OT: Hormone Improves Human Ability To Recognize Faces But Not Places

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Hormone Improves Human Ability To Recognize Faces But Not Places

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ScienceDaily — Oxytocin, a hormone involved in child-birth and

breast-feeding, helps people recognize familiar faces, according to

new research in the January 7 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Study participants who had one dose of an oxytocin nasal spray showed

improved recognition memory for faces, but not for inanimate objects.

" This is the first paper showing that a single dose of oxytocin

specifically improves recognition memory for social, but not for

nonsocial, stimuli, " said Ernst Fehr, PhD, an economist at the

University of Zurich who has studied oxytocin's effect on trust and is

unaffiliated with the new study. " The results suggest an immediate,

selective effect of the hormone: strengthening neuronal systems of

social memory, " Fehr said.

In mice, oxytocin has been shown to be important in social

recognition — remembering that another mouse is familiar. Unlike

humans, who use visual cues, mice use smell to recognize and

distinguish other mice.

In humans, oxytocin increases social behaviors like trust, but

its role in social memory has been unclear. " Recognizing a familiar

face is a crucial feature of successful social interaction in humans, "

said Klaver, PhD, at the University of Zurich, the senior author

of the new study, which was led by Ulrike Rimmele, PhD, at New York

University. " In this study, we investigated for the first time the

systematic effect of oxytocin on social memory in humans, " Klaver said.

Klaver and colleagues had study participants use a nasal spray

containing either oxytocin or a placebo and then showed them images of

faces and inanimate objects, including houses, sculptures, and

landscapes. Participants were given a surprise test when they returned

the next day — they were shown some of the images they had seen the

day before as well as some new ones and were asked to distinguish

between images that were " new, " images that they specifically

" remembered " being presented, and images they recognized ( " knew " ) as

familiar but could not recall the presentation context.