Researchers at Ohio State University found that lonely people’s brains blur the distinction between real people and fictional characters. results published In the journal Cerebral Cortex.
19 people who had watched the Game of Thrones series before participated in the experiment. The scientists first used surveys to collect information about how lonely participants felt. Each volunteer was then asked to answer a series of questions about the personal characteristics of nine characters in the series and the same number of real-life acquaintances.
During the responses, scientists tracked the participants’ brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This method allows you to record changes in blood flow in individual areas of the brain. Researchers sought to find out what was happening in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is activated when a person thinks about themselves and others.
Participants who described themselves as lonely people appeared to have similar patterns of activity in the medial prefrontal cortex when thinking about imaginary characters and real acquaintances. According to the researchers, these results show that the differences between the two groups are “blurring” in the participants’ brains.
Scientists have suggested that lonely people may become emotionally attached to fictional characters due to lack of communication in daily life.
existed before discovered The link between loneliness and diabetes.
Source: Gazeta
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