Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, 37th and O St. NW, 301-G White Gravenor, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2010 Apr;209(3):225-32. doi: 10.1007/s00213-010-1780-4. Epub 2010 Feb 26.
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is associated with increased trust. Perceptions of trustworthiness are associated with detection of positive facial affect, which suggests that oxytocin may enhance the recognition of positive facial affect. The present study tests this hypothesis.
A double-blind, between-groups design was used, with 50 volunteers randomly assigned to receive intranasally administered oxytocin or placebo. Thirty-five minutes following the administration of oxytocin or placebo, participants identified anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise expressions that were morphed with neutral faces such that they varied from 10% to 100% intensity.
Oxytocin significantly and specifically improved the recognition of happy facial expressions; no significant differences in recognition of other expression were found. The improvement was not associated with gender, response biases, or changes in mood, and it was most pronounced for subtle expressions.
Acute oxytocin administration enhances healthy adults' ability to accurately identify positive emotional facial expressions. These findings reinforce oxytocin's role in facilitating affiliative interactions and have implications for the treatment of conditions that are marked by social affiliation deficits.
催产素是一种与增加信任相关的神经肽。对可信赖性的感知与对积极面部表情的察觉有关，这表明催产素可能增强对积极面部表情的识别。本研究检验了这一假设。
采用双盲、组间设计，将 50 名志愿者随机分配接受鼻内给予催产素或安慰剂。在给予催产素或安慰剂 35 分钟后，参与者识别出与中性面孔融合的愤怒、厌恶、恐惧、快乐、悲伤和惊讶表情，其强度从 10%到 100%不等。
催产素显著且特异性地改善了对快乐面部表情的识别；对其他表情的识别没有显著差异。这种改善与性别、反应偏差或情绪变化无关，对于微妙的表情最为明显。
急性催产素给药增强了健康成年人准确识别积极情绪面部表情的能力。这些发现强化了催产素在促进亲和性互动中的作用，并对治疗以社交联系缺陷为特征的疾病具有重要意义。
