Positive bias of the brain

Posted on 06. Feb, 2012 by Julia Barnard in optimism, Wellbeing Research

A UCL study has found the brain remains optimistic about future events, despite the actual likelihood of the event happening being greater than believed. Fourteen people’s optimism levels were tested before and after they were tested whist being connected to a brain scanner. During testing, participants had to rate the likelihood of a negative event happening to them. They were later told the actual statistic and had the opportunity to change their original likelihoods. Optimists were shown to only slightly upgrade their risk of an event (such as the chances of getting cancer) when their original estimate was less than reality. In other words, they still remained optimistic it would not happen to them, despite the data. The brain scans themselves revealed less activity in the frontal lobes of optimists when the information given was negative (such as, they had a 30% chance of getting cancer rather than  their estimated 10%).

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Tags: brain, health, optimism