title: Distinct oxytocin effects on belief updating in response to desirable and undesirable feedback.
abstract: Humans update their beliefs upon feedback and, accordingly, modify their behaviors to adapt to the complex, changing social environment. However, people tend to incorporate desirable (better than expected) feedback into their beliefs but to discount undesirable (worse than expected) feedback. Such optimistic updating has evolved as an advantageous mechanism for social adaptation. Here, we examine the role of oxytocin (OT)-an evolutionary ancient neuropeptide pivotal for social adaptation-in belief updating upon desirable and undesirable feedback in three studies (n = 320). Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects design, we show that intranasally administered OT (IN-OT) augments optimistic belief updating by facilitating updates of desirable feedback but impairing updates of undesirable feedback. The IN-OT-induced impairment in belief updating upon undesirable feedback is more salient in individuals with high, rather than with low, depression or anxiety traits. IN-OT selectively enhances learning rate (the strength of association between estimation error and subsequent update) of desirable feedback. IN-OT also increases participants' confidence in their estimates after receiving desirable but not undesirable feedback, and the OT effect on confidence updating upon desirable feedback mediates the effect of IN-OT on optimistic belief updating. Our findings reveal distinct functional roles of OT in updating the first-order estimation and second-order confidence judgment in response to desirable and undesirable feedback, suggesting a molecular substrate for optimistic belief updating.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, International Data Group (IDG)/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; yma@bnu.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, International Data Group (IDG)/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
authors.forename: Shiyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China;
authors.forename: Chenbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China;
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China;
authors.forename: Wenxin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, International Data Group (IDG)/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
authors.forename: Xinyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD 21205.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China; yma@bnu.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shihui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012917:Social Adjustment
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: belief updating; confidence; optimism; oxytocin; social adaptation