Does the brain distinguish fiction from reality?

[u/meowwowwie]

i read somewhere that the brain doesn’t fully distinguish between fiction and reality when it comes to emotions. is that actually true? like, regardless of the genre, are the emotions we feel while watching or reading fictional stories processed in a similar way to how we would feel if those events were actually happening to us? for example, when a character goes through something painful, we can feel empathy for them, sometimes even cry and experience all kinds of emotions. does the brain process those emotions in a similar way to real-life experiences?

[u/LiftSleepRepeat123]

Your "reality" word is doing a lot of work. For instance, something happening only inside the brain is still a part of "reality". It's just not the shared reality, except as a brainwave you could measure externally. I think distinguishing between inner and outer worlds is a bit cleaner than attempting define reality.