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Socioeconomic Factors Are Becoming ‘Biologically Embedded’ In Children’s Brains
The most powerful factors affecting a child's brain development involve socioeconomic opportunities, according to a study in the journal Science. The analysis of more than 2,300 9- and 10-year-olds found that environmental factors ranging from household income to education to neighborhood quality are associated with brain differences that can clearly be seen in MRI scans. ... The research "highlights the fact that the environment in which we grow up and live has powerful impacts on our brain," says Russell Poldrack, a psychology professor at Stanford University who was not involved in the study.
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Can Smartphones Help Explain the Drop In Birth Rates?
... The drop in birth rates has affected women of all ages, but it's most pronounced among teenagers. That sounds plausible to Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University. In books like Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents, Twenge has documented the profound behavioral changes that accompanied smartphones, especially among young people. "The smartphone fundamentally changed the way adolescents spent their time outside of school," Twenge told NPR.
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The Midlife Habits That Could Make Or Break Your Brain Health Long-Term
... Ahmad Hariri, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, said that idea really hit home in the past year with the “overwhelmingly disappointing” results of several treatments for Alzheimer’s in older adults, including GLP-1s and some drugs targeting the amyloids, or plaques, that accumulate in the brain. “It seems if you wait until later life to intervene it’s too late, the damage that has been done is really irreversible,” he said. “That kind of naturally shifts the timeline back to midlife.” Hariri believes future brain scans and blood tests will identify people whose brains are aging unusually quickly.
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New Research From Psychological Science
A sample of recent research covering conspiracy theories, emotional regulation, and much more.
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Our Brains May Be Automatically Filtering Out Negative Words
A new study offers insight into how the brain determines which information enters conscious awareness and which remains outside it.
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My Sister Is Autistic and Nonverbal. Here Are 3 Ways I Connect With Her
... “It’s a mess,” said Catherine Lord, the George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Education in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, whose work focuses on autism and related disorders. Part of the confusion is that some people who can say a handful of words are still classified as nonverbal, though the term minimally verbal may be more appropriate, Lord said. Some disability advocates also argue that nonspeaking is more accurate, as it pertains to words rather than other verbal noises or vocal stimming, a common self-soothing technique for people with autistic that involves making repetitive sounds or noises. ...
