title: Intranasal oxytocin reduces social perception in women: Neural activation and individual variation.
abstract: Most intranasal oxytocin research to date has been carried out in men, but recent studies indicate that females' responses can differ substantially from males'. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involved an all-female sample of 28 women not using hormonal contraception. Participants viewed animations of geometric shapes depicting either random movement or social interactions such as playing, chasing, or fighting. Probe questions asked whether any shapes were "friends" or "not friends." Social videos were preceded by cues to attend to either social relationships or physical size changes. All subjects received intranasal placebo spray at scan 1. While the experimenter was not blinded to nasal spray contents at Scan 1, the participants were. Scan 2 followed a randomized, double-blind design. At scan 2, half received a second placebo dose while the other half received 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin. We measured neural responses to these animations at baseline, as well as the change in neural activity induced by oxytocin. Oxytocin reduced activation in early visual cortex and dorsal-stream motion processing regions for the social > size contrast, indicating reduced activity related to social attention. Oxytocin also reduced endorsements that shapes were "friends" or "not friends," and this significantly correlated with reduction in neural activation. Furthermore, participants who perceived fewer social relationships at baseline were more likely to show oxytocin-induced increases in a broad network of regions involved in social perception and social cognition, suggesting that lower social processing at baseline may predict more positive neural responses to oxytocin.
authors.affiliation: Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, United States; Division of Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, United States.
authors.forename: Erin E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Hecht
authors.affiliation: A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, United States.
authors.forename: Diana L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Robins
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Emory University, United States.
authors.forename: Pritam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gautam
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, United States; Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, United States. Electronic address: tzking@gsu.edu.
authors.forename: Tricia Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012938:Social Perception; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Animacy; Individual variation; Oxytocin; Sex differences; fMRI