Researchers at Ohio State University reported that loneliness can alter neural processing, making the brain blur the line between real people and fictional characters. The findings appeared in a neuroscience journal focusing on cognitive function and social processing.
The study involved nineteen volunteers who had previously watched the Game of Thrones series. Researchers began by collecting self-reported measures of loneliness through surveys. Each participant then answered questions about the personal traits of nine fictional characters from the series and the same number of real-life acquaintances, enabling a direct comparison between imagined and real social targets.
Brain activity was monitored with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique that tracks changes in blood flow to various brain regions as a proxy for neural activity. The researchers were particularly interested in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with self-referential thought and social cognition, including how people think about themselves and others.
Results showed that lonely participants exhibited similar patterns of medial prefrontal cortex activation when considering imaginary characters and real acquaintances. In other words, the neural distinctions between real people and fictional figures appeared to fade for those who described themselves as lonely, suggesting a blurring of social processing at the brain level.
The researchers interpreted these results as evidence that loneliness might reshape emotional connections, potentially driving stronger attachment to fictional figures when daily social contact is limited. These patterns point to a possible mechanism by which loneliness influences social perception and emotional engagement with nonreal social targets.
Beyond the immediate social implications, the study touches on broader health-related questions. Some scientists have proposed that loneliness is linked to various health outcomes, including how social stress can affect metabolic conditions. The idea that emotional isolation could influence health highlights the importance of social connections for overall well-being, especially in environments or populations where daily interaction is constrained.
The study contributes to a growing body of work exploring how subjective feelings of loneliness map onto brain activity and how these neural patterns relate to how people perceive and relate to both real and fictional social targets. While the findings are focused on a specific group and a particular fictional series, they raise questions about whether similar neural patterns occur in other contexts where loneliness is experienced and how these patterns might be addressed through social or psychological interventions.