Effects of chronic oxytocin on attention to dynamic facial expressions in infant macaques
Open accessAbstract
Studies in a variety of species have reported enhanced prosocial effects after an acute administration of the neuromodulating hormone, oxytocin (OT). Although the exact mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood, there is broad interest in developing OT into a treatment for social deficits. Only a few studies, however, have examined the effects of OT if given repeatedly during early development, the period when early intervention is likely to have the greatest benefits for reversing the progression towards social impairment. Those studies, exclusively in rodents, report mixed results. Some have shown enhancement of prosocial behavior, including increased social exploration, but others have shown anti-social effects, including increased aggression. In the present study, infant rhesus macaques were treated with a high-frequency (3× per week) or low-frequency (1× per week) dose of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) or placebo (IN-saline) between two and six months of age, after which their reactions to dynamic facial expressions (neutral, lipsmacking and threats) were measured. Results showed that IN-OT, compared to placebo, increased the time monkeys spent viewing the expression videos, but selectively reduced attention to the eyes in neutral faces in a dose dependent manner. The mechanism for this non-prosocial effect may be that repeated IN-OT administration down-regulates the expression of OT receptors in brain regions important for regulating social attention. Consequently, our results raise questions about the efficacy of implementing chronic IN-OT as a pharmacotherapy for the treatment of social deficits, particularly if given early in development. More work is needed, not only to identify optimal treatment schedules, but also to understand how IN-OT exerts its influences on the brain and behavior.
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IN-OXT treatment increases gaze following, increases socially oriented gaze, and alters social attention in a wide variety of contexts in macaques.
“This work provides anatomical support for other findings in macaques, which indicate that IN-OXT treatment increases gaze following67, increases socially oriented gaze68, and alters social attention in a wide variety of contexts69–74.”
From Effect of age and autism spectrum disorder on oxytocin receptor density in the human basal forebrain and midbrain (2018) · cites this paper as [72]
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- Authors
- Parr, L. A., Brooks, J. M., Jonesteller, T., Moss, S., Jordano, J. O., & Heitz, T. R.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- Emory National Primate Research Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Parr, Lisa A.
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-12
- Volume
- 74
- Pages
- 149-157
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5159270
- OpenAlex
- W2518331754
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 7.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (MH104534)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- oxytocin, intranasal oxytocin, infant rhesus macaques, social attention, dynamic facial expressions, gaze, prosocial behavior, social dysfunction, dose dependence
- MeSH terms
- Facial Recognition, Animals, Attention, Eye, Facial Expression, Macaca mulatta, Male, Oxytocin, Social Perception, Eye Movement Measurements
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