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Weight Management Programs For African-American Women Are More Successful If Held In A Church

NewsBot — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

As a brand new year gets underway, people all over America are resolving to better manage their weight and have a more healthy 2012. According to a new study, those starting new weight loss programs may be surprised to find out that both location and level of experience may influence their success...

How To Boost The Power Of Pain Relief, Without Drugs

NewsBot — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Placebos reduce pain by creating an expectation of relief. Distraction - say, doing a puzzle - relieves it by keeping the brain busy. But do they use the same brain processes? Neuromaging suggests they do. When applying a placebo, scientists see activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex...

Memory And Silence – A Complex Relationship

NewsBot — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

People who suffer a traumatic experience often don't talk about it, and many forget it over time. But not talking about something doesn't always mean you'll forget it; if you try to force yourself not to think about white bears, soon you'll be imagining polar bears doing the polka...

When Caring For Older People, Dignity Counts

NewsBot — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Older people feel that their health problems pose a challenge to their sense of independence, dignity and identity and sometimes the health care they are given makes things worse. According to research funded by UK Research Councils' New Dynamics of Ageing programme (NDA), healthcare providers must avoid taking a 'blanket view' of how to help older people cope with the ageing process...

Distinguishing Between The Forgetful And Those At Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease

NewsBot — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Does A Lab-Measured Compassionate Brain Fare Well In Real Life?

NewsBot — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

A new series of studies is being launched by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, exploring insight knowledge on how laboratory measures of moral qualities, such as compassion, relate to real-life behavior. Founder of the UW's Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM), Dr. Richard J. Davidson at the Waisman Center, was awarded a three-year, $1...

Genetic Connection To Traumatic Experience

NewsBot — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Rutgers scientists have uncovered genetic clues as to why some mice no longer in danger are still fearful while others are resilient to traumatic experiences - knowledge that could help those suffering with crippling anxiety and PTSD...

Hearing metaphors activates brain regions involved in sensory experience

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:26:26 +0000

New brain imaging research reveals that a region of the brain important for sensing texture through touch, the parietal operculum, is also activated when someone listens to a sentence with a textural metaphor. The same region is not activated when a similar sentence expressing the meaning of the metaphor is heard.

The complex relationship between memory and silence

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:15:15 +0000

Placebos and distraction: New study shows how to boost the power of pain relief, without drugs

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:15:15 +0000

Placebos reduce pain by creating an expectation of relief. Distraction -- say, doing a puzzle -- relieves it by keeping the brain busy. But do they use the same brain processes? Neuromaging suggests they do. When applying a placebo, scientists see activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. That's the part of the brain that controls high-level cognitive functions like working memory and attention -- which is what you use to do that distracting puzzle.

Suicide Recommendations Lead To Drop In Suicides Across England And Wales

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

According to new research published by The Lancet, there has been a substantial decrease in suicide rates among health authorities across England and Wales that adopted a new range of suicide recommendations...

Suicide Recommendations Lead To Drop In Suicides Across England And Wales

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Suicide Recommendations Lead To Drop In Suicides Across England And Wales

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

To make a social robot, key is satisfying the human mind

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:11:11 +0000

Understanding the human mind is the key to social robotics, and researchers describe what we can expect from this field in the future.

Measures Must Be Taken To Prevent Depression In Adolescents

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

As one of the most common, unrecognized and untreated health problems among young people, tackling depression is a serious priority for countries worldwide. The psychiatric disorder causes serious social and educational problems for patients, as well as leading to increased risk of suicide and substance abuse...

Schizophrenia: When hallucinatory voices suppress real ones, new electronic application may help

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:20:20 +0000

When a patient afflicted with schizophrenia hears inner voices something is taking place inside the brain that prevents the individual from perceiving real voices. A simple electronic application may help the patient learn to shift focus.

Mentoring Helps Survivors Of Violence, Child Abuse

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Can mentoring relationships help female students who survive childhood abuse or domestic violence? Absolutely, according to new research from Concordia University, published in the Journal of College Student Development...

For Those With Low Self-Esteem, Facebook Is Not Such A Good Thing

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

In theory, the social networking website Facebook could be great for people with low self-esteem. Sharing is important for improving friendships...

What Real Commitment To Your Marriage Means

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

What does being committed to your marriage really mean? UCLA psychologists answer this question in a new study based on their analysis of 172 married couples over the first 11 years of marriage. "When people say, 'I'm committed to my relationship,' they can mean two things," said study co-author Benjamin Karney, a professor of psychology and co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA...

Anesthesia Exposure Linked To ADHD In Children

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

A study by researchers at Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minn., and published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, reveals that children who have been under anesthesia many times when they are young have a greater risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). According to David Warner, M...

People-Pleasers Feel Pressure To Eat When They Believe It Will Help Another Person Feel More Comfortable

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

If you are a people-pleaser who strives to keep your social relationships smooth and comfortable, you might find yourself overeating in certain social situations like Super Bowl watch parties. A new study from Case Western Reserve University found that, hungry or not, some people eat in an attempt to keep others comfortable...

How to tell apart the forgetful from those at risk of Alzheimer’s disease

NewsBot — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:16:16 +0000

It can be difficult to distinguish between people with normal age-associated memory loss and those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However people with aMCI are at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and identification of these people would mean that they could begin treatment as early as possible. New research shows that specific questions, included as part of a questionnaire designed to help diagnose AD, are also able to discriminate between normal memory loss and aMCI.

Abnormal Brain Structure In Both Siblings – Addiction Only Affects One

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:00:00 +0000

A study conducted by Dr. Karen Ersche, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, England, and published in Science, reveals that one sibling who is addicted to drugs, and the other who is not, have similar brain abnormalities. These abnormalities come from an area of the brain that is vital for aiding people in exhibiting self control...

Untangling the mysteries of Alzheimer’s

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:17:17 +0000

Researchers have found new evidence that confirms the significance of a protein that neuroscientists call tau to the development of Alzheimer's disease. While earlier studies have focused on tau's aggregation into twisted structures known as "neurofibrillary tangles," the new work emphasizes intermediary steps between single protein units and the much larger tangles – small assemblages of two, three, four or more proteins, which the investigators believe are the most toxic entities in Alzheimer's.

Male and female behavior deconstructed

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:08:08 +0000

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how?

Working Memory Benefits Creative Insight, Musical Improvisation, and Original Ideation Through Maintained Task-Focused Attention

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:00:11 +0000

Anecdotes from creative eminences suggest that executive control plays an important role in creativity, but scientific evidence is sparse. Invoking the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model, the authors hypothesize that working memory capacity (WMC) relates to creative performance because it enables persistent, focused, and systematic combining of elements and possibilities (persistence). Study 1 indeed showed that under cognitive load, participants performed worse on a creative insight task. Study 2 revealed positive associations between time-on-task and creativity among individuals high but not low in WMC, even after controlling for general intelligence. Study 3 revealed that across trials, semiprofessional cellists performed increasingly more creative improvisations when they had high rather than low WMC. Study 4 showed that WMC predicts original ideation because it allows persistent (rather than flexible) processing. The authors conclude that WMC benefits creativity because it enables the individual to maintain attention focused on the task and prevents undesirable mind wandering.

Women Copy Each Others’ Eating Patterns

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

When two women are eating together, one is more likely to put food in her mouth when the other one is doing so too - while one's food-filled fork is coming towards her mouth, the other one is more likely to do the same within five seconds, researchers from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, reported in PLoS One (The Public Library of Science 1)...

Men behaving nicely: Selfless acts by men increase when attractive women are nearby

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:38:38 +0000

Men put on their best behavior when attractive ladies are close by. When the scenario is reversed however, the behavior of women remains the same.

Our Dining Partners Influence Our Eating Behavior

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Share a meal with someone and you are both likely to mimic each other's behavior and take bites at the same time rather than eating at your own pace, says a study published in the Feb. 2 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE. This behavior was found to be more prominent at the beginning of an interaction than at the end...

Britain’s First Adult Autism Survey Reveals Previously ‘Invisible’ Group With Autism

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

New research on autism in adults has shown that adults with a more severe learning disability have a greater likelihood of having autism. This group, mostly living in private households, was previously 'invisible' in estimates of autism...

Study Finds Testosterone Makes Us Less Cooperative And More Egocentric

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Testosterone makes us overvalue our own opinions at the expense of cooperation, research from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London) has found. The findings may have implications for how group decisions are affected by dominant individuals...

