Featured Image Credit: Brocken Inaglory via Wikipedia
As a society, we’ve always argued about whether or not evolution has played into humans evolving from monkeys, and whether or not you believe that is entirely up to you. But this new scientific discovery might amaze you on how close humans and animals are truly alike.
Recently, Pete Hurd, a psychology professor, and his team of researchers from the University of Alberta has discovered that the brain of a fish, more specifically the cichlid fish, has the same type of brain activity that a human does when dealing with social behavior. With this, these researchers can shed some light on the social behaviors of a human. The team discovered this after they did research on eight cichlid fish on Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa.
Image Credit: fishpain.com
Even with the large differences between the human society and the fish society, there are substantial similarities between the two brains. These researchers found that both the cichlid fish and humans not only use the same part of the brain that controls social behavior, but they also produce the types of hormones that can trigger different emotions.
During their research, Pete and his team found that fish who are more sociable tend to use less isotocin, which is equivalent to oxytocin, aka the “stereotypical love hormone,” for humans. But contrary to popular belief, just because there might be high levels of oxytocin in the brain, doesn’t necessarily mean that someone will be more inclined to socialize. After discovering this, Hurd stated, “Oxytocin in humans and mammals also seems to have a dark side.”
Even though the relationship between humans and oxytocin isn’t crystal clear yet, it is clear that this scientific discovery will definitely help scientists and researchers all over the world help better understand the social behaviors of humans. Since this study has surfaced, Hurd is now directing a study in the genetic differences between more sociable and less sociable people. “We’re interested in how this relates to common range variation in people,” he said.