Feature Channels: Cognition and Learning

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Released: 13-Aug-2014 8:45 AM EDT
New Research Finds IB Middle Years Students to be Self-Aware, Resilient, and Engaged in School
International Baccalaureate

Findings from exploratory study suggest IB Middle Years Programme has a positive impact on students’ social-emotional well-being.

Released: 12-Aug-2014 2:00 PM EDT
School Violence Intervention Program Effective in Vanderbilt Pilot Study
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Violent behavior and beliefs among middle school students can be reduced through the implementation of a targeted violence intervention program, according to a Vanderbilt study released in the Journal of Injury and Violence Research.

   
Released: 12-Aug-2014 10:15 AM EDT
Here, Career Prep Is Free, and Part of Every Student's Experience
Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College's The Lynk is a comprehensive program that connects liberal arts courses with students’ career goals. The program isn’t just an add-on for seniors, but offers an integrated series of trainings and opportunities to build skills throughout a student’s four years.

Released: 12-Aug-2014 9:50 AM EDT
Can Large Introductory Science Courses Teach Students to Learn Effectively?
Washington University in St. Louis

In the past 10 years an active-learning course, called “Active Physics,” has gradually displaced lecture-based introductory courses in physics at Washington University in St. Louis. But are active-learning techniques effective when they are scaled up to large classes? A comprehensive three-year evaluation suggests that “Active Physics” consistently produces more proficient and confident students than the lecture courses it is replacing. ​​

Released: 12-Aug-2014 9:00 AM EDT
ADHD, Substance Abuse and Conduct Disorder Develop From the Same Neurocognitive Deficits
Universite de Montreal

Researchers at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre have traced the origins of ADHD, substance abuse and conduct disorder, and found that they develop from the same neurocognitive deficits, which in turn explains why they often occur together.

Released: 11-Aug-2014 3:00 PM EDT
FAU Researchers Introduce ‘The Human Dynamic Clamp’ - a Groundbreaking Approach to Understanding Social Interaction
Florida Atlantic University

Scientists at Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences have created the Human Dynamic Clamp to address the difficult problem of studying social interactions in the laboratory. Their findings were released today in an article titled “The Human Dynamic Clamp as a Paradigm for Social Interaction” in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Released: 11-Aug-2014 1:00 PM EDT
Study Finds Differing Interests of Psychology Students and Their Professors Could Impact Retention
Ithaca College

What is the best way to keep psychology students from switching majors? According to a study published in the journal Teaching of Psychology, putting off intensive science courses may help. The study was conducted by Jeffrey Holmes, associate professor of psychology at Ithaca College, and is available at top.sagepub.com/content/41/2/104.

Released: 11-Aug-2014 11:00 AM EDT
Clues Emerge to Genetic Architecture of Cognitive Abilities in Children
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

A large new genetic study in thousands of children and adolescents offers early glimpses of the overall patterns and connections among cognitive abilities such as language reasoning, reading skill and types of memory. The findings may lead to new tools in understanding human cognitive development and neuropsychiatric disorders.

   
Released: 11-Aug-2014 5:00 AM EDT
Expecting to Teach Enhances Learning, Recall
Washington University in St. Louis

People learn better and recall more when given the impression that they will soon have to teach newly acquired material to someone else, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

   
5-Aug-2014 10:55 AM EDT
Women Who ‘Lean in’ Often Soon Leave Engineering Careers, Study Finds
American Psychological Association (APA)

Nearly 40 percent of women who earn engineering degrees quit the profession or never enter the field, and for those who leave, poor workplace climates and mistreatment by managers and co-workers are common reasons, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention.

       
5-Aug-2014 10:50 AM EDT
Musical Training Offsets Some Academic Achievement Gaps, Research Says
American Psychological Association (APA)

Learning to play a musical instrument or to sing can help disadvantaged children strengthen their reading and language skills, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention.

   
5-Aug-2014 10:40 AM EDT
Parents Part of Problem in Distracted Teen Driving, Study Finds
American Psychological Association (APA)

Parents play a direct role in distracted teen driving, with more than half of teens talking on cellphones with their mother or father while driving, according to new research presented at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention.