Men More Likely To Have An Accurate Memory Of Unpleasant Experiences

NewsBot — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

A woman's memory of an experience is less likely to be accurate than a man's if it was unpleasant and emotionally provocative, according to research undertaken by University of Montreal researchers at Louis-H Lafontaine Hospital...

Facebook is not such a good thing for those with low self-esteem, study finds

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:14:14 +0000

In theory, the social networking website Facebook could be great for people with low self-esteem. Sharing is important for improving friendships. But in practice, people with low self-esteem seem to behave counterproductively, bombarding their friends with negative tidbits about their lives and making themselves less likeable, according to a new study.

Here is what real commitment to your marriage means

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:14:14 +0000

What does being committed to your marriage really mean? A psychology professors answer this question in a new study based on their analysis of 172 married couples over the first 11 years of marriage.

Alzheimer’s disease may spread by ‘jumping’ from one brain region to another

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:32:32 +0000

For decades, researchers have debated whether Alzheimer's disease starts independently in vulnerable brain regions at different times, or if it begins in one region and then spreads to neuroanatomically connected areas. A new study strongly supports the latter, demonstrating that abnormal tau protein, a key feature of the neurofibrillary tangles seen in the brains of those with Alzheimer's, propagates along linked brain circuits, "jumping" from neuron to neuron.

Brain capacity limits exponential online data growth

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:39:39 +0000

Scientists have found that the capacity of the human brain to process and record information - and not economic constraints - may constitute the dominant limiting factor for the overall growth of globally stored information.

Quarter of tweets not worth reading, Twitter users tell researchers

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:07:07 +0000

Twitter users choose the microblogs they follow, but that doesn't mean they always like what they get. Researchers found that users say only a little more than a third of the tweets they receive are worthwhile. Other tweets are either so-so or, in one out of four cases, not worth reading at all.

Just another pretty face: The neural basis of prosopagnosia

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:07:07 +0000

Scientists have uncovered new insight into a condition in which people are unable to recognize faces.

Why the brain is more reluctant to function as we age

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:51:51 +0000

New findings reveal a novel mechanism through which the brain may become more reluctant to function as we grow older.

In times of scandal, corporations are likely to use others’ misconduct to justify their behavior

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:51:51 +0000

Among corporations involved in the 2006 stock-option backdating scandal, those implicated earlier were more likely to dismiss their top executives than those that surfaced later on, according to new research.

Encouraging results with stem cell transplant for brain injury

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:45:45 +0000

Experiments in brain-injured rats show that stem cells injected via the carotid artery travel directly to the brain, where they greatly enhance functional recovery.

Dyslexia-linked genetic variant decreases midline crossing of auditory pathways

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:29:29 +0000

Scientists have found that a rare dyslexia-linked genetic variant of the ROBO1 gene decreases normal crossing of auditory pathways in the human brain. The results link, for the first time, a dyslexia-susceptibility gene to a specific sensory function of the human brain.

Dyslexia-linked genetic variant decreases midline crossing of auditory pathways

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:29:29 +0000

Men more likely to have an accurate memory of unpleasant experiences

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:27:27 +0000

Researchers reveal how pleasantness and emotional intensity affects memories. A woman's memory of an experience is less likely to be accurate than a man's if it was unpleasant and emotionally provocative, new research suggests.

Decaffeinated coffee may help improve memory function and reduce risk of diabetes

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:23:23 +0000

In an animal study, researchers found that decaffeinated coffee may improve glucose utilization in the brain, reducing the risk for Type 2 diabetes and the brain dysfunction associated with some neurological disorders.

Divorce Hurts Health More At Earlier Ages

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Divorce at a younger age hurts people's health more than divorce later in life, according to a new study by a Michigan State University sociologist. Hui Liu said the findings, which appear in the research journal Social Science & Medicine, suggest older people have more coping skills to deal with the stress of divorce...

Access To Psychotropic Medicines Affected By Health Systems Factors

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

In a cross-sectional analysis of WHO-AIMS data published in this week's PLoS Medicine, Ryan McBain of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA and colleagues investigated the associations between health system components and access to psychotropic drugs in 63 low- and middle- income countries (LAMICs)...

Mom’s Love Good For Child’s Brain

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

School-age children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus, a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress. The new research, by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St...

Testosterone makes us less cooperative and more egocentric

NewsBot — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:02:02 +0000

Testosterone makes us overvalue our own opinions at the expense of cooperation, new research has found. Higher levels of testosterone were associated with individuals behaving egocentrically.

Gene mutation in autism found to cause hyperconnectivity in brain’s hearing center

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:56:56 +0000

New research might help explain how a gene mutation found in some autistic individuals leads to difficulties in processing auditory cues and paying spatial attention to sound.

Scientists decode brain waves to eavesdrop on what we hear

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:51:51 +0000

Neuroscientists and surgeons have recorded electrical activity in the temporal lobe -- the seat of the auditory system -- to discover how the brain encodes sound. Their model allows them to predict what a person heard based solely on temporal lobe activity. If, as studies suggest, internal "imagined" conversations activate similar areas of the temporal lobe, it may be possible to hear the internal verbalizations of people who cannot talk because of paralysis or stroke.

Short-term memory is based on synchronized brain oscillations

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:14:14 +0000

Holding information within one's memory for a short while is a seemingly simple and everyday task. We use our short-term memory when remembering a new telephone number if there is nothing to write at hand, or to find the beautiful dress inside the store that we were just admiring in the shopping window. Yet, despite the apparent simplicity of these actions, short-term memory is a complex cognitive act that entails the participation of multiple brain regions. However, whether and how different brain regions cooperate during memory has remained elusive. Researchers in Germany have now come closer to answering this question. They discovered that oscillations between different brain regions are crucial in visually remembering things over a short period of time.

Researchers visualize the development of Parkinson’s cells

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:30:30 +0000

In the US alone, at least 500,000 people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that affects a person's ability to control his or her movement. New technology lets researchers observe the development of the brain cells responsible for the disease.

College reduces odds for marriage among disadvantaged

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:24:24 +0000

For those with few social advantages, college is a prime pathway to financial stability, but it also unexpectedly lowers their odds of ever marrying, according to a new study.

For a winning ad at Super Bowl: Less shock and more sophisticated storyline

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:24:24 +0000

Research shows a storyline that really makes the viewer pay attention may score the highest. Marketing narratives are more likely to trigger a positive response when following the storyline requires some mental work.

Psychologists Analyze The Development Of Prejudices Within Children

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Girls are not as good at playing football as boys, and they do not have a clue about cars. Instead they know better how to dance and do not get into mischief as often as boys. Prejudices like these are cultivated from early childhood onwards by everyone...

Hope For Those With A Depressive Disposition

NewsBot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Good news for the 13 per cent of the population with depressive personality traits: their negative outlook does not have to be permanent. This has been shown by psychologist Rachel Maddux in new research from Lund University in Sweden. Depression is a serious and sometimes devastating health problem which affects millions of people worldwide...

Mom’s love good for child’s brain

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:01:01 +0000

School-age children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus, a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress. The new research, by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists, is the first to show that changes in this critical region of children’s brain anatomy are linked to a mother’s nurturing.

Addicts’ cravings have different roots in men and women

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:15:15 +0000

A new brain imaging study suggests stress robustly activates areas of the brain associated with craving in cocaine-dependent women, while drug cues activate similar brain regions in cocaine-dependent men. The study suggests men and women with cocaine dependence might benefit more from different treatment options.

Divorce hurts health more at earlier ages

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:11:11 +0000

Divorce at a younger age hurts people's health more than divorce later in life, according to a new study.

Military Suicide Rates Rose

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, between 2005 and 2007, suicide rates among individuals serving in U.S. military services increased, particularly among those in the regular Army and National Guard. The study, which included the entire active duty U.S...

Willpower and desires: Turning up the volume on what you want most

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:43:43 +0000

Trying to resist that late-night tweet or checking your work email again? The bad news is that desires for work and entertainment often win out in the daily struggle for self-control, according to a new study that measures various desires and their regulation in daily life.

Harnessing the predictive power of virtual communities

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:39:39 +0000

Scientists have created a new algorithm to detect virtual communities, designed to match the needs of real-life social, biological or information networks detection better than with current attempts.

Good Kindergarten Attention Skills Predict Later Work-Oriented Behavior

NewsBot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Attentiveness in kindergarten accurately predicts the development of "work-oriented" skills in school children, according to a new study published by Dr. Linda Pagani, a professor and researcher at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine. Elementary school teachers made observations of attention skills in over a thousand kindergarten children...

Altering Behavior: From Reducing Bullying To Training Scientists