A tale of two cities: a neuroimaging investigation of Melbourne-Sydney rivalry comparing cortical thickness in healthy adults.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to identify neurobiological correlates of Melbourne-Sydney rivalry through neuroimaging measures of a key brain region involved in cognitive and emotional regulation.


METHODS
Twenty subjects from each city were recruited from two large neuroimaging databases, and were scanned on a GE Signa 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Cortical thickness of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was measured using a tessellated mesh method, after image segmentation. These measures were compared with key sporting, financial and academic variables.


RESULTS
Residents of Melbourne had a significantly thicker ACC (p < 0.0001) than Sydney residents, and this difference remained significant when age and intracranial volume were controlled for (p = 0.001). This difference mirrored that in variables measuring wealth, sporting and academic success.


CONCLUSIONS
The thinner ACC seen in Sydney-siders may reflect the effects of increased stress due to elevated property prices, relative lack of sporting success and other variables. An alternative explanation is that a thinner ACC is the result of increasing cortical refinement and efficiency, and a marker of a more mature city. However, if these findings are a result of latitudinal effects, this may have significant implications for residents of more northern regions of the Australian continent.
Velakoulis
Dennis
D
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.
Fornito
Alex
A
Walterfang
Mark
M
Malhi
Gin
G
Yucel
Mürat
M
Pantelis
Christos
C
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D001315:Australia; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging