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Social networking sites may change brain structure
20 October 2011
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A possible link has been found between the number of friends people have on social networking sites and the size of certain parts of the brain, according to research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The researchers looked at MRI brain scans of 125 university students and counted how many friends they each had on the social networking site Facebook. The researchers looked at a further 40 people to try to confirm their findings. A subgroup of 80 of those already taking part were also asked to complete a questionnaire to find out how many real-life friends they had. The researchers then compared this with how many online friends people had.
It was found that those people who had more Facebook friends had more grey matter in three regions of the brain; the left middle temporal gyrus, the right superior temporal sulcus and the right entorhinal cortex. These regions of the brain are linked to memory, navigation and visual awareness.
The researchers also noted that those people who had more friends online also had more real-life friends. An area of the brain called the amygdala was found to have more grey matter when linked with the number of real-life friends but not to the number of online friends. This area of the brain helps to process memory and emotional responses.
Dr Prerna Sharma, Senior Physician, Bupa Health and Wellbeing UK, commented: “Social networking sites are becoming more popular and influential; however, we know very little about the impact they have on our brains and general health. This study suggests an interesting link, but as the researchers say, it doesn’t confirm whether these changes happen over time because people are using these sites more often or whether the effect is actually the other way round. That is, that people whose brains are naturally bigger in size in these areas are more likely to be more sociable and so have more friends both in real life and online.
“Although a possible link has been found this still does not explain any cause and effect. This study only looked at a small number of young university students, which may mean these results can’t be generalised to a more diverse population. It would have been interesting to compare the MRI scans of those people who use social networking sites regularly with those people who don't, and see if there had been any differences.
“Although this may be an interesting finding, it doesn’t necessarily add anything to help us to begin to understand the interaction of using social networking sites and the impact they may have on our brain.”
Within this study, researchers carried out four different experiments. Firstly, they looked at 125 people to see if there was a link between the number of friends on Facebook and changes in brain structure. Secondly, they sought to replicate their findings in a new sample of 40 people. It was unclear how these additional people were selected to be in the study. Thirdly, the link between the number of Facebook friends and real-life friends in 80 people was looked at; finally, the link between real-life friends and changes in brain structure was considered in 65 people. Factors such as lifestyle, age and general health, as well as many others that may have affected the results, weren’t taken into account.
Key facts
- Grey matter is the part of the brain tissue where mental processing takes place.
- The area of the brain called the amygdala is involved with brain functions such as emotion, learning and memory.
- The region of the brain known as the right superior temporal sulcus helps us to observe and recognise moving objects.
- The region of the brain known as the left middle temporal gyrus is involved in the role of memory, language processing and visual awareness.
- The right entorhinal cortex has been linked to the role of navigation and memory (especially with memory formation for pairs of items, such as names and faces).
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Read the study
Kanai R, Bahrami B, Roylance R, et al. Online social network size is reflected in human brain structure. Proc R Soc B 2011; online first. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1959
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