一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，男性關(guān)于童年時(shí)期他們的母親的關(guān)愛(ài)的回憶可能被一種在大腦中自然產(chǎn)生的化學(xué)物質(zhì)強(qiáng)化?？茖W(xué)家長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)認(rèn)為被稱(chēng)為后葉催產(chǎn)素的神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)能夠積極地增強(qiáng)人們體驗(yàn)和回憶一大批社會(huì)互動(dòng),，包括母親的照顧和親密,。
Jennifer Bartz及其同事調(diào)查了后葉催產(chǎn)素在社會(huì)感受方面的作用，方法是為成年男性注射這種藥物,，而這些男性在參與這項(xiàng)研究之前回答了關(guān)于他們?cè)谕陼r(shí)期母親照顧情況的問(wèn)卷調(diào)查,。在數(shù)周時(shí)間里，這組科學(xué)家追蹤了這些男性的回憶在獲得了一份后葉催產(chǎn)素或安慰劑之后如何發(fā)生變化,。這組作者說(shuō)，與那些獲得安慰劑的男性相比,，正面地回憶起他們的母親的照顧的男性在接受了后葉催產(chǎn)素之后傾向于把他們的母親評(píng)定為更多的照顧他們,。另一方面，和母親的關(guān)系引起焦慮的男性更多地把他們的母親描述為較少照顧他們,，這提示這種藥物可能加強(qiáng)了預(yù)先存在的感受,。
這組作者說(shuō)，這項(xiàng)研究還提出了一個(gè)問(wèn)題,，即后葉催產(chǎn)素是否能增加準(zhǔn)確地回憶母親的照顧的能力,，或者這種化學(xué)物質(zhì)是否啟動(dòng)了一種有偏見(jiàn)的對(duì)記憶的搜尋來(lái)支持當(dāng)前的長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)的印象。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦英文摘要：
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1012669107
Effects of oxytocin on recollections of maternal care and closeness
Jennifer A. Bartza,1, Jamil Zakib, Kevin N. Ochsnerc, Niall Bolgerc, Alexander Kolevzona, Natasha Ludwiga, and John E. Lydond
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029;
bDepartment of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
cDepartment of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027; and
dDepartment of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 2T5
Although the infant–caregiver attachment bond is critical to survival, little is known about the biological mechanisms supporting attachment representations in humans. Oxytocin plays a key role in attachment bond formation and maintenance in animals and thus could be expected to affect attachment representations in humans. To investigate this possibility, we administered 24 IU intranasal oxytocin to healthy male adults in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover designed study and then assessed memories of childhood maternal care and closeness—two features of the attachment bond. We found that the effects of oxytocin were moderated by the attachment representations people possess, with less anxiously attached individuals remembering their mother as more caring and close after oxytocin (vs. placebo) but more anxiously attached individuals remembering their mother as less caring and close after oxytocin (vs. placebo). These data contrast with the popular notion that oxytocin has broad positive effects on social perception and are more consistent with the animal literature, which emphasizes oxytocin's role in encoding social memories and linking those memories to the reward value of the social stimulus.
