{"id":1212031,"date":"2022-01-12T17:34:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T22:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1212031"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:34:37","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T22:34:37","slug":"fact-check-does-this-mri-of-a-mother-and-baby-show-the-release-of-oxytocin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-does-this-mri-of-a-mother-and-baby-show-the-release-of-oxytocin\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Does This MRI Of A Mother and Baby Show The Release Of Oxytocin?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-does-this-mri-of-a-mother-and-baby-show-the-release-of-oxytocin%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1212031&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gapgreekandproud\/photos\/a.358287797636324\/2520546404743775\/?type=3&amp;theater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> purportedly shows a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) picture of a baby\u2019s brain releasing oxytocin in response to its mother\u2019s kiss.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The woman pictured in the MRI image confirmed the red and orange spots are unrelated to the release of oxytocin.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Text above the image of the MRI scan reads, \u201cThis is the first MRI of a mother kissing her baby. Her kiss has caused a chemical reaction in her baby\u2019s brain that released a burst of oxytocin (a hormone that produces feelings of affection and attachment). It\u2019s an MRI of #love!\u201d Included in the image is a watermark for the Instagram handle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/seekthebeyond\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@SeekTheBeyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The hormone oxytocin facilitates childbirth and lactation, as well as serves important functions in certain human behaviors, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hormone.org\/your-health-and-hormones\/glands-and-hormones-a-to-z\/hormones\/oxytocin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hormone Health Network<\/a>, a public education affiliate of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.endocrine.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Endocrine Society<\/a>. Oxytocin levels are primarily measured in blood and cerebrospinal fluids, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/med.stanford.edu\/news\/all-news\/2014\/11\/oxytocin-levels-in-blood-cerebrospinal-fluid-are-linked-study-fi.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stanford Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact traced the image back to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/why--captured-MRI-mother-child-180957207\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 2015 Smithsonian Magazine article<\/a> titled \u201cWhy I Captured This MRI of a Mother and Child.\u201d The author, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) neuroscientist <a href=\"https:\/\/mcgovern.mit.edu\/profile\/rebecca-saxe\/https:\/\/mcgovern.mit.edu\/profile\/rebecca-saxe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebecca Saxe<\/a>, identified herself and her infant son as being the subjects of the MRI image.<\/p>\n<p>The same scan, created by Saxe and Martinos Imaging Center assistant director <a href=\"https:\/\/mcgovern.mit.edu\/tile\/atsushi-takahashi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atsushi Takahashi<\/a>, can also be found on MIT\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/ki-galleries.mit.edu\/2016\/saxe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Koch Institute Pubic Galleries website<\/a>. In the original version, no red or orange spots are visible in the scan. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2021\/12\/09\/fact-check-detailed-model-animal-cell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Does This Image Show The \u2018Most Detailed Model Of A Human Cell To Date\u2019?)<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In September 2019, Saxe posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rebecca_saxe\/status\/1171979487489286146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1171979487489286146%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmassivesci.com%2Fnotes%2Fsetting-record-straight-mother-infant-mri-not-oxytocin%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lengthy tweet thread<\/a> about the MRI scan image. In the thread, Saxe <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rebecca_saxe\/status\/1171982324512243712\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a> that the red and orange spots \u201chave nothing to do with oxytocin, hormones, kissing, or breastfeeding.\u201d They actually show \u201cactivations\u201d of \u201chemodynamic responses\u201d in the brain of the baby, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rebecca_saxe\/status\/1171982266538459137\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">her tweet thread<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cactivations\u201d came from a \u201cfMRI study on infant brains\u201d that was investigating the \u201corganization of functional activity in infant brains when viewing meaningful visual images, like faces and natural scenes,\u201d Saxe explained. They&nbsp;were later overlaid on the MRI scan of the pair, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rebecca_saxe\/status\/1171982266538459137\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">her tweet thread<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A post shared on Facebook purportedly shows a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) picture of a baby\u2019s brain releasing oxytocin in response to its mother\u2019s kiss.Verdict: False The woman pictured in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1212031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1212031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1212031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1212031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1212031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}