Learning and Learning Disorders Archives

Foster Children Experience Marked IQ Gains Over Institutionalized Orphans - December 20, 2007

Abandoned children who receive foster care receive an average eight- to ten-point IQ boost over those who enter orphanages, shows a new study on abandoned Romanian children. The study monitored 136 children aged 31 months or less who were assigned...
Continue reading "Foster Children Experience Marked IQ Gains Over Institutionalized Orphans"

Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Cause Drop in Verbal IQ - December 18, 2007

Past research shows that attending schools in low-income areas hurts learning even when teaching does not suffer. Now, research from Harvard University shows that children who grow up in disadvantaged neighborhoods experience declines in verbal IQ equivalent to missing one...
Continue reading "Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Cause Drop in Verbal IQ"

Initial Success - November 20, 2007

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, at least according to William Shakespeare. But according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Yale University our names, and specifically our initials, do have a subconscious...
Continue reading "Initial Success"

Hand Gestures Help Math Processing - November 7, 2007

In the article "Making Children Gesture Brings Out Implicit Knowledge and Leads to Learning," published in the November issue of the Journal of Educational Psychology, researchers from the University of Chicago explain how encouraging children to gesture as they work...
Continue reading "Hand Gestures Help Math Processing"

PsychBriefs: October 14-20, 2007 - October 19, 2007

Schools Providing Inadequate Mental Health Aid Katrina-Affected Students A study by RAND Health shows that schools have not sustained mental health support to students affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While initial aid was adequate, the report now shows...
Continue reading "PsychBriefs: October 14-20, 2007"

PsychBriefs: September 2-8, 2007 - September 7, 2007

Suicide Rates Rise in U.S. Girls A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on 2004 suicide rates shows an eight percent increase in suicides among Americans age 10 to 24 following a 13-year decline. This increase was...
Continue reading "PsychBriefs: September 2-8, 2007"

Back to School: Studies Highlight Strategies for Better Learning - September 4, 2007

Just in time for the start of the school year, two studies published in the August edition of Current Directions in Psychological Science are shedding light on effective learning practices. The first focuses on "metacomprehension," our ability to judge how...
Continue reading "Back to School: Studies Highlight Strategies for Better Learning"

PsychBriefs: August 19 - 25, 2007 - August 24, 2007

Our weekly wrap-up of news, interesting research, and noteworthy happenings in the worlds of psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Boys with Reading Problems Fare Better with Female Teachers A study of 175 third- and fourth-grade boys in a ten-week reading...
Continue reading "PsychBriefs: August 19 - 25, 2007"

Good Instruction Not Enough For Low-Income Students - June 28, 2007

Providing comprehensive instruction by quality teachers is all it takes to raise the famously dire reading scores of low-income schools, right? Wrong. A new study realeased by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that school and classroom...
Continue reading "Good Instruction Not Enough For Low-Income Students"

Study Finds The Blind Have Superior 'Serial Memory' - June 21, 2007

Remembering the order of things can be key to finding the right doorway, shirt or flavor of yogurt for someone who cannot see. A new study shows that this aspect of understanding and organizing the world may train the minds...
Continue reading "Study Finds The Blind Have Superior 'Serial Memory'"

Math: Easier Than 1, 2, 3 For Young Children - June 18, 2007

According to a study conducted at Harvard University, children as young as five years old are able to solve approximate addition and subtraction problems involving large numbers even before they have been taught basic mathematical concepts. The study, conducted at...
Continue reading "Math: Easier Than 1, 2, 3 For Young Children"

Infants Begin Learning Rules Of Speech At Seven Months - June 5, 2007

From birth, babies show a preference for the sound of human speech over other sounds. Now, research published in Psychological Science shows that at just seven months, infants are already scanning what is said to them for patterns. The study...
Continue reading "Infants Begin Learning Rules Of Speech At Seven Months"

The "If I Only Hadda" Brain - May 25, 2007

As much as we try to live life with no regrets, no one makes it through without at least a few "wouldas," "couldas" and "shouldas." A new study released by Baylor College of Medicine researchers begins to shed light on...
Continue reading "The "If I Only Hadda" Brain"

Have Parents Been Duped By Educational Television? - May 8, 2007

America's children are watching television before they can walk--or even sit up. One in five babies and children under the age of 2 now has their own television set in their room reports a survey of 1009 parents, and that...
Continue reading "Have Parents Been Duped By Educational Television?"

