Press

A new study looks systematically for what works—and what doesn’t—to overcome psychological barriers that keep people stuck in the carbon-emissions status quo.

A new collaborative study tested 17 strategies in an intervention tournament.

Universities and academic medical centers would not be alone in bearing the impact of proposed cuts to federal grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health.

Nearly half of all U.S. counties will experience economic losses of at least $250,000 as a result of the Trump administration’s planned cuts to indirect funding by the National Institutes of Health, per the Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland show that proposed NIH funding cuts lead to an estimated $16 billion in economic loss and 68,000 jobs lost nationwide.

The Communication Neuroscience Lab is conducting an intervention tournament, testing strategies to change beliefs and intentions regarding climate change.

A recent study discovers that an urgent mentality is useful in short-term problems, but an inquisitive mindset improves long-term memory and behavior.

A simple shift from a high-pressure mindset to a curious one improves people’s memory.

Survey shows lack of awareness on eligibility, availability, and some just think they are immune.

Just 18% of Americans have gotten the updated COVID-19 booster shot, according to CDC data.

Whenever you’re surprised, there’s a good chance that your brain is busy tweaking your memories.

It turns out that human memory can be edited on the fly, creating memories that are nowhere near set in stone. A team of researchers has figured out how that happens and proved it by making people misremember.

Understanding how our memories are preserved, how they are updated, how this allows us to adaptively function in the world — I think that is a fascinating question.

Individuals can use the mapping tool like a weather app. Check the risk they might face and then make the decision on how that will affect them. We cannot control that external risk but we can control our own behavior, Sinclair said.

Models still have some function, Sinclair says, so long as they are presented in a way that’s relevant to people’s actual lives— showing how the pandemic can be expected to unfold locally, and soon.

Putting risk data into context of everyday activities leads to more realistic appraisals.

Older adults are at high risk of suffering debilitating health effects from COVID-19. Effective communication of associated risks is therefore paramount. A new study finds that imagining a personalized disease transmission event amplifies perceived risk and bolsters risk-related information seeking in older age.

The profound impact of COVID-19 on all our lives brought the concept of risk front and center. For older adults especially, the risks are literally about life and death.

I talk with Allie Sinclair, Ph.D. candidate at Duke University, about memory, belief updating, and learning from error.

If you have high right-wing authoritarian attitudes, then you will be less likely to change your answers when asked again even after being told the right answers.

New research has found that right-wing authoritarians tend to be less successful at correcting erroneous beliefs than others. The study, published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, provides evidence that cognitive factors, such as a general aversion to new information, are related authoritarian attitudes.

In educational settings we are more likely to think about retrieving relevant prior knowledge prior to acquiring new information. […] this line of research can advance our understanding of the intricacies of the learning process, and enrich our ability to both evaluate and formulate effective approaches for teaching.

Allie Sinclair finished at the University of Toronto with a 4.0 GPA and the highest marks of thousands of graduating undergraduate students.