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A new study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology looked at how the mindset of birth predicts birth outcomes. “Broadly speaking, the study is about the role of psychology in childbirth,” study author Lisa Hoffman told us. “We were interested whether psychological factors may have an effect on birth outcomes and whether, in turn, psychological factors (e.g., postpartum well-being, postpartum depression) may be predicted by birth.” [More]

A new recently published study looked at robotic mental well-being coaches for the workplace. “This study investigated the use and deployment of two different robotic forms to deliver positive psychology exercises over four weeks, and how the robotic form impacts on the coachee’s robotic coach perceptions, robotic coach personality, and robotic coach-coachee alliance,” study author Micol Spitale told us. “We hypothesized that the design features, such as the form, may impact the coachees’ perceptions towards the robotic coach.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology looked at attachment anxiety and how it predicts false memories when people can see the communicator. “Past research has linked attachment avoidance with forgetting specifically relational material,” study author Dr. Nathan W. Hudson told us. “Conversely, prior studies have shown that attachment anxiety predicts false memories in relationship contexts.” [More]

A new study published in Nature Communications delved more into autism by growing brain-like organoids. “The human brain is unique, and certain aspects of human brain development, and brain diseases, are notoriously difficult to study using animal models,” study author Alex Shcheglovitov, PhD told us. “We wanted to develop a new method to model early aspects of human telencephalic brain development in health and disease. Our approach was to make human brain organoids in a robust and reproducible manner.” [More]

A new study published in Psychiatry Research looked at whether perceived stress can be linked to enhanced cognitive functioning and a reduced risk for psychopathology. “Our study tested whether low to moderate levels of perceived stress are associated with benefits in cognitive functions and mental health,” study author Assaf Oshri told us. “We relied on the Hormesis model, which is from the field of toxicology- assuming that not all stress is bad for the organism and that there is a threshold of stress from which stress is bad for you.” [More]

A new study published in the National Library of Medicine looked at gender and sex differences in urban greenness’ mental health benefits. “Our study examines articles that investigate the relationship between mental health outcomes and urban greenness with a deeper look into gender and sex differences associated with them as well as how gender and sex are used in environmental health literature,” study author Marta-Beatriz Fernandez Nunez told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Human Development looked at the association between time spent playing and child mental health. “In January 2021, we published a paper explaining why we thought adventurous play might help to prevent anxiety in children,” study author Helen F. Dodd told us. “We explained how, when children play adventurously, they have opportunities to learn about uncertainty, coping and physiological arousal (heart beating fast, butterflies in your tummy etc.). These learning opportunities should target some of the risk factors that we know exist for child anxiety.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience looked at visual processes in the brain. “We were focusing particularly in the older part of the brain or mid-brain, which is important for lower-order animals such as frogs, lizards, and birds,” study author Masatoshi Kasai told us. “The superior colliculus is the center for sensory integration and sensory-motor transformation.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Science looked at active learning. “The notion of active learning has been receiving a lot of attention recently,” study author Nesra Yannier told us. "Especially with COVID-19, the importance of engaging students with novel ways of learning has become even more apparent. While schools and teachers are trying to adapt by incorporating new techniques and technologies, quarantine has also been having psychological effects on students such as social isolation, restlessness and attention problems.” [More]

A recent study found a link between depression and social anxiety on increased phubbing. It also showed that smartphone usage during face-to-face interactions can be problematic and harmful in friendships. “Results showed that those with higher levels of depression, social anxiety, and neuroticism were significantly related to greater friend phubbing while agreeableness was negatively related to friend phubbing.” [More]