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City Living May Shape How the Brain Processes Stress

City Living May Shape How the Brain Processes Stress Living or growing up in a city is associated with differences in how the brain handles social stress, a team of German and Canadian neuroscientists has found in a small study (Lederbogen F et al. Nature. 2011;474[7352]498-501). Mood and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in city dwellers, and the incidence of schizophrenia is substantially higher among persons raised in cities. But the processes underlying these effects have been largely unknown. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brain of 32 healthy student volunteers as they performed arithmetic calculations and heard critical comments about their performance. Measurements of heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormone levels indicated that the volunteers were indeed experiencing stress during the experiment. During their ordeal, volunteers currently living in a city of more than 100 000 experienced more activation of the amygdala, which processes emotion, than those living in a town or rural area. Activity in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, which helps regulate the amygdala and processes negative emotions, depended on where the volunteers grew up (before age 15 years), increasing with the number of years of city living. Follow-up experiments confirmed these effects but only when the volunteers were criticized while doing the tasks, suggesting that the brain effects were the result of social stress rather than the task itself. The researchers concluded that their findings link city living with sensitivity to social stress. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA American Medical Association

City Living May Shape How the Brain Processes Stress

JAMA , Volume 306 (3) – Jul 20, 2011

City Living May Shape How the Brain Processes Stress

Abstract

Living or growing up in a city is associated with differences in how the brain handles social stress, a team of German and Canadian neuroscientists has found in a small study (Lederbogen F et al. Nature. 2011;474[7352]498-501). Mood and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in city dwellers, and the incidence of schizophrenia is substantially higher among persons raised in cities. But the processes underlying these effects have been largely unknown. The researchers used functional magnetic...
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Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0098-7484
eISSN
1538-3598
DOI
10.1001/jama.2011.1000
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Living or growing up in a city is associated with differences in how the brain handles social stress, a team of German and Canadian neuroscientists has found in a small study (Lederbogen F et al. Nature. 2011;474[7352]498-501). Mood and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in city dwellers, and the incidence of schizophrenia is substantially higher among persons raised in cities. But the processes underlying these effects have been largely unknown. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brain of 32 healthy student volunteers as they performed arithmetic calculations and heard critical comments about their performance. Measurements of heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormone levels indicated that the volunteers were indeed experiencing stress during the experiment. During their ordeal, volunteers currently living in a city of more than 100 000 experienced more activation of the amygdala, which processes emotion, than those living in a town or rural area. Activity in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, which helps regulate the amygdala and processes negative emotions, depended on where the volunteers grew up (before age 15 years), increasing with the number of years of city living. Follow-up experiments confirmed these effects but only when the volunteers were criticized while doing the tasks, suggesting that the brain effects were the result of social stress rather than the task itself. The researchers concluded that their findings link city living with sensitivity to social stress.

Journal

JAMAAmerican Medical Association

Published: Jul 20, 2011

Keywords: brain,stress

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