Close friends operate at the same wavelength: suggests study

Scientists have always known the folks with similar features such as age, appearance along with ethnic background seem to mingle in a better way as compared to the ones who flaunt different features. The latest study into the brain activity of friends has suggested that the closer the relation between friends, the similar their neural responses are towards different life-based experiences and scenarios.

The lead author of the study, Carolyn Parkinson who is also the director of the Computational Social Neuroscience Lab at the University of California located in L.A. stated that the results derived from the study confirmed that friends often tend to process the surroundings around them in a manner that is very similar. The researchers used MRI scans to compare the particular regions located in brains of about 42 volunteers that lit up while they saw clips from videos belonging to various genres that included music videos, news reports, comedy skits as well as documentaries. The folks with similar neuro-pattern made it easy for the researchers to determine who among them were friends and who weren’t.

Researchers observed that with closer relationships the brain pattern reflected similar emotional response, the same level of reasoning along with the extremely similar capacity of focusing one’s attention. The closest match was seen with friends followed by the ones who were friends of their friends. The author of the study also stated that one can easily determine the level of friendship just by looking through the brain scans.

The 14 clips included a journalist based debate about the use of humor in speeches given by Barack Obama, a music video about a person with a facial deformity who was an outcast from the society, a documentary regarding baby sloths living in the land of Costa Rica along with scenes from a certain gay wedding.

The findings of this study were published in the journal “Nature Communications” which suggested that this trait expands to the pattern of social media use. The relationships established with people who are exactly our opposite generally do not last long and are based on task and practicality. However, the study couldn’t determine whether these similarities attract us towards each other or similarities develop as we share numerous experiences.