Social Studies

25 June 2007
'So, set 'em up, Joe'

Putting feelings into words makes sadness and anger less intense, U.S. brain researchers said last week, in a finding that explains why talking to a therapist - or even a sympathetic bartender - often makes people feel better. They said talking about negative feelings activates a part of the brain responsible for impulse control, reports Reuters. "This region of the brain seems to be involved in putting on the brakes," said University of California researcher Matthew Lieberman, whose study appears in the journal Psychological Science. He and colleagues scanned the brains of 30 people who were shown pictures of faces expressing strong emotions and were asked to categorize the feelings in words. What scientists found is that when people attached a word such as angry to an angry- looking face, the response in the amygdala portion of the brain that handles fear, panic and other emotions decreased. What lit up instead was the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, part of the brain that controls impulses.