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Linking Students' Emotions and Academic Achievement: When and Why Emotions Matter

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In this article, it is explaining how students are effected by their motivations and emotions and how it impacts their achievements. "The most common findings on emotions or emotionality and achievement are negative associations between situational or dispositional anxiety and school outcomes (such as test performance, course grades, and high school completion)". More high quality studies show positive relations between effortful control and achievement. Our emotions contain motivational components and influence cognition and adaptive functioning. "Recent advances in psychology and neurosciences demonstrate that emotions are crucial contributors to students’ motivation, interpersonal resources, memory, and learning".

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Abstract

Few studies include associations of emotions, or of individual differences in emotionality, to academic competence, and there are virtually no empirical data on when or why relations exist (or do not exist). The few studies of emotion and achievement have largely focused on anxiety, but there has been scant theoretical and empirical attention devoted to the treatment of other emotions. It is suggested that considering the moderated and indirect effects of students' emotions on their academic functioning may provide an understanding of whether and under what circumstances emotions are related to achievement. This article briefly reviews findings linking situational and dispositional negative or positive emotions to academic achievement and suggests that researchers can learn much about relations between emotions and achievement by considering the potential moderating role of effortful control, as well as considering the mediating roles that cognitive processes, motivational mechanisms, and classroom relationships play in linking emotions and achievement.

Keywords: emotion, effortful control, academic achievement

Liew (2012) provides a succinct review of progress on understanding the relations between academic achievement and effortful control (EC; "the efficiency of executive attention-including the ability to inhibit a dominant response and/or to activate a subdominant response, to plan, and to detect errors" Rothbart & Bates, 2006, p. 129). The thesis that students' EC (or, more broadly, dispositional regulation) matters for their academic achievement is rapidly gaining theoretical ( Eisenberg, Sadovsky, & Spinrad, 2005) and empirical ( Blair & Razza, 2007; Ponitz et al., 2008; Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, Swanson, & Reiser, 2008) support. The impetus for the growing number of studies was Blair's (2002) and Raver's (2002) argument that emotions matter to academics and that integrating cognition and emotion results in models that substantially advance our understanding of school readiness and academic achievement through early elementary school. As Liew noted, high-quality studies increasingly show positive relations between EC and achievement; as a result, researchers are fine-tuning the explanations for why EC matters.

We agree that researchers are effectively advancing an understanding of associations between EC (and related constructs relevant to the regulation of emotion and behavior) and achievement; however, to date, investigators have insufficiently considered the contributions of negative and positive emotions to achievement. We suggest that we can learn a great deal about when and why emotions relate to achievement if we consider the potential moderating role of EC and the roles that cognitive processes, motivational mechanisms, and classroom relationships play in the associations of emotions with achievement.

Baumeister and Bushman (2007) conceptualized the experience of an emotion as "a subjective state, often accompanied by a bodily reaction (e.g., increased heart rate) and an evaluative response, to some event" (p. 61). Thus, emotions represent individuals' reactions to stimuli, accompanied by their judgments on the circumstances surrounding the stimuli. Investigators often use the term emotionality to refer to temperamental or dispositional emotion-related characteristics, which manifest in individual differences in peoples' experience or expression of emotion. Scholars often view emotionality as a component of temperament and personality (e.g., Rothbart & Bates, 2006).

Frijda, Kuipers, and ter Schure (1989) argued that emotions bias or produce action; Izard, Stark, Trentacosta, and Schultz (2008) posited that emotions contain motivational components and influence cognition and adaptive functioning. Recent advances in psychology and neurosciences demonstrate that emotions are crucial contributors to students' motivation, interpersonal resources, memory, and learning ( Lewis & Haviland-Jones, 2000; Lewis, Haviland-Jones, & Barrett, 2008). Despite the prominent role emotions play in educational settings, work on how negative or positive emotions (with the exception of anxiety) contribute to key academic outcomes has emerged slowly, although some theoretical and empirical work is available. Here, we review findings on specific negative (particularly anxiety and anger) and positive (including relaxedness, joy, pride, and enthusiasm) emotions, as well as on dispositional differences in emotional responding, or emotionality.

DIRECT ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND ACADEMIC FUNCTIONING

The most common findings on emotions or emotionality and achievement are negative associations between situational or dispositional anxiety and school outcomes (such as test performance, course grades, and high school completion; Duchesne, Vitaro, Larose, & Tremblay, 2008; Seipp, 1991). The lack of substantial work on other emotions is surprising, because situational emotional responses and individual differences in negative emotionality have prominent roles in many models of social development ( Davidson, Scherer, & Goldsmith, 2003; Denham, 1998; Eisenberg et al., 2001; Lengua, West, & Sandler, 1998), and emotional disorders increase risk for school dropout ( Stein & Kean, 2000). Broad measures of negative emotion or individual differences in negative emotionality are negatively related to students' grade point average (GPA) and achievement scores ( Gumora & Arsenio, 2002), although attempts to replicate those results using different measures have not always obtained significant associations (e.g., Supplee, Shaw, Hailstones, & Hartman, 2004). Zhou, Main, and Wang (2010) found that teachers', but not parents', reports of Chinese students' dispositional anger were prospectively inversely related to GPA. In contrast, Pekrun, Elliot, and Maier (2006) found no relations between achievement-related anger and GPA.

There is scant evidence of the associations between children's positive emotions or dispositional positive emotionality and academic achievement. This lack of scholarly attention could be because there are fewer positive than negative emotions (there is approximately one positive emotion for every three to four negative emotions; Ellsworth & Smith, 1988) and because various positive emotions are more difficult to observe and differentiate. For example, Ekman ( 1992a, 1992b) noted that, unlike negative emotions, positive emotions have no unique facial signatures; rather, positive emotions, such as joy or pride in achievement, share the Duchenne smile (raised lip corners with muscle contraction near the eyes). Positive emotions are also less likely to produce distinguishable autonomic responses ( Levenson, Ekman, & Friesen, 1990), which eliminates a potentially useful measurement mechanism. Finally, perhaps the primary reason few studies of positive emotions exist is researchers' focus on negative outcomes and solving problems. Because negative emotions are perceived as the more troublesome for children's functioning and development, they receive more investigative attention.

The few studies linking positive emotions to achievement show that joy, hope, and pride positively correlate with students' academic self-efficacy, academic interest and effort, and overall achievement ( Pekrun et al., 2004). The premise that pride in one's ethnic or cultural heritage should be associated with increased academic achievement has received considerable empirical attention ( Byrd & Chavous, 2009; Murry, Berkel, Brody, Miller, & Chen, 2009; Rodriguez, Umana-Taylor, Smith, & Johnson, 2009). In addition, students' pride in their achievement in particular academic subjects can predict performance in those subjects ( Frenzel, Pekrun, & Goetz, 2007). Positive emotions are hypothesized to facilitate approach-related activities, and these activities are likely to provide academic benefits, particularly as the student moves toward a desired goal ( Davidson, Jackson, & Kalin, 2000; Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Fredrickson ( 1998, 2001) suggested that positive emotions enhance academic competence because they encourage exploring, integrating diverse materials, and broadening potential methods of solving problems.

Although researchers typically expect positive emotions to foster academic success, high-arousal positive emotions (such as exuberance, excitedness, and elatedness) may detract from achievement. Investigators studying adults' emotions have differentiated between high-arousal positive emotions, low-intensity positive emotions (like relaxedness and contentedness), and those in between (such as pleasantness; Larsen & Diener, 1992). The different positive emotions load on different factors in statistical analyses, and high and low factors are only moderately correlated in adults ( Yik, Russell, & Barrett, 1999). Scholars focused on children's emotions have discussed the potentially dysregulating nature of high- and low-intensity positive emotion ( Sallquist et al., 2009) and the associations of highly activated emotions with low EC ( Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan, 2000) and problem behaviors ( Dennis, Hong, & Solomon, 2010; Stifter, Putnam, & Jahromi, 2008). These findings suggest the benefit of considering quadratic relations between high-intensity positive emotions and academic competence. We predict that low to medium levels of these emotions are positively related to the achievement, but that the positive relation declines and perhaps even reverses at high levels of highly activated positive emotions.

THE MODERATING ROLE OF EC ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

The direct associations between specific measures of negative emotion (or dispositional indices of negative emotionality), or low- and medium-activated positive emotions, and achievement are relatively modest and infrequently examined. A nuanced understanding of the relations of emotions to achievement likely requires considering more complex models. Specifically, studies that consider EC as a moderator of the associations between negative emotions or negative emotionality and the role of mediating variables (such as cognitive processes, motivational mechanisms, or classroom relationships) likely to contribute to academic outcomes may explain the associations between emotions and achievement.

The relations between emotions or emotionality and academic outcomes may be weak and inconsistent because individual differences in EC moderate these relations. Eisenberg and Fabes (1992) argued that the effects of emotionality and EC on behavior may interact, such that even when prone to negative emotionality, children may exhibit uncontrolled, disruptive behavior only if they are also low in EC-an empirically supported hypothesis ( Belsky, Friedman, & Hsieh, 2001; Eisenberg et al., 2000). Later, Fabes, Martin, and Hanish (1999) applied this idea specifically to academic outcomes, arguing that even when experiencing moderate levels of negative emotionality, well-regulated students should be motivated to perform, engaged in learning activities, and able to form good relationships with peers and teachers. These ideas are consistent with the concept of "emotion utilization"-the notion that students, at least if they are sufficiently regulated, can modulate and then harness emotion-generated energy to initiate and accomplish tasks ( Izard, 2002).

Few investigators have examined whether EC moderates the relations between negative emotions or dispositional negative emotionality and achievement, but studies have found more support in younger samples, such as preschoolers and kindergartners. For example, Gumora and Arsenio (2002) found that EC did not moderate the association between dispositional negative emotionality and achievement in a sample of middle school students, where as Belsky et al. (2001) found positive relations between negative emotion expressed during the Strange Situation test and school readiness at high, but not low, levels of EC. In a short-term prospective study involving kindergartners, Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, and Swanson (2010) found evidence that the relations between dispositional anger or sadness and achievement depended on the level of EC. Specifically, at low levels of dispositional anger and sadness, students high in EC performed best, but all children performed poorly at high levels of emotions. Thus, it appears that EC provided clear advantages for young school children low in negative emotionality, but at high levels, all children had difficulty with the achievement measures regardless of their regulatory skills. Valiente, Swanson, and Lemery-Chalfant (in press) found some preliminary evidence that EC moderates the association between dispositional anger and other early indicators of academic competence, such as the formation of a close student-teacher relationship or classroom participation. They found a negative relation between anger and the student-teacher relationship and participation only for students low in EC. However, as children develop greater regulatory skills, high EC may provide an advantage even for children high in negative emotionality.

In summary, preliminary evidence demonstrates that for younger children, EC serves to moderate the effects of anger in specific contexts, as well as other indices of negative emotionality. Failing to consider such effects might lead to the inaccurate conclusion that there are no effects. We are unaware of empirical tests on whether EC moderates the relations between positive emotion or dispositional positive emotionality and academic competence, but we posit that EC might moderate relations for highly activated positive emotions. Extant findings illustrate the usefulness of examining the interaction of negative emotions (or negative emotionality) and EC when predicting social competence and problem behaviors. It is plausible that considering interactions involving emotion and EC may delineate when negative emotions are, or are not, associated with academic achievement. For example, some emotions may be more debilitating than others if unregulated. In addition, there is a growing understanding of how to promote the development of EC, and this knowledge could help students avoid the academic challenges associated with being prone to expressing negative emotions and highly activated positive emotions.

ARE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN EMOTION/EMOTIONALITY AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT INDIRECT?

Based on the inconsistent pattern of findings and the theoretical ideas that Blair (2002) and Raver (2002) expressed, a research agenda that also considers potential indirect and direct effects of emotion on achievement will generate knowledge of interest to researchers, clinicians, and school personnel ( Eisenberg et al., 2005). Recently, Zhou et al. (2010) argued that the effect of emotionality on achievement might be indirect, through cognitive processes (such as problem solving, memory, strategic thinking), motivational mechanisms (including engagement, school liking, and staying on task), and interpersonal resources (such as relationships with teacher and peers). Some empirical findings support this idea.

Mediation via Cognitive Processes

Both Blair (2002) and Pekrun, Elliot, and Maier (2009) posited that negative emotions like anger reduce achievement partly because they negatively affect higher order cognitive processes (such as problem solving, memory, and strategic thinking) and focus attention on a narrow set of behavioral options ( Fredrickson, 2001). There is substantial evidence that cognitive processes are strongly related to achievement; thus, evidence that negative emotions are linked to these processes is consistent with the notion of mediation. Both anxiety and anger may disrupt students' ability to recall relevant material ( Linnenbrink, 2007; Linnenbrink, Ryan, & Pintrich, 1999; Rice, Levine, & Pizarro, 2007). As Blair (2002) noted, young children characterized by negative emotionality are likely to have a hard time applying higher order cognitive processes simply because their emotional responses do not call for reflective planning and problem solving, so these skills are underused and underdeveloped. When a student's experience of negative emotion leads to focusing on the object of the emotion (as when a child ruminates on the morning's event that resulted in his or her anger), cognitive resources are diverted away from educational materials to events or circumstances that distract from learning. In this way, negative emotions interfere with scholastic activities by reducing resources needed to integrate and recall important details.

