Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:29:04.058Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 10 - Social Network and the Brain

from Part III - An Individual’s Cognitive Aging with Others: Key Findings, Issues, and Implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2023

By
Yoosik Youm  and
Junsol Kim
Edited by
Jeanyung Chey
Jeanyung Chey
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
Get access

Summary

The social brain hypothesis originally developed by evolutionary psychologists has focused on the neural foundation of one of the most unique human characteristics: complex social interactions involving social networks. Although there is evidence to suggest that the capacity of the social brain contributes significantly to the size and position of one’s social network, it is also possible that social networking influences the structure and function of the individual’s brain. By using the unique features of the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP), a dataset equipped with both neuroimaging data and comprehensive tracking of the social networks of the residents of two villages, this chapter explores the possible mechanisms through which brain and social networks interact with each other to form and change the social brain. It examines this relationship with studies utilizing mostly volumetry and resting-state activation of the brain. The studies show how social brain volume and connectivity are related to not only social network size but also to a variety of social network indices. By employing these indices, studies have been able to link the complex social world to human beings’ social brain in recent years. Furthermore, the chapter discusses causality issues in the relationship between the social brain and social networks.

Keywords

social brain hypothesissocial network analysisbrain structurebrain functionmentalizing networkamygdala networksocial network sizesocial network embeddednessbrokerage position
Type
Chapter
Information
Society within the Brain
How Social Networks Interact with Our Brain, Behavior and Health as We Age
 , pp. 217 - 230
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adolphs, R. (2010). What does the amygdala contribute to social cognition? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1191(1), 42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barton, R. (2001). The evolutionary ecology of the primate brain. In Lee, P. (ed.), Comparative Primate Socioecology, Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, pp. 167–203. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bickart, K. C., Brickhouse, M., Negreira, A., Sapolsky, D., Barrett, L. F., & Dickerson, B. C. (2014). Atrophy in distinct corticolimbic networks in frontotemporal dementia relates to social impairments measured using the Social Impairment Rating Scale. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 85(4), 438–448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bickart, K. C., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2014). The amygdala as a hub in brain networks that support social life. Neuropsychologia, 63, 235–248.Google Scholar
Bickart, K. C., Hollenbeck, M. C., Barrett, L. F., & Dickerson, B. C. (2012). Intrinsic amygdala–cortical functional connectivity predicts social network size in humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(42), 14729–14741.Google Scholar
Bickart, K. C., Wright, C. I., Dautoff, R. J., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2011). Amygdala volume and social network size in humans. Nature Neuroscience, 14(2), 163–164.Google Scholar
Bunner, K. D., & Rebec, G. V. (2016). Corticostriatal dysfunction in Huntington’s disease: The basics. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 317.Google Scholar
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural Holes, Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Burt, R. S. (2005). Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Christelis, D., & Dobrescu, L. (2019). The causal effect of social activities on cognition: Evidence from 20 European countries. Social Science & Medicine, 247, 112783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornwell, B. (2009). Good health and the bridging of structural holes. Social Networks, 31(1), 92–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craig, M. C., Catani, M., Deeley, Q., Latham, R., Daly, E., Kanaan, R., Picchioni, M., McGuire, P. K., Fahy, T., & Murphy, D. G. (2009). Altered connections on the road to psychopathy. Molecular Psychiatry 14(10), 946–953.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1998). The social brain hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 6(5), 178–190.Google Scholar
Dunbar, R. I. M. (2014). The social brain: Psychological underpinnings and implications for the structure of organizations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(2), 109–114.Google Scholar
