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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science. Maternal Stress and Infant Mortality: The Importance of the Preconception Period Quetzal A. Class, Ali S. Khashan, Paul Lichtenstein, Niklas Långström, and Brian M. D'Onofrio Does exposure to preconception and prenatal stress affect levels of infant mortality? Researchers examined women who had experienced a stressful event (death of a first-degree relative) in the 6 months prior to conception and during pregnancy. They found that preconception stress was associated with an increased risk for infant mortality. No relationship was found between stress during pregnancy and risk of infant mortality.
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Older Adult Clumsiness Linked to Brain Changes
Seniors use less effective reference frames to visualize nearby objects For many older adults, the aging process seems to go hand-in-hand with an annoying increase in clumsiness — difficulties dialing a phone, fumbling with keys in a lock or knocking over the occasional wine glass while reaching for a salt shaker.
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Never Forget a Face? Women May Remember Faces Better Because They Scan More
Women may remember faces better than men in part because they spend more time studying features without even knowing it, suggests a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. According to the researchers, teaching people to increase feature scanning may be one way to help improve their memory for faces. The findings may help to shed light on long-standing questions about why some people can remember faces easily while others quickly forget the face of someone they’ve just met.
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Blood Vessels in the Eye Linked With IQ, Cognitive Function
The width of blood vessels in the retina may indicate brain health years before the onset of dementia and other deficits.
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Emotional Expressions and Shade of Skin Tone Affect Perception of Sex
We are very sensitive when it comes to processing faces. Subtle differences in physical properties of a face, such as configuration of facial parts, facial features, emotional expressions, skin shade, etc., can influence our facial perception.
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Photographs and the Misinformation Effect: A Boundary Condition of Truthiness
Photographs have been shown to increase “truthiness” across several domains. This study explores the presentation of nonprobative photographs in a misinformation study. A robust replication of the misinformation effect was observed, but photographs did not increase “true” responses in this paradigm, demonstrating a boundary condition for the truthiness effect. Daniel F. Bogart, Elizabeth F. Loftus, Rebecca M. Nichols University of California, Irvine Maryanne Garry, Eryn J. Newman Victoria University of Wellington
