Poverty, stress impacts brain
Childhood poverty and chronic stress may lead to problems regulating emotions as an adult, according to research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Our findings suggest that the stress-burden of growing up poor may be an underlying mechanism that accounts for the relationship between poverty as a child and how well your brain works as an adult,” said Dr K luan Phan, professor of psychiatry at University of Illinois. The researchers found that test subjects who had lower family incomes at age 9 exhibited, as adults, greater activity in the amygdala, an area in the brain known for its role in fear and other negative emotions.
Parents overlook cyberbullying in kids
Cyberbullying has become a destructive force in many children's lives. After multiple suicides by children being cyberbullied, parents, more than ever, need to be aware of their children's online activity. A recent paper published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication found that parents underestimate how often their children engage in risky online behavior, like cyberbullying and viewing pornography. The team surveyed 465 parent-child pairs on their children's online behavior. They found that parents underestimate how often their child is a victim or perpetrator of cyberbullying, exposed to sexual imagery, and approached by strangers online. The disparity between these behaviors and a parent's perception of the behavior increased when the parent executed a permissive style of parenting.
Kids trust attractive adults
Children are more likely to trust an adult with an attractive face compared to an unattractive one. This is the finding of research by Igor Bascandziev from Clark University and Harvard University that will be published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. “When learning about the world, children rely heavily on information provided to them by other people,” explained Igor, “Previous studies have shown children can be influenced by a range of factors such as whether the adult was correct in the past or if they are familiar to them. Our study wanted to examine whether children would trust an attractive stranger over an unattractive stranger.”
Instagramming photos kills apetite
Warning Instagrammers: you might want to stop taking so many pictures of your food. New research out of BYU finds that looking at too many pictures of food can actually make it less enjoyable to eat. Turns out your friend's obsession with taking pictures of everything they eat and posting it on Instagram or Pinterest may be ruining your appetite by making you feel like you've already experienced eating that food. “In a way, you're becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food,” said study coauthor and BYU professor Ryan Elder. “It's sensory boredom — you've kind of moved on. You don't want that taste experience anymore.”.
High bp in pregnant women risky
High blood pressure during pregnancy could dramatically raise a woman's lifetime risk of stroke, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress. “We've found that women who had high blood pressure during pregnancy could be at higher risk of stroke, particularly if they had pre-eclampsia, which is a more severe form of high blood pressure,” says Dr Aravind Ganesh, a neurology resident at the University of Calgary. “The elevated risk of stroke could be as high as 40 per cent.” Dr Ganesh, along with Neha Sarna (medical student), Dr Rahul Mehta (internal medicine resident) and senior author Dr Eric Smith (stroke neurologist), conducted a systematic review.