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Facebook and brain-size

Quote:

(Reuters) - Scientists have found a direct link between the number of "friends" a person has on Facebook and the size of certain brain regions, raising the possibility that using online social networks might change our brains.

The four brain areas involved are known to play a role in memory, emotional responses and social interactions.

So far, however, it is not possible to say whether having more Facebook connections makes particular parts of the brain larger or whether some people are simply pre-disposed, or "hard-wired," to have more friends.

"The exciting question now is whether these structures change over time -- this will help us answer the question of whether the Internet is changing our brains," said Ryota Kanai of University College London (UCL), one of the researchers involved in the study.

Kanai and colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the brains of 125 university students, all of them active users of social media site Facebook, and cross-checked their findings in a further group of 40 students.

They discovered a strong connection between the number of Facebook friends and the amount of "grey matter" in the amygdala, the right superior temporal sulcus, the left middle temporal gyrus and the right entorhinal cortex. Grey matter is the layer of brain tissue where mental processing occurs.

The thickness of grey matter in the amygdala was also linked to the number of real-world friends people had, but the size of the other three regions appeared to be correlated only to online connections.

The students, on average, had around 300 Facebook friends, with the most connected having up to 1,000.

With more than 800 million active users worldwide, Facebook has become a major component of social interaction, especially among the young.

"Online social networks are massively influential, yet we understand very little about the impact they have on our brains. This has led to a lot of unsupported speculation the Internet is somehow bad for us," said Geraint Rees of UCL.

"This shows we can use some of the powerful tools in modern neuroscience to address important questions -- namely, what are the effects of social networks, and online social networks in particular, on my brain."

The study results were published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Heidi Johansen-Berg of the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the research, said the findings were intriguing but did not mean Facebook was a short cut to making people brainier.

"If you got yourself 100 new Facebook friends today then your brain would not be bigger tomorrow," she said. "The study cannot tell us whether using the Internet is good or bad for our brains."

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler)

bad news for :alone:?

sauce More Facebook friends linked to bigger brain areas | Reuters

correlation does not imply causation

:alone:

One of my exes must be SO smart then (one of those girls that friend anyone and everything with legs)
Posted via RS Mobile

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_AK (Post 7621779)

One of my exes must be SO smart then (one of those girls that friend anyone and everything with legs)
Posted via RS Mobile

well she was smart enough to leave you wasn't she?

(notsrs)

(kindasrs) :troll:

LOL saw that coming, no we officially went out for like 2 weeks. Saw the bitch was crazy and was PAYCE.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fTT9xlgZ9C...PeaceBitch.bmp
Pic related, it's me

(not srs)
But please.... be safe
Posted via RS Mobile

guess those scientists that did this study dont have that much of a large brain then

i mean since when do scientists have over 800 facebook friends
:fuckthatshit::fuckthatshit::fuckthatshit:

They said certain areas of your brain are larger, not that the person is smarter or your brain has somehow been "improved".

Brain swelling does not equal intelligence. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypediss (Post 7621832)

guess those scientists that did this study dont have that much of a large brain then

i mean since when do scientists have over 800 facebook friends
:fuckthatshit::fuckthatshit::fuckthatshit:

ZING!! :fullofwin:

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_AK (Post 7621779)

One of my exes must be SO smart then (one of those girls that friend anyone and everything with legs)
Posted via RS Mobile

LOL

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Facebook isnt about actually knowing the people you befriend.

Its all about
-People you've "heard of"
-Who you've made eye contact with
-Who brushed against you at the mall or movie theatre
-Who your friends know
-Who came into the place you USE to work 3 months ago
-Who your cousin's best friend's sister dated

Quote:

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9 (Post 7621079)

correlation does not imply causation

:alone:

fucks that mean :suspicious:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jegglez (Post 7622213)

fucks that mean :suspicious:

So theres a relationship between two items...

:alonehappy:

For example:

"Cities with more churches have more crimes committed"

So does that mean we need to tear down more churches to reduce crime completely?

:pokerface:

No.

Correlation doesn't imply that one is a direct result of the other

:yuno:

Why?

"Cities with more churches tend to have more people living in them thus resulting in a higher number of crimes getting committed"

:IDL

A correlation helps identify a relationship that can unfold more information if continued to be studied.

I cannot believe they wasted money on this shit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jegglez (Post 7622213)

fucks that mean :suspicious:

it means i'm super happy :alonehappy:

I love these reports that start with "Scientists have found..." or "Research has shown..." or "A recent study found..."

That usually implies 90% of the article is bullshit and have either skewered/misrepresented the actual scientific findings completely, or have no scientific merit whatsoever.

i dont think it suggests anywhere on that article that there is a causation of bigger brains from more facebook friends, its only saying there is correlation

in fact it states it quite obviously twice

Quote:

- it is not possible to say whether having more Facebook connections makes particular parts of the brain larger or whether some people are simply pre-disposed, or "hard-wired," to have more friends.

-If you got yourself 100 new Facebook friends today then your brain would not be bigger tomorrow

the article itself is fine, RS is just assuming its suggesting causation for whatever reason

i think what we SHOULD find interesting about this article is the possibility that the internet, specifically social media sites, can alter our brain structure and the effects of that, especially since our current generation of kids is essentially being raised by the internet

what about those dump as fuck chicks that have over 2000+ friends since they accept every request by guys that want to add them so they can fap to their pictures?

^ what does that have to do with the article good sir? I don't think you understand the notion of correlation vs causation.

so more facebook friends you have, the smarter you are?