Tag: Behavior

What makes one person drive above the speed limit while another navigates steadily in the right lane? What motivates someone to leave a job with a steady paycheck to launch their own business while the other sticks to one employer for an entire career? “People have different tendencies to engage in behavior that risks their

Research led by Si-Qiong June Liu, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, discovered a surprising reciprocal interaction between chemicals in the brain resulting in accelerated loss of molecules that regulate brain cell communication. The research team’s findings are published online in Nature Communications, available here.

A research team led by Professor Takumi Toru of Kobe University’s Graduate School of Medicine (also a Senior Visiting Scientist at RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research) have identified ‘social cells’ in the brain that are related to social behavior. The cells were identified via Ca imaging conducted using a microendoscope. It is expected that

Our ability to predict who will get cancer, how a patient will respond to treatment, or if a patient will relapse is still quite limited. Despite advances in the detection of genetic mutations and the establishment of risk factors, such as age and genetic variants, it remains a great scientific and medical challenge. University of

How much we value an item is often related to what other people have. You might want the newest fashion, but not once everybody has it. Or, winning a free lunch at your favorite restaurant might not seem as great if the other person won a million dollars. Now, researchers in Japan have discovered a

Discrimination may happen faster than the blink of an eye, especially during periods of economic scarcity, according to a new study from Cornell University. “Scarcity mindsets can really exacerbate discrimination,” said Amy Krosch, assistant professor of psychology at Cornell. “We show that tiny shifts in the processing of minority group faces under scarcity could have

The neurological disorder FXTAS (pronounced “fax-tas”) stems from a genetic premutation seen in one of every 151 women and one of every 468 men, called the FMR1 premutation. Just 15 years ago, Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) was discovered by Randi Hagerman, a doctor who saw many of her Fragile X syndrome patients had grandfathers

The research published today in Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology examined whether there were any effects of taking paracetamol in mid-pregnancy and the behaviour of the offspring between the ages of 6 month and 11 years, with memory and IQ tested up until the age of 17. Paracetamol is commonly used to relieve pain during pregnancy

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder affecting 10 — 20 per cent of people. Abdominal pain, bloating and altered bowel habit significantly affect patient’s quality of life and can force them to take days off work. Previous research (the ACTIB trial) led by Professor Hazel Everitt at the University of Southampton in

Boredom is a common human experience. But how people cope with or handle being bored is important for mental health. “Everybody experiences boredom,” said Sammy Perone, Washington State University assistant professor in the Department of Human Development. “But some people experience it a lot, which is unhealthy. So, we wanted to look at how to

Bystanders will intervene in nine-out-of-ten public fights to help victims of aggression and violence say researchers, in the largest ever study of real-life conflicts captured by CCTV. The findings overturn the impression of the “walk on by society” where victims are ignored by bystanders. Instead, the international research team of social scientists found that at

Treatment with gabapentinoids — a group of drugs used for epilepsy, nerve pain and anxiety disorders — is associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviour, unintentional overdose, injuries, and road traffic incidents, finds a study from Sweden published by The BMJ today. Prescriptions have risen steeply in recent years, and gabapentinoids are among the

Most people who smoke e-cigarettes want to quit and many have tried to reduce their use, according to Rutgers researchers. The study, published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, is the first to examine e-cigarette users’ past attempts and current intentions to quit e-cigarettes in a representative sample of adult e-cigarette users in the

A new UC Riverside study asserts that women don’t engage in “tear-down” gossip any more than men, and lower income people don’t gossip more than their more well-to-do counterparts. It also holds younger people are more likely to gossip negatively than their older counterparts. It’s the first-ever study to dig deep into who gossips the

New research, published in Obesity, has found that people with obesity are not only stigmatised, but are blatantly dehumanised. Obesity is now very common in most of developed countries. Around one third of US adults and one quarter of UK adults are now medically defined as having obesity. However, obesity is a complex medical condition

New University of Liverpool research, published in Pediatrics, highlights the negative influence that social media has on children’s food intake. Current research shows celebrity endorsement and television advertising of unhealthy foods increases children’s intake of these foods. However, children are increasingly exposed to marketing through digital avenues, such as on social media, and the impact

A new study has found that the longer older women sit or lay down during the course of a day—and the longer the individual periods of uninterrupted sitting—the greater their risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke. But reducing their sedentary time by just an hour a day appears to lower the

Timing is everything, goes a popular phrase, and this is also true for relationships. As Valentine’s Day approaches, social psychologists from Purdue University offer new research showing that a person’s commitment readiness is a good predictor of relationship success. The results are published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. “Feeling ready leads to better relational

The traditional model for setting auto insurance premiums has been to base rates on the motorist’s driving history, age, gender and even marital status (in some states). Thanks to new technological options, insurance companies and motorists have started to work together to give the insurance companies access to better data on an individual driver’s risk

Many individuals cite prescription opioids as their gateway to illicit opioid use. However, while prescription opioids are involved in more than one-third of all opioid overdose deaths in the U.S., examining any correlation between prescription opioid overdose deaths and pharmaceutical industry marketing has been limited — until now. New research from NYU School of Medicine