The joy and happiness that many people enjoy on these dates and that we know as the Christmas spirit, does not come from the heart but from our thinking organ , the brain. This has been determined by the latest study carried out by the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and included in the special Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal .
Whether or not you have a Christmas spirit has its scientific explanation. The researchers recruited a total of 20 participants who were divided into two groups according to the results of a questionnaire about Christmas: in the first group those who celebrated Christmas and related it to positive moments and feelings were included, and in the second group, those people for whom Christmas caused them a neutral or negative feeling were included.
The scientists individually mapped, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the brain regions that manage to activate with typical stimuli of these important dates, showing them through video glasses, a total of 84 images to the participants (with both everyday and Christmas scenes). The results of the brain scan in which the changes produced in oxygenation and blood flow in the brain in response to the activity of neurons were measured , determined which parts of the brain were involved in what we know as the spirit of Christmas .
Thus, the maps resulting from the volunteers revealed that five areas of the brain were the protagonists of this feeling, since in the group for which Christmas was something positive they were activated in a prominent way and in the anti-Christmas group such was not produced. activation. The five areas that were “lit” with Christmas images were: the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex, the superior parietal lobe, the inferior parietal lobe and the primary somatosensory cortex , brain locations related to the somatic senses and spirituality.
“The exact location of the Christmas spirit is an essential first step in being able to help this group of patients and can contribute to understanding the role of the brain in cultural traditions and festivities. Although playful and intriguing, these results must be interpreted with caution. Something as magical and complex as the Christmas spirit cannot be fully explained by the brain activity detected by itself ”, the study authors explain.
Will it be the same with Easter or Hanukkah?
