Do you tend to see the glass half full or half empty? A new study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology is the first to show that brain activity is actually different between positive and negative thinkers, so just telling someone to try and see the glass as half-full isn’t going to help them do it.

Current State talked with Dr. Jason Moser, an Assistant Professor of psychology at MSU, about his recent finding.

Moser says that they were looking at the brain activity of people who report either positive or negative thoughts throughout their daily lives via questionnaires. Then, they brought those individuals to the lab to look at their brain activity when exposed to certain images.