As is known, the difficulty of interpreting and responding to the facial expressions of other people is a typical characteristic in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
Thanks to new technologies, researchers have found that individuals with ASD show altered brain activations when processing images related to facial expressions. Previous studies also suggest that the hormone oxytocin is involved in social interactions, which occurs in both animals and humans. In fact, several studies conducted with healthy volunteers have provided evidence of the Beneficial effects of oxytocin in terms of increased confidence, improved recognition of emotions and preference for social stimuli.
Before continuing, I leave you a lecture that was given at TED entitled "Confidence, moral ... and oxytocin":
Basically, every time you hug someone (or someone hugs you) your oxytocin levels go up.
All previous scientific work led German researchers to the hypothesis of the influence of oxytocin in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Dr. Gregor Domes, from the University of Freiburg and first author of the study, explained: «In the present study, we are interested in showing that a single dose of oxytocin can change the brain's responses to social stimuli in people with ASD ».
With this study it was possible to verify that oxytocin has an effect on the social processing of individuals with ASD, which suggests that it could help treat a basic brain function that is not working properly.
To carry out this study, 14 individuals affected with the disorder and 14 control volunteers were summoned. All of them had to perform different tasks related to photos of faces and houses while being monitored with a brain scanner. This test was carried out twice, once after receiving a nasal spray with oxytocin and, another, after receiving a nasal spray with placebo content. The order of the sprays was randomized and the tests were done one week apart.
The use of two different sets of stimuli in the tasks, on the one hand images of faces and on the other hand, houses, allowed the researchers to compare the effects of oxytocin and the administration of placebo and also allowed them to discriminate between the specific related effects with social stimuli and effects for brain processing in general.
The results of this research are very useful. The data indicate that oxytocin specifically increases the responses of the amygdala to social stimuli in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. According to specialists, the amygdala is associated with the processing of emotional stimuli and facial expressions. This finding suggests that oxytocin could promote social stimuli, which would be very helpful in the formation and behavior of social skills in ASD.