Humans will be anxious upon returning to normal social lives after lockdown: Researchers

The world has been under a lockdown, partial or complete, since few months now. As the pandemic took over the world, majority countries closed their economies and people quarantined themselves in their homes.

While some countries are now re-opening economies, citizens of some countries are still in self-isolation.

Some researchers studied this situation and conducted a research on the effect that this self-isolation can have on people.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

UCL researchers based at the Wolfson Institute and the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre researched on how while the isolation period can bring up loneliness, it can alsoresult in a decreased desire for social interaction.

Also watch|Study: Virus may get inactive, if exposed to direct sunlight

To understand the paradox, the researchersinvestigated social behaviour in Zebrafish, a freshwater fish. The researchers chose Zebrafish as mostof them demonstrate pro-social behaviour, but approximately 10 per cent are `loner` fish. These loner fishes show different brain activity than the pro-social Zebrafish.

It has also been observed that on a usual basis too, Zebrafishavoid social interaction after a period of isolation.

The researchers tried to test, through this research, if the pro-social behaviour Zebrafish mimic the behaviour of the loner fish, or does it depend on the circumstances.

To test the theory,the researchers isolated typically social zebrafish from other fish for a period of two days and then compared their brain activity to zebrafish, who demonstrated aversion to social interaction without having been isolated.

The isolated fish demonstrated sensitivity to stimuli. It showed increased activity in the areas of brain related to anxiety and stress. However, the activity settled quickly after a dose of an anti-anxiety drug.

The difference between the social and the loner Zebrafish was observed in thehypothalamus, the region of the brain responsible for social rewards.

The loner fish did not showthe same pattern of activation during social exposure as the pro-social behaviour one. This proved that the loner fish didnot experience rewards in the same way as typical fish during social interactions.

"A detailed view of the zebrafish brain can provide important clues for all of us currently experiencing the effects of social isolation," said Dr Elena Dreosti.

"Our understanding of the neural mechanisms of social behaviour are limited, but we do know that zebrafish and humans share a fundamental drive for social interaction that is controlled by similar brain structures," Dreosti added.

Although the researchers admit that the human brain and behaviour is much more complex, this study does provide an insight that thehumans won't be loners after the lockdown, but will be anxious upon returning to normal social lives.

The research has been conducted byPhD students Hande Tunbak and Mireya Vazquez-Prada, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Thomas Ryan, Dr Adam Kampff and Sir Henry Dale Wellcome Fellow Elena Dreosti, and was publishedin eLife.

(With inputs from agencies)