Psychology News and Research

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

New game-based simulation training for firefighters beats home fires, minimizes heart risk

Firefighting isn't what it used to be. Whether it's a complex blaze raging in an urban high-rise or a seemingly straightforward single-level home fire, modern building construction and furnishings have made fighting fires more difficult: Flames burn hotter, produce more smoke, and spread more quickly.

27 Oct 2015

Reducing depression to a checklist of symptoms may not be useful, new research reveals

How can you tell if someone is depressed? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - the 'bible' of psychiatry - diagnoses depression when patients tick off a certain number of symptoms on the DSM checklist. A large-scale quantitative study coordinated at KU Leuven, Belgium, now shows that some symptoms play a much bigger role than others in driving depression, and that the symptoms listed in DSM may not be the most useful ones.

26 Oct 2015

Cochlear implants improve outcomes in infants with profound hearing loss

'Dada' is a first word for many babies. Babbling sounds with consonant-vowel repetitions, such as 'dada,' are common among infants once they reach 8 months old; however, these sounds are not prevalent among infants who have profound hearing loss -- that is, until they receive cochlear implants.

23 Oct 2015

New research may have profound impact on future development of anti-depressant medications

Major depression, which afflicts one in six people at some point in their life, is the leading global cause of disability - surpassing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer and HIV/AIDS combined.

22 Oct 2015

New study shows value of educating OB/GYN residents to address menopause-related health issues

Despite the fact that nearly two million women every year reach menopause (that's equivalent to 6,000 women each day), many experts agree that OB/GYN residents are not being properly prepared to address menopause-related health issues.

22 Oct 2015

New research suggests that humans can perceive certain scents as threatening

New research from a team led by a psychologist at the University of Kent suggests that humans, like other species, can perceive certain scents as threatening.

20 Oct 2015

Negative stereotypes have adverse effects on patients' health

A national study led by a USC researcher found people who encountered the threat of being judged by negative stereotypes related to weight, age, race, gender, or social class in health care settings reported adverse effects.

20 Oct 2015

New study provides first clinical evidence on the serious toll human trafficking has on mental health

A new study by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London provides the first clinical evidence on the toll human trafficking has on mental health, including high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, amongst a patient population in South London.

19 Oct 2015

Study details circumstances surrounding actual childhood injuries

Two kids climb into an empty shopping cart and launch themselves down a hill. If you're an adult, you can imagine what happens next; if you're 6 and trying to impress your little brother, not so much.

16 Oct 2015

Discovery may pave way for addressing different forms of child abuse

Emotional abuse may be as harmful as physical abuse and neglect. This finding led by a team of researchers at McGill University complements previous imaging research showing that emotional and physical pain both activate the same parts of the brain.

15 Oct 2015

Developing tailored interventions for cognitive and behavioral symptoms key to improving outcomes after TBI

Kessler researchers assessed moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) for frontal behavioral syndromes and cognitive function. Their finding suggest that adding the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale to neuropsychological assessment may yield useful information about the behavioral sequelae of TBI.

15 Oct 2015

Researchers report weak association between brain size and IQ

As early as 1836, the German physiologist and anatomist Friedrich Tiedemann, in an article in the Philosophical Transactions, expressed his opinion that "there is undoubtedly a connection between the absolute size of the brain and the intellectual powers and functions of the mind". With the advent of brain imaging methods (e.g., MRI, PET), reliable assessments of in-vivo brain volume and investigations of its association with IQ are now possible.

15 Oct 2015

Perimenopausal women at greater risk for developing insomnia

Millions of women may likely be sleep-deprived. It's already a known fact that women are more predisposed to insomnia. Now a new study presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of The North American Menopause Society earlier this month suggests that perimenopausal women have an even greater risk for developing insomnia. Considering that perimenopause will affect roughly 500 million women within the next decade, that's a lot of tired women.

15 Oct 2015

Study seeks to understand how the human brain changes in space

In space, there is no "up" or "down." That can mess with the human brain and affect the way people move and think in space. An investigation on the International Space Station seeks to understand how the brain changes in space and ways to deal with those changes.

13 Oct 2015

Research findings open up new avenues for treatment of people with anorexia nervosa

When people with anorexia nervosa decide what to eat, they engage a part of the brain associated with habitual behavior. This finding by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute, the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, and New York University was published today in Nature Neuroscience.

13 Oct 2015

Computer-based cognitive training improves attention, memory in childhood cancer survivors

Intensive, adaptive computer-based cognitive training presented as a video game helped improve working memory and other cognitive skills of childhood cancer survivors and holds hope for revolutionizing management of the late effects of cancer treatment.

13 Oct 2015

Study discovers direct link between infants' oral-motor movements and auditory speech perception

Inhibiting infants' tongue movements impedes their ability to distinguish between speech sounds, researchers with the University of British Columbia have found. The study is the first to discover a direct link between infants' oral-motor movements and auditory speech perception.

13 Oct 2015

HDL not so good in protecting women against atherosclerosis, study shows

What has previously been known as good cholesterol--high density lipoprotein (HDL)--has now been shown to be not so good in protecting women against atherosclerosis while they are transitioning through menopause. That's according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health that was presented last week at the annual meeting of The North American Menopause Society in Las Vegas.

9 Oct 2015

Study: Learning complex auditory categories through procedural learning is impaired in dyslexia

The cognitive skills used to learn how to ride a bike may be the key to a more accurate understanding of developmental dyslexia. And, they may lead to improved interventions.

9 Oct 2015

Roy D. Patterson selected to receive ASA's Silver Medal in Psychological and Physiological Acoustics

Roy D. Patterson, Emeritus Professor at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, has been named recipient of the Acoustical Society of America's Silver Medal in Psychological and Physiological Acoustics for contributions to understanding pitch and timbre perception, and for computational modeling of auditory representations.

9 Oct 2015

Psychology News and Research

Further Reading

New game-based simulation training for firefighters beats home fires, minimizes heart risk

Reducing depression to a checklist of symptoms may not be useful, new research reveals

Cochlear implants improve outcomes in infants with profound hearing loss

New research may have profound impact on future development of anti-depressant medications

New study shows value of educating OB/GYN residents to address menopause-related health issues

New research suggests that humans can perceive certain scents as threatening

Negative stereotypes have adverse effects on patients' health

New study provides first clinical evidence on the serious toll human trafficking has on mental health

Study details circumstances surrounding actual childhood injuries

Discovery may pave way for addressing different forms of child abuse

Developing tailored interventions for cognitive and behavioral symptoms key to improving outcomes after TBI

Researchers report weak association between brain size and IQ

Perimenopausal women at greater risk for developing insomnia

Study seeks to understand how the human brain changes in space

Research findings open up new avenues for treatment of people with anorexia nervosa

Computer-based cognitive training improves attention, memory in childhood cancer survivors

Study discovers direct link between infants' oral-motor movements and auditory speech perception

HDL not so good in protecting women against atherosclerosis, study shows

Study: Learning complex auditory categories through procedural learning is impaired in dyslexia

Roy D. Patterson selected to receive ASA's Silver Medal in Psychological and Physiological Acoustics

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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