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Oxford University researchers found maintaining friendships requires more brain power. Their study concluded that people with real friends have to use more cognitive skills to understand what someone else thought.
英国牛津大学研究者发现维系友谊需要脑力。他们的研究结果表明，那些拥有真朋友的人必须要有更多认知能力，来了解别人究竟在想什么。
Scientists discovered a link between the number of friends people had and the size of their orbital prefrontal cortex, which is a region of the brain found just above the eyes.
科学家发现了拥有朋友数量和前额叶皮质部位大小有关系，该部位位于眼睛上方。
The conclusions, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows for the first time that competency in social skills is determined by the size of peoples' brains.
英国《皇家学会生物学分会学报》刊登了这一结果，这一研究也是指出社交技能是由人们的大脑大小所决定的。
"We found that individuals who had more friends did better on mentalising tasks and had more neural volume in the orbital frontal cortex, the part of the forebrain immediately above the eyes," said Prof Robin Dunbar, who led the study.
我们发现那些朋友更多的人可以更好的完成脑力工作，前额叶皮质部位也更大，就是正好在眼睛上方的部位。“ 研究负责人的罗宾·邓巴教授说。
"Understanding this link between an individual's brain size and the number of friends they have helps us understand the mechanisms that have led to humans developing bigger brains than other primate species."
"明白这种大脑体积与朋友数量之间的关联，有助我们理解使人类大脑比其他灵长类动物进化得更大的机制。"
"The frontal lobes of the brain, in particular, have enlarged dramatically in humans over the last half million years."He added: "Of course, the amount of spare time for socialising, geography, personality and gender all influence friendship size, but we also know that at least some of these factors, notably gender, also correlate with mentalising skills."
“脑部的前额叶部分，特别是在过去的50年里有着显著增大。” 他还补充道：“当然，参与社交活动的闲暇时间、地域、个性和性别都影响朋友数量，但我们也知道，其中有部分因素， 尤其是性别，与心智化能力相互影响。”
"Our study finds there is a link between the ability to read how other people think and social network size."
"我们研究还发现看懂别人的想法和社会网络规模之间也有一定的关系。"
Tests were conducted on 40 people, with scientists taking anatomical Mr images of their brains to measure the size of their prefrontal cortex, which is used for high-level thinking. They were all volunteer postgraduate students of "broadly similar ages with potentially similar opportunities for social activities".
40名志愿者加入了研究过程，科学家借助核磁共振成像技术测量参与者前额叶皮质部位大小，前额叶皮质部位通常用于深层次的思考。研究中的志愿者都是研究生，年龄相仿，参与社交活动的机会相当。
Participants were asked to make a list of people they had social – rather than professional – contact with over a seven day period. They also took a test to determine how competent they were at 'mentalising', which is the capacity to understand what another person is thinking, a crucial aspect in how people handle the social world.
研究人员要求志愿者列出最近7天内联系的人员名单。这种联系纯属社会交往，不包括工作层面的交流。 研究人员又测试志愿者的“心智能力”。这是一种理解他人所思所想的能力，在人们社交活动中起着重要作用。
Dr Joanne Powell, from the University of Liverpool, added: "Perhaps the most important finding of our study is that we have been able to show that the relationship between brain size and social network size is mediated by mentalising skills. What this tells us is that the size of your brain determines your social skills, and it is these that allow you have many friends."
利物浦大学Joanne Powell补充说，“也许研究中最重要的发现就是我们已经能够证明大脑的大小与社会网络规模之间的关系是由心智能力在起作用。这些也告诉我们你大脑的大小决定了你的社会技能，也就是这些决定了你能够有多少个朋友。”