State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation (IBRR), South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 Oct;108:172-181. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.06.016. Epub 2019 Jul 2.
Aggression is an important behaviour that concerns individual survival and large-scale social stability. It comprises a variety of psychological subcomponents and is modulated by different biological factors. Two factors in particular, gender and oxytocin, appear to play a robust role in aggressive behaviour. However, whether these two factors interact to impact aggressive behaviour is not currently known. The current study investigated the modulating effect of gender on the relationship between oxytocin and aggression and characterized its underlying mechanisms by combining behavioural economic, pharmacological, and computational approaches. Specifically, we employed a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subjects design, in which one hundred participants (50 men and 50 women) completed a norm-training version of the multi-round one-shot ultimatum game (UG) after intranasal oxytocin or placebo administration. Rejection rates in the UG were adopted as an indicator of reactive aggression. The results indicated that oxytocin compared with placebo administration decreased aggression among men but not among women. Further analyses suggested that this decrease in aggression was a result of changes in men's sensitivity to provocation and positive affect, rather than norm adaptation rates or concerns about the cost of aggression. These findings highlight the role of gender in the relationship between oxytocin and reactive aggression and reveal its underlying psychological and computational mechanisms.
攻击性是一种重要的行为，它关乎个体的生存和大规模的社会稳定。它包含多种心理亚成分，并受到不同生物因素的调节。有两个因素特别突出，即性别和催产素，它们似乎在攻击性行为中起着强大的作用。然而，目前还不清楚这两个因素是否相互作用影响攻击性行为。本研究通过结合行为经济学、药理学和计算方法，探讨了性别对催产素与攻击性之间关系的调节作用，并对其潜在机制进行了研究。具体来说，我们采用了双盲、随机、安慰剂对照、被试间设计，其中 100 名参与者（50 名男性和 50 名女性）在接受鼻内催产素或安慰剂给药后完成了多轮一轮一掷的最后通牒博弈（UG）的规范训练版本。UG 中的拒绝率被用作反应性攻击的指标。结果表明，与安慰剂相比，催产素给药降低了男性的攻击性，但对女性没有影响。进一步的分析表明，这种攻击性的降低是由于男性对挑衅和积极情绪的敏感性发生变化，而不是规范适应率或对攻击性成本的担忧。这些发现突出了性别在催产素与反应性攻击性之间关系中的作用，并揭示了其潜在的心理和计算机制。
