http://www.physorg.com/health-news/psychology/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on psychology, psychological disorders, psychological condition, psychological diseases and psychological science. (PhysOrg.com) -- We are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we will carefully deliberate the pros and cons of each item, taking into consideration past experiences with similar situations before making our ultimate choice. However, a new study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making. http://www.physorg.com/news177269248.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:50:01 EST news177269248 A new study carried out at the University of Haifa has found that the hormone oxytocin, the "love hormone", which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy and gloating. "Subsequent to these findings, we assume that the hormone is an overall trigger for social sentiments: when the person's association is positive, oxytocin bolsters pro-social behaviors; when the association is negative, the hormone increases negative sentiments," explains Simone Shamay-Tsoory who carried out the research. http://www.physorg.com/news177245481.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:20:01 EST news177245481 (PhysOrg.com) -- How easy is it to walk, talk and remember what was said? Dr Dee Way studied how actors learn a script and whether walking affects their memory performance. http://www.physorg.com/news177232036.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:07:56 EST news177232036 Malfunctioning circadian clock genes may be responsible for bipolar disorder in children. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry found four versions of the regulatory gene RORB that were associated with pediatric bipolar disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news177224772.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:16:31 EST news177224772 Do you speak English as a second language well, but still have trouble understanding movies with unfamiliar accents, such as Brad Pitt's southern accent in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds? In a new study, published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, Holger Mitterer (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics) and James McQueen (MPI and Radboud University Nijmegen) show how you can improve your second-language listening ability by watching the movie with subtitles -as long as these subtitles are in the same language as the film. Subtitles in one's native language, the default in some European countries, may actually be counter-productive to learning to understand foreign speech. http://www.physorg.com/news177139830.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:40:02 EST news177139830 Depression must be understood on both a biological and psychological level, says Robert Sapolsky. http://www.physorg.com/news177102087.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:30:02 EST news177102087 (PhysOrg.com) -- Depression occurs in as many as one-third of patients after a stroke, and women are at somewhat higher risk, according to a large new review of studies. Post-stroke depression is associated with greater disability, reduced quality of life and an increased risk of death. http://www.physorg.com/news177092671.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:50:01 EST news177092671 In a new study, psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are able to see in detail for the first time how various regions of the human brain respond when people experience an unexpected or traumatic event. The study could lead to the creation of biological measures that could identify people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or identify PTSD sufferers who would benefit from specific treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news177085719.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:50:03 EST news177085719 A chill wind chases you into the door of your local newsagent. Rain is drumming down outside. As you pay for your newspaper, you briefly notice a number of strange items on the checkout counter - a matchbox car, plastic toy animals and some trinkets that seem out of place in this shop. http://www.physorg.com/news177020337.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:10:01 EST news177020337 (PhysOrg.com) -- Virtual reality games could help children to escape victimisation and bullying at school, according to researchers at the University of Warwick. http://www.physorg.com/news177018428.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:40:06 EST news177018428 Research carried out among thousands of people has shown a clear connection between depression and a loss of bone mass, leading to osteoporosis and fractures. http://www.physorg.com/news177000565.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:51:41 EST news177000565 For university students, anxiety about grades is nothing new. But this year, students also may be anxious about the H1N1 flu virus and missing classes. http://www.physorg.com/news176736902.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:10:05 EST news176736902 Depression and other emotional symptoms in survivors of torture and other traumatic experiences may be exacerbated by the effects of head injuries, according to a study from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma (HPRT), based in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Psychiatry. In the November 2009 Archives of General Psychiatry, the researchers report finding structural changes in the brains of former South Vietnamese political detainees who had suffered head injuries and clearly link those changes to psychiatric symptoms often seen in survivors of torture. http://www.physorg.com/news176734861.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:24:36 EST news176734861 (PhysOrg.com) -- Next time you watch a heavy weight lifting tournament, tell the person next to you not to boo the person that he doesn't want to win. http://www.physorg.com/news176735446.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:12:15 EST news176735446 Recent studies investigating the question of parental control in the west and in east Asian countries suggest that extreme meddling by parents can have negative effects on their children's psychological development in both of those regions, although the effects may not be uniform. http://www.physorg.com/news176648906.