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Are you a great multitasker? According to research studies, only two per cent of the population is actually proficient at multitasking. Considered an asset, especially in the workforce, studies are now finding that multitasking actually accounts for a 40 per cent drop in productivity, costing the U.S. economy $650 billion annually. It also results in a 10 per cent drop in IQ. But there are some of us that can do it successfully. So what makes the two per cent of the population who can multitask efficiently different from the rest of us? A new study published in eNeuro looked at the brain and multitasking to get a better sense of where in the brain these functions occur. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry looked at maternal prenatal body mass index (BMI) and human fetal brain development. “Given knowledge that the physical well-being of a mother during pregnancy is important for the long-term brain health of her child, we sought to discover whether and how maternal BMI may relate brain development in the womb,” study author Moriah E. Thomason told us. [More]

Narcissists don’t learn from their mistakes, because they fail to acknowledge they made a mistake in the first place. Researchers from Oregon State University found that narcissists don’t admit fault when they get something wrong or make a mistake, but if they make good decisions are happy to claim they knew that would be the outcome. [More]

A new study published in the American Academy Journal of Neurology aimed to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of brain-computer interface (BCI) training in the treatment of phantom limb pain. "Previously, phantom limb pain had been treated by mirror therapy which uses a mirror to create an illusion of the phantom hand," study author Takufumi Yanagisawa told us. Yanagisawa is a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Co-creation Studies at Osaka University. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at the how perceived psychological control in early adolescence predicts lower levels of adaptation into mid-adulthood. Researchers were hoping to understand the long-term associations with overly controlling parenting in adolescence. [More]

Teenagers who sleep poorly may be more likely to experience mental health challenges in later life. In research recently published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry researchers from the University of Reading, together with Goldsmiths and Flinders University in the UK found that there was a significant link between poor sleep and mental health issues. [More]

Some children develop obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms quite suddenly, often after an infectious illness such as Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS). It has been hypothesized that these symptoms derive from antibodies that cross-react with cells in the brain, causing local brain inflammation and impairing brain circuit function. However, this has been somewhat controversial, in large part because these antibodies have proven difficult to identify. A new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry by a team of Yale scientists examined this phenomenon. [More]

Recent research from BYU suggests that spending too much time in front of the screen playing video games can be responsible for negative developmental outcomes for adolescents and result in an addiction to video games. [More]

Sensitivity is a basic trait. It’s defined as the ability to perceive and process information about the environment. All people are sensitive but some considerably more than others. A new study published in the Journal of Molecular Psychiatry examined the genetic architecture of environmental sensitivity using a sample of 2868 adolescent twins. Twins are usually used in psychological or biological studies. Studies with twins are useful to researchers because twins share 100 per cent of their genes. That means, any differences between the twins are due to outside influences. [More]

A recent study found that feeling prepared in one area of life might also bring you a newfound sense of confidence in other areas. In three studies from The Ohio State University at Lima, researchers found that if a person felt prepared in one area, it made them more confident in their belief in an area of their life that was completely different. That held true regardless of whether that belief was positive or negative. [More]