By Kiran, Sabira and Munpreet. Oxytocin By Kiran, Sabira and Munpreet.

What is Oxytocin? Oxytocin: This is a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. It plays many roles and is also greatly stimulated during sex, birth, breast feeding. It is produced in the hypothalamus secreted into the bloodstream by the posterior pituitary gland. Its often referred to the ‘Cuddle Chemical or the Love Drug’

The Effect of Oxytocin? From the story below: Figure out what the effect of Oxytocin is: Jane looked down at her new born baby. She had developed a stronger bond with it than she had ever had with anyone. It was quite remarkable. She expected this, but not that she’d have this need to be with her child. She thought about the night before. She had been given extra oxytocin to induce contractions. She had also taken it when she’d been stressed at work and this had been able to help her identify more criminals, (She was a security guard). She’d felt she could remember their faces more when having the drug. Not only that, her sex life had been given a boost! It was a dream hormone that she relied heavily on. She’d been able to be more sociable as well as she’d made new friends and gone out more with colleagues It had quite a range of effects. She realised it was most definitely the oxytocin that had such a big effect on her life.

How it has that effect? After noting down the effects: Match them up with the cause! Oxytocin causes contractions during the second and third stages of labour. Oxytocin release during breastfeeding causes mild but often painful contractions during the first few weeks of lactation. This also serves to assist the uterus in clotting the placental attachment point postpartum. Plasma oxytocin levels are notably increased around the time of self-stimulated orgasm and are still higher than baseline when measured five minutes after self arousal.[ Many oxytocin receptors are located in the brain’s amygdala. When you see someone frown and you understand that he or she’s upset, that’s because the amygdala’s taken a physical cue (the frown) and correctly translated it into emotional meaning. During parturition, there is an increase in concentration of oxytocin in cerebrospinal fluid, and oxytocin acting within the brain plays a major role in establishing maternal behavior.

Evidence related to Oxytocin Aim: To see the effect of Oxytocin on remembering faces Method: Peter Klaver of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, presented 44 men with pictures of faces, sculptures, and landscapes. Beforehand, half of the men received a nasal spritz of oxytocin, half got a placebo. The next day, Klaver's team called the volunteers for a surprise return to the lab to view more photos: some new, some familiar. Klaver's team asked subjects if they remembered the photo and where they saw it, if they recognised the photo from somewhere, or if they had never seen the photo before. Results: People who got a nose-full of oxytocin recognised faces better than volunteers who got the placebo, but this difference disappeared for landscapes and sculptures Conclusion: Oxytocin helps you remember faces better but when it comes to landscapes and sculptures, the effect did not remain the same.

Evaluation of Evidence: Decide which of these points support the evidence or criticise the evidence: There is high sampling validity as 44 people were summoned to take part in the experiment showing that the effect wasn’t just for 1 or 2 people. However only men were used? Does this matter or not? There’s low ecological validity as it wasn’t in a field environment but a lab experiment and this could’ve resulted in demand characteristics as it was a relatively simple task. Could demand characteristic occur? They were called out for a surprise visit! This couldn’t result in demand characteristics as the sample wasn’t expecting this at all? This was only conducted in New Zealand! This doesn’t count for all countries, cultures, casts. Does it? Based on these points, write an overall conclusion or discuss it with your peers on whether the evidence is valid when supporting oxytocin’s effects or not.