Oxytocin has been of keen interest to neuroscientists since the 1970s, when studies started to show that it could drive maternal behaviour and social attachment in various species. Its involvement in a range of social behaviours, including monogamy in voles, mother–infant bonding in sheep, and even trust between humans, has earned it a reputation as the ‘hug hormone’.
About ten years ago, psychology studies started to show that single doses of oxytocin, delivered through an intranasal spray, could promote various aspects of social behaviour in healthy adults. People who inhaled oxytocin before playing an investment game were more willing to entrust their money to a stranger than were placebo-treated players. A dose of the hormone also increased the amount of time that people spent gazing at the eye region of faces, and improved their ability to infer the emotional state of others from subtle expressions.
The idea that oxytocin is central to social cognition made it an attractive candidate for treating psychiatric disorders, especially autism spectrum disorder. People with this condition, who often have problems with social interaction and communication, may not process social stimuli appropriately — and scientists theorized that oxytocin might reverse some of the symptoms. Beginning in 2010, results emerged that seemed to support this theory: researchers found that single puffs of oxytocin could temporarily improve measures of empathy and social cooperation in people with autism spectrum disorder.
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