catching up

[Guest guest]

western science catches up once again... This is about half of an article from

Monday.

 

 

Specific Brain Area Suspected of Muting,

Magnifying Bad Moods

By SHANKAR VEDANTAM, WASHINGTON POST

 

A region of the brain a few inches behind

the bridge

of the nose may hold the key to why some

people have

a negative outlook on life, scientists

announced last

week.

 

The study, published in the Proceedings of

the

National Academy of Sciences, is the first

to examine

the neurological roots of what scientists

call " negative

affect, " a trait that predisposes people

to anxiety,

irritability, anger and a range of other

unpleasant

moods.

 

By suggesting that an unconscious

disposition toward

these emotions may be molded by a specific

area in

the brain, the research moves into

previously

uncharted waters. It is part of a broad

effort by

neuroscientists to use powerful brain

imaging

technology to pinpoint the areas of the

brain

responsible for various emotions. " It

touches on an important issue: the relationship

between individual differences in

personality and brain function, " said Marcus

Raichle, a professor of radiology and

neurology at Washington University in St.

Louis. " There have been for many, many

years attempts to explain the differences

we observe among ourselves--[why] we have

different personalities.

 

" If you believe behavior and brain are

related, you would have to suppose there are

differences in brain systems that lead to

differences in personality, " he said.

 

For the study, scientists at Vanderbilt

University, the Veterans Affairs Medical

Center in Minneapolis and the University

of Minnesota asked 89 healthy people to

take detailed tests that measured their

emotional outlook over the previous month.

The tests were designed to screen out

people's mood states on the day they were

evaluated and look instead for a pattern

of emotional attitudes--in other words, an

outlook or a temperament.

 

While the subjects rested after the tests,

the researchers conducted brain scans that

measured changes in blood flow within

their brains. The scientists found that

increased brain activity in one particular

region--the ventromedial prefrontal

cortex--was associated with those who

reported greater negative affect.

 

Many factors besides physiology are

responsible for personality, and other parts of

the brain are involved in emotions. But

researchers say the circumstantial evidence

indicates that the ventromedial prefrontal

cortex acts as a sort of volume knob for

emotions. While the emotions may be

produced elsewhere in the brain in response

to stimuli, this region of the brain can

make them deafening or muted.

 

As a result, some people may react sharply

in a situation, while others appear

unruffled. The volume knob, in other

words, may be what people interpret as

temperament.