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Conejero C, González-Crespo C, Fatjó J, Castillo-Contreras R, Serrano E, Lavín S, Mentaberre G, López-Olvera JR. Between conflict and reciprocal habituation: Human-wild boar coexistence in urban areas. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 936:173258. [PMID: 38761929 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2024] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024]
Abstract
Urbanization is an ongoing global environmental change. Wildlife may respond using anthropized environments and resources, which is known as synurbization, creating human-wildlife interactions. Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations have become common in urban areas, including the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Humans respond to wild boars in urban environments either habituating, with lower conflict perception and higher wild boar acceptance, or sensitizing, with reduced tolerance towards wild boars. Since citizen response influences conflict management, this study analysed the drivers of human responses, which should allow adopting socially-accepted measures to manage synurbic wild boar populations. Interviews to 1956 Barcelona citizens were performed, grouping the response variables to score citizen and urban characteristics, as well as citizen lay-knowledge, emotions, experiences, and perception of wild boar. Five citizen clusters were identified: cluster 1 (3.3 %), highly habituated and active wild boar feeder; cluster 2 (11.3 %), habituated to wild boars with positive feelings; cluster 3 (19.8 %), not habituated nor sensitized, willing to maintain urban wild boar populations; cluster 4 (29.1 %), sensitized and concerned, defending to reduce wild boar; and cluster 5 (40.1 %), highly sensitized and proposing to reduce or even eliminate wild boar. Positive attitudes associated wild boar to aesthetic value, closeness to nature and sympathy, and were more frequent in young citizens with urban background and high education, animal lovers habituated to wild boar through contact without negative experiences. Conversely, negative attitudes were concerned about city fouling, safety or health, accepted lethal management measures, and were more frequent in older citizens with rural background, lower education, low contact with wild boar or sensitized through negative experiences. We document for the first time the sensitization and reciprocal habituation of humans to wild boar in urban areas. The identification of the drivers of citizen attitudes towards urban wildlife should be useful to design socially-accepted management measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carles Conejero
- Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carlos González-Crespo
- Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jaume Fatjó
- Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine (Affinity Foundation Chair for Animals and Health), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Raquel Castillo-Contreras
- Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Emmanuel Serrano
- Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Santiago Lavín
- Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gregorio Mentaberre
- Departament de Ciència Animal, Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Agroalimentària i Forestal i de Veterinària (ETSEAFIV) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat de Lleida (UdL), Lleida, Spain
| | - Jorge R López-Olvera
- Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS) and Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
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2
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Gao Z, Ma X, Zhou X, Xin F, Gao S, Kou J, Becker B, Kendrick KM. Oxytocin Reduces the Attractiveness of Silver-Tongued Men for Women During Mid-Cycle. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:760695. [PMID: 35573309 PMCID: PMC9097854 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.760695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In humans, the neuropeptide oxytocin promotes both attraction toward and bonds with romantic partners, although no studies have investigated whether this extends to the perceived attractiveness of flirtatious language. In a within-subject, randomized double-blind placebo-controlled behavior and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm (https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03144115), 75 women rated the attractiveness of either a male face alone or paired with a verbal compliment which varied in terms of topic (women or landscapes) and figurativeness (novel or conventional metaphors or literal expressions). Subjects were tested in fertile and luteal phases of their cycle and on both occasions received either 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo. Results showed that, whereas under placebo women in the fertile phase rated the facial attractiveness of men producing novel metaphorical compliments higher than in their luteal phase, following oxytocin treatment they did not. Correspondingly, under oxytocin the faces of individuals producing novel metaphorical compliments evoked greater responses in brain regions involved in processing language (middle frontal gyrus) and cognitive and emotional conflict (posterior middle cingulate and dorsal anterior cingulate) but reduced functional connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate and right orbitofrontal and medial frontal gyri. Thus, sex hormones and oxytocin may have opposite effects in regulating mate selection in women during their fertile phase. Novel metaphorical compliments convey a greater sexual than bonding intention and thus while sex hormones at mid-cycle may promote attraction to individuals communicating sexual rather than bonding intent, oxytocin may bias attraction away from such individuals through increasing cognitive and emotional conflict responses toward them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhao Gao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaole Ma
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- School of Educational Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Xinqi Zhou
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Fei Xin
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Shan Gao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Juan Kou
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Keith M. Kendrick
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
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3
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Oxytocin's dynamic role across the lifespan. AGING BRAIN 2022; 2:100028. [PMID: 36908876 PMCID: PMC9997153 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2021.100028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 12/30/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Older adults have been neglected in biobehavioral oxytocin research. Emerging research indicates that oxytocin signaling activity fluctuates over the lifespan, which suggests that results from studies investigating youth and young adults cannot be easily generalized to older adults. The recruitment of a wider age range of research participants using a variety of research tools is required to uncover the role of the oxytocin signaling system over the lifespan and may reveal novel treatment target candidates in older adults, beyond social cognition and behavior.
