Summary: Lonely people perceive the world uniquely, differing significantly from those who are not lonely.
The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brain processing patterns of 66 college students as they watched different videos. The results show that individuals experiencing loneliness show more unique and idiosyncratic patterns of brain processing.
This finding may help researchers better understand the nuances of loneliness and its impact on mental health.
Key facts:
- The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brain processing patterns of individuals who were feeling lonely.
- Individuals experiencing loneliness show more unique and idiosyncratic patterns of brain processing than their non-lonely counterparts.
- Idiosyncratic patterns of processing in lonely individuals are observed regardless of the number of social ties or friends they have.
A recent study published in Psychological science and led by a scientist now in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences suggests that when it comes to their information-processing brains, all non-lonely people are alike, but each lonely person processes the world in his own, idiosyncratic way.
Numerous studies have shown that loneliness is detrimental to well-being and is often accompanied by self-reported feelings of being misunderstood by others.
A recent report from the United States Surgeon General’s office cited loneliness as a public health crisis in response to the growing number of adults suffering from the condition. Even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly half of US adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness.
Loneliness is idiosyncratic
While a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, Eliza Baek, an assistant professor of psychology at USC Dornsife, sought to better understand what contributes to such feelings of detachment and incomprehension.
Baek and her team used a neuroimaging technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brains of 66 first-year students while they watched a series of videos. The videos ranged in subject matter from sentimental music videos to party scenes and sporting events, providing a diverse set of scenarios for analysis.
Before being scanned, the participants, who were between the ages of 18 and 21, were asked to complete the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a survey that measures a person’s subjective feelings of loneliness and sense of social isolation.
Based on the results of the study, the researchers divided the participants into two groups: lonely and “non-lonely” (those who do not experience loneliness). They then scanned each participant’s brain using an fMRI while the participant watched the videos.
Comparing brain imaging data between the two groups, the researchers found that the lonelier individuals showed more distinct and idiosyncratic patterns of brain processing than their non-lonely counterparts.
This finding is important because it reveals that neural similarity, which refers to how similar the brain activity patterns of different individuals are, is related to a shared understanding of the world. This shared understanding is important for establishing social bonds.
Not only are people who suffer from loneliness less similar to the societal norm for processing the world, but each lonely person differs in unique ways. This uniqueness can further influence feelings of isolation and lack of social connections.
Beck said, “It was surprising to find that lonely people are even less similar to each other.” The fact that they do not find common ground with lonely or non-lonely people makes it even more difficult for them to achieve social connection.
“The Anna Karenina principle is an apt description of lonely people, as they experience loneliness in an idiosyncratic way rather than a universal way,” she added.
Loneliness is not about having or not having friends
So, does idiosyncratic processing in lonely individuals cause loneliness or is it a result of loneliness?
The researchers noted that people with high levels of loneliness—regardless of how many friends or social connections they had—were more likely to have idiosyncratic brain responses.
This increased the likelihood that being surrounded by people who see the world differently from themselves can be a risk factor for loneliness, even if one communicates with them regularly.
The study also suggests that as social connections or disconnections change over time, this may affect the extent to which an individual processes the world idiosyncratically.
Looking ahead, Baek said she is interested in researching people who have friends and are socially active but still feel lonely. In addition, researchers are looking at what specific situations lonely individuals process differently.
For example, do lonely people show idiosyncrasy when processing unexpected events or ambiguous social contexts in which things can be interpreted differently?
Financing: Funding for the study came from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health.
About this news about loneliness and neurological research
Author: Ileana Wachtel
source: USC
Contact: Ileana Wachtel — USC
Image: Image credit: Neuroscience News
Original Research: Free access.
“Lonely people process the world in idiosyncratic ways” by Elisa Baek et al. Psychological science
Summary
Lonely people process the world in idiosyncratic ways
Loneliness is detrimental to well-being and is often accompanied by self-reported feelings of not being understood by other people. What contributes to such feelings in lonely people?
We used functional MRI on 66 first-year university students to unobtrusively measure the relative alignment of people’s mental processing of naturalistic stimuli and tested whether lonely people actually process the world in idiosyncratic ways.
We found evidence for such idiosyncrasy: Neural responses of lonely individuals differed from those of their peers, particularly in regions of the default mode network in which similar responses were associated with shared perspectives and subjective understanding. These relationships persisted when we controlled for demographic similarities, objective social isolation, and individuals’ friendships with each other.
Our findings raise the possibility that being surrounded by people who see the world differently from you, even if you are friends with them, may be a risk factor for loneliness.