Longing Influences Choice

Longing for something intensely (like a holiday or food) can change an individual's choice making processes with a wider array of options considered than would normally be
the case.

Longing Influences Choice

How Children Relate To Storybook Characters

A new study from University of Waterloo researchers Daniela O'Neill and Rebecca Shultis published in Developmental Psychology used an innovative approach to evaluate young children's storytelling ability and found that they are able to immerse themselves in the thoughts and feelings of fictional characters.

How Children Relate To Storybook Characters

IQ And Short-term Memory

Research from the University of Oregon published in Psychological Science suggests that short-term memory capacity is a strong predictor of IQ.

IQ And Short-term Memory

Suppressing Negative Emotional Memories

Recent research has shown that negative emotional memories can be suppressed with practice, offering the possibility of new treatments for people suffering from a range of conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive syndrome.

Suppressing Negative Emotional Memories

Gut Instinct Decisions

People usually follow emotional gut instinct rather than rational responses when making decisions about complex issues such as terrorism, troop surges or crime, even though the brain can simultaneously process both kinds of information.

Gut Instinct Decisions

Breastfeeding Does Not Protect Against Allergies

The results of a large randomized trial recently published on bmj.com indicate that prolonged or exclusive breastfeeding fails to protect against development of asthma and allergies in later life.

Breastfeeding Does Not Protect Against Allergies

Personal Chaos Inhibits HIV Health Care

Chaotic personal circumstances may significantly inhibit access to health care for HIV-positive people living in poverty.

Personal Chaos Inhibits HIV Health Care

Chocolate May Not Be Addictive

While people readily admit to being "chocoholics", chocolate is not truly addictive and there is an alternative explanation for this ubiquitous craving.

Chocolate May Not Be Addictive

Fruity Vegetables Reduce Childhood Asthma

A diet rich in fish and "fruity vegetables" such as tomatoes, aubergines, cucumber, green beans and courgettes can reduce childhood asthma and allergies.

Fruity Vegetables Reduce Childhood Asthma

Mediterranean Diet May Help Alzheimer's

Research led by Dr Nikos Scarmeas of Columbia University Medical Center published in Neurology has found that a Mediterranean diet may help people with Alzheimer's disease live longer than those relying on a more traditional Western diet.

The study followed 192 people with Alzheimer's disease in New York for an average of four and a half years during which 85 participants died. However, the study found that those most closely following a Mediterranean diet were 76 per cent less likely to die.

Mediterranean Diet May Help Alzheimer's

Loneliness Affects Health

Pointing out that loneliness is not the same as solitude which can be highly valued researchers nevertheless conclude that social isolation and physical aging may have a deleterious effect on health.

Loneliness Affects Health

New Research On Reading

Two recent studies look at the process of metacomprehension and greater effectiveness of female teachers.

New Research On Reading

Motherese

Female rhesus monkeys use particular vocalizations while interacting with their babies comparable to the way humans use "motherese" or "baby talk".

Motherese

Explaining Out-of-body Experiences

Two recent studies published in Science offer insight into how individuals perceive their own bodies and a possible explanation for out-of-body experiences. This phenomenon has been associated with drug use and neurological disorders such as epilepsy but patients were commonly thought to have imagined it.

Explaining Out-of-body Experiences

Tomato Antioxidant Does Not Prevent Cancer

A recent study concludes that lycopene, an antioxidant predominately found in tomatoes, is not effective in preventing prostate cancer.

Tomato Antioxidant Does Not Prevent Cancer

Stroke Care In UK Severely Deficient

The perception of stroke among health professionals and the public must be changed so that it is viewed as a condition requiring emergency treatment.

Stroke Care In UK Severely Deficient

NICE's Threshold Range Questioned

A situation in which NICE employs an unsubstantiated range to assess cost effectiveness and others within UK healthcare make no use of any such threshold is not conducive to efficiency and fairness in the NHS.

NICE's Threshold Range Questioned