By comparison, the brain activity of nonlonely participants was similar to that of other nonlonely participants. When the researchers compared these participants’ scans, they found that the brain activity of lonely participants was very dissimilar to that of both nonlonely participants and other lonely participants. In order to analyze these data, Baek and colleagues divided participants into two groups: a “lonely” group with participants who scored higher than the median on the loneliness scale and a nonlonely group with participants who scored under the median. Earlier in the academic year, each participant had also completed a social network survey in which they were asked to list the names of each person with whom they studied, ate meals, or otherwise hung out during their first several months as students. After the scan, they self-reported their feelings of social connection using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Porter, and Carolyn Parkinson (University of California, Los Angeles ) came to this conclusion by comparing the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of 63 first-year university students.ĭuring each 90-minute scan, participants viewed 14 engaging video clips in the same order. Her study showed that lonely individuals’ neural responses differ from those of other people, suggesting that “seeing the world differently than those around you may be a risk factor for loneliness, even if you regularly socialize with them.”īaek and colleagues Ryan Hyon, Karina López, Meng Du, Mason A. Baek (University of Southern California) in an interview. “We found that lonely individuals are exceptionally dissimilar to their peers in the way that they process the world around them … even when taking into account the number of friends that they have,” said lead author Elisa C. New research published in Psychological Science supports this notion, suggesting that lonely people may think differently regardless of the size of their social networks. Whereas a person who appreciates solitude might choose to enjoy a quiet night in or a solo trip abroad, a lonely person may feel disconnected from other people even in a crowded room. Common wisdom suggests that a core difference between solitude and loneliness is choice.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |