Want to participate in research? Studies posted here are being conducted by researchers in the behavioral and cognitive sciences. As a rule, each project has been approved by a college or university ethics board. However, before you participate, you should always read the information carefully to make sure you are...
© 2018-2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_6233aaae186c4 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Postpartum depression symptoms overlap with symptoms of the “baby blues,” the mood swings that mothers experience in the first few days after childbirth. But when symptoms persist beyond two weeks — or take a...
© 2020-2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_62e1edf1d72ed .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Most babies start walking independently within 2-3 months of learning to stand up by themselves. But there are other signs, and there is no single developmental timeline that all babies follow. In fact,...
© 2009 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_6230dcd5b3d75 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } What is “the Mozart effect”? In the popular culture, “the Mozart effect” refers to the claim that listening to Mozart’s music can increase your general intelligence, or IQ. In the scientific community,...
© 2018 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_622add0ccc576 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Dream feeding has been defined as the practice of feeding a sleeping infant, with the aim of encouraging the baby to sleep longer. The term has also been used to describe...
© 2008 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_62cdf9a685246 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } When we hear about infant sleep training, we often think of babies left alone in their cribs to cry themselves to sleep. But there are alternatives to such an approach. Parents...
© 2010-2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_622e931487c60 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } We often hear claims that video games can have bad effects on a player’s well-being, particularly if gaming becomes excessive or compulsive. But video games have also been linked with positive effects, including...
© 2019 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_622fb3d6db043 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } What are the benefits of outdoor play for a child’s development? Research tells us there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on what kids actually do when they’re outside. It also...
It is amazing to see how many children manage to survive, recover, and even thrive after tumultuous events unfold around them. This might involve getting through natural disasters such as floods or coping with the impacts of poverty or war, be it losing one’s home or enduring precarious shortages of...
© 2007 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_6233aee33a3b4 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } What causes postpartum stress in new mothers? It’s clear that childbirth is stressful. During labor, the hormones associated with psychological stress — epinephrine and cortisol — rise by a whopping 500%...
In the United States, incarceration is widespread. One in 14 children and youth under age 18 has experienced the incarceration of a residential parent at some point during their childhood. However, the risk of parental incarceration is not equally distributed; it happens more where there are already accumulated disadvantages, particularly...
© 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_62a9170e126ce .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Babies possess amazing learning abilities. But to master language, they need our help. Studies suggest we can support language development by engaging babies in conversation, and by providing them with a variety of...
© 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_629ffc4006161 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } If you think about it, music and spoken language have a lot in common. They both use tones and rhythms. And studies indicate that there is some overlap in the ways that the...
© 2018 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_628e8d310b009 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Babies make lots of communicative noises, but coos, gurgles, and cries aren’t true speech. When do babies say their first words? Most babies can say at least one or two words...
© 2010 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_622f8260a8f25 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } The authoritarian parenting style is about being strict and stern. It insists on unquestioning obedience, and enforces good behavior through psychological control — threats, shaming, and other punishments. As defined by...
© 2009 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_6233932cbf7d3 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Could prenatal learning prompt babies to develop a liking for carrots? Or junk food? Or the flavor of alcohol? Experimental studies suggest that it’s possible. Flavors in a mother’s diet can...
Reading digital books can promote story comprehension more than reading the same books on paper. However, this occurs only when the digital books are equipped with content-related enhancements. This finding comes from our quantitative review of 39 studies involving 1,812 children, most of whom were 4- to 5-year-olds. Only nine...
A research project in Israel involving 63 families with 11-year-old twins, one typically developing (TD) and one not typically developing (non-TD), found that the TD twin developed a stronger understanding of others’ emotion or “cognitive empathy.” Also, while girls overall tend to show more understanding of emotion than boys, this...
Are boys and girls born with different brains like they are born with different chromosomes and reproductive organs? Or to use the scientific term, are their brains “dimorphic”? Considerable effort has gone into identifying differences, driven by popular interest in finding biological explanations of social gender differences, but to little...
¿Tus hijos se han vuelto contra ti? ¿Se resisten a pasar tiempo contigo? ¿Se han unido a tu ex para tratarte con desprecio? Si es así, pueden estar sufriendo de alienación parental. En este artículo, ofrezco una descripción general y un resumen de la alienación parental para ayudar a padres...
