The Role of Intranasal Oxytocin on Social Cognition: an Integrative Human Lifespan Approach

Horta, Marilyn; Pehlivanoglu, Didem; Ebner, Natalie C.

doi:10.1007/s40473-020-00214-5

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 142 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Evidence for the effect of OT on social-emotional responses in older adults comes primarily from intranasal OT administration studies, albeit with mixed findings ( Horta et al, 2020 ). For instance, single-dose OT administration improves emotional recognition in healthy older men ( Campbell et al, 2014 ) and in dementia patients ( Jesso et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin Release Increases With Age and Is Associated With Life Satisfaction and Prosocial Behaviors

Zak

Curry²,

Owen

et al. 2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Helping behaviors and life satisfaction generally increase after middle-age. Identifying the neural substrates of prosocial behaviors in older adults may offer additional insights into these changes over the lifespan. The present study examines the endogenous release of the neuromodulator oxytocin (OT) in participants aged 18–99 and its relationship to prosocial behaviors. OT has been shown to influence trust, altruism, charity, and generosity, yet the effect of age on OT release has not been well-established. Blood samples before and after a video stimulus were obtained from 103 participants in order to examine the impact of OT on prosocial behaviors. We found that OT release following a social prime increased with age (r = 0.49, p = 0.001) and that OT moderated the relationship between age and donations to charity. We tested for robustness by examining three additional prosocial behaviors, money and goods donated to charity during the past year and social-sector volunteering. OT moderated the impact of age on all three prosocial behaviors (ps < 0.05). The analysis also showed that participants’ change in OT was positively associated with satisfaction with life (p = 0.04), empathic concern (p = 0.015), dispositional gratitude (p = 0.019), and religious commitment (p = 0.001). Our findings indicate that the neural chemistry that helps sustain social relationships and live a fulfilled life appear to strengthen with age.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin Release Increases With Age and Is Associated With Life Satisfaction and Prosocial Behaviors

Zak

Curry²,

Owen

et al. 2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this study we found no evidence of a moderation of face trustworthiness evaluation by intranasal oxytocin, neither in behavior nor in brain response. Oxytocin has been promoted as crucial modulator of social cognition and behavior ( Harari-Dahan and Bernstein, 2014 ; Quintana et al, 2018 ), including in aging ( Horta et al, 2020 ), and has been discussed in the context of trustworthiness perception ( Van IJzendoorn and Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2012 ). However, some empirical work does not support such effects ( Lambert et al, 2014 ; Grainger et al, 2018 ; see also Declerck et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of note, this prior work has been done in young adults. Knowledge on age moderation of oxytocin effects, while limited, point to possible age-differential effects of intranasal oxytocin on social-cognitive processes ( Campbell-Smith et al, 2015 ; Horta et al, 2019 ; Frazier et al, 2021 ; but see Grainger et al, 2018 ; also see Horta et al, 2020 for a recent overview). However, given the currently still small knowledge base, we refrained from formulating specific directional hypotheses pertaining to age-related differences in intranasal oxytocin modulation on face trustworthiness ratings and associated amygdala activity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Related Differences in Amygdala Activation Associated With Face Trustworthiness but No Evidence of Oxytocin Modulation

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The amygdala has been shown to be responsive to face trustworthiness. While older adults typically give higher face trustworthiness ratings than young adults, a direct link between amygdala response and age-related differences in face trustworthiness evaluation has not yet been confirmed. Additionally, there is a possible modulatory role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in face trustworthiness evaluation, but the results are mixed and effects unexplored in aging. To address these research gaps, young, and older adults were randomly assigned to oxytocin or placebo self-administration via a nasal spray before rating faces on trustworthiness while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. There was no overall age-group difference in face trustworthiness ratings, but older compared to young participants gave higher trustworthiness ratings to ambivalently untrustworthy-looking faces. In both age groups, lower face trustworthiness ratings were associated with higher left amygdala activity. A comparable negative linear association was observed in right amygdala but only among young participants. Also, in the right amygdala, lower and higher, compared to moderate, face trustworthiness ratings were associated with greater right amygdala activity (i.e., positive quadratic (U-shaped) association) for both age groups. Neither the behavioral nor the brain effects were modulated by a single dose of intranasal oxytocin administration, however. These results suggest dampened response to faces with lower trustworthiness among older compared to young adults, supporting the notion of reduced sensitivity to cues of untrustworthiness in aging. The findings also extend evidence of an age-related positivity effect to the evaluation of face trustworthiness.

show abstract

“…The promise of using oxytocin as a therapeutic intervention remains a tantalizing goal for the field of social neuroscience [12,75]. However, a robustly effective approach has not yet been identified [48,76,77]. The paper by Wei et al [78] in this issue tackles this problem by suggesting a combinatorial approach to treat neuropsychiatric social impairment using both the oxytocin and endocannabinoid systems.…”

Section: Interventional Oxytocinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin does not stand alone

Putnam

Chang

2022

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Role of Intranasal Oxytocin on Social Cognition: an Integrative Human Lifespan Approach

Cited by 16 publications

References 142 publications

Oxytocin Release Increases With Age and Is Associated With Life Satisfaction and Prosocial Behaviors

Oxytocin Release Increases With Age and Is Associated With Life Satisfaction and Prosocial Behaviors

Age-Related Differences in Amygdala Activation Associated With Face Trustworthiness but No Evidence of Oxytocin Modulation

Oxytocin does not stand alone

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About