Whats So Social About the

Social Brain?
Robin Dunbar
Department of Experimental Psychology
University of Oxford
 Social Cognitive
Neuroscience

A Challenge
Sociality typically viewed as a
stories
SCN has become one of the big
in neuropsychology and
dyadic interaction

But in fact it is about

neuroimaging relationships in complex
networks

sociality
But what exactly is the nature of
in this context?

focussed
The Challenge: Have we
on the right indices of
sociality?
 Histological
data

The Social Brain

Stephan et al
(1981)

Hypothesis
Neocortex Ratio Dunbar (2010)

Histological
An explanation data
for the Fuster (1982)

evolution of
MRI data
unusually large Rilling & Insel
brains in primates (1999)

Evidence:
Group size is
a function of Prefrontal Cortex volume (cc)

neocortex volume
in three different
datasets Neocortex grey matter volume (cc)
The Social
Brain IS
Costly

Reaction Times

Mentalising

Factual In the mentalising network, there is a

parametric effect of task mentalising level
on fMRI signal

Lewis et al.(submitted)
 What Does the Social Brain
Predict for Humans?

Predicted group size

for humans is ~150
[Dunbars Number]
 Are Human
Groups 150? Reverse
Small World
Experiments

All these have mean sizes of Killworth et al (1984)

100-200

Neolithic villages 6500 BC 150-200

Modern armies (company) 180
Hutterite communities 107
Nebraska Amish parishes 113
business organisation
<200 Hunter-Gatherer
ideal church congregations <200 Societies
Domesday Book villages 150
C18th English villages Dunbar (1993)
160
GoreTex Incs structure 150 10

Research sub-disciplines 100-200 9

Small world experiments 134

7

Number of Cases
6

Hunter-Gatherer communities 148 5

Xmas card networks 154 4

Xmas Card 3

Networks 1

Hill & Dunbar (2003)

Maximum Network Size
 Human
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApOWWb7Mqdo
Reverse

Social Groups Small World

Experiments

Killworth et al (1984)
These all have mean sizes of
100-200

Neolithic villages 6500 BC 150-200

Modern armies (company) 180
Hutterite communities 107 Hunter-
Nebraska Amish parishes 113
business organisation Gatherer
<200 Societies
ideal church congregations <200
Doomsday Book villages 150 Dunbar (1993)
C18th English villages
160 Luckily, its a hoax.
Individual Tribes
10

GoreTex Incs structure 150

100-200 It was an advertising stunt!
8

Research sub-disciplines 7

Number of Cases
6

Small world experiments

5

134
Xmas Card
3

Hunter-Gatherer communities 2

148Her 152 friends recorded for posterity..?

Xmas card networks
Networks 1

154 Hill & Dunbar

(2003) Maximum Network Size
 The Social Brain is Really
About.
The behavioural
complexity of
relationships

.group size is
an emergent property

0
.0
.02
15
.01
ize
s
.0 5
x
Tactical Deception

crte
Coalitions

o
Grooming clique size

n
.-0
R e
tiv
la
Partialling out

e
.5N
phylogeny, body

o Y
e
s
mass, etc by

Coa
li
to
n
s
PGLS

Kudo & Dunbar (2000)

Byrne & Corp (2003)
E
rob
a
rs:+
/-1
NO.0S
E YES
Dunbar & Shultz (2007)
 The Fractal Periodicity
of Group Sizes

Xmas card
dataset In all these
mammals,
scaling ratio
3

Social Groupings
Database Xmas Card
Database
Hunter-gatherer
groups

Hill, Bentley & Dunbar

Zhou, Sornette, Hill & Dunbar (2005) (2008)

Scaling ratio = exp(2/) Scaling ratio =

= 3.2 and 3.3 3.3 Hamilton et al (2007)
Social Complexity
in Primates
Primate societies are
hierarchically embedded
As neocortex size increases,
groups become socially more
fragmented (grooming cliques
get smaller)
Somehow, they manage to
balance a two-tier system

Lehmann & Dunbar (2009)

 The Expanding
Circles
Our relationships form a Intensity
hierarchically inclusive
series of circles of
increasing size but
decreasing intensity
EGO
[ie quality of relationship]
5
15

50
The 150 = limit on
personalised, reciprocated
relationships 150

1500 = limit on memory for faces? 500

1500
 How Bonding Works

Bonding is a dual-process
mechanism

An emotionally intense
component
[= endorphins via
grooming]

A cognitive component
[= cognition brain
size]
 The Limits to
Intentionality...
A natural limit at 5th order
intentionality:
I intend that you
believe that Fred
understands that we
want him to be willing
to [do something]
[level 5]
 The Role of Social
Cognition
[Mentalising]
20

