The DOI matches its Crossref record; 58 of the 58 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Effects of intranasal oxytocin on emotional face processing in women
Open accessAbstract
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has previously been found to reduce amygdala reactivity to social and emotional stimuli in healthy men. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of intranasally administered OXT on brain activity in response to social emotional stimuli of varying valence in women. In a functional magnetic-resonance imaging study, sixteen women were presented with fearful, angry, happy and neutral facial expressions after a single dose of 24IU OXT or a placebo administration in a within-subject design. Group analysis revealed that the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal was enhanced in the left amygdala, the fusiform gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus in response to fearful faces and in the inferior frontal gyrus in response to angry and happy faces following OXT treatment. This effect was independent of fixation pattern to specific sections of the facial stimuli as revealed by eye tracking and independent of basal plasma levels of OXT, estradiol, and progesterone. The results are at odds with the previously reported effects found in men. Future studies should include both sexes to determine a possible sexual dimorphism in the neural effects of OXT, considering gonadal steroids and OXT receptor affinity.
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In the citing paper
“task-based fMRI has often shown opposite findings in males and females namely in terms of amygdala activation.14, 15”
From Intranasal oxytocin enhances intrinsic corticostriatal functional connectivity in women (2017) · cites this paper as [14]
In the citing paper
“This bias can be observed in much of the prior work on oxytocin in humans as well, with some neuroimaging studies indicating potential differences in the oxytocin system between sexes.13, 14, 47, 48, 49”
From Intranasal oxytocin enhances intrinsic corticostriatal functional connectivity in women (2017) · cites this paper as [14]
In the citing paper
“This bias can be observed in much of the prior work on oxytocin in humans as well, with some neuroimaging studies indicating potential differences in the oxytocin system between sexes.13, 14, 47, 48, 49”
From Intranasal oxytocin enhances intrinsic corticostriatal functional connectivity in women (2017) · cites this paper as [14]
In the citing paper
“while it has been demonstrated that OXT decreases amygdala activity in response to fear in men (Kirsch et al., 2005), it appears to increase amygdala activity to similar stimuli in women (Domes et al., 2010).”
From Oxytocin increases attention to the eyes and selectively enhances self-reported affective empathy for fear (2017) · cites this paper as Domes et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“separate OXT-application studies in humans have indicated that there may be differential amygdala reactivity to fearful faces and fearful/threatening scenes in men (14, 15) and women (16, 17).”
From Oxytocin, the peptide that bonds the sexes also divides them (2016) · cites this paper as [16]
In the citing paper
“Previous studies on amygdala responses to fearful faces and fearful/threatening scenes (14 -17, 30) and social risk (31) have also indicated that OXT may induce sex-dependent changes in amygdala activation to emotional stimuli.”
From Oxytocin, the peptide that bonds the sexes also divides them (2016) · cites this paper as [16]
In the citing paper
“Generally, in healthy subjects pro-social feelings, including generosity and trust (6–8), social communication and emotional recognition (9,10), self-perception (11), and social interactions with offspring are altered by OT(12).”
From Chronic intranasal oxytocin causes long-term impairments in partner preference formation in male prairie voles (2013) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“our sample was restricted to males, given the role of sex hormones on OXT neural effect's (Domes et al, 2010), and may not generalize to females.”
From Oxytocin modulation of amygdala functional connectivity to fearful faces in generalized social anxiety disorder (2015) · cites this paper as Domes et al, 2010
In the citing paper
“but increases it in women (11, 12).”
From Oxytocin receptors in the anteromedial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis promote stress-induced social avoidance in female California mice (2018) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Second, OXT has been shown to have differential effects on emotional responding in males and females (Domes et al, 2010).”
From Modulation of Resting-State Amygdala-Frontal Functional Connectivity by Oxytocin in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder (2014) · cites this paper as Domes et al, 2010
In the citing paper
“Interestingly, one study on human participants found that the BOLD signals in the amygdala in women, unlike in men, actually increase when viewing fearful faces (Domes et al., 2010).”
From Oxytocin and social cognition in rhesus macaques: Implications for understanding and treating human psychopathology (2014) · cites this paper as Domes et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“Moreover, previous studies have shown differential effects of OT on male and female participants (e.g.Domes et al., 2010;Feldman et al., 2010).”
From OT promotes closer interpersonal distance among highly empathic individuals (2015) · cites this paper as Domes et al., 2010
In the citing paper
“We cannot exclude the possibility that this may have influenced our results, although similar effects of OT on amygdala reactivity previously were found in females tested in the follicular phase (Domes et al, 2010) and luteal phase (Bertsch et al, 2013).”
From Intranasal oxytocin administration dampens amygdala reactivity towards emotional faces in male and female PTSD patients (2016) · cites this paper as Domes et al, 2010
In the citing paper
“even to increase reactivity in the amygdala during the processing of fearful faces in females [19].”
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 [19]
In the citing paper
“is in agreement with recent experimental evidence pointing to the sex-dimorphic effects of OT nasal spray in humans [19], [45] [56], [57].”
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 [19]
In the citing paper
“Third, our study used only male subjects, and there is evidence that male and female subjects respond differently to oxytocin (Domes et al., 2010).”
From Oxytocin decreases aversion to angry faces in an associative learning task (2010) · cites this paper as Domes et al., 2010
Citations
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Self-citationA differential neural response in the human amygdala to fearful and happy facial expressions
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Oxytocin and vasopressin in the human brain: social neuropeptides for translational medicine
Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Domes, G., Kirsch, P., & Heinrichs, M. (2011) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3044 · Cited by 1,688
“So far, four studies have examined the effects of OXT on visual attention to faces and, with one exceptio”
BackgroundSelf-citationSocial effects of oxytocin in humans: context and person matter
Bartz, J. A., Zaki, J., Bolger, N., & Ochsner, K. N. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.002 · Cited by 1,581
The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity
Del Giudice, M., Ellis, B. J., & Shirtcliff, E. A. (2011) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.11.007 · Cited by 1,373
“…and altruism, stimulate affiliative social interactions and approach behavior, and enhance emotional empathy (e.g., Alvares et al., 2010; Ditzen et al., 2009; Domes et al., 2010; Kemp and Guastella, 2010; Hurlemann et al., 2010; Kosfeld et al., 2005; Theodoridou et al., 2009; Zak et al., 2005).”
The Neuropeptide Oxytocin Regulates Parochial Altruism in Intergroup Conflict Among Humans
De Dreu, C. K. W., Greer, L. L., Handgraaf, M. J. J., Shalvi, S., Van Kleef, G. A., Baas, M., Ten Velden, F. S., Van Dijk, E., & Feith, S. W. W. (2010) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1189047 · Cited by 1,148
The oxytocin receptor: from intracellular signaling to behavior
Jurek, B., & Neumann, I. D. (2018) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00031.2017 · Cited by 999
Metadata
- Authors
- Domes, G., Lischke, A., Berger, C., Grossmann, A., Hauenstein, K., Heinrichs, M., & Herpertz, S. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- University of Rostock (DE)
- Universitätsmedizin Rostock (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Domes, Gregor
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-01
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 83-93
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2038181972
- Cited by
- 521
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 53 · 2013: 64 · 2012: 44
- FWCI
- 44.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
- FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01GW0784)
- Universität Zürich
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Do1312/1-1)
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (PP001-114788)
- 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, intranasal administration, emotional face processing, amygdala, sexual dimorphism, women, facial expressions, fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, estradiol, progesterone, sex steroids, BOLD signal
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Adult, Anger, Emotions, Estradiol, Eye Movements, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Hormones, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Oxytocin, Photic Stimulation, Progesterone, Social Perception, Young Adult
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