How Hope Protects the Brain

“Where there is hope, there is fear: fear is always full of hope, and hope is always full of fear,” noted François de La Rochefoucauld, and it seems he was right. Big Think columnist Paul Ratner briefly explains how hope and anxiety are connected at the neurobiological level, and why the dominance of one feeling inevitably leads to a decrease in the other.

Hope as a Shield Against Anxiety

In a recent study, Chinese psychologists discovered that hope protects our brains from anxiety and expanded our understanding of how this happens on a neurobiological level.

Experts point out that hope is a central theme in positive psychology, relating to a person’s “goal-oriented expectations,” which include both the activity itself (striving toward a goal) and the ways to achieve it (finding solutions).

Since hope is considered a stable personality trait, scientists believed there must be a way to identify the area of the brain responsible for hope. They used fMRI imaging to study the brain activity of 231 high school students from Chengdu, China, who had previously completed questionnaires to determine their level of hope using the DHS test (Demographic and Health Survey) and an anxiety assessment.

Brain Activity and the Role of the Orbitofrontal Cortex

The researchers analyzed brain activity data using the fALFF method (fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations). They found that the presence of hope was associated with lower fALFF values in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), a brain region involved in reward processing, motivation, problem-solving, and goal-directed behavior.

The orbitofrontal cortex is located just above the eye sockets in the frontal lobes. According to the scientists, hope acts as a “mediator” between the activity of the orbitofrontal cortex and anxiety. They note:

“Overall, this study provides the first evidence of functional brain features underlying hope and reveals a possible mechanism by which hope plays a protective role, generating voluntary brain activity in response to anxiety.”

This is the first objective data confirming that hope may have a physical representation in the brain, but the connection between hope and anxiety has been established in several previous studies.

Previous Research on Hope and Anxiety

In 2002, a study at the University of Kansas led by C.R. Snyder examined the role of hope in students’ lives. Researchers found that students with low levels of hope experienced more anxiety, primarily because they set goals that were too difficult or unattainable.

A 2011 study by scientists from Malaysia and Hong Kong showed a link between increased hope and reduced anxiety and depression in cancer patients.

However, one question remains open: does hope itself cause a reduction in anxiety, or are people with lower anxiety levels simply more likely to be hopeful?