Dunbar, R. I. M., & Shultz, S. (2007). Evolution in the social brain. Science, 317(5843), 1344–1347.Google Scholar
Dunbar, R. I. M., & Shultz, S. (2017). Why are there so many explanations for primate brain evolution? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1727), 20160244.Google Scholar
Dziura, S. L., & Thompson, J. C. (2014). Social-network complexity in humans is associated with the neural response to social information. Psychological Science, 25(11), 2095–2101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, I. E. M., Martyr, A., Collins, R., Brayne, C., & Clare, L. (2019). Social isolation and cognitive function in later life: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 70(s1), S119–S144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Festinger, L., Schachter, S., & Back, K. (1950). Social Pressures in Informal Groups: A Study of Human Factors in Housing. Harper.Google Scholar
Gould, R. V., & Fernandez, R. M. (1989). Structures of mediation: A formal approach to brokerage in transaction networks. Sociological Methodology, 19, 89–126.Google Scholar
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., Small, B. J., & Dixon, R. A. (1999). Use it or lose it: Engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging? Psychology and Aging, 14(2), 245.Google Scholar
Joo, W.-t., Kwak, S., Youm, Y., & Chey, J. (2017). Brain functional connectivity difference in the complete network of an entire village: The role of social network size and embeddedness. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1–12.Google Scholar
Kanai, R., Bahrami, B., Roylance, R., & Rees, G. (2012). Online social network size is reflected in human brain structure. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1732), 1327–1334.Google Scholar
Klein, J. T., Shepherd, S. V., Platt, M. L. (2009). Social attention and the brain. Current Biology, 19(20), R958–R962.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krackhardt, D. (1998). Super strong and sticky. In Kramer, R. M. & Neale, M. A. (eds.), Power and Influence in Organizations. SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Kwak, S., Joo, W.-t., Youm, Y., & Chey, J. (2018). Social brain volume is associated with in-degree social network size among older adults. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1871), 20172708.Google Scholar
Lewis, P. A., Rezaie, R., Brown, R., Roberts, N., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2011). Ventromedial prefrontal volume predicts understanding of others and social network size. Neuroimage, 57(4), 1624–1629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, C., Keles, U., Tyszka, J. M., Gallo, M., Paul, L., & Adolphs, R. (2020). No strong evidence that social network index is associated with gray matter volume from a data-driven investigation. Cortex, 125, 307–317.Google Scholar
Milgram, S. (1967). The small world problem. Psychology Today, 2(1). 60–67.Google Scholar
Parkinson, C., Kleinbaum, A., & Wheatley, T. (2017). Spontaneous neural encoding of social network position. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(5), 1–7.Google Scholar
Sallet, J., Mars, R. B., Noonan, M. P., Andersson, J. L., O’Reilly, J. X., Jbabdi, S., Croxson, P. L., Jenkinson, M., Miller, K. L., & Rushworth, M. F. (2011). Social network size affects neural circuits in macaques. Science, 334(6056), 697–700.Google Scholar
Shankar, A., Hamer, M., McMunn, A., & Steptoe, A. (2013). Social isolation and loneliness: Relationships with cognitive function during 4 years of follow-up in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Psychosomatic Medicine, 75(2). 161–170.Google Scholar
Strombach, T., Weber, B., Hangebrauk, Z., Kenning, P., Karipidis, I. I., Tobler, P. N., Kalenscher, T. (2015). Social discounting involves modulation of neural value signals by temporoparietal junction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(5), 1619–1624. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1414715112Google Scholar
Van Overwalle, F. (2009). Social cognition and the brain: A meta‐analysis. Human Brain Mapping, 30(3), 829–858.Google Scholar
Yarkoni, T., Poldrack, R. A., Nichols, T. E., Van Essen, D. C., & Wager, T. D. (2011). Large-scale automated synthesis of human functional neuroimaging data. Nature Methods, 8(8), 665–670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Youm, Y., Kim, J., Kwak, S., & Chey, J. (2021). Neural and social correlates of attitudinal brokerage: Using the complete social networks of two entire villages. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288(1944), 20202866.Google Scholar
Zerubavel, N., Bearman, P. S., Weber, J., & Ochsner, K. N. (2015). Neural mechanisms tracking popularity in real-world social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(49), 15072–15077.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×