If your social life leaves something to be desired, it might be your brain structure that’s to blame.
& |; p# o, I! c! N5 {: \3 [ A ‘Facebook feature’ deep in the temporal lobe governs the number of friends you are likely to make, scientists have found.
. \' g6 ? Z: v" N% ~ E The amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure, has for some time been linked to empathy and fear responses.
3 ~: K. _3 f4 |2 R$ p2 p# n But a study suggests that the larger the amygdala, the wider and more complex is its owner’s network of friends and colleagues.
- Z7 g6 `6 H4 i- r Volunteers aged between 19 to 83 were asked to complete questionnaires which measured how many regular social contacts they had, and in how many different groups.
1 W" M+ `6 p$ v1 r Magnetic resonance imaging scans found a positive link between big amygdalas and the richest social lives. Professor Lisa Barrett, a psychologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, reported the findings in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
& g) x. O' d2 V s She said they were consistent with the social brain theory, which suggests the human amygdala evolved to deal with an increasingly complex social world.
) i- y7 H9 a2 S- b; S Other studies of primates have shown that those living in larger groups tend to have larger amygdalas. The findings was published in a new study in Nature Neuroscience.; H4 A! I$ k/ p" F& h/ {/ o# O+ w& Z6 R
Dr Lisa Barrett, Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, who took part in the research, said the amygdala got bigger to cope with mankind's more hectic social life.
! a: t2 q3 a3 m) z She added: 'Further research is in progress to try to understand more about how the amygdala and other brain regions are involved in social behaviour in humans.'# |, t2 W2 U: W, @6 l
Her colleague Dr Bradford Dickerson, an associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School said: 'This link between amygdala size and social network size and complexity was observed for both older and younger individuals and for both men and women.': G2 X2 F1 P( m" ^5 R G
Recently US scientists reported on the case of a woman whose amygdala had been destroyed by a medical condition.
0 y" o; P& U) p As a result the 44-year-old mother of three felt no fear and constantly put herself in danger. Over the years she had been threatened with a knife, held at gunpoint and assaulted.
8 }# e5 t4 `9 V; L7 G" u* T 如果你的社交生活不尽人意,那可能得怪你的大脑结构。
7 H- F _' S" _' n+ j 科学家们发现,大脑颞叶深处的“交际特征”决定了你可能交到的朋友个数。+ @3 T( U; p$ z* O' T( I
人们一度认为杏仁核与同理心和恐惧反应有关。杏仁核是大脑内一个小的杏仁状组织。
7 a2 U( L- y0 q0 P- c7 J6 u/ i 但是一项研究显示,一个人的杏仁核越大,他的朋友圈和同事圈就越大越复杂。- |& E F) A! ]* P! K8 n4 E
参与该研究的志愿者年龄介于19岁到83岁之间,研究者请他们填写调查问卷,以得出他们经常联系的朋友个数以及有多少种不同类别的朋友。
; v$ [! z3 Y2 {* y9 H# a- x 磁共振成像扫描显示,杏仁核的大小与社交生活的丰富程度成正比。美国东北大学的心理学家丽莎•贝瑞特教授在《自然神经科学》杂志上发表了以上调查结果。东北大学位于马萨诸塞州波士顿市。中华考试网
) O6 A3 |' O. | 贝瑞特教授说调查结果与社会脑理论相符,该理论认为人类杏仁核的进化是为了应对愈来愈复杂的社交世界。
, H% i# X8 X, ?) Q" o) R9 H9 s 其他对灵长类动物的研究发现,群居动物的杏仁核要更大一些。这些研究成果发表在《自然神经科学》的一项新研究报告中。* W1 [. v% g% M# }7 t
东北大学的心理学教授丽莎•贝瑞特博士参与了这项课题,她说人类的杏仁核变大是为了应付日益繁忙的社交生活。
4 n' z8 ?7 C; v6 Y2 A8 Y 她接着说:“我们目前正在进行更深层次的研究,来进一步了解杏仁核和其他脑部区域如何影响人类的社会行为。”8 D. I9 V( R7 q0 r5 `3 U Y9 {
她的同事布拉德福德•狄克生博士说:“我们观察了人们的杏仁核大小与社交圈大小和复杂程度之间的关系。我们的观察对象有老有少,有男有女。”狄克生博士是哈佛大学医学院的神经病学副教授。; C, r- h; G" ]+ b
美国科学家们观察了一位因病导致杏仁核受损的妇女,最近他们就观察结果作了报告。 Z6 K# o8 `( G% g
报告显示,这位已经是三个孩子母亲的44岁的女人从来感觉不到恐惧,并经常将自己置于危险的境地。这些年来,她遭受过匕首威胁,被人拿枪指过头,还曾经惨遭殴打。 |