All posts tagged: largely

Ultraprocessed foods hurt your ability to focus – even if you eat a largely healthy diet

Ultraprocessed foods hurt your ability to focus – even if you eat a largely healthy diet

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Ultraprocessed foods can hurt your ability to focus and raise your risk of dementia – even if your diet is healthy for the most part, a new study has found. The findings have major implications for Americans since 60 percent of the U.S. diet is ultraprocessed. The study, conducted by researchers in Australia and Brazil, found that eating a single bag of chips a day is enough to shorten attention span. The average attention span for U.S. adults is now just eight seconds, according to separate research last year by Ohio State University. “There are many different things that can lead to why we’re having a hard time focusing or having trouble with attention,” Dr. Evita Singh, a psychiatrist with Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, explained in a statement. A customer shops for potato chips in a grocery …

Neural signatures of impulsivity and neuroticism are largely distinct in youth

Neural signatures of impulsivity and neuroticism are largely distinct in youth

Published by José Betancourt

New research published in Molecular Psychiatry suggests that two major personality traits associated with alcohol use—impulsivity and neuroticism—stem from largely distinct brain networks. While both traits heighten the risk for problematic drinking in adolescents, the biological pathways driving that risk appear to be different. This finding supports the concept that there are multiple neurological routes that can lead to similar risky behaviors in youth. Impulsivity and neuroticism are well-known psychological risk factors for substance abuse, yet it remains unclear how these traits manifest in the brain’s complex wiring. Previous studies often focused on isolated brain regions rather than the broad communication patterns across the entire brain. The research team aimed to determine whether these two personality traits share a common neural foundation or if they operate through separate mechanisms. By mapping these connections, the scientists hoped to clarify how different vulnerabilities contribute to the onset of alcohol use during the critical developmental period of adolescence. “We are interested in understanding how risk factors in adolescence contribute to substance use problems later in life,” explained study …

Voters from both parties largely agree on how to punish acts of political violence

Voters from both parties largely agree on how to punish acts of political violence

Published by José Betancourt

Recent research published in the journal Political Behavior shows that Americans largely prioritize the severity of a violent act over the perpetrator’s political identity when determining punishment. While partisanship does influence how individuals judge political violence, the study suggests that the specific nature of the crime plays a much larger role in public opinion. Political violence has become a prominent concern in the United States following high-profile events such as the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the January 6 Capitol attack. Social scientists have debated whether the American public is becoming more tolerant of violence as a means to achieve political goals. Previous scholarship has often focused on whether individuals support violence in the abstract or in relation to specific, highly charged events. The authors of the current study sought to understand how citizens apply standards of accountability when faced with concrete scenarios. They aimed to determine if Americans are willing to punish individuals from their own political group who engage in violence. “We saw a good deal of unresolved scholarly debate on …