Psychology news

• How birds learn through imitation

  14-01-2016 22:25
  Changes in brain circuitry occur as young zebra finches go from listening to their fathers' songs to knowing the songs themselves, according to a new study.
  
  Read more

• Drug 'cocktail' could restore vision in optic nerve injury

  14-01-2016 22:20
  Research suggests the possibility of restoring at least some visual function in people blinded by optic nerve damage from glaucoma, estimated to affect more than 4 million Americans, or from trauma.
  
  Read more

• Brain waves could help predict how we respond to general anesthetics

  14-01-2016 22:20
  The complex pattern of 'chatter' between different areas of an individual's brain while they are awake could help doctors better track and even predict their response to general anesthesia -- and better identify the amount of anesthetic necessary -- according to new research.
  
  Read more

• Trio of autism-linked molecules orchestrate neuron connections

  14-01-2016 21:23
  Researchers have revealed how three proteins work in concert to wire up a specific area of the developing brain that is responsible for processing visual information. The findings may also lend insight into brain disorders including autism, depression and addiction.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Remembering to the future: Researchers shed new light on how our memories guide attention

  14-01-2016 21:23
  A team of researchers has discovered that differences in the types of memories we have influence the nature of our future encounters. Their findings show how distinct parts of the brain, underlying different kinds of memories, also influence our attention in new situations.
  
  Read more

• 'Bursting' cells gain the brain's attention for life-or-death decisions

  14-01-2016 18:20
  Using optogenetics and other technology, researchers have for the first time precisely manipulated the bursting activity of cells in the brain's thalamus, tying the alerting behavior to the sense of touch.
  
  Read more

• Scientists get mice to pay attention by manipulating neurons in brain

  14-01-2016 18:19
  Researchers have identified for the first time a cell type in the brain of mice that is integral to attention. By manipulating the activity of this cell type, the scientists were able to enhance attention in mice. The results add to the understanding of how the brain's frontal lobes work and control behavior.
  
  Read more

• Brain waves may be spread by weak electrical field

  14-01-2016 18:18
  Researchers may have found a new way information is communicated throughout the brain. Their discovery could lead to identifying possible new targets to investigate brain waves associated with memory and epilepsy and better understand healthy physiology.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• New tool may help predict patients' motor function recovery after stroke

  14-01-2016 17:40
  Graph theoretical analysis is proving to be helpful in understanding complex networks in the brain. Investigators used a graph theoretical approach in examining the changes in the configuration of the two hemispheres of the brain in 12 patients after stroke. They found it helped understand the dynamic reorganization of both hemispheric networks in the brain and to predict recovery of motor function.
  
  Read more

• Students' cognitive functioning improves when using standing desks, new study indicates

  14-01-2016 17:36
  Do students think best when on their feet? New findings provide the first evidence of neurocognitive benefits of stand-height desks in classrooms. These findings provide the first evidence of neurocognitive benefits of stand-height desks in classrooms, where students are given the choice to stand or sit based on their preferences.
  
  Read more

• Genes may contribute to making some nations happier than others

  14-01-2016 17:35
  The citizens of nations that rate themselves happiest display a specific genetic feature: their DNA is more likely to contain a specific allele involved in sensory pleasure and pain reduction, say researchers. They weighed up genetic and various external factors to might contribute to national differences in happiness.
  
  Read more

• Why fish intake by pregnant women improves the growth of a child's brain

  14-01-2016 17:34
  An explanation for the correlation between eating fish during pregnancy, and the health of the baby's brain, has been uncovered by a group of researchers. Dietary lipid contains fatty acids such as omega-6 and omega-3, which are essential nutrients for many animals and humans. The research group found that a balanced intake of lipids by pregnant women is necessary for the normal brain formation of the unborn child.
  
  Read more

• What you see in this picture says more about you than the kangaroo | Stephen Moss

  14-01-2016 17:07
  
  Whatever the animal was demonstrating – empathy, sexual exploitation or something else – one certainty is the human impulse to anthropomorphiseIt was a photograph that touched the world. An intimate portrait of a dying mother kangaroo being gently cradled by her mate, while with her last breath she reached out to caress her innocent baby.Yet, as it turns out, that is not what the photo shows at all. As an Australian expert swiftly pointed out, rather than protecting the female, the m
  
  Read more

• Researchers develop novel cell line for screening of brain drugs

  14-01-2016 16:07
  A new cell line has been developed, which may be used to investigate new drugs and help predict whether they are able to enter the brain. This research will afford scientists in both academia and the medical industry a new tool for investigating drug uptake in brain tissue and tumors where the human efflux pump, P-gp, is expressed.
  
  Read more

• Odor biomarker for Alzheimer's disease

  14-01-2016 16:07
  A uniquely identifiable odor signature has been identified from mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. The odor signature appears in urine before significant development of Alzheimer-related brain pathology, suggesting that it may be possible to develop a non-invasive tool for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
  
  Read more

• Do We Need More Than Two Gender Designations?

  14-01-2016 15:36 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: BBC News - Top HeadlinesA growing number of people refuse to be put into male or female categories, either because they do not identify as male or female, or because they are going through transition to the opposite gender. Germany, Australia, Nepal and Pakistan now offer a third gender option on official forms with other countries set to follow suit. And scientists are finding more evidence to suggest that even biological sex is a spectrum.
  
