Psychology news

• Same gene dictates size of two sensory brain areas

  12-02-2016 22:43
  The discovery has implications for understanding how the human brain evolved and how it varies between people
  
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• Researchers create 'mini-brains' in lab to study neurological diseases

  12-02-2016 22:39
  Researchers say they have developed tiny 'mini-brains' made up of many of the neurons and cells of the human brain -- and even some of its functionality -- and which can be replicated on a large scale.
  
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• Memory replay prioritizes high-reward memories

  12-02-2016 19:01
  Why do we remember some events, places and things, but not others? Our brains prioritize rewarding memories over others, and reinforce them by replaying them when we are at rest, according to new research.
  
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• Google AI Gets Better at "Seeing" the World by Learning What to Focus on

  12-02-2016 17:58 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - BusinessHow Google is refining its machine learning neural networks to allow them to prune insignificant details.
  
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• Dementia Rates Slowing in the United States

  12-02-2016 17:58 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Yahoo News - HealthDementia rates in the United States may be falling, an influential study released Wednesday said, offering hope that some cases of the disease might be delayed or even preventable.
  
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• Architecture of White Supremacy Still Evokes Pain

  12-02-2016 17:58 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: ABC News - US NewsPeople across the South are debating whether to preserve the remnants of their Jim Crow history, from segregated waiting rooms to "whites only" water fountains and long-abandoned schools for black children.
  
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• What triggers rage? New research sheds light

  12-02-2016 16:00
  
  A brain structure called the lateral septum was found to control violence and aggression in male mice in a new study, which may aid understanding of what triggers rage in humans.
  
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• Sleep apnea takes a toll on brain function

  12-02-2016 16:00
  
  One in 15 adults has moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder in which a person's breathing is frequently interrupted during sleep -- as many as 30 times per hour.
  
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• Pinpointing loneliness in the brain

  12-02-2016 16:00
  
  Humans, like all social animals, have a fundamental need for contact with others.
  
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• Gratitude: yes please or no thanks?

  12-02-2016 16:00
  
  I’ve long espoused the benefits of gratitude. But critics have a point Recently, the social critic Barbara Ehrenreich wrote an essay criticising the fashionable notion of gratitude as a path to happiness. This prompted an amusing spectacle: the proponents of gratitude attempted to demolish her argument without seeming, well, ungrateful that she’d made it. Too often, Ehrenreich thinks, gratitude serves dubious ends. Should a Walmart worker really feel grateful for a $1 pay rise, when
  
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• Giving support to others - not just receiving it - has beneficial effects

  12-02-2016 16:00
  
  Social support has well-known benefits for physical and mental health. But giving support -- rather than receiving it -- may have unique positive effects on key brain areas involved in stress and...
  
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• About 1 in 5 adolescent victims of sexual harassment on social media report abuse to provider

  12-02-2016 16:00
  
  Among adolescents who encountered sexual harassment on social networking sites (mostly on Facebook), 21.
  
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• Important role of nucleocytoplasmic transport in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia

  12-02-2016 15:19
  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are two devastating adult-onset neurodegenerative disorders. No cure exists for these diseases. Ten percent of ALS patients suffer from a familial form of the disease, while FTD is caused in 40% of patients by a genetic defect. In 2011, the most important genetic cause of ALS and FTD was discovered. The causative mutation was a repetition of a piece of non-coding DNA, a so called tandem repeat, in a gene with an unknown functi
  
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• Combination drug targeting opioid system may help relieve treatment-resistant depression

  12-02-2016 15:15
  A clinical trial of an experimental drug for treatment-resistant major depression finds that modulation of the endogenous opioid system may improve the effectiveness of drugs that target the action of serotonin and related monoamine neurotransmitters.
  
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• I want her to want me: Where men, sex and personality meet

  12-02-2016 15:00
  
  A man walks into a bar. He thinks the attractive woman smiling at him from across the room wants to have sex with him. True? Or is it all in his head?
  
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• Supportive shoes a confusing term, runner attitude study finds

  12-02-2016 14:00
  
  New running shoes to burn off Christmas excess are a popular purchase in the New Year, but the terms associated with supportive footwear and alternative styles of running can be confusing, a new...
  
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• How your brain might be secretly thwarting your New Year's resolutions

  12-02-2016 12:00
  
  The human brain is wired to pay attention to previously pleasing things -- a finding that could help explain why it's hard to break bad habits or stick to New Year's resolutions.
  
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• Depression, Addiction Risk Traced to Hidden Neandertal DNA

  12-02-2016 10:43 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Social Psychology Network NewsDNA inherited from our extinct cousins may raise our risk of modern diseases, new research suggests.
  
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• Blue 22s Pop/Reggae Band Shows Heart for Valentine’s Day by Donating Proceeds from Their New Single, "Ready or Not" to Bring National Awareness to ADHD

  12-02-2016 10:30 via pr.com
  Successful Pop/Reggae Band, Blue 22s will be releasing their new single and music video, Ready or Not, worldwide today to raise money for the awareness of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; a cause that’s close to their heart.Blue 22s aren’t strangers to ADHD. Four of the five core members, including manager, Stacey Turis, live with it every day and know the struggles that come with a brain that Turis [PR.com]
  
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• Why smiles, frowns and grimaces are contagious

  12-02-2016 10:00
  
  Our ability to instantaneously read other people's emotions is astounding. A recent paper explains why mimicking other's facial expressions is such a vital part of being human.
  
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• Video games and aggression: a complex relationship

  12-02-2016 09:00
  
  Our new study on the associations between playing shoot-em-ups at a young age and aggression in adolescence highlights a complex link, surprising no one that actually plays video gamesIt was a headline in the Daily Mail that started it. ‘Computer games leave children with ‘dementia’, warns top neurologist’. It was annoying, because (a) there’s no evidence that games cause dementia in kids, and (b) the top neurologist wasn’t a neurologist. Scaremongering storie
  
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• Is there an association between video games and aggression?

  12-02-2016 09:00
  
  We found a complex link between playing shoot-em-ups at a young age and adolescent aggression. But it won’t surprise anyone who actually plays video gamesIt was a headline in the Daily Mail that started it. “Computer games leave children with ‘dementia’, warns top neurologist”. It was annoying, because (a) there’s no evidence that games cause dementia in kids, and (b) the top neurologist wasn’t a neurologist. Scaremongering stories about the clear-cut ne
  
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• Are social animals programmed to seek company?

  12-02-2016 09:00
  
  After spending time in isolation, mice seek out social interaction; new evidence suggests that dopamine-releasing neurons in the DRN of the brain play a role.
  
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• How do I … fall in love?

  12-02-2016 08:00
  
  Whether single or in a loved-up couple, Valentine’s Day makes it seem like romance can be conjured up. But it’s all to do with chemistry and biology, say expertsValentine’s Day cometh, that great day of romantic consumerism, in which those who have a partner are reminded to spend money on them and those who don’t are reminded they are alone, surrounded by loved-up couples holding hands and clutching gaudy gifts.
  It’s a day to contemplate love itself: what is it? Gre
  
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• Women's Code Approved More Than Men's, But Only If Gender Is Hidden

  12-02-2016 07:13 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: The GuardianResearchers find software repository GitHub approved code written by women at a higher rate than code written by men, but only if the gender was not disclosed.
  
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• What Does 50,000 Volts From a Taser Do to Your Brain?

  12-02-2016 07:13 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: MSNBC - Health NewsNew research has found that an increasingly popular law enforcement weapon, the Taser stun gun, can create short-term cognitive impairment comparable to dementia.
  
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• "Automated Empathy" Allows Doctors to Check on Patients Daily

  12-02-2016 07:12 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: CNN - HealthA health care startup made a wild pitch to Cara Waller, CEO of the Newport Orthopedic Institute in Newport Beach. The company said it could get patients more engaged by "automating" physician empathy.
  
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• Out of Shape in Middle Age May Mean a Smaller Brain Later

  12-02-2016 06:03 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: Google News - HealthPeople who are out of shape in midlife may end up with smaller brain volume as they age compared to peers who exercise regularly, a according to a U.S. study.
  
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• Study Links Education to Lower Risk of Dementia

  12-02-2016 06:02 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  Source: Google News - HealthThe risk of developing dementia is decreasing for people with at least a high school education, according to an important new study that suggests that changes in lifestyle and improvements in physical health can help prevent or delay cognitive decline.
  
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• New U.N. Stamps Promote LGBT Rights

  12-02-2016 06:02 via feeds.socialpsychology.org
  
  Source: The GuardianUnited Nations Postal Administration issues colourful series celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as part of Free & Equal campaign. The United Nations Postal Administration has released six new postage stamps promoting equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The colourful stamps by artist and UNPA art director Sergio Baradat are also meant to celebrate the diversity of the gay community and marks the...
  
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• How your brain works against your best intentions

  12-02-2016 03:46 via cnn.com
  
  Researchers use brain scans to show how our brains seek rewards which might help researchers understand addiction.
  
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• Mommy and me: Study shows how affectionate mothering can combat the effects of maternal depression

  12-02-2016 00:50
  Certain parenting strategies can combat the negative impacts of maternal depression on an infant, suggests the first study of its kind. The work sought to investigate how a depressed mother's neuroendocrine response to stress can program the infant's hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, a set of signals and relationships between the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenals. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is responsible for creating cortisol, a hormone released in response to s
  
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