I just returned from the Association for Psychological Science Convention in Chicago this past week and it's back to my classes and my great students!
Here is what I am reading today:
“Psychologists have found that a downward pointing triangle can be perceived to carry threat just like a negative face in a crowd.
In a paper published in Emotion, a journal of the American Psychological Association, Dr Derrick Watson and Dr Elisabeth Blagrove have carried out a series of experiments with volunteers to find out if simple geometric shapes can convey positive or negative emotions.”
“A new study suggests that aspirin and other similar painkillers may help protect against skin cancer. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings indicate that skin cancer prevention may be added to the benefits of these commonly used medications.”
“Moreover, the risk appears to be cumulative and highest among women who describe themselves as “morning” people rather than “evening” people, the researchers say.
“About 10 to 20 percent of women in modern societies have night shift work,” said lead researcher Johnni Hansen. “It might therefore be one of the largest occupational problems related to cancer.””
“Despite a long-held scientific belief that much of the wiring of the brain is fixed by the time of adolescence, a new study shows that changes in sensory experience can cause massive rewiring of the brain, even as one ages. In addition, the study found that this rewiring involves fibers that supply the primary input to the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for sensory perception, motor control and cognition. These findings promise to open new avenues of research on brain remodeling and aging.”
“Scientists at ETH Zurich have studied the use of language, finding that words with a positive emotional content are more frequently used in written communication. This result supports the theory that social relations are enhanced by a positive bias in human communication. The study by David Garcia and his colleagues from the Chair of Systems Design is published in the first issue of the new SpringerOpen journal EPJ Data Science.”
” Although additional rigorous clinical trials are warranted, the literature suggests that video games can be useful in improving a variety of health outcomes, particularly those in the areas of psychological and physical therapy, according to research published online in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.”
“Women who are depressed during pregnancy are not at higher risk of giving birth prematurely than non-depressed women — but those who take antidepressants during pregnancy seem to be, a new study by Yale researchers shows.”
36 Comments
camillephillips3 · May 29, 2012 at 9:20 am
Painkillers are a protection against skin cancer?
Look as if taking common painkillers may have more benefit than previously thought! In their study, they saw that patients who used common painkillers more frequently had a decreased risk of certain types of skin cancer. This information is beneficial not only to almost every American who uses these medicines commonly, but also to those at higher risk for skin cancer. If those at higher risk took these painkillers more, could that potentially protect them from developing skin cancer? Very interesting article.
camillephillips3 · May 29, 2012 at 9:26 am
I read the article on working the night shift contributing to an increased risk of breast cancer. I just learned about this not only in our psych class, but also in my developmental biology class and these findings are very informative! I can’t believe that night shift workers had a 40% increased risk of breast cancer, that is too high of a statistic for a problem that seems like there could be ways around it. I wonder if they could develop something to help regulate the circadian rhythms while they are under the pressures of working odd hours. Could melatonin supplements help those who are at increased risk for breast cancer? Hopefully this finding will point research in the direction of lowering these women’s breast cancer risk so they can continue their jobs without worrying about the risks associated with it.
Kristin · May 29, 2012 at 12:46 pm
I read “painkillers are a protection against skin cancer?” and was left intrigued by their findings. This article backs up its claim that pain killers like asprin and ibuprofen reduce the risk of skin cancer with adequate statistics. However, after learning that the finding was significant, the article does not go on to hypothesize why this is. I would really like to know more about what people think could be the link between painkillers and protection against skin cancer, even if they are just guesses to a yet-to-be-studied phenomenon.
slboman · May 29, 2012 at 1:40 pm
After reading “evil eyebrows and a pointy chin” I find it interesting that people can unconsciously relate cartoon characters to real life people and faces. I think that this finding has the potential to contribute to children’s perception of “good” or “bad” people after viewing cartoons. I am more aware of the fact that I perceive people with pointy chins/ triangle shaped features and slanted eyebrows as having a negative face
slboman · May 29, 2012 at 2:03 pm
after reading “nightshift work and breast cancer” i find it interesting that breast cancer is related to working at night. It is troublesome that if one is working at night, disrupting their circadian rhythm and melatonin production, they are more likely to develop a life threatening illness. This correlation seems as though it is one that can be prevented by limiting which shifts people can work. By educating people on the importance of the sleep cycle and the consequences of disrupting it, many people may think twice about working the night shift.
