Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Tech - School of Psychology

Insects aren't scary, they're just disgusting, suggests a study by School of Psychology Professor Eric Schumacher and the pest control company Orkin. Schumacher imaged the brain activity of individuals viewing videos of insects in various environments, as well as scary animals such as sharks and crocodiles. With nearly every participant, images of insects triggered the brain region associated with disgust. Seventy percent of participants reported mild to severe anxiety when viewing insects. 

Being laid off when you're close to retirement can be devastating. It is more difficult for older employees to find new jobs. A 2015 study by the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Psychology and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management found that unemployed Americans over 50 are likely to be job hunting for six weeks longer than those in their 30s and 40s and nearly 11 weeks longer than those in their 20s. School of Psychology Professor Ruth Kanfer was a co-author of the original study.

How do rats know when their partners are feeling amorous? One way female rats show they’re feeling frisky is to wiggle their ears – or rather, very rapidly shake their head, so that it looks like their ears are moving. So when Mary Holder, a neuroscientist working at the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech, sees lady rats wiggling their ears, she knows they’re ready to mate. To the casual observer, studying ear wiggling in rats might seem trivial, but rat sex is actually crucial in improving our understanding of sexual behaviors in mammals.