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What bilingual babies reveal about the brain
MSNBC: One of the most fascinating windows scientists have into the human mind comes from watching babies learn to interact with the world around them. Janet Werker is a psychologist at Vancouver's University of British Columbia who studies how babies learn languages. Some of her recent work was aimed at investigating the claim that growing up bilingual can confuse a baby and make learning to speak more difficult. In fact, Werker and her colleagues found the opposite: Rather than causing any difficulties, learning two languages at once may confer cognitive advantages to babies, including not just special auditory sensitivity, but enhanced visual sensitivity as well.
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If you can hold it, urine for a big payoff: Study
The Vancouver Sun: As unpleasant as that feeling of desperately needing to use the bathroom can be, a new study suggests those awkward moments could be when you make some of your most responsible decisions. A study led by Mirjam Tuk, a researcher at University of Twente in the Netherlands, suggests that when you're exerting effort to contain a full bladder, you're also more likely to control yourself in other ways. Tuk's study, entitled Inhibitory Spillover: Increased Urination Urgency Facilitates Impulse Control in Unrelated Domains, is slated for publication in an upcoming edition of the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: The Vancouver Sun
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People with full bladders ‘make better decisions’, scientists discover
The Telegraph: Researchers discovered the brain’s self-control mechanism provides restraint in all areas at once. They found people with a full bladder were able to better control and “hold off” making important, or expensive, decisions, leading to better judgement. Psychologists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands linked bladder control to the same part of the brain that activates feelings of desire and reward. Read the whole story: The Telegraph
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Need to Quit Smoking? Study Finds Self-Control Deep in the Brain
A war that consists of a series of momentary self-control skirmishes: That’s how a new study describes the process of pursuing goals such as quitting smoking. But using a novel research approach, the authors—Elliot Berkman of the University of Oregon, Emily Falk of the University of Michigan, and Matthew Lieberman of University of California—have taken strides toward identifying what arms us to fight those battles. The paper is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science. Working toward goals, says Berkman, our brains, cognitive processes, and motivations collaborate to produce behavior.
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Full bladder, clear mind? Study links decision making with bathroom habits
The Globe and Mail: The next time you need to make an important life decision, you might want to drink several glasses of water and wait. A new study published in the journal Psychological Science has found that controlling your bladder makes you better at exerting self-control when making decisions about the future. Read the whole story: The Globe and Mail
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For Alcoholics, New Help in Abstaining—Without Thinking About It
Alcoholism is a tough addiction to kick. Eventually, most people return to drinking. But some Dutch and German psychological scientists have tested a short-term regime that promises to help alcoholics stay sober. Their study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science. Heavy drinkers tend to behave impulsively in response to temptation. Meanwhile, their “reflective,” or controlled, responses—the thoughts that would help them resist drinking—are often weak. Most therapies, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy, primarily address the reflective responses.
