60-Second Psych

Choosing a username starting with an early alphabet letter is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata...

High calorie and exceedingly pleasurable foods appear to change rat brain rewards circuitry, causing the rodents to continue to seek such fare. Erika Beras reports. -- Read more on...

Parkinson’s patients derived more benefits from a salt solution they were told was an expensive drug than from the same solution when it was described as being cheap medication. Karen Hopkin... --...

Of studies presented at conferences, those that found a cognitive benefit to bilingualism were almost twice as likely to get published in journals as were studies finding no benefit. Karen...

Implicit bias against another race lessened after volunteers experienced themselves via virtual reality as a member of that race. Karen Hopkin reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Levels of a protein fragment in the blood paralleled how long head injuries benched hockey players. Ingrid Wickelgren reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

If you're in an up mood, you may walk more energetically. But a study finds that purposefully walking more energetically may improve your mood. Christie Nicholson reports. -- Read more on...

Subjects who kept pace with a walking colleague estimated a potential enemy to be smaller and lighter than did other walkers who were not marching. Karen Hopkin reports -- Read more on...

Young adults who’d had highly controlling parents were less able to stress their own viewpoints to a friend or partner in confident and productive ways. Daisy Yuhas reports -- Read more on...

Absence from work due to illness increased dramatically for those who slept less than six hours or more than nine hours per night. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

The direction of your gaze when looking at someone offers an unconscious, automatic giveaway of whether your initial reaction is romance or sex. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on...

People who had to strike up conversations on a subway later reported feeling happier than those who didn’t. Christie Nicholson reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Survey subjects rated life experiences as making them happier and as a better use of money than buying objects. But they actually spent their cash on material goods, whose value is more easily... ...

Chidren who experience neglect, abuse and/or poverty can have smaller amygalas and hippocampuses, brain regions involved in emotion and memory, compared with kids raised in nurturing...

Monkeys trained to play fixed video games made moves indicating that they expected certain patterns to occur. Erika Beras reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Researchers studying anesthetized rats discovered a handful of activity patterns that may mark the path to consciousness after anesthesia. Karen Hopkin reports -- Read more on...

The European Southern Observatory broke ground June 19th to build the world's largest telescope atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile. Clara Moskowitz reports. -- Read more on...

Our ability to pinpoint pain varies across the body, and in a specific pattern. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Researchers could tell what sounds blindfolded volunters were hearing by analyzing activity in their visual cortexes. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Thirty-three families allowed themselves to be recorded for up to six nights. Parents who said they supported corporal punishment did it often and with little provocation. Christie Nicholson... --...