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A UCL-led research team has, for the first time, identified a specific region of chromosome 21, which causes issues with memory function and anxiety in a mouse that models Down syndrome, a finding that provides valuable new insight into the condition in people. Most people have 46 chromosomes in each cell, divided into 23 pairs: people with Down syndrome (DS) have an extra copy of chromosome 21, which carries over 200 genes.

Does someone look angry or sad? You can probably offer an answer to that question based on the information you can see just by looking at their face. That's because facial expressions - or a combination of different small facial movements - can be read by other humans to help understand what a person might be feeling at that exact moment.

The replication success of scientific research is linked to research methods, citation impact and social media coverage - but not university prestige or citation numbers - according to a new study involving UCL researchers. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  ( PNAS ), the study explores the ability of a validated text-based machine learning model to predict the likelihood of successful replication for more than 14,100 psychology research articles published since 2000 across six top-tier journals.

The short-term effects of vaporised cannabis do not differ between adolescents and adults, while cannabidiol (CBD) does not dampen the effects of the drug, finds a new study led by UCL and King's College London researchers. For the experimental study published in Addiction , the researchers measured how regular cannabis users of different ages responded to inhaling cannabis with differing levels of CBD.

Childhood mental health problems resulting from early-life adversity drive poorer cognitive performance in adolescence, study suggests Early-life adversity has long-term effects on children's mental health, which in turn affects cognitive functioning as teenagers, say researchers. However, if mental health improves over time this outcome can be alleviated.

A study led by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) and the University of Manchester (UoM), and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has found that a psychological therapy called Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress in heart disease patients when delivered in a self-help format.

Using talking therapies to effectively treat depression in adults over the age of 65 may be clinically linked with slightly reduced rates of future dementia diagnosis, finds a new analysis of health data led by UCL researchers. In this first-of-its-kind study, published in  Psychological Medicine  and funded by the Alzheimer's Society, researchers assessed whether psychological therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), used to treat depression could play a role in dementia risk reduction.

Women are able to recall details of sexual assault and rape with accuracy, even if they have drunk - or expected to drink - moderate amounts of alcohol. A study conducted at the University of Birmingham demonstrated that women who had drunk alcohol up to the legal limit for driving were able to recall details of an assault in a hypothetical scenario, including details of activities to which they had, and had not, consented.

Core symptoms of anxiety and depression were more common among younger generations compared to older age groups during the COVID-19 outbreak - with the gap between young and old widening further during the pandemic, according to a new study by UCL and King's College London. Published today in Psychological Medicine, the study explores data from 26,772 people living in the UK across five different birth cohort studies - following those born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 1989-90 and 2000-02.

Scientists have worked out why common anti-depressants cause around a half of users to feel emotionally -blunted-. In a study published today, they show that the drugs affect reinforcement learning, an important behavioural process that allows us to learn from our environment. According to the NHS, more than 8.3 million patients in England received an antidepressant drug in 2021/22.

University psychologists aiming to improve help for people withdrawing from antidepressants want volunteers to come forward to participate in the new study. New research being led by a team of psychologists at the University of Bath hopes to provide evidence to improve the clinical care of people in the process of withdrawing from antidepressants.

Adults with high levels of ADHD symptoms are more likely to have anxiety and depression than adults with high levels of autistic traits, new research finds. Adults with high levels of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are more likely to experience anxiety and depression than adults with high levels of autistic traits, according to new research led by psychologists at the University of Bath.

Experiencing abuse or neglect as a child can cause multiple mental health problems, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry , seeks to examine the causal effects of childhood maltreatment on mental health by accounting for other genetic and environmental risk factors, such as a family history of mental illness and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Females, on average, are better than males at putting themselves in others- shoes and imagining what the other person is thinking or feeling, suggests a new study of over 300,000 people in 57 countries. Our results provide some of the first evidence that the well-known phenomenon - that females are on average more empathic than males - is present in wide range of countries across the globe David Greenberg Researchers found that females, on averag

The COVID-19 pandemic may have left people living with obesity more vulnerable to the cost-of-living crisis, warns a study led by UCL researchers. Adults with obesity surveyed in the study reported that their mental health - which is known to be associated with weight gain - had deteriorated between the end of the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown in July 2020 and September 2021.

Healthcare workers in England experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at twice the rate of the general public, according to a new study co-led by UCL researchers. The research, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, was conducted as part of a wider study to establish a more accurate prevalence of mental disorders within the NHS workforce.

People who reported contracting COVID-19 early in the pandemic were twice as likely to experience depressive symptoms 13 months later than those who did not, new research has found. Those who reported having COVID in early 2020 were also 1.67 times more likely to experience clinically meaningful levels of anxiety after 13 months, than those who avoided COVID-19 in the same time period.

Autistic people have strong preferences for terms to describe autism, with unpopular terms including 'having autism' or having an 'impairment' or 'disorder'. Researchers from across the U21 Autism Research Network , led by a team at the University of Birmingham, carried out a survey of over 650 English-speaking autistic adults across the globe to explore their linguistic preferences.

A randomised control trial led by Bath psychologists shows the positive effects learning to play music for just a few weeks has on cognitive abilities. A new study published by researchers at the University of Bath demonstrates the positive impact learning to play a musical instrument has on the brain's ability to process sights and sounds, and shows how it can also help to lift a blue mood.

A new study published by University of Oxford researchers in an open-access journal, JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting , shows that although many school-age adolescents are spending considerable time gaming, it is not having a negative impact on the wellbeing. The OxWell Student Survey is one of the largest school surveys of adolescent health and wellbeing in England.