Brain 'rejects negative thoughts'

LONDON. October 10. KAZINFORM One reason optimists retain a positive outlook even in the face of evidence to the contrary has been discovered, say researchers.

A study, published in Nature Neuroscience , suggests the brain is very good at processing good news about the future.

However, in some people, anything negative is practically ignored - with them retaining a positive world view, BBC News reported.

The authors said optimism did have important health benefits.

Scientists at University College London said about 80% of people were optimists, even if they would not label themselves as such.

They rated 14 people for their level of optimism and tested them in a brain scanner.

Each was asked how likely 80 different "bad events" - including a divorce or having cancer - were to happen.

They were then told how likely this was in reality. At the end of the session, the participants were asked to rate the probabilities again.

There was a marked difference in the updated scores of optimists depending on whether the reality was good or bad news.

Dr Tali Sharot, lead researcher, gave the example of the risk of cancer being set at 30%.

If the patient thought their risk was 40%, then at the end of the experiment they downgraded their own risk to about 31%, she said.

However, if the patient originally thought their risk was 10%, they only marginally increased their risk - they "leaned a little bit, but not a lot".

Details also at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15214080