 
To evolutionary psychologists, the noise made by gorillas, chimps and bonobos when you tickle their feet is no laughing matter. These distinctive vocalisations suggest that rather than evolving separately, laughter evolved in a shared common ancestor before becoming tailored in each primate species, including humans.
To find support for this idea, Diana Szameitat and her colleagues scanned the brains of 18 men and women whilst they listened to the sound of human tickle-induced laughter as well as laughter prompted by joy and taunting. The researchers found a ‘double-dissociation’ – the tickle laughter provoked extra activity in the secondary auditory cortex, likely reflecting the acoustical complexity of this kind of laughter, whereas the joy and taunting laughter prompted more activity in the medial frontal cortex, a region associated with social and emotional processing. These differences were observed whether the participants were tasked with categorising the laughter they heard, or merely with counting the number of laughs. The finding suggests that humans produce and process an evolutionarily ‘old’ form of tickle-based laughter, which is shared with non-human primates, as well as a newer, more emotionally sophisticated variant.
Jan
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ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2010) — An alarming number of adolescents already battling eating disorders are also intentionally cutting themselves, and health-care providers may be failing to diagnose many instances of such self-injury, according to a new study from Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
The researchers found that 40.8 percent of patients with eating disorders in their study had documented incidents of intentionally harming themselves, most often by cutting and burning. What’s more, the study suggests that inadequate clinical screening might mean the count should be much higher.
“These are very high numbers, but they’re still conservative estimates,” said the study’s lead author, Rebecka Peebles, MD, who was an instructor in pediatrics at Stanford when the research was conducted and is joining the faculty at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Peebles noted that clinicians aren’t routinely asking about this activity. “We ask 97 percent of children 12 years and up if they smoke cigarettes; we need to get that good with screening for self-injurious behavior,” she said.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101007184116.htm
 
Article Date: 07 Oct 2010 – 9:00 PDT
75% of people with neurological, mental and substance abuse disorders remain untreated worldwide, according to estimates by WHO (World Health Organization). This includes almost 95 million people with depression and over 25 million with epilepsy. WHO hopes that its simplified new treatment guidelines, called The Intervention Guide may help promote better management of depression, substance abuse disorders, epilepsy, well as a number of mental disorders in a general practice setting.
WHO explains that the Intervention Guide, consisting of evidence-based guidelines, is aimed at doctors, nurses and other health care providers who are not specialized in mental health, to help them accurately diagnose and manage patients.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, the World Health Organization, said:
In a key achievement, the Intervention guide transforms a world of expertise and clinical experience, contributed by hundreds of experts, into less than 100 pages of clinical wisdom and succinct practical advice.
Being able to diagnose and treat millions of currently neglected patients in a primary health care (general practice) system will raise the number of individuals who can access care considerably, WHO writes in a communiqué.
Read in Full: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/203897.php
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 8, 2010
A new program piloted at the University of Granada shows promise for helping to prevent antisocial behavior in the early years extending into adulthood.
Researchers have pioneered an intervention program aimed at 3-year-old children called Aprender a convivir (learning to live together).
Findings of the pilot study revealed that 90 percent of the children who participated in the program interacted more actively with other children, and that 86 percent experienced a reduction in anxiety, depression, shyness or social isolation.
Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, researchers took a sample of 131 children aged three. A control group of 53 children was identified alongside an experimental group of 78.
The experimental group was trained with the Aprender program for three months, and evaluations were taken before and after the intervention.
Based on interaction with puppets, the program was divided into four blocks with a duration of three weeks respectively. Two 1.5 hour-sessions were held per week.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/10/08/prevention-program-improves-antisocial-behavior-in-children/19333.html
 
ScienceDaily (Oct. 8, 2010) — Children with autism will tell white lies to protect other people’s feelings and they are not very good at covering up their lies, according to a Queen’s University study.
The study, conducted by psychology professor Beth Kelley and developmental psychology PhD student Annie Li, is one of the first scientific studies of lying and autism.
“The results are surprising because there is a notion that children with autism have difficulty appreciating the thoughts and feelings of other people, so we didn’t expect them to lie to avoid saying things that may hurt others,” says Dr. Kelley.
