Preliminary data on oxytocin modulation of neural reactivity in women to emotional stimuli of children depending on childhood emotional neglect

Abstract

Sensitivity for rewarding cues and distress signals from children are fundamental to human caregiving and modulated by the neuropeptide oxytocin. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we investigated whether oxytocin regulates neural responses to reward or distress cues form children. In a placebo controlled within-subject design we measured neural responses to positive, negative, and neutral cues from children in 22 healthy female subjects who received oxytocin (24 IU) vs. placebo. Further, based on current literature, we hypothesized that oxytocin effects are modulated by experiences of childhood trauma. The task elicited valence specific effects, positive images activated the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex and right putamen, and images of children in distress the bilateral amygdala, hippocampus and right medial superior frontal cortex. The effects of oxytocin depended on subjective reports of childhood emotional neglect. Self-reported neglect interacted with oxytocin administration in the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal areas. In individuals with higher scores of emotional neglect oxytocin increased neural reactivity of limbic structures to positive and neutral images. Our findings need replication in larger samples and can therefore be considered preliminary but are in line with the recent literature on the modulating effect of childhood adversity on the sensitivity to OXT administration.

The perceived quality of maternal care during childhood shapes attentional bias to infant faces in parents and nonparents.

“…In terms of future directions, as different early experiences of care might be related to different attachment styles, further studies might benefit from a combination of measures relating to both IPARTheory (Rohner, 2021) and attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973). Moreover, a multimethod approach can be adopted to study the influences of the quality of early care experiences on multiple aspects of caregiving (e.g., neurobiology, hormones, dyadic interactions; Bos et al, 2014; Meier et al, 2023; Riem et al, 2013). Also, genetic aspects should be importantly addressed.…”