Scientists narrow optimism area in brain


	Scientists narrow optimism area in brain

mugofcoffee

10-26-2007 12:03 AM

338 views

tags:

brain, pessimism, optimism, research, brain imaging.

mugofcoffee says:

Having our brains wired to optimism is generally a good thing because "if you were pessimistic about the future you would not be motivated to take a lot of action," Phelps said....read on!

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10-26-2007 2:56 PM

skwirlinator

Mapping the brain is slower than mapping the planet

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/5f0f73f5-23a0-4e70-b879-17bad30babe8/BC25E160-42E1-4012-8615-EE3415F4C819/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_sc/optimism" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_sc/optimism" style="font-size: 11px;">news.yahoo.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_sc/optimism"><P>WASHINGTON - A person's optimism in the future seems to be controlled by a small front part of the mid-brain, according to a study that used brain imaging. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_sc/optimism">
<P>That area deep behind the eyes activates when people think good thoughts 
about what might happen in the future. The more optimistic a person is, the 
brighter the area showed up in brain scans, the scientists reported in a small 
study published online Thursday in the journal Nature.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_sc/optimism">
<P>That same part of the brain, called the rostral anterior cingulate cortex 
(rACC), seems to malfunction in people suffering depression, said the study 
co-authors, Elizabeth Phelps of New York University and Tali Sharot of 
University College London.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_sc/optimism"><P>The same study also found that people tended to think that happier events were closer in time and more vivid than the bad ones, even if they had no reason to believe it, Phelps said.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/BC25E160-42E1-4012-8615-EE3415F4C819/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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