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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Maternal Buffering of Human Amygdala-Prefrontal Circuitry During Childhood but Not During Adolescence Dylan G. Gee, Laurel Gabard-Durnam, Eva H. Telzer, Kathryn L. Humphreys, Bonnie Goff, Mor Shapiro, Jessica Flannery, Daniel S. Lumian, Dominic S. Fareri, Christina Caldera, and Nim Tottenham Primary caregivers often play a vital role in helping children regulate themselves. Researchers examined the mechanism through which caregivers assist with their children's regulation by having children (ages 4-10) and adolescents (ages 11-17) perform a task while being scanned in an fMRI machine.
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Workers Worried About Job Loss Forego Support Programs
It’s been five years since the end of the recession was declared, but economists report that levels of unemployment in many states still haven’t fully recovered to their pre-recession levels. The sluggish economic recovery has kept many workers worried about the potential for layoffs and the risk of long-term unemployment. Although organizations offer programs meant to help employees cope with workplace stress, a recent study finds that employees who are stressed and anxious about their job prospects are hesitant to make use of these programs. Psychological scientists Wendy R. Boswell, Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, and T.
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Infants Can Tell If You’re a Reliable Informant
It’s hard to know how babies think, since they’re still getting a handle on language skills. One strategy that researchers use to gain some insight is eye tracking, which allows them to see where babies direct their gaze and for how long. In light of research suggesting that children trust other people’s testimony based on prior experience with them, psychological scientist Kristen Swan Tummeltshammer of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, University of London and colleagues conducted two experiments to determine whether infants could discern a person’s trustworthiness and act on this knowledge — a crucial skill for successful learning.
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Nel cervello c’è una “centralina” per le calorie del cibo (In the brain there is a “controller” for the calories of the food)
La Stampa: Il cervello è naturalmente dotato di una “centralina” per calcolare le calorie degli alimenti che elabora insieme ai dati nutrizionali, secondo uno studio basato su immagini di risonanza magnetica. La ricerca, realizzata dall’équipe guidata da Alain Dagher dell’Istituto neurologico di Montreal, è pubblicata su Psychological Science. Gli studiosi hanno presentato a 29 volontari immagini di una cinquantina di alimenti differenti, conosciuti da tutti i partecipanti. E hanno chiesto loro di classificarli su una scala con 20 “gradini”, a secondo della voglia di mangiarli. E di stimarne, poi, il tenore calorico.
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Let the Body Rest, for the Sake of the Brain
The Atlantic: I’m sure a lot of subway riders are skilled nappers, but this car seemed to be particularly talented. Going over the Brooklyn Bridge on a recent morning, just as the sun was coming up, a row of men in nearly identical black suits held on to the straps with their eyes closed. Their necks were bent at the slightest of angles, like a row of daisies in a breeze, and as the car clanged over the tracks and the sun pierced through the grimy train windows, it finally dawned on me they were all sound asleep. Not even the bumps and the light could stop them from sneaking in 15 more minutes of shut-eye before work.
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The subliminal fountain of youth
The Boston Globe: How can Medicare boost the health of the elderly? Maybe it should consider cutting a deal with the FCC to broadcast subliminal ads, given new research out of Yale University. Once a week for several weeks, elderly individuals viewed positive-age-stereotype words that were flashed subliminally on a screen. In subsequent weeks, these individuals reported more positive stereotypes and self-perceptions of aging—and, even more amazingly, they exhibited improved physical function—compared to those who viewed subliminally flashed neutral words.
