readings in psychology for october 18th 2010

My daughter Karen and a colleague in psychology projects has taught me a lot about new technologies and social media. CLICK on picture to see what Karen is all about!

Here are a few interesting readings for today:

• new data on alcohol and pregnancy

“Scientific data continue to indicate that higher intake of alcohol during pregnancy adversely affects the fetus, and could lead to very severe developmental or other problems in the child. However, most recent publications show little or no effects of occasional or light drinking by the mother during pregnancy…..”

• is anxiety contageous?

 “Anxiety, or the reaction to a perceived danger, is a response that differs from one animal or human to another — or so scientists thought. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are challenging what we know about stress, and their study has implications for helping clinicians better treat victims of terrorism or natural disasters.”

• diagnosing autism with an mri is one step closer

“University of Utah (U of U) medical researchers have made an important step in diagnosing autism through using MRI, an advance that eventually could help health care providers indentify the problem much earlier in children and lead to improved treatment and outcomes for those with the disorder.”

• how we learn from our competitors

“Learning from competitors is a critically important form of learning for animals and humans. A new study has used brain imaging to reveal how people and animals learn from failure and success.”