Author: dispatchtimes news

Scientists have found that the scent of a father can help babies align their brain activity with unfamiliar adults, potentially boosting the pace at which they socialise. In a small study, infants exposed to their father’s natural body odour demonstrated greater neural synchrony with strangers during brief interactions, a finding published in Science Advances. Interbrain synchrony occurs when the brain waves of two people pulse in harmony during social interaction, helping infants tune their developing social brain to the surrounding environment and guiding caregivers in providing sensory input. Previous research has shown that maternal body odours can calm infants and…

A multi-study investigation into whether Confederate monuments influence racial prejudice has found no evidence that their presence or removal measurably shifts bias among residents. The research, led by Maximilian A. Primbs of Radboud University, was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Confederate monuments are statues and memorials erected to honour the pro-slavery Southern states that seceded during the American Civil War. In recent years, communities have debated their removal as symbols of white supremacy that continue to affect marginalised groups. The study distinguishes between explicit bias — conscious beliefs and feelings about a racial group — and implicit bias…

A small study at Aarhus University suggests the weight‑loss drug semaglutide can alter reward‑seeking behaviour and brain activity in healthy mice. The researchers report that daily doses changed how animals pursued natural rewards and how they responded to stress, accompanied by shifts in brain rhythms within a key reward circuit. The work is published in Molecular Brain. Semaglutide is widely used to treat diabetes and obesity and is known by brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy. It works by mimicking the hormone GLP‑1, which helps regulate appetite and blood sugar, and researchers have begun exploring whether it could dampen…

A new rat study suggests that a single dose of MDMA can prevent the rise in alcohol consumption that often follows a traumatic experience, particularly in animals genetically inclined to drink heavily. Researchers say the drug alters how fear is expressed in the moment rather than permanently strengthening the brain’s ability to unlearn fear memories. The findings were published in Neuropsychopharmacology. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition triggered by terrifying events, and many individuals with PTSD also struggle with alcohol use. The relationship is complex and mutually reinforcing, as chronic alcohol use can dysregulate brain stress systems…

A small UK study has found that musical keys shape our sense of beauty and sublimity, with major keys linked to beauty and minor keys to sublimity. When listeners experience music alongside images, visual elements tend to dominate the overall aesthetic impression. The findings appear in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Philosophers have long separated beauty and sublimity, with beauty typically tied to harmony, order and pleasure, and sublimity to awe, grandeur and sometimes ambiguity or fear. In the eighteenth century, thinkers such as Burke argued that the sublime stems from feelings of awe and terror, while beauty…

A new study suggests that growing up in a war zone can influence how a child’s attachment-related traits relate to the brain’s emotional wiring, with the pattern of connectivity differing according to war-related stress. The research, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, indicates that the link between attachment characteristics and communication between emotion-processing brain regions shifts in the context of conflict, hinting that the developing brain may calibrate to its surroundings rather than simply sustaining uniform damage. Neuroscience has long shown that early adversity can alter the connections between emotional hubs and networks governing self-control. Earlier work cited in…

A new study from Zhejiang University in China has found that both extremely high and extremely low dietary salt intakes can impair cognitive function in mice, albeit through distinct biological routes. The research, published in Food Research International, shows that excessive salt triggers systemic inflammation and hippocampal disruption, while severe salt restriction starves the gut microbiome of metabolic byproducts essential for brain health. The human digestive tract is home to trillions of microorganisms, collectively known as the gut microbiome. These microbes communicate with the central nervous system through a biochemical pathway known as the gut-brain axis. Health professionals routinely advise…

A new study published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry finds that mothers’ psychopathic traits can prospectively predict their teenagers’ callous-unemotional traits a year on, with the link strongest for the affective dimension of psychopathy. The research tracked 99 teenagers diagnosed with conduct disorder and their mothers in Virginia, amounting to 198 participants overall. Conduct disorder describes a pattern of rule-breaking and harming the rights of others, including behaviours such as fighting, stealing or lying. Within this group, researchers emphasise callous-unemotional traits, characterised by a lack of empathy, little guilt after wrongdoing and shallow emotional expression, which are linked…

A study published in the British Journal of Psychology suggests that incidental posture manipulation—achieved by altering the physical environment rather than instructing participants how to sit—can influence mood and willingness to take risks. The findings indicate that an upright, expansive posture encouraged by the surroundings may lead to subtly riskier decisions than a more hunched, contractive setup. The concept falls under the broader idea of embodied emotion, which posits that adopting expressions associated with a particular emotion can trigger the corresponding feeling. In this field, power poses involve adopting a spacious, upright stance to signal dominance, while contractive postures convey…

The findings of a new study suggest that brief exposure to hopeful YouTube videos can reduce momentary feelings of depression. Participants who watched hopeful clips reported higher positive emotions and greater motivation than those who viewed generally pleasant content, with effects observed immediately after viewing. The research addresses the global burden of depression, which ranges from everyday mood struggles to more serious mood disorders. It notes that many people do not receive formal treatment due to barriers such as limited access to healthcare, financial constraints and social stigma, underscoring the need for accessible, low-cost methods to support emotional well‑being in…