LyudmilaFeldsher · May 29, 2012 at 3:46 pm
I read the article about positive words being the glue to social interaction. I agree that more positive language should be used on a daily basis. Positive words and phrases make people feel better and don’t have any other meaning behind them as opposed to negative language. Human communication can definitely be improved just by changing the words we use.
LyudmilaFeldsher · May 29, 2012 at 3:50 pm
i read about evil eyebrows and a pointy chin and have to say i see what they mean. A lot of evil characters in cartoons have that kind of face actually. I’m curious if that is how we look at people in real life and if we judge too quickly just based on the geometric shape of their face. Unfortunately, people can’t help if they are born with an upward or downward shaped face or what kind of eyebrows they have. It would be interesting to see a study done with a group of people and to show them different kinds of faces and see how they respond.
fnmagno · May 29, 2012 at 6:31 pm
I read “nightshift work and breast cancer” and found it particularly interesting because my mom used to work the night shift for the past ten years and know that this could have implications to her health caught my attention. While the pay is good, the trade off for poor health may not be worth it if this indeed is a major cause of breast cancer.
fnmagno · May 29, 2012 at 6:46 pm
I read “why video games can be good for you” and it was interesting to see video games in a different light. Most of the time we hear about how video games are violent and can lead to violent tendencies. This is the first time I had ever heard of its positive effects.
madisonwalter · May 29, 2012 at 8:30 pm
I read the article about working the night shift and found it rather scary, especially because it relates to me. I worked a lot of night shifts last summer at the hospital and it is frightening that there is such a high correlation between night shifts and cancer rates. The part in the article where it talks about the lack of sleep suppressing the immune system is especially true because I found that after working a night shift I would only be able to sleep for 4-5 hours, nowhere near the 7-8 I should be getting so its shocking that this contributes to the growth of cancer cells! It is worrisome because a lot of women have to work this shift in order to care for their children during the day but still make money during the night to provide for their family. I also thought the part at the end was interesting that if you get up in the middle of the night, even to go to the bathroom you shouldn’t turn on the light–good to know! I will keep that in mind.
kdevlugt · May 29, 2012 at 8:58 pm
I read “Positive words: The glue to social interaction”. Before reading I thought that the internet tended to be a place for Negative Nancy’s to congregate and wreak anonymous havoc, all gathering places the progeny of 4chan. I was mostly convinced that acts of kindness and positivity were rare find among name calling, cyberbullying, and crude pictures of genitalia. However, this article made me realize that most of my internet encounters are positive, and only because of the salience of the negative encounters do I remember them better. Inspired by the article I decided to do a little research using Google Ngram viewer to compare the frequency of positive and negative words in their book database. The results suggests (non-scientifically) that we’re happy more than we’re sad, and that love always conquers hate. http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=happy%2Csad%2Clove%2Chate&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3
On an unrelated note, I also ran the words nazi, communist, fascist, and terrorist and got interesting results: http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=nazi%2Ccommunist%2Cfascist%2Cterrorist&year_start=1908&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=2
Amir Tadros · May 30, 2012 at 9:51 am
“Night shift might boost women’s breast cancer risk: study”
It is quite alarming to find out that women who work night shifts are 40% more likely to develop breast cancer. Sleep deprivation and stress are known to suppress the immune system, but I would assume that those working night shifts adjust their schedule to still get the necessary amount of sleep. If results of these studies can be successfully repeated and proved, then that is a social issue that must be addressed in the future. I also wonder if such a correlation is present with men working the night shift and prostate cancer
mapplebaum · May 30, 2012 at 9:54 am
I read the article “why video games can be good for you!” and found it very interesting. It definitely seems like the article is implying the need for further research and examination, but the preliminary results are pretty interesting. All you normally hear about is how bad video games are for kids and that they are making society more violent. However, this article seems to say that the exact opposite is true, helping not only in physical aspects of the body, but psychological as well. These findings seem to directly contradict the negative reputation video games have had for so long. Now that studies are coming out saying how helpful video games can be, I wonder how this will effect the industry and how they are used in classroom type settings.
