The influence of oxytocin on volitional and emotional ambivalence
Open accessAbstract
Moral decisions and social relationships are often characterized by strong feelings of ambivalence which can be a catalyst for emotional distress and several health-related problems. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been identified as a key brain region in monitoring conflicting information, but the neurobiological substrates of ambivalence processing are still widely unknown. We have conducted two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments involving 70 healthy male volunteers to investigate the effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) on neural and behavioral correlates of ambivalence. We chose moral decision-making and the imagery of partner infidelity as examples to probe volitional and emotional ambivalence. In both experiments, intranasal OXT diminished neural responses in the ACC to ambivalence. Under OXT, moral dilemma vignettes also elicited a reduced activation in the orbitofrontal cortex, and the imagery of partner infidelity was rated as less arousing. Interestingly, the OXT-induced differential activation in the ACC predicted the magnitude of arousal reduction. Taken together, our findings reveal an unprecedented role of OXT in causing a domain-general decrease of neural responses to ambivalence. By alleviating emotional distress, OXT may qualify as a treatment option for psychiatric disorders with heightened ambivalence sensitivity such as schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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OXT reduces arousal induced by the imagination of sexual infidelity.
“to reduce arousal induced by the imagination of sexual infidelity (Preckel et al., 2015).”
From Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face (2016) · cites this paper as Preckel et al., 2015
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Dissecting the Role of Oxytocin in the Formation and Loss of Social Relationships
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Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face
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“, 2014) and to reduce arousal induced by the imagination of sexual infidelity (Preckel et al., 2015).”
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- Authors
- Preckel, K., Scheele, D., Eckstein, M., Maier, W., & Hurlemann, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Bonn (DE)
- Venue
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-12-10
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 987-993
- ISSN
- 1749-5016 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-5024
- PMC
- PMC4483569
- OpenAlex
- W2086183175
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 6.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DZNE Pub (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- oxytocin, emotional ambivalence, anterior cingulate cortex, ethical decision-making, orbitofrontal cortex, arousal reduction, conflict monitoring, neuropeptides, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Adult, Arousal, Decision Making, Double-Blind Method, Emotions, Humans, Jealousy, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Morals, Oxytocin, Social Behavior, Volition, Prefrontal Cortex, Spouses, Young Adult
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