BBC News
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| Brain scans could reveal whether you are pessimistic |
Visible changes
in the way the brain works give clues to physical differences
between optimists and pessimists, scientists find.
There are
many people who react to the same scene in an entirely different
way - some negative, and some positive.
However, a study carried out at Stanford University in the US
claims to be able to differentiate the happy-go-lucky types from
those with a more cynical slant on life.
The researchers looked at a group of women aged between 19 and
42.
These had been split into two types by a questionnaire - optimists
or extroverts, and those who were more anxious or neurotic.
Both of these types were then shown pictures of "happy" scenes,
such as birthday parties, and those with a grimmer connotation,
such as hospital wards.
Grim picture
While this was going on, brain scans were taken to measure the
activity in various parts of the brain.
The team found that the "optimists" responded far more strongly
to the "happy" pictures than the "anxious" group.
The reverse was also true: there was far more brain activity in
the anxious types when they were viewing the "unhappy" pictures.
Dr John Gabrieli, who led the study, said: "The brain responsiveness
to the scenes very much depended on the personality of these individuals."
But Dr Gabrieli suggested that the extra knowledge of the "brain's
architecture" could prove useful in treating conditions such as
depression.
He said: "We don't know to what extent this involves genetics
or pre-disposition, or a learned response."
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