news 2013

Muting the Mozart effect Contrary to popular opinion, research finds no cognitive benefits to musical training C hildren get plenty of benefits from music lessons. Learning to play instruments can fuel their creativity, and practicing can teach much-needed focus and discipline. And the payoff, whether in learning a new song or just mastering a chord, often boosts self-esteem.

New research shows that for children under 2 1/2 years old, interactive screens such as those on smartphones and tablet computers may be better teaching tools than educational television. Photo: iStock Photo Smartphones and tablets may be better learning tools for toddlers younger than 2 1/2 years old than "Sesame Street" and other educational TV programs, according to a researcher in the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology.

Oxford University researchers have conducted the first academic study into the hidden problem of adolescent to parent violence in the UK. Adolescent to parent violence is not a category currently flagged in police databases. Researchers analysed raw data from the London Metropolitan Police area, revealing that in one year (2009-2010) alone, there were 1,892 reported cases of 13-19-year-olds committing violent assaults against their own parents or other carers.

Parents who conceive through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are likely to receive different medical advice in relation to prenatal testing than those who conceive naturally, academics have suggested. An international study has revealed that almost 45% of clinicians would recommend a 37-year-old mother undergo amniocentesis – an invasive test which screens for Down’s syndrome – if she had conceived naturally.

New research from Stanford psychologists reveals that the amount parents speak directly to their toddler can make an incredible difference in the child's language proficiency and vocabulary. Just as young children need nourishing food to build physical strength, they also need linguistic nutrition for optimal development of language and cognitive abilities.

An intervention developed by UCL psychologists significantly increases consumption of fruit and vegetables commonly disliked among picky young children, new research has found. The research, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, showed that in a randomised controlled trial involving 450 young children, a new method of taste exposure significantly increased the proportion of children willing to try new foods and to continue eating them.

Research by Stanford psychologists reveals that 2-year-old children of lower-income families may already be six months behind in language development. Future work aims to devise intervention methods. Fifty years of research has revealed the sad truth that the children of lower-income, less-educated parents typically enter school with poorer language skills than their more privileged counterparts.

It is common for parents to influence mate choice - from arranged marriages to more subtle forms of persuasion - but they often disagree with their children about what makes a suitable partner. A new study has found an evolutionary explanation for why some parents try to control who their children pair up with.

Differences in a key language structure can be seen even before children start learning to read. About 10 percent of the U.S. population suffers from dyslexia, a condition that makes learning to read difficult. Dyslexia is usually diagnosed around second grade, but the results of a new study from MIT could help identify those children before they even begin reading, so they can be given extra help earlier.

Some lemur mothers, like their human counterparts, share child-rearing responsibilities and tend to fare better than lemur moms that go it alone, Yale University researchers have found. Black-and-white ruffed lemurs which share nests with other mothers have more time to forage for food according to the study published Aug.

Some lemur mothers, like their human counterparts, share child-rearing responsibilities and tend to fare better than lemur moms that go it alone, Yale University researchers have found. Black-and-white ruffed lemurs which share nests with other mothers have more time to forage for food according to the study published Aug.

ANN ARBOR-Partners of new mothers often experience shifts in sexuality, and these shifts can be unrelated to biological or medical factors pertaining to childbirth, according to a University of Michigan study. The findings, which are published in a recent issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, expand current understanding of postpartum sexuality.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Little is known about how sibling relationships impact child and family functioning, but Penn State researchers are beginning to shed light on intervention strategies that can cultivate healthy and supportive sibling relationships. Parents frequently rank their children's sibling rivalry and conflict as the number one problem they face in family life.

Children from low-income families tend to do worse at school than their financially better-off peers. Poor planning skills, which can emerge as early as kindergarten and continue through high school, is one reason for the income-achievement gap, reports a new Cornell study of a large ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of children from across the United States.

The clues that parents give toddlers about words can make a big difference in how deep their vocabularies are when they enter school, new research at the University of Chicago shows. By using words to reference objects in the visual environment, parents can help young children learn new words, according to the research.

Several studies have shown that how much parents say to their children when they are very young is a good predictor of children's vocabulary at the point when they begin school. In turn, a child's vocabulary size at school entry strongly predicts level of success throughout schooling even into high school and college.

Most people associate work with negative effects on family life, but new research from The Australian National University (ANU) has turned this view on its head, showing that the positives of jobs flow through too. With both National Families Week and the Federal Budget this week, this finding is a timely reminder of the impact policy decisions about jobs, work and work conditions can have on Australian families.

A major study led by researchers from the University of Sydney will examine the incidence of severe paediatric trauma for the first time in Australia and look at how to prevent serious injuries to children. The research was made possible by a $574,000 donation from the Day of Difference Foundation , which was formed in 2005 by Ron and Cathy Delezio after they experienced first-hand what parents go through as a result of having their daughter, Sophie, critically injured.

Children who are exposed to negative parenting - including abuse, neglect but also overprotection - are more likely to experience childhood bullying by their peers, according to a meta-analysis of 70 studies of more than 200,000 children. The research, led by the University of Warwick and published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, found the effects of poor parenting were stronger for children who are both a victim and perpetrator of bulling (bully-victims) than children who were solely victims.

Teaching students how to argue based on available evidence engages them in the scientific process and provides a better idea of how science actually works. The challenge is training teachers. Earth orbits the sun. Microorganisms cause infectious disease. Plants use carbon dioxide to grow. Most of us know these scientific truths from our earliest school days.