Teams appear to be better than individuals at analyzing intelligence, according to research led by University of Pennsylvania psychologists. Researchers organized a group of 743 adults to participate in an intelligence analysis contest between 2011 and 2013, which sought predictions of 199 world events of interest to the U.S. intelligence community, including picking the winner of the 2012 presidential election in Taiwan, determining whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would remain in power and predicting whether North Korea would conduct another successful nuclear weapon test. Participants were assigned to work on their own or in teams. Findings showed that the teams were approximately 10 percent more accurate in their predictions than individuals working alone (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, online Jan. 12).
Fear of terrorist attacks may lead to job burnout over time, but support from colleagues may mitigate these effects, according to a study conducted at Tel Aviv University. Researchers followed 670 Israeli employees from 2003 to 2009, regularly assessing such factors as their fear of terror, personal safety concerns, level of workplace support and signs of job burnout. The researchers found that the higher an employee's level of fear of terror at baseline, the higher their risk for developing insomnia, and those who were more likely to develop insomnia were also most likely to experience job burnout. However, participants who felt support from colleagues had significantly less insomnia and job burnout (Journal of Organizational Behavior, online Nov. 25).
Helmets and seatbelts are the best way to prevent head injuries, finds an analysis of data from more than 40,000 cases of brain trauma in children. A multi-center study showed that the most common cause of brain injury among children under 12 is falling — typically from a moving bicycle, scooter or other wheeled device. Among adolescents, the three major causes include automobile accidents, assaults and sports-related injuries. The results point to the importance of educating parents and policymakers about the value of safety helmets and seatbelt use in reducing head injury severity (New England Journal of Medicineopens in new window, Nov. 13).
The brains of men and women respond differently to smoking, suggests research from Yale University. Eight men and eight women smokers underwent positron emission tomography (PET) brain scanning as they smoked. The scans showed that among men, dopamine release was consistent and rapid in the right ventral striatum, a brain region central to the reinforcement effect of drugs such as nicotine. For the women smokers, a similarly rapid dopamine response was found only in the dorsal striatum, a brain region that is critical for habit formation. These findings could lead to breakthroughs in developing gender-specific treatments to help smokers quit, the authors say (The Journal of Neuroscienceopens in new window, online Dec. 10).
Heterosexual men and women appear to differ when it comes to feeling jealous, according to a poll of 64,000 Americans. Researchers at Chapman University in Orange, California, asked participants to imagine what would upset them more: their partners having sex with someone else but not falling in love with them or their partners falling in love with someone else but not having sex with them. The results suggest that heterosexual men are more likely than heterosexual women to be upset by sexual infidelity and less likely than heterosexual women to be upset by emotional infidelity. Bisexual men and women did not differ significantly from each other in their emotional response to sexual infidelity, nor did gay men and lesbians (Archives of Sexual Behavioropens in new window, December).
Expressing anger is linked with better health in some cultures but not others, suggests research by University of Michigan psychologists. They examined data from adults in America and Japan, including biomarkers for inflammation and cardiovascular functioning, as well as measures of anger, such as how often participants expressed their anger verbally or physically. Findings showed that greater anger expression was associated with greater health risks among American participants, but fewer risks among Japanese participants (Psychological Scienceopens in new window, online Jan. 6).
Overweight teens who have successfully lost weight did it more for their own sake than to impress their peers or please their parents, suggests research by Brigham Young University researchers. They interviewed 40 formerly obese or overweight teens about their success and found that on average, participants shed 30 pounds, moving them from the obese to the normal weight category. They also maintained their weight for a full year. More than 60 percent described their health as the primary motive, and nearly all of the teens emphasized that it was their own decision to lose the weight (Childhood Obesity, December).
Women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be nearly twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes compared with women who don't have the condition, according to research out of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. In an analysis of data collected from 1989 to 2011 on 49,739 women, the researchers found that the greater the number and severity of PTSD symptoms, the greater a woman's risk of Type 2 diabetes. By age 60, nearly 12 percent of women with the most PTSD symptoms had developed Type 2 diabetes, whereas fewer than 7 percent of women with no trauma exposure had diabetes. Antidepressant use and elevated body mass index accounted for nearly half of the increased risk of diabetes; smoking, diet quality, alcohol intake and physical activity did not explain the association (JAMA Psychiatryopens in new window, online Jan. 7).
Positive personality traits may protect police at high risk for PTSD, according to research conducted at the University of Buffalo. The study examined the association between resilience, satisfaction with life, gratitude, post-traumatic growth and symptoms of PTSD in 84 male and 30 female police officers in the New Orleans area during and after Hurricane Katrina. Results showed that symptoms of PTSD were significantly lower among subjects who had higher levels of resilience, satisfaction with life and gratitude (Stress and Healthopens in new window, online Dec. 4).
