I Will Show My Love By Poking Your Lips In an MRI Machine.

Scientists have built a two-person MRI to scan couples’ brains during physical contact.

To test how interaction shows up in the brain, researchers at Aalto University and Turku PET Centre redesigned an MRI machine. They divided the head coil used for regular brain scans into two separate coils. They ended up with a custom-built 16-channel (8 + 8 channels) two-helmet coil with two separate receiving elements. This allowed them to place two people close together in the MRI machine in a position to allow normal interaction and scan their brains at the same time.

Now the scientists could observe in real time what social interaction does in the brain. They asked 10 couples to participate. Couples were asked to lie facing each other so that they were touching, in a position the researchers described as almost hugging. They spent 45 minutes in the machine, while the MRI scanned their brains.

The fun part came when the couples were told to take turns tapping each others’ lips. Because nothing says, “I love you,” like poking your partner’s lips. Why didn’t they have them kiss or give some other more typical show of affection? Because in an MRI scan, even small amounts of motion blur the image.

So what happened when the couples touched each other’s lips? The brain scans shows activation in the motor and sensory areas.

When we interact with each other, we work hard to observe and understand each other. But we are not passive participants; we attempt to predict the other person’s reactions and behaviors so we can influence them. When it works well, we begin to mimic each other in our facial expressions and postures. Scientists believe that our brains start to mirror each other as our…

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