A Systematic Review of the Role of Oxytocin, Cortisol, and Testosterone in Facial Emotional Processing

Abstract

A topic of interest is the way decoding and interpreting facial emotional expressions can lead to mutual understanding. Facial emotional expression is a basic source of information that guarantees the functioning of other higher cognitive processes (e.g., empathy, cooperativity, prosociality, or decision-making, among others). In this regard, hormones such as oxytocin, cortisol, and/or testosterone have been found to be important in modifying facial emotion processing. In fact, brain structures that participate in facial emotion processing have been shown to be rich in receptors for these hormones. Nonetheless, much of this research has been based on correlational designs. In recent years, a growing number of researchers have tried to carry out controlled laboratory manipulation of these hormones by administering synthetic forms of these hormones. The main objective of this study was to carry out a systematic review of studies that assess whether manipulation of these three hormones effectively promotes significant alterations in facial emotional processing. To carry out this review, PRISMA quality criteria for reviews were followed, using the following digital databases: PsycINFO, PubMed, Dialnet, Psicodoc, Web of Knowledge, and the Cochrane Library, and focusing on manuscripts with a robust research design (e.g., randomized, single- or double-blind, and/or placebo-controlled) to increase the value of this systematic review. An initial identification of 6340 abstracts and retrieval of 910 full texts led to the final inclusion of 101 papers that met all the inclusion criteria. Only about 18% of the manuscripts included reported a direct effect of hormone manipulation. In fact, emotional accuracy seemed to be enhanced after oxytocin increases, but it diminished when cortisol and/or testosterone increased. Nonetheless, when emotional valence and participants’ gender were included, hormonal manipulation reached significance (in around 53% of the articles). In fact, these studies offered a heterogeneous pattern in the way these hormones altered speed processing, attention, and memory. This study reinforces the idea that these hormones are important, but not the main modulators of facial emotion processing. As our comprehension of hormonal effects on emotional processing improves, the potential to design good treatments to improve this ability will be greater.

Hormonal Profile in Response to an Empathic Induction Task in Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: Oxytocin/Testosterone Ratio and Social Cognition

“…Regarding the first aim, IPV perpetrators exhibited lower scores on specific IRI subscales, particularly, perspective taking and fantasy. This is in line with previous studies indicating that IPV perpetrators presented deficits in cognitive empathy functions [20,21] and linking them to IPV occurrence and severity [16]. Difficulties with perspective taking could hinder the recognition of the emotional experiences of others, increasing the likelihood of inappropriate responses in interpersonal situations [17].…”

“…Specifically, difficulties in understanding the thoughts and feelings of the partner could predispose someone to IPV by promoting affective distress when dealing with emotional conflicts [16][17][18][19]. Furthermore, the comparison of IPV perpetrators with controls revealed that the former tends to present lower scores in perspective taking (ability to adopt the psychological point of view of others) and empathic concern (emotional response of compassion to the suffering of others) and show higher personal distress (discomfort in reacting to the emotions of others) [20,21].…”

“…In relation to C, it seems that C maintains a negative association with empathic-related variables, concretely, with emotion decoding abilities. Accordingly, endogenous C rises after hydrocortisone administration reduces the ability to correctly decode emotional facial expressions [21]. Regarding IPV, there is a gap in the scientific literature for assessing whether emotion induction tasks modified the C response in IPV perpetrators.…”

“…Nevertheless, a meta-analysis concluded that the relationship between the endogenous levels of both hormones tends to be positive but small [37]. Conversely, the administration of OXT, T and C on facial emotion recognition has been analyzed, concluding that emotional accuracy seemed to improve after increasing OXT, but decreased when T and/or C increased [21].…”

“…Finally, we also aim to explore whether the empathic abilities of each group explain their hormone levels following the empathic induction task. Due to the relationship between these hormones and empathy [21,27,38,42], we hypothesize that perspective-taking and empathic concern scores would especially predict the IPV perpetrators' hormonal levels in response to this task. Accordingly, the lower the empathic abilities of IPV perpetrators, the lower the sOXT response and the higher the sT/C ratio.…”