Swooning on #BestFriendsGoals? Brain scans reveal that friends are on the same wavelength!
We have often used sentences like "We really 'clicked', you know?", "We both are best friends because our brains are so 'tuned' with each other", right? Who would have thought the sentences we use in our casual conversations could actually have real significance to them.
The recorded patterns could be used to determine which two students were friends and which were mere classmates, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
This phenomenon has been termed as "brain coupling" by neuroscience, and apparently is a real, measurable, research-validated phenomenon.
They defined a "friend" as someone they'd go out with for a drink, a meal, a movie or other "informal social activities."
If two students named each other, they were considered friends for the purposes of the study. Researchers used those responses to reconstruct the social network of the business school class.
In the next phase of the study, 42 of the students agreed that they would lie in a functional MRI scanner while watching videos for 36 minutes. The clips ranged from 88 seconds to more than 5 minutes, and were chosen to stir up a range of emotions in viewers.
The reel also included video from a gay wedding, a presentation by an astronaut on the International Space Station showing what happens when you wring out a washcloth in space, a documentary about a baby sloth sanctuary and highlights from a soccer match, among other things.
The responses of friend pairs were more alike than the responses of non-friend pairs. And the more similar their responses, the shorter the distance between them in the social network.
In statistical terms, for each one-unit increase in neural similarity, the odds that two people were friends increased by 47%.
"These results suggest that we are exceptionally similar to our friends in how we perceive and respond to the world around us," researchers said.
Further Details of the Research
The correlation between two friends was most clearly seen in areas of the brain involved in motivation, learning, attention, language processing and determining the mental states of others, to name a few examples.
Parkinson and her colleagues also found that the brain responses alone could do a pretty good job of predicting whether two people were friends, mere acquaintances or total strangers.
All of the 861 pairs were divided into four categories of social distance. Friends had a distance of 1; a friend of a friend would have a distance of 2; a friend of a friend of a friend had a distance of 3; and pairs that were even further removed had a distance of 4 or more.
If a computer program was making random guesses about a pair's social distance, it would guess right 25% of the time. But a program based on the brain responses correctly identified friends 48% of the time. It also recognized distance 2 relationships 39% of the time, distance 3 relationships 31% of the time, and distance 4 relationships 47% of the time, according to the study.
The study results offer a new type of scientific proof that "people tend to be friends with individuals who see the world in a similar way," the researchers concluded.
Still, long-term studies are required to address the questions: Do we become friends with people who already see the world the way we do, or do we come to see the world through our friends' eyes?
But the study authors predict that the answer is: both.
Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section.
About the research
The research was conducted by the researchers, led by UCLA social psychologist Carolyn Parkinson where they put students from 42 business schools in an MRI machine and showed them a series of 14 videos. The scanner recorded the activity in their brains as they watched the clips.
The recorded patterns could be used to determine which two students were friends and which were mere classmates, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
This phenomenon has been termed as "brain coupling" by neuroscience, and apparently is a real, measurable, research-validated phenomenon.
What was in the research?
The researchers started with an entire group of students from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. All the 279 students were asked whether they were friends with each of their fellow students.They defined a "friend" as someone they'd go out with for a drink, a meal, a movie or other "informal social activities."
If two students named each other, they were considered friends for the purposes of the study. Researchers used those responses to reconstruct the social network of the business school class.
In the next phase of the study, 42 of the students agreed that they would lie in a functional MRI scanner while watching videos for 36 minutes. The clips ranged from 88 seconds to more than 5 minutes, and were chosen to stir up a range of emotions in viewers.
Types of videos included
A music video for the song "All I Want" was added to the reel because some people considered it "sweet" while others saw it as "sappy," the researchers explained. One of the clips presented a debate on whether college football should be banned; another featured a discussion about a speech by former President Obama.The reel also included video from a gay wedding, a presentation by an astronaut on the International Space Station showing what happens when you wring out a washcloth in space, a documentary about a baby sloth sanctuary and highlights from a soccer match, among other things.
What was the result?
The scanner recorded the responses of 80 separate regions of their brains. Then the researchers compared the responses of each student with the responses of every other student. It was found out that the 42 students could be paired up in 861 distinct ways. Some of those pairs were friends, and some weren't.The responses of friend pairs were more alike than the responses of non-friend pairs. And the more similar their responses, the shorter the distance between them in the social network.
In statistical terms, for each one-unit increase in neural similarity, the odds that two people were friends increased by 47%.
"These results suggest that we are exceptionally similar to our friends in how we perceive and respond to the world around us," researchers said.
Further Details of the Research
The correlation between two friends was most clearly seen in areas of the brain involved in motivation, learning, attention, language processing and determining the mental states of others, to name a few examples.
Parkinson and her colleagues also found that the brain responses alone could do a pretty good job of predicting whether two people were friends, mere acquaintances or total strangers.
All of the 861 pairs were divided into four categories of social distance. Friends had a distance of 1; a friend of a friend would have a distance of 2; a friend of a friend of a friend had a distance of 3; and pairs that were even further removed had a distance of 4 or more.
If a computer program was making random guesses about a pair's social distance, it would guess right 25% of the time. But a program based on the brain responses correctly identified friends 48% of the time. It also recognized distance 2 relationships 39% of the time, distance 3 relationships 31% of the time, and distance 4 relationships 47% of the time, according to the study.
The study results offer a new type of scientific proof that "people tend to be friends with individuals who see the world in a similar way," the researchers concluded.
Still, long-term studies are required to address the questions: Do we become friends with people who already see the world the way we do, or do we come to see the world through our friends' eyes?
But the study authors predict that the answer is: both.
Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section.
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