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Study on Joint Attention Has Implications for Understanding Autism
A hallmark of human nature is the ability to share information and to comprehend the thoughts and intentions of others. This capability involves social cognition (the cognitive processes involved in social interaction) and makes a significant contribution to the foundations for language development, as well as social competence. It also sets us apart from other primates. However, before infants have developed social cognition and language, they communicate and learn new information by following the gaze of others and by using their own eye contact and gestures to show or direct the attention of the people around them.
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Level of Oxytocin in Pregnant Women Predicts Mother-Child Bond
Humans are hard-wired to form enduring bonds with others. One of the primary bonds across the mammalian species is the mother-infant bond. Evolutionarily speaking, it is in a mother’s best interest to foster the well-being of her child; however, some mothers just seem a bit more maternal than others do. Now, new research points to a hormone that predicts the level of bonding between mother and child. In animals, oxytocin, dubbed “the hormone of love and bonding,” is critically important for the development of parenting, is elicited during sexual intercourse, and is involved in maintaining close relationships.
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Rejection sets off alarms for folks with low self-esteem
Few can tolerate such romantic or professional rebuffs as "It's not you, it's me" and "we regret to inform you that your application was not successful." But while a healthy dose of self-esteem can absorb the shock of rejection, poor self-esteem can trigger the primal fight-or-flight response, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley. That doesn't mean people with low self-esteem are doomed to respond defensively to criticism and rejection. The UC Berkeley study suggests that those among them who are better at controlling their impulses are less vulnerable to rejection.
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Women Affected by Male to Female Ratio in Math, Science and Engineering Settings
Have you ever felt outnumbered? Like there are just not that many people like you around? We’ve all felt outnumbered in one situation or another and walking into a situation in which you sense the possibility of being ostracized or isolated can be quite threatening.
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In Birds, Expecting to Mate Leads to Higher Fertilization Rates
From an evolutionary perspective, the primary task of an organism is to pass along its genes to future generations. Such genetic transmission is usually assumed to be instinctive. However, a new study shows that species also learn to adapt to their surroundings in order to increase their “reproductive fitness”— the likelihood that they will successfully reproduce. One form of learning that increases reproductive fitness is Pavlovian conditioning, the ability to associate a neutral stimulus with a stimulus of significance.
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Children’s math and reading skills are linked to genetics
Why do children differ in their ability to read, to use language, or to understand mathematics? Decades of research makes is clear that genetics play a surprisingly large part in both learning abilities and learning disabilities. What throws a quirk in an otherwise fixed set of abilities is the environment. In order to distinguish the impact of genes and the environment on cognitive abilities researchers use “multivariate genetic analysis,” which essentially estimates the extent to which genetic and environmental factors that affect one ability (e.g. reading) also affect another ability (e.g. mathematics).
