Luo Siyang, Ma Yina, Liu Yi, Li Bingfeng, Wang Chenbo, Shi Zhenhao, Li Xiaoyang, Zhang Wenxia, Rao Yi, Han Shihui
Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and.
PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 Sep;10(9):1273-81. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsv019. Epub 2015 Feb 13.
Recent evidence suggests that the association between oxytocin receptor polymorphism (OXTR rs53576) and emotion-related behavioral/psychological tendencies differs between individuals from East Asian and Western cultures. What remains unresolved is which specific dimension of cultural orientations interacts with OXTR rs53576 to shape these tendencies and whether such gene × culture interactions occurs at both behavioral and neural level. This study investigated whether and how OXTR rs53576 interacts with interdependence-a key dimension of cultural orientations that distinguish between East Asian and Western cultures-to affect human empathy that underlies altruistic motivation and prosocial behavior. Experiment 1 measured interdependence, empathy trait and OXTR rs53576 genotypes of 1536 Chinese participants. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a stronger association between interdependence and empathy trait in G allele carriers compared with A/A homozygotes of OXTR rs53576. Experiment 2 measured neural responses to others' suffering by scanning A/A and G/G homozygous of OXTR rs53576 using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed stronger associations between interdependence and empathic neural responses in the insula, amygdala and superior temporal gyrus in G/G compared with A/A carriers. Our results provide the first evidence for gene × culture interactions on empathy at both behavioral tendency and underlying brain activity.
最近的证据表明，催产素受体基因多态性（OXTR rs53576）与情绪相关的行为/心理倾向之间的关联在东亚和西方文化背景的个体中存在差异。尚未解决的问题是，文化取向的哪个特定维度与OXTR rs53576相互作用以塑造这些倾向，以及这种基因×文化相互作用是否在行为和神经层面都存在。本研究调查了OXTR rs53576是否以及如何与相互依存性（区分东亚和西方文化的文化取向的一个关键维度）相互作用，以影响作为利他动机和亲社会行为基础的人类同理心。实验1测量了1536名中国参与者的相互依存性、同理心特质和OXTR rs53576基因型。分层回归分析显示，与OXTR rs53576的A/A纯合子相比，G等位基因携带者的相互依存性与同理心特质之间的关联更强。实验2使用功能磁共振成像扫描OXTR rs53576的A/A和G/G纯合子，测量对他人痛苦的神经反应。分层回归分析显示，与A/A携带者相比，G/G携带者的相互依存性与脑岛、杏仁核和颞上回的共情神经反应之间的关联更强。我们的研究结果首次为基因×文化在行为倾向和潜在大脑活动层面上对同理心的相互作用提供了证据。
