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Infants May Use Lip Reading to Learn Language
ABC News: Infants learn language not only through sound, but also through lip reading, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers say the new findings defy the conventional view that babies learn to speak through sound alone and the research may even assist in diagnosing autism spectrum disorders in the future. Scientists from Florida Atlantic University studied 89 infants ranging in age from 4 months to 12 months old. They also studied 21 adults.
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The surprising upside to hitting hard times
Today Show: It may be hard to look on the bright side when you’re mid-divorce or post-pink slip. But traumatic life events can actually benefit you in the long run, according to a new research review. Compared with people whose lives have been a cakewalk, you’re tougher if you’ve faced a few challenges, points out the study in Current Directions in Psychological Science. This resilience changes your body and mind so you’re less likely to be overwhelmed by the next stressful situation, says study author Mark D. Seery, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University at Buffalo.
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Writing the Pounds Away the Right Way
Shape Magazine: We all know that tracking your food and workouts is proven to help with weight loss , but what about journaling what's important to you? Can the simple act of writing down what matters to you most in life help you to live a healthier life? Values and weight may not seem related but they might just be, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study looked at 45 women with a body mass index (BMI) of 23 or higher, with a little more of half of them considered overweight or obese.
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Lads’ mags, sexism, and research in psychology: an interview with Dr. Peter Hegarty (part 2)
Scientific American: In this post, I continue my interview with Dr. Peter Hegarty, a social psychologist at the University of Surrey and one of the authors of ” ‘Lights on at the end of the party’: Are lads’ mags mainstreaming dangerous sexism?”, which was published in The British Journal of Psychology in December. My detailed discussion of that paper is here. The last post presented part 1 of our interview, in which Dr. Hegarty answered questions about the methodology of this particular research, as well as about some of the broader methodological differences between research in psychology and in sciences that are focused on objects of study other than humans.
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Solving crosswords may come down to the subconscious mind
The Washington Post: Tackling a crossword can crowd the tip of your tongue. You know that you know the answers to 3 Down and 5 Across, but the words just won’t come out. Then, when you’ve given up and moved on to another clue, comes blessed relief. The elusive answer suddenly occurs to you, crystal clear. The processes leading to that flash of insight can illuminate many of the mind’s curious characteristics. Crosswords can reflect the nature of intuition, hint at the way we retrieve words from our memory and reveal a surprising connection between puzzle-solving and our ability to recognize a human face.
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Study: Do men flash cash to find a mate?
USA Today: When women seem scarce, men may compete for them by being impulsive, saving less and borrowing more, according to a new study. "What we see in other animals is that when females are scarce, males become more competitive. They compete more for access to mates," lead author Vladas Griskevicius, an assistant professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, said in a university news release. "How do humans compete for access to mates? What you find across cultures is that men often do it through money, through status and through products," Griskevicius said.
