For the lonely, a blurred line between real and fictional people
news.osu.edu
In lonely people, the boundary between real friends and favorite fictional characters gets blurred in the part of the brain that is active when thinking about others, a new study found.Researchers scanned the brains of people who were fans of “Game of Thrones” while they thought about various characters in the show and about their real frien...

Using fMRI scans on 19 lonely fans of “Game of Thrones”, researchers discovered that they processed their favorite characters similarly to real friends in their brains. This suggests that lonelier …::In lonely people, the boundary between real friends and favorite fictional characters gets blurred in the part of the brain that is active when thinking about others, a new study found.Researchers scanned the brains of people who were fans of “Game of Thrones” while they thought about various characters in the show and about their real frien…

  • kemsat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    58·
    1 year ago

    Is this the same effect that causes religious people to believe they are in a real relationship with their god?

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      31·
      1 year ago

      Also the same one that makes conservative dipshits believe asshole politicians are on their side.

      • Obinice@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        1 year ago

        You just don’t know him like I do, man. Soon he’ll enact his big plan and fix everything!! He’s just waiting until the moment is right to sneak it all past the other side, man!