Cynthia Giocomarra, PsyD.
Psychotherapy and Life Coaching

Ever notice in your own relationship, or in one that is very close to you, that some couples can have a total blow out fight with one another, and the next day either on or both of them seems to be completely over it?! Maybe that is you or your partner. You have a real conflict on Monday, and say by Tuesday your partner seems to have totally bounced back from the confrontation, while you find yourself still sulking for several days after the argument. Why is that? Well, a recent study out of Harvard University points to this kind of “emotional resilience” to a specific area of the brain. In other words...now researchers can tell if we are going to be angry for days on end, or sulky for some of us, through the use of functional MRIs. The fMRIs illustrated that those people with increased activity in the Lateral Pre Frontal Cortex, were more likely to bounce back the day after an argument or confrontation with their partner. With this information, psychologists may be able , in the future, to successfully predict who will be more prone to develop issues around mood and mood regualtion after a stressful event.

The study's lead researcher, Christine Hooker, had this to say about the finding; The key factor is that the brain activity in the scanner predicted [the couple's] experience in life. Scientists believe that what we are looking at in the scanner has relevance to daily life, but obviously we don’t live our lives in a scanner. If we can connect what we see in the scanner to somebody’s day-to-day emotion-regulation capacity, it could help psychologists predict how well people will respond to stressful events in their lives.

So what's the big deal you may be asking?

The big deal is that we now know, the region of the brain called the Lateral Pre Frontal Cortex, if observed, is an accurate indicator of emotional resilience. And emotional resilience is something that is desirable. We all know someone that being resilient is something of a strength when it comes to dealing with people in our lives. By being able to successfully identify that a part of the brain has decreased activity in those that are less likely to spring back from traumas, researchers may just be able to predict who will be more likely to develop a disorder with their mood, and maybe even before the moodiness, blues, and sulking take place. Interesting stuff.