The Christmas Spirit Is A Neural Network

It's been tough for me to get into the Christmas Spirit this year.  I'm not sure why but it got me to thinking about just what is the spirit and where does it come from?

A touching card, a familiar song, stockings hung by the fireplace with care - science says all Christmas spirit starts somewhere and new findings reveal it's in your brain! (maybe that's my problem!)

Researchers from Denmark gave participants a survey about their experiences with Christmas traditions, and then divided them into two groups-- Christmas and non-Christmas.

Participants were then shown a mix of Christmas-themed photos and regular photos while they had their brains scanned by an MRI machine. There was no difference in neural activity between the two groups when viewing the regular images, but those in the Christmas group showed increased brain activity when shown the Christmas photos.

This showed the "Christmas spirit network" spreads across several regions of the brain.
Writing in a tongue-and-cheek manner, researchers note, "Understanding how Christmas spirit works as a neurological network could provide insight into an interesting area of human neuropsychology and be a powerful tool in treating ailments such as bah humbug syndrome." (UPI)