Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Health
Related: About this forum‘Love Hormone’ Boosts Brain Activity in Autistic Children
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-03/-love-hormone-boosts-brain-activity-in-autistic-children.htmlA dose of the hormone oxytocin given to children with mild autism disorders boosted activity in key brain regions that affect social judgments, Yale University researchers found.
Children received a nasal spray of oxytocin or a placebo before being asked to label emotions from pictures of eyes. In those who received oxytocin, sometimes known as the love hormone for its effects on bonding, brain activity was enhanced in areas involving social processing, according to the research published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study involved 17 children ages 8 to 16 whose brain activity was measured with magnetic resonance imaging.
We have a set of brain regions we know have to do with social processing, social cognition and reward, and those regions had enhanced activation induced by oxytocin, said Ilanit Gordon, the lead author who conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, and is now an assistant professor at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv. We think maybe it is priming something in the brain that makes social learning or social interactions more optimal.
The results dont necessarily mean oxytocin would help as a stand-alone treatment for autism, as a couple of recent studies have shown modest effects, Gordon said. Instead, the hormone may be helpful when given shortly before behavioral therapy sessions to help stimulate the brains of kids with autism to become more amenable to social learning, she said.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 1150 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (5)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
‘Love Hormone’ Boosts Brain Activity in Autistic Children (Original Post)
xchrom
Dec 2013
OP
Sienna86
(2,147 posts)1. Very interesting research. nt
Laelth
(32,017 posts)2. Interesting. k&r for exposure. n/t
-Laelth
Warpy
(110,913 posts)3. Oxytocin gives a great high for a while in normal people
but it's the reason for the "love is blind" meme. It fools us into thinking some of the most worthless people might be "the one."
Finding it could be useful in high functioning autistic people is interesting. I can foresee a low dose patch being developed to help them get through life around people they don't know.
People they do know generally don't care whether or not they pick up on subtle emotional cues.