Psychology Resource of the Week: xkcd Comic Strips

The Role of Context on Pattern Recognition and Perception: Imagination Influences What You See

Eat yourself clever:

More evidence that intelligence can be affected by nurture, but biological determinism still rules (at least for gerbils)

New research findings published online in The FASEB Journal provide more evidence that if we get smart about what we eat, our intelligence can improve. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists, dietary nutrients found in a wide range of foods from infant formula to eggs increase brain synapses and improve cognitive abilities.

Achieving top grades in science subjects more difficult, proves research

Image: xkcd.com

(Update: now includes list of A Level subjects in order of "difficulty")

Durham University's Curriculum, Evaluation and Management (CEM) Centre have published research commissioned by the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society (the UK and Commonwealth's national science academy) on behalf of SCORE (Science Community Representing Education) that, according to the press release, "proves" that science and technology subjects are more difficult than "subjects like Media Studies and Psychology":

Study shows how using mental strategies can alter the brain's reward circuitry

The cognitive strategies humans use to regulate emotions can determine both neurological and physiological responses to potential rewards, a team of New York University and Rutgers University neuroscientists has discovered. The findings, reported in the most recent issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, shed light on how the regulation of emotions may influence decision making.

Nature v Nurture: Homosexuality due to genes and environment

Resource of the week: VassarStats Statistical Computation

The high cost of low status: Feeling powerless leads to expensive purchases

Feeling powerless can trigger strong desires to purchase products that convey high status, according to new research in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Mixed feelings not remembered as well as happy or sad ones

Sigmund Freud suggested that traumatic events are forgotten because they are hidden from our conscious awareness, or repressed; Brown and Kulik (1977) found that highly emotional events, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy are often vividly remembered (although this has been widely disputed); now, research published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that people tend to underestimate the intensity of the actual emotions if they are mixed, rather than happy or sad.

Child's Temperament and Parenting Style Predict Problem Behaviour

The way mothers interact with their babies in the first year of life is strongly related to how children behave later on. Both a mother's parenting style and an infant's temperament reliably predict challenging behaviour in later childhood (Lahey et al, 2008). Their findings have just been published online in Springer's Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

'Feeling fat' is worse than being it

The quality of life of adolescents who think they are too fat is worse than for adolescents who really are obese. This was a result of the all Germany Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) of the Robert Koch Institute, as presented by Bärbel-Maria Kurth and Ute Ellert in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008, 105[23]: 406-12).

Family stress and child's temper extremes contribute to anxiety and depression in children

A new study has identified social/psychological factors in early childhood that can contribute to symptoms of anxiety and depression later in life. According to the doctorate study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), small children who grow up in a family where the mother has psychological distress, the family is exposed to stress or is lacking social support, are at higher risk of developing anxious and depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Girls are more vulnerable than boys, and very timid or short-tempered children are more vulnerable than others to develop emotional problems.

Resource of the Week: Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight

Stress and the immune system: Stress during childhood increases the risk of allergies

It isn't just adults who suffer from the effects of stress; a recent study in Germany has shown that stress can have long term effects on children.

Great apes plan ahead

Were the behaviourists right? Children learn smart behaviors without knowing what they know

New research supports the old assumption that learning can take place without the need for understanding. Edward Thorndike formulated his law of effect about 100 years ago when he discovered that cats showed no insight into how they learned to escape from puzzle boxes. Now, it appears, the same is true for children.

Why do people overeat when they are stressed or depressed?

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have carried out research that may have implications for our understanding of stress, depression and eating disorders. It may also help explain why some people overeat when they are stressed or depressed.

Drug commonly used for alcoholism curbs urges of pathological gamblers

Depression higher in women than men but reverse found with suicide

Females are more likely to be diagnosed with depression than males; however more men commit suicide each year than women, according to a new study by Bjerkeset O, Romundstad P and Gunnell D (2008)