An active social life helps brain make better sense of world, study shows

An active social life helps brain make better sense of world, study shows
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According to a recent study from Royal Holloway, University of London, people with active and varied social lives may have brains that are better at organizing and understanding the world, an article on Earth.com revealed. The research, as reported in the journal iScience, found a link between a person’s social experiences and a basic brain process called “event segmentation,” which is how the brain breaks down continuous experiences into smaller, more manageable moments.

To test their theory, researchers had 157 young adults watch a short film and press a button whenever they felt a meaningful moment ended. The results showed that participants who reported having more diverse social interactions identified more “event boundaries” in the film.

This suggests that a rich social life helps train the brain to notice and process more information, allowing it to “collating the information in a quicker, more digestible way,” according to lead author Carl Hodgetts.

The study’s authors emphasize that this is not just about visiting new places, but specifically about connecting with a wide range of people. While the study does not prove cause and effect, the findings point to the idea that a varied social life may help sharpen cognitive abilities like memory and navigation.