This was discovered thousands of years ago in the east(indian subcontinent) by meditation practitioners(i.e Buddha, Mahavira etc) solely through thousands of hours of practice and self-realization. These have been codified into various texts which form a major part of vipassana teachings.

Interesting how scientists in the west either conveniently pick up the theory, conduct some a/b tests and publish them as new discoveries without credit. Even if they had arrived on these conclusions, independently on their own, it's important to understand the mind boggling amount of progress in psychology, neuroscience that was made with the limited knowledge of scientific rigor in the east thousands of years ago.