The number of connections between nerve cells in the brain can be regulated by an immune system molecule, according to a new study.

The body is a dancer’s instrument, but is it attuned to the mind? A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that professional ballet and modern dancers are not as emotionally in sync with their bodies as are people who regularly practice meditation…

Age alters memory. But in what ways, and why? These questions comprise a vast puzzle for neurologists and psychologists. A new study looked at one puzzle piece: how older and younger adults encode and recall distracting, or irrelevant, information…

Many studies have suggested that males tend to be more physically and verbally aggressive than females. According to a new study, to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, it may not be the case that women are less competitive than men-they may just be using a different strategy to come out ahead…

In Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud argued that modern society was hard on human psychology, forcing people to get along in unnaturally close quarters. Now newly published research points out a different discontent in the developed world, namely, the disruption of our natural sleep cycles, thanks to the ubiquity of electric lighting. Experiments on mice found that throwing off their evolutionarily ancient circadian rhythms by artificially altering the length of their days has a substantial impact on the body and the brain. The work suggests that our modern, round-the-clock lifestyle could disrupt metabolism, interfere with learning and impact behavior in ways that we’re just beginning to understand.

Age alters memory. But in what ways, and why? These questions comprise a vast puzzle for neurologists and psychologists. A new study looked at one puzzle piece: how older and younger adults encode and recall distracting, or irrelevant, information. The results can help scientists better understand memory and aging.

People found incompetent to stand trial are more likely to be unemployed, have been previously diagnosed with a psychotic disorder or have had psychiatric hospitalization, according to an analysis of 50 years of research, published by the American Psychological Association…

A rare genetic malfunction which only affects 0.3% of patients may eventually lead the way to better treatment for some individuals with schizophrenia, say scientists from the University of California, San Diego, USA. The NIH-funded study found that people with schizophrenia are 14 times more likely to have multiple copies of a gene on Chromosome 7 than those in the control group…

Life is full of the slings and arrows that can push is towards a negative focus on things. The secret in dealing with these challenges, of which there are many, such as illness, grief, loss, pain, tragedy, is to really cherish the positive aspects of life, writes Karen Hilsberg, who works at the Los Angeles Country Department of Mental Health…

When a general practitioner (GP, primary care physician) is female, patients want her to allow them to become involved in the management of their health problem, especially when it is a family health issue or a cold…