mapplebaum · May 30, 2012 at 10:12 am
I read the article “pain killers are a protection against skin cancer?” and found this article very interesting as well. The main conclusion this article seemed to stress was that extended use of NSAID’s (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can have a significant decrease in the prevalence of certain types of skin cancer. Although it didn’t seem to touch on the mechanism in which these drugs help prevent skin cancer, there seemed to be a definite correlation between the two. Also interesting was that it only showed a 15 % decreased risk for developing squamous cell carcinoma and a 13% decreased risk for developing malignant melanoma, but nothing else. What makes these types of skin cancer so effected by NSAID’s? Why does this only effect skin cancers and not other types? And why is extended use of these drugs for 7+ years and in high intensity (2+ types of NSAIDs) of use a significant factor in their effectiveness of reducing skin cancer.
sahong · May 30, 2012 at 10:51 am
I read evil eyebrows and pointy chins, and I tend to agree with this article. I remember when I was little I would always draw a mad/angry face with straight eyebrows pointing downward. No one had ever told me that, that was what a mad face looked liked, but subconsciously, I believe that we are aware of what is intimidating to us, and evil eyebrows definitely signify someone not to mess with. I think that the un-natural rigidity in such straight and severe lines is an instinctual cue that someone is angry/evil and should not be messed with.
sahong · May 30, 2012 at 10:58 am
I read positive words, the glue to social interaction, and I am a big supporter of this research and what it presents in the use of positive reinforcement over negativity. I have a friend back home who’s father is a Taekwondo teacher, and I remember him lecturing one time to a group of others at his studio in regards to the critiques they were giving the students. He stated that there is a great difference in telling a student that they were ‘not bad’ rather than saying they did ‘pretty well’. When you think about it, both are saying the same thing however in the latter version you have replaced two negatives with two positives which gives the critique a completely different interpretation, especially to the student. Instead of being seen as a failure, you have reinstated hope that there is room for improvement. I think that if all communication were so thought of that there would be greater social interaction as a result of the positivity of the words expressed when communicating.
klovelace · May 30, 2012 at 9:42 pm
I read the article “evil eyebrows and a pointy chin” and found the study entertaining and useful. I had never noticed before the typical appearance of the average cartoon villain, and it is interesting that we have picked up the triangle shaped face as the archetypal sign for a “bad guy.” The results of this study make a lot of sense, because evolutionarily speaking it would be advantageous to be able to pick out the person who is the greatest threat to ourselves. When we meet/encounter someone, it is common that we are drawn to those who do not look negative or upset. It would be interesting to see if infants and young children could also pick up on the upside-down triangle effect as demonstrated in this study.
Rachel · May 31, 2012 at 9:29 am
I read the article “evil eyebrows and a pointy chin” and found it not surprising that the human eye detects geometric shapes and then the brain compares that image to what we know about human faces and how they portray emotions to determine whether a shape’s formation is received positive or negative in context. I think that this can be seen in practice when people are shown drawings of houses made by children. Simply by manipulating a few geometric shapes, houses can appear “sad” or “happy”. Also, I think this study is relevant to the preoccupation that people have with using emoticons in text, email, and instant messaging. We are constantly using “faces” to depict what we are feeling.
Amir Tadros · May 31, 2012 at 12:44 pm
“Evil Eyebrows and Pointy Chin of a Cartoon Villain Make Our ‘threat’ Instinct Kick in”
This was a very interesting study. I was most intrigued by the fact that people are able to spot a negative face much quicker than than a positive face. That adaptation makes evolutionary sense, since a quick reaction is more beneficial in a dangerous situation where the recognition of a threat can be the difference between life and death.
