Brain Area Responsible for Identification With Fictional Characters Revealed

Research shows that as people's tendency to become a fictional character increases, the part of the brain used to think about fictional characters becomes activated while they think about themselves.

Timothy Broom, lead author, said, "When they think about a favorite fictional character, it appears similar in one part of the brain as when they are thinking about themselves."

‘vMPFC was more active for those high in trait identification’

The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) in the brain shows increased activity when people think about themselves and close friends.

Researchers scanned the brains of 19 self-described fans of the "Game of Thrones" series with an fMRI while thinking about themselves, nine friends, and nine characters from the series.

An fMRI indirectly measures activity in various parts of the brain through small changes in blood flow. Participants were also asked to report which character they felt closest to and liked the most.

Broom explained that since Game of Thrones attracted a devoted fan base and the large cast presented various characters that people could become attached to, it was an ideal choice for the study.

Participants were shown a series of names - theirs, one of their nine friends, or one of the nine characters, while they were in the fMRI. Each name appeared above a trait, like lonely, sad, trustworthy, or smart, and they were asked to say "yes" or "no" to whether the trait described the person.

Findings revealed that participants who scored highest on trait identification not only get absorbed into a story but also get absorbed into a particular character, reporting matching the thoughts of the character, i.e., they think what the character thinks, they feel what the character feels.

Further, the vMPFC was found to be most active when people were evaluating themselves, less active for friends, and least active for the fictional characters.

However, the vMPFC was more active for those high in trait identification when thinking about the characters than for participants who identified less with the characters. That brain area was especially active when they evaluated the character they felt closest to and liked the most.

Dylan Wanger states that the findings help explain how fiction can have such a big impact on some people. "For some people, fiction is a chance to take on new identities, to see worlds through others' eyes and return from those experiences changed."

He further adds, "What previous studies have found is that when people experience stories as if they were one of the characters, a connection is made with that character, and the character becomes entwined with the self. In our study, we see evidence of that in their brains."



Source: Medindia