Psychology News and Research

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Psychology is the study of human mental functions, behavior and processes.

New study pushes the memory clock back over a year

On average the earliest memories that people can recall point back to when they were just two-and-a-half years old, a new study suggests.

14 Jun 2021

Incidental rudeness can be deadly in certain situations, suggests study

Have you ever been cut off in traffic by another driver, leaving you still seething miles later? Or been interrupted by a colleague in a meeting, and found yourself replaying the event in your head even after you've left work for the day? Minor rude events like this happen frequently, and you may be surprised by the magnitude of the effects they have on our decision-making and functioning.

11 Jun 2021

New cloud technologies expand brain sciences

People often think about human behavior in terms of what is happening in the present--reading a newspaper, driving a car, or catching a football. But other dimensions of behavior extend over weeks, months, and years.

10 Jun 2021

Facemasks impair children's ability to read people's emotions

The U-Vip (Unit for Visually Impaired People) research team led by Monica Gori at the IIT- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia has recently published a study which shows for the first time how children aged from 3 to 5 years old have problems in recognizing the emotions of people wearing surgical masks.

10 Jun 2021

Bedtime music may affect sleep patterns

Most people listen to music throughout their day and often near bedtime to wind down. But can that actually cause your sleep to suffer? When sleep researcher Michael Scullin, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, realized he was waking in the middle of the night with a song stuck in his head, he saw an opportunity to study how music -- and particularly stuck songs -- might affect sleep patterns.

10 Jun 2021

Three factors may predict change in students' self-control during college transition

Joining a club that sparks a new interest, playing a new intramural sport or finding a new group of friends may be just as indicative of a college freshman's loss of self-control as drinking or drug use, according to new research at West Virginia University.

10 Jun 2021

Childhood stress associated with early emergence of permanent molars

Early in her career neuroscientist Allyson Mackey began thinking about molars. As a researcher who studies brain development, she wanted to know whether when these teeth arrived might indicate early maturation in children.

9 Jun 2021

Having trouble falling asleep associated with cognitive impairment 14 years later

A study of nearly 2,500 adults found that having trouble falling asleep, as compared to other patterns of insomnia, was the main insomnia symptom that predicted cognitive impairment 14 years later.

9 Jun 2021

Women now drink as much as men — and are prone to sickness sooner

Victoria Cooper thought her drinking habits in college were just like everyone else's. Shots at parties. Beers while bowling. Sure, she got more refills than some and missed classes while nursing hangovers, but she couldn't have a problem, she thought.

9 Jun 2021

Pervasive but unfounded stereotype falsely link women's self-esteem to their sex lives

New research published in the journal Psychological Science reveals a pervasive but unfounded stereotype: that women (but not men) who engage in casual sex have low self-esteem. This finding was consistent across six separate experiments with nearly 1,500 total participants.

9 Jun 2021

Sleep characteristics associated with cannabis use and binge drinking in teens, young adults

A recent study of teens and young adults found that several factors related to sleep timing and sleep duration are associated with an increased risk of cannabis use and binge drinking of alcohol during the following year.

8 Jun 2021

Exercise may be the most effective treatment for depression in coronary heart disease patients

A study by RCSI indicates that exercise is probably the most effective short-term treatment for depression in people with coronary heart disease, when compared to antidepressants and psychotherapy or more complex care.

8 Jun 2021

Mandating vaccination could have a substantial negative impact on voluntary compliance

Citizen opposition to COVID-19 vaccination has emerged across the globe, prompting pushes for mandatory vaccination policies.

8 Jun 2021

A single blood-based biomarker can help indicate underlying neurodegeneration

Levels of a protein called neurofilament light chain (NfL) in the blood can identify those who might have neurodegenerative diseases such as Down's syndrome dementia, motor neuron disease (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia, when clinical symptoms are not definitive

7 Jun 2021

COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, study finds

A study of over 59,000 Icelandic adolescents by a team of Icelandic and North American behavioral and social scientists found that COVID-19 has had a significant, detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, especially in girls.

5 Jun 2021

Social trend of announcing preferred pronouns improves how they are understood

A growing number of people use they/them pronouns to signal their gender identity, but for many people, use of "they" to refer to a single individual takes some getting used to.

4 Jun 2021

Perception of “speech-to-song illusion" is not affected by age

A strange thing sometimes happens when we listen to a spoken phrase again and again: It begins to sound like a song.

4 Jun 2021

African cichlid fish could serve as a premier model of social disorders

Beau Alward, University of Houston assistant professor of psychology, who holds a joint appointment in biology and biochemistry and is director of the Social Neuroscience Lab, has received the Beckman Young Investigator Award by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.

4 Jun 2021

New study undermines the link between neural electrical activity and free will

For decades, researchers have debated whether the buildup of certain electrical activities in the brain indicates that human beings are unable to act out of free will.

4 Jun 2021

Bad romantic relationships may worsen physical and mental health in postpartum women

Postpartum women in bad romantic relationships are not only more likely to suffer symptoms of depression, they are also at greater long-term risk of illness or death, according to new research from Rice University, Ohio State University and the University of California, Irvine.

3 Jun 2021