In a collaboration between Turun yliopisto and the University of Turku, researchers led by Birgitta Paranko and Lauri Nummenmaa explored the immediate effects of bullying on the brain.
As reported in their JNeurosci paper, the researchers measured neural and attentional responses while tweens (aged 11 to 14) and adults watched first-person videos of either people being bullied or more positive social interactions. For participants of all ages, bullying triggered distressful alarm states, activating social and emotional brain networks as well as autonomic threat response systems. Measuring eye-tracking responses and pupil sizes in a separate group of adults during video viewing supported these findings, showing stronger emotional and attentional responses to bullying than other social interactions. The researchers also discovered that these neural responses and alarm states were linked to viewers having previous real-life experiences being victims of bullying.
In sum, says Nummenmaa, “We mapped distress pathways in the brain that may be promptly engaged when someone gets bullied, and showed that the continuous alarm state is hazardous for both mental and somatic health due to the increased autonomic activation.”
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About JNeurosci
JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.
About The Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries.
JNeurosci
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0738-25.2025
People
Exposure to Bullying Engages Social Distress Circuits in the Adolescent and Adult Brain
22-Sep-2025
The authors declare no competing financial interests.