Brain Study Shows Fears Learned From Others Same As Fears Experienced Firsthand - March 21, 2007

The brain uses similar neural processes to learn fears whether through personal experience or social observation, show NYU psychologists. Subjects in the study watched a video that showed another person receiving electric shocks connected to a colored square. When presented...
Continue reading "Brain Study Shows Fears Learned From Others Same As Fears Experienced Firsthand"

Forgetting Your Native Tongue May Help You Pick Up a Second - January 29, 2007

When learning a second language, many people find that they have occasional difficulty remembering words from their native tongue. This phenomena is called first-language attrition, and is currently being studied by University of Oregon researchers Benjamin Levy and Dr. Michael...
Continue reading "Forgetting Your Native Tongue May Help You Pick Up a Second"

Television Not an Effective Educational Tool - January 29, 2007

British psychologist Aric Sigman warns that using educational television in the classroom may harm student learning. Contradicting arguments that students at moneyed schools have an unfair educational advantage because of the ease in obtaining televisions, he found that in private...
Continue reading "Television Not an Effective Educational Tool"

Bilingualism Staves Off Dementia - January 12, 2007

Scientists at Canada's Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Research Centre for Aging and the Brain have found that using two languages throughout one's life delays symptoms of dementia for up to four years. Researchers charted 184 patients with Alzheimer's...
Continue reading "Bilingualism Staves Off Dementia"

Psychiatrists Ask: When to Discontinue ADHD Medication? - January 2, 2007

An article published in the September issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology studies the same questions many attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients ask as they enter adulthood: What are the long-term effects of using psychostimulants like Ritalin? Should medication use continue...
Continue reading "Psychiatrists Ask: When to Discontinue ADHD Medication?"

Happiness Can Be Distracting, Researchers Say - December 21, 2006

A new study reports that feelings of happiness boost creativity--but make it harder to focus on a single task. As the brain receives data from all of the body's sensory organs--the eyes, nose, mouth, skin and ears--it must decide what...
Continue reading "Happiness Can Be Distracting, Researchers Say"

Article: As ADD Kids Grow Up, Many Reject Medication - December 18, 2006

As the original Ritalin generation enters adulthood, many childhood sufferers of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are choosing to wean themselves off the medications of their youth. Around 90 percent of children diagnosed with the...
Continue reading "Article: As ADD Kids Grow Up, Many Reject Medication"

New Dyslexia Model Finds 'Noise' at Root of Disorder - December 15, 2006

Recent studies by University of Southern California researchers suggest the reading problems associated with dyslexia are caused by problems filtering out external "noise." These findings contradict the long-held theory that the learning disorder was due to sensory processing problems. Rather,...
Continue reading "New Dyslexia Model Finds 'Noise' at Root of Disorder"

Boys and Girls Process Language in Different Parts of Brain - November 27, 2006

When children make language mistakes, girls use the part of the brain used for declarative memory or tasks like memorizing words and associations while boys use procedural memory and the part associated with governing the rules of language, Georgetown University...
Continue reading "Boys and Girls Process Language in Different Parts of Brain"

Language Disorder Tied to Genetics - November 17, 2006

Research published in the current issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science has shown genetics to be the most important factor in the development of Specific language impairment (SLI), a condition which causes slow language development unrelated to other learning...
Continue reading "Language Disorder Tied to Genetics"

Reading from Realistic Picture-Books Speeds Toddler Learning - November 9, 2006

A study by University of Queensland and University of Virginia researchers shows that reading to toddlers from books with high iconicity, or images resembling those of real life, helps them learn about the world around them faster. One hundred thirty-two...
Continue reading "Reading from Realistic Picture-Books Speeds Toddler Learning"

Fathers Vital to Child Language Development in Dual-Income Homes - November 2, 2006

A new study shows that in families with two working parents, fathers play a greater role in child language development than do mothers. Researchers videotaped couples interacting with their two-year-old children. Returning a year later, they found that where fathers...
Continue reading "Fathers Vital to Child Language Development in Dual-Income Homes"

Poor Readers Show Higher Risk of Suicide, Dropout - November 1, 2006

Adolescents with reading problems are more likely to drop out of school and to consider suicide, a Wake Forest University Study shows. Researchers tracked 188 high school students for three years. They found that 25 percent of students testing in...
Continue reading "Poor Readers Show Higher Risk of Suicide, Dropout"

Attitudes About Learning May Affect Your Memory - October 11, 2006

A series of experiments by Columbia researchers show that people who believe that intelligence can be acquired through dedication and hard work have better memories than people who think smart people are just born that way. According to Columbia psychology...
Continue reading "Attitudes About Learning May Affect Your Memory"

Montessori Socially and Academically Superior to Traditional Education, Study Says - October 4, 2006

Research published in the September 29, 2006 issue of Science shows notable academic and social benefits to the Montessori method of education which emphasizes self-directed learning, small groups, minimal grading and testing, independence, responsibility and environmental interaction. The study monitored...
Continue reading "Montessori Socially and Academically Superior to Traditional Education, Study Says"

Category Tag Cloud

Categories used in this blog: