Psychology News and Research

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

The effects of warning smokers on perceived risk, worry and motivation to quit

Go ahead. Nag, nag, nag. It might do some good after all. The more smokers worry about health risks, the more they will contemplate quitting, according to a new study in the latest issue of the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

2 Apr 2009

Better tests needed to pinpoint memory problems

There's a lot more to memory than the ability to remember a story, who the President is, or what you ate for lunch.

2 Apr 2009

Acute stress changes risk taking behavior in financial decision making

It is not surprising that as our economy continues its freefall, we are feeling increasingly more stressed and worried.

1 Apr 2009

Compassion fatigue: Impact on healthcare providers of caring for the terminally ill

Compassion fatigue in nurses, doctors and other front line cancer-care providers significantly impacts how they interact with patients, with patient families, with other healthcare workers, and with their own family, according to analysis by Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute researchers published in the March issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

1 Apr 2009

Do people with autism look at faces differently?

In the first study of its kind researchers will use video clips of spontaneously produced facial expressions in a real life social context to explore emotion recognition in autism.

1 Apr 2009

Activation of the prefrontal cortex improves working memory

Psychologists and neurologists invest considerable effort in the study of working memory.

1 Apr 2009

Why some people with very red faces do not look so healthy

People use the color of your skin to judge how healthy you are, according to researchers at the University of St Andrews.

1 Apr 2009

Providing housing and support services for homeless alcoholics reduces costs to taxpayers

Providing housing and support services for homeless alcoholics costs taxpayers less than leaving them on the street, where taxpayer money goes towards police and emergency health care.

1 Apr 2009

Mother's criticism causes distinctive neural activity among formerly depressed

Formerly depressed women show patterns of brain activity when they are criticized by their mothers that are distinctly different from the patterns shown by never depressed controls, according to a new study from Harvard University.

1 Apr 2009

Don't hold back: five is the right age to start school

Children markedly older in their year group tend to be less motivated in high school and academically behind children who are age appropriate, new research from the University of Sydney shows.

29 Mar 2009

Parahydrogen used to enhance MRI

A new technology which dramatically improves the sensitivity of Magnetic Resonance techniques including those used in hospital scanners and chemistry laboratories has been developed by scientists at the University of York.

29 Mar 2009

Food choices evolve through information overload

Ever been so overwhelmed by a huge restaurant menu that you end up choosing an old favourite instead of trying something new?

24 Mar 2009

Research provides new perspective on the way kids think

For parents who have found themselves repeating the same warnings or directions to their toddler over and over to no avail, new research from the University of Colorado at Boulder offers them an answer as to why their toddlers don't listen to their advice: they're just storing it away for later.

24 Mar 2009

Activity in one brain structure can predict people's preferences

The study shows that even when people rate options similarly, they will choose the one that causes more activation in the caudate nucleus, a brain region involved in anticipating reward.

24 Mar 2009

Social isolation makes strokes more deadly in mice

New research in mice suggests that social isolation may promote more damaging inflammation in the brain during a stroke.

23 Mar 2009

Naltrexone can reduce relapse rates among alcohol-dependence patients

Naltrexone, an opioid antagonist approved in 1994 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for alcohol-dependence (AD) treatment, can reduce relapse rates among AD patients.

20 Mar 2009

Social scientists say having kids does not increase happiness

As the nation prepares to celebrate motherhood, a University of York economist is claiming that the idea that parenting makes us happy is an illusion.

20 Mar 2009

Cognitive decline can begins in late 20s

A new study indicates that some aspects of peoples' cognitive skills - such as the ability to make rapid comparisons, remember unrelated information and detect relationships - peak at about the age of 22, and then begin a slow decline starting around age 27.

20 Mar 2009

Emotions and emotional control in eating disorders: predictor role and emotional profiles

A Ph.D. thesis at the University of the Basque Country has analyzed the role played by a number of emotional variables, such as the way in which negative emotions are controlled or attitudes to emotional expression, and to use these variables as tools to predict the possibility of suffering an eating disorder.

17 Mar 2009

Brain abnormality found in boys with ADHD

Researchers trying to uncover the mechanisms that cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder have found an abnormality in the brains of adolescent boys suffering from the conditions, but not where they expected to find it.

17 Mar 2009