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Loneliness and the Brain

Posted on: Thursday, 19 February 2009, 09:21 CST

Research shows feelings of loneliness and social isolation can have an effect on the brain itself, causing visible changes in brain activity.

In a recent study, scientists scanned the brains of college-age females while they were viewing both pleasant and unpleasant images. They found in non-lonely people, the ventral striatum – a region of the brain associated with rewards – was much more activated when they viewed pleasant images. Conversely, the temporoparietal junction – a region associated with taking the perspective of another person – is much less active in lonely people than in non-lonely people when they view unpleasant images.

"The study raises the intriguing possibility that loneliness may result from reduced reward-related activity in the ventral striatum in response to social rewards," Jean Decety, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, was quoted as saying.

In addition to the ventral striatum, researchers found lonely individuals showed differing responses in other parts of the brain, indicating loneliness plays a role in how the brain operates.

SOURCE: Presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago, February 12-16, 2009

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On the Net:

• American Association for the Advancement of Science

Source: Ivanhoe

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