Posted on 02/15/2010 1:03:26 PM PST by decimon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A hormone thought to encourage bonding between mothers and their babies may foster social behavior in some adults with autism, French researchers said on Monday.
They found patients who inhaled the hormone oxytocin paid more attention to expressions when looking at pictures of faces and were more likely to understand social cues in a game simulation, the researchers said in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Angela Sirigu of the Center of Cognitive Neuroscience in Lyon, who led the study, said the hormone has a therapeutic potential in adults as well as in children with autism.
"For instance, if oxytocin is administered early when the diagnosis is made, we can perhaps change very early the impaired social development of autistic patients," Sirigu said in an email.
Sirigu said the study focused on oxytocin because it was known to help breast-feeding mothers bond with their infants and because earlier research has shown that some children with autism have low levels of the hormone.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Mother and child reunion ping.
In experimental settings, oxytocin has been shown to increase trust felt towards strangers.
People on the autistic spectrum are often naive and easily taken advantage of. Oxytocin might make them more adept, or more vulnerable.
On the large-scale neurotypical end of things, there’s been conjecture about how a demoguge might have oxytocin sprayed in the air at rallies. A would-be tyrant suddenly has the charisma of Hitler or...well, you know.
Interesting idea.
I wonder how possible it is to manufacture a hormone in sufficient quantities to implement such a plan.
In an open air rally you would need huge quantities to have a chance of pulling off a administering an effective dose to a reasonably large number of those attending.
Yeah, and if the aerosol was too concentrated in places you’d turn a political rally into a love-in.
I think they must have pumped into the press room by the barrel at the 2008 Democratic convention. Chris Matthews overdosed on it.
We’ve known for quite a while that Baraq Hussein 0bama al-Mombasa attended Oxy-Dental College for a couple of years.
Well only the Dims would use something like this anyway.
With all of the LGBTA leather types walking around; Nobody would notice.
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