Psychology News

These research articles involve many aspects of psychology such as cognitive psychology, depression studies, mental health, stress, happiness and neuropsychology, Scroll below for more specific categories.

A large study of 70-year-olds born in either 1901-1902, or 1930, provides evidence that the population of 70-year-olds in 2000 did much better on intelligence tests than the 70-year-olds of 1971-72.
A study published in October's Cortex has shown young people who regularly play video games have an advantage in performing tasks which require visuomotor skills. The study also found that gamers show increased activity in the prefrontal cortex when asked to perform visuomotor tasks. By contrast, non-gamers had more reliant use of the parietal cortex, an area which involves hand-eye coordination, when performing visuomotor tasks.
Neuroscience researchers suggest that utilizing fMRI studies could help to provide biomarkers for the diagnosis of depression. A recent fMRI study of patients with depression showed marked abnormal activations in the medial prefronal cortex. Researchers believe that by identifying the neurobiological markers for depression, psychiatrists can tailor medications and therapies to suit the needs of individual patients.
Researchers look deeper into animal emotions for clues about decision making. New approaches in the study of animal behavior allow researchers to study the effects of optimistic and pessimistic moods on animal behavior.