People with a busy social life 'have bigger amygdala'

Post Reply New Topic

Interesting article - my first thoughts were it's possible correlation to asperger's.
It would be cool if they did a study which included autism.

bbc news

Oddly enough, there is research pointing in both directions about the amygdala and autism:

http://autism.about.com/b/2009/05/06/en ... autism.htm

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/42/2/17.1.full

It is an obvious and frequent topic of research. The amygdala is involved in so much emotional and social activity that something must be going on in the amygdala of autistic people to explain all the social impairment and difficulties in emotional modulation that we experience.

It seems that the amygdala may grow and shrink in autistic people!

Does an enlarged amygdala affect the way we process the world in any way? In other words, can being socially active help develop any other kinds of skills which are useful in daily life but not directly related to socializing (i.e. memory, processing speed, etc.)?

That is a very interesting question. I am aware that the amygdala is responsible for emotional regulation and therefore affects our social interactions. Since emotions play an important role in memory and awareness, it is very likely that the amygdala affects the way we process the world. Consider, for example, the fight-or-flight reaction, which is a purely emotional and intuitive reaction. Since the amygdala regulates our emotions, it can be said that it plays a role in our fight-or-flight reaction, and the fight-or-flight reaction is dependent on how quickly we draw information from our memory (about our environment) to process that there is a threat present in our environment. So it may very well be likely that the size of the amygdala has an affect on memory and processing speed.

Aside from the actual size (volume) of the amygdala, it may also be the case that the complexity, or density, of the amygdala could be directly related to social awareness and perception.

Hmm, I read awhile ago that the amygdala in autistic brains grew too fast and just stopped around 12 years of age. Oh yes and it did shrink. In my MRI you can barely see it.
Suppose if the frontal cortex is faulty then other areas of the brain won't be working that well too. I think such is the case with ADHD.
I also think that people with a big social life might have more emotional stress. They always get into little rows with their friends.

After seeing this article a week ago at my friend's house, I have been wondering about the role of having a larger amygdala on academics; in other words, whether it's worth it to socialize more in hopes to improve one's overall academic functioning in a school setting. I've noticed that my brain actually absorbs much more information effectively when I become more social. If I spend too much time alone, it becomes stale. It might be a matter of the fact that reading becomes an automatic activity and the brain ends up being less engaged, but it could also have to do with the fact that the amygdala, being involved in memory and emotional response to outside stimuli, becomes under-stimulated.

I wonder if, by learning from reading and writing non-stop, I will eventually learn more information than by reading/writing in short doses while being more social with people who have common interests.

So size really *does* matter ?

Interesting, though do they have evidence for whether this is cause or effect (or indeed a positive-feedback maintenance process). Does the amygdala undergo attrition if the level socialisation is not maintained, even in those whose natural growth attained a normal size at maturation ie 'use it or lose it' ? I'd guess it'd be hard to work it the other way, as enforcing socialisation on those who really can't hack it really doesn't work out well.

If that's the case mine should be a pencil dot.

Yeah since socializing is unpredictable, spontaneous, and a lot to process at once, your brain adapts to that and absorbs information more effectively.

I guess having a balanced social life is helpful for academic success, then.

If I wanted to, I could probably give THOUSANDS of examples of how that is WRONG! BUT, for starters, let me just say TWO WORDS!

PARIS
HILTON

Or HEY, how about lindsay lohan? If they can absorb info SO quickly, why do they seem SO dumb?

Frankly, the Amygdala apparently has only ONE function regarding memory. It seems to give weight to memories. But it is the hippocampus that actually builds, temporarily stores, and assigns the memory. Still, that function of the amygdala doesn't work well with me. I guess it doesn't work with paris hilton either.

You're obviously interpreting my post in black and white. I never said be a complete idiot. I said it's most efficient to keep it simple in unpredictable and spontaneous situations like socializing.

Face it, analyzing things to death doesn't have a place in every aspect in life. It's good for planning, but not for executing. You can give me thousands of examples, but I can narrow it down to 4 examples why you couldn't deliver those 1000s of examples smoothly enough in social interaction.