1-Aug-2014 2:00 PM EDT
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Alters Development of Brain Function
Children's Hospital Los Angeles Saban Research Institute

In the first study of its kind, Prapti Gautam, PhD, and colleagues from The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles found that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) showed weaker brain activation during specific cognitive tasks than their unaffected counterparts.

25-Jul-2014 5:00 PM EDT
Kids with Autism and Sensory Processing Disorders Show Differences in Brain Wiring
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

Researchers at UC San Francisco have found that children with sensory processing disorders have decreased structural brain connections in specific sensory regions different than those in autism, further establishing SPD as a clinically important neurodevelopmental disorder.

Released: 30-Jul-2014 8:45 AM EDT
ScratchJr: Coding for Kindergarten
Tufts University

ScratchJr, a free iPad app, is being released this week by researchers at the MIT Media Lab, Tufts University, and Playful Invention Company (PICO). With ScratchJr (scratchjr.org), children ages five to seven can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn how to create and express themselves with the computer, not just interact with it.

24-Jul-2014 2:00 PM EDT
Learning the Smell of Fear: Mothers Teach Babies Their Own Fears via Odor
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Babies can learn what to fear in the first days of life just by smelling the odor of their distressed mothers’, new research suggests. And not just “natural” fears: If a mother experienced something before pregnancy that made her fear something specific, her baby will quickly learn to fear it too -- through her odor when she feels fear.

Released: 28-Jul-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Memory Relies on Astrocytes, the Brain's Lesser Known Cells
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Salk scientists show that the little-known supportive cells are vital in cognitive function.

Released: 25-Jul-2014 1:00 PM EDT
Slow Walking Speed and Memory Complaints Can Predict Dementia
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

A study involving nearly 27,000 older adults on five continents found that nearly 1 in 10 met criteria for pre-dementia based on a simple test that measures how fast people walk and whether they have cognitive complaints. People who tested positive for pre-dementia were twice as likely as others to develop dementia within 12 years. The study, led by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center, was published online on July 16, 2014 in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Released: 24-Jul-2014 1:00 PM EDT
Childhood Friendships Crucial in Learning to Value Others
Loyola Medicine

Friends play an extremely important role in a person’s life. From infancy on, we have a desire to connect and those early relationships help to mold and develop our adult character. Through interactions with one another, we learn to think beyond ourselves to understand the needs and desires of others.

Released: 24-Jul-2014 9:30 AM EDT
Background TV Can Be Bad for Kids
University of Iowa

Leaving the television on can be detrimental to children's learning and development, according to a new study from the University of Iowa. Researchers found that background television can divert a child’s attention from play and learning. Results appear in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Released: 21-Jul-2014 8:00 AM EDT
Large Twin Study Suggests That Language Delay Due More to Nature Than Nurture
University of Kansas, Life Span Institute

A study of 473 sets of twins followed since birth found twins have twice the rate of language delay as do single-born children. Moreover, identical twins have greater rates of language delay than do non-identical twins, strengthening the case for the heritability of language.

Released: 17-Jul-2014 9:15 AM EDT
Measuring Nurture: Study Shows How "Good Mothering" Hardwires Infant Brain
NYU Langone Health

By carefully watching nearly a hundred hours of video showing mother rats protecting, warming, and feeding their young pups, and then matching up what they saw to real-time electrical readings from the pups’ brains, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that the mother’s presence and social interactions — her nurturing role — directly molds the early neural activity and growth of her offsprings’ brain.

8-Jul-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Months Before Their First Words, Babies' Brains Rehearse Speech Mechanics
University of Washington

University of Washington research in 7- and 11-month-old infants shows that speech sounds stimulate areas of the brain that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech. The study suggests that baby brains start laying down the groundwork of how to form words long before they actually begin to speak.

   
8-Jul-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Chimpanzee Intelligence Determined by Genes
Georgia State University

A chimpanzee’s intelligence is largely determined by its genes, while environmental factors may be less important than scientists previously thought, according to a Georgia State University research study.

Released: 9-Jul-2014 11:00 AM EDT
Study Cracks How the Brain Processes Emotions
Cornell University

Although feelings are personal and subjective, the human brain turns them into a standard code that objectively represents emotions across different senses, situations and even people, reports a new study by Cornell University neuroscientist Adam Anderson.

