Oxytocin shapes parental motion during father–infant interaction

Abstract

An infant-oriented parental repertoire contributes to an infant's development and well-being. The role of oxytocin (OT) in promoting affiliative bonds and parenting has been established in numerous animal and human studies. Recently, acute administration of OT to a parent was found to enhance the carer's, but at the same time also the infant's, physiological and behavioural readiness for dyadic social engagement. Yet, the exact cues that are involved in this affiliative transmission process remain unclear. The existing literature suggests that motion and vocalization are key social signals for the offspring that facilitates social participation, and that distance and motion perception are modulated by OT in humans. Here, we employed a computational method on video vignettes of human parent-infant interaction including 32 fathers that were administered OT or a placebo in a crossover experimental design. Results indicate that OT modulates parental proximity to the infant, as well as the father's head speed and head acceleration but not the father's vocalization during dyadic interaction. Similarly, the infant's OT reactivity is positively correlated with father's head acceleration. The current findings are the first to report a relationship between the OT system and parental motion characteristics, further suggesting that the cross-generation transmission of parenting in humans might be underlaid by nuanced, infant-oriented, gestures relating to the carer's proximity, speed and acceleration within the dyadic context.

Mutual influences between partners’ hormones shape conflict dialog and relationship duration at the initiation of romantic love

“…OT has also been linked with changes in stress hormones and sex steroids in the context of parental and romantic attachment. OT administration to parent altered the production of CT and T in fathers as mediated by parenting behavior (Weisman et al, 2013;Weisman, Zagoory-Sharon, & Feldman, 2014). In parallel, OT administration to couples reduced CT levels and improved negative communications during conflict discussion (Ditzen et al, 2009).…”

Dissecting the Role of Oxytocin in the Formation and Loss of Social Relationships

“…Interestingly, OXT IN not only encouraged fathers to engage in stimulatory parenting but also increased the infant's salivary OXT concentrations in addition to changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia response, an index of emotional reactivity, and social-emotional behavior (48). Together, these results suggest that heightened OXT levels may enhance social interactions between fathers and their children, perhaps by establishing closer proximity between them (49). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have sought to reveal the neural representations of parenting and its modulation by OXT IN .…”

The biology of mammalian parenting and its effect on offspring social development

“…These augmented paternal behaviors in turn increase the duration of episodes of infant gaze to the father and infant object manipulation, as well as infant salivary oxytocin (16). Notably, paternal head speed and acceleration during father-infant interactions are also increased by intranasal oxytocin and positively correlated with infant salivary oxytocin (22). Overall, oxytocin seems to motivate paternal behaviors that facilitate father-infant bonding.…”