In relation to our previous and well-visited post about oxytocin, we should mention a new study that uses this very substance in a neuroeconomic set-up. In the study, recently published by Neuron, and headed by Baumgartner et al., it was found that the administration of oxytocin affected subjects’ in a trust game. In particular, it was found that subjects that received oxytocin were not affected by information about co-players that cheated. Or, as put in the abstract:
(…) subjects in the oxytocin group show no change in their trusting behavior after they learned that their trust had been breached several times while subjects receiving placebo decrease their trust.
That is extremely interesting. This suggests that oxytocin, a mammalian hormone + neurotransmitter that is known to be related to maternal behaviour and bonding, also is modulating social trust. So the brain link is obvious. But what happens in the brain when oxytocin is administered during the trust game?
This difference in trust adaptation is associated with a specific reduction in activation in the amygdala, the midbrain regions, and the dorsal striatum in subjects receiving oxytocin, suggesting that neural systems mediating fear processing (amygdala and midbrain regions) and behavioral adaptations to feedback information (dorsal striatum) modulate oxytocin’s effect on trust.
So oxytocin reduces fear and aversion responses, and this leads to the lack of effect in responding to cheaters. Excellent, why not use this for treating anxiety, phobia and other fear-related problems? Sounds promising, and yet other more ethically problematic issues remain to be resolved. Think, for example, about whether oxytocin makes us more susceptible to gambling, shopping and marketing effects? Or what if it may work as the first scientifically proven aphrodisiac? What if your next pick-up line would be “Hi, I’m Thomas, how are you” just followed by a few ‘puff-puff’ sounds.
Joke aside, studies like this demonstrates that emotions and decisions are often influenced by factors not consciously available, or at least only partially so. As the marketing industry is increasingly interested in multi-sensory inventions, oxytocin may be the next step in this endaveour.
-Thomas
Oxytocin is an FDA controlled substance!
Ingesting oxytocin in a pure form is not only illegal but it would be useless.
1. Oxytocin is destroyed by stomach acids.
2. Oxytocin has a three minute half-life in our blood stream.
The healthiest way to achieve optimal oxytocin levels is to urge the body and the mind to support its own oxytocin release.
Building trusting relationships is a process and is not something that takes place within a few moments in time or is limited to happening within a certain time period. It is quite possible that you may not even know it is happening until you experience that first smile or other unique cue, and respond appropriately.
Talking, touching, holding, singing, eye contact . . . in tandem wih sub-lingual homeopathic oxytocin invigorator can help support these behaviors.
I have been using a sublingual Oxytocin Accelerator formulation for the past 8 weeks and it’s pretty aswsome. I spray it in my boyfriends mouth too. He is all over me. Here is a link to read more if your interested. http://www.oxy-tocin.com
Caio,
Megan
Interesting comment, which is why I included it. I’m not sure whether selling the spray should be legalised either. So, anybody, any ethical concerns about selling oxytocin? Would you have your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband use this product on you? Any concerns?
-Thomas
[…] Along with other studies using, e.g., oxytocin to increase trust in economic games (see also my previous post about this experiment), one may expect that increasing the serotonin level may actually make […]
Bravo for such the article. Anyone interested in the neuromarketing topic, please come visit my site: http://btoone.com
Happy new year
James
Just in response to this;
“subjects in the oxytocin group show no change in their trusting behavior after they learned that their trust had been breached several times while subjects receiving placebo decrease”
I bought the liquid trust product and decided to conduct my own experiment with my dog. I had read that animals use oxytocin as well so I thought it could be an interesting experiment. Firstly I held a piece of chicken and made my dog sit on the spot for a good few minutes pretending that I would give him the chicken. I always ate the piece of chicken and he did not get it. During trials with and without oxytocin the dog always sat still even though he had been tricked many times.
My conclusion is that oxytocin is not effective to dogs. Don’t worry after the experiment I did feed the animal.
HERE IS HOW CORRUPTED AND SEDUCTIVE,YOU PATINA SCUM ARE:
THE SCIENTISTS ADMINISTERING THE SURVEYS WOULD NOT PUT WOMEN IN THE VICINITY OF THE PEPTIDE,FOR IT
MIGHT CAUSE A MISCARRIAGE.
THINKING ABOUT OPENING A CHURCH OR CASINO,I MAY JUST SPRAY VASOPRESSIN AND OXYTOCIN IN THE FOYER TO FLEECE THE FLOCK AND ELDERLY RICH WHO CANNOT THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE TO DO WITH THEIR MONEY.
GO SHINE THE OLD COMMODE.
Don’t think I’ve ever suggested actually using this drug. We’re using it now in studies to improve our understanding both the role of oxytocin on human interaction and valence, as well as how social interaction and valence works in the first place. We mainly use men only, in order to avoid this complication. If you administer oxytocin to a pregnant woman she can go into labour. Thus, pregnancy or breast feeding is an exclusion criterium. But I wonder whether the oxytocin sellers ever consider this information?
Best wishes from the scum…Thomas
‘What if your next pick-up line would be “Hi, I’m Thomas, how are you” just followed by a few ‘puff-puff’ sounds.’
Amusingly put, but yes, serious at the same time. Could oxytocin even be a date rape drug? I don’t think so. Date rape drugs render the victim unconscious and/or physically unable to resist or even remember the assault. Nobody is suggesting that oxytocin could even MAKE a woman want to have sex with you. It may well lead a woman be more open to you, but I don’t think this is anything more than a variant on wearing perfume or make-up etc.
Good article by the way.
Hi there, I agree with what you write: if your odds are not good in the first place, chances are that this drug won’t help you much either. So for dating, this may not be too efficient. But there is another approach: salespersons or people who need to engage people’s trust. Oxytocin seems to make people more trusting, so this may be one possible danger of oxytocin usage. Of course, oxytocin release is a natural thing, and engaging in a trusting relationship with another person should be seen as a natural thing. But artificially inducing these changes is something completely different.
T
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