Oxytocin specifically enhances valence-dependent parasympathetic responses
Abstract
The evolutionarily highly conserved neuropeptide oxytocin seems to be involved in the regulation of complex forms of social behavior. It enhances the processing of positive social stimuli, reduces behavioral and neuroendocrine stress responses and modulates amygdala activity in humans. Moreover, it has been proposed that oxytocin dampens sympathetic nervous system activity. This hypothesis was tested in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 38 men either receiving 24 IU oxytocin intranasally or a placebo spray. While accomplishing an emotion classification task, electrodermal responses were measured as an index of sympathetic activity. Moreover, heart rate changes were recorded that are additionally mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system. Oxytocin enhanced differential heart rate responses to facial expressions as a function of the emotional valence, but had no effect on electrodermal activity or tonic measures of physiological arousal. These results indicate that oxytocin specifically modulates phasic activity of the parasympathetic nervous system which potentially reflects an increased motivational value of facial expressions following oxytocin treatment. Findings suggest that anxiolytic effects of oxytocin are not reflected in short-term sympathetic responses and may even be a consequence of rather than a prerequisite for improved social information processing.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In men, the results strikingly resemble data recently reported by Gamer and Buchel (2011).
“However, the opposite is the case in men, in whom results strikingly resemble the data recently reported by Gamer and Buchel (2011).”
From Sex-specific effects of intranasal oxytocin on autonomic nervous system and emotional responses to couple conflict (2013) · cites this paper as Gamer and Buchel, 2011
In Gamer and Buchel (2011), phasic heart rate in OT-treated men increased specifically in response to pictures of fearful (and to a lesser extent neutral) faces.
“However, interestingly, in the latter study, phasic HR in OT-treated men increased specifically in response to pictures of fearful (and to a lesser extent neutral) faces.”
From Sex-specific effects of intranasal oxytocin on autonomic nervous system and emotional responses to couple conflict (2013) · cites this paper as Gamer and Buchel, 2011
Intranasal administration of 24 IU OT affects phasic activity of the parasympathetic nervous system in humans.
“This dose, administered intranasally, has been shown in nonhuman primates to increase OT levels in cerebrospinal fluid significantly (54) and to modulate social behavior (65), as well as to affect brain activity (66) and phasic activity of the parasympathetic nervous system (67) in humans.”
From Oxytocin under opioid antagonism leads to supralinear enhancement of social attention (2017) · cites this paper as [67]
Cites
Constants across cultures in the face and emotion.
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0030377 · Cited by 5,509 · see citing works
(2001) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511546396 · Cited by 4,482 · see citing works
Dawson, M., Schell, A., & Filion, D. L. (2007) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511546396.007 · Cited by 2,425 · see citing works
Emotion and motivation I: Defensive and appetitive reactions in picture processing.
Bradley, M. M., Codispoti, M., Cuthbert, B. N., & Lang, P. J. (2001) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.1.3.276 · Cited by 2,224 · see citing works
Heinrichs, M., Baumgartner, T., Kirschbaum, C., & Ehlert, U. (2003) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00465-7 · Cited by 2,091 · see citing works
Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., Berntson, G. G., Shan, H., Mason, P., Kolb, B., Whishaw, I. Q., Geuter, S., Lindquist, M. A., Wager, T. D., et al. (2016) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781107415782 · Cited by 2,032 · see citing works
Oxytocin Modulates Neural Circuitry for Social Cognition and Fear in Humans
Kirsch, P., Esslinger, C., Chen, Q., Mier, D., Lis, S., Siddhanti, S., Gruppe, H., Mattay, V. S., Gallhofer, B., & Meyer-Lindenberg, A. (2005) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3984-05.2005 · Cited by 1,639 · see citing works
Oxytocin improves “mind-reading” in humans
Domes, G., Heinrichs, M., Michel, A., Berger, C., & Herpertz, S. C. (2007) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.015 · Cited by 1,298 · see citing works
Ebner, N. C., Riediger, M., & Lindenberger, U. (2010) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/brm.42.1.351 · Cited by 1,262 · see citing works
Insel, T. R. (2010) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.005 · Cited by 1,044 · see citing works
Intranasal oxytocin improves emotion recognition for youth with autism spectrum disorders.
Guastella, A. J., Einfeld, S. L., Gray, K. M., Rinehart, N. J., Tonge, B. J., Lambert, T. J., & Hickie, I. B. (2010) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.09.020 · Cited by 962 · see citing works
Promoting social behavior with oxytocin in high-functioning autism spectrum disorders.
