Category: Mind & Pyschology
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Gardening Can Help Improve a Person’s Body Image
A study has found gardening can promote positive body image, including appreciation of one’s own body and one’s bodily imperfections. The study was published in the journal Ecopsychology by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in the U.K. Higher Positive Body Image The study involved 84 gardeners in north London. The gardeners were assigned 12…
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Rural Babies Display More Negative Emotions Than Urban Babies
Babies born to rural families display more negative emotions like anger and frustration than their urban counterparts. The researchers found, in contrast, that babies born in cities are less fussy and not as bothered by limits set by their caregivers. These findings were recently published in the Journal of Community Psychology by researchers from Washington…
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Scents Can Trigger, Alter the Ways Memories Are Processed in Mice
Researchers have found that scents can trigger memories and alter the way they are processed in mice. This has possible therapeutic applications in humans. The researchers from Boston University recently published their findings in the April 2020 edition of the journal Learning and Memory. Systems Consolidation Theory of Memory The traditional theory known as “systems…
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Flies Kept in Dark Lose Traumatic Long-Term Memory
Fruit flies that were kept in the dark lost long-term memory of a traumatic stress they were exposed to. Scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University also discovered the specific molecular mechanism that affected long-term memory in these flies. These findings may lead to novel treatments in humans in terms of treating, or even erasing traumatic memories.…
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Scientists Learn How ‘Fear Memory’ Is Formed in the Brain
Scientists have found that when a ‘fear memory’ is formed, there is a strengthening of neural pathways between two areas of the brain. These two areas are called the hippocampus and the amygdala. The hippocampus responds to a particular context and encodes it, while the amygdala triggers defensive behavior, including fear responses. The Hippocampus Amygdala…
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Less Facebook Time Leads to Healthier Lifestyle and Better Well-Being, Says Study
People who reduced their Facebook time by 20 minutes a day reported a healthier lifestyle and increased happiness. Researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum reported these findings in the March 6, 2020 edition of the journal Computers in Human Behavior. The researchers recruited 286 Facebook users who spent at least 25 minutes a day on the social…
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Scientists Improve Memory Retention During Sleep by Introducing Smells
By introducing scents into one nostril of sleeping subjects, scientists could improve their memory retention capability. The findings of the study could one day help restore memory capabilities in patients with brain injuries, or treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) where memory often triggers their PTSD. The study was by a team of researchers…
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Memories Stored as Neural Firing Patterns in Brain, Say Researchers
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health say our memories may be stored as neural firing patterns in our brain. They reached this conclusion after they monitored the electrical activity of thousands of neurons (brain cells) in epilepsy patients. They found after the patients learned a word pair, firing patterns from the neurons would be…
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Slot Machines Can Entice You to Gamble With Sounds and Visual Effects
Those familiar sounds and visuals on slot machines can increase your desire to play them, and also increase your memories of winning big, according to a recent psychology study. University of Alberta scientists published these recent findings in the journal Addiction. The researchers found that virtual slot machines with cues such as the sound of…
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Sunny and Snowy Days Make People Want to Buy Outdoor Products
Consumers tend to visualize using products related to being outdoors during sunny and snowy days, according to a study by the UBC Sauder School of Business. In other words, people are likely to buy products that can be used outdoors on sunny or snowy days if they are appropriately stimulated by images of those products…