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Nearly every country in the world has been affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. In response, governments around the world have initiated far-reaching measures that have required-and continue to require-profound collective changes in citizen behavior. Especially in the first year of the pandemic, when vaccines were not yet available, it was parti­cularly important that people followed instructions, such as limiting physical contact, refraining from travel, and wearing masks.

Scientists from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) Münster have developed a method to measure the full extent of eye movements during blinks for the first time. The new method uses Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), to take many fast measurements of an entire cross-section of the eye, unlike most common eye tracking that measures only the front of the eyeball.

Empirical studies have proven that the quality of life of older people has improved over the last several decades. Yet this has no effect on their subjective experience of ageing. Older people do not view their own ageing experience any more positively than their same-aged peers about twenty years ago.

Great apes do not pass on their behavior to the next generation. Unlike humans, they do not copy the specific knowledge of those around them, instead learning it anew in each generation. This is shown in a study by Dr. Alba Motes-Rodrigo and Dr. Claudio Tennie of the "Tools and Culture in Early Hominins" research group at the University of Tübingen.

A study in biological psychology has shown that habitual gamblers use strategies during reinforcement learning that differ from those of the control group. This difference could be caused by changes in the dopamine system that influence strategic planning. In their pursuit of maximum reward, people suffering from gambling disorder rely less on exploring new but potentially better strategies, and more on proven courses of action that have already led to success in the past.

New HU study on the influence of "fake news" on the brain Neurocognitive studies by researchers at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) show that headlines with emotional content influence our judgments about other people even when we consider the media source to be untrustworthy. Rumours, half-truths and misinformation can be consumed and shared non-stop online and have an enormous reach.

The research being carried out by Dr. Nina Engelhardt fills a gap in our understanding of tolerance as well as in (cognitive) literature, and her project has led to her being included in the Baden-Württemberg Foundation's Elite Program for postdocs. In public discourse, the word "tolerance" is often defined as respect, acceptance and recognition of other cultures.

During the corona crisis, neurotic people experience more negative emotions in their everyday lives, are more unstable emotionally and worry more about their health. These are the results of a study carried out by psychologists from the Universities of Münster and Bielefeld. The study has been published in the "Journal of Research in Personality'.

Psychological study shows connection between emotional arousal and assignment of sound sequences as well as associative meanings No 123/2020 from Jul 14, 2020 On the basis of psycholinguistic experiments, an international group of researchers including a cognitive neuroscientist at Freie Universität Berlin, has been able to demonstrate that emotions play a central role in the associations between the sounds of words and their meanings.

Due to border closures in the wake of the corona crisis, the arrival of refugees in Europe has temporarily dipped. However, worldwide numbers of refugees have surged, again, within a year, driven by violence, war, persecution, economic hardship, or climate change. In the foreseeable future, many refugees will not be able to return to their homes.

Following the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Europe and North America in March 2020, many people around the world began hoarding goods such as toilet paper. Some companies reported an increase in toilet paper sales of up to 700 percent, despite calls from governments to refrain from "panic buying". Which groups of people primarily hoarded all the toilet paper? Psychologists from the universities of St. Gallen and Münster and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig investigated this question.

Participants wanted: Bioinformaticians attempt to trace new COVID-19 hotspots - further studies concerned with psychological impacts How do people deal with their feelings in everyday life during the pandemic caused by the coronavirus and at what locations might a new hotspot of COVID-19 infections be developing? These questions are the focus of two studies for which Heidelberg University scientists are looking for participants from all age groups.

University of Jena psychologists study longevity of couples' relationships It has probably never been easier to find a partner who is compatible with you - at least in theory. Internet dating platforms feed algorithms with information about those seeking a relationship in order to find the best match for them.

In these times, when Donald Trump and Greta Thunberg are active, discussions on scientific findings can become emotional. But how does the general public see such emotional debates' Initial answers to this question have now been found in the interdisciplinary DFG (German Research Foundation) Research Training Group "Trust and Communication in a Digitized World".

Psychologist at the University of Jena discovers altered behaviour and brain activity among people who wear helmets The significance of some objects is so deeply entrenched in our psyche that we rely on them even when they are not actually helpful. This is the case with a bike helmet. Since our childhood, we learn that we are more protected in traffic when wearing a helmet on our head.

Psychologists at Münster University estimate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after wars in the total population Wars leave their marks on people - the physical damage is usually obvious, but the scars a war can leave in the psychological well-being of survivors often remain beneath the surface.

Refugees who are more willing to take risks, who tend to reciprocate friendliness, and who are more strongly convinced than others are that they are in control of their lives integrate into society faster. This is the result of a study undertaken on the basis of the "IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees in Germany" which researchers from the University of Münster, Saarland University and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW) devised.

The amount of information and data which workers find themselves confronted with every day has increased enormously over the past few years. Globalisation and digitalisation have led to a steady increase in the complexity of work and business processes. Anything that is up-to-date today can already be outdated tomorrow.

Compared to their counterparts twenty years ago, today's 65-year-olds not only feel younger but are generally healthier overall - and enjoy greater life satisfaction. That is just one of the latest results of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Adult Development and Aging (ILSE) that was launched in 1993 at the Institute of Gerontology at Heidelberg University.

Research news Scientists of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Helmholtz Zentrum München asked about 3,600 participants about well-being in later life. The results, which were published in 'BMC Geriatrics' shows that physical impairments tend to play a secondary role. Well-being in later life is largely dependent on psychosocial factors.