2013-05-02 16:11:38.989275+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments
Minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, reduces ‘honey trap’ risk in human economic exchange:
The results show that trusting behaviour in male participants significantly increased in relation to the perceived attractiveness of the female partner, but that attractiveness did not impact trusting behaviour in the minocycline group.
So limerence is a disease that can be kept at bay with antibiotics.
[ related topics: Nature and environment California Culture Economics ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2013-05-02 19:01:35.916127+00 by: petronius
So, sex is an infection?
#Comment Re: made: 2013-05-02 20:10:41.577179+00 by: dexev
I think/hope you're being intentionally glib here, but...
Minocycline is a chemical. We've known for a while that this has a negatdive effect on the growth of bacteria. We're recently discovering that it affects perception and emotion. This doesn't suggest that limerence is caused by infections, any more than pneumonia caused by our state of mind.
I'm also amused/concerned by the experimenters use of the word 'sober' to refer to the group that was on drugs!
#Comment Re: made: 2013-05-02 21:46:07.392064+00 by: Dan Lyke
Yes, I was being glib. Especially since I assume that the effect goes away after the antibiotics have been flushed out of the system which means we'd have to hunt for a reinfection vector...
But I also think that, much as that study which came out recently that suggested that acetaminophen reduces "existential dread", it's fascinating that we're starting to discover all of these things that are mood altering...
#Comment Re: made: 2013-05-05 21:57:08.466659+00 by: m
And for thousands of years people have been looking for potions to create or enhance limerence and/or its siblings. Be it an mix of angst and ecstasy, it is one of the most incredible of human sensations.