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mothers also completed two surveys:
one examining depressive symptoms
and the other measuring their worries
about their infants when the mothers
woke up at night. The researchers
found that mothers with the most
depressive symptoms were more likely
to worry excessively about their infants’
starving or feeling abandoned at night
and wake them than mothers with
fewer symptoms of depression. (Child
Development, May/June)
n By the age of 9 months, babies
are better at recognizing faces and
emotional expressions of people
of their own race, finds research by
psychologists at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. The team
placed EEG recording sensors on 48
infants’ heads to record their brain
activity as they viewed happy and sad
people of their own race and of an
unfamiliar race. Results showed that
5-month-old infants were equally able to
distinguish faces from both races, while
the 9-month-old infants were better at
telling apart two faces within their own
race. Infants were also found to shift
their processing of face-related emotion
information from the front of the brain
to the back of the brain. (Developmental
Science, May)
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Mothers with the most depressive symptoms were more likely to worry excessively
about their infants starving or feeling abandoned at night, a study found.
n Teens’ impulsive behavior has
roots in basic brain function, finds
research out of the University of
Vermont. Researchers used fMRI to
monitor brain responses in 1,896
14-year-olds as they moved one hand
in response to a stream of commands.
The researchers found that teens with
a history of using alcohol, cigarettes
and illegal drugs — though not under
the influence during the study — had
impulse control problems associated
with diminished activity in their brains’
orbitofrontal cortex. The researchers say
the differences in these brain networks
seem to precede drug use. (Nature
Neuroscience, online April 29)
n White public school teachers in the
New York metropolitan area appear to
give more positive feedback to minority
students than to white students for
equal work, concludes research led by
Rutgers University investigators. In the
study of 113 white middle school and
high school teachers in the New York
metropolitan area, participants read and
commented on a poorly written student
essay. Results showed that the teachers
displayed a “positive feedback bias,”
providing more praise and less criticism
when they thought the essay was
written by a minority student than by
a white student. (Journal of Educational
Psychology, online April 30)
JULY/AUGUST 2012 • MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY
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