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4
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Barraza JA, Hu X, Terris ET, Wang C, Zak PJ. Oxytocin increases perceived competence and social-emotional engagement with brands. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0260589. [PMID: 34847200 PMCID: PMC8631632 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans express loyalty to consumer brands much like they do in human relationships. The neuroactive chemical oxytocin is an important biological substrate of human attachment and this study tested whether consumer-brand relationships can be influenced by oxytocin administration. We present a mathematical model of brand attachment that generates empirically-testable hypotheses. The model is tested by administering synthetic oxytocin or placebo to male and female participants (N = 77) who received information about brands and had an opportunity to purchase branded products. We focused on two brand personality dimensions: warmth and competence. Oxytocin increased perceptions of brand competence but not brand warmth relative to placebo. We also found that participants were willing to pay more for branded products through its effect on brand competence. When writing about one's favorite brands, oxytocin enhanced the use of positive emotional language as well as words related to family and friends. These findings provide preliminary evidence that consumers build relationships with brands using the biological mechanisms that evolved to form human attachments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge A. Barraza
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
- Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, United States of America
| | - Xinbo Hu
- Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth T. Terris
- Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, United States of America
| | - Chuan Wang
- Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, United States of America
| | - Paul J. Zak
- Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Anthropomorphizing Technology: A Conceptual Review of Anthropomorphism Research and How it Relates to Children's Engagements with Digital Voice Assistants. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2021; 56:709-738. [PMID: 34811705 PMCID: PMC9334403 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-021-09668-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
‘Anthropomorphism’ is a popular term in the literature on human-technology engagements, in general, and child-technology engagements, in particular. But what does it really mean to ‘anthropomorphize’ something in today’s world? This conceptual review article, addressed to researchers interested in anthropomorphism and adjacent areas, reviews contemporary anthropomorphism research, and it offers a critical perspective on how anthropomorphism research relates to today’s children who grow up amid increasingly intelligent and omnipresent technologies, particularly digital voice assistants (e.g., Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri). First, the article reviews a comprehensive body of quantitative as well as qualitative anthropomorphism research and considers it within three different research perspectives: descriptive, normative and explanatory. Following a brief excursus on philosophical pragmatism, the article then discusses each research perspective from a pragmatistic viewpoint, with a special emphasis on child-technology and child-voice-assistant engagements, and it also challenges some popular notions in the literature. These notions include descriptive ‘as if’ parallels (e.g., child behaves ‘as if’ Alexa was a friend), or normative assumptions that human-human engagements are generally superior to human-technology engagements. Instead, the article reviews different examples from the literature suggesting the nature of anthropomorphism may change as humans’ experiential understandings of humanness change, and this may particularly apply to today’s children as their social cognition develops in interaction with technological entities which are increasingly characterized by unprecedented combinations of human and non-human qualities.
