Viewing a person as dishonest or immoral can distort memory, a Cornell study suggests. So much so, that when we attempt to recall that person's behavior, it seems to be worse than it really was.
Psychology Professor David Pizarro, at Banfi's Restaurant on campus, found that people who read about a man who walked out on a restaurant bill remember the bill as much higher if they're told he liked to steal; people who thought he left because of an emergency remember a significantly lower bill. Conclusion:
Depression and anxiety disorders during childhood may be associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) into adulthood for women but not men, according to a study in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The increasing prevalence of obesity among children and adults is becoming a public health crisis, according to background information in the article. Understanding the social and psychological conditions that are associated with obesity could help predict which children...
Meditation may ease anxiety among people who suffer from anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But a new study suggests meditation isn't necessarily better than other types of relaxation techniques at treating anxiety.
Researchers reviewed two studies comparing meditation to other relaxation techniques, such as biofeedback, and found...
We can define an emotion as a subjective state of feeling accompanied by changes in the body that prepare the organism for a specific type of action. Some of these bodily changes occur in various organs such as the heart, blood vessels, gut, etc. and are mediated by the ANS; other changes occur in the facial muscles, producing the specific facial expressions that are hard-wired into the overall emotional response; still other changes occur in body posture that reflects readiness for a specific action; and there are specific changes in vocalizations and tone of voice as well. Basic emotions - fear, anger, surprise, joy, sadness, and disgust - each have their own unique facial expressions, bodily postures, action tendencies, tone of voice, and ANS changes, as well as unique subjective feelings. For example, fear involves not only feeling afraid, but also a fearful expression on the face, strong activation of the sympathetic nervous system, high pitch vocalizations, and a behavioral tendency to flee. The facial expressions for each basic emotion have been found to be universal across all human cultures, showing that they have been hard-wired by evolution rather than learned. Darwin recognized this in the 19th century, and suggested that one way to change your emotional state is to...
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Mental exercises with neurofeedback may ease symptoms of attention-deficit disorder, epilepsy and depression--and even boost cognition in healthy brains
At first the computer game looks awfully easy for an eight-year-old--like something out of the Stone Age of arcades in the 1980s. A red triangle "arrow" appears on the monitor's blue screen, and then the nose of a cartoon airplane glides into view from the left. If the arrow points upward, Ben must make the plane climb. When he succeeds, a spiky yellow sun beams.
A second glance shows that all is not as it seems. For one thing, Ben has no joystick. Instead several...
WASHINGTON - Federal regulators approved the first antidepressant skin patch on Tuesday, providing a different way to administer a drug already used by Parkinson’s disease patients.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the selegiline transdermal patch, agency spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said. The drug belongs to a class of medicines...
Infants as young as 18 months show altruistic behaviour, suggesting humans have a natural tendency to be helpful, German researchers have discovered.
In experiments reported in the journal Science, toddlers helped strangers complete tasks such as stacking books.
Young chimps did the same, providing the first direct evidence of altruism in non-human primates.
Altruism may have...
The government is unveiling plans to get thousands of people - including many with mental illnesses - off incapacity benefit and into work.
Ministers hope the changes will improve lives as well as save money, but how easy will it be for mentally ill people to find work?
Bruce Murray says he would love to get a job but has been unable to get off incapacity benefit because of the mental illness he has suffered from for more than 20 years.
The 41-year-old from Elland, West Yorkshire, was diagnosed with...