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Oxytocin improves specific recognition of positive facial expressions
Abstract
Background Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is associated with increased trust. Perceptions of trustworthiness are associated with detection of positive facial affect, which suggests that oxytocin may enhance the recognition of positive facial affect. The present study tests this hypothesis.Methods A double-blind, between-groups design was used, with 50 volunteers randomly assigned to receive intranasally administered oxytocin or placebo. Thirty-five minutes following the administration of oxytocin or placebo, participants identified anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise expressions that were morphed with neutral faces such that they varied from 10% to 100% intensity.Results Oxytocin significantly and specifically improved the recognition of happy facial expressions; no significant differences in recognition of other expression were found. The improvement was not associated with gender, response biases, or changes in mood, and it was most pronounced for subtle expressions.Conclusions Acute oxytocin administration enhances healthy adults' ability to accurately identify positive emotional facial expressions. These findings reinforce oxytocin's role in facilitating affiliative interactions and have implications for the treatment of conditions that are marked by social affiliation deficits.
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In the citing paper
“only scales related to social behavior were altered by the administration of intranasal oxytocin relative to a placebo, with the exception of openness to experiences.”
From Acute intranasal oxytocin improves positive self-perceptions of personality (2012) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“These results are also consistent with a growing body of research indicating that intranasal oxytocin administration modulates emotion processing2,3,53,54”
From Oxytocin pathway gene networks in the human brain (2019) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“Oxytocin administration has also been observed to improve recognition of positive facial expressions but not negative (Marsh et al., 2010, but see Fischer-Shofty et al., 2010).”
From Oxytocin, motivation and the role of dopamine (2014) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“Indeed, previous effects on the face-morphing or the dot probe tasks occurred at when these tasks were performed during this time period.55, 56, 57, 58”
In the citing paper
“enhanced recognition of positive but not negative expressions (Marsh et al., 2010)”
From Oxytocin enhances pupil dilation and sensitivity to 'hidden' emotional expressions (2013) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“Some have reported enhanced empathic accuracy towards only positive (Di Simplicio et al., 2009;Marsh et al., 2010) or negative emotions (Fischer-Shofty et al., 2010), some have found that the effect is strongest for difficult items (Domes et al., 2007) and others the opposite (Guastella et al., 2010;Schulze et al., 2011).”
From Oxytocin enhances pupil dilation and sensitivity to 'hidden' emotional expressions (2013) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“intranasal OT selectively enhances the recognition of fear and happiness [10], [11], [12]”
From A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli (2013) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Consistent with previous observations that OT can enhance processing of positive facial emotion (Guastella et al., 2008; Marsh et al., 2010; Domes et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2015)”
From Oxytocin facilitates approach behavior to positive social stimuli via decreasing anterior insula activity (2018) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2010
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Metadata
- Authors
- Marsh, A. A., Yu, H. H., Pine, D. S., & Blair, R. J. R.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Marsh, Abigail A.
- Venue
- Psychopharmacology
- Published
- 2010-02-26
- Volume
- 209
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 225-232
- ISSN
- 0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-2072
- OpenAlex
- W1971319935
- Semantic Scholar
- e46e59c7c3036d06d45e20971299839db89bf149
- Cited by
- 321
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 31
- FWCI
- 36.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Keywords
- oxytocin, facial expression recognition, positive emotional expression, happiness, trust, social affiliation, emotion perception, gender differences
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Adult, Affect, Blood Pressure, Facial Expression, Female, Humans, Male, Oxytocin, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Sex Characteristics
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