Fake news type
Research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General suggests that while both liberals and conservatives are prone to sharing fake news, conservatives scoring low on measures of conscientiousness are more likely than liberals or more conscientious conservatives to share misleading information. In a pair of studies, researchers measured 972 online participants’ conscientiousness and found that low conscientiousness is the primary factor in conservatives’ propagation of misleading stories about COVID-19 and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Two additional studies with 1,446 online participants showed that conservatives who shared misinformation did so regardless of fact-checker warnings. A final pair of studies with 776 online participants indicated that low-conscientious conservatives’ sharing of erroneous information was not tied to factors such as time spent using social media, belief in the untrue story, or support of a particular political figure; instead it was driven by a desire to create chaos. DOI: 10.1037/xge0001120opens in new window
Memes help us cope with COVID
Funny memes about COVID-19 may help people cope with the stress of the pandemic, according to research in Psychology of Popular Media. Researchers asked 748 online participants in December 2020 how often they felt anxious in the past month. They then randomly assigned participants to view three kinds of memes or a control featuring text with no image. Participants who viewed a meme compared with the control reported higher levels of humor and positive emotions, and these levels were indirectly related to a decrease in stress regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, participants who viewed humorous COVID-related memes thought more deeply about the content, as measured by self-report questions, and had greater confidence in their ability to cope with the stress of the pandemic than people who viewed non-COVID-related content or the control. DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000371opens in new window
Bilingual education and writing skills
A lack of English writing instruction provided in the Spanish language makes it difficult for Spanish-speaking elementary students to learn to write in English, suggests research in the Journal of Educational Psychology. Researchers analyzed a series of cognitive tests in both Spanish and English and a narrative writing task in English given to 374 students in the United States in grades 3–5. They found phonological awareness and word retrieval skills in both languages positively predicted English writing performance. English oral language development was also a positive predictor, but those students who were proficient Spanish speakers were less likely to be proficient English writers. The researchers suggest that compared with phonological awareness, oral language development in two language systems may be more complex and knowledge of each language may function independently when it comes to writing. DOI: 10.1037/edu0000695opens in new window
Unequal discipline impacts grades
Black students receive more severe school discipline than White students, and being punished can damage their perception of their school and negatively impact their academic success years later, suggests research in American Psychologist. Researchers analyzed 3 years of school records for 818 Black and 1,563 White sixth-, eighth-, and 10th-grade students in the United States. They found that 26% of Black students were suspended at least once for a minor infraction (e.g., a dress code violation or texting in class) over the course of the 3 years, compared with just 2% of White students. They also found that Black students suspended for a minor transgression during the study’s 1st year had worse grades 1 and 2 years later than students who weren’t suspended. In addition, the relationship between suspensions and grades was mediated by the suspended students’ negative perceptions of their school climate. DOI: 10.1037/amp0000854opens in new window
Rural vs. urban choice
A study in JAMA Psychiatry indicates that genetic risk factors for certain mental health disorders may unknowingly impact people’s decisions regarding whether to live in urban or rural areas. Researchers calculated the polygenic risk scores—a measure of individuals’ total number of genetic variants related to a specific disease—for different mental health conditions for 385,793 UK Biobank participants ages 37 to 73. Using address history and population density based on census data, the researchers found higher genetic risks of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anorexia, and autism spectrum disorder and lower genetic risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in those who moved from rural to urban areas compared with those who stayed in rural areas. In addition, participants who were born in more densely populated places had higher genetic risk of schizophrenia. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2983opens in new window
Autism not helped by oxytocin
Contrary to previous findings, research in The New England Journal of Medicine indicates that oxytocin does not improve social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Researchers in the United States administered oxytocin, a naturally occurring chemical associated with social bonding and empathy, daily for 24 weeks by nasal spray to 139 children ages 3 to 17 years old with ASD. They gave a second group of 138 children with ASD a placebo. During the study, caregivers rated the children’s social functioning and behaviors related to ASD. While children tolerated the oxytocin well and reported few side effects, at the end of the 24-week trial there was no significant difference between the two groups’ initial and final caregiver ratings. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2103583opens in new window
Novel brain stinulation treats depression
