Tea or coffee? According to this article, we should probably be switching to tea… The present study conducted by Chinese and British researchers uses brain imaging data for the first time to explore the effects of tea on the brain, particularly on the connections between brain regions. Is drinking tea regularly beneficial for cognition?

As the authors point out in the preamble of their article (published in the journal Aging), previous studies have already highlighted the fact that tea consumption could be beneficial for health, including improving mood, preventing cardiovascular disease, and reducing the risks of cognitive decline. The virtues of tea stem primarily from its ...

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Traditionally, student knowledge has been evaluated using written or oral exams. But imagine if teachers could use another measure to determine to what extent a student understands the concept they’re teaching. How might that be possible? By observing students’ brain activity, and giving them a “neural score,” the study we’re about to explore promises to revolutionize the way we teach.

Researchers at Dartmouth College and Harvard University started from a simple assumption: when an individual acquires new knowledge, it has to be represented somewhere in the brain. If this is the case, these representations should be illustrated through new patterns of brain activity. The ...

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Between classes, exams and the stresses of everyday life (bills, shopping, cleaning…), going to school can be very stressful. In the United States, a unique approach to stress prevention has been warmly accepted: inviting students to pet animals. A recent study from the University of Washington has highlighted some promising results.

During past decade, American students have reported increasing levels of stress. Implemented in almost 1,000 university campuses to date, the “Pet your stress away” campaign offers students the chance to pet dogs and cats for 5 to 45 minutes in small groups. While the program’s soothing effects have already been noted in previous research, ...

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It’s a fact: spending time in nature is beneficial to both our physical and psychological health. But is there a minimum threshold for obtaining a significant positive effect? This was the question raised by a team of researchers from the University of Exeter (England). Through their very large-scale study, they were able to determine the “minimum weekly dose of nature” we should all be taking.

Many studies report improvement in health and well-being when we spend time in natural environments (forests, parks, beaches, etc.). Although evidence varies (in quantity and quality) depending on the research, living in “greener” urban areas is regularly associated with a lower ...

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Another study on crows! It’s true, these birds never cease to fascinate scientists. In this latest episode, you’ll discover how researchers tested a psychological phenomenon known as “emotional contagion” in these birds. Here’s the question they wanted to answer: can crows transmit a bad mood ?

In cognitive science, a person’s ability to attribute mental states (emotions, intentions, desire…) to others or to themselves is known as “theory of mind.” This human ability makes our social relationships more effective. For example, we can quickly detect sadness in another individual simply through their facial expressions. Moreover, one person’s emotions can be quickly ...

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Fifteen years before his hit movie Sink or Swim, Gilles Lelouche co-directed his first feature film: Narco. In this comedy, Guillaume Canet plays a character suffering from narcolepsy, which at first glance appears to be a handicap. But the young man comes to realize that the condition also gives him an incredibly vivid imagination that turns his dreams into story books. In line with this scenario, a study recently carried out on narcoleptic subjects suggests a link between sleep and creative abilities.

Few studies have attempted to unravel the mystery of sleep as a “creative muse,” though some have shown the role of REM sleep in creativity. This sleep phase could ...

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It’s summer and temperatures are on the rise. Sometimes the heat makes us feel less “productive,” or like we’re moving in “slow motion.” A German-American study recently looked at the effects of temperature variation on cognitive performance in men and women. Who performs better when the mercury climbs above 90°?

As Tom Y. Chang (a researcher at the Marshall School of Business) and Agne Kajackaite (researcher at the Berlin Social Center) point out, while there’s much debate about whether or not women prefer higher indoor temperatures, until now, no one had explored the link between temperature variation and cognitive performance in the two sexes. The researchers ...

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You’re walking down the street and find a lost wallet. What do you do? Researchers decided to voluntarily create this situation in different cities throughout 40 countries. In addition to finding out that reactions varied between different populations, the goal was to see whether the psychological burden of seeing oneself as a thief had an influence on behavior. Can this burden outweigh economic benefits?

The research team composed of A. Cohn (University of Michigan), D. Tannenbaum (University of Utah), and C. Lukas Zünd and M.A. Maréchal (University of Zurich) wanted to test people’s honesty in a more realistic environment rather than a laboratory setting. Laboratory ...

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While the Louvre Museum in Paris prepares to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the genius of this artist who produced some of the greatest masterpieces of all time remains somewhat of a mystery. A recent study published in the journal Brain puts forth a new hypothesis to explain his incredible creativity and multitude of unfinished projects: did Leonardo da Vinci have an attention disorder and ADHD?

Painter, sculptor, musician, architect, geologist, mathematician, anatomist, botanist, philosopher… Reading this (non-exhaustive) list, one may wonder how this Florentine, revered by popes and kings alike, managed to excel in so many domains. Marco ...

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Remembering an email address long enough to write it down, following a conversation, or remembering the beginning of a sentence you’ve just read. Working memory makes these tasks possible. A recent study conducted by a team of psychologists has shed light on strong connections between working memory and sleep, mood, and age. What are the effects of these three factors on working memory?

A component of short term memory, working memory is used to store, temporarily maintain, and manipulate useful information for performing cognitive tasks, such as reasoning and comprehension. It plays a crucial role in many cognitive functions (language, action planning, etc.). Research has ...