Author: dispatchtimes news

A three‑month field experiment involving 133 U.S. patent lawyers has found that access to an AI writing assistant improved the quality of patent drafts, with the largest gains among junior lawyers. In a follow‑up task completed without AI, senior lawyers who had used the tool outperformed their peers who had not, while junior lawyers showed no average advantage. The findings were released as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. Artificial intelligence is increasingly used in professional fields such as law, medicine, engineering and consulting, where specialised knowledge and expert judgment are essential. Traditionally, professionals develop expertise through practical…

A new study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning suggests that revealing bullet points, graphs and illustrations on a slide one piece at a time as the lecturer speaks can sharpen students’ focus and improve recall. The eye-tracking experiment used a recorded biology lecture and compared a cumulative presentation format with a traditional whole-slide exposure. In the research, the team argues that processing spoken explanation alongside a crowded visual on a screen taxes two channels of working memory, potentially increasing cognitive load and hampering comprehension. The study sits within the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, which advocates segmenting…

A new study suggests that as communities lose traditional male-dominated industrial jobs and increasingly fill lower-paid service roles with women, voters tilt toward right‑wing politicians. The research, published in the American Journal of Political Science, identifies a political reaction to this economic and cultural upheaval and points to a longing for the traditional male‑breadwinner family model among both men and working‑class women. Over recent decades, industrial towns in the United States have undergone drastic economic change. Mining towns in Appalachia and steel communities in the Midwest once supported high wages for men without university qualifications; as these industries declined, new…

A landmark set of international studies is challenging the idea that a single, broad “conspiracy mentality” sits at the heart of why people endorse multiple conspiracy theories. The research, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, analyses almost 30,000 responses across 17 national samples in three separate studies and involves a cross-disciplinary team led by Arturo Bertero of the University of Milan, with Matt Williams, Federico Vegetti and Moreno Mancosu. The work distinguishes between two ways of thinking about conspiratorial beliefs. Specific conspiracy beliefs refer to concrete claims that powerful actors are secretly behind major events, such as government…

A week of psychology podcasting has produced a pointed, cross-cutting debate about how much our evolutionary past shapes whom we love and how we compete. Two leading psychologists presented opposing takes: one tying human intelligence and male status-seeking to ancient warfare, the other contending that the traditional mate-preference script collapses once people meet face to face. The discussion ran across 20 episodes from 15 shows, broadcast between October 30 and November 6. It anchored a broader week in which hosts examined parenting, screens and AI in youths’ lives, and the collection and use of brain data by companies. Evolution, status,…

A new arXiv preprint by Federico Boggia examines a familiar quirk in text produced by large language models: the overuse of epanorthosis, the ancient rhetorical device in which a speaker immediately corrects or sharpens a previous claim. The study finds that the habit varies by genre—overused in some styles and underused in others—and tests methods to temper it, with some promising results in small pilot tests. Epanorthosis is a device in which a speaker or writer revisits a statement to correct, qualify, or replace it. Its roots lie in Greek and Latin philology, with the term meaning “a further straightening.”…

A new study into punishment psychology across cultures shows that when people respond to a wrong, they balance two aims: making the victim whole and preventing future harm. The research, led by Léo Fitouchi of the Toulouse School of Economics and Manvir Singh of the University of California, Davis, compares a small-scale society in Indonesia with a WEIRD sample from the United States. The model tested by the researchers posits that moral outrage motivates victims to seek two kinds of compensation. First, direct restitution for material loss, and second, an additional penalty designed to deter repeat exploitation and protect against…

A new study from the University of Exeter suggests that a brief, non-invasive brain stimulation session can alter the way people visually process images of sexualised women. In a double-blind experiment, participants who received stimulation to the forehead recognised upright photographs of women in underwear more accurately than those who received a placebo. Experts say the findings offer initial evidence that the visual biases associated with sexual objectification are malleable and may be shifted by directly influencing perception. The work is published in Social Neuroscience and was led by Ciro Civile and Arwen Stephens of Exeter. Sexual objectification describes seeing…

A new analysis published in Psychology & Marketing outlines how modern sports betting apps can propel users from casual wagering into harmful gambling, identifying a so-called sports betting harm spiral shaped by cognitive biases and digital platform features. The study is led by Weng Marc Lim of Sunway University and Wagner Junior Ladeira of the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing, who sought to understand why casual fans slide into gambling distress. Sports betting has shifted from occasional activity to a constant digital presence, with mobile platforms offering real‑time odds and quick in‑game wagers. The researchers argue this ubiquity effectively…

A new neuroimaging study published in Cerebral Cortex finds that individuals with high grandiose narcissism show reduced synchrony in their brain activity when witnessing someone else endure harsh, embarrassing criticism. The research, part of the Facing Narcissism project between Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, used realistic, time‑matched stimuli to examine how narcissistic traits shape neural responses in socially threatening situations. Narcissism is a personality trait marked by an excessive focus on the self and an drive to bolster one’s social standing. The study notes two forms: vulnerable narcissism, characterised by insecurity and a strong need for approval, and…