Conversely, work with adults suggests that under certain circumstances some negative emotions might facilitate cognitive performance. Investigators have argued that moods congruent with the negative valence inherent in conflict tasks ( Botvinick, 2007) facilitate conflict registration ( Rusting, 1998). If conflict registration is important for tuning goal-directed behavior on tasks (such as the flanker test) that involve conflicting pulls on attention ( Kerns et al., 2004), negative emotions that prioritize conflict processing could strengthen behavioral adaptations to cognitive conflict. van Steenbergen, Band, and Hommel (2010) found that adults induced to experience a low-pleasure mood (such as sadness or anxiety) adapted more strongly to cognitive conflict on a flanker task than those induced to experience happiness or calmness. Notably, negative emotions increased cognitive control only after conflict situations, but did not improve control in general. In fact, adult participants with low pleasure levels made slightly more errors than their high-pleasure counterparts. Further investigations should test whether these findings would replicate among children on similar, age-appropriate behavioral assessments.

In contrast to negative emotions, students' low- and medium-activated positive emotions may enhance their cognitive processing and, in turn, their achievement. Indeed, in describing the broaden and build theory, Fredrickson ( 1998, 2001) argued that positive emotions promote successful academic functioning because they broaden one's cognitive awareness and consciousness of potential solutions to problems. For example, interest in a particular subject is likely to help students maintain attention on assignments and, in turn, perform well. As Liew (2012) pointed out, for both neurological and social reasons, attentional control is a key factor in promoting learning and achievement. Joy spurs the desire to play and be creative, which are especially important mechanisms that promote young children's learning ( Frijda, 1986; Vygotsky, 1978). According to Fredrickson (1998), joy builds students' thought-action repertoire through playful interactions, and over time, these interactions advance students' intellectual resources.

There is emerging evidence that the object of attention and the motivational intensity of the emotions influence the relations between emotions and cognitive processes, which extends and enhances the broaden and build theory in important ways. For example, high approach-motivated positive affect (like desire) narrows adults' cognition, whereas low approach-motivated positive affect (like contentment) broadens it ( Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2008, 2010b, 2010c). Moreover, Gable and Harmon-Jones ( 2010b, 2010c) have argued that high approach-motivated positive affect causes a general narrowing of cognitive resources that facilitates memory for centrally presented information and hinders memory for peripherally presented stimuli. In contrast, they found that low approach-motivated positive affect broadens cognitive resources, improving memory of peripherally, but not centrally presented information. Similarly, negative emotion high in motivational intensity (like disgust) narrows attentional focus, whereas negative emotion low in motivational intensity (like sadness) broadens it ( Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2010a, 2010c). Next, investigators must test whether these findings hold with children. It is unknown how these processes operate as students undergo various cognitive tasks at school, especially given the narrow range of cognitive tasks included in studies with adults. Moreover, the tasks typically used with adults have examined what individuals attend to (such as global stimuli or more specific components of the larger visual stimulus), not if they attend. In addition, the tasks typically do not involve the participant learning new information. Thus, their findings may be relevant only to individual differences in specific types of learning tasks.

Mediation via Motivational Processes

Motivational processes are clearly associated with students' achievement ( Ladd, Birch, & Buhs, 1999; Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis-Kean, 2006), and motivation might partially mediate the relations between emotion and achievement. Students prone to anger or anxiety may perform poorly because these emotions decrease their motivation for learning and engaging in classroom activities ( Linnenbrink, 2007), which are important predictors of academic success ( Wigfield et al., 2006). Negative correlations between students' proneness to anger or shyness and their classroom participation and school liking also support the consideration of motivational mechanisms as potential mediators ( Valiente et al., in press). Consistent with these findings, Heavey, Adelman, Nelson, and Smith (1989) reported that dispositional anger was negatively associated with motivation for on-task performance. In addition, although they did not test mediation, Gilman and Anderman (2006) reported that dispositional anxiety tended to reduce students' motivation to master a subject, which was positively related to GPA. Sadness and anxiety are part of the withdrawal system and may interfere with learning by causing children to avoid challenging school activities that might involve negative experiences or outcomes ( Davidson et al., 2000).

Fredrickson ( 1998, 2001) argued that positive affect is likely to enhance academic behavior and engagement, and substantial evidence shows that participation in learning activities is positively related to academic success ( Ladd et al., 1999). Positive emotions, especially interest and curiosity, likely promote achievement because interested students who take pride in their work are especially motivated to seek out supplemental learning resources. Similarly, Pekrun, Frenzel, Goetz, and Perry (2007) argued that a joy of learning is positively related to extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. These findings are consistent with the literature on mastery motivation (including intrinsic motivation, self-adequacy, and locus on control), which is often associated with pride, enjoyment, and hope, and is a prime candidate to mediate associations between emotion and achievement ( Pekrun et al., 2006, 2009).

Mediation via Interpersonal Resources

Experiencing and expressing emotions are also likely to influence students' achievement because of how emotions affect relationships. Emotional expressions that undermine relationships at school, such as angrily shouting at a teacher or peer, can be problematic because the quality of peer and student-teacher relationships is consistently linked to positive educational outcomes ( Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Jerome, Hamre, & Pianta, 2009; Ladd, Herald, & Kochel, 2006; Welsh, Parke, Widaman, & O'Neil, 2001). Students prone to anger can encounter more challenges developing and maintaining relationships in the classroom ( Dougherty, 2006; Pianta, Cox, & Snow, 2007; Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Consistent with this idea, negative emotionality predicts low levels of social competence ( Dougherty, 2006) and conflictual student-teacher relationships ( Valiente et al., in press). Similarly, parents and teachers rate students prone to sadness as high in internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors both concurrently and longitudinally ( Eisenberg et al., 2009). Anxious children are likely to have difficulty relating to peers, to be rejected, and to exhibit aggressiveness ( Bruch, 2001; Rubin, LeMare, & Lollis, 1990; Zoccolillo, 1992). If a consistently sad or anxious student continually withdraws from aversive stimuli (such as negative experiences while participating in learning groups), he or she is likely to miss out on the benefits of working with peers ( Davidson et al., 2000).

Conversely, students prone to positive emotions may experience high levels of achievement partly because such emotions are associated with high-quality peer and teacher relationships. Joyful students are more likely to engage in free-time social play at school and to form friendships that can provide social and academic support. Indeed, preschoolers exhibiting more positive emotions are less likely to engage in solitary and reticent play ( Spinrad et al., 2004).

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Emotions matter to a range of developmental outcomes. However, research has neglected when and why emotion is associated with academic success, even though "emotions contain useful information that can guide cognition and action" ( Izard, 2002, p. 815). A valuable next step is to test whether EC moderates the relations between emotions (or emotionality)-particularly for anger or anxiety-and indices of academic competence. The presence of moderation may be one reason current findings are weak and inconsistent.

Another critical next step is to design studies that test potential mediators. The emotions that students experience and express in the classroom are predicted to be associated with learning and academic progress for cognitive, motivational, and interpersonal reasons. However, the accumulated body of evidence is relatively small, and researchers are only beginning to explore the specific mechanisms that maintain the associations. Longitudinal data are most desirable for testing mediation, and it will be important to carefully specify when assessments occur. In many longitudinal studies, assessments are 1 or 2 years apart, but because negative or highly activated emotions may interfere with many classroom processes, it may be more appropriate to assess emotion, the mediator, and outcome during the same academic year. Studies should also use longitudinal data to examine bidirectional relations. For example, pride and enthusiasm are associated with performing well on a test, and performance, in turn, might be associated with these emotions (or, alternatively, performing poorly may be associated with anger or sadness), which may further the desire to engage in learning activities that foster academic success.

Last, not all emotions are likely to relate to achievement the same ways or for the same reasons. Therefore, clarifying the relations between emotions and achievement will require the assessment of specific types of positive and negative emotions, instead of using broad composites. Moreover, emotions may actually influence what students retain on a specific learning task. A movement away from solely considering main effects toward multivariate models should clarify when and which emotions are (or are not) associated with achievement.

REFERENCES

Fabes RA, Martin CL, Hanish L. Peers and the transition to school; Paper presented at the Successful Transition to School Conference; Birmingham, AL. 1999. [Google Scholar]

Valiente C, Swanson J, Lemery-Chalfant KS. Kindergartners' temperament, classroom engagement, and student-teacher relationship: Moderation by effortful control. Social Development. in press. [Google Scholar]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Linking Students' Emotions and Academic Achievement: When and Why Emotions Matter

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Few studies include associations of emotions, or of individual differences in emotionality, to academic competence, and there are virtually no empirical data on when or why relations exist (or do not exist). The few studies of emotion and achievement ...

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Climate Change Could Explain the Personality of Your Significant Other

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Climate Change Could Explain the Personality of Your Significant Other

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NEW YORK - Have you ever wondered why your significant other thinks and acts the way they do? We typically think the answer lies in their parents and genes, but new research points to another insightful possibility: the average temperature where they grew up.

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How People with Hearing Loss Learn Language | CDC

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This article talks about how people with hearing loss learn new languages through out their life. Auditory-Oral, Verbal, Bilingual, Cued Speech, and Total Communication are some of the language approaches and skills that people use in order to learn new things. American sign language is one of the most popular languages for the deaf community. “People communicate using hand shapes, direction and motion of the hands, body language, and facial expressions. it also has its own grammar, word order, and sentence structure. People can share feelings, jokes, and complete ideas using ASL.”Manually Coded English is made up of signs that are a visual code for spoken English, Both adults and children can use MCE to communicate. other ways to communicate are through natural gestures, spoken speech, and listening/auditory training.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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How People with Hearing Loss Learn Language | CDC

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People with hearing loss and their families often need special skills to be able to learn language and communicate.

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Scientists prove old dogs can learn new tricks. Here's why that's a good thing

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This article talks about how old dogs can also learn new tricks just like younger dogs and puppies. research has shown that dogs of all ages respond positively to touchscreen games. “The positive feeling created by solving a mental challenge is comparable to the feeling that older people have when they learn something new, doing something they enjoy,". Regular brain training helps not only us but also older dogs by increasing motivation, engagement, and maximizing learning opportunities.

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They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but researchers in Austria beg to differ. Their experiments show that canines of all ages respond positively to touchscreen games - and they think that something akin to "dog Sudoku" might help keep pets mentally sharp even as their physical abilities decline.

"The positive feeling created by solving a mental challenge is comparable to the feeling that older people have when they learn something new, doing something they enjoy," Dr. Ludwig Huber, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the senior author of a paper about the research, said in a written statement. "Regular brain training shakes not only us, but also dogs out of their apathy in old age, increasing motivation and engagement and thus maximizing learning opportunities."

For their research, conducted between 2010 and 2017, the scientists tested 265 dogs and 20 wolves at facilities in Austria and Hungary. The animals - mostly pets - were trained to push their snouts against a touchscreen in response to flowers, teddy bears, and other imagery displayed there.

It took weeks of training, but eventually even older dogs were able to reliably press the right image to receive a food treat.

"The fact that the older dogs were able to learn such abstract and sometimes difficult tasks was very encouraging," Dr. Lisa Wallis, a cognitive biologist with the Senior Family Dog Project at Eotvos Lorand Universtiy in Budapest, Hungary, and the paper's first author, told NBC News MACH in an email.

She added that the dogs enjoyed the touchscreen training sessions and that their owners observed "positive benefits of the training in their dogs' everyday lives."

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Scientists prove old dogs can learn new tricks. Here's why that's a good thing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but researchers in Austria beg to differ. Their experiments show that canines of all ages respond positively to touchscreen games - and they think that something akin to "dog Sudoku" might help keep pets mentally sharp even as their physical abilities decline.

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This article talks about how humans adapt to our environment. when millions of years ago when human became a thing, our brains were the most adaptable thing, “The evolution of the brain is the most obvious example of how we evolve to adapt”. Our brains were the the quickest to adapt to this new modern life. “Man had two key advantages, he said: our brains and our capacity for culture.”. Our brains are social brains, we need to share information, create, and pass on the new knowledge which helps humans adjust to new situations. it's what differentiates humans from our earlier ancestors from the past. “This adaptive ability not only allowed our progenitors to ride the massive seesaws of climate shifts but subsequently helped them to colonize new habitats”.

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In the 5 million years since early hominids first emerged from east Africa's Rift Valley, the Earth's climate has grown increasingly erratic. Over cycles lasting hundreds of thousands of years, arid regions of central Africa were overrun by forests, forests gave way to grasslands and contiguous landscapes were fractured by deep lakes.

It was within the context of this swiftly changing landscape that humans evolved their sizable brains and capacity for adaptive behavior, said Rick Potts, director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. In such a world, the ability to think creatively, to imagine novel solutions to survival threats, proved to be a major asset, he said.

"The evolution of the brain is the most obvious example of how we evolve to adapt," he explained. "But in the modern era, we know that in the human genome there are all kinds of interactions that allow human organisms to have plasticity -- the capacity to adjust is itself an evolved characteristic."

Man had two key advantages, he said: our brains and our capacity for culture.

"Our brains are essentially social brains," he added. "We share information, we create and pass on knowledge. That's the means by which humans are able to adjust to new situations, and it's what differentiates humans from our earlier ancestors, and our earlier ancestors from primates."

This adaptive ability not only allowed our progenitors to ride the massive seesaws of climate shifts but subsequently helped them to colonize new habitats. The earlier hominid species Homo erectus ranged across much of Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, Homo neanderthalensis -- Neanderthals -- occupied large parts of Europe. Our own species, Homo sapiens, dispersed to even more far-flung corners of the globe, employing boats to reach Australia more than 50,000 years ago.

The species that went into the cold
"You had Homo sapiens going into colder environments than even the Neanderthals could tolerate, at the same time that they were migrating into deserts, tropical forests, steppes and glacial environments," Potts said. "How this thin, long-limbed hominid could make it in all these different environments, to me that is a story about how you become adaptable."

