Quick Hits
Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences

Some people criticise arts education, thinking that it is more play and has no clear life function. Normally a certain type of conservative. This is short minded; we know that arts can contribute to many cognitive functions and development of many skills. However, this piece of research adds another piece of solid evidence to the benefits of arts.
This study by Jessica Bone et al. of University College London used data from 25’000 teenagers in the USA and matched this to data on anti-social and criminal behaviour. They found that those who engaged in arts (using a broad definition of cultural and social activities), had higher self-control, viewed antisocial behaviour more negatively, and were much less likely to engage in criminal activity.
The obvious caveat of this study is that it is correlational and so they cannot show whether this causes lower anti-social behaviour or is it that those with better behaviour are more likely to engage in these activities. From what I know it is likely a mix of the both.

Andy Habermacher
Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker speaking on the brain and human behaviour.
Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).
Reference
Jessica K. Bone, Feifei Bu, Meg E. Fluharty, Elise Paul, Jill K. Sonke, Daisy Fancourt.
Arts and Cultural Engagement, Reportedly Antisocial or Criminalized Behaviors, and Potential Mediators in Two Longitudinal Cohorts of Adolescents.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2022
DOI: 10.1007/s10964-022-01591-8
More Quick Hits
The Seven Habits to Reduce Dementia
We would all like to age well remaining cognitively active into older and old age. I have reported multiple times…
Mind Over Matter – Regaining Movement
This is the type of study and insight I like. Kind of amazingly simple but effective
Do We Lose Brain or Muscles First?
As we age things start to decline, we all know that – happens to the best of us…
Cravings for Fatty Food and the Gut-Brain Connection
Research hot off the presses is showing something interesting happening with our desire for fatty food….
How to Form Optimal Groups for Learning
There has been a long-standing debate and discussion in learning contexts for what is the best way to form groups for optimal learning when there are different abilities in those groups…
Extreme Temperatures Increase Hate Speech Online
I am sure we all know that feeling of getting more irritable when temperatures rise – well we now have evidence that…