Your Psychology Psychology articles and news

It is one thing to learn a new piece of information, such as a new phone number or a new word, but quite another to get your brain to file it away so it is available when you need it. A new study suggests that sleep may help to do both.

Researchers report that those with mild/moderate Alzhimer’s Disease symptoms who received omega-3 DHA fatty acid (docosahexaenoic acid) over an 18-month period experienced the same rates of cognitive and functional decline as those on a placebo. Their study has been published in today’s issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) which focuses on aging this week…

A study in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP found that vulnerability to sleep deprivation is influenced by the interaction between waking social activity and individual personality traits…

People who engage in regular physical activity – however intense – are less likely to have symptoms of depression, according to new research published in the November issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. Crucially, researchers have also found that this activity needs to be taken in people’s leisure time if they are to feel the benefits…

Anti-inflammatory drugs currently used to treat diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis may also help prevent cognitive problems after surgery, according to a new study.

Older brothers are more likely to bully siblings than older sisters. This is the finding of research by Dr Menesini from the Universita’ degli Studi Di Firenze (Florence, Italy) whose findings were published today, 1st November, in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology…

People aren’t very accurate at predicting how good or bad they’ll feel after an event — such as watching their team lose the big game or getting a flat-screen TV. But afterwards, they “misremember” what they predicted, revising their prognostications after the fact to match how they actually feel, according to new research…

Some people may excel at riding a bike, tying a tie, or playing the piano, but those same people may find it difficult to explain or teach those skills to someone else. These motor skills are learned in one part of the brain, whereas classroom instruction and information read in a book are acquired in another area of the brain, according to researchers.

Anger is an interesting emotion for psychologists. On the one hand, it’s negative, but then it also has some of the features of positive emotions. Researchers have found that associating an object with anger actually makes people want the object — a kind of motivation that’s normally associated with positive emotions.

It may seem difficult to change stereotypical thinking. Perceptions can be very important in forming an individual’s attitudes. Now, researchers have found that people conditioned to think in opposition to racial stereotypes are more receptive to people from minority groups starring in commercial advertising.