Well-being: look in the mirror to get better!

Seeing yourself in the mirror is not always a happy moment and sometimes even a dreaded moment. However, for our brain, recognizing itself in the mirror is rather good news. Japanese researchers say that when you see your face in the mirror, the hypothalamus releases dopamine, the “feel good” hormone. They presented their findings in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Deciphering his face stimulates the production of dopamine

The human brain is able to unconsciously identify its face, whether in a photo or in front of a mirror. The team of researchers from Osaka University believe they have determined the reasoning behind this rapid self-identification and why people look at each other so often.

According to the researchers, when it comes to distinguishing our own face from others, the hypothalamus releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps boost motivation and feelings of reward. Scientists have discovered that this reward circuitry is stimulated when individuals decipher their own face subliminally. “We recognize our own face better than other people’s faces, even when the information is provided subliminallypointed out lead author Chisa Ota. However, little is known if this benefit involves the same brain or different areas that are activated by the suprathreshold presentation of our face..”

Several areas of the brain stimulated

To understand which areas of the brain react to the sight of one’s face, the researchers conducted a series of experiments with 22 participants. They either flashed images that included the person’s face or outlines that resembled their own facial features. The team also looked at the brain’s response to images of faces containing altered features. As a control, the study authors also showed each participant pictures of strangers. They then examined neural activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The hidden images of their own faces unconsciously stimulated several areas of the brain, including those that interpret facial information. The amygdala, a small region below the hypothalamus, displayed more activity when the participants looked at their own face unconsciously. This area of ​​the brain links fear to emotions and survival instincts, but it can also link emotions to memories. This study found that the amygdala remained active whenever the person recognized their own face, regardless of the transformed images.

“The results provided us with new insights into the neural mechanisms of self-face advantage.added the lead author, Tamami Nakano. We found that activation in the ventral tegmental area, which is a central component of the dopamine reward pathway, was stronger for subliminal presentations of the participant’s face compared to the faces of others..”

Looking in a mirror is different from seeing an image.

This study also revealed that our brain reacts differently depending on whether we see our own face consciously or unconsciously. This means that either different areas of the brain activate or the same area uses different functioning mechanisms when we look deliberately in the mirror compared to if we see our face in a group photo without being fully aware of it. Researchers have already planned to conduct new experiments to better understand this mechanism.