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A new field determine that close friend oppose to unwritten stimuli , such as boob tube channels flicking by , with remarkably similar thought processes . Researchers also ascertain that they could accurately predict how close two people were based solely on theirbrain activityin response to a serial of unfamiliar video clips .
" neuronal responses to [ stimuli such as ] video can give us a window into the great unwashed ’s unconstrained , self-generated thought processes as they unfold , " lead study generator Carolyn Parkinson , an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of California , Los Angeles , said in a statement . " Our termination hint that friends process the world around them in exceptionally similar ways . " [ 7 Ways Friendships Are Key To Your wellness ]
only put : You and your besties really do imagine likewise .
Social magnetism
There are numerous reasons why two stranger might become supporter , and many of these reasons rely on similarities . allot to the study , which was published yesterday ( Jan. 30 ) in the journalNature Communications , a disproportional number of friendships form between individuals who share similar ages , genders , ethnicities and other demographic factor . late research even suggested that you’remore potential to select friends who have DNA sequences similar to yours . With all this in brain , is it possible that you also might choose friends who have similar thought processes ?
To test that hypothesis , the researchers recruited an entire first - year alum - schooltime class of 279 students to take an online survey about their social ties to one another . Each student was provided a list of every other student and was ask to betoken which classmates they had socialized with outside of class in the four month since school start out .
The survey results allowed the investigator to map the graduate course of study ’s complete societal internet , indicate which schoolmate were champion , which were champion of friends , and so on . ( Interestingly , the investigator found a maximum of six degrees of separation between any two students . )
Forty - two of these students were subsequently raise to take part in a functionalMRI(fMRI ) experiment . Researchers monitor the participant ' nous bodily process while they watched a series of 14 unfamiliar video clips , each ranging from about 90 second to 5 minutes — the combining weight of " check television while someone else channel surf , " the researchers wrote . The clip represented a spectrum of genres and emotions , and admit scenes from a soccer match , anastronaut ’s survey of Earth , the political show " Crossfire " and adocumentary about baby sloths .
When the researcher compared the bookman ' head activity , they feel thatclose friendsshowed remarkably similar reaction in brain region associated with emotion , attention and high - level logical thinking . Even when the researcher controlled for other similarity — include the participant ' age , gender , and ethnicity — friendship still proved a dependable indicator of like neuronic bodily process . The team also regain that differences between the functional magnetic resonance imaging responses could be used to reliably predictthe social distancebetween any two participants .
" We are a societal species and live our lives tie to everybody else , " senior study source Thalia Wheatley , an associate prof of psychological and learning ability science at Dartmouth , said in a statement . " If we want to sympathize how the human mastermind works , then we necessitate to understand how brains work in combining — how minds shape each other . "
To that point , a interrogation still remains : Does accept friends physically change the way you think , or do you instinctively select your friends so you do n’t have to change ? Researchers do n’t know the response yet — but until they do , there ’s plenty of channel surfriding to be done .
Originally published onLive scientific discipline .
