Psychology News and Research

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

Study identifies brain area linked to social behavior and altruism

Are there areas of the brain, which regulate prosocial, altruistic behaviour? Together with colleagues from the universities in Lausanne, Utrecht and Cape Town, researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have studied a very special group of patients and established that the "basolateral amygdala" (part of the limbic system) plays an important role in this.

16 Apr 2025

Digital technology use linked to lower risk of cognitive decline

As the first generation that interacted with digital technology reaches an age where dementia risks emerge, scientists have asked the question: Is there a correlation between digital technology use and an increased risk of dementia?

15 Apr 2025

Stress and depression help explain intertwined alcohol, sleep problems

Insomnia and hazardous drinking are so closely intertwined that estimates suggest at least one-third, and as many as 91%, of people who have a hard time with sleep also misuse alcohol.

14 Apr 2025

Gut imbalances in autism linked to brain and behavior changes

A new USC study suggests that gut imbalances in children with autism may create an imbalance of metabolites in the digestive system - ultimately disrupting neurotransmitter production and influencing behavioral symptoms.

14 Apr 2025

Psychologists explore ethical issues associated with human-AI relationships

It's becoming increasingly commonplace for people to develop intimate, long-term relationships with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

11 Apr 2025

Children's faces may reveal hidden gender bias

New research recently published in Archives of Sexual Behavior suggests children's gender biases can be reflected in their facial emotional expressions.

11 Apr 2025

The shifting sands of parenthood: Americans re-evaluate family plans

Recent data from Pew Research Center suggests that Americans are rethinking whether they want to become parents. This could be part of a long-term trend, as a research team from Michigan State University found that the percentage of nonparents in the United States who never want children has doubled over the past 20 years.

11 Apr 2025

Probiotics improve emotional state in healthy adults, study finds

A randomized controlled trial in 88 healthy adults found that probiotics reduced negative mood when assessed using daily self-reports, though traditional questionnaires failed to detect significant changes. These findings suggest that daily mood tracking may offer a more sensitive way to capture subtle emotional effects of probiotics in non-clinical populations.

10 Apr 2025

Combined use of alcohol and cannabis could fuel addiction risks

Many young adults drink alcohol and use cannabis together, at the same time, as a coping mechanism or to relieve stress.

10 Apr 2025

Eye tracking reveals untapped potential in individuals with multiple disabilities

Using eye-tracking - a technique for recording and analysing eye movements - a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has shown that individuals with multiple disabilities can improve their social and emotional skills.

10 Apr 2025

Tiny facial movements could help better understand social communication in autistic individuals

A study led by Rutgers University-New Brunswick researchers suggests that tiny facial movements – too slight for the human eye to notice – could help scientists better understand social communication in people with autism.

9 Apr 2025

Can nature-based therapies heal people and the planet? Study investigates holistic solutions

Researchers at Swansea University have developed a protocol for a scoping review to explore how nature-based interventions influence individual, collective, and planetary well-being.

9 Apr 2025

Children with potential ASD show preference for predictable movements

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience social communication impairments and engage in restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs).

8 Apr 2025

Babies as young as three months can sense their own heartbeat

Body signals such as heartbeat and breathing accompany us constantly, often unnoticed as background noise of our perception. Even in the earliest years of life, these signals are important as they contribute to the development of self-awareness and identity. However, until know little has been known about whether and how babies can perceive their own body signals. A recent study from Wiener Kinderstudien Lab at the University of Vienna demonstrates for the first time that babies as young as 3 months can perceive their own heartbeat. In addition, the team, headed by researchers from the University of Vienna, together with colleagues from the University of Potsdam and Royal Holloway University of London, also investigated for the first-time infants' perception of their own breathing and found developments during the first two years of life. The results are now published in the prestigious journal eLife. The perception of internal body signals is closely linked to emotional awareness, mental health, and self-perception. Early in life the ability to perceive one's own body signals may be particularly important, as it often forms the basis for interactions with caregivers - for example babies rely on their caregivers to respond appropriately to signs of hunger or discomfort. Moreover, the development of self-awareness and identity partly depends on the perception and experience of one's own body. The study shows that even 3-month-old babies can perceive their own heartbeat and that this ability remains relatively stable during the first two years of life. At the same time, the findings indicate that the perception of breathing improves significantly during the second year. Interestingly, the ability to perceive the heartbeat and breathing does not appear to be related - much like in adults. Measuring body awareness in babies is challenging, as, unlike adults, you cannot simply rely on verbal report. Therefore, the research team used innovative methods by tracking the infants' eye movements as they watched child-friendly figures. These figures moved either in synchrony with the child's heartbeat or breathing, or with a slight time delay. Results showed that even at an early age, babies recognize the correspondence between their own heartbeat or breathing rhythm and the animated figures. They looked longer at the screen when the figures were in synchrony than when they were delayed. "The babies must have recognized that the figures moved simultaneously with their heartbeat or breathing, and then they paid more attention," said the study's lead author, Markus Tünte from the University of Vienna. These findings open up exciting perspectives for future developmental psychology research. In particular, it is important to explore how early body awareness relates to the development of emotional and social skills, as well as the role parents play in shaping early body perception. In the long term, such research could be used to promote healthy body awareness and, consequently, the mental health of children.

8 Apr 2025

Mindfulness and CBT provide long-term relief for chronic back pain

The list of treatments for low back pain is endless, but few offer relief for the one in four Americans who suffer from this persistent pain and leading cause of disability globally. More than 80% of those with chronic low back pain wished there were better treatment options.

7 Apr 2025

Young females more vulnerable to social anxiety from smartphone dependence

A new study presented today at the European Psychiatric Association Congress 2025 reveals that gender plays a significant role in excessive and problematic (psychological or behavioral dependence) smartphone use, with young females more likely to experience higher social anxiety than other genders.

7 Apr 2025

Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures: A Conversation with WHO’s Dr. Allotey

Dr. Pascale Allotey advocates for comprehensive maternal health policies, stressing the importance of women's voices in shaping effective healthcare solutions.

7 Apr 2025

Medical cannabis may help reduce cravings and improve recovery outcomes

A new pilot study from UBC Okanagan and Thompson Rivers University examined how medically supervised cannabis use in a residential recovery home may support people in treatment for substance use challenges.

4 Apr 2025

Living with fathers strengthens adolescent relationships

Children who grow up with their fathers under the same roof tend to feel close to them, forming strong relationships that last through challenging teenage years, according to a new study.

3 Apr 2025

Emotional fear acts as a barrier to constructive communication among partners with PTSD

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms often have trouble communicating and resolving relationship difficulties with their romantic partners, according to previous research by Steffany Fredman, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, and others.

1 Apr 2025