Actors close parts of their brains to play roles, reveal analyzes



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According to a new study based on cerebral sweeps of thespians, the actors have to actually extinguish part of their brain to really take a role.

In a series of experiments, the actors were placed in MRI machines and asked to answer questions as if it were Romeo or Juliet during the "balcony scene" of William Shakespeare's play.

Scientists were surprised to find that while participants were thinking about concepts ranging from romance to religion, their brains were truly overpowered by those of the famous cursed lovers.


They observed decreased brain activity, with significant deactivation in part of the frontal lobe.

This result suggests that the representation of a fictional character goes much further than just learning a script.

The research was led by Dr. Steven Brown, neuroscientist at McMaster University of Canada, who specializes in brain behavior when people participate in music, dance and other forms of life. # 39; s.

Since no one had ever tried to measure the brain activity underlying the tragedy, Dr. Brown recruited a group of university-trained volunteer actors to participate in his new study.

Inspired by a visit to Brazil during which he attended a ceremony of indigenous possession, he thought that there might be parallels to be established with actors.

"I had the idea that acting might be a little like ball possession, that is, when you act, you're sort of taken over by your character," he said. Dr. Brown.

This, he says, influenced his interpretation of the experiments, which, in his opinion, would have revealed something quite different.

Normally, his team is looking for increases in brain activity that may underpin artistic activities, but in this study, they were surprised to find that activity was decreasing in some key areas.


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"There was no literature to make predictions because it was the first study of its kind," he said. "We thought there might be activation increases related to pretending to be a character, but instead we saw that activation decrease." It was very surprising for us.

During four sessions in MRI devices, participants had to respond in four different ways: in person, with a British accent, by responding to a friend and finally, as if they were Romeo or Juliet .

Only by assuming their Shakespearean role did people show disabling in areas of the brain.

Like the people who attended the ceremony he attended, Dr. Brown suggested that these people were losing their "sense of self" as they lived in the characters' minds.

Although this new field of research is still in its infancy, it publishes its results in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Scientists said their study was the first step toward understanding how people change their brains when they take on different roles – in everyday life or on stage.


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