Managers 'have bigger brains'

Washington, Sep 10 - Staffers agree or not, managers do have bigger brains, says a new study.

 An international team has carried out the study and found that managing other people at work triggers structural changes in the brain, protecting its memory and learning centre well into old age.

 Researchers, led by the University of New South Wales, have, in fact, for the first time, identified a clear link between managerial experience throughout a person's working life and the integrity and larger size of one's hippocampus -- the brain's area responsible for learning and memory -- at 80.

 ÒWe found a clear relationship between the number of employees a person may have supervised or been responsible for and the size of the hippocampus,Ó said Dr Michael Valenzuela, who led the team.

 ÒThis could be linked to the unique mental demands of managing people, which requires continuous problem solving, short term memory and a lot of emotional intelligence, such as the ability to put yourself in another person s shoes. Over time this could translate into the structural brain changes we observed,Ó he added.

Using MRI imagery in a cohort of 75-92 year-olds, the researchers found larger hippocampal volumes in those with managerial experience compared to those without, even after accounting for any of a number of alternative explanations.

 While many male participants followed traditional management career paths, the effect was also seen in women who had taken on managerial roles in nursing or teaching, for example.