1) Dr. Suresh Kumar Murugesan is a professor of psychology in India who specializes in psychometry and positive psychology. 2) Neuroscience research has found that feelings of gratitude are associated with increased activity in areas of the brain related to learning, decision making, and moral cognition such as the medial prefrontal cortex. 3) Gratitude may impact neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin which are linked to mood improvement and social bonding. Practicing gratitude has been shown to have mental and physical health benefits.

1. Neuroscience of Gratitude
Dr.Suresh Kumar Murugesan PhD
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2. About the Presenter
● Dr.Suresh Kumar Murugesan is a passionate Professor, Researcher
and Positive Mental Health Practitioner from Madurai, Tamil Nadu,
India
● At present he is Heading the PG Department of Psychology, The
American College, Madurai and Adjunct Professor of School of
Behavioural Sciences and Education at Texila American University
● He is very keen in learning new research studies in behavioural
Sciences and open to learn.
● His ultimate aim is to make impression in the field of Knowledge
● His area of specializations are Psychometry and Positive
Psychology
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3. Disclaimer
● This presentation is prepared
for learning purpose only and
anyone can use the content.
● All the images used in this
presentation are taken from
google image search.
● Due acknowledgement was
given to all the material
collected from the various
sources.
● Any name or reference is not
included kindly bring it to the
notice of the presenter for
inclusion.
● Email -
sureshkumar800@yahoo.com
Thank you
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4. What?
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5. What? ● Neuroscience is neurochemistry and experimental
psychology, which deal with the structure or function of the
nervous system and brain.
● Neuroscientists focus on the brain and its impact on
behavior and cognitive functions, or how people think.
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7. Benefits of
Gratitude
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8. Social Relationship
Gratitude then, is an emotion that not only enhances our
social relationships (Algoe et al., 2008), but also signals to
others a recognition that we are a fair partner (Sigmund,
2007).
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9. Health,
Relationship and
wellbeing
Gratitude is associated with improved health outcomes (Huffman
et al., 2014), benefits to relationships (Algoe et al., 2008) and
subjective well-being (Emmons, 2008).
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10. Personality and Life satisfaction
Wood et al (2008) examined gratitude and well being in the context of
personality style. In this study, gratitude was most strongly correlated with
personality attributes related to well being, and the researchers concluded that
gratitude has a unique relationship with life satisfaction
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11. Life Satisfaction and wellbeing
● Froh et al (2008) the gratitude condition was associated with greater life
satisfaction. Chen and Kee (2008) found that gratitude positively
predicted life satisfaction.
● Tseng (2008) found an association between gratitude and well being
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12. Happiness
Dickerhoof (2007) found that gratitude increases happiness of the students.
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13. Resilience
Neuroscientist Glenn Fox (2019) found that gratitude improves our resilience,
lowers stress, and boosts overall health
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14. Benefits of Gratitude
Russell & Fosha, 2008 found that gratitude has many benefits - Physical,
Psychological and social.
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15. Gratitude and
Brain
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16. Medial Prefrontal Cortex
People who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they
showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area
associated with learning and decision making. - Joshuva Brown and Joel
Wong (2017)
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17. MPFC and ACC ● Gratitude correlated with activity in a region of the MPFC
that encompassed the pre-genual ACC and the ventral and
dorsal MPFC.
● Gratitude is often conceived of as a moral emotion
(McCullough et al., 2001). Thus, the experience of
gratitude should recruit brain regions associated with moral
cognition.
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18. Anterior superior temporal cortex
One study found that making moral judgments involving gratitude elicited
activity in the right anterior superior temporal cortex (Zahn et al., 2008).
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19. Right Anterior Temporal Cortex
Studies have demonstrated that at the brain level, moral judgments involving
feelings of gratefulness are evoked in the right anterior temporal cortex
(Zahn et al., 2009).
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20. Inferior Temporal Gyrus
People who express and feel gratitude have a higher volume of grey matter in
the right inferior temporal gyrus (Zahn, Garrido, Moll, & Grafman, 2014).
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21. Neocortical Regions
Consistent evidence has established that what we call ‘emotions’ or ‘feelings’
are neural activations in the neocortical regions of the brain (Moll et al., 2005).
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22. Hypothalamus
Gratitude activates the hypothalamus by Roland Zhan et al (2009)
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23. Hippocampus and amygdala
Studies have shown that hippocampus and amygdala, the two main sites
regulating emotions, memory, and bodily functioning, get activated with
feelings of gratitude.
