Cited by 139Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorFace Recognition and PerceptionOlfactory and Sensory Function Studies

Oxytocin Modulates Neural Reactivity to Children's Faces as a Function of Social Salience

Open access
Wittfoth-Schardt, Dina, Gründing, Johanna, Wittfoth, Matthias, Lanfermann, Heinrich, Heinrichs, Markus, Domes, Gregor, Buchheim, Anna, Gündel, Harald +1 more·2012·Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

Oxytocin (OT) enhances social behaviors such as attachment and parental caretaking. Neural correlates of maternal attachment are found in reward-related brain regions, for example, in the globus pallidus (GP). The present work investigates the effects of OT on the neural correlates of parental attachment. Fathers viewed pictures of their own child (oC), a familiar child (fC), and an unfamiliar child (uC) after intranasal application of OT vs placebo. OT reduced activation and functional connectivity of the left GP with reward- and attachment-related regions responsive to pictures of the oC and the uC. The present results emphasize the key role of OT in human parental attachment and suggest that OT reduces neural reactivity to social cues as a function of social salience. Our results together with previous findings speak to a selective reduction of neural reactivity to social stimuli, irrespective of their valence. We argue that one major pathway by which OT exerts its positive effects on affiliative and social behaviors is the attenuation of automatic neural responses, which in turn leads to increased approach behaviors and decreased social avoidance.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/npp.2012.47

Cites

62 of 62 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

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?

  • When fathers view their children's faces, fMRI scanning shows activation of the ventral striatum and the oxytocin-associated hypothalamus/pituitary region, areas that correspond with reward and attachment.

    “When fathers view their children’s faces, fMRI scanning shows activation of the ventral striatum and the oxytocin-associated hypothalamus/pituitary region, areas that correspond with reward and attachment.”

    From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Wittfoth-Schardt et al. (2012)

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says fathers activated reward- and attachment-related regions, specifically the left globus pallidus, when viewing pictures of their own children. The Familiarity Effects in Fathers Under PL section also reports increased activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and ventral tegmental area, but our copy does not report the claimed activation of the ventral striatum or hypothalamus/pituitary region. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Parental recognition of their child's signals is related to brain circuits that belong to a reward system saturated with oxytocin receptors.

    “This may be due to the fact that parental recognition of their child’s signals is related to brain circuits that belong to a reward system saturated with oxytocin receptors (Wittfoth-Schardt et al., 2012).”

    From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Wittfoth-Schardt et al. (2012)

  • Previous studies examining functional connectivity during tasks show enhanced connectivity in women but decreased connectivity in men.

    “For example, previous studies examining functional connectivity during tasks show enhanced connectivity in women but decreased connectivity in men.47, 50”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Wittfoth-Schardt, D., Gründing, J., Wittfoth, M., Lanfermann, H., Heinrichs, M., Domes, G., Buchheim, A., Gündel, H., & Waller, C.
Affiliations
  • Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (DE)
  • University of Freiburg (DE)
  • Universität Innsbruck (AT)
  • Universität Ulm (DE)
Venue
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published
2012-04-18
Volume
37
Issue
8
Pages
1799-1807
ISSN
  • 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
  • 1740-634X
OpenAlex
W2136034271
Cited by
139
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 2
FWCI
18.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
  • FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › 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, parental attachment, children's faces, social salience, globus pallidus, neural reactivity, functional connectivity, reward processing, fathers, social behavior, social avoidance
MeSH terms
Administration, Intranasal, Adult, Child, Preschool, Double-Blind Method, Face, Fathers, Globus Pallidus, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Object Attachment, Oxytocin, Photic Stimulation, Placebos, Visual Perception, Recognition, Psychology, Functional Neuroimaging

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