books to overcome autism
A new study out of the University of Cincinnati not only finds that parents feel responsible about taking action when their children struggle with social issues, but also that parents are influenced by their own childhood memories. Bowman's study examined parents' use of what's called bibliotherapy — using books as interventions for children who experience social struggles that may arise from disabilities such as autism or Down Syndrome. Bibliotherapy involves books with characters that are facing challenges similar to their reading audience, or books that have stories that can generate ideas for problem-solving activities.
Med food helps retain the memory
A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study suggests that the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes consuming foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, chicken and salad dressing, and avoiding saturated fats, meat and dairy foods, may be linked to preserving memory and thinking abilities. However, the same association was not found in people with diabetes. “Since there are no definitive treatments for most dementing illnesses, modifiable activities, such as diet, that may delay the onset of symptoms of dementia, are very important,” said Georgios Tsivgoulis, MD, a neurologist with UAB and the University of Athens, Greece. Data came from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, housed at UAB. REGARDS enrolled 30,239 people aged 45 and older, between January 2003 and October 2007, and it continues to follow them for health changes.
video games good and bad for kids
A person playing a first-person shooter video game like Halo or Unreal Tournament must make decisions quickly. That fast-paced decision-making, it turns out, boosts the player's visual skills but comes at a cost, according to new research: reducing the person's ability to inhibit impulsive behaviour. This reduction called “proactive executive control” appears to be yet another way that violent video games can increase aggressive behaviour. “We believe that any game that requires the same type of rapid responding as in most first-person shooters may produce similar effects on executive control, regardless of content,” says Craig Anderson, Director of the Center for the Study of Violence.
prevent cavaties with milk
Washing down sugary breakfast cereal with milk after eating reduces plaque acid levels and may prevent damage to tooth enamel that leads to cavities, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry. Dry ready-to-eat, sugar-added cereals combine refined sugar and starch. When those carbohydrates are consumed, bacteria in the dental plaque on tooth surfaces produce acids, says Christine Wu, professor of pediatric dentistry and director of cariology, who served as principal investigator of the study. The research is published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.
Will to Win
New research suggests children don't understand competitive behaviour until the age of four. A team of researchers from the University of Warwick and University of Salzburg found most children under 4 did not have a developed understanding of other people's perspectives — specifically, of the fact that what someone intentionally does depends on their take on the situation. Johannes Roessler, from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and his co-authors Beate Priewasser and Josef Perner from the Department of Psychology at the University of Salzburg, tested 71 children aged between three and five.