Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany; Department of Genetic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany; Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 Jan;99:66-71. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.08.025. Epub 2018 Aug 27.
Adverse childhood experience such as neglect or abuse can lead to long-term deficits in emotion processing abilities. Animal studies indicate that oxytocin production and/or sensitivity are influenced by variation in early nurturing experiences. The goal of this study was to test whether emotion recognition abilities and empathy might be improved via intranasal oxytocin administration in adults with a history of childhood maltreatment. We assessed a total of 80 healthy participants, half with and half without a history of childhood adversity. Participants performed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and an emotion recognition task under 24 IU intranasal oxytocin and placebo, using a double-blind crossover study design. In the first of two sessions, both groups profited equally form oxytocin administration and showed greater accuracy under oxytocin compared to placebo in the RMET (p = .049). In the emotion recognition task, only the early adversity group benefited significantly from oxytocin administration in the first session (p = .035), mainly due to more accurate recognition of angry and fearful facial expression. Our findings show that emotion processing abilities might be improved via oxytocin administration in adults reporting adverse childhood experiences.
不良的童年经历，如忽视或虐待，可能导致情绪处理能力的长期缺陷。动物研究表明，催产素的产生和/或敏感性受到早期养育经历变化的影响。本研究的目的是测试在有童年虐待史的成年人中，通过鼻内给予催产素是否可以改善情绪识别能力和同理心。我们共评估了 80 名健康参与者，其中一半有，一半没有童年逆境史。参与者使用双盲交叉研究设计，在 24IU 鼻内催产素和安慰剂下进行“读心测试”（RMET）和情绪识别任务。在两个阶段中的第一阶段，两组参与者在接受催产素治疗后都同样受益，并且在 RMET 中，催产素组比安慰剂组的准确性更高（p=0.049）。在情绪识别任务中，只有早期逆境组在第一阶段从催产素治疗中获益显著（p=0.035），主要是因为对愤怒和恐惧面部表情的识别更准确。我们的研究结果表明，在有不良童年经历的成年人中，通过鼻内给予催产素可能改善情绪处理能力。
