JANUARY 22, 2009
Love potion #1
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 ARTICLE |
Oxytocin is nature’s aphrodisiac: a hormone released in large quantities during moments of intense social attachment (e.g., childbirth, or a truly great first date). But now it appears that oxytocin has another side effect — it’s a highly selective memory enhancer.
Swiss researchers presented 44 men with pictures of faces, sculptures, and landscapes. The next day, when the men returned to the lab, they were given a surprise test and asked whether they’d seen the pictures before. Subjects who’d received a nasal spritz of oxytocin were significantly better at recalling the faces they’d seen than subjects who’d inhaled a placebo — even though their ability to remember things and places wasn’t affected. According to the researchers, their results demonstrate that the “love hormone” plugs directly into the brain’s memory system (and might even lead to new treatments for memory loss). So don’t bother trying to forget about those exes of yours: Thanks to oxytocin, their faces are permanently seared into your consciousness.
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more about the oxytocin-and-memory study