According to a study in The American Journal of Psychiatry, a new type of transcranial magnetic brain stimulation brought rapid remission to almost 80% of participants with severe depression. Researchers recruited 29 participants in the United States with treatment-resistant depression. About half received the brain stimulation, dubbed Stanford neuromodulation therapy, and the rest underwent a placebo procedure. The treatment used a much higher rate of magnetic pulses than similar previously tested brain stimulation therapies. It was also personalized to each patient, with MRI scans used beforehand to identify the optimal brain regions in which to deliver the pulses. After 5 days of treatment involving ten 10-minute sessions with 50-minute breaks in between, 78.6% of the participants in the treatment group no longer showed depressive symptoms, with just 13% of the control group experiencing remission. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.20101429opens in new window
Parkinson's deaths soar
A study in Neurology reports that age-adjusted mortality from Parkinson’s disease rose 63% in the United States in the past 20 years. Researchers analyzed 1999 to 2019 National Vital Statistics System records, and the data revealed that over the 2 decades, Parkinson’s disease was reported as the cause of death of 479,059 people. After adjusting for age, the researchers noted that the death rate from Parkinson’s increased from 5.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 1999 to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019, reflecting a 2.4% annual increase and a total increase of 63%. In 2019, men were twice as likely to die from the disease as women, possibly due to the protective effect of estrogen. In addition, higher mortality was seen among White people (9.7 per 100,000 people) compared with Hispanic (6.5 per 100,000) and Black people (4.7 per 100,000), possibly due to Hispanic and Black people being underdiagnosed, stemming from socioeconomic barriers preventing neurologist appointments. The researchers suggested the rise in Parkinson’s mortality may be related to greater exposure to environmental risk factors and improved accuracy in determining cause of death. DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000012826opens in new window
ADHD and GAD
Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are 3 to 4 times more likely to also have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) at some point in their life, according to a study in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Researchers examined a nationally representative sample of 6,898 Canadians ages 20 to 39. Of those surveyed, 272 had ADHD and 682 had GAD. The researchers found that 1 in 9 respondents with GAD had ADHD, compared with 1 in 33 of those without GAD. Factors associated with a GAD diagnosis among those with ADHD included being female, experiencing abuse as a child, having an annual income less than $40,000, having fewer close relationships, and having a lifetime history of depression. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.020opens in new window
Dementia increases with rising resting heart rate
A study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia indicates that higher resting heart rate is linked to greater dementia risk and faster cognitive decline, independent of cardiovascular disease. Between 2001 and 2016, researchers followed 2,147 dementia-free adults in Sweden with a mean baseline age of 71. Cognition and dementia status were assessed at multiple time points. Over a median follow-up of 11.4 years, 289 people were diagnosed with dementia. High resting heart rate at the end of the study was associated with an increased risk of dementia and steeper overall cognitive decline even after excluding participants with baseline cardiovascular disease and those who developed cardiovascular disease during follow-up. The researchers believe the relationship between elevated resting heart rate and cognition might in part reflect pathophysiological pathways independent from vascular risk factors, but they also did not rule out the possibility that some participants’ cardiovascular disease went undiagnosed. DOI: 10.1002/alz.12495opens in new window
Maternal cannabis use and anxiety
Self-reported maternal cannabis use during pregnancy is associated with increased anxiety, aggression, and hyperactivity in young children, corresponding with widespread reductions in immune-related gene expression in the placenta, suggests a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers examined placental gene expression, physiology, and early childhood behavior and emotional functioning in a long-term study of 322 mother-child pairs in the United States beginning in 2009. The children of mothers who self-reported cannabis use during pregnancy showed higher anxiety, aggression, hyperactivity, and cortisol levels compared with the children of mothers who did not report cannabis use. In addition, RNA sequencing of placental perinatal tissue in a subset of participants revealed that maternal cannabis use was associated with lower expression of immune-activating genes, including pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are involved in protecting against pathogens. The cannabis-related suppression of several placental immune-gene networks predicted higher anxiety and hyperactivity in this subset. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106115118opens in new window
No cognitive benefits from fortiied formula
Adolescents who were fed fortified formula as infants showed no advantage in academic performance over those who were fed standard formula, according to a study in The BMJ. Researchers analyzed data from 1,607 infants pooled together from seven randomized clinical trials conducted from 1993 to 2001 in the United Kingdom. They found no significant differences in math exam scores in students at age 16 who had received baby formula enriched with long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), iron, or other nutrients compared with those who received standard formula. Rather, a slight reduction in English and math performance was observed in children at age 11 who were fed LCPUFA-fortified formula. DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2021-065805opens in new window
Happy stories synch brains
