Feature Channels: Psychology and Psychiatry

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New research indicates that adults born very premature are more likely to be socially withdrawn and display signs of autism.

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Other topics include nursing research, treating hep C and HIV, and more

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Advertisers hoping to sway consumers might want to rethink running spots within media with violent or sexual themes, and might do better if the ads themselves have a G-rating, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. Instead, violent and sexual media content may impair advertising’s effectiveness and ultimately deter purchasing, the research found.

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If there’s one thing advertisers think they know, it is that sex and violence sell. A new analysis, however, provides some of the best evidence to date that this widely accepted adage just isn’t true.

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College women who are more emotionally invested in Facebook and have lots of Facebook friends are less concerned with body size and shape and less likely to engage in risky dieting behaviors. But that’s only if they aren’t using Facebook to compare their bodies to their friends’ bodies, according to the authors of a surprising new study at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

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No one likes to lose a friend, especially adolescents. Adolescent friendships are fleeting. The majority dissolve after a year or two. But why do friendships end? Researchers sought to answer this question by examining whether adolescent friendships end because of undesirable characteristics of friends, because of differences between friends, or both. They tracked friendships over six years, measuring the effect of both dissimilarities and undesirable individual attributes in predicting when an adolescent friendship would end.

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A team of NYU neuroscientists has identified the “acoustic signature” of screams, a study that points to the unique attributes of this form of expression and suggests we are able to generate sounds reserved exclusively for signaling distress.

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In a recent study conducted by Prof. Micah Leshem of the University of Haifa, no correlation was found between salt intake and an increased sense of thirst or more drinking of water – “Tavern owners can reduce the amount of salt in their bar snacks without fear of a cutting down their customers’ consumption of drinks,” says Prof. Leshem

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It is mind over matter and here are tips to improve or maintain health this summer, says Allison Grupski, PhD, psychologist at Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery & Bariatric Care.

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A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology finds that whites aware of their biases are better equipped to address contemporary racial challenges, where prejudice is often expressed in subtle, unintentional and unconscious ways, than those who claim to have no racial preferences.

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Benzodiazepine drugs are widely used in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but available evidence suggests that they are not effective—and may even be harmful, concludes a systematic review and meta-analysis in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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A new Florida State University study has found that just receiving a notification on your cell phone can cause enough of a distraction to impair your ability to focus on a given task. The distraction is comparable to the effects seen when actually using a cell phone to make calls or send text messages.

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Developing any habit starts with a routine. The trick is making exercise a habit that is hard to break. A new Iowa State University study shows that may be easier to accomplish by focusing on cues that make going to the gym automatic.

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Research by Cornell food scientists reveals how a person’s emotional state – particularly in the competitive, wide world of sports – affects the perception of taste. In particular, people in negative emotional states tend to crave sweets more than those in a positive frame of mind.

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New research by a Baylor University professor shows that licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), who account for the largest number of clinically trained helping professionals, believe that discussions about their clients’ religion and spirituality can often lead to improved health and mental health, but practitioners are not integrating these conversations into their counseling sessions.

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Applying mild electrical stimulation to an area of the brain associated with cognitive control helps people with schizophrenia recognize errors and adjust their behavior to avoid them.

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Technology has fueled the fascination with selfies. Two Iowa State professors talk about the selfie trend and why more entertainment venues will follow Disney's lead to ban selfie sticks.

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How much a child’s pupil dilates in response to seeing an emotional image can predict his or her risk of depression over the next two years, according to new research from Binghamton University.

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Other topics include repairing injured nerves, busted heart attack treatment, decorative brain molecules, and more...

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Studying brain scans and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy adults, scientists have shown that changes in key biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease during midlife may help identify those who will develop dementia years later, according to new research.

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Other topics include memories and protein, physics and gas mileage, agriculture and food safety, vaccine for Dengue, retinoblastoma proteins in cancer progression, and more.

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Other topics include neurology, obesity, statins, and the risks of wearing high heels.

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When it comes to the art of persuasion, you can attract more followers if you turn conventional wisdom on its head and stress what you like, not what you do. A new study, to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, finds that people are more likely to conform to others' preferences than conform to others’ actions. In other words, people want to like what others like, but they want to have or do what others don’t have or don't do.

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Children of parents who are frequently in conflict process emotional interactions differently and may face social challenges later in life compared with children from low conflict homes. The findings are based on measuring research subjects’ brain activity during a psychological test

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Taking a nap may be an effective strategy to counteract impulsive behavior and to boost tolerance for frustration, according to a University of Michigan study.

