Dementia

I think the 'staving off dementia' advice is aimed at allistics. Allistics tend to get lots of positive feedback and stimulation from social interactions, autistic people less so, or too much for comfort. I think it is more about keeping the brain active, rather than socialising as such. I keep my brain active by reading, writing stuff on Wikipedia and arguing with people about politics online. I think that whatever floats your boat and keeps your brain active and engaged is all that is required.

Martin said:

I think it is more about keeping the brain active, rather than socialising as such

I wonder whether different parts of the brain are stimulated by social as opposed to solitary activities  

There must be a very considerable overlap. Socialising, if we discount smell, consists of visual, aural and possibly tactile inputs and largely motor outputs. It is using the parts of the brain that control the interpretation and production of speech, vision, higher cognitive functions and the motor areas. I suspect that all of these brain areas could be stimulated and used in some solitary activities. Even the production of speech is now possible with AI chatbots.

There must be a very considerable overlap. Socialising, if we discount smell, consists of visual, aural and possibly tactile inputs and largely motor outputs. It is using the parts of the brain that control the interpretation and production of speech, vision, higher cognitive functions and the motor areas. I suspect that all of these brain areas could be stimulated and used in some solitary activities. Even the production of speech is now possible with AI chatbots.

'The Social Brain provides the functional capacity for the different aspects of social cognition, like social perception, emotional processing, and the efferent connections that carry important signals which determine both conscious behavior and unconscious physiological responses to social stimuli. Therefore, when an individual is submitted to social isolation, it is this framework that harbors the target structures, connectivity networks, and social cognitive functions that are often adversely impacted by isolation.'

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../