It was also quite interesting that simple geometric shapes can illicit the same response that a human face does.
sahong · May 31, 2012 at 11:03 pm
I read the article about painkillers as a form of cancer prevention. I found the article quite interesting, and wished it had delved more into why this may be, but perhaps the mechanism is unknown still. I was thinking that the possibility that they act as blood thinners may have an effect on preventing tumor formation. However, at the risk of preventing cancer, do they have an increase in liver disease or dysfunction? I was under the assumption that the excessive use of NSAIDs created liver problems, but perhaps it is a lesser evil that we must deal with in attempting to prevent cancers.
sahong · May 31, 2012 at 11:10 pm
“Antidepressants increase late preterm birth”
At the end of this article they ask if pregnant, depressed women should be taking antidepressants? In my personal opinion, I believe that they should not. Antidepressants severely alter the way that you perceive things, and the way that you act by their mechanism of serotonin reuptake inhibition, and I believe that when carrying another life in you, you should not be taking a ‘medicine’ that can so severely effect your adult body, without knowing the direct dangers it may pose to the child in you. Additionally, as everything that you experience is experienced by the child you are carrying, I would hope that mothers would be more cautious in just trying to rid themselves of depression, depression is a natural part of life and for us to try to omit it is unnatural and most likely more dangerous to our health.
sahong · June 1, 2012 at 11:44 am
I read “night shift might boost women’s risk of breast cancer” and found the article quite scary. It is difficult enough to try to support oneself these days, nevermind a family as well, and now with the addition of having to worry about what shifts you choose or are designated to work, makes it even more stressful. They said in the article that they are not exactly sure as to why this increases the risk of cancer, but that it is thought to have something to do with the sleep-wake cycle and exposure to light during the evening. This reminds me of the light pollution video that you showed in biopsych and how people are so unaware of the risks of exposure to artificial light and how it is changing the physiology of our bodies without our awareness until it is too late. One can only hope that such research will lead industries to lower their night-shifts, however in many fields, medical, industrial factories, etc this is nearly impossible.
sahong · June 1, 2012 at 11:49 am
I read the article about video games being good for you, and although I can see how their use in rehabilitation therapy may be useful, I don’t think it is very ‘healthy’ to promote video game use. I think that with other studies showing how little time kids spend outdoors these days, and how we may even need to increase our 15-min-a-day forearm exposure to the sun to obtain the daily recommended value of vitamin d because we are indoors so much, along with the growing issue of obesity; we should not lean on video games as advertisement for promoting ‘good health’. I think that video games, although beneficial for those that are learning disabled, for the most part contribute more to incapacitating the human body than they do to benefit it.
LyudmilaFeldsher · June 1, 2012 at 3:34 pm
I read the article about night shifts boosting the risk of breast cancer and that’s scary. Some people can’t control which shift they get and many families struggle to support themselves. In residency, for example, the residents almost always have night shifts and they are on call. Although they aren’t sure why this happens, it probably has something to do with light. Hopefully there is either a way to prevent this or it just isn’t as common because many women have night shifts and that should not be the reason they get breast cancer.
LyudmilaFeldsher · June 1, 2012 at 3:37 pm
I read about pregnant women taking antidepressants and I don’t think this is a good idea. Women who are carrying a child should try to expose themselves to as little chemicals as possible. Antidepressants alter our bodies and, although they help with depression they can cause other problems to the fetus. Hopefully the mother is happy when pregnant, but if not, antidepressants should be a last resort.
christucker · June 1, 2012 at 9:17 pm
“painkillers are a protection against skin cancer?”
As a biologist, the science in this article really disappoints me. The research these scientists basically shows a correlation between reduction of cancer frequency and painkillers. This does not indicate that these drugs are providing any protection; it is merely indicating that they tend to increase and decrease together. For example, when I grow taller, my arms tend to get longer. Is the growth of my arms the cause of me growing taller? (no, its growth hormone!) This is merely a correlation study. My point is, this article is very misreading, and I believe that is because people love and get so excited about cancer related articles.
christucker · June 1, 2012 at 9:28 pm
‘why video games can be good for you!”
