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7 papers
This fMRI study tested how expecting an anxiety-reducing treatment (a placebo) changed large-scale brain networks. Under placebo, the brain's salience network became less active, especially to threat cues. The rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) showed stronger ongoing connections with the salience network, and this stronger connectivity was linked with lower…
The paper reports five big online studies that collected 235,440 human ratings to test how the sound quality (timbre) of tones affects which note combinations people find pleasant (consonant). The authors show that changing the spectrum of tones can shift listeners’ consonance preferences, sometimes so much that people prefer inharmonic…
The authors developed and tested the Relationship Sabotage Scale (RSS) to measure self-defeating patterns in romantic relationships. They ran three studies with a total of 1,365 English-speaking people from varied gender, sexual, and cultural backgrounds. After initial exploratory analyses, a confirmatory factor analysis supported a final 12-item scale with three…
The researchers interviewed 15 practising psychologists in Australia about “romantic self-sabotage.” They found the term is not well defined in the research and is often treated as the same as self-handicapping. The psychologists said self-sabotage in romantic relationships can include internal behaviours that self-handicapping does not cover. The study identified…
This review says the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread and lasting mental health problems around the world. It reports higher rates of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and substance use linked to long periods of isolation, money problems, and grief. The review also looks at who was hit hardest, what makes care…
Researchers ran an 8-week mindful movement program (Movimento Biologico) with 38 university students (mean age 21.2 years; 60.5% male). Participants completed four questionnaires before and after the program. After the program, several measures of interoceptive awareness and positive mental health improved significantly, while overall psychological well-being and sense of coherence…
Researchers created a short survey that people who were helped could use to report what their friend or family member did. They tested it with 1,116 adults who had a recent mental health problem and were helped by someone close. The survey grouped actions into two types (recommended and not…