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6
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Marsh N, Scheele D, Postin D, Onken M, Hurlemann R. Eye-Tracking Reveals a Role of Oxytocin in Attention Allocation Towards Familiar Faces. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2021; 12:629760. [PMID: 34079520 PMCID: PMC8165288 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.629760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual attention directed towards the eye-region of a face emerges rapidly, even before conscious awareness, and regulates social interactions in terms of approach versus avoidance. Current perspectives on the neuroendocrine substrates of this behavioral regulation highlight a role of the peptide hormone oxytocin (OXT), but it remains unclear whether the facilitating effects of OXT vary as a function of facial familiarity. Here, a total of 73 healthy participants was enrolled in an eye-tracking experiment specifically designed to test whether intranasal OXT (24 IU) augments gaze duration toward the eye-region across four different face categories: the participants' own face, the face of their romantic partner, the face of a familiar person (close friend) or an unfamiliar person (a stranger). We found that OXT treatment induced a tendency to spend more time looking into the eyes of familiar persons (partner and close friend) as compared to placebo. This effect was not evident in the self and unfamiliar conditions. Independent of treatment, volunteers scoring high on autistic-like traits (AQ-high) spent less time looking at the eyes of all faces except their partner. Collectively, our results show that the OXT system is involved in facilitating an attentional bias towards the eye region of familiar faces, which convey safety and support, especially in anxious contexts. In contrast, autistic-like traits were associated with reduced attention to the eye region of a face regardless of familiarity and OXT-treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Marsh
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Dirk Scheele
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Danilo Postin
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Marc Onken
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Rene Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
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7
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Chronic oxytocin administration in older men modulates functional connectivity during animacy perception. AGING BRAIN 2021; 1:100023. [PMID: 36911518 PMCID: PMC9997159 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2021.100023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Revised: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
While aging is associated with social-cognitive change and oxytocin plays a crucial role in social cognition, oxytocin's effects on the social brain in older age remain understudied. To date, no study has examined the effects of chronic intranasal oxytocin administration on brain mechanisms underlying animacy perception in older adults. Using a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blinded design in generally healthy older men (mean age (SD) = 69(6); n = 17 oxytocin; n = 14 placebo), this study determined the effects of a four-week intranasal oxytocin administration (24 international units/twice a day) on functional MRI (fMRI) during the Heider-Simmel task. This passive-viewing animacy perception paradigm contains video-clips of simple shapes suggesting social interactions (SOCIAL condition) or exhibiting random trajectories (RANDOM condition). While there were no oxytocin-specific effects on brain fMRI activation during the SOCIAL compared to the RANDOM condition, pre-to-post intervention change in the SOCIAL-RANDOM difference in functional connectivity (FC) was higher in the oxytocin compared to the placebo group in a network covering occipital, temporal, and parietal areas, and the superior temporal sulcus, a key structure in animacy perception. These findings suggest oxytocin modulation of circuits involved in action observation and social perception. Follow-up analyses on this network's connections suggested a pre-to-post intervention decrease in the SOCIAL-RANDOM difference in FC among the placebo group, possibly reflecting habituation to repeated exposure to social cues. Chronic oxytocin appeared to counter this process by decreasing FC during the RANDOM and increasing it during the SOCIAL condition. This study advances knowledge about oxytocin intervention mechanisms in the social brain of older adults.
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8
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Neto ML, Antunes M, Lopes M, Ferreira D, Rilling J, Prata D. Oxytocin and vasopressin modulation of prisoner's dilemma strategies. J Psychopharmacol 2020; 34:891-900. [PMID: 32207359 PMCID: PMC7583454 DOI: 10.1177/0269881120913145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin have been repeatedly implicated in social decision making by enhancing social salience and, generally, cooperation. The iterated and sequential version of the prisoner's dilemma (PD) game is a social dilemma paradigm eliciting strategies of cooperation versus competition. AIMS We aimed to characterise the role of PD players' sex, game partner type (computer vs. human) and oxytocin or vasopressin inhalation on the player's strategy preference. METHODS Participants (153 men; 151 women) were randomised to intranasal 24 IU oxytocin, 20 IU vasopressin or placebo, double-blind, and played the PD. We examined main and interactive effects of sex, drug and partner type on strategy preference. RESULTS We found a pervasive preference for a tit-for-tat strategy (i.e. general sensitivity to the partner's choices) over unconditional cooperation, particularly when against a human rather than a computer partner. Oxytocin doubled this sensitivity in women (i.e. the preference for tit-for-tat over unconditional cooperation strategies) when playing against computers, which suggests a tendency to anthropomorphise them, and doubled women's unconditional cooperation preference when playing against humans. Vasopressin doubled sensitivity to the partner's previous choices (i.e. for tit-for-tat over unconditional cooperation) across sexes and partner types. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that women may be more sensitive to oxytocin's social effects of anthropomorphism of non-humans and of unconditional cooperation with humans, which may be consistent with evolutionary pressures for maternal care, and that vasopressin, irrespective of sex and partner type, may be generally sensitising humans to others' behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Leonor Neto
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Marília Antunes
- Centro de Estatística e Aplicações e Departamento de Estatística e Investigação Operacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Manuel Lopes
- INESC-ID, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Duarte Ferreira
- Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - James Rilling
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA
| | - Diana Prata
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
- Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social (CIS-IUL), Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, Portugal
- Diana Prata, Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciência, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
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9
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Schiller B, Domes G, Heinrichs M. Oxytocin changes behavior and spatio-temporal brain dynamics underlying inter-group conflict in humans. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2020; 31:119-130. [PMID: 31883637 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2019.12.109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2019] [Revised: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 12/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Inter-group conflicts drive human discrimination, mass migration, and violence, but their psychobiological mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether the neuropeptide oxytocin modulates behavior and spatio-temporal brain dynamics in naturalistic inter-group conflict. Eighty-six male members of natural rival social groups received either oxytocin or placebo intranasally. In a decision-making paradigm involving real monetary stakes, participants could sacrifice their own resources to modulate the monetary gains and losses of in- and out-group members. Oxytocin eliminated the reduction in out-group gains - particularly in individuals with low emotional empathy, whereas those given placebo exhibited this negative social behavior. Our spatio-temporal analysis of event-related potentials elicited by outcome valuation revealed that oxytocin replaced a neurophysiological process associated with the negative valuation of out-group gains via a process associated with positive valuation between 200-500ms after outcome presentation. Oxytocin thus seems to modulate inter-group behavior in humans via a specific alteration of valuation-related brain dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bastian Schiller
- Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Gregor Domes
- Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany; Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, D-54290 Trier, Germany
| | - Markus Heinrichs
- Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany.
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10
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Damiano L, Dumouchel P. Anthropomorphism in Human-Robot Co-evolution. Front Psychol 2018; 9:468. [PMID: 29632507 PMCID: PMC5879791 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 03/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Social robotics entertains a particular relationship with anthropomorphism, which it neither sees as a cognitive error, nor as a sign of immaturity. Rather it considers that this common human tendency, which is hypothesized to have evolved because it favored cooperation among early humans, can be used today to facilitate social interactions between humans and a new type of cooperative and interactive agents – social robots. This approach leads social robotics to focus research on the engineering of robots that activate anthropomorphic projections in users. The objective is to give robots “social presence” and “social behaviors” that are sufficiently credible for human users to engage in comfortable and potentially long-lasting relations with these machines. This choice of ‘applied anthropomorphism’ as a research methodology exposes the artifacts produced by social robotics to ethical condemnation: social robots are judged to be a “cheating” technology, as they generate in users the illusion of reciprocal social and affective relations. This article takes position in this debate, not only developing a series of arguments relevant to philosophy of mind, cognitive sciences, and robotic AI, but also asking what social robotics can teach us about anthropomorphism. On this basis, we propose a theoretical perspective that characterizes anthropomorphism as a basic mechanism of interaction, and rebuts the ethical reflections that a priori condemns “anthropomorphism-based” social robots. To address the relevant ethical issues, we promote a critical experimentally based ethical approach to social robotics, “synthetic ethics,” which aims at allowing humans to use social robots for two main goals: self-knowledge and moral growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luisa Damiano
- Epistemology of the Sciences of the Artificial Research Group, Department of Ancient and Modern Civilizations, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Paul Dumouchel
- Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
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11
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Hurlemann R, Marsh N. Deciphering the modulatory role of oxytocin in human altruism. Rev Neurosci 2018; 28:335-342. [PMID: 28301323 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2016-0061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2016] [Accepted: 01/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Unlike any other species, humans frequently engage in altruistic behaviors by which they increase another individual's welfare even if this implies personal costs. The psychological motives underlying altruistic behaviors remain diverse, ranging from the ability to reciprocate trust and cooperation to bonding and empathizing with family members or even genetically unrelated others. This article explores the neuroendocrine architecture of altruism by emphasizing the crucial role of the evolutionarily highly conserved peptide hormone oxytocin as a modulator of cooperative behaviors including empathy-driven altruism. However, accumulating evidence suggests that oxytocin does not invariably facilitate cooperation but also produces protective or even defensive-aggressive responses in specific social contexts. In addition, we highlight the relevance of message frames as critical determinants of whether the peptide promotes altruism toward prosocial ends.
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12
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Characterising variations in perceptual decision making. Behav Brain Sci 2018; 41:e241. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x18001371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
AbstractCurrent perspectives propose that observer models accounting for both optimal and suboptimal behaviour may yield real progress in understanding perception. We propose that such models could, in addition, be very useful for precisely characterising the variation in perception across healthy participants and those affected by psychiatric disorders, as well as the effects of neuromodulators such as oxytocin.
