Mind & Brain
Study finds that some depressed adolescents are at higher risk for developing anxiety
Some adolescents who suffer with symptoms of depression also may be at risk for developing anxiety, according to a new study of children’s mental health.
The study found that among youth who have symptoms of depression, the risk is most severe for those who have one or more of three risk factors, said psychologist Chrystyna D. Kouros, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, who led the study. Continue reading
The Undying Radio: Familiarity breeds content when it comes to listeners and music
Many music listeners want to perceive themselves as receptive to novel music. But new research says otherwise when it comes to our choices, says Morgan Ward in SMU’s Cox School of Business.
Tension between the novel and the familiar leads to interesting insights for marketers.
The research offers lessons in how actual behavior trumps media portrayals of consumers’ perennial desires for novelty. Continue reading
Kids’ reading success is boosted by long-term individualized instruction, finds 3-year study
Students who consistently receive individualized reading instruction from first through third grade become better readers than those who don’t, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
These findings come after a three-year study that followed several hundred Floridian students, who received varying amounts of individualized instruction, from first to third grade. Continue reading
Parade: What The Simpsons Can Teach Us About Siblings
Parade magazine covered the research of SMU psychologist and Simpsons‘ expert Chris R. Logan, senior lecturer, who with SMU colleague and professor Alan S. Brown, co-authored and edited the book The Psychology of the Simpsons: D’oh! (Smart Pop, 2006).
Journalist Hannah Dreyfus quotes Logan in her June 22 article on Logan’s and Brown’s siblings research, “What The Simpsons Can Teach Us About Siblings.
Wall Street Journal: You, An Idea Thief? Say It Isn’t So.
The Wall Street Journal mentioned the research of SMU Psychology Professor Alan Brown in a news article by Adam Grant about inadvertent plagiarism.
Brown has studied the phenomenon and published the results of his classic study in a 1989 scientific article Cryptomnesia: Delineating inadvertent plagiarism in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Continue reading
SMU’s Kouros receives Hogg Foundation grant to study children’s mental health
Chrystyna D. Kouros, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at SMU, received a $19,250 grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health to examine ethnic differences in identifying children’s depression symptoms.
Kouros research project was one of 10 selected from a pool of 38 applicants from 17 universities across Texas. The foundation awarded the two-year grants, totaling $192,130, to tenure-track assistant professors exploring mental health in Texas. Continue reading
Le Huffington Post: Le sommeil rendrait les musiciens plus efficaces — étude
Journalist Matthieu Carlier with Le Huffington Post in Quebec covered the research of SMU’s Sarah E. Allen, an assistant professor of music education in the Meadows School of the Arts.
Allen’s study examined how the brain learns and retains motor skills, and the findings provide insight into musical skill. The study found that performance of a musical task improved among pianists whose practice of a new melody was followed by a night of sleep. Continue reading
Musicians who learn a new melody demonstrate enhanced skill after a night’s sleep
A new study that examined how the brain learns and retains motor skills provides insight into musical skill. Performance of a musical task improved among pianists whose practice of a new melody was followed by a night of sleep, says researcher Sarah E. Allen, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
The study is among the first to look at whether sleep enhances the learning process for musicians practicing a new piano melody. Continue reading
Oprah.com: Stress Myths — Debunked!
Health journalist Corrie Pikul wrote about the groundbreaking panic and anxiety research of SMU psychologists Dr. Alicia Meuret and Dr. Thomas Ritz in a Jan. 7 post on Oprah.com.
The article, “Stress Myths—Debunked!,” cites the startling findings of Meuret’s anxiety research, which has found that the standard advice to “take a deep breath” actually makes such situations worse. Continue reading