#10

1. #1 Taking a walk may lead to more creative thinking than sitting, according to research at Stanford University. In one of several [studies], 48 college students sat alone in a small room at a desk facing a blank wall. When a researcher named an object, the student was asked to name alternative ways to use the object. For example, for the word "button," a person might say "as a doorknob on a dollhouse." The students heard several sets of words and were asked to name as many responses as possible. The participants then repeated the task with different words while walking on a treadmill facing a blank wall in the same room. They found that the students gave more creative responses when walking than when sitting.

2. #2 Spending time online may ward off depression among retirees, particularly among those who live alone, according to research conducted at Michigan State University. Scientists polled more than 12,000 Americans age 50 and older over four years, gathering data on regular Internet and email use and evaluating depression symptoms. They found that Internet use reduced the probability of depression by 33 percent, with the largest reduction occurring among participants who lived alone.

3. #3 People who are nervous about math tests may improve their scores by writing about their anxious thoughts before the test, according to a study at the University of Chicago. Researchers randomly assigned 80 undergraduates either to write for seven minutes about their feelings about an upcoming math test or to sit quietly before taking the test. Participants who wrote about their feelings had similar test scores, regardless of whether they had reported high or low anxiety about math tests before the exam. Among participants who sat quietly, those who reported high math anxiety performed significantly worse than low-anxiety participants on difficult problems, while scores were similar for both groups on easy problems.

4. #4 People are more likely to deny the persistence of racism after being exposed to a successful African-American, according to research conducted at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley. Across eight studies, scientists exposed participants to images of multiple successful people. Then, in what participants thought was an unrelated task, they answered questions about the state of race relations. Even when only one of the many images was of a successful African-American, such as President Barack Obama, the immediate conclusions participants drew about present-day racism were affected.

5. #5 Suicide attempts early in life are linked to lifelong health and economic struggles, finds a study led by Duke University researchers. The study tracked more than 1,000 New Zealanders from birth to age 38 and found that those who attempted suicide before age 24 were twice as likely as their peers to develop metabolic syndrome in their 30s and had significantly higher levels of systemic inflammation. They were also three times more likely to have been hospitalized for a mental health problem, 2.5 times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime, consumed twice as much welfare support and were unemployed for twice as many months as the other study participants.

6. #6 Dr. P was a patient described by the neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks. Dr. P. was a distinguished physician who began to show odd symptoms. He could not recognize familiar people or distinguish between people and things. For instance, while he and his wife were at the neurologist’s office, Dr. P. mistook his foot for his shoe. When he rose to leave, he tried to lift off his wife’s head as if it were a hat and put it on his own head. [Dr. Sacks used in-depth interviews with Dr. P. in doing this research to determine the cause of this behavior.]

7. #7 Cats, like people, often favor one side over the other - some are left-pawed, some are right-pawed, and some are ambilateral. Now, a study in the Journal of Comparative Psychology suggests that these preferences may be linked with the animals’ temperament. Researchers survey the owners of 30 right-pawed, 30 left-pawed, and 30 ambilateral cats about their pets traits, including affection, obedience, friendliness, and aggression. Then, the researchers observed and rated the cats’ temperaments as the pets interacted with the stranger. Compared with cats with a clear paw preference the ambilateral cats were rated less affectionate, obedient and friendly by their owners and also scored lower on desirable temperamental traits when interacting with a stranger.

8. #8 Children with food allergies have higher levels of anxiety than those without, finds research in the Journal of Pediatrics. The researchers surveyed 80 children, ages 4 to 12, and their caregivers. Most of the participants were from families of low socioeconomic status. Overall, 57 percent of the children with food allergies reported having symptoms of anxiety, compared with 48 percent of children without food allergies. There was no difference in depression symptoms between the two groups.

9. #9 A simple conditioning intervention helped boost marital satisfaction in a study of 144 couples, published in Psychological Science. Researchers asked participants - all under 40 and married less than five years - to view a brief stream of images once every three days for six weeks. One set of couples saw a stream that included photos of their partners paired with positive images, like bunnies and puppies. A control group saw photos of their partners paired with neutral images. Participants who saw positive images showed more positive automatic reactions to their partners in four evaluations during the intervention compared with those who saw neutral pictures, and they also reported more improvement in marital satisfaction.

10. #10 “Humblebragging” - hiding a boast in either a complaint or false humility - is ubiquitous, and not a good way to get others to like you, finds a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Researchers found that humblebragging is extremely common: In a survey of 113 participants, 91 percent reported encountering at least one humblebrag over the course of a week, in person or on social media. In a follow-up experiment, 403 online participants read a series of humblebrags (e.g. “I hate when first class is no different than coach #wasteofmoney”) and straightforward brags (e.g. “I am flying first class.”), then rated the braggarts’ likeability, competence and sincerity. Humblebraggers were rated less likable, competent and sincere than straightforward braggers.

11. #11 Even though research suggest that later school start times can help teens get the sleep their developing brains need, only about half of parents support moving high school start times, finds research in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Researchers surveyed 554 parents of 13 to 17 year olds. Only 51 percent supported moving school start times later. Parents who opposed the switch cited worries about transportation logistics and about finding time for afterschool activities.

12. #12 The beer drinking behavior of 308 university students was observed in several bar and party settings. The following relationships were found: males drinking beer in bars consumed 0.92 oz per min; females drank less beer than males, and stayed in a bar for a longer time period; patrons drank significantly more beer when drinking in groups and when purchasing beer in pitchers versus cups or bottles; and intervals between party arrival and first drink and between party departure and last drink varied inversely with blood alcohol concentration.

13. #13 Kids who are more curious have better math and reading skills in kindergarten, finds a study in Pediatric Research. Researchers examined data on about 6,200 kindergartners from a US nationally representative longitudinal study that included measures of math and reading achievement, as well as parents’ assessments of the children’s curiosity and effortful control.

14. #14 How your emotions shape your behavior may depend in part on how you expect them to shape your behavior, finds a study in Emotion. Researchers asked 182 participants to listen to either exciting or calm music. Then, they told some of the participants that the music would help their performance on a test of creativity (coming up with unusual uses for common objects), told another group that the music would hurt their creativity and told a control group that it would have no effect. Participants who listened to exciting music were significantly more creative than calm participants when they expected excitement to be useful, while participants who listened to calm music were more creative when they expected calmness to be useful.

15. #15 People’s voices convey more emotion than their faces, suggests a study in American Psychologist. In five experiments, researchers asked a total of 1,772 participants to interact with another person or to observe an interaction between two other people. In some cases, participants could listen but not look during the interaction, in other, they could look but not listen’ and in others they could both look and listen. Across all five experiments, on average, people who could listen but not look more accurately identified the emotions being experienced in the interactions.

16. #16 Children who have televisions or video game systems in their bedrooms spend more time watching screens and less time reading and sleeping, which in turn leads to poorer school performance, finds a study in Developmental Psychology. Researchers analyzed data from three separate studies with more than 4,000 children in the third through eighth grades from the United States and Singapore. Children with bedroom TVs and video games were also more likely to be overweight and to watch more violent content, which was then associated with increased physicalaggression, the researchers found.