Neuroscientists have discovered that using Facebook has a measurable impact on the size of particular areas of the brain.   The results of a recent study show that the more Facebook friends you have, the bigger and denser become the three parts of your brain which are associated with the power to socialise.  It’s unclear whether by ‘socialise’ they mean really, in real life.  But maybe.

Social perception – as in reading social cues from facial expressions, for example – is governed by the superior temporal sulcus and the middle temporal gyrus, while the ability to remember faces and names is controlled by the entorhinal complex.  All three of these sociable areas of the brain show up as noticeably bigger in people with lots of Facebook friends, according to the study.

The findings, which will soon be published in a leading British biological research journal (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, if you’re interested – which in itself sounds like a social experiment), were gleaned from 125 student volunteers.  The respondents’ average number of Facebook friends was around 300, with some having nearly 1 000.  Presumably they were the ones who showed up as socially ‘smarter’ in the tests.

[Source: Memeburn]

[Image: New York Times]