Behavior. (Science News of the year: the weekly newsmagazine of science).

Attention loss Imaging data indicated that the brains of children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are slightly smaller than those of their peers without psychiatric disorders (162: 227 *).

Abused kids Along-term study found that a genetic variant linked to high concentrations of certain brain chemicals protects abused children from becoming violent and impulsive later in life (162: 68). Another study suggested that physical abuse at home tunes a child's perceptual system to pick up facial signs of anger (161: 389).

Psychotic biology Two genes involved in transmission of glutamate, a key chemical messenger in the brain, were implicated in the severe mental disorder schizophrenia (162: 195).

Evo-upstarts Researchers presented theoretical alternatives to the influential notion that genetic competition during the Stone Age yielded human brains prewired for specific types of thinking (162: 186).

Good grief In a 2-year study, bereaved spouses who often talked with others and briefly wrote in diaries about their emotions fared no better psychologically than their tight-lipped, unexpressive counterparts did (161:131 *).

Social net A variety of studies explored the nature of social interactions on the Internet, from the factors that make for efficient online corporate work groups to the motivations for joining white supremacist chat rooms (161: 282 *).

Face time Babies studied between ages 6 and 9 months lost their ability to distinguish individual faces in animal species but started to develop an expertise in discerning human faces (161: 307 *).

Inner me Experiments with a split-brain patient suggested that left-hemisphere structures contribute to the conscious understanding of oneself (162: 118 *).

Conscious brain A reanalysis of brain-imaging data linked conscious visual experience to activity throughout the brain, challenging the popular view that only a few specific brain areas coordinate this mental state (162: 251).

Drug ranks Male monkeys' social position influenced their brains' chemical susceptibility to cocaine's addictive pull (161: 53 *).

Cigarette smokers In a surprising finding with implications for understanding nicotine addiction, cigarette smokers monitored for 1 week reported feeling no different just before they lit up than at other times when they weren't smoking (162: 340).

Disorder dip A controversial report concluded that far fewer people suffer from mental disorders requiring treatment than earlier surveys had indicated (161: 102).

Snooze power Scientists found that a brief daytime nap may block or even reverse learning declines that occur during extended practice of a perceptual task (161: 341 *).

War torn A substantial and largely unnoticed minority of war reporters and photographers told investigators that they had developed symptoms of a severe stress disorder as a result of their jobs (162: 165).

* An asterisk indicates that the text of the item is available free on SCIENCE NEWS ONLINE (http://www.sciencenews.org).