Brain Activity of Soccer Fans

Studying brain patterns in soccer fans, researchers found that certain circuit regions of the brain were activated while viewing soccer matches involving their favorite team, triggering positive and negative emotions and behaviors, according to a new study published in Radiology. The researchers say these patterns could apply to other types of fanaticism as well, and that the circuits are forged early in life.

Soccer is a global phenomenon, and its followers exhibit a broad spectrum of behaviors, from spectatorship to intense emotional engagement, providing a useful model for studying social identity and emotional processing in competitive situations.

Rivalries run deep in the history of sports, and fans can be very protective of their “home” team and favorite players. These same fans run the gamut of emotions watching their team succeed or fail over the course of a game or match, cheering when they score or raging at a bad call. Soccer fans are known for their team loyalty and enthusiasm, particularly in Europe and South America.

“Soccer fandom provides a high-ecological-validity model of fanaticism with quantifiable life consequences for health and collective behavior,” said lead author Francisco Zamorano, PhD, a biologist working at Clínica Alemana de Santiago and associate professor at Facultad de Ciencias para el Cuidado de la Salud, Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago, Chile. “While social affiliation has been widely studied, the neurobiological mechanisms of social identity in competitive settings are unclear, so we set out to investigate the brain mechanisms associated with emotional responses in soccer fans to their teams’ victories and losses.”

The Neuroscience Behind Team Loyalty

For the study, researchers used functional MRI (fMRI) to examine 60 healthy male soccer fans (20–45 years) of two historic rivals. Fanaticism was quantified with the Football Supporters Fanaticism Scale, a 13-item scale that measures the fanaticism of football fans, assessing two sub-dimensions: “Inclination to Violence” and “Sense of Belongingness.”

Brain imaging data were acquired while participants watched 63 goal sequences from matches involving their favorite team, a rival or a neutral team. A whole-brain analysis was conducted to compare neural responses when participants viewed their favorite team scoring against an archrival (significant victory) versus when the archrival scored against their team (significant defeat), with control conditions for non-rival goals.

The fMRI results showed that brain activity changed when the fan’s team succeeded or failed.

“Rivalry rapidly reconfigures the brain’s valuation–control balance within seconds,” Dr. Zamorano said. “With significant victory, the reward circuitry in the brain is amplified relative to non-rival wins, whereas in significant defeat the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)—which plays an important role in cognitive control—shows paradoxical suppression of control signals.”

Paradoxical suppression refers to the attempt to suppress a thought, feeling or behavior and it results in the opposite outcome.

Higher activation in the reward system regions occurred when participants’ teams scored against rivals versus non-rivals, suggesting in-group bonding and social identity reinforcement. Dr. Zamorano notes that the effect is strongest in highly fanatic participants, predicting momentary self-regulatory failure precisely when identity is threatened and accounting for the puzzling ability of otherwise rational individuals to suddenly “flip” at matches.

“Clinically, the pattern implies a state-dependent vulnerability whereby a brief cooling-off or removal from triggers might permit the dACC/salience control system to recover,” he said. “The same neural signature—reward up, control down under rivalry—likely generalizes beyond sport to political and sectarian conflicts.”

The neural results identify mechanisms which may inform communication, crowd management and prevention strategies around high-stakes events in the reward amplification and control down-regulation under rivalry, Dr. Zamorano noted.

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