Optimists share similar brain patterns when thinking about the future, scans show
Now researchers have found that people with an upbeat outlook show similar patterns of brain activity when they mull over future scenarios.
'Optimists seem to use a shared neural framework for organising thoughts about the future, which likely reflects a similar style of mental processing rather than identical ideas,' said Kuniaki Yanagisawa, first author of the research from Kobe University in Japan.
He said the results could shed light on previous findings that showed optimists tended to be more socially successful.
'What this [new study] tells us is that the foundation of their social success might be this shared reality,' he added. 'It's not just about having a positive attitude; it's that their brains are literally on the same wavelength, which may allow for a deeper, more intuitive kind of connection.'
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said they asked 87 participants to complete a questionnaire to reveal how optimistic they were.
Each participant also underwent an MRI brain scan, during which they were asked to imagine various different possible future life events, some of which were positive – such as taking an 'epic trip around the world' – while others were neutral or negative, such as being fired. A subset of the participants were asked to imagine scenarios related to death.
The team found participants who were more optimistic showed greater similarities in the patterns of their brain activity in a region involved in future-oriented thinking, called the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)
Yanagisawa said one possibility was that the more diverse brain activity among pessimists reflected a more varied set of concerns when thinking about negative scenarios.
However, he said another possibility was that optimists viewed their futures within a shared framework of socially accepted goals which pessimists might feel disconnected from for personal reasons, meaning they each had a different way of thinking about the future.
The researchers said the results had parallels with the first line of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina: 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.'
'On the basis of this principle, we propose that optimistic individuals are all alike, but each less optimistic individual imagines the future in their own way,' the team wrote.
The researchers also found patterns of brain activity in the MPFC showed clearer differences for positive and negative future events in optimists.
'This suggests that optimists not only 'think alike' in a structural sense, but they also process emotional information about the future differently with a greater ability to separate what's good from what's bad, which may help them stay resilient,' said Yanagisawa.
He said previous work had associated this kind of clearer separation with a more abstract, psychologically distant way of thinking about negative events.
'We're not saying that optimists have identical thoughts about the future, or that they imagine the exact same scenarios,' said Yanadisawa. 'Rather, what we found is that their brains represent future events in a similar way, especially in how they distinguish between positive and negative possibilities. So while we wouldn't say they have the same thoughts, we can say that they appear to think in the same way – structurally.'
Prof Lisa Bortolotti of the University of Birmingham, in the UK, who was not involved in the work, said the study suggested optimists pictured future negative events in less vivid and concrete detail than positive ones, meaning such potential scenarios affected them less.
'These findings might suggest that optimism does not amount to a form of irrationality or reality distortion because it does not change how we see things out there but how those things impact us,' she added.
Bortolotti said assuming things won't go wrong brought no benefits if it left us unprepared for challenges, but noted that optimism worked when it motivated us to pursue goals.
'Picturing a positive outcome in detail as feasible and desirable makes us value it and work for it, ultimately making it more likely that we will achieve it,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists reveal four everyday signs that indicate you are a psychopath
What makes a psychopath? In a quest to determine whether it comes down to nature or nurture, a team of neurologists in China has discovered that certain brains are hardwired to show psychopathic behaviors, including aggression and rule-breaking. The first-of-its kind study examined how the brain's structure connects psychopathy, a diagnosable psychological disorder, with real-world actions. After analyzing the brain scans of more than 80 people who reported having certain psychopathic traits, though not officially diagnosed as psychopaths, researchers found those with stronger tendencies toward aggression, impulsivity, and lack of empathy, showed distinct structural brain connectivity compared to individuals with milder traits. Those traits common in psychopaths were in turn associated with behaviors including substance abuse and violence. The research suggests that the brains of people with these qualities are wired differently, with some pathways supercharged while others are weakened, potentially leading to harmful or disturbing behaviors. Roughly one percent of Americans have been diagnosed psychopaths, equating to about 3.3million people. Not all people who have psychopathic traits are true psychopaths, though. These characteristics exist on a spectrum on which people show symptoms to varying degrees without being clinically diagnosed or becoming violent. Typically, research into psychopathy studies how different brain regions communicate with each other. But the Chinese researchers focused on structural connectivity; the nerve fibers that link different regions, the integrity of fiber bundles, and weaker or thicker white matter pathways. Rather than focusing on how different parts of the brain fail to communicate, structural connectivity examines why they fail. Researchers relied on 82 people's brain scans. The people were sourced from the Leipzig Mind-Body Database, a repository of neuroimaging data collected from adults in Leipzig, Germany. They documented each person's psychopathic traits using the Short Dark Triad Test, a questionnaire consisting of 27 questions that capture people's narcissism, manipulative tendencies, and psychopathic traits, such as a lack of empathy. People had to rate themselves on a five-point scale from strongly disagree (one) to strongly agree (five). Higher scores indicated more psychopathic traits. Then, researchers assessed people's behaviors using the Adult Self-Report. Researchers administered the Dark Triad test, which captures people's narcissism, manipulative tendencies, and psychopathic traits, such as a lack of empathy. People with so-called 'dark triad personality traits' share similar facial features and expressions It evaluates a range of emotional and behavioral actions, specifically measuring aggressive, rule-breaking, and intrusive behaviors such as unwanted personal questions or overstepping physical boundaries. A higher score indicated more severe external behaviors. Scientists used each person's MRI data to map out how different brain areas are physically connected. The study identified two key brain connections tied to impulsive and antisocial behaviors in people who possessed psychopathic traits based on their questionnaire answers. 