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24. PMC
One study of brain morphology found that individual differences in proneness
to gratitude correlated with increased gray matter volume in the right inferior
temporal gyrus and posteromedial cortices (Zahn et al., 2014).
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25. PMC
In a study of admiration and compassion, participants reported being grateful for
their own well-being when they processed stories that evoked compassion for
emotional pain, which is associated with brain activity in cortical midline
structures such as the posteromedial cortices (Immordino-Yang et al., 2009).
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27. Gratitude and
Neurotransmitter
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28. Gratitude as
Natural
Antidepressant
Emily Fletcher, the founder of Ziva, a well-known meditation
training site, mentioned in one of her publications that gratitude
as a ‘natural antidepressant’. The effects of gratitude, when
practiced daily can be almost the same as medications. It
produces a feeling of long-lasting happiness and contentment,
the physiological basis of which lies at the neurotransmitter level.
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29. Dopamine and Serotonin
When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases
dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our
emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately,
making us feel happy from the inside.
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30. Oxytocin
Another recent study found a correlation between individual differences in a
genotype for oxytocin function and behavioral expressions of gratitude (Algoe
and Way, 2014), pointing to gratitude's importance in social bonding.
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31. Gratitude
Assessment
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32. Gratitude Questionnaire
Using the scale below as a guide, write a number beside each
statement to indicate how much you agree with it.
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=slightly disagree, 4=neutral, 5=slightly
agree, 6=agree, 7=strongly agree
____1. I have so much in life for which to be thankful.
____2. If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would be a
very long list.
____3. When I look at the world, I don't see much for which to be
grateful.*
____4. I am grateful to a wide variety of people.
____5. As I get older I find myself more able to appreciate the
people, events, and situations that have been part of my life
history.
____6. Long amounts of time can go by before I feel grateful to
something or someone.*
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33. Scoring
*reverse scored items
Reprinted with the permission of Dr. Emmons.
Scoring Instructions:
1. Add up your scores for items 1, 2, 4, and 5.
2. Reverse your scores for items 3 and 6. That is, if you scored a “7,” give yourself a “1,” if you scored a “6,” give
yourself a “2,” ;etc.
3. Add the reversed scores for items 3 and 6 to the total from Step 1.This is your total GQ-6 score. This number should
be between 6 and 42.
Interpretation:
● 25th Percentile: a score below 35 (bottom quartile)
● 50th Percentile: a score below 38 (bottom half)
● 75th Percentile: a score of 41 (higher than 75%)
● Top 13%: a score of 42
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34. Gratitude
Strategies
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35. Strategies
● Journaling about things for which to be grateful
● Thinking about someone for whom you are grateful
● Writing/sending a letter to someone for whom you are
grateful
● Meditating on gratitude (present moment awareness)
● Undertaking the “Count Your Blessings” exercise (at the
end of the week, writing down three things for which you
were grateful)
● Practicing saying “thank you” in a sincere and
meaningful way
● Writing thank you notes
● If religious, praying about your gratitude
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36. References
1. Joshuva Brown and Joel Wong (June6, 2017). How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain
2. Madhuleena Roy Chowdhury, (07 Dec 2021). The Neuroscience of Gratitude and How It Affects Anxiety & Grief.
https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/
3. Fox GR, Kaplan J, Damasio H and Damasio A (2015) Neural correlates of gratitude. Front. Psychol. 6:1491. doi:
10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01491. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01491/full
4. Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2010). Gratitude and well being: the benefits of appreciation. Psychiatry
(Edgmont (Pa. : Township)), 7(11), 18–22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3010965/
5. Liz Tung (November 21, 2019). Your brain on gratitude: How a neuroscientist used his research to heal from grief.
https://whyy.org/segments/your-brain-on-gratitude-how-a-neuroscientist-used-his-research-to-heal-from-grief/
6. Eric Lindberg (NOVEMBER 25, 2019). Practicing gratitude can have profound health benefits, USC experts say.
https://news.usc.edu/163123/gratitude-health-research-thanksgiving-usc-experts/
7. Neurohealth Associates (July 4th, 2020). Neuroscience Reveals: Gratitude Literally Rewires Your Brain to be
Happier. https://nhahealth.com/neuroscience-reveals-gratitude-literally-rewires-your-brain-to-be-happier/
8. Karen Young (24 March 2021). The Science of Gratitude – How it Changes People, Relationships (and Brains!) and
How to Make it Work For You. https://www.heysigmund.com/the-science-of-gratitude/
9. Glenn Fox (JUNE 10, 2019). What Science Reveals About Gratitude’s Impact on the Brain.
https://www.mindful.org/what-the-brain-reveals-about-gratitude/
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