Psychology news

• Couch potatoes may have smaller brains later in life

  10-02-2016 22:57
  Poor physical fitness in middle age may be linked to a smaller brain size 20 years later, according to a new study.
  
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• Blocking stress protein relieves chronic pain in mice

  10-02-2016 22:57
  A group of drugs being developed to treat mood disorders could also relieve chronic pain, finds new research. The study reveals how a protein that shapes the body's response to stress also drives chronic pain and so offers new targets for future pain treatments.
  
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• Lipid-based diets effectively combat Alzheimer's disease in mouse model

  10-02-2016 20:27
  Researchers have devised several lipid-based diets aimed at slowing down progression and relieving symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is generally accepted that lifestyle and particularly dietary habits influence mental health, and prevalence and progression of AD. Numerous epidemiological studies have revealed profitable effects of dietary intake of especially fish oil on cognitive decline during aging and dementia.
  
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• Starting age of marijuana use may have long-term effects on brain development

  10-02-2016 19:53
  The age at which an adolescent begins using marijuana may affect typical brain development, according to researchers. Scientists describe how marijuana use, and the age at which use is initiated, may adversely alter brain structures that underlie higher order thinking.
  
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• Computerized rehab aids those suffering from brain injuries

  10-02-2016 19:49
  Computerized cognitive rehabilitation (a program to help brain-injured or otherwise cognitively impaired individuals to restore normal functioning) can improve attention and executive functioning in brain injury survivors including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke, researchers have demonstrated for the first time.
  
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• Exercise and meditation together help beat depression

  10-02-2016 19:48
  A mind and body combination of exercise and meditation, done twice a week for only two months, reduced the symptoms for a group of students by 40 percent.
  
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• Prelinguistic infants can categorize colors

  10-02-2016 17:13
  Researchers have revealed that infants aged between 5 and 7 months hold the representation of color categories in their brain, even before the acquisition of language.
  
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• Study examines euthanasia, assisted suicide of patients with psychiatric disorders

  10-02-2016 17:00
  
  A review of euthanasia or assisted suicide (EAS) cases among patients with psychiatric disorders in the Netherlands found that most had chronic, severe conditions, with histories of attempted...
  
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• Chris Clegg obituary

  10-02-2016 16:34
  
  Chris Clegg, my friend and colleague, who has died aged 67 from cancer, was professor of organisational psychology at Leeds Business School. As well as making significant contributions within his core discipline, he worked across disciplinary boundaries, conducting and publishing research with colleagues in engineering, medicine and computer science. He was dedicated to research of real-world value.At Leeds he was also director of research of the management division, director of the Centre for S
  
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• What is it about some music that makes it sound sad?

  10-02-2016 16:00
  
  Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsWhat is it about some music that makes it sound sad? Why does our brain hear a combination of notes in a chord, or series of chords, that makes us feel sad? Would someone who had never heard music before hear this sad quality?Karen Hill, London Continue reading...
  
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• Study from Harvard and Yale shows positive psychological effects of hormone therapy in transgender individuals

  10-02-2016 16:00
  
  Transgender individuals may experience significant improvement in psychological functioning after as little as 3-6 months of hormone therapy, with improved quality of life reported within 12 months...
  
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• COPD may cause structural changes within the brain

  10-02-2016 15:00
  
  Patients with COPD demonstrate decrease in areas of the brain that process breathlessness, fear, and sensitivity to pain.
  
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• Opinion vs facts: why do celebrities so often get it wrong?

  10-02-2016 14:41
  
  Celebrities often make wildly inaccurate claims and comments to millions of people. But the workings of our minds mean we’re all prone to such behaviourI remember reading my parents’ newspaper one day as a teenager, shortly after Princess Diana died. One of the reader’s letters in it has stuck with me ever since. I don’t recall the exact wording, but it was something like this.“Elton John’s recent tribute to Princess Diana “Candle in the Wind” was
  
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• Stress of social disadvantage increases risk of osteoporosis

  10-02-2016 14:00
  
  New research shows that the stress of social disadvantage could be putting people at higher risk of developing osteoporosis.
  
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• What's the point of music? Ask Peter Gabriel

  10-02-2016 13:31
  
  Whether releasing sadness or sending shivers down our spines, the songs in our ‘emotional toolbox’ can transform daily life … if we learn how to use themMusic is so much a part of almost all our lives that it seems peculiar to stop and ask what it might be for. It just appears straightforwardly to benefit us in ways that are too diverse and ineffable to start to take apart; this might be one arena where we keep the dread hand of the theorists away. Musicians themselves have te
  
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• Horses can recognise human emotion, new study shows

  10-02-2016 08:30
  
  Psychologists have shown for the first time that horses are able to distinguish between positive and negative human facial expressionsLook angry and a horse is likely to give you a sideways glance: using its left or sinister side. Its heart rate will increase, too. And both are indications that a horse can recognise a human emotion.Psychologists at Sussex University, who last year compiled a dictionary of the facial expressions that might indicate emotions in a horse, report that they have just
  
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• Why contemplating death changes how you think

  10-02-2016 05:45 via bbc.com
  
  Dozens of studies show that being reminded of death strengthens our ties to the groups we belong to, to the detriment of those who are different from us.
  
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• Childhood maltreatment predicts range of negative outcomes in bipolar patients

  10-02-2016 04:39
  Child maltreatment could predict a range of negative outcomes in patients with bipolar disorder, according to new research, which adds to growing evidence on the enduring mental health impact of childhood abuse and neglect.
  
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• Teaching neurons to respond to placebos as potential treatment for Parkinson's

  10-02-2016 04:11
  Scientist have discovered a way to make neurons respond to a placebo (a medically ineffective treatment), in the same way as they would to medically effective treatment, according to a new study.
  
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