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You feel it ahead of a big exam. Your stomach churns before a job interview. Your heart races before you board a plane. Stress is something everyone is likely to experience at some point. But stress doesn’t have to be an obstacle. In fact, it can be a useful tool. A recent study from the University of Rochester found that re-evaluating perceptions of stress can improve mental health, wellbeing and ultimately, success. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience looked at how the neural representation in the medical prefrontal cortex reveals selfish motivation in white lies. “In this study, we specifically aimed to identify distinctive neural signatures of selfish and altruistic motivation for Pareto white lies,” study author Dr. Hackjin Kim told us, “particularly focusing on the distinctive functional roles of the subregions in the medial prefrontal cortex in social valuation based on the model recently proposed by our research team.” [More]

A new study published in PNAS looked at attention bias modification in drug addiction and enhancing control of subsequent habits. “In substance use disorder, cues and contexts that remind an individual of the experience of substance use start to habitually grab attention and elicit a physiological response (arousal) that is thought to result in craving and culminate in compulsive substance use,” study author Muhammad A. Parvaz told us. [More]

Women at increased risk of postpartum psychosis show altered connectivity in networks of the brain responsible for planning, organisation and the completion of short and long-term tasks. Currently, there are no biological markers that identify who will develop postpartum psychosis. But researchers from King’s College London have identified altered connectivity in the brain networks of women with postpartum psychosis, which could pave the way for better identifying women at risk of the condition. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics looked at behavioral ethics and the incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks. “The study is about understanding why foodborne illness outbreaks are a persistent problem, especially given the technologies we have for processing and preserving foods,” study author Harvey S. James Jr. told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Psychological Science looked at attitudes and feelings and whether they are fixed or fleeting. “We wanted to understand which opinions stick with a person for a long time and which ones fluctuate over time,” study author Matthew Rocklage told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Frontiers in Psychology looked at the way in which student veterans view positive changes in emotional resilience post intervention. “In this study, we put to test a new intervention that aims to promote affective resilience in student veterans by helping them develop emotion regulation skills that work for them,” Yifan Hu, a graduate student who conducted the study told us. [More]

“Be mindful”. But does that guidance really help? It has become common advice and there are proponents of mindfulness. However, a recent study in PLOS Medicine found that while mindfulness programs may have specific effects on some common mental health symptoms, they are no better than other interventions. [More]

A new study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology looked at how people who frequently try to impress or persuade others predicts receptivity to various types of misleading information. “On a basic level, it’s investigating some of the ways that misinformation is spread (intentionally and unintentionally) and evaluated by people when they encounter it,” study author Shane Littrell told us. [More]

Psychologists in the UK have developed the first ever mind reading questionnaire designed to assess how well people understand what others are truly thinking. The researchers from the University of Bath, Cardiff and London developed the new questionnaire and in doing so determined that women are much better at understanding what others may be thinking. [More]