The theory of "variability selection," which Potts first described in 1996, doesn't just relate to humans and their brains but can be applied to any species passing through periods of environmental instability. Generalist traits such as a wide-ranging diet would be an advantage at such times, Potts said, whether for grazing animals or for their predators.

"All organisms have to be able to maintain homeostasis within some range of conditions that are not completely stable," Potts explained. "The genome itself is an evolved structure, and that means that all forms of life have some degree of adaptability to them."

The idea that adaptability might itself be an evolved characteristic is a relatively new concept. When Potts first described his theory nearly two decades ago, it was met with a healthy dose of skepticism from evolutionary geneticists who understood evolution to be a process of matching animals to their environments.

It had been largely understood among paleoanthropologists -- including, formerly, Potts -- that humans had evolved during a period of gradual change from colder, wetter climates to a more arid environment.

The idea that major developments in human evolution happened not gradually, but in fits and spurts during periods of heightened climatic variability, seemed to fly in the face of the scientific consensus. But the theory of variability selection did have one big advantage: It could be tested.

"We have markers for various important events in hominid history -- the origin of new species, the development of new tools," said Matt Grove, a professor of archaeology, classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool who has worked with Potts to model variability selection. "If those events line up with what the climate record tells us were the periods of instability, that would seem to support Rick's theory. And, in general, they do."

New and ominous test on the horizon
The origin of every hominid genus, including our own, appears to fall within one or another of these windows of climatic variability, he said.

"What we see is that it isn't just the origin of new [hominid] species that emerge during these periods, but also new ways of life, of living and interacting with the environment," Potts said.

The big irony, Grove explained, is that capacity to interact with our environment has put us back on a trajectory of climate instability. And this time, pumped by man-made greenhouse gases, global warming is happening much faster than previous shifts.

With the dawn of agriculture 10,000 years ago, humans embarked on a new experiment -- rather than adapting to our environment, we began adapting our environment to meet our needs, slashing and burning forests to create room for agriculture. That, in turn, allowed more leisure time, larger societies and a freer exchange of information. As cultural and technological knowledge improved, we were able to harness the energy of other animals and, in time, harness the dramatic power of fossil fuels as well.

Several times throughout human history, periods of climate instability sent shock waves through established empires, such as the Akkadian Empire of Mesopotamia or the Bronze Age empires of the Mediterranean (ClimateWire, Aug. 16). Each time, though, the species bounced back, more successful and adaptive than ever.

Now, with planetary warming occurring at a breakneck pace, human adaptability is likely to face its biggest test, Grove thinks.

"We've been dealing with climate change since we got here on Earth," he explained. "The problem, though, is that it's happening now over such a short time scale. And that makes it very hard to predict whether or not we'll be able to respond, or at what cost."

Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500

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In the 5 million years since early hominids first emerged from east Africa's Rift Valley, the Earth's climate has grown increasingly erratic. Over cycles lasting hundreds of thousands of years, arid regions of central Africa were overrun by forests, forests gave way to grasslands and contiguous landscapes were fractured by deep lakes.

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This article talks about the development of children. The earlier life of young children are very important for their development and general health. Spending time with their families and creating a bond with them while playing, singing, reading, and talking are important for the young children. Getting proper sleep,exercise, and nutrition could also be beneficial for their healthy development. “Healthy development means that children of all abilities, including those with special health care needs, are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met.”. Parents can also do such things as having routines around the house, sharing books, supporting health and safety, and using appropriate discipline without being harsh to help their child stay healthy, safe and be successful in many different ways like emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Healthy Development

The early years of a child's life are very important for their health and development. Healthy development means that children of all abilities, including those with special health care needs, are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met. Having a safe and loving home and spending time with family―playing, singing, reading, and talking―are very important. Proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep also can make a big difference.

Effective Parenting Practices

Parenting takes many different forms. However, some positive parenting practices work well across diverse families and in diverse settings when providing the care that children need to be happy and healthy, and to grow and develop well. A comprehensive report looked at the evidence in scientific publications for what works, and found these key ways that parents can support their child's healthy development:

Responding to children in a predictable way

Showing warmth and sensitivity

Having routines and household rules

Sharing books and talking with children

Supporting health and safety

Using appropriate discipline without harshness

Parents who use these practices can help their child stay healthy, be safe, and be successful in many areas-emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social. Read more about the report here.

Positive Parenting Tips
Get parenting, health, and safety tips for children from birth through 17 years of age
Developmental Milestones

Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving "bye-bye" are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, behave, and move (for example, crawling and walking).

Children develop at their own pace, so it's impossible to tell exactly when a child will learn a given skill. However, the developmental milestones give a general idea of the changes to expect as a child gets older.

As a parent, you know your child best. If your child is not meeting the milestones for their age, or if you think there could be a problem with your child's development, talk with your child's doctor and share your concerns. Don't wait.

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Parents and others can work together as partners to help children grow up to reach the full potential for his or her health development.

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This article is how touch can be linked to our memories. Touch is one of the most intimate senses. touching an object means you are physically as close as you can be. “In that moment, specialized skin cells convey a wealth of information, such as shape, texture, size, and weight. Yet when you stop touching that object, much of that information appears to fade away rather quickly.” This sense is only important in the moment and not after, however tests shows that “touch generates memories that are far more complex and long lasting”. Touch leaves a memory trace that stays long after the physical sensation is gone and the memory is stored without much conscious awareness. often times, you may not be able to verbalize how an object felt but you can recognize it by touch.  It also generates memories of how an unseen object can/should look.

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Touch is perhaps the most intimate of the senses. When you grasp or brush against an object-anything from an outstretched hand to a leather-bound book-you are physically as close to it as you can possibly be. At that moment, specialized skin cells convey a wealth of information, such as shape, texture, size, and weight. Yet when you stop touching that object, much of that information appears to fade away rather quickly. After a few days, you may only be able to bring a vague impression to mind. It would seem then that the sense of touch is largely useful in the moment, and not much after that.

Over the decades, there has been surprisingly little research to test that assumption. Yet a common perspective is that the sense of touch is, by far, of limited use over the long term, and especially when compared to the visual system. However, a new study by Fabian Hutmacher and Christof Kuhbandner, researchers at the University of Regensburg, provides the strongest challenge yet to that perspective. Their finding: the sense of touch generates memories that are far more complex and long-lasting than previously thought.

In the study's first experiment, blindfolded participants "haptically explored" over 150 household objects for one hour. This involved them picking up and touching a series of kitchen utensils, stationery goods, and other items. They studied each object with their hands for 10 seconds each. Next, while remaining blindfolded, each participant completed a memory test. On this test, two nearly identical versions of each object were successively held (for instance, two dinner spoons). Only one of each had been presented before, and participants had to determine which.

When the memory test occurred just after the study period, participants chose the correct object correctly 94 percent of the time. Just briefly touching an object enabled them to distinguish it with almost perfect accuracy. Given the challenge of memorizing the many details that may differentiate an object from another (such as the curve of a spoon handle or its overall length), and the fact that hundreds of items were touched in a short period of time, that outcome is no small feat. Yet human beings can accomplish this with relative ease.

Just as impressively, when the memory test occurred a week later, very little had been forgotten. The average accuracy rate was 85 percent. Thus, not only does touch generate memories that are highly detailed and precise, but those memories can endure over the long term.

A second experiment was even more startling. This time, a new group of blindfolded participants explored the same objects by touch. Rather than carefully study, they simply rated how pleasant each object felt. There was no intentional effort to memorize. A surprise memory test, occurring one week later, was designed to be more difficult: participants were no longer blindfolded and had to visually identify which of two nearly identical objects they had touched before-and without having previously seen either or having another opportunity to touch. Yet the accuracy rate remained high (averaging 73 percent). Even when participants felt unsure and had to guess, they still identified the correct object more often than not.

It would appear then that the cognitive capacities of touch, which was among the first of the sensory systems to evolve, have long been underestimated. Contrary to the view that it is only useful in real time, touch leaves a memory trace that persists long after the physical sensation is gone. Moreover, information appears to be stored without much conscious awareness. As a result, those memories can manifest in interesting ways. For instance, you may not be able to verbalize how something felt, but you will be able to recognize it by grasping it or looking at it.

The finding that touch generates memories of how an unseen object should look-an almost magical ability-remains to be fully explained. However, neuroimaging studies have found that touch not only activates the somatosensory cortex (the brain region which processes the sense of touch), but can also activate regions that are involved in processing visual signals. Thus, it could be that when you touch an unseen object, your brain forms a mental image of its probable appearance. This may be especially likely when that object resembles a familiar item that you have come into contact with before. When you do see that object for the first time, you can recognize it.

Typically, the sense of touch is so omnipresent, and its effects so seemingly ephemeral, that it is often taken for granted or overlooked. We now know that its effects linger in the brain long after the sensory experience ends, and often without our being directly aware of it. Surprisingly large amounts of information are preserved as well. As such, a single touch has a far greater impact on the mind than one might have ever imagined-which makes the act of doing so all the more powerful.

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Touch is perhaps the most intimate of the senses. When you grasp or brush against an object-anything from an outstretched hand to a leather-bound book-you are physically as close to it as you can possibly be. At that moment, specialized skin cells convey a wealth of information, such as shape, texture, size, and weight.

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How Color Can Influence Memory Performance

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This article is about how colors can influence/impact our memories. Colors can affect the way a person perceives the world and how the person feels. Certain colors have the ability to affect an individual’s thoughts and feelings. It has been proven that colors play an influential role in the mind, emotions, and bodily functions. Reactions cause through colors are caused by psychological effects of color perception, biological conditioning, and cultural implementation. Seeing different colors can also cause different responses like anxiety, pulse, and blood flow. Colors also affect one’s mood such as warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can lead to feeling comfort and cool colors like blues, purples, and greens can lead to a person feeling sadness or calm. Studies have shown that colors improve memory, people are likely to remember “a color they were shown over a word sentence.” Red and blue are the best colors for enhancing cognitive and brain functions, red helps with memory retention and drives caution to one’s mind.

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How Color Can Influence Memory Performance

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Colors have the ability to affect the way a person perceives the world and how they feel. But can color be utilized to help improve memory? Here's what we know about how color can influence memory performance.

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Your Pets Are Actually Improving Your Social Life

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This article is about how getting/ owning pets can improve a persons health in many different way. They help with physical and mental health. Having a strong connection with your pet can help you experience better social and relationship benefits. Studies have shown, that young adults who have a strong attachment to their pets reported feeling more connected to their communities and their significant others. The more attached you are the more empathetic and confident you can be, “specifically pet owners had greater self-esteem, we’re more physically fit, tend to be less lonely, we’re more extraverted, tended to be less fearful, and tended to be less preoccupied than non-owners”.

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If you've been wondering whether or not you should get a pet, here's a pretty good reason to: A new study reveals that young adults who have a strong connection with a pet also experience social and relationship benefits.

"Our findings suggest that it may not be whether an animal is present in an individual's life that is most significant but rather the quality of that relationship," said the paper's author, Megan Mueller, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist and research assistant professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, in a statement. "The young adults in the study who had strong attachment to pets reported feeling more connected to their communities and relationships."

For the study, published in the journal Applied Developmental Science, more than 500 young adults (ages 18 to 26) were surveyed about their attitudes toward and interaction with animals, as well as their general characteristics (confidence, caring, depression, etc).

Researchers found that people who reported greater care for animals were also more likely to be involved in their communities and serve in leadership roles. Plus, the more attached the person was to an animal as a teenager and young adult, the more empathetic and confident he or she was.

Previous research has shown that owning a pet can also boost physical health, in addition to mental health. A 2011 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, for instance, showed that " pet owners fared better, both in terms of well-being outcomes and individual differences, than non-owners on several dimensions," said the researcher, Miami University's Allen R. McConnell, Ph.D., in a statement. "Specifically, pet owners had greater self-esteem, were more physically fit, tended to be less lonely, were more conscientious, were more extraverted, tended to be less fearful and tended to be less preoccupied than non-owners."

Related

healthy living third metric

Before You Go

See Gallery

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Your Pets Are Actually Improving Your Social Life

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If you've been wondering whether or not you should get a pet, here's a pretty good reason to: A new study reveals that young adults who have a strong connection with a pet also experience social and relationship benefits.

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Social influence on positive youth development: A developmental neuroscience perspective

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This article is about being social and how it can have a positive impact on your brain. “Regions of the brain involved in social cognition, cognitive control, and reward processing are implicated in social influence.” Social influences is where people directly and indirectly influence each other’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. Although, social influences from peers, families members, and social media may lead to a teenager’s risky and dangerous behaviors but they can also have positive impacts such as “exposing youth to positive social norms such as school engagement, cooperating with peers, donating money, and volunteering for a good cause.”

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Social influence on positive youth development: A developmental neuroscience perspective

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Susceptibility to social influence is associated with a host of negative outcomes during adolescence. However, emerging evidence implicates the role of peers and parents in adolescents’ positive and adaptive adjustment. Hence, in this chapter…

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Mobile phones: The effect of its presence on learning and memory

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this article is about how our smartphones impact our brain. People without cellphone have a higher recall accuracy than those who have cellphone do. Smartphones have a negative impact on your learning and memory. Our phone keep us stay connected and keep on the loop for new trends, new, and social media but a lot of individuals are obsessed now. “This obsession can lead to detrimental cognitive functions and mood/affective states.” Research has shown that a phone left next to a person while doing a task is a “powerful distractor” even when it’s not used. A lot of students feel anxious when their phones are taken away, which can interfere with obtaining information. Having a strong attachment towards your phone has immediate and lasting negative effects on your mood and cause anxiety.

