A general approach-avoidance hypothesis of Oxytocin: Accounting for social and non-social effects of oxytocin

Harari-Dahan, Osnat; Bernstein, Amit

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.007

Cited by 119 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 178 publications

(278 reference statements)

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“…Consistent with the proposition that oxytocin reduces the demand for a structured environment and increases approach sensitivity (Kemp and Guastella, 2011; Harari-Dahan and Bernstein, 2014), we found that oxytocin reduced rule following especially among individuals with high need for structure, and high approach sensitivity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Upon its release from the hypothalamus, oxytocin affects a wide array of areas of the central nervous system, including the brainstem, hippocampus, amygdala and the striatum (Bethlehem et al , 2013). In addition to its well-known role in reproduction and pair-bond formation (Donaldson and Young, 2008), more recent work suggests that oxytocin acts on (i) the cortico-amygdala circuitry to reduce withdrawal from (social) threat, permitting alternative responses to danger than flight and submission (Kemp and Guastella, 2011; Striepens et al , 2012; Harari-Dahan and Bernstein, 2014), and (ii) the ‘wanting’ mesocorticolimbic circuitry promoting approach behaviour especially when targets or events have positive valence (Lukas et al , 2011; Harari-Dahan and Bernstein, 2014; Meziane et al , 2015). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxytocin conditions trait-based rule adherence

Gross

Dreu

2016

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Rules, whether in the form of norms, taboos or laws, regulate and coordinate human life. Some rules, however, are arbitrary and adhering to them can be personally costly. Rigidly sticking to such rules can be considered maladaptive. Here, we test whether, at the neurobiological level, (mal)adaptive rule adherence is reduced by oxytocin—a hypothalamic neuropeptide that biases the biobehavioural approach-avoidance system. Participants (N = 139) self-administered oxytocin or placebo intranasally, and reported their need for structure and approach-avoidance sensitivity. Next, participants made binary decisions and were given an arbitrary rule that demanded to forgo financial benefits. Under oxytocin, participants violated the rule more often, especially when they had high need for structure and high approach sensitivity. Possibly, oxytocin dampens the need for a highly structured environment and enables individuals to flexibly trade-off internal desires against external restrictions. Implications for the treatment of clinical disorders marked by maladaptive rule adherence are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin conditions trait-based rule adherence

Gross

Dreu

2016

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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“…Although it has been suggested that OT is not uniquely social and mainly modulates approach behaviors (70,71), it has been reported that OT enhances memory for pictures of faces, but not for pictures of non-social objects (72), and affected arousal ratings to pictures of humans but not of animals (73). This social human-specific effect has gained yet another support from a study showing that OT induces a significant reduction in amygdalamidbrain connectivity to fearful visual images, with a more prominent effect on socially salient stimuli (faces) as compared to nonsocial scenes (49).…”

Section: Oxytocin Inter-group Relations and Social Saliencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Salience Hypothesis of Oxytocin

Shamay‐Tsoory

Abu‐Akel

2016

Biological Psychiatry

771

500

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Oxytocin is a nonapeptide that also serves as a neuromodulator in the human central nervous system. Over the last decade, a sizeable body of literature has examined its effects on social behavior in humans. These studies show that oxytocin modulates various aspects of social behaviors such as empathy, trust, in-group preference, and memory of socially relevant cues. Several theoretical formulations have attempted to explain the effects of oxytocin. The prosocial account argues that oxytocin mainly enhances affiliative prosocial behaviors; the fear/stress theory suggests that oxytocin affects social performance by attenuating stress; and the in-/out-group approach proposes that oxytocin regulates cooperation and conflict among humans in the context of intergroup relations. Nonetheless, accumulating evidence reveals that the effects of oxytocin are dependent on a variety of contextual aspects and the individual's characteristics and can induce antisocial effects including aggression and envy. In an attempt to reconcile these accounts, we suggest a theoretical framework that focuses on the overarching role of oxytocin in regulating the salience of social cues through its interaction with the dopaminergic system. Crucially, the salience effect modulates attention orienting responses to external contextual social cues (e.g., competitive vs. cooperative environment) but is dependent on baseline individual differences such as gender, personality traits, and degree of psychopathology. This view could have important implications for the therapeutic applications of oxytocin in conditions characterized with aberrant social behavior.

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“…267 Oxytocin has been proposed to act on the prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuit controlling fear or threat responses to attenuate behavioural avoidance or autonomic stress responses in response to negatively valenced stimuli, whereas, at the same time, oxytocin acts on the dopaminergic reward system to increase approach behaviour in response to emotionally salient stimuli including not only stimuli inducing positive emotion, but also stimuli inducing negative emotion such as anger, envy, and gloating, 268 although the role of the dopaminergic system in the control of approach responses to negative emotion-related stimuli remains to be established. 267 Oxytocin has been proposed to act on the prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuit controlling fear or threat responses to attenuate behavioural avoidance or autonomic stress responses in response to negatively valenced stimuli, whereas, at the same time, oxytocin acts on the dopaminergic reward system to increase approach behaviour in response to emotionally salient stimuli including not only stimuli inducing positive emotion, but also stimuli inducing negative emotion such as anger, envy, and gloating, 268 although the role of the dopaminergic system in the control of approach responses to negative emotion-related stimuli remains to be established.…”

Section: Role S Of Ox Y To Cin In the Control Of Adap Tive B Ehaviomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oxytocin has also been suggested to facilitate approach behaviour to positive stimuli and to suppress withdrawal behaviour to negative stimuli, regardless of whether they are social or non-social stimuli (the approach/withdrawal hypothesis). 267 Oxytocin has been proposed to act on the prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuit controlling fear or threat responses to attenuate behavioural avoidance or autonomic stress responses in response to negatively valenced stimuli, whereas, at the same time, oxytocin acts on the dopaminergic reward system to increase approach behaviour in response to emotionally salient stimuli including not only stimuli inducing positive emotion, but also stimuli inducing negative emotion such as anger, envy, and gloating, 268 although the role of the dopaminergic system in the control of approach responses to negative emotion-related stimuli remains to be established.…”

Section: Role S Of Ox Y To Cin In the Control Of Adap Tive B Ehaviomentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of oxytocin in the control of stress and food intake

Onaka

Takayanagi

2019

J Neuroendocrinology

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Oxytocin neurones in the hypothalamus are activated by stressful stimuli and food intake. The oxytocin receptor is located in various brain regions, including the sensory information‐processing cerebral cortex; the cognitive information‐processing prefrontal cortex; reward‐related regions such as the ventral tegmental areas, nucleus accumbens and raphe nucleus; stress‐related areas such as the amygdala, hippocampus, ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus and ventrolateral periaqueductal gray; homeostasis‐controlling hypothalamus; and the dorsal motor complex controlling intestinal functions. Oxytocin affects behavioural and neuroendocrine stress responses and terminates food intake by acting on the metabolic or nutritional homeostasis system, modulating emotional processing, reducing reward values of food intake, and facilitating sensory and cognitive processing via multiple brain regions. Oxytocin also plays a role in interactive actions between stress and food intake and contributes to adaptive active coping behaviours.

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A general approach-avoidance hypothesis of Oxytocin: Accounting for social and non-social effects of oxytocin

Cited by 119 publications

References 178 publications

Oxytocin conditions trait-based rule adherence

Oxytocin conditions trait-based rule adherence

The Social Salience Hypothesis of Oxytocin

Role of oxytocin in the control of stress and food intake

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