You’ve felt that collective, electrifying rush after watching an exhilarating performance at The Granada Theatre and maybe wondered why you don’t feel the same lying on your sofa watching Bridgerton. The reason is simple: during a live performance, your brain is doing something totally different from what it does while watching TV.

Brain Synchrony in Action

When you’re watching a live performance, your brain can actually sync up with the brains of the others in the theater’s audience, producing matching rhythms.

Research from the NEUROLIVE project at University College London and Goldsmiths measured audience brain waves and found that this synchrony was strongest during live performances, lower in movie theaters, and lowest when people watched content alone.

Why Synchrony Matters

Why would we want our brains to sync with others? It’s actually the biological signature of our human connection. When brains sync, people are sharing an emotional state. When this happens, our trust, empathy, and sense of belonging are high.

Synchrony creates empathy. As your brain syncs with someone else’s, we begin processing emotions in similar ways. This leads to greater empathy, emotion regulation, and social adhesion.

Researchers have also found that being in a shared space with live performers and music can trigger the release of positive hormones like oxytocin while activating the brain’s reward system.

Experiences like shared live performances could easily be a tool to help combat the epidemic of loneliness and social disconnection by bringing people together in a meaningful, shared moment.

Other Brain Responses to Live Performances

When you watch a play and tear up as two lovers are separated, you can thank the mirror neurons firing in your brain. When you watch someone expressing an emotion, your own brain responds as if it were feeling the same. Research shows that live performances activate your mirror neurons more than watching a video does. Mirror neurons help you learn faster, regulate emotions better, and fuel connection.

A UK government study found numerous positive mental and physical health benefits associated with the performing arts, including improved cognitive and immune function, enhanced auditory health, and reduced stress levels.

Longer Lasting Effects

 While that high you feel at the end of a live performance fades, a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that live theater can produce more lasting change.

A study of over 1,600 theatergoers found that attending a show can inspire and influence how people think and feel, highlighting the powerful effect of storytelling in a shared space.

In children, live theater improves learning. A study comparing students who saw a play live with those who either read it or watched a movie version found that the kids who attended the live show had a greater understanding of the plot and characters. These kids also scored higher on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), which measures social intelligence and empathy.

The next time you settle into your seat at The Granada, you’ll know something remarkable is happening between you and everyone else in the theater. Streaming is easy and comfortable, but your brain knows there’s a difference between watching people on a screen and sharing an experience with them in real life. Streaming services can give you a good story, but they can’t shape your brain as the shows at The Granada do.

Ready to train your brain? Check out the latest shows coming to The Granada Theatre.