Research Topic 1:

Children who don’t get enough sleep in their preschool and early elementary years are more likely to have behavioral and cognitive problems at age 7, finds a study involving 1,046 children in Academic Pediatrics. The study included in-person interviews with and surveys of the children’s mothers, as well as surveys of their teachers. Data from both mothers and teachers suggested that children who slept less than 10 hours a day at ages 3 and 4, and less than nine hours a day between ages 5 and 7, had significantly more problems with executive function, behavior and social relationships at age 7.

Research Topic 2:

Some students who feel stressed during math class may forget they learned in the class more quickly than students who are less stressed, finds a study in the Journal of Educational Psychology. Researchers asked 129 college students in an advanced calculus class about their level of class-related stress over the course of the semester. Then, two weeks after the final exam, the students retook a portion of that final. Students who both reported more weekly stress during the class and had a high “math self-concept”–considered being good at math important to their identities–showed greater reduction in test performance over the two-week period than did other students. The researchers hypothesize that students who found the stressful class a threat to their identity forgot the material more quickly. (Monitor on psychology)