Oxytocin modulates amygdala reactivity to masked fearful eyes
Open accessAbstract
The amygdala reveals enhanced reactivity to fearful eye whites, even when they are backwardly masked by a neutral face and therefore processed with limited visual awareness. In our fMRI study, we investigated whether this effect is indeed associated with fear detection within the eyes of the neutral face mask, or more generally, with reactivity to any salient increase in eye white area. In addition, we examined whether a single dose of intranasal oxytocin would modulate amygdala responses to masked fearful eye whites via a double-blind, placebo-controlled pharmacological protocol. We found that increased amygdala responses to salient changes within a face's eye region occurred specifically for masked fearful eyes but not for similar increases in white area as induced by nonsocial control stimuli. Administration of oxytocin attenuated amygdala responses to masked fearful eye whites. Our results suggest that the amygdala is particularly tuned to potential threat signals from the eye region. The dampening effects of oxytocin on early amygdala reactivity may reflect reduced vigilance for facial threat cues at a preconscious level. Future studies may investigate whether this early modulation accounts for the beneficial effects of oxytocin on social cognition in anxiety-related disorders, as suggested by previous studies.
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Exogenous oxytocin boosts empathy and prosocial behavior in adults.
“Exogenous oxytocin also boosts empathy and prosocial behavior in adults (Domes et al., 2007; Kanat et al., 2015).”
From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Kanat et al., 2015
Cites
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“The eyes are particularly important in fear recognition (Adolphs et al, 2005; Scheller et al, 2012).”
BackgroundOxytocin 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 2× · see citing works
“For example, the intranasal administration of oxytocin was found to improve mental state attribution based on subtle cues from the eye region (Domes et al, 2007b) and to facilitate attentional shifts following gaze cues in emotional faces (Tollenaar et al, 2013).”
BackgroundSelf-citationA direct brainstem–amygdala–cortical ‘alarm’system for subliminal signals of fear.
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“This result is consistent with the normalizing effects of intranasal oxytocin on both heightened amygdala responses to fearful faces (Labuschagne et al, 2010) and hypoconnectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex in social anxiety disorder (Dodhia et al, 2014).”
BackgroundResultSelf-citationDifferent amygdala subregions mediate valence-related and attentional effects of oxytocin in humans
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“Notably, oxytocin’s effects on both facial emotion processing and eye gazing behavior seem to be mediated via the amygdala (Gamer et al, 2010; for a recent review, see Kanat et al, 2014) and to occur very early during stimulus perception (Kanat et al, 2015; Schulze et al, 2011).”
BackgroundOxytocin Attenuates Affective Evaluations of Conditioned Faces and Amygdala Activity
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“…studies reported dampening oxytocin effects on amygdala reactivity to facial threat in men (Domes et al, 2007a; Kanat et al, 2015; Kirsch et al, 2005; Petrovic et al, 2008), we expected decreased amygdala responses to fearful eye whites following oxytocin as compared with placebo administration.”
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- Authors
- Kanat, M., Heinrichs, M., Mader, I., van Elst, L. T., & Domes, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Domes, Gregor
- Venue
- Neuropsychopharmacology
- Published
- 2015-04-17
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 2632-2638
- ISSN
- 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
- 1740-634X
- PMC
- PMC4569954
- OpenAlex
- W1968237538
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 4.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
- FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- oxytocin, amygdala, fear detection, intranasal administration, threat vigilance, social cognition, anxiety disorders, preconscious processing
- MeSH terms
- Facial Recognition, Administration, Intranasal, Amygdala, Brain Mapping, Cues, Fear, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxytocin, Photic Stimulation, Psychotropic Drugs, Random Allocation, Young Adult
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