Photo: Viacheslav Lopatin/Shutterstock A story in PsyPost was headlined with, Prenatal cannabinoid exposure appears to have a strange impact on early language development. You might have noticed that the verb phrase, "has a strange impact on" is a causal one. We are being asked to believe that prenatal exposure to cannabis causes something in children's …
Continue reading Really? Prenatal cannabis exposure and early language development
In one study, the more time kids spent outdoors, the less likely they were to develop myopia. Photo: Evgeny Atamanenko/Shutterstock It's summertime--when kids head outdoors for beach time, pool parties, and picnics. Time spent outdoors is not only fun; it's also associated with lower rates of near-sightedness (myopia). A journalist from NPR covered this topic …
Exercise is good for us. Brain-based mediators help explain why. Photo: muse studio/Shutterstock This summary of exercise research, written by a journalist for the New York Times, is a good opportunity to practice diagramming mediators: How exercise strengthens your brain. Here is one passage from the article: Exercise offers short-term boosts in cognition. Studies show …
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The study measured reading for pleasure and a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and biological variables at multiple points throughout childhood. Photo: Samuel Borges Photography/Shutterstock An article for the general public led with this headline: "Reading for pleasure helps kids' brain development". The story in this post comes from coverage in The Conversation and Scientific …
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A friendly reminder that when all the variables are measured, causal claims aren't supportable. Photo credit: Sleeping: MicrostockAsia/Deposit Photos CNN's headline was "sleep this way to add 5 years to your life." This headline should immediately kick in your "correlation is not causation" spidey-sense. a) What makes this headline causal? b) What are the two …
Continue reading Really? “Sleep this way to add 5 years to your life”
Can the study rule out stress as a third variable? Photo credit; GaudiLab/Depost Photos I have a new favorite website for journalistic coverage of psychology research: Psypost.org. You can read a few articles per month for free. Unlike my other "favorite" site (StudyFinds), Psypost strives to report the research without adding unwarranted causal claims …
Continue reading Smartphone checking predicts daily cognitive failures
An example of politically polarized health outcomes occurred during the pandemic. Democratic-led areas were more likely to pass masking and lockdown mandates, and these areas later had lower COVID death rates compared to Republican-led areas.Photo credit: MikeEdwards/Depositphotos The American political system is polarized--increasingly so in the last few decades. Such polarization has gridlocked national politics …
Continue reading Life expectancy gap in different U.S. counties
The weekly recommendation for exercise is 150 minutes. Photo credit: blasbike/Deposit Photos A journalist wrote about a recent meta-analysis in JAMA Psychiatry which evaluated the connection between weekly time spent exercising and levels of depression. The headline of the Washington Post summary read, "Exercising even half the recommended amount can help prevent depression". Let's delve …
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The study found a moderated relationship. What are the three variables involved? Photo: cozyta/Deposit Photos This story comes from the website studyfinds.org--a website that covers a wide range of scientific studies (and therefore a great place to practice critical reading of how journalists cover science news). The StudyFinds journalist describes a newly-published Dutch study on …
The study empirically tested the widely-held hypothesis that psychopathy would be associated with more career success. Photo: Mangostar/Shutterstock It's a common belief that to get ahead in business or politics, people have to be driven, callous, and unsympathetic. Is it true? A journalist for Forbes magazine reviewed a study by personality psychologist Hedwig Eisenbarth. The …