Oxytocin Makes Other Faces Look More Pleasant

Oxytocin speeds up facial recognition and makes us more prone to like a new face. "Social bonding, mutual support, mate preference and parental investment," says Dr. Colonnello, "are all mediated by the oxytocinergic system, which is heavily reliant on a person's ability to appreciate that self and others are both different and valuable." Participants in the study were shown videos of their own face morphing into an unfamiliar face and vice versa, and were instructed to press a button as soon as they felt that they saw more features belonging to the incoming face. Of the 44 participants, those given oxytocin before the task were significantly faster at identifying the new face, regardless of whether it was their own or...
Source: FuturePundit - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs