A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.

Oxytocin has been shown to promote a host of social behaviors in humans but the exact mechanisms by which it exerts its effects are unspecified. One prominent theory suggests that oxytocin increases approach and decreases avoidance to social stimuli. Another dominant theory posits that oxytocin incr...

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Autores principales:	Angeliki Theodoridou, Ian S Penton-Voak, Angela C Rowe
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/acbf263c4dc7456bad5c5e749cd070ce
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:acbf263c4dc7456bad5c5e749cd070ce2021-11-18T07:55:17ZA direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0058113https://doaj.org/article/acbf263c4dc7456bad5c5e749cd070ce2013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23469148/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Oxytocin has been shown to promote a host of social behaviors in humans but the exact mechanisms by which it exerts its effects are unspecified. One prominent theory suggests that oxytocin increases approach and decreases avoidance to social stimuli. Another dominant theory posits that oxytocin increases the salience of social stimuli. Herein, we report a direct test of these hypotheses. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study we examined approach-avoidance motor responses to social and non-social emotional stimuli. One hundred and twenty participants self-administered either 24 IU oxytocin or placebo and moved a lever toward or away from pictures of faces depicting emotional expressions or from natural scenes appearing before them on a computer screen. Lever movements toward stimuli decreased and movements away increased stimuli size producing the illusion that stimuli moved away from or approached participants. Reaction time data were recorded. The task produced the effects that were anticipated on the basis of the approach-avoidance literature in relation to emotional stimuli, yet the anticipated speeded approach and slowed avoidance responses to emotional faces by the oxytocin group were not observed. Interestingly, the oxytocin treatment group was faster to approach and avoid faces depicting disgust relative to the placebo group, suggesting a salience of disgust for the former group. Results also showed that within the oxytocin group women's reaction times to all emotional faces were faster than those of men, suggesting sex specific effects of oxytocin. The present findings provide the first direct evidence that intranasal oxytocin administration does not enhance approach/avoidance to social stimuli and does not exert a stronger effect on social vs. non-social stimuli in the context of processing of emotional expressions and scenes. Instead, our data suggest that oxytocin administration increases the salience of certain social stimuli and point to a possible role for oxytocin in behavioral prophylaxis.Angeliki TheodoridouIan S Penton-VoakAngela C RowePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 2, p e58113 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Angeliki Theodoridou Ian S Penton-Voak Angela C Rowe A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
description	Oxytocin has been shown to promote a host of social behaviors in humans but the exact mechanisms by which it exerts its effects are unspecified. One prominent theory suggests that oxytocin increases approach and decreases avoidance to social stimuli. Another dominant theory posits that oxytocin increases the salience of social stimuli. Herein, we report a direct test of these hypotheses. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study we examined approach-avoidance motor responses to social and non-social emotional stimuli. One hundred and twenty participants self-administered either 24 IU oxytocin or placebo and moved a lever toward or away from pictures of faces depicting emotional expressions or from natural scenes appearing before them on a computer screen. Lever movements toward stimuli decreased and movements away increased stimuli size producing the illusion that stimuli moved away from or approached participants. Reaction time data were recorded. The task produced the effects that were anticipated on the basis of the approach-avoidance literature in relation to emotional stimuli, yet the anticipated speeded approach and slowed avoidance responses to emotional faces by the oxytocin group were not observed. Interestingly, the oxytocin treatment group was faster to approach and avoid faces depicting disgust relative to the placebo group, suggesting a salience of disgust for the former group. Results also showed that within the oxytocin group women's reaction times to all emotional faces were faster than those of men, suggesting sex specific effects of oxytocin. The present findings provide the first direct evidence that intranasal oxytocin administration does not enhance approach/avoidance to social stimuli and does not exert a stronger effect on social vs. non-social stimuli in the context of processing of emotional expressions and scenes. Instead, our data suggest that oxytocin administration increases the salience of certain social stimuli and point to a possible role for oxytocin in behavioral prophylaxis.
format	article
author	Angeliki Theodoridou Ian S Penton-Voak Angela C Rowe
author_facet	Angeliki Theodoridou Ian S Penton-Voak Angela C Rowe
author_sort	Angeliki Theodoridou
title	A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
title_short	A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
title_full	A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
title_fullStr	A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
title_full_unstemmed	A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
title_sort	direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/acbf263c4dc7456bad5c5e749cd070ce
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A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli.

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