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13
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Oxytocin shapes the priorities and neural representations of attitudes and values. Behav Brain Sci 2017; 40:e241. [PMID: 29122030 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x16000807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The phylogenetically ancient neuropeptide oxytocin has been linked to a plethora of social behaviors. Here, we argue that the action of oxytocin is not restricted to the downstream level of emotional responses, but substantially alters higher representations of attitudes and values by exerting a distant modulatory influence on cortical areas and their reciprocal interplay with subcortical regions and hormonal systems.
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Cherepanov SM, Akther S, Nishimura T, Shabalova AA, Mizuno A, Ichinose W, Shuto S, Yamamoto Y, Yokoyama S, Higashida H. Effects of Three Lipidated Oxytocin Analogs on Behavioral Deficits in CD38 Knockout Mice. Brain Sci 2017; 7:brainsci7100132. [PMID: 29035307 PMCID: PMC5664059 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci7100132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2017] [Revised: 10/03/2017] [Accepted: 10/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) is a nonapeptide that plays an important role in social behavior. Nasal administration of OT has been shown to improve trust in healthy humans and social interaction in autistic subjects. As is consistent with the nature of a peptide, OT has some unfavorable characteristics: it has a short half-life in plasma and shows poor permeability across the blood-brain barrier. Analogs with long-lasting effects may overcome these drawbacks. To this end, we have synthesized three analogs: lipo-oxytocin-1 (LOT-1), in which two palmitoyl groups are conjugated to the cysteine and tyrosine residues, lipo-oxytocin-2 (LOT-2) and lipo-oxytocin-3 (LOT-3), which include one palmitoyl group conjugated at the cysteine or tyrosine residue, respectively. The following behavioral deficits were observed in CD38 knockout (CD38−/−) mice: a lack of paternal nurturing in CD38−/− sires, decreased ability for social recognition, and decreased sucrose consumption. OT demonstrated the ability to recover these disturbances to the level of wild-type mice for 30 min after injection. LOT-2 and LOT-3 partially recovered the behaviors for a short period. Conversely, LOT-1 restored the behavioral parameters, not for 30 min, but for 24 h. These data suggest that the lipidation of OT has some therapeutic benefits, and LOT-1 would be most useful because of its long-last activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stanislav M Cherepanov
- Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Shirin Akther
- Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Tomoko Nishimura
- Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Anna A Shabalova
- Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Akira Mizuno
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Center for Research and Education on Drug Discovery, Hokkaido University, Kita-12, Nishi-6, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.
| | - Wataru Ichinose
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Center for Research and Education on Drug Discovery, Hokkaido University, Kita-12, Nishi-6, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.
| | - Satoshi Shuto
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Center for Research and Education on Drug Discovery, Hokkaido University, Kita-12, Nishi-6, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.
| | - Yasuhiko Yamamoto
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Vascular Biology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Shigeru Yokoyama
- Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
| | - Haruhiro Higashida
- Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
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15
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Zhao W, Geng Y, Luo L, Zhao Z, Ma X, Xu L, Yao S, Kendrick KM. Oxytocin Increases the Perceived Value of Both Self- and Other-Owned Items and Alters Medial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in an Endowment Task. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:272. [PMID: 28588469 PMCID: PMC5440465 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2016] [Accepted: 05/08/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) can influence self-processing and may help motivate us to value the attributes of others in a more self-like manner by reducing medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) responses. We do not know however whether this OXT effect extends to possessions. We tend to place a higher monetary value on specific objects that belong to us compared to others, known as the "endowment effect". In two double-blind, between-subject placebo (PLC) controlled experiments in subjects from a collectivist culture, we investigated the influence of intranasal OXT on the endowment effect, with the second study incorporating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In the task, subjects decided whether to buy or sell their own or others' (mother/father/classmate/stranger) possessions at various prices. Both experiments demonstrated an endowment effect in the self-owned condition which extended to close others (mother/father) and OXT increased this for self and all other-owned items. This OXT effect was associated with reduced activity in the ventral mPFC (vmPFC) in the self-owned condition but increased in the mother-condition. For the classmate- and stranger-owned conditions OXT increased activity in the dorsal mPFC (dmPFC). Changes in vmPFC activation were associated with the size of the endowment effect for self- and mother-owned items. Functional connectivity between the dmPFC and ventral striatum (VStr) was reduced by OXT in self- and mother-owned conditions and between vmPFC and precuneus in the self-condition. Overall our results show that OXT enhances the endowment effect for both self- and other-owned items in Chinese subjects. This effect is associated with reduced mPFC activation in the self-condition but enhanced activation in all other-conditions and involves differential actions on both dorsal and ventral regions as well as functional connectivity with brain reward and other self-processing regions. Overall our findings suggest that OXT increases the perceived value of both self- and other-owned items by acting on neural circuitry involved in self-processing and reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weihua Zhao
