Scientists Pinpoint Where 'Christmas Cheer' Lives In The Brain

This study does not prove any group to be more or less festive." Some critiques of these sorts of MRI studies, which attempt to pinpoint certain emotions in the brain, say blood flow scans are mere “blobology” or “neuro-bollocks,” and don’t really contribute that much to our understanding of complex feelings such as Christmas spirit or cheer. Other limitations of the study include the fact that there could be other reasons for the brain stimulation -- maybe the holiday pictures had more red in them, or maybe there are other differences between the two participant groups that could explain the brain scan discrepancies. But, with a flippancy characteristic of the BMJ holiday issue, the authors have only one thing to say in their defense: stop harshing the holiday vibe. "Bringing these issues up... really dampened the festive mood,” they write. "Therefore we, in the best interest of the readers of course, decided not to ruin the good Christmas cheer for everyone by letting this influence our interpretation of the study." Haddock and his colleagues called "dibs" on a patent of a Santa hat that would electrically stimulate the brain's Christmas centers. But until fellow scientists validate his data, we'll just have to rely on traditional cures: midnight visits from the spirits of Christmas past, present and future -- or just a lot of holiday treats.  After all, even the study's author admitted: "In the end there always seems to b...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news