Trying to “look on the bright side” of a bad situation can help reduce anxiety–but the strategy works better for people who make less money, finds a study in Emotion. Researchers analyzed data from a lab experiment with 112...

A widely used commercial software program is no better–and no less biased–than untrained human judges at predicting criminal recidivism rates, finds research in Science Advances. Researchers asked 400 online participants to read about a real criminal case, and using only...

Young children learn new words more easily when they are presented in more predictable ways, suggests a study in Current Biology. Researchers tested more than 100 2-year-olds. First, they showed the toddlers a video screen with four closed boxes. Then,...

Mothers who are stressed during pregnancy have daughters with more anxious behaviors as toddlers, finds a study in Biological Psychiatry. Researchers measured cortisol levels in 70 pregnant women at three points during their pregnancies. Then, the researchers used fMRI to...

Rats exposed in utero to phthalates–chemicals common in plastics–later showed differences in brain structure and some cognitive deficits compared to rats without the chemical exposure, finds research in JNeurosci. Researchers exposed pregnant rats to an amount of phthalates proportionally...