It seems it really is possible for actors to lose themselves in a role. Activity in a part of the brain associated with self-knowledge and self-perception drops off when actors are performing, researchers from the NeuroArts Lab at McMaster University, Canada, have found. The finding suggests that playing the part of another character results in a loss of self, they say.
The study focused on a group of 15 third and fourth year theatre studies students recruited from McMaster University, all trained in ‘method acting’ – an approach in which actors aspire to fully embody the emotions of their characters, which has been widely popularised by icons like Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
The team, led by Steven Brown, placed each of the actors into an MRI scanner…
