Brain scans show that different areas are active when we contemplate our five most intimate relationships compared with other friends
Mind 22 August 2022
Our closest friends may activate different parts of our brain
Andor Bujdoso / Alamy
We may think about our closest friends and family using different parts of the brain than we do for the rest of our social circle, brain scans suggest.
Previous research by Robin Dunbar at the University of Oxford suggests that we have several tiers of friendship and that we spend most of our time and effort on those in our most intimate circle, which consists of around five people.
To see if these various layers of friendship are processed differently in …
