Neuroscience
Figure 2 (Velakoulis et al., 2007): Anterior cingulate region showing inter-state differences in cortical thickness, overlaid on a geographic map of Australia. The region-of-interest corresponded to the portion of the anterior cingulate gyrus anterior to the black line, and was delineated on the reconstructed cortical surface, as shown.
The Neurocritic covered the dueling Australian cinguli back in May. The experiment revealed that Melbourne residents have a substantially thicker anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) than Sydney residents, and this difference remained highly significant when controlling for age and intracranial volume. One of the study's authors, Dr. Mark Walterfang, commented on that post, and has made the uncorrected proof available in a blog exclusive.
The hypotheses were as follows:
Reference
Velakoulis D, Fornito A, Walterfang M, Malhi G, Yucel M, Pantelis C. (2007). A tale of two cities: a neuroimaging investigation of Melbourne-Sydney rivalry comparing cortical thickness in healthy adults. Australas Psychiatry 15(1):67-71.
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Neuroscience
MORE on Neurobiological Correlates of Melbourne-Sydney Rivalry
Figure 2 (Velakoulis et al., 2007): Anterior cingulate region showing inter-state differences in cortical thickness, overlaid on a geographic map of Australia. The region-of-interest corresponded to the portion of the anterior cingulate gyrus anterior to the black line, and was delineated on the reconstructed cortical surface, as shown.
The Neurocritic covered the dueling Australian cinguli back in May. The experiment revealed that Melbourne residents have a substantially thicker anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) than Sydney residents, and this difference remained highly significant when controlling for age and intracranial volume. One of the study's authors, Dr. Mark Walterfang, commented on that post, and has made the uncorrected proof available in a blog exclusive.
The hypotheses were as follows:
-- Australian Football League (AFL) premierships won by each city would be associated with greater cortical thickness due to the endorphin-mediated release of neurotrophins, and a relative lack of cortisol-related neuronal loss.The results indicated that Sydney residents did come up with the short end of the stick for all measures:
-- Median 2005 property prices would be associated with reduced cortical thickness due to the atrophic effects of high levels of circulating cortisol in stressed mortgagees.
-- Cortical thickness would be greatest in the city with the higher intellectual capital as measured by the number of 2005 NHMRC grants.
...the other variables compared to ACC thickness measures suggested that Sydney-siders were subject to higher property prices, a lower number of successful NHMRC grant applications, and significantly less success with respect to the number of AFL premierships won.Clearly, this is a landmark study that inaugurates the nascent field of Sociocompetitive Neuroscience (aka the Neurobiology of Civic Rivalry).
Reference
Velakoulis D, Fornito A, Walterfang M, Malhi G, Yucel M, Pantelis C. (2007). A tale of two cities: a neuroimaging investigation of Melbourne-Sydney rivalry comparing cortical thickness in healthy adults. Australas Psychiatry 15(1):67-71.
- The Brain's Great Connector
Pick two people off the street at random, put them in a brain scanner, and look at the thickness of their corpus callosums – that’s the massive bundle of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain. In all likelihood, you’ll find it’s...
- How Meditation Alters The Brain
New evidence suggests meditating can make parts of the cerebral cortex thicker and protect other parts from age-related thinning. Sara Lazar and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital scanned the brains of 20 people who meditated for an average...
- Jumping Into "the Fray" On Cerebral Asymmetry And Sexual Orientation
Fig. S1 (Savic & Lindström, 2008). Part of the left cerebral hemisphere VOI in a male heterosexual subject. Subject’s right side is to the right in the image. At The Fray, a reader discussion forum at Slate Magazine, a knowledgeable commenter...
- Lesionnaire's Syndrome
The Neurocritic would also like to thank Dr. Walterfang for drawing our attention to a terrible new disease afflicting quantitative neuroimaging laboratories around the globe. The sweatshop conditions contributing to this pandemic must end! "Lesionnaire's...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Cortical Neuroanatomy Of Neuropsychological Deficits
The cortical neuroanatomy of neuropsychological deficits in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: A surface-based morphometric analysis Neuropsychologia. 2011 Oct 15; Ahn HJ, Seo SW, Chin J, Suh MK, Lee BH, Kim ST, Im K, Lee JM, Lee JH,...