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Oxytocin modulates neural reactivity to children's faces as a function of social salience
Wittfoth-Schardt, Dina Gründing, Johanna Wittfoth, Matthias Lanfermann, Heinrich Heinrichs, Markus Domes, Gregor Buchheim, Anna Gündel, Harald Waller, Christiane
Wittfoth-Schardt, Dina
Gründing, Johanna
Wittfoth, Matthias
Lanfermann, Heinrich
Heinrichs, Markus
Domes, Gregor
Buchheim, Anna
Gündel, Harald
Waller, Christiane
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) enhances social behaviors such as attachment and parental caretaking. Neural correlates of maternal attachment are found in reward-related brain regions, for example, in the globus pallidus (GP). The present work investigates the effects of OT on the neural correlates of parental attachment. Fathers viewed pictures of their own child (oC), a familiar child (fC), and an unfamiliar child (uC) after intranasal application of OT vs placebo. OT reduced activation and functional connectivity of the left GP with reward- and attachment-related regions responsive to pictures of the oC and the uC. The present results emphasize the key role of OT in human parental attachment and suggest that OT reduces neural reactivity to social cues as a function of social salience. Our results together with previous findings speak to a selective reduction of neural reactivity to social stimuli, irrespective of their valence. We argue that one major pathway by which OT exerts its positive effects on affiliative and social behaviors is the attenuation of automatic neural responses, which in turn leads to increased approach behaviors and decreased social avoidance.
Keywords
oxytocin, parental attachment, fathers, social salience, globus pallidus, functional magnetic resonance imaging
Date
2012
Type
Journal article
Journal
Neuropsychopharmacology
Book
Volume
37
Issue
8
Page Range
1799-1807
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled