Are Humans Essentially Hopeful? Brain Rejects Bad News
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In a study about “unrealistic optimism” pervasive in people, researchers found people tend to react more to better than expected information than information considered worse.
“Unrealistic optimism is a pervasive human trait that influences domains ranging from personal relationships to politics and finance,” wrote authors of a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The study, led by Tali Sharot, a professor at University College of London involved 19 volunteers. The study monitored brain activity.
The study found an uneven tendency for people to update their beliefs more in response to information that was better than expected than to information that was worse.
Researchers focused on the brain’s ability to select which information it processed, finding that the brain tended to maintain optimism in place by failing to process errors.
“This selectivity was mediated by a relative failure to code for errors that should reduce optimism,” researchers said.
Researchers looked at parts of the brain that tracked estimation errors when those called for positive update, both in individuals who scored high and low on trait optimism.
"Distinct regions of the prefrontal cortex tracked estimation errors when those called for positive update, both in individuals who scored high and low on trait optimism," the study said.
Highly optimistic people showed reduced tracking of estimation errors that called for negative update.
“These findings indicate that optimism is tied to a selective update failure and diminished neural coding of undesirable information regarding the future,” researchers said.