What if you read the dramatic claim that playing a certain video game could reduce your risk of dementia by 25%? I hope you'd be skeptical. You might think that it was a ploy to increase the video game's sales. Whenever you read a claim like this, you should ask to see the evidence. As …
Continue reading This brain game can reduce risk of dementia in seniors. How do we know?
GLP-1 drugs have become widely prescribed and used; their original use was to help people, originally those with Type II diabetes, lose weight. People who take them often notice they experience less "food noise," or internal chatter. As the use of these drugs has become widespread, users have also noticed that they are less interested …
The Association for Psychological Science recently announced the winners of the "Share your Science" competition, in which researchers create short social media posts about their work. One of the winners was Dr. Ren Salig (University of Michigan) who created a short Instagram video about their work on bilingualism. Let's watch it, and come back here …
How did the researchers manipulate the IV in this study? Photo credit: mansong suttakarn/Shutterstock Cannabis is considered a performance-enhancing drug in the Olympic Games and other competitions, but it's also (stereotypically) associated with being too chill to work out. In the past, psychologists could not easily test the relationship of marijuana and exercise because the …
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
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 …
Continue reading “Reading for pleasure helps kids’ brain development”
The study investigated two types of behaviors and two types of liking. Photo credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock Can psychological science make you more popular? That's what a journalist from Forbes claims in an article, "A science-backed way to up your popularity and friendship." Let's see what the journalist is claiming and see if we buy the evidence. …
Continue reading What behaviors make you popular? What behaviors make you likable?
Did the study manipulate exposure to art museums? Photo: AChubykin/Deposit Photos On my first read of this headline, I was skeptical. "Probably a correlational study behind this one," I thought. As it turns out we are actually looking at an experiment. However, there's another problem with the journalist's coverage of this study. Read on. The …
Continue reading “Want to raise kind, generous kids? Take them to an art museum”
Starting a relationship soon after a breakup is associated with some positive outcomes for people. Photo: SynthEx/Shutterstock Did you know that psychologists have studied rebound relationships? I didn't, at least not until I encountered this summary of some rebound relationship research in Forbes. The title of the journalist's piece reads, "A psychologist explains 3 ways …
This fetus's facial expression would be judged as more of a cry or grimace. Photo courtesy of FETAP (Fetal Taste Preferences) Study, Fetal and Neonatal Research Lab, Durham University This fetus's facial expression would be judged as smiling (or lip-pulling). Photo courtesy of FETAP (Fetal Taste Preferences) Study, Fetal and Neonatal Research Lab, Durham University …
Continue reading “Fetuses smile for carrots but grimace over kale”