Anti-Black bias can persist despite kids’ tendency to favour same-gender peers

Children as young as five can display more positive associations with white children over Black children on measures of unconscious bias and new research from York University finds this can be true even when taking into consideration kids’ tendencies to favour same-gender peers. Taking an own-gender lens does, however, increase positive associations towards Black children, pointing to both the persistence of anti-Black racism, but also its contextual nature.

Kids are surprisingly adultlike in their memory recall, York research shows

Why is it that after a visit to the zoo, a four-year-old might remember seeing a lion, a tiger, and a bear, while a 10-year-old might also recall seeing a giraffe, a kangaroo, a pygmy hippo, a Komodo dragon, a ring-tailed lemur, and maybe even a West African dwarf crocodile? New research from York University shows that while older kids have a superior memory, children as young as four show evidence of the sophisticated technique known as ‘temporal clustering,’ when recalling information.

York experts ‘predict’ impacts of AI and tech for 2023 and beyond

York researchers available to comment on how ever-advancing tech will impact our social and cognitive futures, and why decision-making shouldn’t be left solely in hands of technocrats TORONTO, January 10, 2023 — From the future of aging and long-term care to how artificial intelligence can both help and hinder our brains, to why fully autonomous […]

York research helps explain why obesity is more dangerous for men

Building blocks of blood vessels found to be associated with inflammation and disease processes in male mice TORONTO, Jan. 9 2022 – A newly published study from York University sheds light on the biological underpinnings in sex differences in obesity-related disease, with researchers observing “striking” differences in the cells that build blood vessels in the […]

York U weight-loss study shows if at first you don't succeed, try, try again

York University research finds repeatedly regaining weight should be viewed as practice, not failure

Study: Even smartest AI models don’t match human visual processing

York University study highlights how deep-network models take potentially dangerous ‘shortcuts’ in solving complex recognition tasks TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2022 –  Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) don’t see objects the way humans do – using configural shape perception – and that could be dangerous in real-world AI applications, says Professor James Elder, co-author of a […]

Adults don’t get better at recognizing masked faces as time goes on, new study finds

Researchers find the face processing system in adults is rigidly fixed. More than two years after the start of the pandemic, adults still have difficulty...

Etobicoke resident wins York University free tuition contest

Last week on impulse Samadhi Rankothge took a call from an unknown caller. To her surprise, it was not a persistent duct-cleaning company or another "CRA arrest warrant" scammer, but a York University representative calling to congratulate her on winning free tuition for the year. “I was so surprised by that call,” says Rankothge, still […]

Do international treaties actually work? York-led study says they mostly don’t

International treaties are often used by countries to address concerns that cross national boundaries, including the environment, human rights, humanitarian crises, maritime issues, security and trade.  But while over 250,000 international treaties exist, no study has ever compiled and analyzed the decades’ worth of research that assesses such treaties’ effectiveness. That changed on Aug. 2 […]

Study shows how mothers calm their distressed infants with soothing signals

TORONTO, June 6, 2022 — Most parents know it even if they can’t prove it: When a baby becomes distressed, its mother has a unique power to soothe and calm the infant with little more than a loving embrace and some tender words.  To the lay person, it’s one of life’s mysteries – operating almost as […]