Human mental illness can be understood better through personality of chimps

Mental illness is a major health concern for people across the globe as different ways of tackling it are also being devised. While certain species have personality traits similar to humans, such a link can be used to improve mental healthcare.

Researchers have revealed that the brain structure and personality of a chimp can help understand human mental illness better. Like human beings, their personalities also shape as a response to neural and genetic factors.

Individual traits are associated with the size of the chimp’s hippocampus which is crucial for memory and emotions. The findings can facilitate a better understanding of brain structure in humans and its link to mental health issues.

They determined that a larger hippocampus led to increased ‘alpha’ behaviour which means lower self-regulation.