Hormone heightens social skills

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.