Frequency of failure
The Orders of 10
Intentionality

Intentional competence correlates

with social network size 0
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

..Does the hardware correlate Level of intensionality

too?
30
Scanner dataset

20

Clique size
10
Powell et al
(2011)

0
Stiller & Dunbar
0 2 4 6 8 10
(2007)

Level of intensionality
Intentionality and
Frontal Lobe
Volume

3T T1-weighted MRI
Howard et als (2003) parcellation
method, using Cavalieri method for
estimating volumes
PFC defined by leading edge of corpus
callosum

Intentionality correlates with

orbitofrontal PFC, but not with
Powell et al (2010)
dorsal frontal
 Insights from
Neuroimaging

Powell et al (2012)

In a stereological analysis of gross volume: best predictor of BOTH intentional

competence and network size is orbitofrontal PFC volume

In a fine-grained VBM (voxel) analysis: overlap of network size and intentional

competence in the ventromedial PFC

Lewis et al (2010)
 Path Analysis of Imaging Data

Powell et al (2012)

There is a clear causal sequence:

hardware cognition [software] behaviour

 Networks
Correlate
with Brain
Regions Social group
size in
macaques
Internet Friends

Sallet et al. (2012)

Just HOW are they doing

Kanai et al. (2011) this?
 Why Time is Important

50

Grooming as the 40
Predicted for Humans

bonding agent
in primates

Social Time (%)

30
Grooming time
is determined 20
by group size
10

with an upper
limit at about 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
20% of total
Group Size
daytime

Grooming Time in Humans?

If we bonded 50

our groups 40
Predicted for Humans

using the

Social Time (%)

standard 30

primate
mechanism 20

.we would 10
have to spend
43% of the 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
day grooming
Group Size
 Grooming Time in
Humans?

In fact, we spend 50

only 20% of our Predicted for Humans

time in social 40

interaction

Social Time (%)

..from a sample of 30

7 societies from
Dundee to New 20

Guinea
10

How do we bond our

super-large 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
communities?
Group Size

Dunbar (1998)

How Grooming Works
50 12
An experimental

Number of Grooming Partners

Predicted f or Humans 10

40

8
study with
monkeys
Social Time (%)

30
6

20
4 Opiates block
2
social drive;
10
0
Sal Naltrex
Sal Sal Morph

0
Opiate-blockers
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
enhance social
Keverne et al (1989)
Group Size
drive

endorphins are relaxing

They create a psycho-
pharmacological
environment for building
trust?
 -receptor Activation in Light
Stroking

Preliminary results from a first PET study (at Turku, Finland)

Carfentanil as opiate antagonist with particular affinity to -receptors [for -endorphins]
Significant response in some key regions that suggest endorphin activation even to light touch
Probably exploiting the same c-afferent fibre system as found widely in mammals [responds ONLY
to light touch as in stroking movements of grooming]
The Three Ways
Weve Bridged
the Gap
Religion and its rituals

50
Predicted Grooming Time (%)

Modern humans
40 Archaic humans
The
H. erectus
30 Bonding
Gap
20 Music and dance

Australopiths
10
-.5 0.0 .5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5

Millions Years BP
Laughter
a cross-cultural trait
shared with chimpanzees
 Music and Laughter Trigger
Endorphin Uptake
Dunbar et al (submitted A)
Music
Laughter
Perform

Comed
y
Control
Edinburgh
Fringe

Dunbar et al (2012b)

Singing Drumming Listening to Neutra

vs vs listening music l
prayer vs video Dunbar et al (2012a)

Procedure:
pain test
video/activity Factual vs Comedy Videos
pain re-test
So.why not just get
your kicks on your
own?

Plenty of people do.

BUT doing it together
seems to ramp up the
effects
Synchony Ramps
up the Endorphins?

Change in pain threshold

before and after 45 mins
rowing work-out on
ergometers in the gym:
Alone vs in a virtual boat

Alone Group Alone Group

2007 Cohen et al
Boat (2010)

Race
Comparative brains:
With Thanks
Dr Susanne Shultz
Dr Boguslaw Pawlowski to.
Social Networks and
Bonding:
Dr Sam Roberts
Dr Russell Hill
Prof Alex Bentley
For funding:
Dr Wei Zhou
Prof Didier Sornette British Academy
Dr Emma Cohen
Dr Anna Machin EPSRC
ESRC
Imaging: Leverhulme Trust
Amy Birch EU-FP7
Rachel Browne
Dr Penny Lewis ERC
Dr Joanne Powell
Dr Marta Garca-Fiana
Prof Neil Roberts
Dr Lauri Numennmaa