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.world
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    2 年前

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

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 年前

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

      • Obinice@lemmy.world
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        2 年前

        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!

  • Guy Ingonito@reddthat.com
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    2 年前

    Years ago there was a guy on reddit who gave up media for a month. He said he got lonely, and would head out to public spaces just to be around people.

    • vector_zero@lemmy.world
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      2 年前

      So if we ban social media, people will return to the real world and socialize, rather than wallowing in an online pit of rage and despair?

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    2 年前

    I believe there’s a subplot in Fahrenheit 451 where the protagonist’s wife becomes lost in a surround-screen fictional show that she talks about as if it were her real social life. This is not some aberration but the intended way for it to be consumed - the characters turn and address her directly throughout the show.

  • calypsopub@lemmy.world
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    2 年前

    I am not that lonely, but I have imaginary friends who are fictional characters from books and actual people from history. I talk to them in my head when bored, like when folding laundry or driving. I wonder what that would look like in an MRI.

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    2 年前

    My girl Cersei was just telling me about this the other day. How you have to cut people off before they become real in your mind. Because you know, she and I are the only two people in the world.

  • m3t00🌎@lemmy.world
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    2 年前

    MRI for this makes me think more needs to be spent on cancer research. MRIs don’t come cheap if at all for people dying of cancer. GoT? never watched any

    • Sundray@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 年前

      You’re not wrong, but people also die of behaviors that stem from loneliness. I’d suggest it’s not a complete waste to examine.