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PLoS One. 2020; 15(8): e0219233.

Clarissa Theodora Tanil, Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing - original draft and Min Hooi Yong, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing *

Barbara Dritschel, Editor

Abstract

Our aim was to examine the effect of a smartphone's presence on learning and memory among undergraduates. A total of 119 undergraduates completed a memory task and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS). As predicted, those without smartphones had higher recall accuracy compared to those with smartphones. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought, "how often did you think about your phone", and memory recall but not for SAS and memory recall. Phone conscious thought significantly predicted memory accuracy. We found that the presence of a smartphone and high phone conscious thought affects one's memory learning and recall, indicating the negative effect of a smartphone proximity to our learning and memory.

Introduction

Smartphones are a popular communication form worldwide in this century and likely to remain as such, especially among adolescents [ 1]. The phone has evolved from basic communicative functions-calls only-to being a computer-replacement device, used for web browsing, games, instant communication on social media platforms, and work-related productivity tools, e.g. word processing. Smartphones undoubtedly keep us connected; however, many individuals are now obsessed with them [ 2, 3]. This obsession can lead to detrimental cognitive functions and mood/affective states, but these effects are still highly debated among researchers.

Altmann, Trafton, and Hambrick suggested that as little as a 3-second distraction (e.g. reaching for a cell phone) is adequate to disrupt attention while performing a cognitive task [ 4]. This distraction is disadvantageous to subsequent cognitive tasks, creating more errors as the distraction period increases, and this is particularly evident in classroom settings. While teachers and parents are for [ 5] or against cell phones in classrooms [ 6], empirical evidence showed that students who used their phones in class took fewer notes [ 7] and had poorer overall academic performance, compared to those who did not [ 8, 9]. Students often multitask in classrooms and even more so with smartphones in hand. One study showed no significant difference in in-class test scores, regardless of whether they were using instant messaging [ 10]. However, texters took a significantly longer time to complete the in-class test, suggesting that texters required more cognitive effort in memory recall [ 10]. Other researchers have posited that simply the presence of a cell phone may have detrimental effects on learning and memory as well. Research has shown that a mobile phone left next to the participant while completing a task, is a powerful distractor even when not in use [ 11, 12]. Their findings showed that mobile phone participants could perform similarly to control groups on simple versions of specific tasks (e.g. visual spatial search, digit cancellation), but performed much poorer in the demanding versions. In another study, researchers controlled for the location of the smartphone by taking the smartphones away from participants (low salience, LS), left the smartphone next to them (high salience/HS), or kept the smartphones in bags or pockets (control) [ 13]. Results showed that participants in LS condition performed significantly better compared to HS, while no difference was established between control and HS conditions. Taken together, these findings confirmed that the smartphone is a distractor even when not in use. Further, smartphone presence also increases cognitive load, because greater cognitive effort is required to inhibit distractions.

Reliance on smartphones has been linked to a form of psychological dependency, and this reliance has detrimental effect on our affective 'mood' states. For example, feelings of anxiety when one is separated from their smartphones can interfere with the ability to attend to information. Cheever et al. observed that heavy and moderate mobile phone users reported increased anxiety when their mobile phone was taken away as early as 10 minutes into the experiment [ 14]. They noted that high mobile phone usage was associated with higher risk of experiencing 'nomophobia' (no mobile phone phobia), a form of anxiety characterized by constantly thinking about one's own mobile phones and the desire to stay in contact with the device [ 15]. Other studies reported similar separation-anxiety and other unpleasant thoughts in participants when their smartphones were taken away [ 16] or the usage was prohibited [ 17, 18]. Participants also reported having frequent thoughts about their smartphones, despite their device being out of sight briefly (kept in bags or pockets), to the point of disrupting their task performance [ 13]. Taken together, these findings suggest that strong attachment towards a smartphone has immediate and lasting negative effects on mood and appears to induce anxiety.

Further, we need to consider the relationship between cognition and emotion to understand how frequent mobile phone use affects memory e.g. memory consolidation. Some empirical findings have shown that anxious individuals have attentional biases toward threats and that these biases affect memory consolidation [ 19, 20]. Further, emotion-cognition interaction affects efficiency of specific cognitive functions, and that one's affective state may enhance or hinder these functions rapidly, flexibly, and reversibly [ 21]. Studies have shown that positive affect improves visuospatial attention [ 22], sustained attention [ 23], and working memory [ 24]. The researchers attributed positive affect in participants' improved controlled cognitive processing and less inhibitory control. On the other hand, participants' negative affect had fewer spatial working memory errors [ 23] and higher cognitive failures [ 25]. Yet, in all of these studies-the direction of modulation, intensity, valence of experiencing a specific affective state ranged widely and primarily driven by external stimuli (i.e. participants affective states were induced from watching videos), which may not have the same motivational effect generated internally.

Present study

Prior studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of one's smartphone on cognitive function (e.g. working memory [ 13], visual spatial search [ 12], attention [ 11]), and decreased cognitive ability with increasing attachment to one's phone [ 14, 16, 26]. Further, past studies have demonstrated the effect of affective state on cognitive performance [ 19, 20, 22- 25, 27]. To our knowledge, no study has investigated the effect of positive or negative affective states resulting from smartphone separation on memory recall accuracy. One study showed that participants reporting an increased level of anxiety as early as 10 minutes [ 14]. We also do not know the extent of smartphone addiction and phone conscious thought effects on memory recall accuracy. One in every four young adults is reported to have problematic smartphone use and this is accompanied by poor mental health e.g. higher anxiety, stress, depression [ 28]. One report showed that young adults reached for their phones 86 times in a day on average compared to 47 times in other age groups [ 29]. Young adults also reported that they "definitely" or "probably" used their phone too much, suggesting that they recognised their problematic smartphone use.

We had two main aims in this study. First, we replicated [ 13] to determine whether 'phone absent' (LS) participants had higher memory accuracy compared to the 'phone present' (HS). Second, we predicted that participants with higher smartphone addiction scores (SAS) and higher phone conscious thought were more likely to have lower memory accuracy. With regards to separation from their smartphone, we hypothesised that LS participants will experience an increase of negative affect or a decrease in positive affect and that this will affect memory recall negatively. We will also examine whether these predictor variables-smartphone addiction, phone conscious thought and affect differences-predict memory accuracy.

Materials and methods

Participants

A total of 119 undergraduate students (61 females, M age = 20.67 years, SD age = 2.44) were recruited from a private university in an Asian capital city. To qualify for this study, the participant must own a smartphone and does not have any visual or auditory deficiencies. Using G*Power v. 3.1.9.2 [ 30], we require at least 76 participants with an effect size of d = .65, α = .05 and power of (1-β) = .8 based on Thornton et al.'s [ 11] study, or 128 participants from Ward's study [ 13].

Out of 119 participants, 43.7% reported using their smartphone mostly for social networking, followed by communication (31.1%) and entertainment (17.6%) (see Table 1 for full details on smartphone usage). Participants reported an average smartphone use of 8.16 hours in a day ( SD = 4.05). There was no significant difference between daily smartphone use for participants in the high salience (HS) and low salience groups (LS), t (117) = 1.42, p = .16, Cohen's d = .26. Female participants spent more time using their smartphones over a 24-hour period ( M = 9.02, SD = 4.10) compared to males, ( M = 7.26, SD = 3.82), t (117) = 2.42, p = .02, Cohen's d = .44.

Table 1

n

%

Social networking (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)

52

43.7

Communication (WhatsApp, Line, messaging, calls, emails)

37

31.1

Entertainment (music, games, videos)

21

17.6

Web surfing

8

6.7

Productivity (camera, calculator, alarm, calendar)

1

0.8

Ethical approval and informed consent

The study was conducted in accordance with the protocol approved by the Department of Psychology Research Ethics Committee at Sunway University (approval code: 20171090). All participants provided written consent before commencing the study and were not compensated for their participation in the study.

Study design

Our experimental study was a mixed design, with smartphone presence (present vs absent) as a between-subjects factor, and memory task as a within-subjects factor. Participants who had their smartphone out of sight formed the 'Absent' or low-phone salience (LS) condition, and the other group had their smartphone placed next to them throughout the study, 'Present' or high-phone salience (HS) condition. The dependent variable was recall accuracy from the memory test.

Stimuli

Working memory span test

A computerized memory span task 'Operation Span (OS)' retrieved from software Wadsworth CogLab 2.0 was used to assess working memory [ 31]. A working memory span test was chosen as a measure to test participants' memory ability for two reasons. First, participants were required to learn and memorize three types of stimuli thus making this task complex. Second, the duration of task completion took approximately 20 minutes. This was advantageous because we wanted to increase separation-anxiety [ 16] as well as having the most pronounced effect on learning and memory without the presence of their smartphone [ 9].

The test comprised of three stimulus types, namely words (long words such as computer, refrigerator and short words like pen, cup), letters (similar sound E, P, B, and non-similar sound D, H, L) and digits (1 to 9). The test began by showing a sequence of items on the left side of the screen, with each item presented for one second. After that, participants were required to recall the stimulus from a 9-button box located on the right side of the screen. In order to respond correctly, participants were required to click on the buttons for the items in the corresponding order they were presented. A correct response increases the length of stimulus presented by one item (for each stimulus category), while an incorrect response decreases the length of the stimulus by one item. Each trial began with five stimuli and increased or decreased depending on the participants' performance. The minimum length possible was one while the maximum was ten. Each test comprised of 25 trials with no time limit and without breaks between trials. Working memory ability was measured through the number of correct responses over total trials: scores ranged from 0 to 25, with the highest score representing superior working memory.

Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

We used PANAS to assess the current mood/affective state of the participants with state/feeling-descriptive statements [ 32]. PANAS has ten PA statements e.g. interested, enthusiastic, proud, and ten NA statements e.g. guilty, nervous, hostile. Each statement was measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from very slightly or not at all to extremely, and then totalled to form overall PA or NA score with higher scores representing higher levels of PA or NA. In the current study, the internal reliability of PANAS was good with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .819, and .874 for PA and NA respectively.

Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS)

SAS is a 33-item self-report scale used to examine participants' smartphone addiction [ 33]. SAS contained six sub-factors; daily-life disturbance that measures the extent to which mobile phone use impairs one's activities during everyday tasks (5 statements), positive anticipation to describe the excitement of using phone and de-stressing with the use of mobile phone (8 statements), withdrawal refers to the feeling of anxiety when separated from one's mobile phone (6 statements), cyberspace-oriented relationship refers to one's opinion on online friendship (7 statements), overuse measures the excessive use of mobile phone to the extent that they have become inseparable from their device (4 statements), and tolerance points to the cognitive effort to control the usage of one's smartphone (3 statements). Each statement was measured using a six-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, and total SAS was identified by totalling all 33 statements. Higher SAS scores represented higher degrees of compulsive smartphone use. In the present study, the internal reliability of SAS was identified with Cronbach's alpha correlation coefficient of .918.

Phone conscious thought and perceived effect on learning

We included a one-item question for phone conscious thought: "During the memory test how often do you think of your smartphone?". The aim of this question was two-fold; first was to capture endogenous interruption experienced by the separation, and second to complement the smartphone addiction to reflect current immediate experience. Participants rated this item on a scale of one (none to hardly) to seven (all the time). We also included a one-item question on how much they perceived their smartphone use has affected their learning and attention: "In general, how much do you think your smartphone affects your learning performance and attention span?". This item was similarly rated on a scale of one (not at all) to seven (very much).

Procedure

We randomly assigned participants to one of two conditions: low-phone salience (LS) and high-phone salience (HS). Participants were tested in groups of three to six people in a university computer laboratory and seated two seats apart from each other to prevent communication. Each group was assigned to the same experimental condition to ensure similar environmental conditions. Participants in the HS condition were asked to place their smartphone on the left side of the table with the screen facing down. LS participants were asked to hand their smartphone to the researcher at the start of the study and the smartphones were kept on the researcher's table throughout the task at a distance between 50cm to 300cm from the participants depending on their seat location, and located out of sight behind a small panel on the table.

At the start of the experiment, participants were briefed on the rules in the experimental lab, such as no talking and no smartphone use (for HS only). Participants were also instructed to silence their smartphones. They filled in the consent form and demographic form before completing the PANAS questionnaire. They were then directed to CogLab software and began the working memory test. Upon completion, participants were asked to complete the PANAS again followed by the SAS, phone conscious thought, and their perception of their phone use on their learning performance and attention span. The researcher thanked the participants and returned the smartphones (LS condition only) at the end of the task.

Statistical analysis

We examined for normality in our data using the Shapiro-Wilk results and visual inspection of the histogram. For the normally distributed data, we analysed our data using independent-sample t-test for comparison between groups (HS or LS), paired-sample t test for within groups (e.g. before and after phone separation), and Pearson r for correlation. Non-normally distributed or ranked data were analysed using Spearman rho for correlation.

Results

Preliminary analyses

Our female participants reported using their smartphone significantly longer than males, and so we examined the effects of gender on memory recall accuracy. We found no significant difference between males and females on memory recall accuracy, t (117) = .18, p = .86, Cohen's d = .03. Subsequently, data were collapsed, analysed and reported on in the aggregate.

Smartphone presence and memory recall accuracy

An independent-sample t-test was used to examine whether participants' performance on a working memory task was influenced by the presence (HS) or absence (LS) of their smartphone. Results showed that participants in the LS condition had higher accuracy ( M = 14.21, SD = 2.61) compared to HS ( M = 13.08, SD = 2.53), t (117) = 2.38, p = .02, Cohen's d = .44 (see Fig 1 ). The effect size ᶇ ² = .44 indicates that smartphone presence/salience has a moderate effect on participant working memory ability and a sensitivity power of .66.

