Oxytocin enhances brain reward system responses in men viewing the face of their female partner
Dirk Scheele,Andrea Wille,Keith M. Kendrick,Birgit Stoffel-Wagner,Benjamin Becker,Onur Güntürkün,Wolfgang Maier,René Hurlemann +7 more
TLDR
Evidence is provided for a mechanism by which OXT may contribute to romantic bonds in men by enhancing their partner's attractiveness and reward value compared with other women and for a finding that this finding is partner-bond specific rather than due to familiarity.Abstract:
The biological mechanisms underlying long-term partner bonds in humans are unclear. The evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) is associated with the formation of partner bonds in some species via interactions with brain dopamine reward systems. However, whether it plays a similar role in humans has as yet not been established. Here, we report the results of a discovery and a replication study, each involving a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject, pharmaco-functional MRI experiment with 20 heterosexual pair-bonded male volunteers. In both experiments, intranasal OXT treatment (24 IU) made subjects perceive their female partner's face as more attractive compared with unfamiliar women but had no effect on the attractiveness of other familiar women. This enhanced positive partner bias was paralleled by an increased response to partner stimuli compared with unfamiliar women in brain reward regions including the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). In the left NAcc, OXT even augmented the neural response to the partner compared with a familiar woman, indicating that this finding is partner-bond specific rather than due to familiarity. Taken together, our results suggest that OXT could contribute to romantic bonds in men by enhancing their partner's attractiveness and reward value compared with other women.read more
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The Social Salience Hypothesis of Oxytocin
TL;DR: A theoretical framework is suggested that focuses on the overarching role of oxytocin in regulating the salience of social cues through its interaction with the dopaminergic system and is dependent on baseline individual differences such as gender, personality traits, and degree of psychopathology.
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The Oxytocin Receptor: From Intracellular Signaling to Behavior
Benjamin Jurek,Inga D. Neumann +1 more
TL;DR: The mechanisms of OXT expression and release, expression and binding of the OXTR in brain and periphery, OX TR-coupled signaling cascades, and their involvement in behavioral outcomes are discussed to assemble a comprehensive picture of the central and peripheral OXT system.
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Intranasal Oxytocin: Myths and Delusions
Gareth Leng,Mike Ludwig +1 more
TL;DR: Effects of intranasal oxytocin also need proper dose-response studies, and such studies need to include control subjects for peripheral effects, by administering Oxytocin peripherally and by blocking peripheral actions with antagonists.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Neurobiology of Human Attachments
TL;DR: A conceptual framework on human attachments is presented, integrating insights from animal research with neuroimaging studies, and may open perspectives on the 'situated' brain and initiate dialog between science and humanities, arts, and clinical wisdom.
Journal ArticleDOI
The amygdala as a hub in brain networks that support social life
TL;DR: This work synthesizes extant anatomical and functional data from rodents, monkeys, and humans to describe the topography of three partially distinct large-scale brain networks anchored in the amygdala that each support unique functions for effectively managing social interactions and maintaining social relationships.
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