According to the preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study by Yale School of Medicine researchers, Oxytocin has been found to increase brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Known as a hormone of love and cuddle chemical, it is a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body.

Ilanit Gordon, the Harris Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry and Psychology shed some light on this discovery by stating, "Our findings provide the first, critical steps toward devising more effective treatments for the core social deficits in autism, which may involve a combination of clinical interventions with an administration of oxytocin. Such a treatment approach will fundamentally improve our understanding of autism and its treatment".

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. These social-communicative dysfunctions are at the core of this disorder and it renders a child from having that mental and social growth that it required. While there has been substantial growth in field of autism research, there have been researches that address social dysfunction.