brains of introverts reveal why they prefer being alone

[Amby 490]

Human faces may hold more meaning for socially outgoing individuals than for their more introverted counterparts, a new study suggests.

The results show the brains of extroverts pay more attention to human faces than do introverts. In fact, introverts' brains didn't seem to distinguish between inanimate objects and human faces.

The findings might partly explain why extroverts are more motivated to seek the company of others than are introverts, or why a particularly shy person might rather hang out with a good book than a group of friends.

The study also adds weight to idea that underlying neural differences in people's brains contribute to their personality.

"This is just one more piece of evidence to support the assertion that personality is not merely a psychology concept," said study researcher Inna Fishman, of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, Calif. "There's some broader foundation for the behavior that you see ... implicating that there are neural bases for different personality types."

Personality in the brain

There are many ways to describe someone's character — from talkative to anxious to hardworking and organized. Psychologists have found that many traits often go together and have grouped these traits into five overarching categories — extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness/intellect.

Extroversion deals with the way people interact with others. Extroverts like to be around other people and generally enjoy social situations while introverts are the opposite. Previous studies have shown that people who are extroverted also tend to be more assertive, experience more positive feelings and get more out of rewards in general.

However, no one had looked to see whether extroverts are more sensitive to stimuli specifically related to social situations, such as faces.

To find out, Fishman and her colleagues recruited 28 participants ages 18 to 40 that ranged in personality from introverted to somewhat extroverted to very extroverted. Electrodes placed on the subjects' scalps recorded the electrical activity in their brains, a technique known as electroencephalography, or EEG.

The researchers studied a particular change in the brain's electrical activity known as P300. The change, which shows up as a deflection on a person's EEG, can be elicited by certain tasks or by a change in the environment, such as when the room is very quiet and you all of a sudden hear a loud nose. The brains' reaction occurs within 300 milliseconds, before the person is aware of the change.

To evoke P300, Fishman used a method known as the "oddball task" in which subjects see a series of very similar images, such as a bunch of blue cars, and then all of a sudden, a slightly different image appears, such as a red car.

In the current experiment, subjects saw a series of male faces and every so often a female face appeared. They were also shown pictures of purple flowers interspersed with pictures of yellow ones.

Faces or flowers?

The higher subjects had scored on a test for extroversion, the greater their P300 response was to human faces. In other words, extroverts pay more attention to human faces (P300 can be seen as an indicator of human attention, or how fast their brains' noticed that something has changed.)

There was no link between scores on extroversion and the P300 response to flowers.

Introverts had very similar P300 responses to both human faces and to flowers.

"They just didn’t place a larger weight on social stimuli than they did on any other stimuli, of which flowers are one example," Fishman said.

"[This] supports the claim that introverts, or their brains, might be indifferent to people — they can take them or leave them, so to speak. The introvert's brain treats interactions with people the same way it treats encounters with other, non-human information, such as inanimate objects for example," Fishman told LiveScience.

The results strongly suggest that human faces, or people in general, hold more significance for extroverts, or are more meaningful for them, Fishman said.

The study was presented in a poster session on Friday at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

http://www.livescience.com/culture/extroverts-faces-meaningful-100817.html

[Ban Hammer 12,830]

In fact, introverts' brains didn't seem to distinguish between inanimate objects and human faces.

in some cases, that's appropriate.

[Ban Hammer 12,830]

just spotted this one on the main page :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Nagishkaw 510]

just spotted this one on the main page :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It'd be interesting to see statistics on the percentage of people who spend a lot of time online who are introverts vs. extroverts.

[slim 1,514]

People in OT are extroverted introverts.

We want contact with people..... but not real people.

Edited August 18, 2010 by slim

[one...two...tree 2,762]

People in OT are extroverted introverts.

We want contact with people..... but not real people.

Speak for yourself. I for one would prefer to talk with everyone here face to face if the opportunity existed. I think the dynamics of these conversations would be much better as the more anti-social behaviors would be ignored more effectively collectively.

[slim 1,514]

Speak for yourself. I for one would prefer to talk with everyone here face to face if the opportunity existed. I think the dynamics of these conversations would be much better as the more anti-social behaviors would be ignored more effectively collectively.

No, there would be groups of people speaking amongst one another almost totally ignoring the other groups.

[Amby 490]

I've met some VJ people and spoke to some on the phone. All the ones that seem anti-social on here are quite nice and pleasant in RL.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I've met some VJ people and spoke to some on the phone. All the ones that seem anti-social on here are quite nice and pleasant in RL.

Yeah, I think it is much like how people behave differently when they are behind the wheel of a car. Some really nice people turn into arseholes when they drive.

Edited August 18, 2010 by El Buscador

[Jenn! 918]

I've met some VJ people and spoke to some on the phone. All the ones that seem anti-social on here are quite nice and pleasant in RL.

Does anyone really seem anti-social? I think it's hard to tell.

I consier myself an introvert, but I don't think that means I'm socially awkward. I also think I'm more aggressive than passive if I had to describe myself. I've always thought of introverts getting their energy intermally and extroverts externally, as in I often prefer to be alone or with a small group. Large group situations can be exhausting.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

No, there would be groups of people speaking amongst one another almost totally ignoring the other groups.

It would be no different from other social gatherings such as a party. Some people will gravitate towards others as well as repel from certain personalities or behaviors.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Does anyone really seem anti-social? I think it's hard to tell.

Well, we can only go by what people post and by that alone, IMO, there are a lot anti-social behaviors expressed here. If you compare VJ to Facebook even - there's a big difference in how people express themselves. With Facebook, there is little if any anonymity. Some people here on VJ thrive on anonymity, which seems to fuel a lot of anti-social behavior.

I consider myself an introvert, but I don't think that means I'm socially awkward. I also think I'm more aggressive than passive if I had to describe myself. I've always thought of introverts getting their energy internally and extroverts externally, as in I often prefer to be alone or with a small group. Large group situations can be exhausting.

Hmmm...that probably describes me as well. I do feel comfortable in large groups depending on the occasion.

[HAL 9000 96]

just spotted this one on the main page :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

ROFL freakin awesome!

On a more serious note... I've offered MRI time for any interested VJers in the past. I'm sure I could get a decent paper studying the likely correlates between low/misplaced BOLD and certain posting patterns.

[TBoneTX 43,023]

there are a lot anti-social behaviors expressed here.

I hate people, animals, & things. Can I play, si man?