Autism is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are as contradictory as they are varied, although the one constant is behaviour not present in the vast majority of the population. In short, any diagnosis of Autism is going to be something of a puzzle. For example, one child plays alone, but the other is very […]

Don’t confuse solitude with loneliness. Privacy and seclusion can relieve the pressures of life and help your sense of wellbeing. To prove the point, researchers asked 178 people to keep a daily diary over three-weeks, tracking the number of hours they spent alone — that is, without face-to-face contact with other people, speaking with them […]

Researchers from Peking University, China, led by psychologist Lei Wang, conducted experiments to see if drinking tea really does improve mental performance and ‘convergent thinking’ in creative tasks. ‘Convergent thinking’ helps us solve problems where solutions can be found by applying a series of well-defined rules as well as logical reasoning. The findings suggest habitual […]

As mental health issues rise, doctors, scientists and patients are beginning to eschew anti- anxiety and antidepressant medications. Instead, complementary therapies such as meditation and mindfulness are being recommended for mental health concerns. Additionally, a growing number of clinical trials are exploring the use of psychedelics such as psilocybin (from magic mushrooms) and nightclub drugs […]

The Office for National Statistics reports that chronic loneliness — a feeling of overwhelming isolation coupled with a lack of meaningful relationships affects 3.83 million people in the UK. The figures also reveal that the most lonely people are under the age of 30 and 16-29 year olds are twice as likely to be chronically […]

We are all subject to the butterflies of first love and to the physical pain when a relationship fails. We know what it feels like to hold our new born child, or even our cat. Those feelings are part of love. Thanks to ever-improving technology, scientists are able to look inside the human brain to […]

Speaking to young children in a high-pitched and exaggerated voice helps them develop their language skills. Parents may feel self-conscious, but talking to a baby in a silly voice really could help them learn. A study of 71 families looked at ‘parentese’ — the slow, high-pitched, happy-sounding voice which many parents use to communicate with […]

Are people really willing to suspend their sense of right and wrong when it comes to their own family, even if it means breaking the law? A University of Michigan study found that when a family member behaves very badly, other family members are often inclined to protect them and this familial protection becomes even […]

Human evolution has dictated that males have only (relatively) recently become involved in childcare. The human brain is now six times larger than any other mammal of our body size. Unlike all other mammals, at birth, babies brains are not yet fully developed and so are incapable of survival alone for a significant period of […]

Children can be cheeky monkeys, they also laugh like chimpanzees! Babies and baby chimps chuckle while inhaling and exhaling, unlike adult humans who laugh mainly during exhalation. It’s thought that babies, like apes, don’t have full control over their vocal muscles, so they laugh as they inhale as well as when they exhale. But as […]

Researchers from University College London Psychology & Language Sciences studied some of the ways in which every day social experiences put a strain on mental well-being. In an online experiment involving more than 2,000 people, they found that social differences alone are enough to strike paranoia. For example, differences in social status and political beliefs […]

There has been much research that proves music lessons and musical training from an early age improves spatial awareness. Research has shown that the motor cortex, the cerebellum and the corpus callosum (which connects the two sides of the brain) is more developed in musicians than in those who have never had the opportunity to […]