What happens in your brain when you ‘lose yourself’ in fiction

Researchers found that the more immersed people tend to get into “becoming” a fictional character, the more they use the same part of the brain to think about the character as they do to think about themselves. …

“For some people, fiction is a chance to take on new identities, to see worlds though others’ eyes and return from those experiences changed,” Wagner said.

“What previous studies have found is that when people experience stories as if they were one of the characters, a connection is made with that character, and the character becomes intwined with the self. In our study, we see evidence of that in their brains.”