Does oxytocin shield against negative effects of ostracism? A replication and extension

The effects of intranasal oxytocin on black participants’ responses to outgroup acceptance and rejection

Social acceptance (vs. rejection) is assumed to have widespread positive effects on the recipient; however, ethnic/racial minorities often react negatively to social acceptance by White individuals. One possibility for such reactions might be their lack of trust in the genuineness of White individuals’ positive evaluations. Here, we examined the role that oxytocin—a neuropeptide putatively linked to social processes—plays in modulating reactions to acceptance or rejection during interracial interactions. Black participants (N = 103) received intranasal oxytocin or placebo and interacted with a White, same-sex stranger who provided positive or negative social feedback. After positive feedback, participants given oxytocin (vs. placebo) tended to display approach-oriented cardiovascular responses of challenge (vs. threat), exhibited more cooperative behavior, and perceived the partner to have more favorable attitudes toward them after the interaction. Following negative feedback, oxytocin reduced anger suppression. Oxytocin did not modulate testosterone reactivity directly, but our exploratory analysis showed that the less participants suppressed anger during the interaction with their partner, the greater testosterone reactivity they displayed after the interaction. These results survived the correction for multiple testing with a false discovery rate (FDR) of 20%, but not with a rate of 10 or 5%. Discussion centers on the interplay between oxytocin and social context in shaping interracial interactions.

The pandemic should catalyze research on social pain: Examining oxytocin administration studies

For decades, researchers have tried to identify drugs that can decrease the painful feelings associated with social loss, rejection, or isolation. One effort has been to investigate whether the neuropeptide oxytocin reduces social pain. In this commentary, I examine intranasal oxytocin's effects on experimentally induced social exclusion. Future recommendations are presented with the goal of spurring new research efforts to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the experience of social pain.

Neural Functions of Hypothalamic Oxytocin and its Regulation

Oxytocin (OT), a nonapeptide, has a variety of functions. Despite extensive studies on OT over past decades, our understanding of its neural functions and their regulation remains incomplete. OT is mainly produced in OT neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON), paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and accessory nuclei between the SON and PVN. OT exerts neuromodulatory effects in the brain and spinal cord. While magnocellular OT neurons in the SON and PVN mainly innervate the pituitary and forebrain regions, and parvocellular OT neurons in the PVN innervate brainstem and spinal cord, the two sets of OT neurons have close interactions histologically and functionally. OT expression occurs at early life to promote mental and physical development, while its subsequent decrease in expression in later life stage accompanies aging and diseases. Adaptive changes in this OT system, however, take place under different conditions and upon the maturation of OT release machinery. OT can modulate social recognition and behaviors, learning and memory, emotion, reward, and other higher brain functions. OT also regulates eating and drinking, sleep and wakefulness, nociception and analgesia, sexual behavior, parturition, lactation and other instinctive behaviors. OT regulates the autonomic nervous system, and somatic and specialized senses. Notably, OT can have different modulatory effects on the same function under different conditions. Such divergence may derive from different neural connections, OT receptor gene dimorphism and methylation, and complex interactions with other hormones. In this review, brain functions of OT and their underlying neural mechanisms as well as the perspectives of their clinical usage are presented.

A randomized placebo-controlled intranasal oxytocin study on first impressions and reactions to social rejection

Oxytocin is central to pair-bonding in non-human animals. We assessed effects of intranasal oxytocin on bond formation between two opposite-sex strangers. In a double-blind placebo-controlled design, 50 pairs of one man and one woman received oxytocin or placebo spray intranasally. After treatment, they played a social interaction game, followed by tasks designed to measure first impressions of the opposite-sex co-participant, and a virtual ball-tossing game (cyberball), designed to measure reactions to rejection by the co-participant. We found no evidence that intranasal oxytocin can improve first impressions of an opposite-sex stranger, and some Bayesian support against this hypothesis. For rejection sensitivity, we observed a sex-and-context-dependent drug effect on post-ostracism mood ratings, consistent with recent studies indicating that interindividual variation and social context can interact with intranasal oxytocin effects. Further research is needed to determine the generalisability of these findings, i.e. if oxytocin can improve first impressions in humans under different conditions.