1-Jul-2014 10:00 AM EDT
Doing Something is Better Than Doing Nothing for Most People, Study Shows
University of Virginia

People are focused on the external world and don’t enjoy spending much time alone thinking, according to a new study led by University of Virginia psychologist Timothy Wilson and published in the journal Science.

Released: 1-Jul-2014 12:00 PM EDT
Insect Diet Helped Early Humans Build Bigger Brains, Study Suggests
Washington University in St. Louis

Figuring out how to survive on a lean-season diet of hard-to-reach ants, slugs and other bugs may have spurred the development of bigger brains and higher-level cognitive functions in the ancestors of humans and other primates, suggests research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Released: 27-Jun-2014 11:00 AM EDT
Monkeys Also Believe in Winning Streaks, Study Shows
University of Rochester

Humans have a well-documented tendency to see winning and losing streaks in situations that, in fact, are random. But scientists disagree about whether the “hot-hand bias” is a cultural artifact picked up in childhood or a predisposition deeply ingrained in the structure of our cognitive architecture.

Released: 27-Jun-2014 10:30 AM EDT
Mysteries of the Mind: Developmental Psychologist Explains Her Life’s Work Studying the Complexities of the Senses
McMaster University

Developmental psychologist Daphne Maurer has spent more than four decades studying the complexities of the human mind. As the director of the Visual Development Lab at McMaster University and president of the International Society on Infant Studies, Maurer will present her life’s work at the Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies in Berlin July 4th.

   
Released: 26-Jun-2014 11:00 AM EDT
Chimps Like Listening to Music with a Different Beat, Research Finds
American Psychological Association (APA)

While preferring silence to music from the West, chimpanzees apparently like to listen to the different rhythms of music from Africa and India, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

   
Released: 25-Jun-2014 4:20 PM EDT
Pediatric Concussion Experts at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Comment on Guidelines Released Today on Diagnosing and Managing Pediatric Concussion
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Guidelines released today by Canadian pediatric emergency medicine researchers are in line with the work that has been taking place over the past several years at CHOP to help improve pediatric concussion diagnosis and treatment and standardize youth concussion care.

Released: 24-Jun-2014 9:05 AM EDT
Helpful Bouncing Babies Show That Moving Together Builds Bonds From the Time We Learn to Walk
McMaster University

Researchers have shown that moving with others in time to music increases altruistic behavior in babies who have barely learned to walk.

Released: 22-Jun-2014 5:00 PM EDT
Gestational Diabetes is Associated with Declining Cognitive Function
Endocrine Society

Women who develop diabetes during pregnancy, called gestational diabetes, perform worse on cognitive function tests than do women with a normal pregnancy, according to a new study from Turkey. The results were presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.

Released: 18-Jun-2014 9:05 AM EDT
Exposure to TV Violence Related to Irregular Attention and Brain Structure
Indiana University

Young adult men who watched more violence on television showed indications of less mature brain development and poorer executive functioning, according to the results of an Indiana University School of Medicine study published online in the journal Brain and Cognition.

   
11-Jun-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Study Links APC Gene to Learning and Autistic-like Disabilities
Tufts University

A new mouse model developed by researchers at Tufts University demonstrates that learning impairments and autistic-like behaviors can be caused by loss of the APC gene in the developing brain, demonstrating that APC regulates critical pathways that link to these disabilities.

Released: 16-Jun-2014 5:00 PM EDT
Long-Term Study Suggests Ways to Help Children Learn Language and Develop Cognitive Skills
University of Chicago

Examining factors such as how much children gesture at an early age may make it possible to identify and intervene with very young children at risk for delays in speech and cognitive development, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago.

15-Jun-2014 4:00 PM EDT
Researchers Reveal Latest Finding on How Genes Are Involved in Risk Taking and Strategic Thinking
National University of Singapore (NUS)

National University of Singapore (NUS), University of California, Berkeley, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) researchers have teamed up to show that when we make strategic decisions in a competitive betting game, at least in the laboratory, genes that modulate dopamine information signaling in the brain partially trigger how we take risks.

