Social interaction

Abstract of Mental Exercising Through Simple Socializing: Social Interaction Promotes General Cognitive Functioning:
"Social interaction is a central feature of people’s life and engages a variety of cognitive resources. Thus, social interaction should facilitate general cognitive functioning. Previous studies suggest such a link, but they used special populations (e.g., elderly with cognitive impairment), measured social interaction indirectly (e.g., via marital status), and only assessed effects of extended interaction in correlational designs. Here the relationbetween mental functioning and direct indicators of social interaction was examined in a younger and healthier population. Study 1 using survey methodology found a positive relationship between social interaction, assessed via amount of actual social contact, and cognitive functioning in people from three age groups including younger adults. Study 2 using an experimental design found that a small amount of social interaction (10 min) can facilitate cognitive performance. The findings are discussed in the context of the benefits social relationships have for so many aspects of people’s lives."

While the results are appealing, they seem to be depend on the choice of indicators for social interaction and cognitive performance. As the authors say towards the end "One issue that remains unclear from the present research is whether all types of social interaction can have a positive effect on cognitive performance. Some available research, although varying in method from the present research, suggests that some social interactions can be cognitively depleting (Finkel et al., 2006; Richeson & Trawalter, 2005; Richeson, Trawalter, &Shelton, 2005). For example, using a measure of inhibition, Richeson et al. (2005) showed that individualshigh in prejudice or who had concerns about being viewed as prejudiced were worse at inhibiting interfering responses on a Stroop task."

Another paper The effect of hours of work on social interaction on the decline of special types of social interaction has drawn several comments here and here."