Why do people perceive situations differently? Some of us are able to find pluses in almost any situation, while others, in spite of everything, expect a catch from life and do not believe in the best? Scientists have uncovered this secret of optimism and pessimism.
They connect the peculiarities of a person's worldview with biologically active substances – neuropeptides Y, which are synthesized in the brain. And the higher their level, the more optimistic a person is. But people with relatively few of these molecules have a correspondingly lower ability to cope with life's difficulties.
Scientists from the University of Michigan came to this conclusion.
Researchers have been able to establish that the production of neuropeptide Y is genetically programmed. Thus, it can be argued that pessimism and optimism are inherited.
Scientists substantiate the importance of their discovery by the fact that in the future, by determining the level of this substance in the brain, it will be possible to diagnose a person's predisposition to various mental illnesses (or their presence).
Specialists managed to make this discovery using magnetic resonance imaging. Scientists used this technology to scan the brains of dozens of participants. At the same time, they observed the reaction of volunteers to various words – both with a neutral emotional coloring, and with a positive or negative one.
MRI has shown that in people with reduced neuropeptide Y production, certain areas in the prefrontal cortex of the brain were activated when words with a negative connotation were mentioned. It is this part of the brain that is responsible for processing emotions.
But participants whose brains produced a sufficient amount of this substance did not have such a reaction to the words.
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