This is your brain on movies

Nothing makes a room full of strangers feel united quite like a movie. Now, science is trying to prove that you’re a lot more similar to your fellow popcorn eaters than you might think.

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have found striking similarities in brain patterns among movie-goers.

Different parts of movies affect people in similar ways. When you feel sad or happy during a certain part of a film, chances are the person seated next to you feels the same — even if they don’t show it on their face.

“Despite the apparent complexity of movies, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has revealed notable synchronization of brain activity between different spectators,” wrote researcher Kaisu Lankinen in the journal “NeuroImage.”

Simply put, when you watch a movie, you’re most likely feeling the same emotions as every person around you. So, the next time you’re in a movie theater and the person sitting next to you is loudly texting away making you want to explode with anger, just remember: your brains aren’t that much different.