1. Can a soldier function in a battlefield if he clutters his mind by overanalyzing every possibility or is it more practical for him to adhere to the KISS principle and make snap decisions?

2. Do you consciously take every step you make when you walk, or is this a subconscious process for the most part? Can you consciously take every step or does this end up being clumsy and leads to your mind being cluttered?

3. Do you consciously type every letter on your keyboard or do you rely on muscle memory to do it smoothly?

4. Do you catch an incoming ball by calculating the angle of the trajectory, force of gravity, and the velocity of the ball, or do you generalize all these calculations and keep your hand wide open in anticipation as the ball gets closer?

NO, I used a black and white example! There are a LOT of shades of gray in between. But if I used one that was accepted to have an IQ of 100 as an example, and said HEY, they should be 200 given... you guys would wonder what I was smoking. Fortunately, for the sake of this example, there are a LOT of people with an IQ perceived to be lower. And HEY, I have heard some say that she is smarter than she lets on. WHO KNOWS?

Ever see "mean girls"? The protagonist is supposedly a real math whiz BUT she starts practically FLUNKING math so that a boy she likes will perceive her as stupid. She thought that he would then be attracted to her. In THAT movie, he ends up breaking up with her at one point because she lied to him there.

Anyway, some of what Paris does COULD be an act.



GOOD, I try to AVOID it in execution. So does everyone else! Ever hear "practice makes perfect"? I like the german saying better which, translated, means "Practice makes the master". Basically ALL practice does is give you a habit so you can follow that.



WHAT does this have to do with the amygdala? IRONICALLY, soldiers are effectively told to turn their amygdala OFF in most cases! They are to act under orders ONLY, relax when shooting and be in a calm state, and hold their breath. If the weapon is being used by a far distance, and they are excited, they can EASILY miss the target, EVEN with the BEST targeting mechanism.



What does THIS have to do with the amygdala? I could consciously take each step, but generally don't. HEY, I HAVE been practicing for almost my entire life.



I'm a touch typist, so I generally start out consciously, and then go to automatic.



Well, I'm not really good at ball sports. And yeah, the calculations are general and reassessed at each point.

The idea of these TV shows were some character does all you mention is pretty silly. If you wanted to calculate the trajectory, you would have to use known fixed points and calculate it BUT, by the time you did so, the calculations of the CURRENT trajectory would be wrong. You would have to do much the same with the velocity, and have the same problem. As for the force of gravity, it automatically affects the other two so if those two are right, you don't need gravity. If those two are wrong, gravity won't make them any more correct.

If you somehow knew the STARTING speed, trajectory, and gravity, maybe you could calculate everything with SOME accuracy. Don't forget the size/shape/weight of the ball, possibly rotation, and the wind and possibly particulates though! Luckily, animals kind of have this ability built in.

BTW I AM good at billiards, and even THEN I estimate the shot. I generally do this with NONE of the real hesitation, and DON'T use the stick as a guide. I have done shots with over 4 points, and EVEN after calling out shots, people don't believe I planned it.

What does ANY of that have to do with the amygdala, or even intelligence?

lol meh too

I think that's true. I still remember my grade 11 teacher talking about how emotional associations are crucial in forming memories, and if you can make a strong emotional association with something, you will remember better. At that point, I began saying that I disagree, that emotion is secondary. But now that I look back on it, he was definitely correct.

I also think that in autistic people generally, social interaction is likely to cause greater intellectual benefit. Temple Grandin said in her talk on special interests how autistic people use the same areas of the brain to recognize objects as they do to recognize faces. Since social interaction is a logical process to people on the spectrum, used in a more dynamic way than through unnatural processes like reading and writing, it will, in my opinion, develop further.

Of course, it's not good to socialize all the time. I bet Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan do not have any academic interests. It is the kind of people you associate with, as well as the nature of the conversations you have with people, that matters. There's a huge difference between spending your time on gossip vs. spending your time engaging in subject-focused intellectual conversations. It's not good to be buried in books all the time, either. It's all about time management.