Relationship between Smartphone Addiction Score (SAS), higher phone conscious thought and memory recall accuracy

SAS and memory recal

We first examined participants' SAS scores between the two conditions. Results showed no significant difference between the LS (M = 104.64, SD = 24.86) and HS (M = 102.70, SD = 20.45) SAS scores, t (117) = .46, p = .64, Cohen's d = .09. We predicted that those with higher SAS scores will have lower memory accuracy, and thus we examined the relationship between SAS and memory recall accuracy using Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed that there was no significant relationship between SAS and memory recall accuracy, r = -.03, n = 119, p = .76. We also examined the SAS scores between the LS and HS groups on memory recall accuracy scores. In the LS group, no significant relationship was established between SAS score and memory accuracy, r = -.04, n = 58, p = .74. Similarly, there was no significant relationship between SAS score and memory accuracy in the HS group, r = .10, n = 61, p = .47. In the event that one SAS subscale may have a larger impact, we examined the relationship between each subscale and memory recall accuracy. Results showed no significant relationship between each sub-factor of SAS scores and memory accuracy, all ps > .12 (see Table 2 ).

Table 2

Characteristics

M

SD

Min

Max

r p

p value

Phone conscious thought and memory accuracy

We found a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought and memory recall accuracy, r S = -.25, n = 119, p = .01. We anticipated a higher phone conscious thought for the LS group since their phone was kept away from them during the task and examined the relationship for each condition. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought and memory accuracy in the HS condition, r S = -.49, n = 61, p = < .001, as well as the LS condition, r S = -.27, n = 58, p = .04.

Affect/mood changes after being separated from their phone

We anticipated that our participants may have experienced either an increase in negative affect (NA) or a decrease in positive affect (PA) after being separated from their phone (LS condition).

We first computed the mean difference (After minus Before) for both positive 'PA difference' and negative affect 'NA difference'. A repeated-measures 2 (Mood change: PA difference, NA difference) x 2 (Conditions: LS, HS) ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there is an interaction between mood change and condition. There was no interaction effect of mood change and condition, F (1, 117) = .38, p = .54, n p ² = .003. There was a significant effect of Mood change, F (1, 117) = 13.01, p < .001, n p ² = .10 (see Fig 2 ).

Subsequent post-hoc analyses showed a significant decrease in participants' positive affect before ( M = 31.12, SD = 5.79) and after ( M = 29.36, SD = 6.58) completing the memory task in the LS participants, t (57) = 2.48, p = .02, Cohen's d = .28 but not for the negative affect, Cohen's d = .07. A similar outcome was also shown in the HS condition, in which there was a significant decrease in positive affect only, t (60) = 3.45, p = .001, Cohen's d = .37 (see Fig 2 ).

PA/NA difference on memory accuracy

We predicted that LS participants will experience either an increase in NA and/or a decrease in PA since their smartphones were taken away and that this will affect memory recall negatively. Results showed that LS participants who experienced a higher NA difference had poorer memory recall accuracy ( r s = -.394, p = .002). We found no significant relationship between NA difference and memory recall accuracy for HS participants ( r s = -.057, p = .663, n = 61) and no significant relationship for PA difference in both HS ( r s = .217, p = .093) and LS conditions ( r s = .063, p = .638).

Relationship between phone conscious thought, smartphone addiction scale and mood changes to memory recall accuracy

Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity, multicollinearity and homoscedasticity. There was a significant positive relationship between SAS scores and phone conscious thought, r S = .25, n = 119, p = .007. Using the enter method, we found that phone conscious thought explained by the model as a whole was 19.9%, R ² = .20, R ² Adjusted = .17, F (4, 114) = 7.10, p < .001. Phone conscious thought significantly predicted memory recall accuracy, b = -.63, t (114) = 4.76, p < .001, but not for the SAS score, b = .02, t (114) = 1.72, p = .09, PA difference score, b = .05, t (114) = 1.29, p = .20, and NA difference score, b = .06, t (114) = 1.61, p = .11.

Perception between phone usage and learning

For the participants' perception of their phone usage on their learning and attention span, we found no significant difference between LS ( M = 4.22, SD = 1.58) and HS participants ( M = 4.07, SD = 1.62), t (117) = .54, p = .59, Cohen's d = .09. There was also no significant correlation between perceived cognitive interference and memory accuracy, r = .07, p = .47.

Discussion

We aimed [ 1] to examine the effect of smartphone presence on memory recall accuracy and [ 2] to investigate the relationship between affective states, phone conscious thought, and smartphone addiction to memory recall accuracy. For the former, our results were consistent with prior studies [ 11- 13] in that participants had lower accuracy when their smartphone was next to them (HS) and higher accuracy when separated from their smartphones (LS). For the latter, we predicted that the short-term separation from their smartphone would evoke some anxiety, identified by either lower PA or higher NA post-test. Our results showed that both groups had experienced a decrease in PA post-test, suggesting that the reduced PA is likely to have stemmed from the prohibited usage (HS) and/or separation from their phone (LS). Our results also showed lower memory recall in the LS group who experienced higher NA providing some evidence that separation from their smartphone does contribute to feelings of anxiety. This is consistent with past studies in which participants reported increased anxiety over time when separated from their phones [ 14], or when smartphone usage was prohibited [ 17].

We also examined another variable-phone conscious thought-described in past studies [ 11, 13], as a measure of smartphone addiction. Our findings showed that phone conscious thought is negatively correlated to memory recall in both HS and LS groups, and uniquely contributed 19.9% in our regression model. We propose that phone conscious thought is more relevant and meaningful compared to SAS as a measure of smartphone addiction [ 15] because unlike the SAS, this question can capture endogenous interruptions from their smartphone behaviour and participants were to simply report their behaviour within the last hour. The SAS is better suited to describe problematic smartphone use as the statements described behaviours over a longer duration. Further, SAS statements included some judgmental terms such as fretful, irritated, and this might have influenced participants' ability in recalling such behaviour. We did not find any support for high smartphone addiction to low memory recall accuracy. Our participants in both HS and LS groups had similar high SAS scores, and they were similar to Kwon et al. [ 33] study, providing further evidence that smartphone addiction is relatively high in the student population compared to other categories such as employees, professionals, unemployed. Our participants' high SAS scores and primary use of the smartphone was for social media signals potential problematic users [ 34]. Students' usage of social networking (SNS) is common and the fear of missing out (FOMO) may fuel the SNS addiction [ 35]. Frequent checks on social media is an indication of lower levels of self-control and may indicate a need for belonging.

Our results for the presence of a smartphone and frequent phone conscious thought on memory recall is likely due to participants' cognitive load 'bandwidth effect' that contributed to poor memory recall rather than a failure in their memory processes. Past studies have shown that participants with smartphones could generally perform simple cognitive tasks as well as those without, suggesting that memory failure in participants themselves to be an unlikely reason [ 1, 3, 5]. Due to our study design, we are unable to tease apart whether the presence of the smartphone had interfered with encoding, consolidation, or recall stage in our participants. This is certainly something of consideration for future studies to determine which aspects of memory processes are more susceptible to smartphone presence.

There are several limitations in our study. First, we did not ask the phone conscious thought at specific time points during the study. Having done so might have determined whether such thoughts impaired encoding, consolidating, or retrieval. Second, we did not include the simple version of this task as a comparison to rule out possible confounds within the sample. We did maintain similar external stimuli in their environment during testing, e.g. all participants were in one specific condition, lab temperature, lab noise, and thereby ruling out possible external factors that may have interfered with their memory processes. Third, the OS task itself. This task is complex and unfamiliar, which may have caused some disadvantages to some participants. However, the advantage of an unfamiliar task requires more cognitive effort to learn and progress and therefore demonstrates the limited cognitive load capacity in our brain, and whether such limitation is easily affected by the presence of a smartphone. Future studies could consider allowing participants to use their smartphone in both conditions and including eye-tracking measures to determine their smartphone attachment behaviour.

Implications

Future studies should look into the online learning environment. Students are often users of multiple electronic devices and are expected to use their devices frequently to learn various learning materials. Because students frequently use their smartphones for social media and communication during lessons [ 34, 36], the online learning environment becomes far more challenging compared to a face-to-face environment. It is highly unlikely that we can ban smartphones despite evidence showing that students performed poorer academically with their smartphones presented next to them. The challenge is then to engage students to remain focused on their lessons while minimising other content. Some online platforms (e.g. Kahoot and Mentimeter) create a fun interactive experience to which students complete tasks on their smartphones and allow the instructor to monitor their performance from a computer. Another example is to use Twitter as a classroom tool [ 37].

The ubiquitous nature of the smartphone in our lives also meant that our young graduates are constantly connected to their smartphones and very likely to be on SNS even at work. Our findings showed that the most frequently used feature was the SNS sites e.g. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Being frequently on SNS sites may be a challenge in the workforce because these young adults need to maintain barriers between professional and social lives. Young adults claim that SNS can be productive at work [ 38], but many advise to avoid crossing boundaries between professional and social lives [ 39, 40]. Perhaps a more useful approach is to recognise a good balance when using SNS to meet both social and professional demands for the young workforce.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the presence of the smartphone and frequent thoughts of their smartphone significantly affected memory recall accuracy, demonstrating that they contributed to an increase in cognitive load 'bandwidth effect' interrupting participants' memory processes. Our initial hypothesis that experiencing higher NA or lower PA would have reduced their memory recall was not supported, suggesting that other factors not examined in this study may have influenced our participants' affective states. With the rapid rise in the e-learning environment and increasing smartphone ownership, smartphones will continue to be present in the classroom and work environment. It is important that we manage or integrate the smartphones into the classroom but will remain a contentious issue between instructors and students.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our participants for volunteering to participate in this study, and comments on earlier drafts by Louisa Lawrie and Su Woan Wo. We would also like to thank one anonymous reviewer for commenting on the drafts.

Funding Statement

MHY received funding from Sunway University (GRTIN-RRO-104-2020 and INT-RRO-2018-49).

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the manuscript.

References

2. Perlow LA. Sleeping with Your Smartphone: How to Break the 24/7 Habit and Change the Way You Work. Harvard Business Press; 2012. 286 p. [ Google Scholar]

31. Francis G, Neath I, VanHorn D. CogLab On A CD, Version 2.0. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; 2008. [ Google Scholar]

35. Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD. Social networking sites and addiction: Ten lessons learned. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017. March;14(3):311. [[ PubMed] PMC free article] [ Google Scholar]

39. Wang Y, Norcie G, Komanduri S, Acquisti A, Leon PG, Cranor LF. 'I Regretted the Minute I Pressed Share': A qualitative study of regrets on Facebook. In: Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security [Internet]. New York, NY, USA: ACM; 2011 [cited 2019 Apr 23]. p. 10:1-10:16. (SOUPS '11). Available from: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2078827.2078841

40. Skeels MM, Grudin J. When social networks cross boundaries: A case study of workplace use of Facebook and Linkedin. In: Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work [Internet]. New York, NY, USA: ACM; 2009 [cited 2019 Apr 23]. p. 95-104. (GROUP '09). Available from: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1531674.1531689

Articles from PLOS ONE are provided here courtesy of PLOS

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Mobile phones: The effect of its presence on learning and memory

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Our aim was to examine the effect of a smartphone's presence on learning and memory among undergraduates. A total of 119 undergraduates completed a memory task and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS). As predicted, those without smartphones had ...

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Love Makes Us More Intelligent, According to Neuroscience

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This article is about love, and how love makes use more intelligent.“Anyone who’s in love, particularly in the early part of the relationship, feels more awake and emotionally connected to the world. Also, they’re more empathetic and compassionate.” Research has shown that people who are in love, think fast, perceive other people’s ideas and behaviors more, and are more creative. A lot of people believe that you start “losing your mind” when you fall in love but in reality, love makes you smarter. Love can make people perceive other’s feelings and understandings a little better and can help recognize other individuals’ characteristics in a different and deeper level, it also makes us better humans in general. These activations are mostly intense in the earlier stages of love/relationship, but the same effects and benefits can show even later in the relationship if the love is still there.

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People often say that, when a person falls in love, they lose their mind in one way or another. Well, actually, neuroscience has proven that the opposite is true! Love makes us more intelligent<t!

When a person's in love, several things change in their brain and physiology. This experience is very special, precisely because of that.

Anyone who's in love, particularly in the early part of the relationship, feels more awake and emotionally connected to the world. Also, they're more empathetic and compassionate.

The fact is that love makes us better human beings. However, in addition to that, neuroscience discovered that love makes us smarter as well. Why? The chemistry of love resides primarily in the brain, and the transformation that falling in love entails also reaches areas that perform cognitive functions.

"To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life."
-Pablo Neruda-

Love makes us more intelligent

In order to reach the conclusion that love makes us smarter, a group of researchers from the University of Chicago scanned the brains of several people who were in love. These images, along with other tests, showed that people who love also think faster, perceive other people's ideas and behaviors more clearly, and are also more creative.

To reach these conclusions, the researchers used electrodes. They placed the electrodes on the heads of the participants and then showed them a series of photographs, including one of their partner. In addition, they also told them different names, including their partner's name.

Then, the researchers discovered that 12 brain areas activated when these people saw their loved one or heard their name. One of the areas that showed particularly intense activity was the angular gyrus, one of the regions traditionally associated with abstract thinking and creativity. In fact, this activity didn't stop when participants saw pictures of other people or heard other names.

"Losing your mind"

The results of the study were quite conclusive. Thus, you don't "lose your mind" when you fall in love. In fact, love really does seem to make us more intelligent.

In this regard, the study researchers compare the angular gyrus to a small robot that can activate a complex neural network, since this area is highly connected to other brain areas.

The angular gyrus plays a role in functions such as number and language processing, as well as highly complex autobiographical data. This means that, along with love, we also acquire a special capacity to understand our own behaviors in a better way. This happens at a deeper level than in normal situations.

This thought and perception increase make people who are in love more capable of understanding other people's behaviors on a deeper level. Thus, they perceive other people's characteristics more effectively and recognize their feelings in a better way. That's why researchers have concluded that loving makes us better people as well.

Beyond the initial crush

It's clear that all these brain activations and reactions are more intense during the infatuation stage. However, another study found that the same effects could be observed later on in the relationship. As long as love was present, there were very real benefits, even if that love wasn't as effervescent as at the beginning.

A University of California study confirmed this. This time, the researchers studied a number of couples who'd been together for an average of 21.4 years. What these couples had in common was they all still claimed to be in love with their respective partners. The researchers found that their brains reacted similarly to the couples we mentioned above, who had recently fallen in love.

One particular observation was an increased amount of dopamine in their brains. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that has beneficial effects on a person's mood and also influences cognitive activity. Basically, it helps to regulate and modulate information flows. In this regard, a dopamine deficit leads to memory, attention, and problem-solving difficulties.

Based on all this evidence, we can reach the conclusion that love indeed makes us more intelligent. Such intelligence not only applies to strictly cognitive matters but also encompasses the broader world of emotional intelligence.
It might interest you...

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Love Makes Us More Intelligent, According to Neuroscience

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People often say that, when a person falls in love, they lose their mind in one way or another. Well, actually, neuroscience has proven that the opposite is true! Love makes us more intelligent<t! When a person's in love, several things change in their brain and physiology.

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How Perception Impacts Sports Performance | The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich

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In life, how we perceive things impacts the way we act and do certain things. In sports, if an athlete is perceiving their sport as intimidating or the sport itself is causing fear, the athlete might not reach his or her highest potential. Different people react to situations differently based on what they feel is correct and how they perceive things. Two athletes might see the same situation differently, the one who is confident in their abilities is more likely to see it as "just another challenge" while the athlete who is less confident in their skills can see "all the reasons they might not succeed". Perception is the "trigger" that might cause confidence or fear. Changing your perception of things can help you change the outcome of situations.

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The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich |

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How we perceive things in life greatly impacts the thoughts and behaviors that follow - for better or for worse. When athletes "see" challenges instead of seeing threats, their mind and body flow in synchrony and often the athlete improves mental toughness and reaches his or her full athletic potential as a result. Conversely, sport psychologists have found that otherwise talented athletes can actually offset their athletic abilities by perceiving sport situations as scary, intimidating, or threatening.
What You "See" is an Individual Experience
Human perception is a fluid, delicate, and personal experience - this means that when two people see the same stimulus, they often come away with different accounts of what they saw. Using a sports example, when athletes think about their upcoming competition they often perceive the experience in very different ways. A confident athlete will "see" a challenge on the horizon, while a less confident athlete will "see" all the reasons why he or she won't be able to compete successfully. Same competition, but very different perceptions about the upcoming game.

Take for example the following image - do you see an old woman or young woman in the picture? Actually, both are present but different people will "see" different things:

Reviewing the example above, you "saw" what you looked for, illustrating how malleable and varied our perceptions can be when looking at a stimulus.
All Athletes Deal with Perception Challenges
What makes this discussion around sports perception even more interesting is the fact that these differing perceptions happen at all levels of sports - from pee-wees to the pros. In all of these cases, the perception the athlete experiences actually triggers neurotransmitters ("fight or flight"), which in turn activate congruent behavioral responses (i.e. the scared athlete will experience physiological nerves - like sweating and increased heart rate). Perception, therefore, can be best understood as the trigger that determines whether the athlete will experience confidence or fear.

The good news about all of this is that sports perception is controlled by the individual, and even athletes who regularly experience fear when thinking about the competition can change their thinking relatively quickly if they are committed to the change. In other words, you don't have to continue to be nervous and worried about who you are going to compete against if you no longer want to fear your opponents!
Change Your Perception - Improve Your Game
A great way to start with this change (if you are an athlete who struggles with sport perception fear) is to begin by thinking about how rational your fear is in sports. For example, are you truly worried about real fear (like being injured), or is it more irrational fear you struggle with (like what people will think if you fail)? In the vast majority of the cases I deal with, it is the second type of fear (irrational fear) that most athletes struggle with when answering this question.

Perhaps the greatest value in exploring how perception impacts thinking and behaviors is that this discussion goes far beyond the sports playing field - in fact, how we perceive life events has everything to do with the following success (or lack thereof) we experience. Improving sport perception, therefore, is actually a life skill and not limited to the playing field.
Check out the Athlete Tool Kit to take your game to the next level!

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How Perception Impacts Sports Performance | The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How we perceive things in life greatly impacts the thoughts and behaviors that follow - for better or for worse. When athletes "see" challenges instead of seeing threats, their mind and body flow in synchrony and often the athlete improves mental toughness and reaches his or her full athletic potential as a result.

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The Positive Effects Of Nature On Your Mental Well-Being

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Nature has a positive impact on you and your mental health. It helps you from within unlike technology and social media which only distracts you from reality. Forest bathing and outdoor activities can help reduce the chances of getting eyesight problems and it produces anti-cancer proteins. Taking a stroll in nature can also improve your memory, build attention and focus. Breathing in the natural air also gives you sensory awareness. People who spend time outdoors rather than on their phones are more likely to have better problem-solving skills and creative abilities. Additionally, it can also help people who are suffering from depression because nature uplifts your mood and makes you feel more energetic.

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Nature heals.

Just a walk in the woods or a stroll by the beach on a sunny morning can awaken the innermost feelings of happiness and peace, and Environmental Psychology has gone a long way proving this fact (Bell, Greene, Fisher, & Baum, 1996).

Our affinity toward nature is genetic and deep-rooted in evolution. For example, have you ever wondered why most people prefer to book accommodations that have a great view from the balcony or the terrace? Why patients who get a natural view from their hospital bed recover sooner than others? Or why does it happen that when stress takes a toll on our mind, we crave for time to figure out things amidst nature?

Frank Lloyd Wright had said, " Study Nature, love Nature, stay close to Nature. It will never fail you. " This article investigates the human-nature relationship in detail. Why we feel so empowered when we are close to Nature?

What happens to us when the soft breeze or the warm sun touch us? With research-backed evidence and useful environment-support hacks, this piece explores and acknowledges the sheer boon of the 'Nature Contact'.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our 3 Positive Psychology Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students or employees.

A Look at The Positive Effects Of Connecting With Nature

Author Richard Louv mentioned 'Nature-Deficit Disorder' in his famous book ' Last Child In The Woods.'

According to Louv, nature-deficit disorder is not the presence of an anomaly in the brain; it is the loss of connection of humans to their natural environment. Staying close to nature improves physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. It makes us feel alive from the inside, and we should not compromise it for recent developments like urbanization, technology, or social media.

As mentioned above, the benefits of staying close to nature are diverse. We can enjoy the positive effects of connecting to the environment at all levels of individual well-being.

Let's see how:

Nature Impacts Health

Forest bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, as they call it in Japan, is a famous way of spending time in nature. Research has shown that people who practice forest bathing have optimum nervous system functions, well-balanced heart conditions, and reduced bowel disorders.

The Forest Bathing research also suggested that by stimulating the production of anti-cancer proteins, frequent walks or trips into the wilderness help patients in fighting terminal diseases. Although this is ongoing research and firmer evidence are awaited, this suggestion is strong enough to prove the benefits of being outdoors.

Nature Improves Psychological Well-Being

A study at the University of Kansas found that spending more time outdoors and less time with our electronic devices can increase our problem-solving skills and improve creative abilities (Atchley, Strayer, & Atchley, 2012).

Spiritual Enhancement

Environmental psychologists have argued that there is a value component added to the human-nature relationship. By staying close to nature, we feel more grateful and appreciative of what it has to offer to us (Proshansky, 1976). Seeing the wonders of the world outside automatically fosters within us the urge to protect it.

Breathing in nature gives us wholesome sensory awareness. When we spend time outdoors, we are more mindful of what we see, what we hear, what we smell, and what we feel.

A Look at The Psychology Of Environment

Environmental psychology is the study of human wellbeing in connectivity to the environment he lives in (Stokols & Altman, 1987). It is the offshoot of brain science that focuses on the relationship living beings (especially humans) have with nature and studies the dynamics of the person-environment coexistence.

The psychology of the environment is a relatively contemporary concept. It emerged as a branch of psychology following research by Proshansky and colleagues on person-place interactions in the 1970s.

Environmental psychology is rooted in the belief that nature has a significant role in human development and conduct. It believes that nature has a vital contribution to the way we think, feel, and behave with others.

A fascinating story of the role of nature in shaping human behavior was mentioned in Marco Polo's diary. It said that in 1272 when Polo was traveling through the different parts of Western Asia, he noted that the people of Kerman were polite, humble, and well-behaved, while the people in Persia, which was in the neighborhood, were cruel, unkind, and threatful.

When exploring the reason for this stark behavioral difference, the people said that it was the 'soil' that was responsible for it. And as the story goes, when the King ordered soil from Isfahan in Persia and kept it in his banquet hall, his men started to shower each other with curse words and assaulted their folks.

Environmental psychology is for the most part problem-oriented. It aims to bring to notice the ongoing hazards and the faltering human-nature connections that we need to address.

By identifying the problem areas, it opens ways for solution-focused research and explorations. The psychology of nature and environment continuously facilitate climatic moderation. It also digs into the ways we can change the physical environment that we live in, to feel more connected and coexisting with nature.

Environmental psychology promotes healthy natural ecosystem and suggests how malfunctions in habitat have and will continue to affect human behavior, demographic variants, and the society as a whole.

Basic Tenets of The Psychology Of Environment

The psychology of environment works around the following main ideas (Gifford, 2007).

Human dependence on nature validates evolution. We are more adaptive to natural settings than human-made habitats.

Contact with natural light is therapeutic and has immediate positive effects on stress, blood pressure, and immune system.

Strong connections to the environment enhance the person-space idea and increase environmental perception.

Humans are always capable of improving the environment they live in.

Humans are active adapters to changes in society and the environment. They reshape their social identities and affiliations according to the physical space they live in.

4 Examples of Nature in Psychology

Nature has a deep-rooted meaning in psychology that encompasses the core components of our existence, including our genes. The popular nature-nurture concept in developmental psychology explores all the variables that shape and influence the relationship that our internal (personality traits and genetic factors) and external worlds (physical environment that we live in) share.

The Biophilia Hypothesis delved into the human relationship with nature in 1984. The concept was initially used by German psychoanalyst Erich Fromm who described biophilia as the ' love for everything that is alive.' The idea of biophilia was later expanded by American biologist Edward O. Wilson, who proposed that the human inclination towards nature has a genetic basis.

1. Stress And Nature

A large-scale experiment conducted on 120 subjects ascertained the 'nature-connection' in stress reduction and coping. Each participant observed visuals of either a natural landscape or an urban environment. The data obtained from this survey revealed that participants who looked at the picture of natural setting had low scores on stress scales and had better heartbeat and pulse counts.

Furthermore, investigators also found that the stress recovery rate was much higher in participants who got a natural exposure than the ones who saw urbanized ambiances. The flow of this study strongly indicated the role nature plays in improving our general mental health conditions including stress (Ulrich et al., 1991).

2. Nature For Building Attention

The fact that staying close to nature improves focus and attention span, was suggested in the Attention Restoration Theory by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan (1989). The theory explains why staying close to nature re-energizes us and reduces fatigue.

Encounters with any aspect of the natural environment - sunset, beach, clouds, or forests grab our positive attention without us paying much effort to it, and the whole process restores the life energy that negative emotions had taken away from us.

3. Climate Crisis and Denial

An immensely significant example of nature in human psychology is the research on climate crisis or climate change.

Climate crisis and global warming are international concerns today, and some psychologists argue that the impact of climate change is so vast and unimaginable, that we often choose not to respond to it.

Nevertheless, the effect of climate change on human psychology and mental health is well-established now. Studies show that climate change over the years has had a dramatic impact on the way we think, behave, decide, and execute plans (Lorenzoni, Pidgeon, & O'Connor, 2005).

The Australian Psychological Society has provided some mind-boggling figures. At the time of writing, they estimate 5-8% of the population across the US, UK, and Australia denies that climate change is happening, while 97% of climate scientists accept the fact and are concerned about it.

However small the denial rate may seem, researchers suggest that it is enough to create a judgment gap that may cause people to doubt their contribution behind the climatic adversities. No matter which direction the judgment travels, it is undeniable that climate crisis has and will continue to impact human minds in some way or the other.

4. Psychology, Values, And Nature

An experiment conducted on the landowners on Pennsylvania disclosed that staying close to nature adds a sense of value toward the self, others, and toward Mother Nature.

It builds connectivity and lets the way for gratitude and appreciation.

Results showed that respondents who had higher connectivity with nature and spent more time outdoors were more environmentally responsible, concerned, and happier in their interpersonal relationships (Dutcher, Finley, Luloff, & Johnson, 2007).

What Does the Research Say?

The Human-Nature Relationship And Health

The research paper on ' Human-Nature Relationship And Its Impact On Health: A Critical Review' explores all the aspects of the interconnection we have with nature and how it affects our general health and well-being.

