IF YOU must offend someone, wait until they’re lying down: a brain-scan study shows that people may contain their anger better when horizontal.
Seated subjects who heard personal insults showed brain activity linked to so-called approach motivation. “In this state, one might be more likely to attack,” says Eddie Harmon-Jones of Texas A&M University in College Station, who led the study. The activity disappeared when students took their insults lying down, though they still felt angry.
“Maybe in the reclining state you’re more likely to brood,” says Harmon-Jones. He worries that MRI studies which scan subjects as they are lying down could miss the neural signs…