Listening to happy stories increases feelings of closeness and brain synchrony with the speaker more so than listening to sad stories, according to research in eNeuro. Researchers in China asked a participant (the speaker) to watch videos and communicate the contents to 32 other participants (the listeners). The listeners heard about either a happy story, a sad story, or a neutral story. While the speaker told the story, the researchers recorded neural activity of both the speaker and the listeners with electroencephalography (EEG). After the story ended, the researchers assessed the interpersonal closeness between the speaker and the listeners. Hearing happy (rather than sad) stories resulted in increased recall quality and a higher rating of interpersonal closeness with the speaker among the listeners. And compared with the sad group, the happy group and the corresponding speaker showed higher interpersonal brain synchrony in the frontal cortex and left temporoparietal cortex, which are involved in emotional processing and theory of mind, respectively. DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0245-21.2021opens in new window
Tool use and language share processes
According to research in Science, learning to use tools that require complex motor skills can improve people’s ability to understand the syntax of complex sentences and vice versa. In the first of six studies, researchers asked 20 participants in France to complete several tests consisting of a series of syntax exercises as well as motor training using 30-centimeter-long pliers to insert small pegs into holes. Using fMRI during the participants’ performance of each task, the researchers discovered that the handling of the tool and the syntax exercises both produced similar patterns of brain activity in a small region within the brain’s basal ganglia. Then, across five additional studies, 205 participants performed a variety of syntactic comprehension tasks before and after motor training with the pliers. The result was that motor training with the tool led to improved performance in the comprehension tasks. The reverse was also found: Exercises for better understanding sentences with complex structure preceded improved motor performance with the tool. DOI: 10.1126/science.abe0874opens in new window
Mental selfies
People’s mental images of themselves are influenced by the types of personalities they think they have, suggests research in Psychological Science. Researchers asked 77 participants in the United States to answer personality and self-esteem questionnaires and to choose which of a series of two random computer-generated faces looked more like their own. Averaging the results of several hundred trials resulted in “mental selfies” for each participant. The researchers found that people with higher social self-esteem produced more true-to-life self-portraits. They also found that participants’ beliefs about themselves strongly affected how they pictured their own appearance. For example, if a person believed that they were highly extraverted, they imagined their own face looking more assertive, animated, and outgoing than it appeared to external observers. A second study with 39 participants that focused on body image showed that those with negative emotional attitudes toward their appearance created mental selfies with bodies larger than their true size. The researchers hope their method can assess the treatment of people with body image disorders. DOI: 10.1177/09567976211018618opens in new window
Anxious partners and toxic strategies
People with anxious attachment styles use manipulative tactics to keep their romantic partner in a relationship, but men and women who engage in such tactics end up becoming more anxious about their relationships, suggests research in Evolution and Human Behavior. Researchers surveyed 104 romantic partner dyads in the United States and found that anxiously attached participants engaged in cost-inflicting mate retention strategies, such as snooping through a partner’s email inbox or talking to another person at a party to make a partner jealous, more often than people who were not anxiously attached. In a second study with 489 partner dyads in Germany, the researchers also found that cost-inflicting mate retention strategies predicted higher attachment anxiety 18 months later. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.04.005opens in new window
All in the mind
According to a study in JAMA Network Open, many of the side effects that people report after a COVID-19 vaccination may be caused by the “nocebo” effect, the opposite of the placebo effect, whereby a person experiences an unpleasant side effect after taking a treatment with no pharmacological effect. Researchers reviewed 12 randomized clinical trials studying COVID-19 vaccines, with 22,802 people receiving the vaccine and 22,578 people receiving a placebo. They found that, of the vaccine group, around 46% experienced systemic symptoms such as headaches and fatigue after the first injection; however, 35% of the placebo group reported these effects, too. After the second shot, systemic symptoms were experienced at nearly twice the rate in the vaccine group compared with the placebo group, at 61% and 32%, respectively. Overall, the data indicate that 64% of all systemic side effects related to both rounds of the vaccine were driven by the nocebo effect. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.43955opens in new window
Fake meat, real disgust
More than a third of people find the idea of eating “cultured meat,” or meat grown from animal cells in a laboratory, to be disgusting, suggests research in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. In an initial study, researchers asked 398 online participants in the United Kingdom and the United States, about half of whom were meat eaters and half of whom were vegetarians, what they thought of cultured meat based on a brief description of what it is and how it is made. About 35% of meat eaters and 55% of vegetarians felt too disgusted by cultured meat to try eating it. In a second study with 590 online participants, describing cultured meat as unnatural predicted more disgust among both vegetarians and meat eaters. Meanwhile, reminding participants that cultured meat is derived from animal flesh predicted less disgust among meat eaters but more disgust among vegetarians. Similar results were found in a third study in which 599 online participants were told that cultured meat looks like animal flesh. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101758opens in new window
