My picks from ScienceDaily

Light Receptors In Eye Play Key Role In Setting Biological Clock, Study Shows:

Biologists at the University of Virginia have discovered a switching mechanism in the eye that plays a key role in regulating the sleep/wake cycles in mammals.

A Therapy For Baby Boomers To Sleep On: New Drug For Insomniacs Over 55:

If you're over 55 and have spent more than a few sleepless nights, you're not alone -- insomnia affects about half of all people over 55 -- but you may also be at increased risk for physical and mental ailments.

Why An Exciting Book Is Just As Thrilling As A Hair-raising Movie:

Watching Keanu Reeves walk along the ledge of a skyscraper and lose his footing in The Matrix can make us skip a heartbeat or sweat, as if we were risking our own life. This sharing of other people's emotions in movies has been shown to depend on the fact that observers the same brain regions are activated in the observers when they feel an emotion and when they see someone else experience a similar emotion.

Parents' Expectations, Styles Can Harm College Students' Self-esteem:

Mom and Dad are going to flip out over my 3.3 GPA and failure to land a top internship. Such anxieties, common among college students, can harm self-esteem and make it more difficult to adjust to school. But a new University of Central Florida study has found that students' anxieties often are based on exaggerated perceptions of what their parents expect.

Study Examines The Psychology Behind Students Who Don't Cheat:

While many studies have examined cheating among college students, new research looks at the issue from a different perspective - identifying students who are least likely to cheat.

Antidepressants May Impair Driving Ability, New Research Finds:

People taking prescription antidepressants appear to drive worse than people who aren't taking such drugs, and depressed people on antidepressants have even more trouble concentrating and reacting behind the wheel.

Playing Video Games Offers Learning Across Life Span, Say Studies:

Certain types of video games can have beneficial effects, improving gamers' dexterity as well as their ability to problem-solve - attributes that have proven useful not only to students but to surgeons, according to research recently discussed at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

Adults Easily Fooled By Children's False Denials, Study Finds:

Adults are easily fooled when a child denies that an actual event took place, but do somewhat better at detecting when a child makes up information about something that never happened, according to new research from the University of California, Davis.

Aboriginal Kids Can Count Without Numbers:

Knowing the words for numbers is not necessary to be able to count, according to a new study of aboriginal children by UCL (University College London) and the University of Melbourne. The study of the aboriginal children - from two communities which do not have words or gestures for numbers - found that they were able to copy and perform number-related tasks.

Young Children's 'Theory Of Mind' Linked To Subsequent Metacognitive Development In Adolescence:

Metacognition refers to the awareness of one's knowledge in different areas. The more comprehensive and accurate this metacognitive knowledge, the better one is able to reflect about his or her own actions and behaviors. "Theory of Mind" (ToM) deals with very young children's understanding of mental life and the ability to estimate mental states.

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