Oxytocin and Vasopressin in Emotional Memory and “Face Reading”: a Neurobiological Approach and Clinical Aspects

Abstract

The ability to adequately perceive and recognize emotions is a key and universal tool in interpersonal communication, which allows people to understand feelings, intentions, and emotional reactions of themselves and others. Throughout their life, people have to make inferences about mental state of others by interpreting subtle social signals, such as facial expressions, to understand or predict others’ behavior, which is crucial in constructive social interactions. Therefore, emotional memory associated with the ability to identify emotions based on one’s life experience is the cornerstone of social cognition and interpersonal relationships. Oxytocin and vasopressin are neurohypophysial peptides that have attracted scientific attention due to their role in the emotional and social aspects of behavior. Variable and contrasting effects of oxytocin and vasopressin may be related to the sites of the brain where they exert their activity. Aim. This review aimed to evaluate neural mechanisms underlying oxytocin-mediated and vasopressin-mediated modulation of emotional memory; to assess how cerebral oxytocin-signal and vasopressin-signal transduction mediates emotional and social behavior; to discuss the role of the two neuropeptides in non-verbal interpersonal communication; and to present their cerebral effects in relation to an ability for “face reading” in patients with mental disorders.