Reward, Motivation, and Emotion Systems Associated With Early-Stage Intense Romantic Love

Aron, Arthur; Fisher, Helen; Mashek, Debra; Strong, Greg; Li, Haifang; Brown, Lucy L.

doi:10.1152/jn.00838.2004

Cited by 799 publications

(794 citation statements)

References 103 publications

(93 reference statements)

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“…Strikingly, however, this mechanism was disturbed in those women using HC, indicating that the partner-specific modulatory effects of OXT are antagonized by gonadal steroids. Both the NAcc and VTA have previously been identified as reward-associated brain regions activated by viewing the face of a romantic partner while recalling shared experiences with him or her (Bartels and Zeki, 2004;Aron et al, 2005;Acevedo et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face

Scheele¹,

Plota²,

Stoffel‐Wagner

et al. 2015

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face

Scheele¹,

Plota²,

Stoffel‐Wagner

et al. 2015

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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“…There is an increasingly broad range of evidence in human and nonhuman primate studies showing that the dorsal striatum is involved in socially relevant, functional roles such as positive and negative emotions (Lane et al, 1997), response to emotional faces (Morris et al, 1996), romantic love (Bartels and Zeki, 2000;Aron et al, 2005), reward expectation (Kawagoe et al, 1998), and reward learning (O'Doherty, 2004;Delgado et al, 2005). The dorsal striatum is well positioned to integrate information pertaining to cognition and reward with motor control circuits and to potentiate specific motor outputs (Balleine et al, 2007).…”

Section: Behavioral Function Of Dorsal Striatum In Partner Preferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Activation of μ-Opioid Receptors in the Dorsal Striatum is Necessary for Adult Social Attachment in Monogamous Prairie Voles

Burkett

Spiegel

Inoue

et al. 2011

Neuropsychopharmacol

112

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Despite significant evidence that opioids are involved in attachment by mediating social reward and motivation, the role of opioids in the formation of adult social attachments has not been explored. We used the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) to explore the role of endogenous opioids in social bonding by examining partner preference formation in female prairie voles. We hypothesized that m-opioid receptors (MORs) in the striatum have a critical role in partner preference formation. We therefore predicted that peripheral administration of an opioid receptor antagonist would inhibit partner preference formation, and more specifically, that m-opioid selective receptor blockade within the striatum would inhibit partner preference formation. To test our hypotheses, we first administered the non-selective opioid antagonist naltrexone peripherally to females during an 18-h cohabitation with a male and later tested the female with a partner preference test (PPT). Females showed a dose schedule-dependent decrease in partner preference in the PPT, with females in the continuous dose group displaying stranger preferences. Next, we administered microinjections of the MOR selective antagonist D-Phe-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Arg-Thr-Pen-Thr-NH2 (CTAP) into either the nucleus accumbens shell (NAS) or the caudate-putamen (CP) immediately before a 24-h cohabitation with a male, and later tested the female with a PPT. Females receiving CTAP into the CP, but not the NAS, showed no preference in the PPT, indicating an inhibition of partner preference formation. We show here for the first time that MORs modulate partner preference formation in female prairie voles by acting in the CP.

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“…Early imaging studies focused on stereotypes (Hart et al, 2000;Phelps et al, 2000), self-knowledge (Kelley et al, 2002), and theory of mind (Baron-Cohen et al, 1994;Frith and Frith, 1999); however, work has now extended into several areas of social psychological inquiry including self-serving biases (Blackwood et al, 2003), self-awareness (Gusnard et al, 2001;Keenan et al, 2001;Eisenberger et al, in press), judgment and decision-making (De Quervain et al, 2004;Sanfey et al, 2003), cooperation (Kosfeld et al, 2005;Rilling et al, 2004), selfschemas , person knowledge (Mitchell et al, 2004a), social exclusion (Eisenberger et al, 2003), attitudinal evaluation (Cunningham et al, 2003;Wood et al, 2005), regulation of stereotypes (Amodio et al, 2003;Richeson et al, 2003;Wheeler and Fiske, 2005), expectancy effects Petrovic et al, 2002;Wager et al, 2004), relational cognition (Aron et al, 2005;Iacoboni et al, 2004), empathy (Carr et al, 2003;Singer et al, 2004), and emotional reappraisal (Beauregard et al, 2001;Ochsner et al, 2002). This special issue devoted to social cognitive neuroscience brings new light to these existing themes (Cunningham, Espinet, DeYoung, and Zelazo, this issue; Mitchell, Banaji, and Macrae, this issue; Ochsner et al, this issue; Sander et al, this issue) and tackles areas new to social cognitive neuroscience such as attribution (Harris, Todorov, and Fiske, this issue; Heberlein and Saxe, this issue), attachment (Gillath, Bunge, Shaver, Wendelken, and Mikulincer, this issue), self-esteem (Pruessner et al, this issue), and intention planning …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Principles, processes, and puzzles of social cognition: An introduction for the special issue on social cognitive neuroscience

Lieberman

2005

NeuroImage

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This article introduces the special issue of NeuroImage focused on social cognitive neuroscience. Social psychology has a rich history of making sense of the often paradoxical aspects of social cognition and the social world. This article reviews the principles, processes, and puzzles of social cognition and behavior that have been examined by social psychologists for decades. Five principles of social cognition and behavior are reviewed including: (1) the power of the situation over behavior, (2) blindness for situational influences, (3) social perception and self-perception are constructive processes, (4) blindness for the constructed nature of social and self-perception, and (5) self-processes are social. Four processes of social cognition are reviewed including: (1) cognitive architecture; (2) automaticity and control; (3) motivated reasoning; and (4) accessibility, frames, and expectations. Finally, five areas of social cognition that contain enduring puzzles are described including (1) the self, (2) attitudes, (3) reflective social cognition, (4) automatic social cognition, and (5) social motives. In several of the areas of study reviewed, cognitive neuroscience is well positioned to make important contributions to these research traditions either by allowing for new tests of hypotheses or by allowing for unobtrusive measurement of social cognitive processes. D

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Reward, Motivation, and Emotion Systems Associated With Early-Stage Intense Romantic Love

Cited by 799 publications

References 103 publications

Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face

Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face

Activation of μ-Opioid Receptors in the Dorsal Striatum is Necessary for Adult Social Attachment in Monogamous Prairie Voles

Principles, processes, and puzzles of social cognition: An introduction for the special issue on social cognitive neuroscience

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