Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Feb;14(2):163-4.
doi: 10.1038/nn.2724. Epub 2010 Dec 26.

Amygdala volume and social network size in humans

Kevin C Bickart  1 , Christopher I Wright, Rebecca J Dautoff, Bradford C Dickerson, Lisa Feldman Barrett
Affiliations

Amygdala volume and social network size in humans

Kevin C Bickart et al. Nat Neurosci. 2011 Feb.

Erratum in

  • Nat Neurosci. 2011 Sep;14(9):1217

Abstract

We found that amygdala volume correlates with the size and complexity of social networks in adult humans. An exploratory analysis of subcortical structures did not find strong evidence for similar relationships with any other structure, but there were associations between social network variables and cortical thickness in three cortical areas, two of them with amygdala connectivity. These findings indicate that the amygdala is important in social behavior.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Amygdala volume correlates with social network size and complexity. Panels A and B plot social network variables (Y–axis) against total adjusted amygdala volume (X–axis). Data points from young participants are in black circles and older participants in grey triangles. A line of best fit with standardized regression coefficients (B) are also displayed for the entire sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Silk JB. Social components of fitness in primate groups. Science. 2007;317:1347–1351. - PubMed
    1. Dunbar RIM. The social brain hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology. 1998;6:178–190.
    1. Buchanan TW, Tranel D, Adolphs R. The human amygdala in social function. In: Whalen PJ, Phelps EA, editors. The human amygdala. The Guilford Press; New York: 2009. pp. 289–318.
    1. Adolphs R. The social brain: neural basis of social knowledge. Annu Rev Psychol. 2009;60:693–716. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barton RA. Visual specialization and brain evolution in primates. Proc Biol Sci. 1998;265:1933–1937. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types