Andari, E., Duhamel, J.-R., Zalla, T., Herbrecht, E., Leboyer, M., & Sirigu, A. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0910249107 · Cited by 941 · see citing works
Oxytocin, vasopressin, and human social behavior
Heinrichs, M., von Dawans, B., & Domes, G. (2009) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2009.05.005 · Cited by 799 · see citing works
Oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region of human faces
Guastella, A. J., Mitchell, P. B., & Dadds, M. R. (2008) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.06.026 · Cited by 798 · see citing works
Oxytocin attenuates amygdala responses to emotional faces regardless of valence
Domes, G., Heinrichs, M., Gläscher, J., Büchel, C., Braus, D. F., & Herpertz, S. C. (2007) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.03.025 · Cited by 774 · cited 5× · see citing works
“The presentation duration of facial expressions was considerably shorter than in previous studies (e.g., Kirsch et al., 2005; Domes et al., 2007a) to ensure that the initially fixated feature remained in the focus of attention during picture presentation.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialSelf-citationOxytocin enhances amygdala-dependent, socially reinforced learning and emotional empathy in humans
Hurlemann, R., Patin, A., Onur, O. A., Cohen, M. X., Baumgartner, T., Metzler, S., Dziobek, I., Gallinat, J., Wagner, M., Maier, W., et al. (2010) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5538-09.2010 · Cited by 771 · see citing works
Oxytocin Attenuates Amygdala Reactivity to Fear in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder
Labuschagne, I., Phan, K. L., Wood, A., Angstadt, M., Chua, P., Heinrichs, M., Stout, J. C., & Nathan, P. J. (2010) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2010.123 · Cited by 549 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…on overt recognition accuracy in the current study, which is consistent with previous studies using relatively easy experimental tasks (e.g., Labuschagne et al., 2010; Kirsch et al., 2005), indicates that such influence of oxytocin is not necessarily related to an increased ability of…”
BackgroundResultTheory of mind—evolution, ontogeny, brain mechanisms and psychopathology
Brüne, M., & Brüne-Cohrs, U. (2006) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.08.001 · Cited by 540 · see citing works
Effects of intranasal oxytocin on emotional face processing in women
Domes, G., Lischke, A., Berger, C., Grossmann, A., Hauenstein, K., Heinrichs, M., & Herpertz, S. C. (2010) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.06.016 · Cited by 521 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Since oxytocin seems to have differential effects on the neural circuitry involved in face processing in women (Domes et al., 2010), our data might not generalize to females.”
BackgroundTechniques in Psychophysiology
Cacioppo, J. T., Martin, I., & Venables, P. H. (1981) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1422756 · Cited by 489 · see citing works
Different amygdala subregions mediate valence-related and attentional effects of oxytocin in humans
Gamer, M., Zurowski, B., & Büchel, C. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1000985107 · Cited by 487 · cited 9× · see citing works
“Blood oxygenation level dependent functional images and eye movements were additionally acquired during the task but these data are reported elsewhere (Gamer et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialTechniques in psychophysiology
Eysenck, H. J. (1980) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/0191-8869(80)90025-2 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Information processing in social phobia
Clark, D. M., & McManus, F. (2002) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01296-3 · Cited by 416 · see citing works
A. Bartz, J., & Hollander, E. (2006) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.06.018 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Conceptual Challenges and Directions for Social Neuroscience
Adolphs, R. (2010) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.006 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Decomposing skin conductance into tonic and phasic components
Lim, C. L., RENNIE, C. J., Barry, R. J., Bahramali, H., Lazzaro, I., Manor, B. R., & Gordon, E. (1997) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/s0167-8760(96)00713-1 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Sympathetic Nerve Activity Underlying Electrodermal and Cardiovascular Reactions in Man
Wallin, B. G. (1981) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1981.tb02483.x · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Amygdala Activation Predicts Gaze toward Fearful Eyes
Gamer, M., & Buchel, C. (2009) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1883-09.2009 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Self-citationPetersson, M., Lundeberg, T., & Uvnäs‐Moberg, K. (1999) · Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology · doi:10.1097/00005344-199901000-00015 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Acute effects of intranasal oxytocin on subjective and behavioral responses to social rejection.
Alvares, G. A., Hickie, I. B., & Guastella, A. J. (2010) · Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1037/a0019719 · Cited by 92 · cited 1× · see citing works
“However, the hypothesized motivational effect might still result in enhanced approach behavior as recently demonstrated by an increased desire for future social engagement following positive social contact under oxytocin treatment (Alvares et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelective influences of oxytocin on the evaluative processing of social stimuli
Norman, G. J., Cacioppo, J. T., Morris, J. S., Karelina, K., Malarkey, W. B., DeVries, A. C., & Berntson, G. G. (2011) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881110367452 · Cited by 92 · cited 3× · see citing works
“In fact, oxytocin was found to decrease subjective arousal ratings for threatening social stimuli (Norman et al., 2010) and it reduces the functional connectivity between the amygdala and the brain stem regions implicated in autonomic manifestations of emotional experience (Kirsch et al.”
BackgroundFavaretto, A. L., Ballejo, G., Albuquerque-Araújo, W. I. C., Gutkowska, J., Antunes‐Rodrigues, J., & McCann, S. M. (1997) · Peptides · doi:10.1016/s0196-9781(97)00209-x · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Neuroendocrine mechanisms of stress and social interaction: Implications for mental disorders
Heinrichs, M., & Gaab, J. (2007) · Current Opinion in Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/yco.0b013e3280146a13 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Cardiac effects of oxytocin: Is there a role for this peptide in cardiovascular homeostasis?
Costa-e-Sousa, R. H., Pereira-Junior, P. P., Oliveira, P. F., Olivares, E. L., Werneck‐de‐Castro, J. P., Mello, D. B., Nascimento, J. H. M., & Campos-de-Carvalho, A. C. (2005) · Regulatory Peptides · doi:10.1016/j.regpep.2005.09.011 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Understanding borderline personality disorder
Tait, A. (1997) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3999(97)90061-1 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
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 · see citing works
Autism, oxytocin and interoception
Quattrocki, E., & Friston, K. (2014) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.012 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males
Striepens, N., Scheele, D., Kendrick, K. M., Becker, B., Schäfer, L., Schwalba, K., Reul, J., Maier, W., & Hurlemann, R. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1208852109 · Cited by 242 · see citing works
Overview of human oxytocin research
Kendrick, K. M., Guastella, A. J., & Becker, B. (2017) · Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences · doi:10.1007/7854_2017_19 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Ditzen, B., Nater, U. M., Schaer, M., La Marca, R., Bodenmann, G., Ehlert, U., & Heinrichs, M. (2013) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nss083 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
“However, the opposite is the case in men, in whom results strikingly resemble the data recently reported by Gamer and Buchel (2011).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialCerritelli, F., Frasch, M. G., Antonelli, M. C., Viglione, C., Vecchi, S., Chiera, M., & Manzotti, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.721605 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Radke (2013) · doi:10.1177/0956797612472682 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Prehn, K., Kazzer, P., Lischke, A., Heinrichs, M., Herpertz, S. C., & Domes, G. (2013) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.12042 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Krol, K. M., Puglia, M. H., Morris, J. P., Connelly, J. J., & Grossmann, T. (2019) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100648 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Feeser, M., Fan, Y., Weigand, A., Hahn, A., Gärtner, M., Böker, H., Grimm, S., & Bajbouj, M. (2015) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.12.015 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
The other side of the coin: oxytocin decreases the adherence to fairness norms
Radke, S., & de Bruijn, E. R. A. (2012) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00193 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Bornemann, B., Kok, B. E., Böckler, A., & Singer, T. (2016) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.07.004 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Neural functions of hypothalamic oxytocin and its regulation
Wang, P., Wang, S. C., Liu, X., Jia, S., Wang, X., Li, T., Yu, J., Parpura, V., & Wang, Y.-F. (2022) · ASN Neuro · doi:10.1177/17590914221100706 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Oxytocin under opioid antagonism leads to supralinear enhancement of social attention
Dal Monte, O., Piva, M., Anderson, K. M., Tringides, M., Holmes, A. J., & Chang, S. W. C. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1702725114 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Shared Reality Can Reduce Stressor Reactivity
Goldring, M. R., Pinelli, F., Bolger, N., & Higgins, E. T. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.853750 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gamer, M., & Büchel, C.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Gamer, Matthias
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-01
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 87-93
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2074465881
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 11.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Materials Science
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Keywords
- oxytocin, parasympathetic nervous system, sympathetic nervous system, emotional valence, facial expressions, heart rate, electrodermal activity, social behavior, anxiolytic effects, social information processing, intranasal administration
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Adult, Emotions, Facial Expression, Fixation, Ocular, Galvanic Skin Response, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Oxytocin, Parasympathetic Nervous System, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
