Psychology News and Research

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

Sniffing out a partner

Beneath the perfume, soap and deodorant, it seems that the old smelly rules of attraction still apply.

1 Jun 2005

Those old crooners were right, love really can make you crazy

According to scientists brain images show that falling in love can look for all the world like mental illness with a mixture of mania, dementia and obsession that cuts people off from friends and family prompting uncharacteristic behavior which could almost be mistaken for psychosis.

31 May 2005

Young adults forget their own life-support decisions

More than half of young adults soon unwittingly change their minds about decisions they make governing future life-saving medical treatment for themselves, a new study has found.

30 May 2005

Adolescent depression can be as high as 20 percent

Teenage depression is widespread and can become a life-long illness, but is more often transitory, said UCLA Psychology Professor Constance Hammen, who discussed her research at the American Psychological Society's annual convention in Los Angeles.

29 May 2005

New evidence for cause of dyslexia

Addressing a persistent debate in the field of dyslexia research, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Southern California (USC) have disproved the popular theory that deficits in certain visual processes cause the spelling and reading woes commonly suffered by dyslexics.

29 May 2005

How the human brain can learn without thinking

Watch out -- you may learn something and not even know it, says Takeo Watanabe, an associate professor of psychology at Boston University's Center for Brain and Memory. Watanabe and his team recently pinpointed the mechanism that makes subliminal learning work. Watanabe will present the team's findings at the American Psychological Society meeting in Los Angeles, May 27 and 28.

26 May 2005

Tendency to be prejudiced is a form of common sense, hard-wired into the human brain

Contrary to what most people believe, the tendency to be prejudiced is a form of common sense, hard-wired into the human brain through evolution as an adaptive response to protect our prehistoric ancestors from danger.

26 May 2005

Most elementary school age children are harsher judges of others than adults and older children

By the time children are in second grade, they know to take what people say with a grain of salt, particularly when the statement supports the speaker's self-interest, according to a published study by Yale researchers.

26 May 2005

Study suggests deadlines intensify emotions

Amateur observers and scholars alike have remarked that older people often have more intense and complex emotional lives than their younger cohort. What accounts for the difference, wondered psychologist Ursina Teuscher: Wisdom gained with the gathering years? A shift in values thanks to greater life experience? Or, is it a keener sense of time – a precious and, of necessity, diminishing resource?

26 May 2005

Psychology studies confirm 'unfelt' emotion can alter consequential behavior

In studies led by Piotr Winkielman, associate professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego, people altered their consumption behaviors after exposure to subliminal facial expressions.

26 May 2005

Familiar songs act as strong memory cues

Memories associated with music are strong. So strong that even the mere mention of a song's title or a glimpse of the album cover can bring the recollections of a time or place flooding back.

26 May 2005

State of "incomplete" health has resulted in a loss of productivity in the workforce

While most American adults may not be patently sick, a vast majority of them still lack full health and vitality. This state of "incomplete" health has resulted in a loss of productivity in the workforce, and potentially increases health care costs in the long term, according to a new Emory University study published in the May issue of the Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health.

25 May 2005

Early-onset antisocial behaviour in children with psychopathic tendencies is largely inherited

The findings are the result of extensive research funded by the Medical Research Council, the Department of Health and the Home Office, and carried out by Dr. Essi Viding of the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, within the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

24 May 2005

Study evaluate the effects of long working hours

At the same time as many urban economies are developing into 24-hour societies, it is becoming increasingly popular amongst shift workers to compress their working hours. This is done by working longer shifts and/or restricting free time in-between shifts. The advantage is longer consecutive periods of days off. The disadvantage is lack of recovery during work periods.

23 May 2005

Study tackles aging issues of adults with developmental disabilities

Some 4.5 million Americans have a developmental disability. As people live longer, adults with developmental disabilities are no exception, yet their conditions also bring aging-related challenges. A new study by UCLA and Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation reports that a geriatric evaluation and follow-up visits by a nurse practitioner can detect and reduce health problems in this population that often go unaddressed by the healthcare system.

23 May 2005

Sarcasm the lowest form of wit demands the highest functions of the brain

New research suggests that the highest functions of our brains handle the lowest form of wit.

23 May 2005

British surgeons remove part of a woman's brain to cure her epilepsy

Helen Hollis, 41, from Teversal, near Mansfield, Nottingham, a former nurse and the mother of two, had her first seizure aged 19, but had to wait years before her condition was diagnosed.

23 May 2005

Israeli psychologists draw conclusions from how brain-damaged people comprehend sarcasm - or not

The ability to comprehend sarcasm depends upon a carefully orchestrated sequence of complex cognitive skills based in specific parts of the brain. Yeah, right, and I’m the Tooth Fairy. But it’s true: New research details an “anatomy of sarcasm” that explains how the mind puts sharp-tongued words into context.

23 May 2005

Dextromethorphan temporarily reduces the intensity of fibromyalgia

Dextromethorphan, an over-the-counter medication that silences coughs, may help fibromyalgia patients quiet over-reacting nerves that amplify ordinary touches into agony.

20 May 2005

Nurture as important as nature in developing ability for flexible self-control

Your ability to follow the rules of the road when driving on unfamiliar streets exists thanks to the way your pre-teen life experiences influenced the development of your brain. Individuals deprived of normal life experiences may lack this ability to control their behavior in novel situations, a new computer model suggests, providing insight into how nature and nurture may interact in the development of self-control.

20 May 2005