Lockdown loneliness: Social isolation makes you 'crave' company like a hungry person longs for food

People crave company when socially isolated -- such as amid lockdown -- in almost exactly the same way that a hungry individual longs for food, a study has concluded. US experts found that after ten hours of seclusion, people not only want company but also exhibit increased brain responses to pictures of social interactions. Social interactions are rewarding, the team said -- and related images (like smiling faces or people chatting) also engages the brain's dopamine-based reward system. The findings build on past work that found mice exhibited increased responses in the midbrain dopamine system when being social after a period of isolation. While this had suggested that the midbrain may play a role in feelings of social isolation, it had been unclear exactly whether the same would apply in humans.