Brain structure and social involvement

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A new study has found that the size and complexity of social relationships corresponds with the size of the amygdala in a group of 58 healthy adult humans. There is a news report here http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/201012 ... l-life.htm and the actual article in Nature here http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vao ... .2724.html

"In complex vertebrates, including humans, the amygdalae perform primary roles in the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events. Research indicates that, during fear conditioning, sensory stimuli reach the basolateral complexes of the amygdalae, particularly the lateral nuclei, where they form associations with memories of the stimuli. The association between stimuli and the aversive events they predict may be mediated by long-term potentiation, a sustained enhancement of signalling between affected neurons." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala

(There are a lot of papers claiming that the amygdala is larger / smaller, more / less active or otherwise different in people with autism).