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How's this for crazy? Chances are, you don't remember what you just retweeted . Now we're not talking about the normal memory lapses -- where you put the keys, your glasses and your toddler (just kidding).  But newswise.com reports that retweeting or otherwise sharing information creates a “cognitive overload” that interferes with learning and retaining what you’ve just seen.  I can totally relate. "Most people don’t post original ideas any more. You just share what you read with your friends,” says Qi Wang, professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. “But they don’t realize that sharing has a downside. It may interfere with other things we do.” Wang and colleagues in China conducted experiments showing that “retweeting” interfered with learning and memory, both online and off. At computers in a laboratory setting, two groups were presented with a series of messages from Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twi...

Now this is a stumper. Did you know that the more religious an upbringing you have, the less altruistic you turn out to be? That's so says a new study ,  newswise.com reports. Many families believe religion plays an essential role in childhood moral development. But children of religious parents may not be as altruistic as those parents think, according to a new international study from the University of Chicago. A team of developmental psychologists led by Prof. Jean Decety examined the perceptions and behavior of children between ages 5 and 12, from Canada, China, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey and the United States. The study assessed the children’s tendency to share—a measure of their altruism—and their inclination to judge and punish others for bad behavior. Children from religious families were less likely to share with others than were children from non-religious families. A religious upbringing also was associated with more punitive tendencies in response t...

Did you know there are places in our children's brains that tell whether they will be generous or not? According to a new study, University of Chicago developmental neuroscientists have found specific brain markers that predict generosity in children. Those neural markers appear to be linked to both social and moral evaluation processes, newswise.com reports. Although young children are natural helpers, their perspective on sharing resources tends to be selfish.  I remember when my son was little, I don't remember too many times when he gave away his prized Lego figures to his friends, or vice versa. More likely, it was snatch and grab, and then screaming.  "We know that generosity in children increases as they get older,” said study co-author Jean Decety, the Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the university.   “The results of this study demonstrate that children exhibit both distinct early automatic and later more controlled patterns of...

Who knew?  Sharing housework doesn't mean less sex. At least, not according to a new study.  Newswise.com reports that the authors of a 2013 study would say yes, it does, but new research done by Georgia State sociologists suggests otherwise. The previous study examined data from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, says Assistant Professor of Sociology Daniel Carlsonid. But he and his colleagues used data from a 2006 Marital and Relationship Survey (MARS) that sampled low-to-moderate income couples with a minor child. Their results show an equal division of labor in the home does not lead to a decrease in sexual frequency and satisfaction. Egalitarian couples have similar and sometimes better sex lives than their conventional counterparts.  Both arrangements are sexy for people,” Carlson says at newswise.com. “You can find high quality relationships in both types of relationships. Neither are detrimental.” Carlson believes this new research proves American...