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Although you might not know exactly what it is, you’ve probably heard of oxytocin. Otherwise known as the “love hormone,” oxytocin is the protein associated with empathy and trust.
In females, for example, oxytocin plays an important role in reproductive functions, from sexual activity to childbirth and even breastfeeding.
In both sexes it has social functions, and for a long time scientists believed that oxytocin was directly responsible for pro-social behavior.
Some scientists now think that oxytocin simply sharpens the perception of social cues, so that we can learn to target our social behavior more accurately.
This line of thought has emerged thanks to a number of studies carried out with mice and other laboratory animals.
Research is beginning to show, however, that this may be an oversimplification and that oxytocin might not simply cause pro-social behavior.
The improvement in research techniques has allowed scientists to assemble a picture of the way oxytocin works that is subtly different from ideas that have gone before.
For example, one experiment conducted on rats showed that oxytocin inhibits the random and noisy firing of nerve cells in the smell centers of their brains.
This means that if there is an actual odor to be picked up, its neural signals stand out more prominently due to the lack of distracting noise.
Robert Froemke, a neuroscientist at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, has provided a helpful analogy to describe this clarifying effect in the brain.
In recent years, advances in neuroscience techniques have allowed researchers to observe more closely the neurons that produce oxytocin deep within the brain.
The takeaway from this experiment (which was, granted, conducted on rats and not humans) is that oxytocin may create an increased level of clarity in the brain.
He said, "I've got two little kids. Even two rooms away, air conditioner on, and I'm deep asleep, the baby starts crying and right away I'm awake and attending, full-pupil-dilated."
The implication of this is that animals may be discouraged from seeking out new things in an environment, and instead focus on seeking rewards.
According to Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University, oxytocin also enhances the response of the brain’s reward system.
If the role, then, of oxytocin is not to promote social behavior but rather to clarify social-related perceptions, the chemical might have different effects in different contexts.
In prairie voles, for example, this has been shown to facilitate pair-bonding. In a sense, the vole becomes addicted to their partner, because they are inherently rewarding.
For years, scientists have believed that oxytocin may improve autistic patients’ response to social cues, and some therapists use intranasal oxytocin sprays to treat their autistic patients.
While oxytocin has been shown to increase their feelings of maternal care, it has also been shown to increase their level of aggression towards strange and threatening mice.
However, a large clinical trial conducted recently showed that oxytocin treatments have no such demonstrable effect.
Indeed, experiments have shown this to be true in the social and antisocial behavior of maternal mice.
This suggestion may have implications for the way in which oxytocin is currently used to treat autism.
For example, if the child is being picked on at school, the oxytocin may actually clarify and magnify the negative experience rather than make it any better.
According to one scientist’s analysis, this is not surprising, since the trial did not take into account the context in which the patient received the treatment.
It seems, then, that research is pushing scientists away from their traditional understanding of how oxytocin works.
To quote Kozorovitskiy: “Is oxytocin one of the many modulators that is mediating all those changes? Absolutely. But can we pin it all on oxytocin? That's definitely an oversimplification."
Sources: (BBC) (Medical News Today)
However, it is important to remember that oxytocin is now the only factor involved in the experience we call “falling in love.”
Oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus, from where it is transported to and secreted by the pituitary gland. It is known to serve a number of functions.
The traditional school of thought is that the release of oxytocin triggers feelings of empathy, trust, and what we think of as “love” in human beings.
To quote Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist at John Hopkins University, "It turns out it’s not as simple and straightforward as 'oxytocin equals love.'"
For a long time, it was thought that oxytocin (otherwise known as the '"love hormone") directly brought about feelings of empathy, trust, and happiness in human beings. Recent research shows, however, that this may be an oversimplification of the way oxytocin works, and that it actually has a clarifying effect on existing emotions. This may have implications, among other things, for the way in which oxytocin is used to treat patients with autism.
Intrigued? Check out this gallery to learn all about oxytocin.
Learn the truth about the love hormone
What it does, and what it doesn't
LIFESTYLE Science
For a long time, it was thought that oxytocin (otherwise known as the '"love hormone") directly brought about feelings of empathy, trust, and happiness in human beings. Recent research shows, however, that this may be an oversimplification of the way oxytocin works, and that it actually has a clarifying effect on existing emotions. This may have implications, among other things, for the way in which oxytocin is used to treat patients with autism.
Intrigued? Check out this gallery to learn all about oxytocin.