Early Birds And Bearded Dragons: The Week ’s Best Psychology Links

Our weekly round-up of the best psychology coverage from elsewhere on the web A study on bearded dragons has honed in on the brain structure responsible for generating slow wave sleep patterns, writes Elizabeth Pennisi at Science. An area of the brain called the claustrum — not previously known to even exist in reptiles — was key: when the structure was damaged, the lizards could still sleep but showed no slow wave patterns. It’s been an interesting few months for bearded dragon research: as we wrote in December, the lizards apparently also succumb to optical illusions. A mismatch between a student’s “chronotype” — whether they are an early bird or a night owl — and their school start time could negatively impact their academic performance.  Researchers studied a school in Argentina in which students take classes either in the morning, afternoon, or evening, examining the kids’ chronotype and maths scores. The results are complex, but overall early birds had better academic performance than night owls when school started early, reports John Timmer at Ars Technica. However, when school began in the afternoon or evening, there were not major differences between the groups. Researchers have used a combination of machine learning and neuroimaging to figure out which people will respond to an antidepressant drug, reports Jason Arunn Murugesu at New Scientist. The team took EEG recordings from more than 200 people with depression, and then gave them th...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Weekly links Source Type: blogs