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Yayuan Geng
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Lizhu Luo
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Zhiying Zhao
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Xiaole Ma
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Lei Xu
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Shuxia Yao
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
| | - Keith M Kendrick
- Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChengdu, China
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16
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Pfundmair M, Zwarg C, Paulus M, Rimpel A. Oxytocin promotes attention to social cues regardless of group membership. Horm Behav 2017; 90:136-140. [PMID: 28322748 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2016] [Revised: 03/04/2017] [Accepted: 03/17/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The social saliency account proposes that oxytocin (OT) plays a major role in modulating attentional shifts toward social cues at early stages of processing. We investigated how OT promotes early attention toward nonsocial and social stimuli and explored differences between in-group- and out-group-related social cues. After participants intranasally self-administered OT or placebo, they were eye-tracked while observing a nonsocial and social cues that were assigned to the in- or out-group by a minimal group paradigm. Participants under placebo did not differ in their fixation durations between stimuli, whereas participants administered OT increased gaze durations toward social but not nonsocial stimuli. In this early stage of processing, no in-group bias occurred: in-group- and out-group-related social cues were fixated equally long. These findings support that OT works by a simple illumination of social cues that seem to be processed regardless of social identity aspects at early stages of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Anne Rimpel
- LMU Munich, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802 Munich, Germany.
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17
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Hecht EE, Robins DL, Gautam P, King TZ. Intranasal oxytocin reduces social perception in women: Neural activation and individual variation. Neuroimage 2017; 147:314-329. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.12.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2016] [Revised: 09/26/2016] [Accepted: 12/15/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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18
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Abstract
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has emerged as a potent modulator of diverse aspects of interpersonal relationships. OT appears to work in close interaction with several other neurotransmitter networks, including the dopaminergic reward circuit, and to be dependent on sex-specific hormonal influences. In this chapter, we focus on four main domains of OT and interpersonal relationships, including (1) the protective effect of OT on an individual's ability to withstand stress (i.e., stress buffering), (2) the effect of OT on emotion recognition and empathy, (3) OT's ability to enhance social synchrony and cooperation among individuals, and (4) the effect of OT on an individual's perception of social touch. We then illustrate the connection between OT and loneliness while grieving the loss of a loved one. We finish by discussing the clinical potential of OT, focusing on its potential role as an adjunct to psychotherapy, its enhancement through sex-specific hormonal influences, and the difficulties that present themselves when considering OT as a therapy. Overall, we argue that OT continues to hold strong therapeutic promise, but that it is strongly dependent on internal and external influences, for instance the patient's personal past experiences and interaction with the therapist, in order to provide the best possible therapy.
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19
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Mu Y, Guo C, Han S. Oxytocin enhances inter-brain synchrony during social coordination in male adults. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016; 11:1882-1893. [PMID: 27510498 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2015] [Revised: 07/13/2016] [Accepted: 08/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent brain imaging research has revealed oxytocin (OT) effects on an individual's brain activity during social interaction but tells little about whether and how OT modulates the coherence of inter-brain activity related to two individuals' coordination behavior. We developed a new real-time coordination game that required two individuals of a dyad to synchronize with a partner (coordination task) or with a computer (control task) by counting in mind rhythmically. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded simultaneously from a dyad to examine OT effects on inter-brain synchrony of neural activity during interpersonal coordination. Experiment 1 found that dyads showed smaller interpersonal time lags of counting and greater inter-brain synchrony of alpha-band neural oscillations during the coordination (vs control) task and these effects were reliably observed in female but not male dyads. Moreover, the increased alpha-band inter-brain synchrony predicted better interpersonal behavioral synchrony across all participants. Experiment 2, using a double blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects design, revealed that intranasal OT vs placebo administration in male dyads improved interpersonal behavioral synchrony in both the coordination and control tasks but specifically enhanced alpha-band inter-brain neural oscillations during the coordination task. Our findings provide first evidence that OT enhances inter-brain synchrony in male adults to facilitate social coordination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Mu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Chunyan Guo
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
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20
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Striepens N, Schröter F, Stoffel-Wagner B, Maier W, Hurlemann R, Scheele D. Oxytocin enhances cognitive control of food craving in women. Hum Brain Mapp 2016; 37:4276-4285. [PMID: 27381253 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2015] [Revised: 06/02/2016] [Accepted: 06/23/2016] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In developed countries, obesity has become an epidemic resulting in enormous health care costs for society and serious medical complications for individuals. The homeostatic regulation of food intake is critically dependent on top-down control of reward-driven food craving. There is accumulating evidence from animal studies that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) is involved in regulating hunger states and eating behavior, but whether OXT also contributes to cognitive control of food craving in humans is still unclear. We conducted a counter-balanced, double-blind, within-subject, pharmacological magnetic resonance imaging experiment involving 31 healthy women who received 24 IU of intranasal OXT or placebo and were scanned twice while they were exposed to pictures of palatable food. The participants were instructed either to imagine the immediate consumption or to cognitively control the urge to eat the food. Our results show a trend that OXT specifically reduced food craving in the cognitive control condition. On the neural level, these findings were paralleled by an increase of activity in the middle and superior frontal gyrus, precuneus, and cingulate cortex under OXT. Interestingly, the behavioral OXT effect correlated with the OXT-induced changes in the prefrontal cortex and precuneus. Collectively, the present study provides first evidence that OXT plays a key role in the cognitive regulation of food craving in women by strengthening activity in a broad neurocircuitry implicated in top-down control and self-referential processing. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4276-4285, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Striepens
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany.,Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany
| | - Franziska Schröter
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany.,Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany
| | - Birgit Stoffel-Wagner
- Department of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Maier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany.,German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), 53175, Bonn, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany.,Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany
| | - Dirk Scheele
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany.,Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany
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21
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Peled-Avron L, Perry A, Shamay-Tsoory SG. The effect of oxytocin on the anthropomorphism of touch. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2016; 66:159-65. [PMID: 26827294 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2015] [Revised: 12/24/2015] [Accepted: 01/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
One of the leading hypotheses regarding the mechanism underlying the social effects of oxytocin (OT) is the "social salience hypothesis", which proposes that OT alters the attentional salience of social cues in a context-dependent manner. Recently, OT was implicated in the process of anthropomorphism; specifically, OT was found to increase the tendency to ascribe social meaning to inanimate stimuli. However, the precise component of social interaction that contributes to this effect remains unclear. Because OT plays a role in the response to touch, whether or not objects are touching in a social context may represent the prominent trigger. Given that OT plays a major role in both anthropomorphism and touch, it is reasonable to assume that OT enhances anthropomorphism specifically for non-human touch, further clarifying its role in altering the perceptual salience of social cues. Here, we examined whether intranasal delivery of OT influences anthropomorphism for touch in inanimate objects. To that end, we implicitly measured the emotional reactions of participants (N=51) to photos that depicted two humans or two inanimate objects either touching or not touching. We asked them to rate whether they will include each photo in an emotional album and found that OT treatment increased the likelihood of inclusion in an emotional album to photos that contain touch, particularly between inanimate objects. In a follow-up experiment we found that the more human the inanimate objects were perceived, the more included they were in the emotional album. Our findings demonstrate that OT can enhance the social meaning of touch between two inanimate objects and advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the ability of OT to anthropomorphize environmental cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leehe Peled-Avron
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
| | - Anat Perry
- The Psychology department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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22
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Hu Y, Scheele D, Becker B, Voos G, David B, Hurlemann R, Weber B. The Effect of Oxytocin on Third-Party Altruistic Decisions in Unfair Situations: An fMRI Study. Sci Rep 2016; 6:20236. [PMID: 26832991 PMCID: PMC4735743 DOI: 10.1038/srep20236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2015] [Accepted: 12/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans display an intriguing propensity to help the victim of social norm violations or punish the violators which require theory-of-mind (ToM)/mentalizing abilities. The hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been implicated in modulating various pro-social behaviors/perception including trust, cooperation, and empathy. However, it is still elusive whether OXT also influences neural responses during third-party altruistic decisions, especially in ToM-related brain regions such as the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). To address this question, we conducted a pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment with healthy male participants in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design. After the intranasal administration synthetic OXT (OXT(IN)) or placebo (PLC), participants could transfer money from their own endowment to either punish a norm violator or help the victim. In some trials, participants observed the decisions made by a computer. Behaviorally, participants under OXT(IN) showed a trend to accelerate altruistic decisions. At the neural level, we observed a strong three-way interaction between drug treatment (OXT/PLC), agency (self/computer), and decision (help/punish), such that OXT(IN) selectively enhanced activity in the left TPJ during observations of others being helped by the computer. Collectively, our findings indicate that OXT enhances prosocial-relevant perception by increasing ToM-related neural activations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Hu
