Processing of social closeness in the human brain

Moshe Roseman-Shalem, Robin I.M. Dunbar, Shahar Arzy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Healthy social life requires relationships in different levels of personal closeness. Based on ethological, sociological, and psychological evidence, social networks have been divided into five layers, gradually increasing in size and decreasing in personal closeness. Is this division also reflected in brain processing of social networks? During functional MRI, 21 participants compared their personal closeness to different individuals. We examined the brain volume showing differential activation for varying layers of closeness and found that a disproportionately large portion of this volume (80%) exhibited preference for individuals closest to participants, while separate brain regions showed preference for all other layers. Moreover, this bipartition reflected cortical preference for different sizes of physical spaces, as well as distinct subsystems of the default mode network. Our results support a division of the neurocognitive processing of social networks into two patterns depending on personal closeness, reflecting the unique role intimately close individuals play in our social lives.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1293
Number of pages1
JournalCommunications Biology
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Oct 2024

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Publisher Copyright:
© 2024. The Author(s).

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