haha I love this article’s thesis! First of all, I really appreciate the following sentence: “The researchers deemed the majority of studies to be of poor quality, with no blinding of study researchers and follow-up periods less than 12 weeks. ” It’s wonderful when they straight up tell you the truth like that. After further studies, I could imagine results supporting that video games can be good or bad for psychological therapy, physical therapy, physical activity, clinician skills, health education, pain distraction, and disease self-management. What I would really like to see is this study taken further, more-so into the realms of what type of video games show positive effects on the things mentioned above. Do shooting games help with psychological therapy? How about adventure games with health education? Some seem more obvious than others, but it would be really interesting to see the data!
anguye15 · June 2, 2012 at 9:25 pm
From personal experience, I definitely agree with the idea that positive words, and furthermore, the way in which one structures their sentences, is most critical to positive communication. As an individual that has been involved in organizations and leadership, I have told many people that you can say whatever it is you want to say; you can always speak your mind–but it is all about how you word it. Strategically choosing the right words, and also changing a perception of a sentence (e.g. “you” vs. “I” statements) makes a world of difference when communicating with one another.
lrosener · June 3, 2012 at 8:59 pm
I read the evil eyebrows article. The article was interesting, but It made me think of why do people find this negative. Is there a trait in certain individuals that makes them have a pointier face and more aggressive or more mean? why do humans associate this downward triangle as negative?
lrosener · June 3, 2012 at 9:06 pm
I read the painkiller article. It seemed promising to me, but I was wondering how the anti-inflammatory drugs help minimize skin cancer. Maybe the anti-inflammation in the whole body is helping somehow by reducing the immune systems function every where and allowing it to focus on the cancerous areas.
lrosener · June 3, 2012 at 9:19 pm
I read why persistent sensory impute is good for the brain. This article was amazing what they found, but it was only in rats. I would like to see this replicated in humans though, but it would be difficult to do. They would have to find people and then hope the go blind or lose another sense. There might be a disease that degenerates sight and then the experimenters could MRI them before and after they lose their sight and see if they get the same readings.
lrosener · June 3, 2012 at 9:19 pm
I read why persistent sensory impute is good for the brain. This article was amazing what they found, but it was only in rats. I would like to see this replicated in humans though, but it would be difficult to do. They would have to find people and then hope the go blind or lose another sense. There might be a disease that degenerates sight and then the experimenters could MRI them before and after they lose their sight and see if they get the same readings.
lrosener · June 3, 2012 at 9:28 pm
I read the positive word article. This article gave me a little hope for humankind because it showed that we use positive words more than negative ones. This amazed me more because the experimenters got their data from the internet and the internet is known for having the capacity to be very negative. This makes me wonder how they picked their samples to test for the words. Was it a random selection from the whole internet or were they chosen?
lrosener · June 3, 2012 at 9:35 pm
I read the article why video games can be good. It was good that there was positive findings from video games, but there are so many different types of video games. This was a meta analysis, but which types of games were studied. Were they only educational games, children’s games, etc.? Could they have been games like mortal kombat that are extremely violent and gory? I do not see the benefit of games that are purely based on killing.
LauraPolacci · June 6, 2012 at 9:11 am
The article on painkillers and how some may protect against some types of skin cancer really caught my attention. After reading the article, I am not sure I am convinced that it is a good idea for someone to be on anti inflammatory/painkiller drugs simply to prevent or decrease their chances of getting skin cancer, but I do find that this is an interesting find. Although it’s great that these painkillers decrease likelihood of certain cancers, I think it’s important to know that taking such medication can have other risks and side effects that may outweigh the benefit of a decreased risk of cancer. Interesting and very brief article though… I wonder if these painkillers (if taken on a regular basis) have an affect on mental health?
LauraPolacci · June 6, 2012 at 9:16 am
I read the article on positive words being the glue to social interaction, which was an informative and interesting article! It’s great, I think, how many findings are showing that interaction with a positive sway/bias, enhances social relations. I think sometimes people think that if they are “too” positive it could be a hindrance to social relationships, but this research appears to contradict that. I thought it was a keen observation that positive words carry less info than negative words, which is why they may facilitate more interaction, whereas negative words can be used to indicate danger of some sort. I know I’ll be keeping tabs on the type of speech/words I use in my everyday language and see how it affects me and my social interactions!
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