<p> Can't stop talking about yourself on Facebook? Your brain may be wired differently, say scientists.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In the first study to examine the intrinsic functional connectivity of the brain in relation to social media use, researchers observed connectivity between regions of the brain previously established to play a role in self-cognition, in 35 participants and found a network of brain regions involved in self-disclosure on Facebook.<br /><br />Researchers focused on the medial prefrontal cortex and the precuneus, two cortical midline regions that are recruited when thinking about oneself.<br /><br />"Human beings like to share information about themselves. In today's world, one way we're able to share self-related information is by using social media platforms like Facebook," said lead author Dar Meshi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Freie Universitat Berlin (Free University of Berlin) in Germany.<br /><br />Facebook was used in the study because people post information about their thoughts, feelings and opinions, as well as pictures and videos of themselves.<br /><br />All subjects completed a Self-Related Sharing Scale to determine how frequently each subject posted pictures of themselves, updated their profile information, and updated their status.<br /><br />The participants were selected to vary widely in their Self-Related Sharing Scale scores.<br />Researchers recorded functional neuroimaging (fMRI) data while subjects were allowed to let their mind wander; subjects did not perform an explicit task.<br /><br />They then analysed the connectivity of each participant's brain to determine a relationship between brain connectivity and Self-Related Sharing Scale score across participants.<br /><br />Results showed that participants who share more about themselves on Facebook had greater connectivity of both the medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus, to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.<br /><br />There was also greater connectivity between the precuneus and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex.<br /><br />"Our study reveals a network of brain regions involved in the sharing of self-related information on social media," said Meshi.<br /><br />"These findings extend our present knowledge of functional brain connectivity, specifically linking brain regions previously established to function in self-referential cognition to regions indicated in the cognitive process of self-disclosure," he said.<br /><br />The researchers point out that the implications of their research are broad and lay the foundation for future scientific investigation into self-disclosure.<br />The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.</p>
<p> Can't stop talking about yourself on Facebook? Your brain may be wired differently, say scientists.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In the first study to examine the intrinsic functional connectivity of the brain in relation to social media use, researchers observed connectivity between regions of the brain previously established to play a role in self-cognition, in 35 participants and found a network of brain regions involved in self-disclosure on Facebook.<br /><br />Researchers focused on the medial prefrontal cortex and the precuneus, two cortical midline regions that are recruited when thinking about oneself.<br /><br />"Human beings like to share information about themselves. In today's world, one way we're able to share self-related information is by using social media platforms like Facebook," said lead author Dar Meshi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Freie Universitat Berlin (Free University of Berlin) in Germany.<br /><br />Facebook was used in the study because people post information about their thoughts, feelings and opinions, as well as pictures and videos of themselves.<br /><br />All subjects completed a Self-Related Sharing Scale to determine how frequently each subject posted pictures of themselves, updated their profile information, and updated their status.<br /><br />The participants were selected to vary widely in their Self-Related Sharing Scale scores.<br />Researchers recorded functional neuroimaging (fMRI) data while subjects were allowed to let their mind wander; subjects did not perform an explicit task.<br /><br />They then analysed the connectivity of each participant's brain to determine a relationship between brain connectivity and Self-Related Sharing Scale score across participants.<br /><br />Results showed that participants who share more about themselves on Facebook had greater connectivity of both the medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus, to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.<br /><br />There was also greater connectivity between the precuneus and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex.<br /><br />"Our study reveals a network of brain regions involved in the sharing of self-related information on social media," said Meshi.<br /><br />"These findings extend our present knowledge of functional brain connectivity, specifically linking brain regions previously established to function in self-referential cognition to regions indicated in the cognitive process of self-disclosure," he said.<br /><br />The researchers point out that the implications of their research are broad and lay the foundation for future scientific investigation into self-disclosure.<br />The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.</p>