Brain rot
Brain rot is an expression used in the incel community to designate the belief that someone's intellectual capacities have decreased over time due to either lack of human interactions or of stimuli or of both.
Possible reasons for brain rot[edit | edit source]
Lack of social interaction[edit | edit source]
A study has found that: "Loneliness was significantly associated with lower scores in the composite cognitive score, immediate and delayed recall, verbal fluency, and backward digit span [...] and with a more rapid decline from baseline to follow-up in two out of six cognitive tests. Higher social isolation was associated with lower scores in the composite cognitive score, verbal fluency, and forward digit span [...]. The effect of loneliness and social isolation on cognition remained significant after the exclusion of individuals with depression."[1]
Depression[edit | edit source]
Depressions is associated with lower intellectual processing speed.[2] It is well researched that depression "is associated with learning deficits".[3]
Cognitive impairment is associated with major depression ("pseudodementia").[4]