from pyrethroid insecticides, which are found in a wide variety of products and uses.
  
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• Elder Abuse Is Common Around the World

  18-06-2015 09:14 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyA new global review reveals that elder abuse -- which includes psychological, physical, and sexual abuse; neglect; and financial exploitation -- is common among community-dwelling older adults and is especially prevalent among minority older adults. Older adults with cognitive and physical impairments or psychosocial distress are also at increased risk of elder abuse. In North and South American epidemiological studies, the prevalence of elder...
  
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• Early Life Stress Affects Cognitive Functioning in Low-Income Children

  18-06-2015 09:14 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyA new study has identified how specific patterns of cortisol activity may relate to the cognitive abilities of children in poverty. The study looked at low-income children in the United States and how greater instability in family environments may predict early life stress and cognitive functioning.
  
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