The role of oxytocin in familiarization-habituation responses to social novelty

Abstract

Stress or arousal responses to novel social contexts ease off when individuals get familiar with the social context. In the present study we investigated whether oxytocin is involved in this process of familiarization-habituation as oxytocin is known to increase trust and decrease anxiety. Fifty-nine healthy female subjects took part in the same experimental procedure in two sessions separated by 4 weeks. In the first (novelty) session state trust scores were significantly positively correlated with salivary oxytocin levels while in the second (familiarity) session state trust scores were significantly negatively correlated with salivary oxytocin levels. In a path model oxytocin was associated with increased trust in the novelty session and trust was associated with decreased oxytocin levels in the familiarity session. The results are consistent with the idea that oxytocin decreases stress-to-novelty responses by promoting familiarization to novel social contexts.

Slow Life History Strategies and Slow Updating of Internal Models: The Examples of Conscientiousness and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…For instance, a functional role of oxytocin in habituation of arousal following novelty-induced grooming has not yet been established. However, this would fit recent results and theory that oxytocin facilitates the habituation of novelty-induced coping responses (Tops et al, 2013;Tops, Koole, IJzerman, & Buisman-Pijlman, 2014).…”

Oxytocin-induced coping with stressful life events in old age depends on attachment: Findings from the cross-sectional KORA Age study

“…Stress induced oxytocin release therefore appears to provide a positive feedback of diminished suffering in these individuals. The interpretation of these results are supported by literature in healthy younger subjects that have demonstrated oxytocin's role in stress-induced social support seeking behavior, possibly by increasing self-perceived trust Tops et al, 2013). Contrast, higher oxytocin was associated with more distress in securely attached participants who no longer have a partner.…”

“…In a small study of healthy women, secure attachment and stress were both associated with increased plasma oxytocin levels, and secure attachment was shown to be protective against the experience of stress (Tops et al, 2007). This conditional, stress coping response of oxytocin was also recently evidenced in women with high social trust which subsequently attenuated the stress response (Tops et al, 2013). Thus, according to attachment theory, secure attachment in a past or current relationship provides an individual with coping strategies necessary to manage threatening experiences, attain social support, and avoid emotional distress (Weiss, 1973).…”

“…crying babies, and victims of violence). In a study of older women peripheral oxytocin has also been considered a marker of ongoing interpersonal distress (Taylor et al, 2010), while studies in younger women have demonstrated a role for oxytocin in decreasing stress to novel, unfamiliar social settings by stimulating support seeking behavior (Tops et al, 2013).…”

The influence of early life sexual abuse on oxytocin concentrations and premenstrual symptomatology in women with a menstrually related mood disorder

“…Fourth, individuals with low trust have been shown to show lack of habituation across repeated testing sessions (Tops et al, 2013), and the possibility could exist that increased OT levels in ESA women in our study may have been reflective of this lack of habituation. However, informed consent and screening was obtained in a different environment than the lab environment, therefore, while it was possible that women may have encountered the person from which they obtained consent during the second appointment, the lab environment and tasks for the second appointment were novel, decreasing the chance for habituation.…”