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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]

Psychopath is never assigned to someone with a positive intent. However, a new study looked on the potential strengths associated with psychopathy and not just the deficits. Researchers found higher initial psychopathy was associated with a steeper increase of general inhibitory control and the inhibition of aggression over time. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatric looked at the association between early neural activity and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). “We wanted to characterize early brain differences that can be detected before the behavioral signs of autism emerge,” study author Dr. Abigail Dickinson told us. [More]

Nine out of ten people with experience of eating disorders are dealing with profoundly negative impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A study from Northumbria University in the UK found that as well as affecting the general population around the world, the pandemic is causing additional and unique challenges for those experiencing eating disorders. [More]

A recent study found that altruism increased with age, going from less than 25% through age 35 to around 75% among people 55 and older. It’s possible that realizing there are fewer years to live encourages people to consider the greater good more than they did as a youth. Whether people do good deeds because of their selfless nature or out of ulterior motives is unclear but we do see an increase in generosity with age. [More]

A new study on aging and the brain published in the Journal of Nature Communications looked at the hippocampus region of the brain. “It's commonly accepted that aging negatively impacts most of our cognitive abilities, especially memory,” study author Zachariah M. Reagh told us. “While that is indeed the case, there might be more to the story.” [More]

A study from researchers at the University of Toronto found that those with suboptimal mental health died earlier than their counterparts with excellent mental health. Those who were in excellent mental health when the study started in the mid-1990s lived almost five months longer than their peers who were in poorer mental health. [More]

According to a recent study, long-term use of antidepressants can create physical dependence and severe withdrawal symptoms for patients who want to stop their treatment. This is a concern for people who wish to stop their antidepressant use and the physicians who prescribe. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology looked at whether friendship jealously can be a tool for maintaining friendships in the face of third party threats. “Friendships are massively important for health and happiness, and they can be threatened when our friends form new friendships or other relationships,” study author Jaimie Arona Krems told us. [More]

Guidelines around COVID-19 have changed, but many places now require that masks are worn to reduce the chances of transmission. A recent study looked at American individualism to determine its impact as a predictive variable for COVID-19 response and found that higher individualism lessened compliance by 41% [More]