Hello Budding Behavioral Neuroscientists! Do you ever feel like a mindless zombie when you leave a movie theater? Although I don't have time to write to a full-on blog post this week, I thought you may like to hear about what happens to your brain when you watch a movie in the theater. As we learned in class, one way to visualize brain activity in awake, behaving humans is with fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging).
Researchers at Princeton university recorded brain activity while subjects watched a movie, and found that several brain areas appear to 'sync up.' However, the effect doesn't happen with all movies ('structured' movies are better at syncing). Perhaps as a precursor to mind control, movie studio executives should screen test all their movies with the audience sitting in fMRIs! If you want to know more, please click here.
Dr. Stratford, I wanted to say thank you for inquiring about your blog today in class. It was a great reminder to come home and check it out.. I now have it added to my blog. I love having off-the-book Neuroscience subjects to ponder, it really helps me integrate all of the classroom knowledge I am taking in and apply it to a real world setting. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Elise!
ReplyDeleteHope all is well.
Dr. Stratford
I agree, I enjoy learning about the application of neuroscience as well! Brain syncing during movies? Very interesting stuff. Thanks for going the extra mile and writing these blog posts, Dr. Stratford!
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you for stopping by and commenting!
ReplyDeleteDr. Stratford