Negative Attitude Weakens the Immune Response

Researchers have demonstrated a link between brain cortical function and the ability to mount an immune response. These findings provide experimental evidence to support the popular belief that people with a positive attitude are less susceptible to disease and recover more quickly when ill.

Investigators at the University of Wisconsin (Madison, USA) studied 52 individuals between the ages of 57 and 60 who were recruited from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a long-term study of more than 10,000 people who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. They measured the electrical activity in both the right and left sides of the subjects' prefrontal cortex, both at a baseline state and during emotion-eliciting memory tasks.

To evaluate the subjects' ability to mount an immune response, all subjects were vaccinated against the flu virus. Three times in the six months following vaccination, serum samples were collected from each subject and the titer of antiflu antibodies was determined. The results, published September 5, 2003, in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealed that six months after being vaccinated against the flu virus, the subjects who had greater activity in the left side of the prefrontal cortex, instead of the right side, also had a greater rise in the number of antibodies for influenza.

"This study establishes that people with a pattern of brain activity that has been associated with a positive affective style are also the ones to show the best response to the flu vaccine,” explained senior author Dr. Richard Davidson, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin. "It begins to suggest a mechanism for why subjects with a more positive emotional disposition may be healthier.”




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