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Saving Old Information Can Boost Memory for New Information
The simple act of saving something, such as a computer file, may improve our memory for the information we encounter next.
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Consistent Distraction May Not Hinder Learning
Distraction may not always impair our ability to learn, according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research shows that people who are distracted in a similar way when learning a motor task and when trying to recall it later show no impairment in their ability to learn the task. Many of the motor tasks we learn to carry out on a daily basis -- such as driving, playing sports or musical instruments, even walking again after injury -- don't happen in a vacuum, they're performed while other things are going on.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Body Movement Selectively Shapes the Neural Representation of Musical Rhythms Baptiste Chemin, André Mouraux, and Sylvie Nozaradan Although movement is thought to shape the processing of sensory inflow, it is still not well understood how or whether movement shapes perception in the auditory system. Participants listened and tapped their hands in time to a repeated rhythmic sequence before and after they underwent a body-movement training session in which they moved their bodies in time to the rhythm in a specific meter.
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Evidence for ‘Bilingual Advantage’ May Be Less Conclusive Than Previously Thought
Study results that challenge the idea that bilingual speakers have a cognitive advantage are less likely to be published than those that support the bilingual-advantage theory, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. This research suggests that a publication bias in favor of positive results may skew the overall literature on bilingualism and cognitive function. “Publishing only ‘successful’ studies means that we do not have access to many valuable studies that could increase our understanding of the actual effects of bilingualism,” says lead researcher Angela de Bruin of Edinburgh University.
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Sons’ Intelligence Linked to Fathers’ Criminal History
Sons whose fathers have criminal records tend to have lower cognitive abilities than sons whose fathers have no criminal history, data from over 1 million Swedish men show. The research, conducted by scientists in Sweden and Finland, indicates that the link is not directly caused by fathers’ behavior but is instead explained by genetic factors that are shared by father and son. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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New Research From <em>Clinical Psychological Science</em>
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Iris M. Engelhard, Miriam J. J. Lommen, and Marit Sijbrandij Are perceptions of growth after a trauma adaptive or maladaptive for trauma survivors? Infantry soldiers in the Royal Netherlands Army completed personality assessments before a 4-month deployment in Iraq. Five months and 15 months after their return, the soldiers completed measures of trauma, posttraumatic growth, and PTSD symptoms. Greater perceived growth 5 months postdeployment was associated with greater levels of posttraumatic stress 15 months postdeployment, even after controlling for levels of posttraumatic stress at the 5-month time point.