Released: 16-Jun-2014 9:15 AM EDT
Children in Low-Income Homes Fare Better in Kindergarten if Moms Work When They Are Babies
American Psychological Association (APA)

Kindergarteners from lower-income families who were babies when their mothers went to work outside the home fare as well as or even better than children who had stay-at-home moms, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Released: 10-Jun-2014 2:00 PM EDT
Real or Fake? Research Shows Brain Uses Multiple Clues for Facial Recognition
North Dakota State University

Faces fascinate. We look for familiar or friendly ones in a crowd. And video game developers and movie animators strive to create faces that look real rather than fake. Determining how our brains decide what makes a face “human” and not artificial is a question Dr. Benjamin Balas of North Dakota State University, Fargo, and of the Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, studies in his lab. New research by Balas and NDSU graduate Christopher Tonsager, published online in the London-based journal Perception, shows that it takes more than eyes to make a face look human.

Released: 9-Jun-2014 12:00 PM EDT
Affordable Housing Linked to Children’s Intellectual Ability
 Johns Hopkins University

It’s long been accepted – with little science to back it up – that people should spend roughly a third of their income on housing. As it turns out, that may be about how much a low-income family should spend to optimize children’s brainpower.

Released: 6-Jun-2014 2:00 PM EDT
Texas Tech Psychologist: fMRI Research Suggests Classic Mathematical Models of Memory/Familiarity Correct
Texas Tech University

Scientists look at how brain responds to memory and familiarity with fMRI to discover the mathematical predicting models have had it right all along.

5-Jun-2014 10:00 AM EDT
Sleep After Learning Strengthens Connections Between Brain Cells and Enhances Memory
NYU Langone Health

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center show for the first time that sleep after learning encourages the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions from brain cells that connect to other brain cells and facilitate the passage of information across synapses, the junctions at which brain cells meet.

Released: 2-Jun-2014 2:00 PM EDT
New Book Aims to Reach Kids: The Owner’s Manual for Driving Your Adolescent Brain
Binghamton University, State University of New York

Adolescence can be a wild ride. But a new book called The Owner’s Manual for Driving your Adolescent Brain uses science and storytelling to explain to children how to think about and sometimes manage the chaos. The book is a collaboration of neuroscientist Terrence Deak, associate professor of psychology at Binghamton University, and his aunt, JoAnn Deak, a longtime educator with a doctorate in educational psychology and author of several books, including Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, written for children ages 5 to 9.

Released: 29-May-2014 5:00 PM EDT
Pleasant Smells Increase Facial Attractiveness
Monell Chemical Senses Center

New research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center reveals that women’s faces are rated as more attractive in the presence of pleasant odors. In contrast, odor pleasantness had less effect on age evaluation. The findings suggest that perfumes and scented products may, to some extent, alter how people perceive one another.

29-May-2014 12:40 PM EDT
Deception Improved Athletic Performance
Indiana University

Indiana University researchers say a little deception caused cyclists in their 4K time trial to up their performance even after they realized they had been tricked.

13-May-2014 1:00 PM EDT
Human Learning Altered by Electrical Stimulation of Dopamine Neurons
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Stimulation of a certain population of neurons within the brain can alter the learning process, according to a team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania. A report in the Journal of Neuroscience describes for the first time that human learning can be modified by stimulation of dopamine-containing neurons in a deep brain structure known as the substantia nigra.

6-May-2014 6:00 PM EDT
Better Cognition Seen with Gene Variant Carried by 1 in 5
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

A scientific team led by the Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco has discovered that a common form of a gene already associated with long life also improves learning and memory, a finding that could have implications for treating age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s.

7-May-2014 12:00 PM EDT
Mouse Study Offers New Clues to Cognitive Decline
Washington University in St. Louis

New research suggests that certain types of brain cells may be “picky eaters,” seeming to prefer one specific energy source over others. The finding has implications for understanding the cognitive decline seen in aging and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.

Released: 28-Apr-2014 10:50 AM EDT
Using a Foreign Language Changes Moral Decisions
University of Chicago

Would you sacrifice one person to save five? Such moral choices could depend on whether you are using a foreign language or your native tongue. A new study from psychologists at the University of Chicago and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona finds that people using a foreign language take a relatively utilitarian approach to moral dilemmas, making decisions based on assessments of what’s best for the common good.

24-Apr-2014 11:00 AM EDT
Diet Can Predict Cognitive Decline
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)

Preliminary data from Tufts University researchers suggest that lower dietary consumption of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) might be risk factors for cognitive decline.



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