Remembering to Forget: The Amnesic Effect of Daydreaming
When your mind drifts, it’s hard to remember what was going on before you stopped paying attention. Now a new study has found that the effect is stronger when your mind drifts farther – to memories of an overseas vacation instead of a domestic trip, for example, or a memory in the more distant past.
Scientists Identify Brain Circuits Related to the Initiation of Termination of Movement Sequences
In humans, throwing a ball, typing on a keyboard, or engaging in most other physical activities involves the coordination of numerous discrete movements that are organized as action sequences. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and the Gulbenkian Institute in Portugal have identified brain activity in mice that can signal the initiation and termination of newly learned action sequences. The findings appear online today in the current issue of Nature.
Can Blocking a Frown Keep Bad Feelings at Bay?
Your facial expression may tell the world what you are thinking or feeling. But it also affects your ability to understand written language related to emotions, according to research published in the July issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Keep Your Fingers Crossed!: How Superstition Improves Performance
Don’t scoff at those lucky rabbit feet. New research shows that having some kind of lucky token can actually improve your performance – by increasing your self-confidence.
Examining the Differences in the Moral Foundations of Liberals and Conservatives
Liberals and conservatives have different moral foundations, according to research published in Personality Processes and Individual Differences in 2009.
Musical Skill Reflects Working Memory Capacity in Addition to Practice Time
Practice will help you play piano better – but it’s not going to turn you into Liberace. A new study looks at the role that working memory capacity plays in piano players’ ability to sight read a new piece of music, an important and complex skill for musicians.
Air Force Suicide Prevention Program Reduces Suicide Rate
A U.S. Air Force suicide prevention program is associated with reduced suicide rates among Air Force personnel during times in which the program was rigorously implemented and monitored, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print May 13, 2010, in the American Journal of Public Health.
Predicting Relationship Breakups With a Word-Association Task
Here’s a way to tell a romantic relationship is going to fall apart: find out what people really think about their partners. The researchers in a new study used a so-called implicit task, which shows how people automatically respond to words – in this case, whether they find it easier to link words referring to their partner to words with pleasant or unpleasant meanings.
Is Your Left Hand More Motivated Than Your Right Hand?
Motivation doesn’t have to be conscious; your brain can decide how much it wants something without input from your conscious mind. Now a new study shows that both halves of your brain don’t even have to agree. Motivation can happen in one side of the brain at a time.
Brain Structures Correspond to Different Facets of Personality
Personalities come in all kinds. Now psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people’s brains correspond to their personalities; for example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior.
Being Easily Disgusted Associated with Implicit Disapproval of Gays
Two experiments found that although disgust sensitivity was not associated with explicitly condemning homosexual behavior, it was associated with unconsciously or implicitly judging it negatively.
Not Responding to Text Messages Can Induce Effects of Being Ostracized
According to research published in Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice in 2004, imagined ostracism is significant enough to induce psychological pain.