Dying for a smoke but trying to give them up? Battling with the urge must be hard work for the brain as it uses 20 per cent of the body’s energy despite weighing only 2.5 per cent of our total weight.
It appears that the feeling we often have of two voices arguing over the pros and cons of something we want to consume are indeed represented by two different parts of the brain.
The pre-frontal cortex to the front governs behaviour, while the striatum, deep within the brain, handles rewarding feelings.
Smokers, ex-smokers and those who’ve never smoked are being sought by PhD student Brendan Behan at Trinity College Dublin for a study into how different parts of the brain battle it out when faced with something we’d like to have.
It’s this “antagonism” which Behan is hoping to gain a greater understanding of by using fMRI brain imaging scans to see how the two areas react to certain tasks on a computer screen. fMRI scans measure blood flow and it’s known that oxygenated blood rushes to the part of the brain being actively used.
Source: Jill Nesbitt, Irish Times, 15/05/12
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
