Brain regions associated with sociability are bigger and better connected in extroverts when compared with introverts, according to an Oxford University study.

For the study, researchers asked 18 men and women about how many friends they got in touch with last month. They found that the participants contacted around 20 of their friends on an average; some of them spoke with more than 40 of their friends, while the others were in touch with just 10 of their friends.

Scans showed that around six brain regions were larger in friendly people and the regions were even bigger in participants who had a larger friends' circle.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex, the brain region generally used to monitor other's activities was larger in participants with good social skills. The scans also showed that connections between the area and the other regions that humans generally use to analyze what others are thinking and feeling was strong in sociable participants.

"In more sociable humans, perhaps these communication pathways are more like motorways than windy country roads, making information processing more efficient and better," Researcher MaryAnn Noonan told Daily Mail UK.

The researchers believe that sociable people are not born with brains better wired to make more friends. Instead, people with many friends use certain brain regions more often that cause the regions to expand.

"If I hedged my bets, I'd say the brain is changing in response to social network size. But that is not to say that there isn't a genetic influence, so that if you come from a sociable family, your brain is predisposed to that, Noonan said.