You may have realized that there are some differences between city slickers and country folk, but do their minds actually work differently? Can where you live affect your stress level? In the article, “A New York State of Mind” from the Economist, research studies show that people living in the city are overall more stressed than those in rural areas. The article says that city dwellers have a higher chance of developing anxiety and mood disorders. A study down by Dr. Meyer Lindenberg provides some evidence for this. To do so he performed tests on several subjects from different areas while recording the activity of their amygdalas and pACC. The amygdalas are a pair of structures found deep inside the brain that assess threats and generate the emotion of fear. The pACC or perigenual anterior cingulated cortex is the part of the brain that regulates the amygdalas. While amygdalas respond to situations here and now, the pACC is set early on and is not flexible. This means that the activity in one’s pACC is not determined by where they live now, but where they grew up. In his first test, Dr. Meyer had the subjects take tests that they were supposed to fail, but added elements that made the experience more embarrassing while indicators of stress were recorded by a scanner. Results showed that the amygdalas of the city-dwellers were the highest, while those of country people were lowest. However, because of the nature of the pACC, the activity level varied since it depends on where the subject was brought up. Several other stress tests where performed to double-check these findings, and stress-free experiments were done as well. This is odd because living in the city seems like it should be less stressful since it provides luxuries. However, the hustle and bustle of city life probably does create some stress problems. Perhaps living in the countryside provides the most relaxing setting for your mind and your brain.
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