Author Valentine Seymour (2016) defined our relationship with nature in close association with Darwinian principles of Evolutionary psychology. The study explained concepts of evolutionary biology, social economics, psychology, and environmentalism and scouts how the interplay of all these influence human health. The interdisciplinary research model suggests that:

Staying close to nature improves physical conditions like hypertension, cardiac illness, and chronic pain.

A strong connection to the natural environment enhances emotional well-being and alleviates feelings of social isolation. Besides, it also helps individuals suffering from mental health conditions like attention disorders, mood disorders, and different forms of anxiety.

Nature-friendly people are more environmentally conscious and responsible. They have a rational sense of using their physical space and are more proactive to enact on issues that might help in sustaining the environment they live in.

A Multi-Disciplinary Study On Human-Nature Relationship

The multi-disciplinary HNC (Human-Nature Connection) study was a vast exploration of the kinetics involving the relatability we bear with our physical environment and also why many people are still unaware about the benefits of staying close to nature.

The study included a heap of psychometric assessments and personal interviews, and the results obtained by Ives et al. (2017) provided a strong lineup of why the human-nature connection is vital for human life and sustainability.

The University Of Tasmania Study On Nature And Affective Experience

David Hayward published this thesis in 2016 and studied the effect of nature connection with enhanced mental health conditions in students.

With strong evidence and research-backed examples, he suggested that teaching students from a broad perspective is way more effective than showing them only the subject matter (Knapp, 1989).

He studied the implications of outdoor education and concluded that kids who received outdoor training were more satisfied and emotionally well-balanced.

Not only that, outdoor educators, according to the researcher, were possessors of sound mental health and loved their jobs more than teachers in a controlled setting. The study attracted many educational sectors and have encouraged educators and facilitators to embrace outdoor activities as an integral part of educational courses.

Research On Connecting Children With Nature

The love for outdoors must grow from the very beginning of life.

Instead of encouraging our children to spend 'on-screen', parents and caregivers must push them to spend more time 'on the green.'

The research ' Benefits Of Connecting Children With Nature ' (New Zealand Department of Conservation, n.d.) was an authentic initiative to support environmental conservation and increase nature awareness among youngsters today. The study explores the reasons for the disconnect that the young generation is unconsciously suffering from and suggests effective approaches that can help in improving the nature-human reciprocity.

5 Interesting Studies

1. A Study On Climatic Conditions And Its Effects On Personality Traits

A team of psychologists in the US, UK, China, and Australia investigated how climatic changes affect human personality (Wei et al., 2017). The study aimed to examine and explore the aetiological causes of why character and behavioral patterns differ with climatic variations.

The sample population for the research were individuals from China and the US, two different places in terms of climatic conditions, and the report explained personality variances concerning the Big Five Personality Factor Theory.

Results indicated that people who lived in a moderate climate, with temperature up to 22-24 degrees, score higher on personality traits such as sociableness, openness, extraversion, and agreeableness. This study was a basic authentication of the fact that the physical environment we live in plays a crucial role in shaping our personality disposition, and why there should be more awareness about protecting the Nature from mayhem.

2. A Study On Nature And Human Emotions

Scientists Ryan Lumber, Miles Richardson, and David Sheffield published this research paper in 2017 and focused on the affective components of associating with nature. The authors suggested that being close to nature evokes positive emotions.

Outdoor activities such as hiking, gardening, or birdwatching, enhance the nature-human connection and acts as a catalyst to happiness. The study used the Nature Relatedness Scale and recorded responses on a basic Likert Scale.

The results culminated from the study positively correlated outdoor experiences with positive emotions and expanded HNC (Lumber, Richardson, & Sheffield, 2017).

3. Climate Change And Its Effect On Human Personality

Charles Q. Choi (2017) published an enthralling paper on how global warming and climate crisis is expected to bring about changes in human behavior and personality traits.

The researcher argues that if climate has a role to play in framing our dispositions, then it is only logical to believe that climate crisis and the changes that follow will also impact human mannerisms significantly.

The research-based explanations and pieces of evidence of this paper, has raised questions that are yet to be answered by experts.

4. Psychological Changes Associated With Living In The Polar Areas

This study was published by Zimmer et al., in 2013 and discussed how life in polar regions might impact the physical and mental well-being of the residents.

The study, besides establishing facts about being in the Poles, also firmly ascertained that we could not escape human-nature connection when talking about mental health and well-being.

The research suggested that geographically isolated regions of Antarctica are highly prone to get affected by climatic variations and global setbacks (Bradbury, 2002).

The lack of sunlight and extreme weather conditions in these regions impact the cognitive functioning, anxiety levels, and causes a static low mood condition for its inhabitants (Paul, Mandal, Ramachandran, & Panwar, 2010a; Paul, Mandal, Ramachandran, & Panwar, 2010b).

5. Nature And Spirituality

The prime focus of this research was to spread awareness about human disconnection from nature and explain why we must reconstruct this to promote happiness.

Investigator of this study, Professor Helen Lockhart (2011), indicated that the socio-ecological crisis the world is seeing today is due to this breach of connection between humans and nature. She highlights in her study that there is a spiritual enhancement that is linked to the human-nature relationship.

Each encounter with the natural environment takes us deeper into exploring the truth behind our existence and what a happier world would look like. The subject matter of this study was that materialistic gains has blindfolded us and has made us spiritually bankrupt (Okri, 2008).

Furthermore, the research also indicated that since humans are genetically conditioned to stay in close coexistence with nature, an absence of nature-human connection creates a sense of loneliness and unhappiness within us.

It is this feeling of gloom, as the researcher suggests, that is the reason for societal disruptions and human immorality today, and while we may seek for answers outside, the real solution lies in the nature-human relationship.

The Importance of Nature to Well-Being

A 30-days campaign was run by the Wildlife Trusts of the University of Derby, with the prime focus on uncovering the crucial role nature plays in our overall eudaemonia. The study revealed that subjective feelings of happiness and wellbeing were positively correlated with natural activities such as gardening, animal feeding, bird watching, and bushwalking (Richardson, Cormack, McRobert, & Underhill, 2016).

Dr. Miles Richardson, the face of this research, cited valuable evidence on how proximity to the nature improved mood, enhanced respiratory functioning, regulated hormonal malfunctions, and impacted on the thought structure of individuals as a whole.

Just by being outdoors and using all our senses to appreciate nature, we can be more mindful of the present, gain emotional resilience, and combat stress with more vitality.

We become naturally immune to anxiety, emotional ups and downs, and thought blocks, thereby feel more lively and energetic than before.

The survey further pointed that people who lived close to natural wilderness like the beach, mountains, or parklands, had better mental health and reported of falling sick lesser than those living in congested urban settings.

Such families had fewer instances of domestic violence, said of feeling less fatigued, and showed increased productivity at the professional front.

The Relationship Between Nature And Human Health

A recent survey report launched by scholars out of Deakin University (Maller et al., 2009) demonstrated some practical points as to how human and nature are entwined with each other.

Although the study had other focal areas and did not concentrate on a massive global sample, the report that came out was used and shared widely by environmental psychologists and social scientists to explain the relationship we have with our physical habitat.

The major assertions of this report were:

Staying close to greeneries such as farms, parks and fields increase chances of related outdoor activities (walking, gardening, farming, playing, etc.). This improves mental health and physical fitness in adults and children who live there.

Nature-friendly urban settings can be useful in promoting social connections and interpersonal communication.

Contact with nature in any form enhances spiritual health and fills the mind with a deeper insight into life.

Children who are encouraged to spend more time outdoors are owners of good physical and mental health. They are less prone to problems like obesity, asthma, childhood anxiety, and depression, and are more focused on their lives than others.

Adolescents who had a close connection to nature were emotionally well-balanced and had better coping skills than other children of their age.

Aged people, who had access to green parks felt more positive and hopeful.

5 Proven Benefits of Being in Nature

Sir David Attenborough, one of the most popular nature enthusiasts the world has seen in a long time, had fairly quoted that

"We must cherish the natural world because we're a part of it and we depend on it."

It is difficult to gauge the benefits we can derive from being close to nature. Be that on the mind, body, or the soul, it leaves a lasting positive impression on every single aspect of our existence.

1. Nature provides

A day out in the sunshine can suffice us with vitamin D, a nutrient we don't get from food as much we need it.

The right level of Vitamin D in the body immunes us against diseases like osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Besides, it also ensures the smooth functioning of the immune system.

Studies have indicated that a large chunk of the population today is deficient of the 'sunshine vitamin,' which explains the massive increase in fatal diseases today, and rather than relying on human-made supplements, a close connection to nature can help in replenishing the deficit (Naeem, 2010).

2. Nature improves

Computer Vision Syndrome (CSV) is a condition that arises from staring at the screen for prolonged hours. Naturally, such exposures take a toll on our eyesight and develop problems like dry eyes, myopia, or chronic headaches.

Spending time outdoors, especially in the greeneries is the best natural solution to this. Looking at the green grass, the trees, the flowers, and all the other aspects of the environment improve focus and eyesight.

Interestingly, studies have shown that children who spend more than four hours a day in the outdoors are four times less likely to develop eyesight problems than children who spent less than one hour outdoors every day (Rose et al., 2008).

3. Nature cleanses

The environment is a natural purifier. Spending some hours outdoors helps in releasing the toxins from our body and leave us all fresh and rejuvenated.

The amount of bad air that we breathe in because of the pollution, industrial fumes, and indoor pollutants, is potent enough to dysregulate our respiratory tract, giving birth to breathing troubles, bronchitis, and asthma.

And there is no other solution to this except for spending more time in the natural environment and getting some fresh air every day.

4. Nature builds

Mostly, the time we spend outside involves physical activity in some form. It may be walking, jogging, cycling, diving, surfing, playing, or anything alike. Any exercise in the outdoors helps in burning fat and improves the metabolism rate in the body.

Research in this area has revealed that people who exercise outdoors enjoy their workout sessions more and are more likely to practice it regularly, than people who exercise indoors (Thompson Coon et al., 2011). Besides, outdoor activities are related to longer life span and fewer health problems.

5. Nature heals

"A walk in nature walks the soul back home"

Mary Davis

Nature is undoubtedly the best healer. Spending time in nature awakens our senses and provides clarity.

Many studies have proved that people who have a close connection to the landscapes are happier from the inside - they indulge themselves in positive thinking and have better coping mechanisms than others.

A strong human-nature relationship means emotional balance, more focus, solution-oriented thinking, and an overall resilient approach to life.

A Brief Look at Psychoevolutionary Theory

The Psychoevolutionary Theory is built on the proposition that our personality, actions, and thoughts are shaped genetically by natural selection.

Roger Ulrich (1984), the face of this theory said that humans have a deep-rooted affinity towards nature, which is due to the thousands of years that early humans had spent living amid the wild landscapes. It is due to this fact that staying close to nature brings a feeling of positivity and happiness in us.

Furthermore, the PET (Psychoevolutionary Theory) asserted that staying in a human-made environment invites disorders like stress, depression, obesity, and cardiac diseases, and is a challenge to our overall well-being (Ulrich & Simons, 1986).

Spending long hours indoors is likely to bring negative thoughts and fatigue. Through extensive research and survey, scientists have proved that when we feel low and less energetic, an encounter with the natural elements can instantly make us feel better (Zuckerman, 1977).

The psychoevolutionary model of Ulrich (1983) suggested that:

Staying close to nature is a genetically influenced preference of humans.

Spending more time outdoors has a replenishing effect on emotions, memory, and cognition.

Restraining oneself in enclosed artificial physical settings can evoke anger, despair, and depression - together affecting our wellbeing.

Nature has an in-built restoration component that helps in stress reduction and emotional regulation.

Attention Restoration Theory

The Attention Restoration Theory (ART) was proposed by Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan (1989) and reflected upon the gospel that staying close to the natural environment builds focus.

The proponents of the theory first mentioned about this in their book 'The experience of nature: A psychological perspective ' where they discussed how effortlessly witnessing natural phenomena like watching the leaves move, or the clouds float, make us more observant and attentive.

They identified two types of attention:

1. Voluntary attention - where we willingly focus on something and spend our mental energy fully into internalizing the experience.

2. Involuntary attention - where we unknowingly pay attention to something and get invested into that.

The ART suggests that any attention can be built and redeemed through exposure to natural settings. By establishing a strong connection to nature, we can stay away from everyday stressors, experience positivity and joy, regain intrinsic motivation, and become more aware of our sensory stimulations (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008; Kaplan, 1995).

The theory indicates that nature has some 'soft fascinations' that help in restoring attention when we get distracted or mentally tied down. The soft fascinations are nothing but soothing natural elements (for example flowers, breeze, or gentle sunshine) that we all love to be close to. When we stay close to these pleasant aspects of nature, we do not have to put any effort into attending to it; we effortlessly immerse ourselves into the experience.

They bring feelings of pleasure and contentment, which is why people who spend more time in nature are more intuitive, energetic, and consciously attentive (Fuller, Irvine, Devine-Wright, Warren, & Gaston, 2007; Keniger, Gaston, Irvine, & Fuller, 2013).

Several studies and large-scale surveys had been conducted to validate the theory and is still an intriguing area of research for environmentalists (Ohly et al., 2016).

Mycobacterium Vaccae: The Happy Bacterium?

The term Mycobacterium Vaccae originated from the Mycobacteriaceae, a type of soil bacteria and the Latin word Vacca, meaning 'cow' (as it was first found in a cow dung sample taken from Austria).