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:09:03 EST news176648906 (PhysOrg.com) -- Baby Einstein videos have become a staple in many American households until recently when the Walt Disney Company decided to refund the product, acknowledging that these ever-popular videos were not intended to be educational or promote better brain development among young children. http://www.physorg.com/news176624111.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:20:00 EST news176624111 How blind to their surroundings can people be when they're talking on their cell phones? http://www.physorg.com/news176582314.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:10:02 EST news176582314 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a study of 1,022 men and women with heart disease, those with post-traumatic stress disorder perceived the effects of their disease as more burdensome and disabling than did those without PTSD, even when their actual heart health was no worse by objective measures. http://www.physorg.com/news176577598.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:10:02 EST news176577598 The elderly are less likely to feel depressed if their relatives keep them updated about important family matters, a new study indicates. http://www.physorg.com/news176575687.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:48:42 EST news176575687 Technology is no longer what it used to be: Computers have replaced typewriters and landlines are in rapid decline. Technological advances are being made every day, making many of our lives easier and allowing information to be more accessible and available. However for some people, such as the aging population, technological progress can in fact be more limiting. http://www.physorg.com/news176571539.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:40:01 EST news176571539 There are areas in the brain devoted to our arms, legs, and various parts of our bodies. The way these areas are distributed throughout the brain are known as "body maps" and there are some significant differences in these maps between left- and right-handed people. For example, in left-handed people, there is an equal amount of brain area devoted to the left and right arms in both hemispheres. However, for right-handed people, there is more cortical area associated with right arm than the left. http://www.physorg.com/news176571474.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:38:32 EST news176571474 Nearly 73 percent of all American adults use the Internet on a daily basis, according to a 2009 Pew Internet and American Life Project survey. Half of these adults use the Web to find information via search engines, while 38 percent use it to pass the time. In a recent study, University of Missouri researchers found that readers were better able to understand, remember and emotionally respond to material found through "searching" compared to content found while "surfing." http://www.physorg.com/news176563931.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:32:57 EST news176563931 First impressions do matter when it comes to communicating personality through appearance, according to new research by psychologists Laura Naumann of Sonoma State University and Sam Gosling of The University of Texas at Austin. http://www.physorg.com/news176470678.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:00:06 EST news176470678 Children have a remarkable ability to learn new languages. As little as five hours of exposure to a second language is enough to help infants incorporate characteristics of that language into their babbling according to a new study. http://www.physorg.com/news176458764.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:20:59 EST news176458764 (PhysOrg.com) -- A gene variant makes people who experienced trauma as children or adults more susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Yale researchers have found. http://www.physorg.com/news176408321.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:22:58 EST news176408321 Learning to talk also changes the way speech sounds are heard, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale-affiliated research laboratory. The findings could have a major impact on improving speech disorders. http://www.physorg.com/news176404265.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:50:06 EST news176404265 The swine flu (H1N1) pandemic has received extensive media coverage this year. The World Health Organization, in addition to providing frequent updates about cases of infection and death tolls, recommends hyper vigilance in daily hygiene such as frequent hand washing or sneezing into the crook of our arms. News reports at all levels, from local school closures to airport screenings and global disease surveillance, continue to remind us of the high risk. http://www.physorg.com/news176387200.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:40:03 EST news176387200 Thanks to a new method there is a reason for hope for patients with very severe depression. German physicians at the University Clinics of Bonn and Cologne have treated ten patients with deep brain stimulation. This involved implanting electrodes in the patients' nucleus accumbens. This centre has a key role in as the brains reward system, whose function may be impaired in depressive people. Subsequent to this treatment, the patients' depression improved significantly in half of the patients. All patients had suffered from very severe depression for many years and did not respond to any other therapies. The results of the study will be published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. http://www.physorg.com/news176377535.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:50:01 EST news176377535 (PhysOrg.com) -- People who eat a diet laden with processed and high-fat foods may put themselves at greater risk of depression, according to UCL (University College London) research published today. http://www.physorg.com/news176369681.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:40:01 EST news176369681 Holding on to hope may not make patients happier as they deal with chronic illness or diseases, according to a new study by University of Michigan Health System researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news176353323.html Medicine & Health - Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:30:01 EST news176353323