Emma Young Journalist Profile

Articles

New study hints at how naps improve performance

Jan 5, 2025 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

For more than a century, we've known that sleep boosts cognitive performance. The big question is: how, exactly? One popular idea is that toxins which accumulate in the brain while we're awake are cleared away during a good night's sleep. But this theory, known as the glymphatic system hypothesis, can't explain how people can perform better on a taxing test after just a brief nap.
Making explaining less scary could boost learning

Nov 17, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

Research has revealed all kinds of insights into which learning strategies are the most effective. However, there's little overlap between the strategies identified as being the best and those that learners actually use, write Stav Atir and Jane L. Risen in a new paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Explaining the material to someone else — or even just to yourself — is highly effective, they note, but this approach is rarely adopted.
Should psychologists embrace AI-powered hypothesis generation?

Nov 12, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

Artificial intelligence is already transforming how people do their jobs, and it's poised to have a dramatic impact on psychological research and treatments. AI chatbots are being used to tailor behavioural change interventions to the individual, for example, and some researchers are even suggesting that they could be used to stand in for expensive human participants in pilot studies.
The benefits of going with your gut

Oct 16, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

Every day, we make a multitude of decisions. Most are relatively unimportant, and have no clear right or wrong options — such as: Should I walk the dog before or after going to the gym? Should I shop for ingredients to make a pasta dish for dinner, or a curry? For every one of these decisions, there are two possible approaches: carefully analysing the relative merits of the options, or making an intuitive 'gut' choice.
Are first impressions on Zoom the same as face-to-face?

Oct 10, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

One result of the initial phases of the Covid-19 pandemic is the now widespread use of videoconferencing, even for important meetings such as job interviews and health assessments. However, note the authors of a new study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, many people report feeling that it's harder to get a read on a new acquaintance through a screen.
Five ways ‘honest’ placebos can help

Oct 10, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

Brain, HealthEmma Young digests the research. Placebos can be powerful tools for treating anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. But the assumption that the patient must be deceived into believing that they are getting an active treatment, rather than an inert drug, means that some medical practitioners feel it is unethical to use them. These practitioners may be pleased to hear that there's growing evidence that 'honest', 'open-label', and 'non-deceptive' placebos can work, too.
Slap fighting athletes face high risk of concussion

Oct 3, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

'Slap fighting' is far less well-known than boxing, as well as some other sports that involve regular impacts to the head. But slap fighting competitions, in which two people stand opposite each other and take it in turns to deliver open-handed strikes to their defenceless opponent's face, are now drawing millions of online viewers following their debut in 2023, write the authors of a research letter to JAMA Surgery.
What’s behind a blush?

Oct 1, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

For Darwin, blushing was "the most peculiar and human of all expressions." Even the boldest of us will be familiar with the experience of blushing while feeling embarrassed, shy, shameful, or even proud. There is an ongoing debate, however, about what, exactly, triggers these flushes. Is it caused by an automatic, sudden surge of alertness when we are exposed to other people's judgement?
Could exposure therapy, without conscious exposure, actually work?

Sep 22, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

Phobias are among the most common psychological disorders, and are the most common anxiety disorder. An estimated 6% of the population suffer from full-blown arachnophobia, for example, while around 1 in 10 people in the UK are affected by at some point in their lives. The standard treatment for phobias is 'exposure therapy'.
Seven ways to benefit from solitude

Sep 11, 2024 | bps.org.uk | Emma Young

No end of studies show that loneliness is bad for us, and the BPS has urged action from the government to tackle this 'scourge' in the UK population. But while loneliness entails feeling that a need for social connection is going unmet, solitude is different. Most of us are able to spend periods of time alone, and not feel lonely or unhappy at all. In fact, research is showing that time in solitude can even be beneficial. Unwind and destressTime alone can calm us down.