Psychologists define “embodied simulation” as the phenomenon that activates the same brain circuits when one finds oneself following the stories of real or fictitious people. MRI evaluates the identification process (amplified on tv)
The real world and the world that flows before the eyes of the viewers of a film are not all that different. At least as regards the neurobiological mechanisms that allow humans to understand them. «In fictional narratives such as films and TV series, ours involvement with characters is mediated by many of the same neurophysiological mechanisms that we normally employ when dealing with other human beings in the real world, because both the physical world and that of fiction narrative are characterized by similar social behaviors and practices »says Vittorio Gallese, professor of Psychobiology and Physiological Psychology at the University of Parma, author with Michele Guerra of The empathic screen. Cinema and neuroscience (Raffaello Cortina). “A mechanism we called embodied simulation and which can be considered one of the basic mechanisms of the functioning of our brain that allows us to inhabit both the physical world and the parallel world of narrative fiction. In fact, we reuse the same brain and body, sensorimotor and emotional mechanisms, both when we are involved with other human beings in the real world, and when we witness the behaviors and emotions of fictitious characters on the screen ».
Experiment
A recent neuroscientific study investigated to what extent mental identification with fictional characters is associated with the activation of the same brain mechanisms activated by involvement with oneself or with people who are part of real life. The experiment was carried out using the Functional magnetic resonance (fMRI). “A group of fans of the TV series was asked Game of Thrones to evaluate psychological traits referring to himself, to nine friends and to nine characters of the TV series »says Gallese. “The results showed that in all three conditions the bark ventromedial prefrontal (vMPFC), a region of the brain that is normally activated when one thinks of oneself or of other people considered familiar. The activation of this same part of the brain differed only in terms of intensity, which was greater when one thought of oneself, followed by other human beings and real life, and finally by the characters of the TV series. However, in people who had a more marked tendency to identify with fictional characters, the activation of this brain area was very similar in the three cases, and it was all the more so with the favorite characters ». How is it possible that the same functional mechanism – the embodied simulation – is at the basis of apparently so different experiences? «According to my hypothesis, the mechanism of embodied simulation is always at work: it also accompanies us in narrative fiction. Neuroscience suggests that experience, involvement and identification with the characters of films and TV series results in the reuse of the same brain circuits normally used in our relationships with other human beings ».
Different mechanisms
So far, no studies have been carried out on possible differences in the neurobiological mechanisms of identification with characters from movies or TV series characters. It is conceivable that in the case of the series the identification with the characters is more marked, given the prolonged repeated exposure to the same characters, who become part of people’s lives for a certain period of time. «The series tv they are taking the place of novels »says Gallese again. «Their complex parallel world has been theorized as a ‘narrative ecosystem’, and the role of the viewer is greatly enhanced compared to that of the reader of novels or the viewer of films. In fact, blogs, websites with comments, previews, which amplify the impact of the stories on viewers, revolve around the TV series. As Francesco Casetti proposed in The Lumiére galaxy. Seven keywords for the cinema that is to come (Bompiani), the proliferation of transmedia storytelling generated by the original TV series, transforms the viewer into a performer who actively constructs his own vision. The greater active engagement of the spectators with the fictional characters that populate the TV series increases their attachment to them, enhancing their affective quality, through the greater intensity of the embodied simulation that those characters generate ».
September 17, 2021 (change September 17, 2021 | 5:30 pm)
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