news from the lab

Life Sciences - Psychology - 9.02
Study suggests girls can ’rewire’ brains to ward off depression
Stanford researchers are using fMRI machines to monitor the brains of girls at risk of depression and learn more about their responses to stress. Using brain imaging and a video game, researchers teach girls at risk of depression how to train their brains away from negative situations.

Mathematics - Psychology - 18.01
Poor self-image cannot explain maths gender gap
Studies showing that women's underachievement in maths is due to their own poor self-image are fundamentally flawed, according to psychologists Gijsbert Stoet, from the University of Leeds, and Professor David Geary from the University of Missouri.

Psychology - 12.01
Researchers identify facial expression for anxiety
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London have, for the first time, identified the facial expression of anxiety. The facial expression for the emotion of anxiety comprises an environmental scanning look that appears to aid risk assessment.

Psychology - 21.12.2011
Telling the truth
New research from Cambridge University and others shows that, with sensitive ing, young children can be reliable witnesses in cases of abuse.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Psychology - 12.12.2011
Our jobs are making us sick
New research at ANU has revealed that poor work conditions can adversely affect people's health. The study, led by Peter Butterworth of the Centre for Mental Health Research, revealed that poor job quality and conditions are associated with increased risk of mental and physical health problems.

Life Sciences - Psychology - 5.12.2011
Past abuse leads to loss of gray matter in brains of adolescents
Adolescents who were abused and neglected have less gray matter in some areas of the brain than young people who have not been maltreated, a new Yale School of Medicine study shows. The brain areas impacted by maltreatment may differ between boys and girls, may depend on whether the youths had been exposed to abuse or neglect, and may be linked to whether the neglect was physical or emotional.

Psychology - 2.12.2011
When brands seem like people, people act accordingly
From the Michelin Man to the Pillsbury Doughboy, anthropomorphized brands have often been used by companies eager to put a personal face on their products. Now new research shows that thinking about brands as people can make you either take on the brand's characteristics or display the opposite characteristics, depending on how you feel about the brand.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Psychology - 17.11.2011
Study details homelessness, ’doubling up’ among low-income children
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - About 10 percent of children in low-income families reported at least one homeless episode - and an additional 24 percent had at least one episode where they lived “doubled up” with relatives, friends or other families - before age 6, according to a new study led by Jung Min Park, a faculty member in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois.

Life Sciences - Psychology - 16.11.2011
Genetic variation plays role in kindness, study shows
Do you consider yourself a kind, compassionate person‘ And how would a stranger judge your kindness quotient' Having a certain genetic variant might provide the answer to both those questions, according to a recent University of Toronto Mississauga study.

Life Sciences - Psychology - 9.11.2011
Penn and Rutgers Psychologists Increase Understanding of How the Brain Perceives Shades of Gray
PHILADELPHIA — Vision is amazing because it seems so mundane. Peoples’ eyes, nerves and brains translate light into electrochemical signals and then into an experience of the world around them. A close look at the physics of just the first part of this process shows that even seemingly simple tasks, like keeping a stable perception of an object’s color in different lighting conditions or distinguishing black and white objects, is, in fact, very challenging.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Psychology - 9.11.2011
Major study returns to probe mid-life, recession-related harm
The deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression is a prime research opportunity for " Midlife in the United States ," a long-running and expansive study of the interplay between social and psychological factors and physical health.

Psychology - 18.10.2011
Adults can’t tell when children are intentionally lying or misinformed
How well adults can detect if children are lying or reporting misinformation is no better than the odds of chance, reports a new Cornell study. The findings have implications for physical and sexual abuse investigations, which often rely heavily on children's eyewitness reports.

Psychology - 7.10.2011
Babies are fair and altruist
A new study presents the first evidence that a basic sense of fairness and altruism appears in infancy. Babies as young as 15 months perceived the difference between equal and unequal distribution of food, and their awareness of equal rations was linked to their willingness to share a toy.

Psychology - Business/Economics - 28.09.2011
Easily embarrassed Study finds people will trust you more
If tripping in public or mistaking an overweight woman for a mother-to-be leaves you red-faced, don't feel bad. A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that people who are easily embarrassed are also more trustworthy, and more generous.

Life Sciences - Psychology - 26.09.2011
Study of bees links gene regulatory networks in the brain to behavior
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A new study reveals that distinct networks of genes in the honey bee brain contribute to specific behaviors, such as foraging or aggression, researchers report. The study, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to show that common, naturally occurring behaviors are under the influence of discrete regulatory networks in the brain.