Psychology News and Research

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

Research challenges theories on the organization of the visual system

Neuroscientists from the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota have found that the first area in the cortex of the human brain that receives information from the eyes processes the perceived size, rather than the actual size, of an object.

9 Mar 2006

How mammalian brains recognize other individuals

Imagine seeing a former high school classmate you always wanted to know better. Then imagine seeing that kid who used to push you in the hallways. Do you react differently? What happens in your brain during these encounters?

9 Mar 2006

Sex chromosome genes influence aggression

It has been well documented that, across human cultures and in most mammals, males are usually more aggressive and less nurturing than females.

9 Mar 2006

Genes play a key role in stress response

Both nature and nurture - genetic makeup and the environment experienced through life - combine to influence health and well-being, Duke University Medical Center researchers and their colleagues have determined in four new studies.

7 Mar 2006

Hostile women more likely to have atherosclerosis

Hardening of the coronary arteries is more likely in wives when they and their husbands express hostility during marital disagreements, and more common in husbands when either they or their wives act in a controlling manner.

7 Mar 2006

Simple saliva test may offer a new way to probe the consequences of caffeine coupled with stress

Using doses of caffeine equivalent to drinking one to four cups of coffee and an intense arithmetic test as stressors, Klein and her colleagues found a rise in the amount of alpha amylase, an enzyme secreted by the salivary glands, in the healthy young men who participated in the study.

7 Mar 2006

Peer exclusion may be as harmful as bullying

Children who are excluded from activities by their peers are more likely to withdraw from classroom activities and suffer academically, according to a recent study in the Journal of Educational Psychology published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

7 Mar 2006

A healthy heart means all the usual plus don't fight with your spouse

According to researchers in the U.S. older couples who argue and row harm their hearts.

6 Mar 2006

Effective oral treatment of erectile dysfunction can improve relationships

The inability to perform sexually can have a significant negative psychosocial impact on a man's overall health including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

1 Mar 2006

Obese people may be more sensitive to pain

The obese patients showed a greater physical response to the electrical stimulation than did the non-obese people, both before and after the training session. This indicates they had a lower tolerance for the painful stimulation despite reporting, in questionnaires, that they felt no more pain than non-obese people.

1 Mar 2006

Taste genes may yield important information about who smokes and why they smoke

Recent research on the genetics of smoking has focused on genes that are thought to be related to nicotine metabolism, personality traits, and regulation of emotions.

27 Feb 2006

Significant advance in our understanding of how sound is encoded for transmission to the brain

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered that our ears use the most efficient way to process the sounds we hear, from babbling brooks to wailing babies.

27 Feb 2006

Anabolic steroids flip the adolescent brain's switch for aggression

Anabolic steroids not only make teens more aggressive, but may keep them that way into young adulthood. The effect ultimately wears off but there may be other, lasting consequences for the developing brain.

27 Feb 2006

Scientists can now predict memory of an event before it even happens

A team at UCL (University College London) can now tell how well memory will serve us before we have seen what we will remember.

27 Feb 2006

Teatments based on behaviour could reduce prescription drug use

New psychological treatments - behavioural medicine - could significantly reduce the need for drug treatments for some conditions, cutting health system costs says an editorial in this week's British Medical Journal.

27 Feb 2006

Study shows brain anticipates taste

Now, however, scientists have begun to peel back some of the neurological secrets of this remarkable phenomenon and show how the brain can be rewired in anticipation of sensory input to respond in prescribed ways.

24 Feb 2006

Girls' approach to school may give them an edge in math

More women are pursuing higher education and doctoral degrees than ever before, but women still are rare in the math-oriented professions. Yet, researchers say, girls perform just as well as boys on achievement tests and tend to earn better grades in math than do boys during the earlier school years.

23 Feb 2006

Expert panel dispels the many myths of Autism

A panel of autism experts at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, have presented reports which comment on the assumptions about the developmental disability.

21 Feb 2006

Exercise re-ignites key areas of the brain

Too old to learn new skills? By golly, think again. New research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that training re-ignites key areas of the brain, offsetting some age-related declines and boosting performance.

21 Feb 2006

Lifetime calorie restraint to prevent obesity is the most powerful way to reduce age-related health problems

University of South Florida researcher Barbara Hansen, PhD, will likely never be invited to talk about weight loss on Oprah. Her message is mundanely common sense, not faddish - she doesn't drop phrases like "low carb," or "low fat," or "geared to your body type" or "put your body into fat-burning mode."

20 Feb 2006