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DeepWaters -> Oxytocin Study (4/9/2007 6:47:43 AM)
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Hormone heightens social skills
From Times wire reports
April 9, 2007
Scientists call it the love hormone, the chemical that binds people to
one another. Now researchers from the University of Zurich in
Switzerland have found that the hormone, released in high amounts in
mothers after childbirth, can improve a person's ability to interpret
what is going on in another person — by reading information gleaned
from their eyes.
Gregor Domes, Markus Heinrichs and their colleagues asked 30 male
volunteers to guess the mental states of others after receiving a
nasal dose of the hormone oxytocin. The men were much better at these
social interpretations after using oxytocin than when a placebo dose
was used, according to a study in the March 15 issue of the journal
Biological Psychiatry.
Oxytocin is a brain chemical that supports social behavior.
In 2005, the Zurich researchers showed that oxytocin increases trust
among people, in addition to playing a role in maternal bonding. In
some of the latest work, it seems that oxytocin's role isn't just in
regulating social interactions. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the
National Institute of Mental Health and his colleagues found that
oxytocin dampens the fear response. Scientists are studying the
hormone's role as a treatment for social anxiety, but nasal doses are
short-acting.
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