Study pinpoints opportunity for oncologists to improve prognosis communication
An accurate prognosis for a patient with incurable cancer can help a family make important end-of-life decisions. However, previous research shows that many (or even most) patients with advanced cancer...
View ArticleCell phone use and distracted driving begins in the mind
We all know that talking on a cell phone impedes your driving ability. But new research from the University of Iowa is helping us understand how even a simple conversation can affect your brain's...
View Article'Conversation Cards' a useful tool in pediatric weight management
Increasing numbers of children and adolescents struggle with obesity, a challenging and complex health issue. Likewise, health care providers can find it challenging to effectively counsel families on...
View ArticleAARP, GSA focus on effects of negative attitudes on aging
The ways in which negative attitudes about aging can affect people's health and quality of life are the focus of 12 peer-reviewed research papers in a new AARP-sponsored supplement issue of The...
View ArticleOur brains synchronise during a conversation
The rhythms of brainwaves between two people having a conversation begin to synchronize, concludes a study published in Scientific Reports, led by the Basque research centre BCBL. According to...
View ArticleWant your question answered quickly? Use gestures as well as words
When someone asks a question during a conversation, their conversation partner answers more quickly if the questioner also moves their hands or head to accompany their words. These are the findings of...
View ArticleHow parents can improve the car ride home with young athletes
The car door closes, and your adolescent daughter slumps in the seat – a sheen of sweat from the game still lingers on her brow and a scowl emerges on her face. She reaches for her ear buds and avoids...
View ArticleOur ability to focus on one voice in crowds is triggered by voice pitch
Scientists have discovered that a group of neurons in the brain's auditory stem help us to tune into specific conversations in a crowded room.
View ArticleWhy Freud was right about hysteria
A 35-year-old woman loses the use of her legs, suddenly becoming paralysed from the waist down. In another case, a woman feels an overwhelming compulsion to close her eyes, until eventually she cannot...
View ArticleHelping young adults talk about decision to abstain, delay sex
Not all college students and young adults want to be sexually active, but talking with a partner about the decision to abstain or delay is difficult. A new Iowa State University study looks at how...
View ArticleRecordings reveal deep credibility gap when doctors and parents discuss...
An analysis of 16 audiotaped conversations between parents of infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and clinicians found that medical staff routinely downplay quality of life issues and...
View ArticleSpeaking to the 'beat' of your conversation partner gives mutual connection
In a conversation between two people, it is not only what you say that matters, and whether you interrupt the other speaker, but also, at times, whether you say something to 'the beat' of the...
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