Feature Channels: Behavioral Science

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Today, Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), together with the Big Lots Foundation, announced a $50 million transformational gift to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Big Lots has dedicated its pledge to support Nationwide Children’s recently announced Behavioral Health expansion, including the construction of an approximately 250,000 square foot treatment and research Pavilion on the Hospital's main campus.

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Tall quarterbacks might have more going for them than a clear view over the offensive line. New research shows that tall people are better than shorter people at correctly identifying the location of targets in their middle-distance vision – between three and 20 meters away. (In football, that would be about three to 22 yards away.)

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The phrase “it looks so good you can almost taste it” may actually be scientifically proven based on the findings of a new study by Stony Brook University researchers that explored how the brain processes stimuli predicting taste.

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New study results provide insight into a long-observed, but little-understood connection between chronic pain and anxiety and offer a potential target for treatment. Researchers found that increased expression of PACAP -- a peptide neurotransmitter the body releases in response to stress -- is also increased in response to neuropathic pain and contributes to these symptoms.

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As an arm of the innate immune system, white blood cells called neutrophils form the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Neutrophils spend most of their lives racing through the bloodstream, patrolling for bacteria or other foreign particles. Once they arrive at tissues besieged by infectious agents, they halt on a dime and then blast through the vessel wall to reach the inflammatory attack site.

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A new economic study by the University of Stirling and Royal Holloway, University of London has found evidence that there is a big difference in cash flow problems faced by men and women in the UK. They found single women face more severe constraints to their incomings and outgoings, but that those single women whose personal wealth increases unexpectedly through an inheritance are more likely to start a new business than their male counterparts.

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A University of Adelaide-led project has overturned the theory that the evolution of human intelligence was simply related to the size of the brain ─ but rather linked more closely to the supply of blood to the brain.

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Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified 34 neural factors that predict adolescent alcohol consumption. The list, based upon complex algorithms analyzing data from neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging studies, was significantly more accurate —approximately 74 percent — than demographic information alone.

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Headline-grabbing disasters like the Chernobyl nuclear incident and the Exxon Valdez oil spill could have been prevented through better labor practices, like shorter shifts and more structured shift rotations, say two Missouri University of Science and Technology researchers in a new book on risk management.

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Experts from the University of Missouri believe that a family-based cognitive behavioral therapy may be the key for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have problems sleeping.

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Human relationships and interactions form our social network. Crickets are no different, except their networks are simpler. A U of Guelph researcher found the insects’ social network remains mostly unchanged each year and their social structure is conserved over evolutionary time.

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A study by psychological researchers at Indiana University shows that people are more likely to undermine their performance at stressful tasks when they're operating at "peak capacity" based on their preferred time of the day. The seemingly counterintuitive results were recently reported in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

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Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard Medical School used a rigorous study design to assess the biological impact of meditation compared to vacation.

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In today's wars, Americans who die or are wounded in battle are disproportionately coming from poorer parts of the country, according to a new study released this week.

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People are often excluded from social groups. As researchers from the University of Basel in Switzerland report in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, whether uninvolved observers find this acceptable or not may depend on the facial appearances of those excluded. The exclusion of cold and incompetent looking people is more likely to be accepted.

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Setting and achieving goals related to income and education may improve the overall health of Native Americans--that’s the premise behind a new research project, We RISE—raising income, supporting education—targeting young mothers on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in north central South Dakota. Health disparities research typically controls for socioeconomic status in analyses, but this study looks changing those socioeconomic variables.

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To remember events in the order they occur, the brain’s neurons function in a coordinated way that is akin to a symphony, a team of NYU scientists has found. Their findings offer new insights into how we recall information and point to factors that may disrupt certain types of memories.

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New findings suggest that most Americans with depression receive no treatment, while raising the possibility that overtreatment of depression is also widespread.

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Potential voters who see the nation as being in dire economic straits view a presidential candidate as more “presidential” when he or she uses high-intensity, emotional language, a new study suggests.

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