Neuroanatomy

[Crispin]

For those of you out there that care about mostly worthless PET (Positron Emission Topography) studies, there is a new study that shows some interesting correlations. It compared the sizes of the amygdala and anterior insula in men and women. The amygdala has long since been associated with violent outbursts. The average size of the amygdala in men is bigger then the average size of the amygdala in women. Researchers have developed a theory that "empathy" can be localized to the anterior insula.

The study did pen and paper pretests for violence and empathy to get a baseline score. Next, they injected dye and did Pet Scans to localize activity in the amygdala and anterior insula in men and women. The amygdala was considered to be the control and tested out as expected. The anterior insula showed greater size in both men and women who had higher pretest scores for empathy. Don't get too excited folks. This is simply a correlation and not causality.

In Layman's terms: The researcher's rejected the null hypothesis and found a statistically significant difference between pretest scores for empathy and direct relation to anterior insula size. Just thought some of you might be interested in this.

Crispin

Ps. Does anybody know when Stocky is out of time out? I miss that guy.

 

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[Backbacon]

Very interesting indeed Crispin. You should try to develop a drug that shrinks the amygdala and enlarges the anterior insula without any zombie like side effects. I'll start small though.... How about a t-shirt of sorts? "Animal Lovers Have Big Anterior Insulas"

 

[hvacker]

I didn't know you could say that on TV.