Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2024 Aug;24(4):707-719. doi: 10.3758/s13415-024-01185-w. Epub 2024 Mar 28.
In this work, we tried to replicate and extend prior research on the relationship between social network size and the volume of the amygdala. We focused on the earliest evidence for this relationship (Bickart et al., Nature Neuroscience 14(2), 163-164, 2011) and another methodologically unique study that often is cited as a replication (Kanai et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1732), 1327-1334, 2012). Despite their tight link in the literature, we argue that Kanai et al. (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1732), 1327-1334, 2012) is not a replication of Bickart et al. Nature Neuroscience 14(2), 163-164 (2011), because it uses different morphometric measurements. We collected data from 128 participants on a 7-Tesla MRI and examined variations in gray matter volume (GMV) in the amygdala and its nuclei. We found inconclusive support for a correlation between measures of real-world social network and amygdala GMV, with small effect sizes and only anecdotal evidence for a positive relationship. We found support for the absence of a correlation between measures of online social network and amygdala GMV. We discuss different challenges faced in replication attempts for small effects, as initially reported in these two studies, and suggest that the results would be most helpful in the context of estimation and future meta-analytical efforts. Our findings underscore the value of a narrow approach in replication of brain-behavior relationships, one that is focused enough to investigate the specifics of what is measured. This approach can provide a complementary perspective to the more popular "thematic" alternative, in which conclusions are often broader but where conclusions may become disconnected from the evidence.
在这项工作中，我们试图复制和扩展先前关于社交网络规模与杏仁核体积之间关系的研究。我们专注于这一关系的最早证据（Bickart 等人，《自然神经科学》14（2），163-164，2011）和另一项经常被引用为复制的方法独特的研究（Kanai 等人，《英国皇家学会学报 B：生物科学》，279（1732），1327-1334，2012）。尽管它们在文献中紧密相关，但我们认为，Kanai 等人（《英国皇家学会学报 B：生物科学》，279（1732），1327-1334，2012）并不是 Bickart 等人的复制。《自然神经科学》14（2），163-164（2011），因为它使用了不同的形态测量学测量方法。我们从 128 名参与者收集了 7-Tesla MRI 数据，并检查了杏仁核及其核内灰质体积（GMV）的变化。我们发现，真实社交网络测量值与杏仁核 GMV 之间的相关性没有得到确凿的支持，其效应大小较小，仅有正相关关系的轶事证据。我们发现，在线社交网络测量值与杏仁核 GMV 之间不存在相关性。我们讨论了在这两项研究最初报道的小效应复制尝试中面临的不同挑战，并建议在估计和未来的元分析工作中，这些结果将最有帮助。我们的研究结果强调了在复制脑行为关系时采用狭窄方法的价值，这种方法足够专注，可以研究所测量内容的具体细节。这种方法可以为更流行的“主题”替代方法提供补充视角，在这种方法中，结论通常更广泛，但结论可能与证据脱节。