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In addition to its effect on chronic tics, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can change the brain function of people with Tourette syndrome.

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A psychology study from Indiana University and others in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests conservatives may display a greater aptitude for certain aspects of self-control.

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For the first time, researchers from the University of North Florida and the University of Sheffield, U.K., have discovered that working memory helps children tell better lies.

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Sexual dysfunction in women can be linked to low resting heart rate variability, a finding that could help clinicians treat the condition, according to a study by psychologists from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Topics include: treating advanced skin cancer, big data and bioenergy, cancer research, 10 reasons to eat quinoa, sleep issues in the nursing field, advances in cancer surgery, genes for sleep, brain receptor for cocaine addiction, and nano imaging on insect adaptations.

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Parents take out second mortgages, give up jobs and liquidate their retirement savings to help their young athletes, musicians and writers reach top competitive levels

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We can alter our facial features in ways that make us look more trustworthy, but don’t have the same ability to appear more competent, a team of NYU psychology researchers has found.

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Sit down with a friend in a quiet restaurant and begin talking, just before the dinner crowd’s arrival. Business is slow at first, but picks up quickly, just like the sound level. Discussions are everywhere, colliding and competing with the other noises.

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Up to 80 percent of individuals with a past history of depression will get depressed again in the future. However, little is known about the specific factors that put these people at risk. New research suggests that it may be due to the things you pay attention to in your life.

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Humans are unlikely to be the only animal capable of self-awareness, a new study has shown.

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In "Group Discussion Improves Lie Detection," the researchers designed four experiments in which groups consistently distinguished truth from lies more accurately than one individual, demonstrating that the group advantage in lie detection comes through the process of group discussion, not the product of a "wisdom of crowds" effect.

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According to a new study, women experiencing difficulty with time management, attention, organization, memory, and problem solving – often referred to as executive functions – related to menopause may find improvement with a drug already being used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

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A University of Maryland School of Social Work researcher joins with colleagues at William & Mary to probe a possible connection between fermented foods, which contain probiotics, and social anxiety symptoms.

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As an economic and political force, researchers say that older adults hold a tremendous amount of social power. A new West Virginia University study is examining what factors contribute to older adults’ decisions.

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When facing an ethical dilemma, being aware of the temptation before it happens and thinking about the long-term consequences of misbehaving could help more people do the right thing, according to a new study.

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This conclusion is based on a new study conducted on rats at the University of Haifa. Prof. Mouna Maroun, the researcher leader, explains that given the similarity between the mechanisms in rats and humans responsible for coping with stress, “the immediate significance is that we cannot go on treating children affected by stress in the same way and with the same drugs that we use for adult patients”

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– Individuals with a higher level of moral reasoning skills showed increased gray matter in the areas of the brain implicated in complex social behavior, decision making, and conflict processing as compared to subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with a researcher from Charité Universitätsmediz in Berlin, Germany. The team studied students in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the Wharton School. The work is published in the June 3rd edition of the journal PLOS ONE.

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You might not need to remember those complicated e-mail and bank account passwords for much longer. According to a new study, the way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords.

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Sojourner Center, one of the largest and longest running domestic violence shelters in the United States, announced plans to develop the first world-class program dedicated to the analysis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in women and children living with domestic violence, a largely unrecognized public health issue.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: income inequality, climate change, genetics, cancer, precision medicine, medical imaging, schizophrenia, research funding, molecular biology and skin cancer.

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If you’re a musician, this sounds too good to be true: University of Chicago psychologists have been able to train some adults to develop the prized musical ability of absolute pitch, and the training’s effects last for months.

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Holding cynical beliefs about others may have a negative effect on your income according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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Monkey see, monkey count—almost. New research from the University of Rochester shows that while monkeys don’t have words or symbols for numbers like we do, they do understand the basic logic behind counting—and that can show us how humans first learned to count.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: genetics, cancer, nanotech, elderly care, marketing research, energy, children's health, and immunology.

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There’s more than one way to gain a sense of control. The traditional view of a life in control is one in which an individual has taken actions to ensure success in both the near and long terms. “Secondary control,” has been given short shrift in both the scientific literature and the attitudes of Western societies. Secondary control can be described as a mindset in which one accepts and adapts to the fact that much of life can’t be bent to human will.