Quiosco

One of the easiest ways to identify an object is by its color -- perhaps it is because children's books encourage us to pair certain objects with their respective colors. Why else would so a number of of us automatically assume carrots are orange, grass is green and apples are red? In two experiments by Holger Mitterer and Jan Peter de Ruiter from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, perception of color and color constancy (the ability to see the same color under varying light conditions) were examined using different hues of orange and yellow. By using these hues on different objects, the scientists hoped to show that knowledge of objects can be used to identify color........

Commercial venues are very aware of the effects that the environment in this case, music can have on in-store traffic flow, sales volumes, product choices, and consumer time spent in the immediate vicinity. A study of the effects of music levels on drinking in a bar setting has observed that loud music leads to more drinking in less time........

Scientists at Yale School of Medicine have found signs of an apparent correlation between bullying, being bullied and suicide in children, as per a new review of studies from 13 countries reported in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health "While there is no definitive evidence that bullying makes kids more likely to kill themselves, now that we see there's a likely association, we can act on it and try to prevent it," said review lead author Young-Shin Kim, M.D., assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine's Child Study Center........

Most teenagers who smoke cigarettes make repeated attempts to quit but most are unsuccessful, as per new research from the Universit de Montral and funded by the Canadian Cancer Society. "The study observed that teen smokers make their first serious attempt to quit after only two and a half months of smoking, and by the time they have smoked for 21 months they have lost confidence in their ability to quit," says Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin, the study's lead author and a researcher from the Universit de Montral's department of social and preventive medicine........

When people make choices for future consumption, they select a wider variety than when they plan to immediately consume the products. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research examines the reasons behind this diversification of choices. "Consumers' tendency to diversify their choices more for future than for present consumption has been demonstrated to be a robust phenomenon and to occur in a variety of situations," write authors Linda Court Salisbury (Boston College) and Fred M. Feinberg (University of Michigan)........

It's conventional wisdom that practice makes perfect. But if practicing only consists of watching, rather than doing, does that advance proficiency? Yes, as per a research studyby Dartmouth researchers. In a study titled "Sensitivity of the Action Observation Network to Physical and Observational Learning" reported in the journal Cerebral Cortex in May 2008, Dartmouth scientists determined that people can acquire motor skills through the "seeing" as well as the "doing" form of learning........

A new Mayo Clinic study shows that variations in the serotonin transporter gene could explain why some people with depression respond better than others to therapy with citalopram (Celexa), an antidepressant medication. The study, in the current issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, examined the serotonin transporter gene, or SLC6A4, in 1,914 study participants. The study showed that two variations in this gene have a direct bearing on how individuals might respond to citalopram. SLC6A4 produces a protein that plays an important role in achieving an antidepressant response........

Asian-American immigrants who came to the United States before they were 25 years old have poorer mental health than their compatriots who came to this country when they were 25 or older, as per data from the first national mental health survey of Asian-Americans. The study is noteworthy because it shows that using traditional measures of socio-economic status number of years of school and household income to predict health outcomes is not accurate for individuals who immigrate when they are children or young adults, as per Janxin Leu, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study........