Hormone affects distance men keep from unknown women they find attractive
Finding suggests oxytocin may promote fidelity
2012-11-14
(Press-News.org) Washington, DC — Men in committed relationships choose to keep a greater distance between themselves and an unknown woman they find attractive when given the hormone oxytocin, according to new research in the November 14 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest oxytocin may help promote fidelity within monogamous relationships.
Oxytocin plays a vital role in triggering childbirth and facilitating nursing. The hormone, which is produced in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, is also involved in the formation of social bonds. In humans and other animals, this brain chemical is known to promote bonds between parents and children, and between couples. Additionally, previous studies have shown oxytocin increases trust among people. However, scientists had yet to determine what, if any, role oxytocin played in maintaining monogamous human relationships.
In the current study, led by René Hurlemann, MD, PhD, of the University of Bonn, researchers found that men in committed relationships who were given oxytocin kept a greater distance when approaching or being approached by an unknown woman they found attractive compared with those given a placebo. In contrast, oxytocin had no effect on single men.
"Previous animal research in prairie voles identified oxytocin as major key for monogamous fidelity in animals," Hurlemann said. "Here, we provide the first evidence that oxytocin may have a similar role for humans."
Researchers administered oxytocin or placebo via a nasal spray to a group of healthy, heterosexual males. Forty-five minutes later, the men were introduced to a female experimenter that they later described as "attractive." As the experimenter moved toward or away from the study volunteers, the men were asked to indicate when the experimenter was at an "ideal distance" as well as when the experimenter moved to a distance that felt "slightly uncomfortable."
"Because oxytocin is known to increase trust in people, we expected men under the influence of the hormone to allow the female experimenter to come even closer, but the direct opposite happened," Hurlemann said. The researchers found oxytocin led the men in committed relationships, but not those who were single, to keep a greater distance (10-15 cm) between themselves and the woman.
The effect of oxytocin on the monogamous men was the same regardless of whether the female experimenter maintained eye contact or averted her gaze, or if the men were the ones approaching or withdrawing from the experimenter. Oxytocin also had no effect on the men's attitude toward the female experimenter — both those who received the oxytocin and the placebo rated the female experimenter as being equally attractive.
In a separate experiment, the researchers found oxytocin had no effect on the distance men kept between themselves and a male experimenter.
"In monogamous prairie voles, we know that oxytocin plays an important role in the formation of the pair bond," said Larry Young, PhD, an expert on oxytocin at Emory University who was not involved in the study. "This study suggests that the general role of oxytocin in promoting monogamous behavior is conserved from rodents to man."
###
This study was funded by the Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research & Technology of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MIWFT) and the University of Bonn.
The Journal of Neuroscience is published by the Society for Neuroscience, an organization of more than 42,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system. More information on hormones, love, and the brain can be found on BrainFacts.org.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2012-11-14
Despite widespread condemnation of female genital surgeries as a form of mutilation and a violation of human rights, an international advisory group argues that the practice is poorly understood and unfairly characterized. In a public policy statement in the Hastings Center Report, the Public Policy Advisory Network on Female Genital Surgeries in Africa, a group that includes doctors, anthropologists, legal scholars, and feminists, argues that media coverage of the practice is hyperbolic and one sided, "painting the now familiar portrait of African female genital surgeries ...
2012-11-14
Older North American farmers work fewer hours than their younger peers but spend more time operating heavy machinery and equipment—raising their risk of serious injury, according to new research from the University of Alberta.
A survey of 2,751 Saskatchewan farmers showed that as farmers age they turn to less physically strenuous work such as operating machinery. Farmers aged 45 to 64 years spent six to eight more days a year operating tractors and combines than farmers 20 years their junior—a situation that puts older farmers at risk, say the study authors.
"It's important ...
2012-11-14
In this News Digest:
Summary of a study being published online November 13, 2012 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, reporting that earlier discussions about end of life (EOL) care preferences are strongly associated with less aggressive care in the last days of life and increased use of hospice care for patients with advanced cancer.
EOL care discussions that took place before the last 30 days of life resulted in less frequent use of chemotherapy in the last 14 days of life and lower use of acute or ICU care in the last 30 days of life, which are both known to ...
2012-11-14
Global climate models abound. What is harder to pin down, however, is how a warmer global temperature might affect any specific region on Earth.
Dr. Marco Tedesco, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at The City College of New York, and a colleague have made the global local. Using a regional climate model and the output of three global climate models, they predict how different greenhouse gas scenarios would change the face of Greenland over the next century and how this would impact sea level rise.
The resulting fine-scale model gives a high-resolution ...
2012-11-14
With grilled chicken, salads and oatmeal now on fast food menus, you might think fast food has become healthier. And indeed, there has been greater attention in the media and legislatively, paid to the healthfulness of fast food. But a close look at the industry has found that calorie counts have changed little, while the number of food items has doubled.
A study led by Katherine W. Bauer, assistant professor in Temple University's Department of Public Health and Center for Obesity Research and Education, found that the average calorie content of foods offered by eight ...
2012-11-14
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — In a sobering study published in the journal Environmental Health, researchers at UC Davis and UCLA measured food-borne toxin exposure in children and adults by pinpointing foods with high levels of toxic compounds and determining how much of these foods were consumed. The researchers found that family members in the study, and preschool children in particular, are at high risk for exposure to arsenic, dieldrin, DDE (a DDT metabolite), dioxins and acrylamide. These compounds have been linked to cancer, developmental disabilities, birth defects and ...
2012-11-14
From monsters under the bed to bogeymen in the closet, most children experience nighttime fears at some point in their development. And while most grow out of them without any professional intervention, others contend with persistent and extended periods of these fears, with a risk of developing anxiety problems later in life.
As part of a large-scale project on nighttime fears funded by the Israeli Science Foundation, Prof. Avi Sadeh of Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences is exploring how these fears fit into the normal developmental process — and ...
2012-11-14
Cambridge, Mass. – November 13, 2012 – Bioengineers at Harvard have developed a gel-based sponge that can be molded to any shape, loaded with drugs or stem cells, compressed to a fraction of its size, and delivered via injection. Once inside the body, it pops back to its original shape and gradually releases its cargo, before safely degrading.
The biocompatible technology, revealed this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, amounts to a prefabricated healing kit for a range of minimally invasive therapeutic applications, including regenerative medicine.
"What ...
2012-11-14
PHILADELPHIA - The cancer-causing form of the gene Myc alters the metabolism of mitochondria, the cell's powerhouse, making it dependent on the amino acid glutamine for survival. In fact, 40 percent of all "hard-to-treat" cancers have a mutation in the Myc gene.
Accordingly, depriving cells of glutamine selectively induces programmed cell death in cells overexpressing mutant Myc.
Using Myc-active neuroblastoma cancer cells, a team led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator M. Celeste Simon, Ph.D., scientific director for the Abramson Family Cancer ...
2012-11-14
People with diabetes often develop clogged arteries that cause heart disease, and new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that low vitamin D levels are to blame.
In a study published Nov. 9 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers report that blood vessels are less like to clog in people with diabetes who get adequate vitamin D. But in patients with insufficient vitamin D, immune cells bind to blood vessels near the heart, then trap cholesterol to block those blood vessels.
"About 26 million Americans now have type ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Hormone affects distance men keep from unknown women they find attractive
Finding suggests oxytocin may promote fidelity
