Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities
The present study investigated if there are differences in the neural activity of the healthy human brain during the imagination of activities from the real world in comparison to the imagination of activities from the online world. Using functional MRI, healthy subjects were scanned during a moneta...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2465200 |
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| author | Ariana Barmayoun Manfred E. Beutel Moritz de Greck |
| author_facet | Ariana Barmayoun Manfred E. Beutel Moritz de Greck |
| author_sort | Ariana Barmayoun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present study investigated if there are differences in the neural activity of the healthy human brain during the imagination of activities from the real world in comparison to the imagination of activities from the online world. Using functional MRI, healthy subjects were scanned during a monetary incentive delay task (functional localizer of reward regions) and a novel imagination task (imagination of activities from the real and the online world). The contrast “anticipation of reward” > “anticipation of no outcome” revealed significant hemodynamic responses in the bilateral ventral striatum and other reward regions. The right and the left ventral striatum were selected for further region of interest analysis. The contrast “imagination of high interesting real world activities” > “imagination of high interesting online world activities” revealed a significant difference in the left ventral striatum. Furthermore, when comparing the hemodynamic contrast for the real world difference (“imagination of high interesting real world activities” – “imagination of low interesting real world activities”) with the online world difference (“imagination of high interesting online world activities” – “imagination of low interesting online world activities”), the right and the left ventral striatum showed statistically significant results. Our results underline the crucial role of the reward system in the development of interests. Our findings suggest that the imagination of real world activities, independent of their level of interest, activates the reward system more strongly than the imagination of online world activities. Considering the small sample size of our study, our results remain preliminary and need confirmation through further studies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4d910d668b8441f7b00dc3732ab5d26d |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2331-1908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-4d910d668b8441f7b00dc3732ab5d26d2025-08-20T03:05:34ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Psychology2331-19082025-12-0112110.1080/23311908.2025.2465200Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activitiesAriana Barmayoun0Manfred E. Beutel1Moritz de Greck2Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyThe present study investigated if there are differences in the neural activity of the healthy human brain during the imagination of activities from the real world in comparison to the imagination of activities from the online world. Using functional MRI, healthy subjects were scanned during a monetary incentive delay task (functional localizer of reward regions) and a novel imagination task (imagination of activities from the real and the online world). The contrast “anticipation of reward” > “anticipation of no outcome” revealed significant hemodynamic responses in the bilateral ventral striatum and other reward regions. The right and the left ventral striatum were selected for further region of interest analysis. The contrast “imagination of high interesting real world activities” > “imagination of high interesting online world activities” revealed a significant difference in the left ventral striatum. Furthermore, when comparing the hemodynamic contrast for the real world difference (“imagination of high interesting real world activities” – “imagination of low interesting real world activities”) with the online world difference (“imagination of high interesting online world activities” – “imagination of low interesting online world activities”), the right and the left ventral striatum showed statistically significant results. Our results underline the crucial role of the reward system in the development of interests. Our findings suggest that the imagination of real world activities, independent of their level of interest, activates the reward system more strongly than the imagination of online world activities. Considering the small sample size of our study, our results remain preliminary and need confirmation through further studies.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2465200fMRIreward systeminterestingreal worldonline worldneuropsychology |
| spellingShingle | Ariana Barmayoun Manfred E. Beutel Moritz de Greck Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities Cogent Psychology fMRI reward system interesting real world online world neuropsychology |
| title | Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities |
| title_full | Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities |
| title_fullStr | Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities |
| title_short | Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities |
| title_sort | differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and online world activities |
| topic | fMRI reward system interesting real world online world neuropsychology |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2465200 |
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