Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2016 March 31

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March 31[edit]

Brain effects[edit]

What does entertainment do to the brain??--178.101.224.162 (talk) 23:57, 31 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I believe we like watching movies because it allows us to "practice" what we would do in various situations, without any actual danger. This is similar to what we do in dreams. (For example, saying "I dare you to kill me !" to the psycho killer, probably not the best game plan.) StuRat (talk) 02:21, 1 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
This is not a belief desk ;) SemanticMantis (talk) 16:24, 1 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Here [1] is a nice freely accessible scholarly article that discusses many aspects of media entertainment, including some psychological aspects. Here [2] is an article entirely about how the brain reacts to pleasurable sensory experiences. Here [3] is a book chapter about the "Neuroanatomy of Human Pleasure". SemanticMantis (talk) 16:24, 1 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]