Forgive and forget is advice easier for some people to follow than others. But a newly published neuroscience study has given those who hold onto grudges a good excuse: It seems the ability to forgive is linked to the size of a specific area in the brain.
The research, published in Scientific Reports earlier this month, is based on brain-imaging scans of a limited sample size of 42, so the results are not definitive. But the study does suggest a connection between how we assign blame and the size of the anterior superior temporal sulcus (aSTS) in our brains. [...]
Indrajeet Patil, the study’s first author, says the research suggests some people are biologically predisposed to forgiveness. Though the relationship between brain area and function is still unclear, it’s generally believed that more gray matter is linked to greater performance of that region. For example, one study found that London taxi drivers have more gray matter in certain areas of the hippocampus linked with navigation skills. “Individuals who have more gray matter [in the left aSTS], so the argument goes, rely more on reasoning about innocent intentions while judging accidents, and so forgive actors involved in such situations,” Patil writes in an email.
No comments:
Post a Comment