Archive for the ‘Psychology’ Category
The onset and severity of the six basic emotions (happiness, surprise, disgust, anger, fear and sadness) could be perceived differently depending on the individual’s culture. The research results are opposed to the most accepted hypothesis in biology and social sciences.
At the other end of the world, open your eyes and mouth can be a very little if the inhabitants of the antipodes no surprise that they can identify the signals transmitted in face of the tourist.
The most accepted hypothesis in biology and social studies established that facial expressions of six basic emotions are universal, but the findings of a study published in PNAS show that the communication of emotions changes as a function of culture. Read the rest of this entry »
Both children and the elderly take longer when they have to make some quick decisions in some scenarios. But new research suggests that much of the slowness in making decisions of that kind in the elderly should be a conscious approach in which the raw accuracy over speed.
In fact, people who are elderly, but otherwise acceptable are healthier, can be trained to react more quickly in some decision-making tasks without prejudicing a significant degree of accuracy. This means that the cognitive abilities of the elderly in this area are not so different from those of young adults.
“Many people think it’s just natural that the brains of elderly people become slower due to aging, but we are proving that this is not always true”, explains Roger Ratcliff, professor of psychology at Ohio State University and author of the study. Read the rest of this entry »
The first date with someone you want intimacy, an interview to apply for a job, a party where there are very few people known, can be difficult to overcome challenges for the most timid, or at least generate stress. These social rituals undoubtedly make shy or introverted individuals dream of a magic potion that can make people feel uninhibited and delightful.
That there is no magic potion, but perhaps an acceptable substitute could be released in the not too distant future in the form of a nasal spray. Oxytocin is a hormone known, among other things, to promote attachment of mothers to their babies, build confidence and increase altruism, generosity and other positive behaviors in social life.
New research has found that intranasal application of oxytocin can improve the perception of oneself in social situations, with the effect of increased self-confidence and assertiveness. Read the rest of this entry »
It has been thought that the sight and hearing each provide an independent estimate of the brain about what happens around us, such as a falling object we see and we hear the sound generated upon impact with the ground, and then the brain is responsible for combining the information subconsciously following rules that take into account what sense is more reliable for the observed event.
However, findings in a new study by the team of Ladan Shams, University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, shows that the senses of hearing and vision may also interact in a more basic level, even before that one of the two produces an estimate. Read the rest of this entry »
Always we are not conscious of how do we make a decision. Unconscious feelings or perceptions can influence us. Another important source of information, but we are not aware of it, is the body itself.
In a new study, the psychologist Anita Eerland, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues Tulio Guadalupe and Rolf Zwaan, they verified that to manipulate in secret the inclination of the body of a person influences in the estimations that this does on quantities, already be a matter of sizes, numbers or percentages.
When we think of numbers, children mentally represent the left and higher right. The researchers hypothesized that lean to one side or the other, even imperceptibly, could lead people to make a lower estimate or above. Read the rest of this entry »
It is well known that people enjoyed the sensual caresses, but it was not clear so far is that some parts of the brain react with the same intensity to see another person being touched, as new research reveals.
Be gently caressed by another person is an experience both physically and emotionally. But the way they caress and the reaction it causes in the brain constitute a science.
A group of researchers of the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has studied how the brain reacts to touch. The study subjects were measured by magnetic resonance imaging blood flow in the brain while being stroked slowly or quickly with a soft brush. As expected, the brain reacted more strongly to the slow strokes. Read the rest of this entry »
Many people in the world suffer from dyslexia. In the U.S. alone, the percentage in children amounts to between 5 and 10 percent. Historically, this disease has been associated with children who are bright, even eloquent in their ability to express themselves verbally, but have problems with reading, in short, that the low reading ability does not match its high Intelligence Quotient (IQ).
However, children are not so bright, reading problems have been attributed to general intellectual limitations. Now a new study challenges this view of dyslexia.
The team of John D. E. Gabrieli and Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli (MIT), Fumiko Hoeft, Hiroko Tanaka, Jessica M. Black, Leanne M. Stanley, Shelli R. Kesler, and Allan L. Reiss of the Stanford University School of Medicine, USA Read the rest of this entry »
A new study has found more evidence that a particular gene is linked to suicidal behavior. Of course, the events that mark the life of a person are those who can push the suicide, but those with some settings in the BDNF gene are more likely to get carried away by despair and suicide.
The results of this research could lead to the development of a practical method that would allow doctors one day take advantage of these secrets of the genetic makeup as part of its efforts to prevent serious disturbances of mood that can lead to certain situations patient high risk of suicide.
In previous studies, and BDNF gene is implicated in suicidal behavior. BDNF is involved in nervous system development. Read the rest of this entry »
A study has shown that baboons are able to make analogies. A cat takes care of her kitten, and a bird feeding her chicks. Although the context is different, these two situations are similar and we can conclude that both cases have a mother and her offspring.
For a long time, scientists believed that this type of reasoning was impossible without using the language, which was limited to humans or, at best, also reached the apes trained to use a language. Read the rest of this entry »
According to a new study, adults who were abused as children are twice as likely to experience multiple episodes of depression lasting compared to those who enjoyed a childhood without abuse.
The team of Doctor Andrea Danese and Rudolf Uher, King’s College in London, also found that people who were abused as children are less likely to improve as expected to the pharmacological and psychological treatment commonly used for depression.
The research findings are based on results from a pooled analysis of data from 16 epidemiological studies with more than 20,000 participants and 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 participants. Read the rest of this entry »