Differential Effects of Intranasal Vasopressin on the Processing of Adult and Infant Cues: An ERP Study.

Xiaoyan Wu,Chunliang Feng,Pengfei Xu,Yue-Jia Luo

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00329

Abstract

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a powerful regulator of various social behaviors across many species. However, seemingly contradictory effects of AVP have been found in both animal and human studies, e.g., promoting aggression on one hand and facilitating social bonding on the other hand. Therefore, we hypothesize that the role of AVP in social behaviors is context-dependent. To this end, we examined the modulatory effect of AVP on male’s behavioral and neural responses to infant and adult cues. After intranasal and double-blind treatment of AVP or placebo, male participants were asked to rate their subjective approaching willingness to infant and adult faces in specific contexts informed by cue words while EEG recording. Our results showed that AVP treatment increased approaching ratings to neutral and positive other-gender adult faces compared to emotional matched same-gender adult faces, and to negative girl faces compared to negative boy faces. Furthermore, compared to placebo treatment, AVP treatment induced larger N1 amplitudes to neutral cues associated with both adults and infants, whereas AVP treatment only sustained pronounced late positive potential amplitudes to neutral cues of infants but not adults. Those findings implicate differential roles of AVP in the processing of adult- and infant-related cues and thus lend support to the context-dependent account.

Highlights

Vasopressin (AVP, a neuropeptide) is a powerful regulator of various social behaviors across many species, from rodents to primates and humans (Thompson et al, 2006; Donaldson and Young, 2008; Insel, 2010)
In adult task, such that Arginine vasopressin (AVP) treatment decreased subjective approaching ratings to neutral (p = 0.000) and positive (p = 0.004) males faces compared to Emotional valence-matched female faces
The post hoc comparisons revealed no statistical difference between Drug (AVP vs. placebo) in all conditions (p > 0.05) and no statistical effects between Tasks related to Drug treatment (p > 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

Vasopressin (AVP, a neuropeptide) is a powerful regulator of various social behaviors across many species, from rodents to primates and humans (Thompson et al, 2006; Donaldson and Young, 2008; Insel, 2010). Early animal studies have demonstrated that AVP is associated with defensive aggression (Ferris et al, 1986, 1997; Young et al, 1997; Semsar et al, 2001; Caldwell and Albers, 2004) and territorial behavior (Bielsky and Young, 2004; Meyer-Lindenberg et al, 2011; Caldwell, 2017). The injection of AVP into anterior hypothalamus resulted in increased aggressive behaviors in male hamsters (Caldwell and Albers, 2004). AVP has been found to facilitate pair bonds (Winslow et al, 1993; Liu et al, 2001; Gobrogge et al, 2009) and paternal caregiving behaviors in males (for a review, see Goodson and Bass, 2001). Intranasal treatment of AVP induced affiliative responses toward females or a partner in male callicebus cupreus (Jarcho et al, 2011) and increased preference for the familiar

Methods

Results

Conclusion