'Psychopathic traits were primarily associated with increased structural connectivity within frontal (five edges) and parietal (two edges) regions,' the researchers said. In the positive network, in which brain connections are strengthened as psychopathic traits increase, stronger connections were clustered in brain regions governing decision-making, emotion, and attention. These included pathways that link emotion and impulse control, which may explain blunted fear and reduced empathy in psychopaths. It also included the area involved in social behavior, which could cause a psychopath to understand emotion but not feel it. And connection correlated with more impulsive actions. In the negative network, in which connections weaken with stronger psychopathic traits, researchers saw weak links in the regions critical for self-control and focus, translating to psychopaths' tendency to hyper focus on their self-serving goals while ignoring how their actions affect others. Researchers also found unusual connections between areas used for language and understanding words. Given that psychopaths are adept at manipulation, this could indicate neural wiring optimized for strategic, controlling communication rather than genuine communication. The team also found a strong connection between brain regions responsible for reward-seeking behavior and areas for decision making, which could explain why psychopaths often chase immediate gratification, even when it harms others. Dr Jaleel Mohammed, a psychiatrist in the UK, said: 'Psychopaths do not care about other people's feelings. In fact if you ever approach a psychopath to tell them about how you're feeling about a situation, a psychopath will make it very clear that they could not care less. 'They literally have a million things that they would rather do than listen to how you feel about a situation.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Men born in these months are more likely to suffer from crippling mental health condition which kills millions
Men born in the summer are more likely to be depressed, according to a new study. Researchers from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Canada wanted to investigate whether the season of birth influences the likelihood of experiencing depression and anxiety symptoms in adulthood. They looked at a sample of 303 people—106 men and 197 women—with an average age of 26. The respondents were recruited from universities across Vancouver, and came from a 'global population'. The study authors revealed that they were mostly of South Asian (31.7 per cent), White (24.4 per cent), and Filipino (15.2 per cent) descent. They were asked to fill in PHQ-9 (for depression) and GAD-7 (for anxiety) assessments, which allowed the researchers to filter out the people who met the medical criteria for the common mental health issues. Furthermore, the participants' birth month was categorised by its respective season: spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February). It was noted that mental health conditions were common among participants, with 84 per cent and 66 per cent of participants experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively. Upon crunching the numbers, the researchers concluded that there are no strong seasonal trends linked to anxiety, but there is a seasonal influence on depression risk. They found 78 males born in the summer could be classed as minimally depressed, mildly depressed, moderately depressed, moderately severely depressed and severely depressed on the PHQ-9 scale. This compared to 67 born in winter, 58 born in spring, and 68 born in the autumn. There are limitations to the research, and not only because it used a small sample of people from a similar demographic (young adults studying at university). The authors also noted that not everyone in the sample correctly completed the required PHQ-9 questions, meaning only 271 people's depression and anxiety statuses were assessed. Lead author Arshdeep Kaur concluded: 'The research highlights the need for further investigation into sex-specific biological mechanisms that may connect early developmental conditions (like light exposure, temperature, or maternal health during pregnancy) with later mental health outcomes.' The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that between 700,000 and 800,000 people die by suicide every year—a cause of death closely linked to instances of depression. Depression is also linked to substance abuse, alcoholism and poor lifestyle choices—such as eating unhealthy foods—which can lead to killer conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Last year it was reported that experts had discovered six distinct types of anxiety and depression. A mix of the two conditions is estimated to be Britain's most common mental health problem, affecting about eight per cent of the population, with a similar rate in the US. However many people with the conditions are forced to cycle through different treatments, which include psychotherapy and medication, in the hope of finding one that works. The researchers collected data from a sample of 1,051 patients with depression and anxiety, 850 of which weren't currently being treated. Patients had brain scans done while they were both at rest and when asked to conduct an emotional task such responding to photos of sad people. Experts, from the University of Sydney and Stanford University in California, then compared these results between the patients as well as healthy controls to spot any differences. The aim was to find if different parts of the brain 'lit up' between patients, showing that sections of the organ were behaving differently among some participants. They also assessed each participant's symptoms of depression and anxiety, such as insomnia or feelings of suicide, to also identify any common signs between patients with similar brain scan results. The end result was that scientists were able to group patients together and break down depression and anxiety into six different subtypes. WHAT IS DEPRESSION? While it is normal to feel down from time to time, people with depression may feel persistently unhappy for weeks or months on end. Depression can affect anyone at any age and is fairly common - approximately one in ten people are likely to experience it at some point in their life. Depression is a genuine health condition which people cannot just ignore or 'snap out of it'. Symptoms and effects vary, but can include constantly feeling upset or hopeless, or losing interest in things you used to enjoy. It can also cause physical symptoms such as problems sleeping, tiredness, having a low appetite or sex drive, and even feeling physical pain. In extreme cases it can lead to suicidal thoughts. Traumatic events can trigger it, and people with a family history may be more at risk. It is important to see a doctor if you think you or someone you know has depression, as it can be managed with lifestyle changes, therapy or medication.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
