Scientists at University College London have identified the parts of the brain that process our feelings of hatred. They gave test subjects photos of people the subjects hated and scanned their brains for a response. Turns out all this hate lit up certain distinct areas of the brain, which the researchers are calling a "hate circuit". The hate circuit is separate from the parts of the brain that are associated with fear and danger, though it shares some pathways with aggression and romantic love. The scientists believe this is because aggression, love, and hate all contain a certain amount of irrationality, though I prefer to think that it's because we secretly want to sleep with those we hate the most. Which explains why I find Sarah Palin so sexy/horrible. More details here.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Hate Circuit
