News by Subject Social & Behavior

Three researchers from Concordia University's Centre for Sensory Studies recently completed a study that looks at how all the specific techniques the local casino uses to create a "sensuous" gambling experience affect the client. The authors argue that their ethnographic study is among the first to explore how these sensory design techniques work together to shape the atmosphere of the casino.

A new study by the University of Oxford and the University of Leicester has found a connection between traffic noise and obesity. Long-term exposure to road traffic noise, such as living near a motorway or on a busy road, was associated with an increase in body mass index and waist circumference, which are key markers of obesity.

Gesturing with the hands while speaking is a common human behavior, but no one knows why we do it. Now, a group of UConn researchers reports in the May 11 issue of PNAS that gesturing adds emphasis to speech--but not in the way researchers had thought.

Two new mouse studies provide new insight into how noise exposure can lead to high blood pressure and cancer-related DNA damage.

College students who listened to classical music by Beethoven and Chopin during a computer-interactive lecture on microeconomics -- and heard the music played again that night -- did better on a test the next day than did peers who heard the same lecture, but instead slept that evening with white noise in the background.

Mount Sinai research highlights the need for more hearing checks among groups at high risk for falls.

Self-inflicted injury, aggression toward others and yelling are common problem behaviors associated with young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. These actions can result from the child being denied attention or access to items they enjoy, as well as from internal discomfort or environmental stressors such as noise or large crowds.