Aging can erode memory control while preserving learned behavior. New research finds that past habits become stronger in memory than new intentions, explaining why older adults struggle to learn and maintain new behaviors.
Researchers found that babies who enthusiastically imitate their parents tend to develop a sense of right and wrong earlier, up to two-and-a-half years later. Children who imitated their mothers were more likely to follow rules and show guilt when breaking them.
A new study found that younger children primarily process words based on phonology, sound, whereas older children and adults process words based on semantics, meaning. Researchers tested the language processing abilities of children aged five, eight, and 11 using a rhyme-based experiment.
A new study suggests that reminders of death can increase support for charismatic leaders, who promise a heroic victory over evil. This is because people want to identify with special and great things, which charismatic leaders offer.
New research suggests that wealth does not create individual happiness and does not build a strong country. The study proposes a system to measure well-being directly, including engagement, purpose, optimism, trust, and emotions in specific areas like work life and social relationships.
A study published in Psychological Science found that extra-curricular music lessons significantly improved IQ scores and academic performance in six-year-old children. The research, led by Dr. E. Glenn Schellenberg, showed that music lessons had a more pronounced effect on cognitive development than drama lessons or no lessons at all.
The article explores the links between child care quality and children's development using ecological systems theory. Higher-quality care produces healthier development, and Marshall suggests integrating societal goals to support healthy families, economic self-sufficiency, and women's employment.
Researchers investigated airport security personnel's cognitive processes and found that changing targets dropped their abilities significantly, even with warnings. The ideal training for security screeners would involve familiarizing them with every possible threat to increase reliability.
A study published in Psychological Science found that people who claim to have been abducted by aliens show strong physiological responses when recalling their experiences, similar to those evoked by genuinely traumatic memories. The researchers suggest that a person's reaction to a memory is not indicative of its authenticity.
Researchers discovered that tactile input affects how we perceive rotating objects, suggesting a link between touch and object motion perception. Brain activity studies revealed increased activity in regions processing visual motion when subjects experienced both touch and sight simultaneously.
Recent research from MIT found that brain activity does not increase when switching between tasks quickly, indicating that there are no complicated mechanisms for multitasking. Instead, individuals must complete one task before moving on to the next, a finding with implications for our understanding of cognitive processes.
A study by George Bonanno found that college students who could both express and suppress their emotions were less distressed and better adjusted. The key to healthy emotional expression is knowing when to let it show.
A new study suggests that people who hold a strong belief in a just world are more likely to experience distress and have a desire for revenge when their worldview is challenged. The research, published in Psychological Science, also found that those most distressed by the challenge had the strongest feelings of revenge.
A study suggests that racial diversity in educational settings promotes more complex thinking and diverse thought processes among students. When students interact with collaborators from different racial backgrounds, they rate their ideas as more novel and demonstrate higher levels of complex reasoning.
Researchers found that top chess players' performances in fast-paced blitz chess are closely tied to their ranks in standard chess. In contrast, lower-ranked players see less correlation between the two. This suggests that experts rely on lightning-fast intuition, while less-skilled players struggle with time constraints.
A recent report by the Association for Psychological Science reveals that media violence consistently shows a link to aggressive behavior in children. The short-term exposure to violent media can increase aggression, while long-term exposure can produce lasting increases in aggressive thought patterns and emotions.
A new study explores whether children seeking object names actually desire the object's function, not just its label. Children given functional information seemed more satisfied with the response, suggesting they can distinguish between superficial classification and deeper understanding.
Researchers found that referential gesturing improves identification of targets and reduces verbal cues when participants can see each other. The study published in Psychological Science shows that pointing facilitates the use of verbal descriptions by focusing the audience's gaze on a specific subregion of shared visual space.
A new study suggests that people are surprisingly good at avoiding self-blame and may be better at avoiding regret than they realize. The research found that individuals tend to blame external circumstances rather than themselves when faced with failure or near-miss situations, contradicting their initial expectations of self-blame.
Researchers found that SAT test scores are highly correlated with IQ scores, suggesting the SAT can be used as a reliable measure of intelligence. This correlation may have implications for understanding intellectual decline due to head injury or diseases like Alzheimer's.
A new report examines the efficacy of psychological debriefing in reducing PTSD incidence and suggests it may hinder natural recovery. Controlled studies show little to no effect on PTSD onset, indicating that factors such as social network and stress processing methods are more directly correlated with PTSD manifestation.