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The more friends a person has, the better the mental abilities are
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
Experts from the world of science have long been interested in the question of whether there is a connection between the development of the human nervous system and its sociability. As is known, a multitude of social connections have a positive effect on a person's success in public speaking, a person's ability to maintain a conversation, and communication skills.
At Oxford University, a group of researchers conducted an interesting experiment, during which it was established that the number of friends changes the structure of the human brain. Volunteers aged 27 to 70 took part in the experiment. The participants in the study had to record all their meetings, conversations, and new acquaintances for a month. Telephone conversations, SMS, emails, etc. were also taken into account.
After all the data obtained was analyzed, the specialists found that there is some connection between a person's mental abilities and the number of social connections. Mental abilities were assessed based on the results of brain scans of the subjects. A person who had many acquaintances and friends has a special structure of the cerebral cortex. Namely, they activate the anterior lumbar cortex - the zone responsible for understanding a person by another. In addition, sociability promotes the development of neural connections in the human brain, which, in turn, promotes a faster response to a signal in the corresponding structure. Many social interactions also help a person sort and structure information, make various plans, and determine the essence of general information.
Such development in the human brain does not provoke its general increase, and does not enhance general brain activity, since the increase of one area leads to a decrease in another, in which the activity will also be reduced. Therefore, for a large number of friends and communication, you will have to sacrifice some other abilities that the brain will consider less significant.
Studies of this kind have shown that in monkeys that live in a large group, brain changes occur in a similar way. Oxford University specialists believe that the brain is able to adapt to the lifestyle that a person leads. However, it is not yet possible to say for sure, since it is possible that everything happens the other way around: people with an initially developed “communication” zone more easily make new acquaintances and acquire friends.
Small studies of this type can serve as either a confirmation or a refutation of a certain hypothesis. In the case of this study, it can be said that the brain is able to adapt to a person’s social environment, changing the necessary areas accordingly, and it can also be argued that more sociable people initially had similar neural connections formed at birth.
The human brain hides many secrets and mysteries. Sometimes such studies, which contain a large number of details, do not give an exact result, it is difficult to understand what is the cause and what is the effect.