Left Brain Right Brain

Happiness Is . . .
Happiness -- or at least positive, outward-reaching emotions -- may be all in your head.
The left, front side of your head, that is.
And inhibiting, negative, withdrawing emotions may be controlled by the right side of your brain, says Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin psychologist who has been studying the physiology of emotions for nearly 20 years.
Davidson's pioneer research, backed by a $10 million National Institutes of Health grant, involves positron emission tomography (PET) and a new generation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanners, the Washington Post reported.
Davidson has localized the positive and negative emotional centers in comparable areas of the left and right prefrontal cortex, just behind the forehead.
Davidson says people with more left-side activity generally describe themselves as happier and have a more positive mood than people with increased right-side activity, the story reported.