Psychology
- Psychology
Video mayhem enlivens decision making
People who play action-oriented video games show improved ability to make quick decisions based on what they see and hear.
- Humans
DVDs don’t turn toddlers into vocabulary Einsteins
Young children don’t learn words from a popular educational program, but some of their parents think they do.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s trade-off for mentally active seniors
Staying mentally active may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease but may also prompt rapid cognitive decline once symptoms appear.
- Psychology
Sadness response strengthens with age
Older people reacted more strongly to sad scenes than twentysomethings did in a recent study of emotional receptivity.
- Psychology
DNA variant may make heavy boozing a team sport
People who inherit a particular gene variant may find it more appealing to drink a lot of alcohol when they see others doing so.
- Psychology
Ancient hominids grabbed early northern exposure
Newly recovered stone tools indicate that hominids lived in chilly northwestern Europe more than 800,000 years ago.
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- Humans
Botox injections put a crease in emotional evaluations
By immobilizing a muscle needed for frowning, Botox injections may interfere with a person’s ability to assess others’ emotions.
- Psychology
Social judgments take touching turns
New evidence suggests that the sense of touch influences people’s willingness to drive a hard bargain or endorse a job candidate.
- Humans
For sight-reading music, practice doesn’t make perfect
Individual memory differences may set upper limits on pianists’ sight-reading skill, regardless of their experience.
- Psychology
Travelers have southern bias
Southern routes to a destination often get picked over same-distance northern routes, possibly because people equate north with “up.”
- Humans
Secondhand smoke linked to mental distress
A Scottish survey finds a link between exposure to cigarette smoke and serious emotional problems.
