The Mother is Always the Mother
The sound of your mother’s voice lowers stress, say scientists. Mum’s voice as good as a hug.
Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans. Vocalizations are important components of social behaviour in many vertebrate species, including our own. Less well-understood are the hormonal mechanisms involved in response to vocal cues, and how these systems may influence the course of behavioural evolution. The neurohormone oxytocin (OT) partly governs a number of biological and social processes critical to fitness, such as attachment between mothers and their young, and suppression of the stress response after contact with trusted conspecfics. Rodent studies suggest that OT’s release is contingent upon direct tactile contact with such individuals, but we hypothesized that vocalizations might be capable of producing the same effect. To test our hypothesis, we chose human mother–daughter dyads and applied a social stressor to the children, following which we randomly assigned participants into complete contact,
speech-only or no-contact conditions. Children receiving a full complement of comfort including physical, vocal and non-verbal contact showed the highest levels of OT and the swiftest return to baseline of a biological marker of stress (salivary cortisol), but a strikingly similar hormonal profile emerged in children comforted solely by their mother’s voice. Our results suggest that vocalizations may be as important as touch to the neuroendocrine regulation of social bonding in our species. Authors: Leslie J. Seltzer. Toni E. Ziegler. Seth D. Pollak Departments of Psychology, Anthropology, and Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. news from rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org
Dear friend,
this is an open project and accepts the help of anyone willing to make positive thinking…
Send your proposals (articles, cartoons, funny pictures and videos) and find an open door where to move your ideas … POSITIVE!
Support and Spread the only e-magazine dedicated to good news and smiles!
Write to: [email protected]
Show on your site a link to our www.goodnews.ws
GOODNEWS Cerca il Meglio per te
