title: Oxytocin response in a trust game and habituation of arousal.
abstract: Oxytocin may be implicated in various sophisticated human processes, including attachment, trust, social perception, memory, and fear regulation. In this study, we explored the relationship between plasma oxytocin level measured after a task requiring intimate trust (secret sharing) and habituation of autonomic arousal (skin conductance response) in sixty healthy volunteers. Results revealed that oxytocin was elevated in the trust-related condition relative to a neutral baseline. In a cognitive stress condition (mental arithmetic task), there was no significant oxytocin elevation relative to the neutral condition. After controlling for age, gender, education, state anxiety and depression, we found a significant positive relationship between trust-related oxytocin level and habituation of autonomic arousal. This relationship was absent in the case of neutral (trust-unrelated) oxytocin level. These results suggest that the habituation of autonomic arousal is closely related to oxytocin released during trust-related social interactions.
authors.affiliation: University of Szeged, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Szeged, HungaryNational Psychiatry Center, Budapest, Hungary. szkeri@phys.szote.u-szeged.hu
authors.forename: Szabolcs
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kéri
authors.forename: Imre
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kiss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000097:blood*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012044:Regression Analysis; D035502:Trust / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin