🧠 Psychology (149 articles)
Memory, sleep, learning, decision, clinical psychology
🆕 Latest articles
- Hair transplantation linked to major mental health gains when psychological screening is used
Did you know? Hair transplantation can significantly improve self-esteem and emotional well-being—but only when patients are psychologically screened beforehand. Without proper evaluation, some patients experience worsening mental health after surgery.
- Dance linked to sharper cognition and better mood in older adults
Did you know? A meta-analysis of 13 trials with over 1,100 older adults found that dance interventions improved both cognitive function (g = 0.27) and significantly reduced depression symptoms (g = 0.43) — effects that held across different dance styles and study designs.
- Clinical reasoning in nursing: 55 factors reshape how we understand decision-making
Quick fact: A 2026 review of 25 studies identified 55 distinct factors that influence clinical reasoning in nurses—revealing that sharp thinking at the bedside depends far less on individual skill alone and far more on organizational support, technology design, and workplace culture than previously recognized.
- Concussion recovery: heart rate variability reveals hidden autonomic dysfunction
Quick fact: People recovering from concussion show altered autonomic nervous system flexibility when watching emotional videos or performing cognitive tasks—changes invisible to standard symptom checklists but detectable through heart rate variability monitoring.
- Pilates during pregnancy linked to better sleep and reduced back pain
Did you know? A 2025 systematic review of 499 pregnant women found that those who practiced Pilates reported significantly better sleep quality, reduced lower back and pelvic pain, and lower anxiety levels compared to those receiving routine prenatal care alone.
- Unintended pregnancy linked to 2-3x lower infant care completion in Sub-Saharan Africa
Quick fact: Infants born from intended pregnancies in Sub-Saharan Africa are three times more likely to receive essential newborn care and twice as likely to be exclusively breastfed compared to those from unintended pregnancies — a gap that may contribute to the region's persistently high infant mortality rates.
- Stroke rehabilitation trials underreport motor learning details
Surprising finding: A review of 166 stroke rehabilitation studies found that while 98% reported what tasks patients practiced, only 37% specified how often they received feedback—a critical element for motor recovery that's often left out of published research.
- Motor learning with external focus: new brain imaging reveals why
Surprising finding: Directing your attention to the movement outcome (external focus) rather than your body movements (internal focus) doesn't just improve performance—it fundamentally reorganizes how your brain's motor cortex activates during skill learning.
- Schizophrenia and caffeine: meta-analysis reveals mixed effects on symptoms
Surprising finding: A meta-analysis of 1,406 people with schizophrenia found that caffeine consumption shows no clear overall benefit or harm on symptom severity, but individual studies suggest it may improve negative symptoms (like social withdrawal) while potentially worsening positive symptoms (like hallucinations).
- Evidence quality assessment tools: scoping review flags limits
Quick fact: A 2026 scoping review of 20 studies found that while automated tools for assessing evidence quality show promise in improving efficiency and consistency, 50% remain experimental prototypes requiring human oversight, and most are designed only for randomized controlled trials—limiting their real-world applicability in public health decision-making.
- Peripheral arterial disease guidelines revised: focus shifts to prevention and multidisciplinary care
Surprising finding: New European guidelines for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) now prioritize overall cardiovascular health and patient well-being over limb symptoms alone, requiring doctors to address atherosclerosis throughout the body—not just in the legs.
- Virtual and Augmented Reality in Surgical Training: New Review Documents Learning-Curve Reduction
Surprising finding: Extended reality technologies—virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality—are being integrated into surgical training to help surgeons practice procedures in safe, simulated environments before operating on real patients.
- Multiple Myeloma Treatment: 18-Study Analysis of 5,800 Patients Confirms 6-Month Cognitive Decline
Surprising finding: Patients with multiple myeloma experience noticeable cognitive decline during the first six months of cancer treatment, but these changes appear to stabilize during later maintenance therapy.
- Exposome and Child Brain Development: How Environment Emerges as Key Driver Beyond Genetics
Did you know? Scientists are now trying to measure a child's complete 'exposome'—every chemical, social, economic, and cultural exposure from birth onward—to understand how environment shapes brain development and thinking skills.
