Neurochemical Hormone Makes Pensioners more Generous, New Study Finds

Elderly women sit at a park in downtown Shanghai March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Elderly women sit at a park in downtown Shanghai March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
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Neurochemical Hormone Makes Pensioners more Generous, New Study Finds

Elderly women sit at a park in downtown Shanghai March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Elderly women sit at a park in downtown Shanghai March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

People who release more of the neurochemical oxytocin are kinder to others and tend to be more satisfied with their lives, said researchers from the US Claremont University in a new study published April 20, in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

They also discovered that oxytocin release increases with age, showing why people are more satisfied as they get older.

Seniors spend more time volunteering and donate a larger proportion of their income to charity than do younger people, so the researchers wanted to see if there was a neurochemical basis for these behaviors.

The researchers studied this hormone for years. In a past study, they found that watching a video about a little boy with cancer induces oxytocin release in the brain. In the new study, the team recruited more than 100 people ranging between the ages of 18 and 99. They were each shown the same video, and blood was taken before and after the video to measure the change in oxytocin.

Participants had the option to donate some of their earnings from the study to a childhood cancer charity, and this was used to measure their immediate prosocial behavior. We also collected data on their emotional states, to provide information on their overall satisfaction with life.

“People who released the most oxytocin in the experiment were not only more generous to charity, but also performed many other helping behaviors,” said senior author Paul Zak of Claremont’s Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, in a report.

“We also found that the release of oxytocin increased with age and was positively associated with life satisfaction,” he added.

Zak would like to repeat this study in a more ethnically and geographically diverse sample of people to see if the findings hold for different cultures.

“We would also like to conduct a longer-term measurement of neurophysiology using noninvasive wearable technologies to see what specific activities raise people's satisfaction with life,” he concluded.



Double-Decker Bus Carrying Students Plunges into River in England in ‘Terrifying’ Crash

26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)
26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)
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Double-Decker Bus Carrying Students Plunges into River in England in ‘Terrifying’ Crash

26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)
26 June 2025, United Kingdom, Eastleigh: A view of a Bluestar bus that was carrying pupils from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College after it came off the road and ended up in a river. (dpa)

A double-decker bus carrying high school students plunged into a river in southern England on Thursday, sending the driver and four teens to the hospital and leaving more than a dozen others with minor injuries, officials said.

The bus was bound for Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, a school for 16- to 18-year-olds, when it sped off a road in Eastleigh and plunged into the River Itchen. The cause of the wreck was being investigated by police and the bus company.

Police said there was no indication why the bus veered off the road. But a woman who lives nearby and heard a screeching sound and saw the bus crash through roadside barriers into the water said the driver told her he couldn’t stop.

Kelly West, who helped some of the students to safety, said the bus was going close to 60 mph (nearly 100 kph) and said it was like a scene out of "Speed," the Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock film about a bus barreling through Los Angeles.

"One of the young adults said the bus was just getting faster and faster as it came down the road and they didn’t know what he was going to do," West said. "I can well imagine they were all thinking they were going to die, quite frankly."

Inspector Andy Tester of the Hampshire Constabulary said it "must have been terrifying."

All 19 passengers on board were either able to get off the bus or were rescued, police said. The bus driver, who was trapped, and one student had serious injuries but were expected to survive.

West said the driver was alert and sharp, but panicking. She reassured him that help was on the way.

"He said the brakes failed and the accelerator was jammed and that he was trying to avoid cars," West said.

The bus was sitting upright in the river, next to a bridge, water up to its axles. Its front windows were smashed and mud was splattered on its side. A large section of bridge railing was missing.

About 14 students were treated at the scene by paramedics, the South Central Ambulance Service said. Two helicopters, five ambulances and fire crews responded to the crash.

Bluestar Bus said it did not immediately know the circumstances of the crash.