Remember me?: Oxytocin, a peptide hormone best known for its role in childbirth and breastfeeding, may also help you remember faces.
SYDNEY: If you have trouble remembering faces, a dose of the hormone oxytocin - important in childbirth and breastfeeding - might improve your social memory, according to a new study.
Studies by researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland found that oxytocin actually improves a person's ability to remember faces, and may have potential for treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Social memory
Previously, "we knew that oxytocin could improve certain aspects of social behaviour in humans, such as trust based judgements," said author Peter Klaver from, whose study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience in January 2009.
The effect that the hormone has in social interactions between animals is well documented, but recognising a familiar face is not only important for animals, but for humans too. The hormone is known to improve social memory in rodents and researchers wanted to find whether it did the same in humans.
The study took two groups of males; one group was given a nasal spray of oxytocin and the other a harmless placebo. The men were then shown photos of faces, landscapes, buildings and objects. The next day, they were given a pop quiz where they were shown more photos (new photos as well as some from the previous day) to see if they remembered what pictures they had seen before.
The group that had been given the hormone recognised more of the face photos than the group that didn't have the oxytocin nasal spray.
Further studies needed
However, both groups had equal success in remembering the other photos - like the buildings and objects - indicating that the hormone had no effect in remembering these 'non-social' photos. The hormone treated group was also better at knowing when they hadn't seen a face photo before.
"Further studies with clinical populations are needed to see whether the effects also hold in patients with social phobia, autism or borderline personality disorder," said Bernadette von Dawans from the Clinical Pyschology and Psychobiology department at the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, who was not involved with the study.
But she said the results do go in line with previous findings that have shown oxytocin improves the ability to recognise emotion, increases trust and even reduces stress.
Despite the clear advantage the hormone has for social memory, it still has one downfall; it won't help you remember where you put those car keys.
