Psychology Space

Short Sleep And Chronic Insomnia Linked To Four-Fold Risk Of Early Death In Men - US researchers found that short sleep and insomnia was linked to a four times higher risk of early death in men; they urged public health policy makers to emphasize earlier diagnosis and treament of chronic insomnia…
Text Messages Reveal The Emotional Timeline Of September 11, 2001 - The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have been called the defining moment of our time. Thousands of people died and the attacks had huge individual and collective consequences, including two wars. But less is known about the immediate emotional reactions to the attacks…
Medicare Smoking Prevention Program Could Lower Costs - The Fiscal Times: A Medicare program that has agreed to pay for counseling for seniors who smoke but are not yet sick could help the program, and America’s health system, lower costs. “Smoking costs the U.S. economy $97 billion annually in lost productivity, in addition to the $96 billion a year in direct health care costs, according to [the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services]…
Going Back To School Met With Mixed Emotions - Millions of students at all grade levels, from elementary to high school to college, will head back to school and many times this is met with mixed emotions. Not because the “summer fun” has ended, but because school adds new pressures into the mix, with many kids focusing on trying to be popular, and some just to even fit in…
Infant’s Gaze May Be An Early, But Subtle, Marker For Autism Risk - Kennedy Krieger Institute announced new study results showing an early marker for later communication and social delays in infants at a higher-risk for autism may be infrequent gazing at other people when unprompted…
New Study Singles Out Factors Linked To Cognitive Deficits In Type 2 Diabetes - Older adults with diabetes who have high blood pressure, walk slowly or lose their balance, or believe they’re in bad health, are significantly more likely to have weaker memory and slower, more rigid cognitive processing than those without these problems, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association…
Mental Stimulation Delays The Decline In Thinking Skills, But May Accelerate Dementia Later On - Mentally stimulating activities that challenge and engage the brain, such as crossword puzzles, reading, or listening to the radio may help slow down cognitive decline - the gradual deterioration of thinking skills - but may encourage the acceleration of dementia later on during old age, says a report in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Study author, Robert S…
Less Than 5 Hours Sleep Linked To Higher Mental Illness Risk - Young healthy adults aged between 17 and 24 years who get less than an average of 5 hours’ sleep each night have three times the risk of developing a mental illness compared to individuals of the same age who sleep eight to nine hours every night, according to a study carried out by the George Institute on Global Health, published in the medical journal Sleep…
Young Black Women At Increased Risk Of Self-Harm, Study Shows - Young, Black women are significantly more likely to self-harm than people from other ethnic groups, according to new research published in the September issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry…
Economic Migrants Seeking A ‘Better Life’ Might End Up Being Less Happy, Says Sociologist - The grass might not be greener on the other side of the border, a new study from the University of Leicester has found. Economic migrants travelling to different shores for greater income could be set for disappointment - because the pursuit of wealth does not equate with happiness…
Reading Arabic Ain’t Easy - The brain’s right hemisphere is not involved in the initial processes of reading in Arabic, due to the graphic complexity of Arabic script. Therefore reading acquisition in Arabic is much harder in comparison to English. This has been shown in a series of studies that were carried out at the Department of Psychology and the Edmond J…
Study Finds Children Raised By Same Sex Couples Show Good Progress Through School - In nearly every discussion, debate or lawsuit about gay marriage, the talk at some point turns to family values…
Link Between Girls’ Early Puberty And Unstable Environment Via Insecure Attachment In Infancy - Girls are hitting puberty earlier and earlier. One recent study found that more than 10 percent of American girls have some breast development by age 7. This news has upset many people, but it may make evolutionary sense in some cases for girls to develop faster, according to the authors of a new paper published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science…
Study Reveals That American Women Are Happier Going To Church Than Shopping On Sundays - A new study conducted by a Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researcher, together with a researcher from De-Paul University, reveals that women in the United States generally derive more happiness from religious participation than from shopping on Sundays…
New Social Intervention To Help Pakistani Women With Depression - Researchers from the University of Manchester have developed a social intervention to help British Pakistani women with depression. Their 10-week programme, which was trialled in the north-west of England, helped the women feel more positive and improved their satisfaction and social functioning. The findings are published in the September issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry…
Start Of School Marks Onset Of “Seasons Of Anxiety” - With summer fading, anxiety is on the rise for some students anticipating the return of school. But it isn’t just the first days of classes that can provoke angst -- anxiety in school is seasonal and age dependent, say pediatric psychiatrists. And, they add, these issues are often predictable and highly treatable…
Promoting Health And Well-Being Through Social Relationships - The Editorial this month argues for the need to fundamentally rethink how societies can look beyond the “medical” causes of disease in an effort to promote health and well-being…
Study Findings Show Value Of Dietary Supplement SAMe In Treatment Of Adults With Major Depressive Disorders - A new study conducted by investigators at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) suggests that S-Adenosyl Methionine (SAMe), an over-the-counter dietary supplement, can be an effective, relatively well-tolerated, adjunctive treatment for adults with major depressive disorders who do not respond to their treatment with antidepressant medication…
Naurex’s Novel Antidepressant GLYX-13 Recognized As One Of Windhover’s Top 10 Neuroscience Projects To Watch - Naurex Inc., a clinical stage company developing innovative treatments for depression and other CNS disorders, reported that its clinical stage candidate for the treatment of depression, GLYX-13, and its second-generation NRX-1050 series have been selected for inclusion on Windhover’s list of the “Top 10 Most Interesting Neuroscience Projects to Watch…
Eye Movements Reveal Readers’ Wandering Minds - It’s not just you…everybody zones out when they’re reading. For a new study published in Psychological Science a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, scientists recorded eye movements during reading and found that the eyes keep moving when the mind wanders - but they don’t move in the same way as they do when you’re paying attention…
Neural Clues To The Calming Effects Of Self-Harm - The notion that cutting or burning oneself could provide relief from emotional distress is difficult to understand for most people, but it is an experience reported commonly among people who compulsively hurt themselves. Individuals with borderline personality disorder experience intense emotions and often show a deficiency of emotion regulation skills…
Circadian Rhythms: Their Role And Dysfunction In Affective Disorder - All humans are synchronised to the rhythmic light-dark changes that occur on a daily basis. Rhythms in physiological and biochemical processes and behavioural patterns persist in the absence of all external 24-hour signals from the physical environment, with a period that is close to 24 hours…
Ecopsychology Journal Explores The Devastating Psychological Effects Of The BP Gulf Disaster - Anger, depression, and helplessness are the main psychological responses being seen in response to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and they are likely to have long-lasting effects, according to an interview in Ecopsychology, a peer-reviewed, online journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The interview is available free online here…
‘Destination Amnesia Experienced By ‘Older Adults - Older adults are more likely to have destination memory failures - forgetting who they’ve shared or not shared information with, according to a new study led by Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute. It’s the kind of memory faux pas that can lead to awkward or embarrassing social situations and even miscommunication in the doctor’s office…
Research Helps Explain Causes Of Seemingly Irrational Human Decision-Making - Gamblers who think they have a “hot hand,” only to end up walking away with a loss, may nonetheless be making “rational” decisions, according to new research from University of Minnesota psychologists. The study finds that because humans are making decisions based on how we think the world works, if erroneous beliefs are held, it can result in behavior that looks distinctly irrational…