Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Is Facebook Making Our Brains Bigger?

Yesterday's Science Times (NY Times) reports on research that postulates that humans have such huge brains because of our social development.
Scientists have long puzzled over the enormous size of the human brain. It is seven times larger than one would predict for an average mammal of our size. Many of our extra neurons are in a region called the frontal cortex, where much of the most sophisticated thought takes place.

So by studying 4 different species of hyennas, scientists have discovered that the larger the pack (i.e. more social the species) the larger the brain. So, in essence, our brains are this big because of our social networking over time.
Brain imaging studies have revealed that when people think about other people, parts of the frontal cortex become active. Advocates of the social brain hypothesis say the frontal cortex expanded in our ancestors because natural selection favored social intelligence.

Add to that the coverage of another study that showed that blogging makes us happy...
A new study has found blogging regularly tends to make a person feel less isolated, more satisfied with their existing friendships and more part of a community.
- ostebsibly because socializing gives us a high - you can see why Facebook and other social networking sites are so popular and addictive. And why hyennas are always laughing.

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