- Brain-Computer Interfaces for Imagined Speech: Decoding Accuracy Rapidly Advancing in 2026
Did you know? Researchers are developing brain-computer interfaces that can decode what you're imagining saying—without you moving your lips or making a sound—opening pathways for those who've lost the ability to speak.
- Sleep Deprivation and Immunity: Melatonin Decline Emerges as Key Mechanism, Meta-Analysis Suggests
Quick fact: Missing sleep doesn't just make you tired—it lowers melatonin, a hormone linked to weaker immune defenses and higher inflammation in your body.
- Critical Thinking About Health Education: 53% of Students Retain Skills 1 Year After Intervention
Surprising finding: Teaching secondary school students nine key concepts about evaluating health information significantly improved their critical thinking skills, with 88% of the learning retained one year later across trials in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
- Animal Communication Timing: Circadian Clocks Shape Birdsong and Whale Calls, Study Reveals
Did you know? The precision with which songbirds time their vocalizations may serve as an honest signal of their quality to potential mates, but this accuracy comes at the cost of limiting the range of rhythms they can produce.
- Immune Protein May Link Gut Bacteria to Poor Sleep
Did you know? A protein that responds to gut bacteria—lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP)—is now linked to sleep disorders through its role in triggering inflammation throughout the body and brain.
- Europe Works to Standardize Sleep Medicine Across 40+ Countries
Did you know? Sleep medicine training and standards vary so dramatically across European countries that the continent's leading sleep research society launched a coordinated effort to harmonize knowledge and create shared examination standards from Portugal to Kazakhstan.
- Bucket Lists in Hospice: How End-of-Life Wishes Transform Care
Surprising finding: A 2025 review of 11 studies reveals that fulfilling bucket list items for terminally ill patients significantly impacts not just emotional well-being, but strengthens family bonds and cultivates gratitude during the final stages of life.
- Synthetic Health Data Shows Promise But Faces Major Hurdles
Surprising finding: AI-generated synthetic patient data could soon influence drug pricing decisions, but researchers warn it faces four critical challenges that must be solved first.
- New Checklist Aims to Standardize AI in Heart Imaging Research
Surprising finding: Researchers have developed a specialized checklist to ensure AI tools for heart imaging are properly tested and reported—addressing unique challenges like cardiac motion and imaging artifacts that generic AI guidelines miss.
- Brain Ion Channels May Hold Clues to Treating Memory Loss
Did you know? Specialized channels called TRP channels control calcium flow in brain cells, and when they malfunction, the resulting calcium buildup is linked to memory loss and cognitive decline in neurological diseases.
- Brain Function Across Life in PKU: Understudied at Both Ends
Surprising finding: While scientists have studied cognitive function in school-age children and young adults with PKU, they've largely overlooked infants and older adults—the very groups where brain changes matter most.
- Portable Eye Trackers Show Promise for Cognitive Disorders
Quick fact: Eye-tracking devices can now detect subtle cognitive changes in neurological conditions by analyzing how patients move their eyes—potentially making brain health assessments as simple as looking at a screen.
- Indigenous Food Knowledge Shapes Security Solutions in Canada
Quick fact: A 2025 review of nearly 2,000 studies found 39 Indigenous-led food security initiatives across Canada that blend traditional knowledge with modern systems—yet Indigenous voices remain underrepresented in national decision-making.
- Touch Can Deepen Your Movie and Gaming Experiences
Surprising finding: Adding tactile feedback to films, games, and virtual reality can enhance your experience through multiple pathways — from capturing attention to transmitting directional cues — though the technology faces significant technical and psychological hurdles.
- Nightmare Therapy Shows Promise for PTSD, But Gaps Remain
Did you know? Nightmares can persist even after successful PTSD treatment, which is why researchers are developing specialized therapies that help people rehearse and rewrite their distressing dreams.
- Will-Making Ability Varies Widely Across Countries and Conditions
Did you know? A person with dementia may have brief "lucid intervals" where they temporarily regain enough mental clarity to legally make or change their will, though how this is assessed varies dramatically across different countries.