Reuters Medical: Brain Region More Active in Shy People.
Young adults who had been deemed "inhibited" as toddlers had a heightened response in the brain region, called the amygdala, when viewing unfamiliar faces, researchers report in the journal Science.
The study provides a possible physical explanation for some differences in temperament, according to lead author Dr. Carl E. Schwartz, of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"These two temperament types are like two flavors of human beings," Schwartz said in an interview with Reuters Health.
"They're not the only two," he added. "There are many, like the list of flavors at Ben and Jerry's."
Schwartz and his colleagues used an imaging technique called functional MRI to take a closer look at the relationship between temperament and brain function.
The 22 adults who took part in the new research had participated in a study of temperament when they were toddlers, Schwartz explained. At that time, researchers determined whether the children were inhibited or uninhibited using a number of tests.
One of the tests involved a battery-operated robot.
"A grad student made a little R2D2 robot," Schwartz said. "The uninhibited toddlers would walk up and poke the robot in the eye and say 'duh.' The inhibited child would freeze or even run to his mother."
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While all 22 showed activity in the amygdala when new faces appeared, people who had been labeled shy as toddlers had a greater response in the brain region.
Schwartz and his colleagues looked at the amygdala because of its established role in emotion.
"It's known to have a central role in processing of stimuli and experiences that have an emotional content," Schwartz said.
So now I wonder what happens when the amygdala is stimulated... anybody know anything about that? |