In one test, children with autism were told they were going to get a great gift, and were then handed a bar of soap. When asked if they liked their gift, most nodded or said yes instead of saying they were disappointed to get soap.
Researchers refer to this as pro-social lies told to maintain good relations with others.
In a second test, children were given audio clues and asked to guess a hidden object. Most guessed the easy clues, a chicken when they heard a chicken clucking — but an intentionally difficult clue (Christmas music and an Elmo doll) — was used as a test for lying.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101008105724.htm
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 7, 2010
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light to the nonstimulant medication Kapvay (clonidine hydrochloride) as the first drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that can be used as an add-on therapy to stimulant medication.
Kapvay has been approved as an extended-release tablet and extended-release oral formula for treatment in children ages 6 to 17 years.
It’s currently the only formulation of clonidine hydrochloride approved by the FDA for the treatment of ADHD and can be used as a monotherapy as well.
Manufactured by Shionogi, Kapvay is a centrally acting alpha2-adrenergic receptor agonist. These receptors are believed to involve the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the brain.
Studies suggest that the PFC regulates attention and plays a critical role in impulse control, working memory and executive function.
“The FDA approval of Kapvay represents an exciting milestone in the field of ADHD,†said Donald C. Manning, MD, PhD, chief medical officer of Shionogi.
“The extended-release formulation of Kapvay minimizes the peaks and troughs in blood levels, thereby decreasing overactivation of the alpha receptors in the brain and periphery.â€
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/10/07/first-adhd-add-on-drug-approved/19278.html
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 7, 2010
A team of Penn State researchers has discovered a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may help our bodies deal better with stress.
The investigators looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated fats, influence blood pressure at rest and under stress.
Previous studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids — like the alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts and flax seeds — can reduce low density lipoproteins (LDL) — bad cholesterol. These foods may also reduce C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation.
“People who show an exaggerated biological response to stress are at higher risk of heart disease,†said Sheila G. West, associate professor of biobehavioral health.
“We wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.â€
The researchers studied 22 healthy adults with elevated LDL cholesterol. All meals and snacks were provided during three diet periods of six weeks each.
The researchers found that including walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory. Participants gave a speech or immersed their foot in cold water as a stressor. Adding flaxseed oil to the walnut diet did not further lower blood pressure.
They report their findings in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
“This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress,†said West.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/10/07/stressed-out-eat-more-walnuts/19311.html
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Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 8, 2010Â
Some of the relationship factors influencing the “friending†and “unfriending†phenomenon on Facebook may be better understood thanks to a new study conducted by a student at the University of Colorado Denver Business School.
The study, which may be the first of its kind, has revealed the top reasons for Facebook unfriending, who is unfriended and how they react to being unfriended.
Being “unfriended†on Facebook simply means a friend, family member or acquaintance no longer is connected to you through the website.
If posts are deemed too frequent or lack importance, the person behind those words and phrases is at greatest risk of being unfriended, according to the study.
“Researchers spend a lot of time examining how people form friendships online but little is known on how those relationships end,†said Christopher Sibona, a PhD student whose research will be published January by the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
“Perhaps this will help us develop a theory of the entire cycle of friending and unfriending.â€
With more than 500 million users worldwide, Facebook has become a global phenomenon, a vast cyber neighborhood where friends meet to share photos, news and gossip. In this recent study, Sibona surveyed more than 1,500 Facebook users on Twitter.
The study found that the number two reason for unfriending was related to postings about polarizing topics like religion and politics.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/10/08/why-facebook-friends-unfriend-you/19334.html
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Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 8, 2010Â
New research suggests an individual’s personality may mask symptoms of depression, delaying appropriate care.
Researchers discovered personality affects the accuracy of reports by friends and family members of mood history and symptoms and can cause missed diagnoses of depression.
Friends and family members of a person who is highly outgoing and fun-loving and who is likely to experience happiness and excitement, for example, often miss the signs that indicate the person is depressed.
“When a person who has enjoyed socializing and whose mood normally is positive becomes depressed, friends and family often don’t recognize it. Depression is inconsistent with the expectations that people have,†said Paul R. Duberstein, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Missed diagnoses and “false negatives†can have grave consequences for patients with depression or mood disorders, the researchers stated.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/10/08/personality-may-hide-depression/19358.html