The social brain meets neuroimaging
Abstract
Recent neuroimaging studies in humans have indicated that individual differences in social network size correlate with amygdala volume and the volume of brain regions associated with theory of mind. A new article demonstrates that this is also true for monkeys. Taken together, these findings provide crucial support for the social brain hypothesis.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The SBH has been tested within primate species rather than across species.
“More recently, the SBH has been tested within primate species rather than across species (Dunbar, 2012).”
From Baboons (Papio anubis) living in larger social groups have bigger brains. (2021) · cites this paper as Dunbar, 2012
Cites
Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers
Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Frith, C. D. (2000) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.070039597 · Cited by 3,225 · see citing works
Amygdala volume and social network size in humans
Bickart, K. C., Wright, C. I., Dautoff, R. J., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2724 · Cited by 556 · see citing works
Social Network Size Affects Neural Circuits in Macaques
Sallet, J., Mars, R. B., Noonan, M. P., Andersson, J. L., O’Reilly, J. X., Jbabdi, S., Croxson, P. L., Jenkinson, M., Miller, K. L., & Rushworth, M. F. S. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1210027 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Perspective Taking and Memory Capacity Predict Social Network Size
Stiller, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2007) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2006.04.001 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
Self-citationOnline social network size is reflected in human brain structure
Kanai, R., Bahrami, B., Roylance, R., & Rees, G. (2012) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1959 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Ventromedial prefrontal volume predicts understanding of others and social network size
Lewis, P. A., Rezaie, R., Brown, R., Roberts, N., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.030 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
Self-citationShultz, S., & Dunbar, R. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1005246107 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Self-citationOrbital prefrontal cortex volume correlates with social cognitive competence
Powell, J., Lewis, P. A., Dunbar, R., García‐Fiñana, M., & Roberts, N. (2010) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.08.004 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Self-citationSeasonal changes of hippocampus volume in parasitic cowbirds
Clayton, N. S., REBOREDA, J. C., & Kacelnik, A. (1997) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/s0376-6357(97)00050-8 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
On the relationship between the “default mode network” and the “social brain
Mars, R. B., Neubert, F.-X., Noonan, M. P., Sallet, J., Toni, I., & Rushworth, M. F. S. (2012) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00189 · Cited by 766 · see citing works
Social re-orientation and brain development: An expanded and updated view
Nelson, E. E., Jarcho, J. M., & Guyer, A. E. (2016) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2015.12.008 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
Cross talk: the microbiota and neurodevelopmental disorders
Kelly, J. R., Minuto, C., Cryan, J. F., Clarke, G., & Dinan, T. G. (2017) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2017.00490 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Noninvasive stimulation of the temporoparietal junction: a systematic review
Donaldson, P. H., Rinehart, N. J., & Enticott, P. G. (2015) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.05.017 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Allocating structure to function: the strong links between neuroplasticity and natural selection
Anderson, M. L., & Finlay, B. L. (2014) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00918 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
“For example, the hypothesis that humans have been specially selected for unusual social competence via specific cortical enlargement, the “social brain hypothesis,” has become quite popular (Dunbar, 1998, 2012).”
BackgroundDecoding the invisible forces of social connections
Cacioppo, S., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnint.2012.00051 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Psychedelic therapy's transdiagnostic effects: A research domain criteria (RDoC) perspective
Kelly, J. R., Gillan, C. M., Prenderville, J., Kelly, C., Harkin, A., Clarke, G., & O'Keane, V. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.800072 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Sadeghi Bahmani, D., Razazian, N., Motl, R. W., Farnia, V., Alikhani, M., Pühse, U., Gerber, M., & Brand, S. (2020) · Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.msard.2019.101380 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Baboons (Papio anubis) living in larger social groups have bigger brains.
Meguerditchian, A., Marie, D., Margiotoudi, K., Roth, M., Nazarian, B., Anton, J.-L., & Claidière, N. (2021) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.06.010 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dunbar, R. I. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Dunbar, Robin I.M.
- ORCID
- Dunbar, Robin I.M.
- Venue
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-02
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 101-102
- ISSN
- 1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2016717252
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 9.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- social brain hypothesis, social network size, amygdala volume, theory of mind, individual differences, monkeys, primate social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Animals, Haplorhini, Emotions, Humans, Organ Size, Psychological Theory, Social Adjustment, Social Behavior, Social Support, Temporal Lobe, Neuroimaging
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
