news 2012

A new model developed by UCL researchers to predict the persistence of stuttering could be used to screen all children at school age, according to new research in the Journal of Fluency Disorders . Stuttering - also known as stammering - is thought to affect one in twenty children under the age of five, with onset generally occurring around the age of three years old.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Had a bad day? Extending your normal exercise routine by a few minutes may be the solution, according to Penn State researchers, who found that people's satisfaction with life was higher on days when they exercised more than usual. "We found that people's satisfaction with life was directly impacted by their daily physical activity," said Jaclyn Maher, graduate student in kinesiology.

Long after women have chosen Mr. Stable over Mr. Sexy, they struggle unconsciously with the decision, according to a new study by UCLA researchers who look at subtle changes in behavior during ovulation. At their most fertile period, these women are less likely to feel close to their mates and more likely to find fault with them than women mated to more sexually desirable men, the research shows.

You know that Facebook friend who's always uploading photos to publicize his perfect romance. Maybe you are that friend. But do those photos reveal any truths about our relationships? Yes, says a new study led by University of Toronto researchers; from our relationships to our personalities, the way we portray ourselves online reflects the lives we live offline.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. We humans have a fairly erratic sense of time. We tend to misjudge the duration of events, particularly when they are emotional in nature. Disturbingly negative experiences, for example, seem to last much longer than they actually do. And highly positive experiences seem to pass more quickly than negative ones.

Do you get tired when others yawn? Does your dog get tired when you yawn? New research from Lund University establishes that dogs catch yawns from humans. But not if the dogs are too young. The study found that, like humans, dogs show a developmental trend in susceptibility to contagious yawning. While dogs above 7 months of age catch human yawns, younger dogs are immune to yawn contagion.

The idea that an individual might suffer from a sexual addiction is great fodder for radio talk shows, comedians and late night TV. But a sex addiction is no laughing matter. Relationships are destroyed, jobs are lost, lives ruined. Yet psychiatrists have been reluctant to accept the idea of out-of-control sexual behavior as a mental health disorder because of the lack of scientific evidence.

A new study indicates that about one-third of asylum-seeking Afghan children who arrive in the UK without their parents or a guardian are likely to be experience symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. However, they also found those in foster care were less likely to be suffering from PTSD than those in shared accommodation with other asylum-seekers and refugees.

AUSTIN, Texas — Individuals who have their first sexual experience later than average may have more satisfying romantic relationships in adulthood, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin. The study by Paige Harden, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and the Population Research Center, suggests that those who had a later first sexual experience were also less likely to be married and had fewer romantic partners in adulthood.

Social misfits, rejoice. You might be more like Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga and Albert Einstein than you realize, if rejection boosts your creativity, reports a new Cornell study. Being an outcast can lead to heightened creativity - even commercial success, according to research by Lynne Vincent, M.S./Ph.D.

Scientists at the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, and King's College London, have found that mothers who stroke their baby's body in the first few weeks after birth may change the effects that stress during pregnancy can have on an infant's early-life development. Researchers world-wide have been studying whether stress in pregnancy can lead to emotional and behavioural problems in children for many years.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Men and women who are expectant parents have different stress reactions to relationship conflict, according to researchers at Penn State, who studied couples expecting their first child. In addition, recovery from the initial reaction to conflict also can be different for men and women, depending on individual difficulties, such as anxiety, or relationship difficulties, such as chronic relationship conflict.

AUSTIN, Texas — Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are commonly associated with sexual assault, but a new study from The University of Texas at Austin shows that female victims suffer from a wide spectrum of debilitating effects that may often go unnoticed or undiagnosed.

AUSTIN, Texas — Two psychology professors at The University of Texas at Austin have received a $2.3 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to study genetic influences on drinking and other risky behaviors. The five-year grant to Kim Fromme and Paige Harden will support a project that follows Fromme's previous NIAAA-funded longitudinal study - "The UT Experience!" - which examined drinking and other behavioral risks among more than 2,000 entering freshman at The University of Texas at Austin.

Providing therapy over the phone will not only help individuals gain much-needed access to mental health treatment, it will provide a more cost effective way of providing these services at a time when we have to be innovative and efficient." —Professor Peter Jones A new study reveals that cognitive therapy over the phone is just as effective as meeting face-to-face.

Our brains are better at hearing new and approaching sounds than detecting when a sound disappears, according to a study by researchers at the UCL Institute. The findings could explain why parents often fail to notice the sudden quiet from the playroom that usually accompanies the onset of mischief.

Hypothesis: Scientists have a superior ability to root out gender bias in their labs because they are trained to rigorously reject subjective criteria. Experimental result: Naaahhh. Yale University researchers asked 127 scientists to review a job application of identically qualified male and female students and found that the faculty members - both men and women - consistently scored a male candidate higher on a number of criteria such as competency and were more likely to hire the male.

What is a fair way to distribute goods? Should someone who worked more also receive more compensation? New research, published online PLoS One [29 Aug] and led by Patricia Kanngiesser from the University of Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology and Felix Warneken from Harvard University, suggests that young children already take merit into account when sharing things with others.

Crises are said to bring people closer together. But a new study from UC Berkeley suggests that while the have-nots reach out to one another in times of trouble, the wealthy are more apt to find comfort in material possessions. "In times of uncertainty, we see a dramatic polarization, with the rich more focused on holding onto and attaining wealth and the poor spending more time with friends and loved ones," said Paul Piff, a post-doctoral scholar in psychology at UC Berkeley and lead author of the paper published online this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Previous research indicates that in many cases discrimination may depend on a particularly positive image we have of people with whom we identify, rather than on our direct dislike of other groups. A new thesis studies how we try to avoid favouring our own kind. In three experiments, Øyvind Jørgensen, Martin Bäckström and Fredrik Björklund showed that volunteers corrected how positively they viewed their own group, depending on whom they were reporting their answers to.