Psychology
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Psychology
2-year-olds possess grammatical insights
Toddlers discern basic rules for using nouns and verbs at least one year before speaking in complete sentences, French brain researchers report.
By Bruce Bower -
Humans
Autism care takes biological toll on mothers
Caring for teens and young adults with autism not only creates intense psychological pressure on mothers but may promote sharply decreased production of a crucial stress hormone, a long-term study suggests.
By Bruce Bower -
Psychology
School-age lead exposures most harmful to IQ
New studies find lead exposure has greater potency in school-age children than in infants and toddlers, including effects on brain volume.
By Janet Raloff -
Psychology
Males, females swap sex-role stereotypes
Analysis finds that mating strategies are not universal
By Bruce Bower -
Humans
Rapid emotional swings could precede violence
A tool from physics helps link the patterns of psychiatric patients’ symptoms and the likelihood they will commit violent acts.
By Bruce Bower -
Health & Medicine
Autism immerses 2-year-olds in a synchronized world
By age 2, kids with autism focus on synchronized physical events, such as a person’s moving lips accompanied by sounds, rather than on eye movements and other social cues, a new study suggests.
By Bruce Bower -
Health & Medicine
Gestures speak volumes in the brain
A new brain-imaging study suggests that an understanding of spoken language relies on changing sets of brain networks that exploit acoustic and visual cues.
By Bruce Bower -
Psychology
Feelings, universal musical feelings
Africans who spurn all things Western provide evidence that people everywhere recognize expressions of happiness, sadness and fear in music. Listen to some of the audio samples the study used.
By Bruce Bower -
Humans
Radio relief for Rwandans’ social conflicts
Rwandans who listened to a yearlong radio soap opera developed increased tolerance for dissent, a greater sense of cooperation and more acceptance of marriage across ethnic lines.
By Bruce Bower -
Humans
Playing for real in a virtual world
Preteen boys and girls interacting in a virtual world display the same contrasting play styles that have been observed in real-world settings.
By Bruce Bower -
Health & Medicine
Taking age stereotypes to heart
A long-term investigation indicates that young and middle-aged adults who hold negative attitudes about the elderly are more likely to have heart ailments and strokes later in life.
By Bruce Bower -
Psychology
Don’t worry, get attention training
New studies suggest that a short course of attention training offers as much relief to sufferers of two common anxiety disorders as psychotherapy or medication.
By Bruce Bower