The awareness of the scared - context dependent influence of oxytocin on brain function

Abstract

Oxytocin is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter and has been originally recognized for its role in childbirth and lactation. Later, it became widely known as a "cuddle hormone" that induces trusting behavior towards strangers and reduces social stress and anxiety. Several studies showed that oxytocin influences empathic behavior and has prosocial effects. The anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula are brain regions that are active when humans observe fear in others. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether oxytocin administration affects activity in these regions depending on whether a threat is directed at another person (empathy) compared to when the threat is directed at the subject itself (fear). Our findings demonstrate increased anterior cingulate cortex activation after oxytocin administration in the fear, but not in the empathy condition. Furthermore, oxytocin administration was associated with deceased anterior insula activity in the empathy condition. However, our findings do not support the idea that oxytocin generally augments activity in brain regions associated with empathy. Thereby this study supports current research questioning that oxytocin has exclusively prosocial effects on human behavior. Rather, the effect of oxytocin depends on various contextual (e.g. presence of a familiar person) and interindividual (e.g. sex, mental disorder) factors. Therefore, to consider oxytocin an empathy inducing hormone is an oversimplification and future research should focus on factors moderating oxytocin effects.

Intranasal Oxytocin Improves Social Behavior in Laboratory Beagle Dogs (Canis familiaris) Using a Custom-Made Social Test Battery

“…Regarding the Non-aversive reaction to social threat component, it is also interesting to note that oxytocin treatment led to a more negative (fearful) reaction in those dogs who showed a highly positive reaction to the threatening human in the placebo condition. This is in line with human studies suggesting that the effect of this neuropeptide depends on various contextual and inter-individual factors [for a review, see Bartz et al ( 4 )], and this phenomenon manifests itself also in the context-dependent influence of oxytocin on brain function ( 34 ). Results of another recent study indicate that oxytocin may serve as a warning system against potential threat cues in the environment and thus has the potential to facilitate active defensive behaviors ( 35 ).…”

Oxytocin predicts positive affect gains in a role-play interaction

“…“Role-play” provides a positive context to the social interaction. Context was previously reported as important for behavior outcomes of social interactions modulated oxytocin with both prosocial and antisocial outcomes reported ( Bartz et al, 2011 ), dependent on the intensity of the stimuli ( Uvnäs-Moberg et al, 2014 ), emotional context ( Baettig et al, 2020 ), gender and previous social relationship ( Handlin et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Oxytocin has a complex and multifaceted role in social behavior, and has been linked to both positive and negative social interactions ( Papasteri et al, 2020 ), prosocial behaviors, but also aggression or envy ( Shamay-Tsoory and Abu-Akel, 2016 ; Poore and Waldman, 2020 ). The impact of oxytocin at the behavioral level is dependent on gender ( Ma et al, 2018 ), experience ( Londono Tobon et al, 2018 ; Riem et al, 2020 ), and context ( Olff et al, 2013 ; Hurlemann and Scheele, 2016 ; Baettig et al, 2020 ; Handlin et al, 2023 ).…”

Perceptions on Sexual Activity after Total Knee and Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Mixed Method Study of Patients, Partners, and Surgeons

“…One couple explicitly noted that despite OA, it was nice to experience that sex still was possible without pain. Some Journal of Orthopedics and Orthopedic Surgery researchers hypothesized that oxytocin, which is released during intermate intimacy, may have a modulating effect on pain 49,50 . However, a review reported mixed results with regard to the association of oxytocin on emotional functioning and on the effect of pain reduction 51 .…”