by Fariss Samarrai
Credit: Rice University
The hormone oxytocin is made at different levels in different people and it plays a role in regulating social behavior. A new University of Virginia study involving brain imaging finds that people with naturally higher levels of oxytocin in their blood show greater brain activity when processing social information.
"The purpose of the study was to investigate how people's endogenous levels of oxytocin were related to brain activity when they viewed social interactions," said Katie Lancaster, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of Virginia and first author of the study. "We found that people with higher oxytocin levels showed greater recruitment of brain regions that support social cognition, suggesting that these people are naturally attending to the more social aspects of the interactions.
"People with low levels of oxytocin showed less recruitment of these 'social brain' areas; their brain activity resembles the patterns of neural activity previously observed when people focus on non-socially relevant information."
The study has implications for better understanding how oxytocin interacts with cognition in both healthy people and people with disordered social behavior. For example, low levels of oxytocin have previously been associated with social deficits often found in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, provide a potential mechanism to explain how lower levels of oxytocin might impact neural systems that support complex social behaviors.
The research team behind the study was led by James Morris and Jessica Connelly, both U.Va. assistant professors of psychology, and their collaborator, oxytocin researcher C. Sue Carter, director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.
As part of a larger neuroimaging study, the team measured brain activity while participants completed a social perception task. This task involved watching film clips of geometric shapes interacting in ways resembling dancing, fighting and other social activities. When healthy people watch these film clips, they generally perceive the shapes to have intentions and personality characteristics even though they are just simple geometric shapes; this natural anthropomorphizing is disrupted in people with autism.
The researchers also took blood from participants to determine their levels of oxytocin and relate it to brain activity from the social perception task.
"Our results suggest that people with higher oxytocin levels are processing social information in a different way, perhaps deeper, more meaningfully," Lancaster noted. "Because people's endogenous oxytocin levels are remarkably stable over time and are highly heritable, we believe that endogenous oxytocin can be used as a biomarker of social perceptual functioning."
Explore further: Research duo question whether oxytocin really can be used to treat autism
More information: "Plasma oxytocin explains individual differences in neural substrates of social perception." Front. Hum. Neurosci., 17 March 2015 | DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00132
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by Fariss Samarrai
Credit: Rice University
The hormone oxytocin is made at different levels in different people and it plays a role in regulating social behavior. A new University of Virginia study involving brain imaging finds that people with naturally higher levels of oxytocin in their blood show greater brain activity when processing social information.
"The purpose of the study was to investigate how people's endogenous levels of oxytocin were related to brain activity when they viewed social interactions," said Katie Lancaster, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of Virginia and first author of the study. "We found that people with higher oxytocin levels showed greater recruitment of brain regions that support social cognition, suggesting that these people are naturally attending to the more social aspects of the interactions.
"People with low levels of oxytocin showed less recruitment of these 'social brain' areas; their brain activity resembles the patterns of neural activity previously observed when people focus on non-socially relevant information."
The study has implications for better understanding how oxytocin interacts with cognition in both healthy people and people with disordered social behavior. For example, low levels of oxytocin have previously been associated with social deficits often found in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, provide a potential mechanism to explain how lower levels of oxytocin might impact neural systems that support complex social behaviors.
The research team behind the study was led by James Morris and Jessica Connelly, both U.Va. assistant professors of psychology, and their collaborator, oxytocin researcher C. Sue Carter, director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.
As part of a larger neuroimaging study, the team measured brain activity while participants completed a social perception task. This task involved watching film clips of geometric shapes interacting in ways resembling dancing, fighting and other social activities. When healthy people watch these film clips, they generally perceive the shapes to have intentions and personality characteristics even though they are just simple geometric shapes; this natural anthropomorphizing is disrupted in people with autism.
The researchers also took blood from participants to determine their levels of oxytocin and relate it to brain activity from the social perception task.
"Our results suggest that people with higher oxytocin levels are processing social information in a different way, perhaps deeper, more meaningfully," Lancaster noted. "Because people's endogenous oxytocin levels are remarkably stable over time and are highly heritable, we believe that endogenous oxytocin can be used as a biomarker of social perceptual functioning."
Explore further: Research duo question whether oxytocin really can be used to treat autism
More information: "Plasma oxytocin explains individual differences in neural substrates of social perception." Front. Hum. Neurosci., 17 March 2015 | DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00132
Medical Xpress on facebook
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Research duo question whether oxytocin really can be used to treat autism
(Medical Xpress)—A pair of researchers with Emory University in Atlanta has published a Perspective piece in the journal Science, questioning whether oxytocin can help people with an autism spectrum disord ...
A single spray of oxytocin improves brain function in children with autism
A single dose of the hormone oxytocin, delivered via nasal spray, has been shown to enhance brain activity while processing social information in children with autism spectrum disorders, Yale School of Medicine ...
Molecular tag explains differences in brain's response to anger, fear
When people perceive anger and fear in others, a region of the brain called the amygdala sends signals throughout the rest of the brain that allow us to prepare for potentially threatening situations.
Oxytocin may enhance social function in psychiatric disorders
Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have shown inducing the release of brain oxytocin may be a viable therapeutic option for enhancing social function in psychiatric ...
Sobering effect of the love hormone (w/ Video)
Oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the 'love' or 'cuddle' hormone, has a legendary status in popular culture due to its vital role in social and sexual behaviour and long-term bonding.
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Scroll through your social media feeds or browse the Web and you're bound to see links to videos and images on sites like Buzzfeed or Mashable, many of them featuring cute animals or inspirational messages.
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Researchers at MIT and Northwestern University have developed a new peer-to-peer networking tool that enables sufferers of anxiety and depression to build online support communities and practice therapeutic ...
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