Happiness Associated with Increased Cerebral Perfusion in Brain Areas Related to Emotional Engagement, Regulation, and Attention

Feelings of happiness and generalized well-being are important psychosocial factors that have been associated with improved patient outcomes. Research has shown that feelings of happiness and positive well-being are associated with overall physical, emotional, and social health. Here we take a sample of clinical patients (N=289) to a group of 9 outpatient clinics and evaluate the relationship between cerebral blood flow (CBF) as measured using single photon emission tomography (SPECT) and happiness scores as assessed with the Oxford happiness questionnaire at rest and during a concentration task. The results showed that higher happiness scores were associated with higher perfusion in cortical regions of the limbic system, areas associated with emotional engagement, regulation, and attention. Other limbic brain regions of considerable importance to emotional processing exhibited strong positive correlations with happiness scores in both the rest and concentration conditions. There was significant engagement of the dorsal prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during the concentration condition. The distribution of both rest and concentration positive associations with higher happiness scores were particularly strong in the anterior cingulate cortices. Our results using SPECT imaging and a clinical sample are consistent with prior research using small, controlled samples and different imaging paradigms.