Oxytocin selectively facilitates recognition of positive sex and relationship words.
Abstract
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has a crucial role in social behavior (Bartz & Hollander, 2006). Oxytocin improves trust (Kosfeld, Heinrichs, Zak, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2005), emotion perception (Domes, Henrichs, Michel, Berger, & Herpertz, 2007), eye-gaze (Guastella, Mitchell, & Dadds, 2008), and the encoding of happy faces (Guastella, Mitchell, & Mathews, 2008). However, the mechanisms underlying these observations are not fully understood. One explanation, from evolutionarybiological perspectives (Heinrichs, Meinlschmidt, Wippich, Ehlert, & Hellhammer, 2004), is that OT selectively facilitates the processing of positive social cues that are important for bonding and reproductive behavior. This study is the first to investigate whether OT produces a selective recognition advantage for identifying such positive social stimuli. We used a constructive recognition task in which a gradually disappearing mask slowly reveals the target stimulus. This methodology is ideally suited to assess top-down influences on cognition and was successfully used to demonstrate mood congruency effects (Fiedler, Nickel, Muehlfriedel, & Unkelbach, 2001; Forgas, 1995). We predicted that OT selectively enhances the recognition and categorization speed of positive sexually-themed and relationship words, but OT should not alter the processing of positive stimuli in general.
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Intranasally administered oxytocin can increase an individual's willingness to accept social risks arising through interpersonal interactions.
“Kosfeld and colleagues [55] demonstrated that intra-nasally administered oxytocin can increase an individual’s willingness to “accept social risks arising through interpersonal interactions.””
From Could intranasal oxytocin be used to enhance relationships? Research imperatives, clinical policy, and ethical considerations (2013) · cites this paper as [55]
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“Finally, as mentioned in the previous section, work across humans and nonhuman primates indicates that the effects of OT are likely valencespecific (Chang et al., 2012; Ebitz et al., 2013; Evans et al., 2010; Landman et al., 2014; Marsh et al., 2010; Unkelbach et al., 2008).”
Background
- Authors
- Unkelbach, C., Guastella, A. J., & Forgas, J. P.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Unkelbach, Christian
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-11
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1092-1094
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2023834129
- Cited by
- 122
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 15.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- oxytocin, social cognition, word recognition, top-down processing, emotion perception, neuropeptides
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Oxytocics, Oxytocin, Reaction Time, Semantics, Sexual Behavior, Vocabulary, Recognition, Psychology, Young Adult
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