MRI Scans Show Our Brains Can Perceive Friends Differently When We Feel Lonely

Through a detailed analysis of fMRI scans, researchers showed that the lonelier someone is, the more likely they are to feel that friends and acquaintances are distant, and these social connections all tend to blur into one whole as far as the brain goes.

While we know that close social connections are good for our health, scientists don't fully understand how these connections map themselves out in the brain.

These new findings could help fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge – and maybe lead to ways to better manage feelings of loneliness and isolation.

"The social brain apparently maintains information about broad social categories as well as closeness to the self," report the researchers in their published paper. "Moreover, these results point to the possibility that feelings of chronic social disconnection may be mirrored by a 'lonelier' neural self-representation."

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