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Psychology

·April 27, 2025·4 min read

Practicing Gratitude Builds Resilience and Hope

While gratitude has been praised for its mental health and relationship benefits, cultivating it during stressful times can be especially challenging. Negative information naturally grabs our attention more than positive events, but simple strategies like gratitude lists and expressing thanks can help shift focus.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 27, 2025·4 min read

Why Music Offers an Emotional Lifeline During Crises

A new study reveals that people worldwide turn to song lyrics as emotional anchors during crises, such as the COVID-19 lockdowns. Researchers found that lyrical themes—like loss, belonging, and reflection—played a far greater role in emotional coping than the music’s tempo or harmony.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 27, 2025·3 min read

Personality and Competition Shape Reproductive Success

A new study finds that male house mice adopt flexible mating strategies tied to their personality traits and environment. Some males consistently defend territories, while others roam for mates, adjusting based on body condition, rivals, and social surroundings.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 27, 2025·5 min read

Midlife Reflections Lead to Greater Happiness and Fulfillment

Late midlife can be a powerful period of personal growth, marked by increasing self-transcendence through life storytelling. Researchers observed that people who actively reflect on and reinterpret their life experiences experience greater self-acceptance, well-being, and optimism.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 26, 2025·4 min read

How Oxytocin Tames “Mean Girl” Behavior

A new study finds that in some lemur species, evolving gender equality is linked to changes in the brain’s oxytocin system. Researchers compared seven closely related species, finding that more egalitarian species had higher numbers of oxytocin receptors, particularly in the amygdala.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·April 26, 2025·4 min read

Prenatal Stress Leaves Lasting Molecular Imprints on Babies

A new study reveals that stress during pregnancy can molecularly reprogram newborns' stress response systems, with significant differences between boys and girls. Researchers found that maternal stress altered entire families of tRNA fragments in umbilical cord blood, particularly those regulating acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 26, 2025·6 min read

Brain Networks Reveal How Psychosis Symptoms Change Over Time

A new study explores how brain networks differ between patients in early and chronic stages of psychosis, shedding light on symptom evolution. Researchers mapped connectivity patterns and found that disruptions in the frontoparietal network are key to both early and chronic psychosis symptoms.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 25, 2025·5 min read

Infant Social Skills Thrive Despite Hardship

A large international study finds that babies living in insecure conditions, including as refugees, display key social skills on par with children raised in more stable environments. Using eye-tracking technology, researchers found that over 800 children from Sweden, Uganda, Bhutan, and Zimbabwe equally followed social cues like shared attention, regardless of poverty, trauma, or parental mental health.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 25, 2025·5 min read

Facts Can Heal Divides, Not Just Deepen Them

A new study challenges the belief that exposure to facts only deepens political divisions. Researchers found that when Americans were presented with balanced, credible information about gun control, and incentivized to engage with it, they retained the facts and even revised their views.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 25, 2025·5 min read

Only Children Face Unique Struggles as Parental Caregivers

As single-child families rise in the U.S., more adults are navigating the intense responsibility of caregiving without the support of siblings. A new study reveals that only children experience greater emotional and financial stress when caring for aging parents, and support from friends or extended family doesn't offer the same relief it does for those with siblings.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 25, 2025·5 min read

Neural Rewiring May Hold the Key to Psychosis Recovery

A new study has uncovered the brain connectivity patterns that differentiate patients who recover from psychosis from those who do not. Using whole-brain computational models, researchers found that patients in remission show increased neural connectivity, while those with persistent symptoms show reduced connectivity.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 25, 2025·6 min read

These 3 Bad Habits in Your 30s Impact Later Mental Health

A decades-long study in Finland reveals that smoking, heavy drinking, and physical inactivity in early adulthood are strongly linked to declining physical and mental health by age 36. Participants with all three habits showed elevated depression symptoms, higher metabolic risk, and lower self-rated health and wellbeing scores.