Stress may increase desire for a reward, but it may not make the indulgence more enjoyable, according to a study by University of Geneva psychologists. Researchers randomly assigned 36 self-proclaimed chocolate lovers to keep one hand in either ice-cold or lukewarm water while being videotaped. Afterward, all participants had to press a handgrip for the chance to smell chocolate when they saw a certain symbol. The researchers found that the "stressed" participants who had their hands in ice-cold water exerted three times more effort to smell chocolate than the unstressed participants, but both groups reported about the same level of enjoyment of the aroma (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognitionopens in new window, online Dec. 22).
Binge drinking significantly disrupts the immune system in young, healthy adults, according to a study conducted at Loyola University Health Systems. Depending on their weight, study participants drank four or five shots of vodka over two hours. Blood samples collected 20 minutes after peak intoxication showed increased immune system activity. But when measured again two hours and five hours after peak intoxication, participants' immune systems had become less active than when sober (Alcohol, onlineopens in new window Dec. 4).
Using a light-emitting electronic device before bedtime negatively affects sleep, next-morning alertness and circadian timing, according to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital. During the two-week inpatient study, participants read light-emitting ebooks on iPads for four hours before bedtime each night for five consecutive nights and repeated the experiment with printed books the next five nights. The researchers found that when reading a light-emitting eBook, participants took longer to fall asleep and had reduced evening sleepiness, reduced melatonin secretion, later timing of their circadian clock and reduced next-morning alertness than when reading a printed book (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesopens in new window, online Dec. 22).
The brains of obese children may be more responsive to sugar, according to a study conducted at the University of California, San Diego. Researchers used fMRI to scan the brains of 23 8- to- 12-year-old children — 10 of whom were obese and 13 of whom were at healthy weights — while they were directed to swirl a sugar-water mix in their mouths with their eyes closed, focusing on its taste. The brain images showed that obese children had heightened activity in the insular cortex and amygdala, brain regions involved in perception, emotion, awareness, taste, motivation and reward. This elevated sense of "food reward" could mean some children have brain circuitries that predispose them to crave more sugar throughout their lives, the researchers say (International Journal of Obesityopens in new window, online Dec. 11).
Women who receive gender-specific substance abuse treatment appear to have a greater chance of employment after the treatment, according to research conducted by scientists at Westat. The study analyzed data from 5,109 women who had been admitted to 13 intensive inpatient programs in Washington state. The women who received treatment in a gender-specific program were more likely to be employed 12 months after treatment admission than women in more traditional treatment programs (Journal of Drug Issuesopens in new window, online Dec. 4).
Pediatricians appear to miss autism symptoms in brief checkups, concludes a study conducted at the University of Utah. Researchers studied videos of pediatric exams in which care providers performed autism evaluations for 42 15- to 33-month-old children. The researchers found that within 10-minute spans, children with autism exhibited much more typical behavior than atypical behavior overall, making it easy for clinicians to miss indicators of autism risk. In the study, even the experts who reviewed the videos failed to make referrals for 39 percent of the children with autism, based on the brief observations alone (Pediatrics, online Jan. 12).
Parents who use material goods to reward or punish their children may be setting those children up for difficulties in adulthood, according to a study from the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Researchers surveyed more than 700 adults on their relationship with their parents and the rewards and punishments they received during several critical stages of childhood. The researchers found that when parents rewarded children with gifts for accomplishing something, gave gifts as a way to show affection or punished children by taking away a favorite toy or video game, the children were more likely as adults to believe that success in life is defined by possessing material goods or that acquiring certain products will make them more attractive (Journal of Consumer Researchopens in new window, in press).
People trust typical-looking faces most, suggests a study led by a Princeton University psychologist. In one experiment, the researchers created a "typical" face by digitally averaging 92 female faces, and they also created an "attractive" face by averaging the 12 most attractive faces — based on prior research — from another set of faces. They then combined the two faces into one and created nine variations that had differing levels of attractiveness and typicality. Female participants rated each variation on either trustworthiness or attractiveness. Findings revealed that the closer a face was to the most typical face, the more trustworthy it was considered to be. When it came to attractiveness, however, typicality didn't seem to play a role (Psychological Scienceopens in new window, online Dec. 16).
Most people who have had heart attacks don't receive counseling about resuming sexual activity, according to a study by researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center. They interviewed 3,501 heart attack patients in 127 hospitals. One month after their heart attacks, only 12 percent of women and 19 percent of men reported they had sexual counseling from their health-care providers. In the instances when health-care providers did offer such counseling, they often recommended restrictions that were more conservative than medical guidelines and that weren't tailored to the patient's individual needs and concerns (Circulationopens in new window, online Dec. 15).
— Amy Novotney
