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Oxytocin Found to Stimulate Social Brain Regions in Children With Autism


Stashed in: #health, Science!, #love, Children, Brain, Awesome, Feedback, Singularity!, Brain, Health Studies, Autism, Mental Health, Oxytocin

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Oxytocin is sometimes called the "love hormone" and is implicated in bonding -- as in between mother and child. Would it be cool to start giving it to autistic children to help reinforce socially appropriate behaviors? Can we slip it to people on dates to make them more likely to fall in love? Brain hormone therapy is definitely going to be huge in the next decade...

We've begun the era of "hacking the brain":

During the “eyes” test, brain areas involved in social functions like empathy and reward — less active in children with autism — showed more activity after taking oxytocin than after placebo. Also, during the “vehicles” tests, oxytocin decreased activity in those brain areas more than the placebo, a result that especially excited some experts.

The coming decades will see more and more such experimentation.

It's very exciting.

This story reminds me of the woman who experimented with her brain chemistry:

http://pandawhale.com/post/32500/bringing-back-my-real-self-with-hormones

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