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Abstract
Oxytocin has been shown to affect several aspects of human social cognition, including facial emotion processing. There is also evidence that social stimuli (such as eye-contact) can effectively modulate endogenous oxytocin levels. In the present study we directly tested whether intranasal oxytocin administration and pre-treatment with social stimuli had similar effects on face processing at the behavioral level. Subjects (N = 52 healthy adult males) were presented with a set of faces with expressions of different valence (negative, neutral, positive) following different types of pretreatment (oxytocin—OT or placebo—PL and social interaction—Soc or no social interaction—NSoc, N = 13 in each) and were asked to rate all faces for perceived emotion and trustworthiness. On the next day subjects' recognition memory was tested on a set of neutral faces and additionally they had to again rate each face for trustworthiness and emotion. Subjects in both the OT and the Soc pretreatment group (as compared to the PL and to the NSoc groups) gave higher emotion and trustworthiness scores for faces with negative emotional expression. Moreover, 24 h later, subjects in the OT and Soc groups (unlike in control groups) gave lower trustworthiness scores for previously negative faces, than for faces previously seen as emotionally neutral or positive. In sum these results provide the first direct evidence of the similar effects of intranasal oxytocin administration and social stimulation on the perception of negative facial emotions as well as on the delayed recall of negative emotional information.
Highlights
Despite its complexity (Richerson and Boyd, 1998), recent studies have provided substantial insights into the neurohormonal mechanisms underlying human sociality (Skuse and Gallagher, 2009)
24 h later, subjects in the OT and Soc groups gave lower trustworthiness scores for previously negative faces, than for faces previously seen as emotionally neutral or positive. In sum these results provide the first direct evidence of the similar effects of intranasal oxytocin administration and social stimulation on the perception of negative facial emotions as well as on the delayed recall of negative emotional information
After having received intranasal administration of oxytocin or social stimulation participants rated negative emotional faces more positively than subjects in the control groups. These results provide empirical evidence www.frontiersin.org to support the widely held but unjustified notion that pretreatment with oxytocin and social interaction have similar behavioral effects on adult male humans
Summary
Despite its complexity (Richerson and Boyd, 1998), recent studies have provided substantial insights into the neurohormonal mechanisms underlying human sociality (Skuse and Gallagher, 2009). Oxytocin, which is—in evolutionary terms—a remarkably conservative non-apeptide, plays a prominent role in the modulation of social life across mammalian taxa (Yamasue et al, 2012). This neurohormone for example has been shown to regulate social contact (Bales and Carter, 2003), pair bonding (Insel and Shapiro, 1992), maintenance of monogamous relationships (Scheele et al, 2012) and parental care (Olazábal and Young, 2006). It has been shown to reduce fear responses to social stimuli (Kirsch et al, 2005) through the attenuation of amygdala activation (Domes et al, 2007a), that encourages social approach, affiliation and complex social phenomena, such as trust (Kosfeld et al, 2005; Baumgartner et al, 2008) or generosity (Zak et al, 2007; Barraza et al, 2011).
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