Transcript
Can our brains distinguish between real friends and fictional ones? Maybe not, for certain people. Scientists measured brain activation in an fMRI machine, and found similar brain activations in the medial prefrontal cortex when people thought about either their close friends or fictional characters from Game of Thrones that they identified strongly with. But it was only similar in people who reported being very lonely. Comment your theory for why.
Additional notes
👉 STUDY DETAILS: The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is the part of the brain that shows increased activity when people think about themselves and other people. 👉 During the fMRI scans, participants saw a sequence of names: sometimes their own, sometimes that of a friend from their real life, and at other times, a character from "Game of Thrones.” Each was paired with descriptors such as 'sad,' 'trustworthy,' or 'smart.’ 👉 Participants then indicated with a "yes" or "no" if the trait matched the displayed name, while the fMRI recorded brain activity, particularly in the MPFC region. 🧠 The team then contrasted the brain responses when participants pondered about real friends against those when considering the fictional characters. 📄 Everyone took loneliness tests. For those less lonely, the scans showed a clear distinction between real and fictional individuals. But for the lonelier ones, the activation patterns started to become extremely similar. LIMITATION: I would have loved to see the study also give names of complete strangers, to rule out options like “the MPFC gets activated when thinking about any people at all.” 📚Study – DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad237