Calling all cooks! Food psychologists have discovered a whole new ingredient which can add some extra zing to all your culinary creations! Research shows that using evocative and descriptive menu labels can actually improve a diner’s perception of a meal, provided the food was of reasonable quality. Continue reading
We all know the obvious benefits of having pets; a kitty at play keeps the rodents away and a man-eating Rottweiler is a major deterrent against burglars and other larger vermin. We also know that pets can provide psychological benefits for their owners. Persons who suffer from loneliness, serious illnesses or other significant life challenges are often encouraged to get a pet. Continue reading
Or so the researchers at UCLA would have us believe. Assistant professor of psychology Naomi Eisenberger and psychology graduate Tristen Inagaki performed an experiment on 20 heterosexual couples in romantic relationships at UCLA’s Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center.
In the experiment, each boyfriend received painful electric shocks while his girlfriend’s brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Inagaki and Eisenberger “explored the potentially beneficial effects of support giving by examining the neural substrates of giving support to a loved one.” They “focused on a priori regions of interest in the ventral striatum and septal area (SA) because of their role in maternal caregiving behavior in animals” (Inagaki and Eisenberger, 2012). Continue reading
Want to eat less and lose weight? Rather than jumping on the next dietary fad, why not try these 5 tips to reduce your food intake. Continue reading