The reason for the popularity of this microorganism is because of the incredible links it has with health improvement and psychological well-being. Studies indicate that the Mycobacterium Vaccae, more commonly known as the 'happy bacteria' or the 'happiness bacteria' is useful for treating asthma, cancer, depression, phobia, dermatitis, and even tuberculosis.

A study conducted by O'Brien and colleagues (2004) explained how by injecting the bacteria in patients with chronic lung disease, she made them recover faster and with a better prognosis. Besides, the research also suggested that using this microbe improves mood, induces positive emotions, and produces more vitality.

Another study headed by Dr. Christopher Lowry, a neuroscientist at the University of Bristol explored the effect of the 'Happiness Bacterium' on stress and burnout by injecting the bacteria on mice and conducting a series of stress tests on them after that.

The results showed that the group of mice that received the Mycobacterium injections acted as if they were on antidepressants. But no such reaction was noticed on the group that did not receive the treatment. The research report indicated that the Mycobacterium Vaccae activates the neurotransmitters in the brain that release serotonin or the 'happy hormone,' resulting in inducing happiness and positivity (Lowry et al., 2007).

Besides boosting happiness, happy bacteria also makes us immune to flu, infections and gives a significant boost to brain functioning. Now we know why they say " The dirtier the feet, the happier the heart. "

5 Ways to Apply the Positive Effects of Nature in Our Life

1. Walk more

We know walking is good for the heart, muscles, and the overall metabolism rate. And now scientists have proved that walking in the natural environment improves our emotional health too.

A study conducted and published by Stanford University, California revealed that participants who walked in the green parklands showed increased attention and focus, more so than participants who walked in closed urban settings or on a treadmill (Bratman, Daily, Levy, & Gross, 2015).

Not only that, but the former group also showed less engagement in negative thinking and felt more confident about themselves than the other group.

2. Keep a nature journal

A nature journal is a creative and unique way of imbibing the positive vibes of nature into our everyday lives. Many people who encourage this habit express feelings of inner peace and joy. In a nature journal, we can collect and note everything about our encounters with the outer world.

For example, after a walk by the beach on a cloudy evening, we can sketch some clouds in the journal or draw the sea and write how we felt when we were walking through the breezy shore. Many people collect small things like a pebble, flowers, feathers, or leaves, and glue them in the nature journal with their thoughts poured into it.

A great way to spend some quality 'me-time,' nature journaling inevitably brings a part of nature in our usual lives.

Watch this video to get started on nature journaling:

3. Spend some working hours outside

Most working professionals today have the flexibility to access daily tasks outside (thanks to technology). We can choose to spend a part of our working day out to avoid the monotony of the cubicle and the same old office space.

It may be one conference in the garden or lunch at the local park, anything that can logically amalgamates with nature. Spending some time outside alone or with co-workers gives an instant boost of freshness to the mind, thereby reducing the stress and frustration that comes from working tonelessly for hours at a stretch.

4. Plant at home

Growing plants at home not just add aesthetic beauty to your space, it also contributes to purifying the air you breathe in.

Having plants at home balances and soothes the home ambiance and aids in respiration and breathing. Studies have proved that indoor plants or a garden are beneficial for the mental health of the people who live there. They help in improving sensory awareness, cognitive functions, and enhances focus (Orwell, Wood, Tarran, Torpy, & Burchett, 2004).

Indoor plants reconnect us to nature, please our senses, and brings a serene feeling when we stay close to them.

5. Balance the diet with more natural elements

Diet is undoubtedly a great way of establishing a strong connection to Mother Nature. By consuming more plant-based proteins, vitamins, and minerals, we can help our body maintain its optimal state of functioning and homeostasis level.

Healthcare research proved that the consumption of plant-based protein is correlated to lower mortality rates as opposed to animal-based proteins (Song et al., 2016). It is not a bad idea, after all, to replace meat with vegetables and grains - if that brings good health and long life to us!

A Take-Home Message

"All the trees are losing their leaves, and not one of them is worried"

Donald Miller

Staying close to nature, observing all the little and significant elements of it, and appreciating it from the very core, is therapeutic and self-healing.

Even by saying and doing nothing, we can learn so much from connecting to our natural surroundings. It gives us the perspective for healthier living, the motivation to carry on, and the energy to keep trying. For there is no bond more primitive and ingrained in us than our love for nature and nature's care for us.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our 3 Positive Psychology Exercises for free.

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The Positive Effects Of Nature On Your Mental Well-Being

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Nature heals. Just a walk in the woods or a stroll by the beach on a sunny morning can awaken the innermost feelings of happiness and peace, and Environmental Psychology has gone a long way proving this fact (Bell, Greene, Fisher, & Baum, 1996). Our affinity toward nature is genetic and deep-rooted in evolution.

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How Listening to Music Can Have Psychological Benefits

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Listening to music can be healthy,it can influence your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Upbeat Music improves in processing speed while downbeat music helps you focus. Students who listen to positive music perform better because the music isn’t interfering with memory formation. Research has shown that music also helps reduce pain.

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How Listening to Music Can Have Psychological Benefits

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Auburn psychology professor discusses importance of sleep for positive mental, physical health during pandemic

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History, Approaches, and Research Methods

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History, Approaches, and Research Methods

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Sleep is restorative, it gives your body a chance to rebound and heal. It is also vital for healthy psychological functioning, both from a mental health perspective and also from a cognitive processing perspective. The lack of sleep can impact your stress hormone. Engaging in Micro-habits (journaling, meditation) will help maintain a positive environment.

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Auburn psychology professor discusses importance of sleep for positive mental, physical health during pandemic

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Sleep is a billion-dollar industry, yet a good nightand#8217;s sleep is elusive to many, especially during these trying times as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers. Auburn University Psychology Professor Jennifer Robinson and her team have discovered a wide assortment of side effects from a lack of sleep…

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What Happens to a Woman's Brain When She Becomes a Mother

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History, Approaches, and Research Methods

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History, Approaches, and Research Methods

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This article talks about how a mother’s brain is affected after birth, The mother feels more positive about photos depicting their own smiling babies compared with photos of unfamiliar smiling babies. Just by staring at a baby, a mother's will also light up. Although Oxytocin does not urge nurturing behavior in men the way it does in women, Men show similar brain changes when they are involved in caregiving. A man’s parental brain is supported by a socio-cognitive network that develops in the brain of both sexes later in life.

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From joy and attachment to anxiety and protectiveness, mothering behavior begins with biochemical reactions.

The artist Sarah Walker once told me that becoming a mother is like discovering the existence of a strange new room in the house where you already live. I always liked Walker's description because it's more precise than the shorthand most people use for life with a newborn: Everything changes.

Because a lot of things do change, of course, but for new mothers, some of the starkest differences are also the most intimate ones-the emotional changes. Which, it turns out, are also largely neurological. Even before a woman gives birth, pregnancy tinkers with the very structure of her brain, several neurologists told me. After centuries of observing behavioral changes in new mothers, scientists are only recently beginning to definitively link the way a woman acts with what's happening in her prefrontal cortex, midbrain, parietal lobes, and elsewhere. Gray matter becomes more concentrated. Activity increases in regions that control empathy, anxiety, and social interaction. On the most basic level, these changes, prompted by a flood of hormones during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, help attract a new mother to her baby. In other words, those maternal feelings of overwhelming love, fierce protectiveness, and constant worry begin with reactions in the brain.

Mapping the maternal brain is also, many scientists believe, the key to understanding why so many new mothers experience serious anxiety and depression. An estimated one in six women suffers from postpartum depression, and many more develop behaviors like compulsively washing hands and obsessively checking whether the baby is breathing.

"This is what we call an aspect of almost the obsessive-compulsive behaviors during the very first few months after the baby's arrival," the maternal-brain researcher Pilyoung Kim told me. "Mothers actually report very high levels of patterns of thinking about things that they cannot control. They're constantly thinking about baby. Is baby healthy? Sick? Full?"

"In new moms, there are changes in many of the brain areas," Kim continued. "Growth in brain regions involved in emotion regulation, empathy-related regions, but also what we call maternal motivation-and I think this region could be largely related to obsessive-compulsive behaviors. In animals and humans during the postpartum period, there's an enormous desire to take care of their own child."

There are several interconnected brain regions that help drive mothering behaviors and mood.

Of particular interest to researchers is the almond-shaped set of neurons known as the amygdala, which helps process memory and drives emotional reactions like fear, anxiety, and aggression. In a normal brain, activity in the amygdala grows in the weeks and months after giving birth. This growth, researchers believe, is correlated with how a new mother behaves-an enhanced amygdala makes her hypersensitive to her baby's needs-while a cocktail of hormones, which find more receptors in a larger amygdala, help create a positive feedback loop to motivate mothering behaviors. Just by staring at her baby, the reward centers of a mother's brain will light up, scientists have found in several studies. This maternal brain circuitry influences the syrupy way a mother speaks to her baby, how attentive she is, even the affection she feels for her baby. It's not surprising, then, that damage to the amygdala is associated with higher levels of depression in mothers.

Amygdala damage in babies could affect the mother-child bond as well. In a 2004 Journal of Neuroscience study, infant monkeys who had amygdala lesions were less likely to vocalize their distress, or pick their own mothers over other adults. A newborn's ability to distinguish between his mother and anybody else is linked to the amygdala.

Activity in the amygdala is also associated with a mother's strong feelings about her own baby versus babies in general. In a 2011 study of amygdala response in new mothers, women reported feeling more positive about photos depicting their own smiling babies compared with photos of unfamiliar smiling babies, and their brain activity reflected that discrepancy. Scientists recorded bolder brain response-in the amygdala, thalamus, and elsewhere-among mothers as they looked at photos of their own babies.

Greater amygdala response when viewing their own children was tied to lower maternal anxiety and fewer symptoms of depression, researchers found. In other words, a new mother's brain changes help motivate her to care for her baby, but they may also help buffer her own emotional state. From the study:

Thus, the greater amygdala response to one's own infant face observed in our study likely reflects more positive and pro-social aspects of maternal responsiveness, feelings, and experience. Mothers experiencing higher levels of anxiety and lower mood demonstrated less amygdala response to their own infant and reported more stressful and more negatively valenced parenting attitudes and experiences.

Much of what happens in a new mother's amygdala has to do with the hormones flowing to it. The region has a high concentration of receptors for hormones like oxytocin, which surge during pregnancy.

"We see changes at both the hormonal and brain levels," the brain researcher Ruth Feldman told me in an email. "Maternal oxytocin levels-the system responsible for maternal-infant bonding across all mammalian species-dramatically increase during pregnancy and the postpartum [period,] and the more mother is involved in child care, the greater the increase in oxytocin."

Oxytocin also increases as women look at their babies, or hear their babies' coos and cries, or snuggle with their babies. An increase in oxytocin during breastfeeding may help explain why researchers have found that breastfeeding mothers are more sensitive to the sound of their babies' cries than non-breastfeeding mothers. "Breastfeeding mothers show a greater level of [brain] responses to baby's cry compared with formula-feeding mothers in the first month postpartum," Kim said. "It's just really interesting. We don't know if it's the act of breastfeeding or the oxytocin or any other factor."

What scientists do know, Feldman says, is that becoming a parent looks-at least in the brain-a lot like falling in love. Which helps explain how many new parents describe feeling when they meet their newborns. At the brain level, the networks that become especially sensitized are those that involve vigilance and social salience-the amygdala-as well as dopamine networks that incentivize prioritizing the infant. "In our research, we find that periods of social bonding involve change in the same 'affiliative' circuits," Feldman said. "We showed that during the first months of 'falling in love' some similar changes occur between romantic partners." Incidentally, that same circuitry is what makes babies smell so good to their mothers, researchers found in a 2013 study.

The greatest brain changes occur with a mother's first child, though it's not clear whether a mother's brain ever goes back to what it was like before childbirth, several neurologists told me. And yet brain changes aren't limited to new moms.

Men show similar brain changes when they're deeply involved in caregiving. Oxytocin does not seem to drive nurturing behavior in men the way it does in women, Feldman and other researchers found in a study last year. Instead, a man's parental brain is supported by a socio-cognitive network that develops in the brain of both sexes later in life, whereas women appear to have evolved to have a "brain-hormone-behavior constellation" that's automatically primed for mothering. Another way to look at it: The blueprint for mothering behavior exists in the brain even before a woman has children.

Perhaps, then, motherhood really is like secret space in a woman's brain, waiting to be discovered. "Although only mothers experience pregnancy, birth, and lactation, and these provide powerful primers for the expression of maternal care via amygdala sensitization," researchers wrote, "evolution created other pathways for adaptation to the parental role in human fathers, and these alternative pathways come with practice, attunement, and day-by-day caregiving."

In other words, the act of simply caring for one's baby forges new neural pathways-undiscovered rooms in the parental brain.

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What Happens to a Woman's Brain When She Becomes a Mother

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From joy and attachment to anxiety and protectiveness, mothering behavior begins with biochemical reactions. The artist Sarah Walker once told me that becoming a mother is like discovering the existence of a strange new room in the house where you already live.

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Understanding the stress response - Harvard Health

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This article talks about how a stressful situations can have an effect on your physical and psychological health. “Fight or flight” is a response caused by a combination of stresses it is whether you should “run away for safety or stay and fight it off”. Stress may also lead to obesity, through direct mechanisms which causes people to eat more and or indirectly which decreases sleep and exercise. The stress response begins on the brain. The eyes and or ears send information to the amygdala which is an area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing.

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Understanding the stress response - Harvard Health

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Research suggests that chronic stress is linked to high blood pressure, clogged arteries, anxiety, depression, addictive behaviors, and obesity.…