Offering new meaning to the expression "tough town," German and Canadian neuroscientists have shown that living in a city -- or being raised in one -- is associated with differences in the way the brain handles stress.
The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, marks the first time researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify specific brain regions that are affected by urban life.
Hooking study subjects up to fMRI machines and stressing them by administering a timed math test (and then criticizing their performance), the researchers found that people who were current city dwellers had increased activity in the amygdala during stress, compared with those raised in small towns or rural areas. Subjects who had been brought up in cities had greater activity in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex.
Both brain regions are involved in processing stress.
Although the work doesn't prove that living in the city causes the changes in the brain, it could one day help improve life for city dwellers, co-author Jens Preussner, a researcher at Montreal's Douglas Mental Health University, said in a statement.
Offering new meaning to the expression "tough town," German and Canadian neuroscientists have shown that living in a city -- or being raised in one -- is associated with differences in the way the brain handles stress.The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, marks the first time researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify specific brain regions that are affected by urban life. Hooking study subjects up to fMRI machines and stressing them by administering a timed math test (and then criticizing their performance), the researchers found that people who were current city dwellers had increased activity in the amygdala during stress, compared with those raised in small towns or rural areas. Subjects who had been brought up in cities had greater activity in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex. Both brain regions are involved in processing stress. Although the work doesn't prove that living in the city causes the changes in the brain, it could one day help improve life for city dwellers, co-author Jens Preussner, a researcher at Montreal's Douglas Mental Health University, said in a statement.
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