The more urban a person's childhood, the more active his pACC, regardless of where he was dwelling at the time of the experiment.

ECONOMIST: Urban brains behave differently from rural ones

In the case of the pACC, however, what mattered was not where someone was living now, but where he or she was brought up.

ECONOMIST: Urban brains behave differently from rural ones

Moreover, it is also known that the pACC-amygdala link is often out of kilter in schizophrenia, and that schizophrenia is more common among city dwellers than country folk.

ECONOMIST: Urban brains behave differently from rural ones

The amygdalas thus seem to respond to the here-and-now whereas the pACC is programmed early on, and does not react in the same, flexible way as the amygdalas.

ECONOMIST: Urban brains behave differently from rural ones

These experiments showed no activity in either the amygdalas or the pACC, suggesting that the earlier results were indeed the result of social stress rather than mental exertion.

ECONOMIST: Urban brains behave differently from rural ones