  Read more

• Brain Monitoring Takes a Leap Out of the Lab

  14-01-2016 15:36 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyBioengineers and cognitive scientists have developed the first portable, 64-channel wearable brain activity monitoring system that’s comparable to state-of-the-art equipment found in research laboratories. The system is a better fit for real-world applications because it is equipped with dry EEG sensors that are easier to apply than wet sensors, while still providing high-density brain activity data.
  
  Read more

• Turkmenistan Pulls Cigarettes From Shelves in Anti-Smoking Bid

  14-01-2016 15:35 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - HealthTurkmenistan's authorities have forced shops to stop selling cigarettes, traders in Ashgabat said Thursday, after its president urged citizens to kick the habit. State anti-narcotics officials "came to our shop recently and forced us to remove cigarettes from the shelves, threatening us with huge fines," said Bairam Saryev, the 34-year-old owner of a small store in the capital. Saryev's shop was one of those targeted in a...
  
  Read more

• Risk of Weapon Involvement in U.S. Adolescents Varies by Race, Gender

  14-01-2016 15:35 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDailyIn 2011, almost 13 percent of high school students had been victimized with weapons. Weapon-related violence among adolescents can lead to injuries and long-term mental health problems. In a new study, researchers found that the risk and protective factors for carrying and using weapons vary by race and gender.
  
  Read more

• Doctors' Body Language May Reveal Racial Bias

  14-01-2016 15:35 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: U.S. News and World ReportResearchers say nonverbal cues might spur seriously ill black patients to request more aggressive care.
  
  Read more

• Catholic Bishop Calls School Gender Identity Guidelines "Totalitarian"

  14-01-2016 15:35 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Canadian Broadcasting Company - Canadian NewsCalgary's Catholic bishop has denounced as 'totalitarian' and 'anti-Catholic' the province's new guidelines for respecting students' gender identity.
  
  Read more

• Trauma team members face risk of 'compassion fatigue' and burnout

  14-01-2016 12:00
  
  Trauma team members are at risk of compassion fatigue and burnout syndrome, as supported by the new research by Gina M.
  
  Read more

• Study: Workplace flexibility benefits employees

  14-01-2016 12:00
  
  New research released yesterday shows that workers at a Fortune 500 company who participated in a pilot work flexibility program voiced higher levels of job satisfaction and reduced levels of...
  
  Read more

• Repetitive blast exposure tied to brain changes in combat vets

  14-01-2016 12:00
  
  The more blasts combat veterans are exposed to, the more they show lasting changes in neuron activity in specific areas of the brain - as seen in retired boxers - study shows.
  
  Read more

• Emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder: A problem of too much drive and too little control?

  14-01-2016 10:00
  
  Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a diagnostic label applied to people who have problems regulating emotional mood swings.
  
  Read more

• NHS policies failing to stop bullying by managers and staff sickness

  14-01-2016 09:00
  
  Bullying and discrimination by NHS managers have led to absences among mental health workers, and past policies have failed to stop this, research shows.
  
  Read more

• U.S. Supreme Court Boosts Child Slave Labor Case Against Nestle

  14-01-2016 06:13 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - Top HeadlinesA U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to hold Nestle, the world's largest food maker, accountable for using child slaves to harvest cocoa in Africa looks set to be a landmark battle over labor used overseas, lawyers said. The ruling sends the case back to federal court in California and brings closer the possibility of a trial, said Terrence Collingsworth, executive director at International Rights Advocates who is involved...
  
  Read more

• Sexism Valley: 60% of Women in Silicon Valley Experience Harassment

  14-01-2016 06:13 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: The GuardianSixty percent of the women working in Silicon Valley experience unwanted sexual advances, according to a new survey released this week. About two-thirds of them say that these advances were from their superior.
  
  Read more

• India Pressed to Ban FGM As Women Break Silence on Secret Ritual

  14-01-2016 06:13 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - HealthA group of Indian women who were subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) as children are calling on the government to ban the ancient ritual, describing it as child abuse.
  
  Read more

• Europeans Ask Employers to Ease Menopause for Women

  14-01-2016 06:13 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - HealthAs more women remain in the workforce through their menopausal years, many employers may need to do a better job of adopting policies that help ensure working conditions don’t make women’s symptoms worse, recent European guidelines urge.
  
  Read more

• South Korea Urges Japan to Implement Comfort Women Agreement

  14-01-2016 06:12 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: China DailySouth Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged Japan to play its role in implementing the bilateral agreement on Japan's wartime sex slavery of Korean women during World War II.
  
  Read more

• FIFA Fines 5 Countries for Antigay Chants in Games

  14-01-2016 06:12 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - Top HeadlinesFIFA fined Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay on Wednesday for anti-gay chants by their national team's fans.
  
  Read more

• To better cope with stress, listen to your body

  14-01-2016 04:31 via well.blogs.nytimes.com
  Remaining in a state of heightened arousal undermines physical and mental performance.
  
  Read more

• Extrovert character traits shaped by background, study finds

  14-01-2016 01:01
  
  Sutton Trust research suggests link between wealthier upbringing and qualities such as assertiveness as well as personality and career success People with character traits thought of as extrovert tend to come from wealthier backgrounds than their less extrovert peers as well as being more likely to have well-paid jobs, a new study suggests.The research, published by the Sutton Trust educational charity, found that traits such as being assertive, talkative and enthusiastic are associated with hig
  
  Read more

Follow @PsychologyUKnws on Twitter!