How computer programs help children overcome language problems and the effect of estrogen
Scientists continue to unravel the mystery of the brain’s role in the development of language skills — and with some provocative results. One new study in this area, for example, reveals that children raised bilingually may actually be “smarter” than their monolingual peers. Other studies show how two computer learning programs potentially help children overcome reading and speech problems — res
Recent advances in understanding the behavioral, molecular, and anatomical bases of fear extinction in animals and humans are leading to new knowledge about the nature of fear and new treatments for anxiety disorders that affect millions of Americans.
Although every human being experiences some fear and anxiety during the course of normal life, excessive amounts of fear and anxiety are associated with almost all psychiatric illnesses. In those people who suffer from anxiety disorders like p
In new studies, scientists are discovering the neurobiological underpinnings of romantic love, trust, and even of self. New research also shows that a specific brain area – the amygdala – is involved in the process of understanding the intentions of others, in particular when lying is involved.
Using brain imaging, researchers Helen Fisher, Arthur Aron, Lucy Brown and colleagues find that feelings of intense romantic love are associated with specific activity in dopamine-rich brain regions
People can easily be swayed into believing that they have seen something they never actually did see, say researchers at Ohio State University.
Participants in a study looked at a series of slides portraying geometric shapes. They were later shown a second set of test slides – two of the test slides contained images from the original group of slides, two contained images that were obviously not part of the original set, and one slide contained the lure image – a shape very similar to
Simple semantics may help quell patient’s fears about taking part in medical education, according to a letter to this week’s BMJ.
Surprisingly, patients tend to accept a trainee’s presence in a consultation if they are addressed as student doctor or trainee doctor, as opposed to medical student, writes Dr Hany George El-Sayeh. This may be because of fears about being seen by a scruffy, disinterested youth who may well later report their intimacies in the bar.
He also recomme
Overweight boys have greater increases in blood pressure in response to stress than their female peers and decreased ability to restore normal pressures, researchers say in the November issue of Hypertension.
A Medical College of Georgia study showed that, despite typically having a greater height/weight ratio, overweight girls’ blood pressures respond less to stress and their natural mechanisms for decreasing blood pressure work significantly better, said Dr. Gregory A. Harshfield,
Elderly Hispanics and African Americans have higher rates of depression than their white counterparts, due largely to greater health burdens and lack of health insurance, a Northwestern University study has found.
The study, published in the November online issue of the American Journal of Public Health, showed that major depression was most prevalent among Hispanics – 10.8 percent — followed by almost 9 percent in African Americans and approximately 8 percent in whites in this age
Children whose mothers are depressed after childbirth are at elevated risk for violence by age 11, especially if the mothers suffered repeated depression, according to new research involving British families. The study also finds that in contrast to their peers, children whose mothers had been depressed at three months postpartum showed more diverse and severe aggressive behaviors than other children. The findings appear in the November issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal published by the A
Your eyes play tricks. And your brain makes it worse. Both teenagers and adults misjudge how much they pour into glasses. They will pour more into short wide glasses than into tall slender glasses, but perceive the opposite to be true. The delusion of shape even influences experienced bartenders, though to a lesser degree, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has found.
How shape can alter a person’s notion of size has been widely investigated. For instance, trian
“I never saw a woman worth thinking twice about after the anchor was a-peak – on shore it is another thing; and I will laugh, sing, dance, and make love, if they like it, with twenty girls.” — Clement Cleveland, in Walter Scott’s “The Pirate”
For long-term relationships, women like dads – men who are kind, compassionate and monogamous. But for short-term relationships, women prefer cads – the classic Romantic dark heroes who are dominant, promiscuous and daring.
That’s acc
A group of German researchers, headed by Gudrun Schneider (University of Munster) explored the characteristics of psychological well-being in an elderly population in an article published in the Nov-Dec 2003 issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
Recent gerontological research shows a high variability in the elderly population. The aim of the present study is to investigate by means of cluster analysis, as to whether different ’ageing styles’ can be identified in a sample of cognitivel
Married heterosexual couples can learn a great deal from gay and lesbian couples, far more than the stereotypical images presented by the television show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” according to the first published observational studies of homosexual relationships.
“Gay and lesbian couples are a lot more mature, more considerate in trying to improve a relationship and have a greater awareness of equality in a relationship than straight couples,” said John Gottman, a University of Wash
Even proficient bilingual speakers always have both languages on the tips of their tongues, according to Penn State researchers. “What appears amazing, is that people do not make extensive mistakes,” says Dr. Judith F. Kroll, professor of psychology and applied linguistics. “We have an exquisite cognitive control system that monitors the code switching between one language and another.” While no one knows exactly how the control system allows even people of limited bilingual ability to speak in a se
People who offer love, listening and help to others may be rewarded with better mental health themselves, according to a new study of churchgoers in the September/October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
The study is one of the first to track the positive health benefits of altruistic behavior, say Carolyn Schwartz, Sc.D., of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and colleagues.
“The findings really emphasize how helping others can help oneself,” Schwartz says.
Short people may be short-changed when it comes to salary, status and respect, according to a University of Florida study that found tall people earn considerably more money throughout their lives.
“Height matters for career success,” said Timothy Judge, a UF management professor whose research is scheduled to be published in the spring issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology. “These findings are troubling in that, with a few exceptions such as professional basketball, no one cou
The citizens of Kuwait became more supportive of democracy during the mid- to late-1990s, but that did not include a desire for closer ties with the United States and other Western countries, a new study found.
A survey of 1,500 Kuwaiti citizens conducted in 1994, 1996, and 1998 found that the citizens became less interested in trade alliances with the West and less likely to pay attention to Western media over that time period.
The long-term survey is one of the first in the Arab
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