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127, Germany
| | - Dirk Scheele
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, 53105, Germany
- Department of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Bonn, 53105, Germany
| | - Benjamin Becker
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, 53105, Germany
- Department of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Bonn, 53105, Germany
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 610054, P.R. China
| | - Georg Voos
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127, Germany
| | - Bastian David
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, 53105, Germany
- Department of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Bonn, 53105, Germany
| | - Bernd Weber
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127, Germany
- Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn, 53127, Germany
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23
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Scheele D, Plota J, Stoffel-Wagner B, Maier W, Hurlemann R. Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner's face. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2015; 11:767-74. [PMID: 26722017 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsv157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2015] [Accepted: 12/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been identified as a key modulator of pair-bonding in men, but its effects in women are still elusive. Moreover, there is substantial evidence that hormonal contraception (HC) influences partner preferences and sexual satisfaction, which constitute core domains of OXT function. We thus hypothesized that OXT effects on partner-related behavioral and neural responses could be significantly altered in women using HC. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study involving 40 pair-bonded women, 21 of whom were using HC, we investigated whether a 24-IU nasal dose of OXT would modulate brain reward responses evoked by the romantic partner's face relative to the faces of familiar and unfamiliar people. Treatment with OXT increased the perceived attractiveness of the partner relative to other men, which was paralleled by elevated responses in reward-associated regions, including the nucleus accumbens. These effects of OXT were absent in women using HC. Our results confirm and extend previous findings in men that OXT interacts with the brain reward system to reinforce partner value representations, indicating a common OXT-dependent mechanism underlying partner attraction in both sexes. This mechanism may be disturbed in women using HC, suggesting that gonadal steroids could alter partner-specific OXT effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dirk Scheele
- Department of Psychiatry and Division of Medical Psychology,
| | - Jessica Plota
- Department of Psychiatry and Division of Medical Psychology
| | - Birgit Stoffel-Wagner
- Department of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany, and
| | - Wolfgang Maier
- Department of Psychiatry and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), 53175 Bonn, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry and Division of Medical Psychology
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24
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Fürst A, Thron J, Scheele D, Marsh N, Hurlemann R. The neuropeptide oxytocin modulates consumer brand relationships. Sci Rep 2015; 5:14960. [PMID: 26449882 PMCID: PMC4598816 DOI: 10.1038/srep14960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2015] [Accepted: 09/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Each year, companies invest billions of dollars into marketing activities to embellish brands as valuable relationship partners assuming that consumer brand relationships (CBRs) and interpersonal relationships rest upon the same neurobiological underpinnings. Given the crucial role of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) in social bonding, this study tests whether OXT-based mechanisms also determine the bond between consumers and brands. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled study involving 101 subjects and analyzed the effect of intranasal OXT on consumers’ attribution of relationship qualities to brands, brands paired with human celebrity endorsers, and familiar persons. OXT indeed promoted the attribution of relationship qualities not only in the case of social and semi-social stimuli, but also brands. Intriguingly, for subjects scoring high on autistic-like traits, the effect of OXT was completely reversed, evident in even lower relationship qualities across all stimulus categories. The importance of OXT in a CBR context is further corroborated by a three-fold increase in endogenous release of OXT following exposure to one’s favorite brand and positive associations between baseline peripheral OXT concentrations and brand relationship qualities. Collectively, our findings indicate that OXT not only plays a fundamental role in developing interpersonal relationships, but also enables relationship formation with objects such as brands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Fürst
- Department of Marketing, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 90403 Nürnberg, Germany and Professorial Fellow of the Business School at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), 70211 Kuopio, Finland
| | - Jesko Thron
- Department of Marketing, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 90403 Nürnberg, Germany and Professorial Fellow of the Business School at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), 70211 Kuopio, Finland
| | - Dirk Scheele
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany.,Department of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Nina Marsh
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany.,Department of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany.,Department of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
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