In NOT A CHIMP I begin to construct a bio-social model for human domestication based on several variants of common - and crucial - neurotransmitters: vasopressin, dopamine, MAO and serotonin. Research from Oregon State University and UC Berkeley can now add oxytocin to the pile. Individuals having a particular genetic variant of the oxytocin receptor performed much better on the "Reading The Mind In The Eyes" test than individuals with a form of the receptor often noticed in people with autism. This Sciencenow article concludes:
The work is "one solid step forward" in understanding the role of oxytocin in human social behavior, says neuroeconomist Paul Zak of the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, who has studied the effects of oxytocin on economic decisions. "This is a really nice example where the variation [in social behavior] that we see in animals can now be traced back and even seen in people," adds neuroscientist Larry Young of Emory University in Atlanta. But because polymorphism studies sometimes can't be replicated, Young remains cautious about the results until they can be repeated in a larger group.
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