Is happiness and brain development much related? A new study has now claimed that brain is developed as one feels happier. The researchers at Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden found that neurotransmitter serotonin, which is known to mediate optimism, satisfaction and self-confidence and optimism, acts as a growth factor in neocortex. This increase of neocortex leads to an increase of the human brain. .
Serotonin is known as happiness neurotransmitter because it transmits messages between nerve cells that contribute to happiness and well being. The role of happiness transmitter was never studied in detail earlier. Serotonin are developed in the embryo state itself. It so produced in the placenta that breaches the grain through the blood circulation.
Researcher Lei Xing was quoted as saying that serotonin led to a chain of reactions that resulted in the production of more basal progenitors in the developing brain. These basal progenitors then increase the production of cortical neurons, which is known to lead to a bigger brain.
The researchers said that they found that serotonin had a major role in the development of the brain. It helps in the expansion of neocortex during development and human evolution. And as such happiness is related to the growth of the brain.
