Do you know that when actors take on a new role, they shut down a part of their brain?
A new study led by Dr Steven Brown, a neuroscientist at McMaster University, Canada who specialises in how the brain behaves while people are participating in music, dance and other art forms has shown that for actors to effectively take up a new role, they must turn off part of their brain.
According to the Independent, actors were placed in MRI machines and asked to respond to questions as if they were Romeo or Juliet during the “balcony scene” from William Shakespeare’s play.
The scientists were surprised to see that as the participants mused on concepts ranging from romance to religion, their brains were truly taken over by those of the famous star-crossed lovers and their brain activity dropped off, with a notable deactivation in a part of the frontal lobe. This shows that for actors to portray fictional characters goes further than memorizing a script.
Dr Brown said he got the idea while he was in Brazil and witnessed an indigenous possession ceremony,
He said, “I got the idea that maybe acting was a bit similar to possession – that when you’re acting you’re kind of being taken over by character.”
So the next time you see an actor, you should know that acting goes deeper tan gesticulation or memorizing the scripts.