A smartphone app could help detect early signs of deadly brain disease... leading to earlier treatments
A newly released phone app could help measure early, tell-tale signs of a growing brain disease and provide early treatment options to halt its progression. Researchers at the world's largest dementia conference this week announced the rollout of Neu Health, a software downloaded on smartphones to measures tremors and other motor issues in people with Parkinson's disease. Suffered by about 1million Americans, Parkinson's disease is a progressive brain disorder caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine. This leads to movement and speech issues that worsen over time. The disease is on the rise in the US, which experts have suggested could be due to environmental toxins and increased prevalence of ultra-processed foods. Neu Health is a first-of-its-kind software downloaded onto the phones of people with a Parkinson's diagnosis and paid for by doctor's offices. Between medical appointments, doctors can send patients a prompt to complete motor function tests, such as holding the phone in their hand or tapping objects on the screen. The platform has gained FDA clearance this week, allowing it to be marketed in the US and used in doctor offices. It launched 18 months ago in the UK, where 145,000 people have the disorder, and now has about 1,700 participants. Neu Health researchers speaking with are hopeful the technology can help measure signs of Parkinson's early in the disease, potentially stalling progress and slowing the rise of the condition across the US. Caroline Cake, CEO and co-founder of Neu Health, told at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Toronto: 'The aim is to keep it as low burden for the patient as possible, whilst getting the data and things that's needed to actually progressing care. 'We see confidence and knowledge levels increase quite considerably for patients while they're using the product, which is really exciting to see. so they feel a better quality of life as a result of that.' The app is available at Mass General Brigham in Boston and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and now that it has FDA clearance, the company plans to roll it out to other hospitals nationwide. The Parkinson's Foundation estimates 1.2million Americans will be diagnosed with Parkinson's by 2030, and 90,000 are struck by the disease every year. There are roughly 35,000 deaths annually. This is a 50 percent increase from the previously estimated rate of 60,000 a decade ago, the foundation estimates. Experts believe environmental factors could partly be to blame for the rise of Parkinson's disease in the US. Researchers in Minnesota, for example, found exposure to the pollutant particulate matter, PM2.5, raised the risk of Parkinson's disease by 36 percent. Another study published earlier this month also found consuming at least 11 servings of ultra-processed food in a day increased the risk of early Parkinson's symptoms by damaging dopamine-producing neurons. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but medications and other treatments can help replace lost dopamine and keep symptoms at bay. Cake noted this rise in Parkinson's makes the advent of simple technology vital to improving patient health over time. Neu Health uses a cell phone's motion sensors and microphone to monitor a patient performing basic exercises like holding the phone, tapping objects on the screen or repeating words or phrases. This is meant to measure the intensity of and changes in tremors, the most tell-tale sign of Parkinson's, as well as shifts in balance, speech patterns and cognitive function. Cake said: 'It's picking up reaction time changes, finger tapping, balance changes, things like that. It's also picking up changes in cognition, medication and self-reported symptoms.' Patients may receive a prompt through the app after doctors have adjusted their medications or started a new treatment to see how well they're working. Cake says this may help doctors make critical adjustments faster without patients having to wait until their next follow-up. She told this website: 'If the clinician says, "Actually, we'll change the medication, or we want to see what happened," you do perhaps another baseline at that point, so you can see what changes happen for you.' A pop-up would show up on the user's phone with a prompt saying their doctor wants them to complete a series of exercises. Users receive a simplified report after and more detailed analytics get sent directly to the doctor. This is especially vital for making Parkinson's care more effective for patients between appointments, which can be several months apart and delayed. Cake said: 'Really importantly, [Neu Health] is also picking up information between [appointments], so you can see when patients are starting to diverge. 'And because these are very complex conditions and there's all sorts of variability there, we can start seeing which patients are actually steady versus which ones actually perhaps need to be seen.' Cake also noted this may help indicate if medication doses need to be increased or if patients are progressing to a more severe stage of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's symptoms typically begin in a person's mid-60s, which can make things like phone apps a challenge to implement. However, Cake said she was pleasantly surprised during Neu Health's UK rollout, as data showed older users were more likely to follow the app's guidance than younger patients. 'It's a really interesting counter-narrative,' she said. The app will be free for patients and paid for by hospital systems that adopt it. Cake hopes as Neu Health gains a foothold in the US it could also be used for other neurodegenerative disorders like dementia and multiple sclerosis. 'We can now scale this up. How can we do this at scale so that all Parkinson's patients, all dementia patients, are getting this sort of care? So that's exciting for me, the scale and the impact.'
