FACEBOOK & BRAINS, hmmm...

[jbark]

Prof Rees added that future brain scan studies looking at changes to brain structures over time might help unravel whether the brain changes were a cause or effect of having more online social links.

His team carried out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans on 165 volunteers who also answered questions about how many Facebook and "real-world" friends they had. They identified three brain regions in which grey matter density was greatest in those with the most Facebook friends, but was not linked to the number of real-world friends they had: the superior temporal sulcus and the middle temporal gyrus, which have previously been associated with the ability to perceive social cues from facial expressions, and the entorhinal cortex, which is linked to memory for things like faces and names.

ARTICLE

Hmmm... anyone wanna be my friend? My middle temporal gyrus could use a boost. :d

JBArk

EDIT: they should do some MRI scans on members here to correlate Nexus users' brain region functioning - wow, would they be in for a shock!

 

[corpus callosum]

This study could well be a preliminary venture into exploring the effects of modern technology on brain structure but the problem with this particular study, as the authors acknowledge in the full paper, is that this is a cross-sectional study ie from this we cannot state whether the changes found predispose one to having a 'bigger social network' or are a consequence of this.

But I will be your friend Jbark and thats irrespective of how dense you are (I mean your brain:d !!).

 

[bindu]

they should do some MRI scans on members here to correlate Nexus users' brain region functioning - wow, would they be in for a shock!

...the superior temporal fractalus and the middle temporal smolkus, which have previously been associated with the ability to perceive telepathic cues from hyperdimensional lifeforms, and the infinity cortex, which is linked to memory for things like everything and nothing...

 

[jbark]

they should do some MRI scans on members here to correlate Nexus users' brain region functioning - wow, would they be in for a shock!

...the superior temporal fractalus and the middle temporal smolkus, which have previously been associated with the ability to perceive telepathic cues from hyperdimensional lifeforms, and the infinity cortex, which is linked to memory for things like everything and nothing...

Impressive knowledge of the noggin! ...although I must correct you - temporal SMOALKus is the correct spelling. And also some findings from a very recent study you clearly are unaware of: the infinity cortex is joined synaptically to the corpus eternus and BOTH are linked to memory for everything, nothing - AND all that lies between the two!

JBRain

@ corpus callosum: I feel my middle temporal gyrus tingling already!

 

[Global]

I didn't read the full article so I'm just guessing.. But what if these people already had these parts of the brain more active before they got into facebook? They would need to measure it before any use of facebook, and after a few months/years to see if there wasnt any brain changes.

I'm assuming the study found a correlation between those who use and don't use facebook, and that's how they're drawing their conclusion.

 

[smokerx]

I guess they just want more facebook users

more people with more friends for better mass manipulation and control