title: Attachment representation modulates oxytocin effects on the processing of own-child faces in fathers.
abstract: Oxytocin (OT) plays a crucial role in parental-infant bonding and attachment. Recent functional imaging studies reveal specific attachment and reward related brain regions in individuals or within the parent-child dyad. However, the time course and functional stage of modulatory effects of OT on attachment-related processing, especially in fathers, are poorly understood. To elucidate the functional and neural mechanisms underlying the role of OT in paternal-child attachment, we performed an event-related potential study in 24 healthy fathers who received intranasal OT in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject experimental design. Participants passively viewed pictures of their own child (oC), a familiar (fC) and an unfamiliar child (ufC) while event-related potentials were recorded. Familiarity of the child's face modulated a broad negativity at occipital and temporo-parietal electrodes within a time window of 300-400ms, presumably reflecting a modulation of the N250 and N300 ERP components. The oC condition elicited a more negative potential compared to the other familiarity conditions suggesting different activation of perceptual memory representations and assignment of emotional valence. Most importantly, this familiarity effect was only observed under placebo (PL) and was abolished under OT, in particular at left temporo-parietal electrodes. This OT induced attenuation of ERP responses was related to habitual attachment representations in fathers. In summary, our results demonstrate an OT-specific effect at later stages of attachment-related face processing presumably reflecting both activation of perceptual memory representations and assignment of emotional value.
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Ulm, Germany. Electronic address: christiane.waller@uniklinik-ulm.de.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Waller
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Sexual Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wittfoth
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fritzsche
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Timm
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wittfoth-Schardt
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Edit
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rottler
authors.affiliation: University of Freiburg, Department of Psychology, Freiburg i.Br., Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinrichs
authors.affiliation: University of Innsbruck, Department of Psychology, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buchheim
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Department of Psychiatry, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gündel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Attachment; Event related potentials; Father-infant bonds; Oxytocin