Resurgence of an Inborn Attraction for Animate Objects via Thyroid Hormone T3

[helvella]

Just seen an interesting piece of research published.

I suspect it will have absolutely no impact on any of us, nor on medicine. Posted purely for interest. But it does emphasise the supreme importance of T3.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Behav. Neurosci., 19 April 2021 | doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021....

Resurgence of an Inborn Attraction for Animate Objects via Thyroid Hormone T3

For inexperienced brains, some stimuli are more attractive than others. Human neonates and newly hatched chicks preferentially orient towards face-like stimuli, biological motion, and objects changing speed. In chicks, this enhances exposure to social partners, and subsequent attachment trough filial imprinting. Early preferences are not steady. For instance, preference for stimuli changing speed fades away after 2 days in chicks. To understand the physiological mechanisms underlying these transient responses, we tested whether early preferences for objects changing speed can be promoted by thyroid hormone 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine (T3). This hormone determines the start of imprinting’s sensitive period. We found that the preference for objects changing speed can be re-established in female chicks treated with T3. Moreover, day-1 chicks treated with an inhibitor of endogenous T3 did not show any preference. These results suggest that the time windows of early predispositions and of sensitive period for imprinting are controlled by the same molecular mechanisms.

Rest of paper freely accessible here:

frontiersin.org/articles/10...

[tattybogle]

Who funded this . was it G**gle.. if they can prove that people with good T3 levels are more likely to be attracted to webpages with cute jumping kittens than people who are low on T3, then maybe that would be a big enough incentive for some internet mogul to overturn the 'T3 doesn't matter' status quo...

[Lalatoot in reply to tattybogle]

I like your thinking Tatt.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to tattybogle]

I know your comment was humourous but the boring answer is:

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ Advanced Grant ERC PREMESOR G.A. (n 295517) to GV.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

[tattybogle in reply to helvella]

Thankyou , you're right , that was a very boring answer , but i won't hold it against you .And it was quite fast . so maybe lalatoot will still chase you.

[Lalatoot]

Helvella Can I misinterpret this as:If I increase my T3 dose it will 'enhance exposure to social partners'. Just the thrill a 65 year old needs during these lack lustre times!

[tattybogle in reply to Lalatoot]

take care .. it might just mean if the bin men move fast enough, you are compelled to chase them down the street in your nightie

[Lalatoot in reply to tattybogle]

Like a collie dog chasing cars!

[serenfach]

I seem to have an inborn attraction to inanimate objects at the moment... Can I blame taking T3?