CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Dec;14(6):2530-2541. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00205-5.
Oxytocin (OT) has modulatory effects in both human behavior and in the brain, which is not limited in the specific brain area but also with the potential effect on connectivity with other brain regions. Evidence indicates that OT effects on human behavior are multifaceted, such as trust behavior, decrease anxiety, empathy and bonding behavior. For the vital role of mentalizing in understanding others, here we examine whether OT has a general effect on mentalizing brain network which is associated to the effect of related social behavioral and personality traits. Using a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled group design, we investigate the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging after intranasal OT or placebo. The functional connectivity (FC) maps with seed in left/right temporoparietal junction (lTPJ/rTPJ) showed that OT significantly increased connectivity between rTPJ and default attention network (DAN), but decreased the FC between lTPJ and medial prefrontal network (MPN). With machine learning approach, we report that identified altered FCs of TPJ can classify OT and placebo (PL) group. Moreover, individual's empathy trait can modulate the FC between left TPJ and right rectus (RECT), which shows a positive correlation with empathic concern in PL group but a negative correlation in OT group. These results demonstrate that OT has significant effect on FC with lTPJ and rTPJ, brain regions where are critical for mentalizing, and the empathy concern can modulate the FC. These findings advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms by which OT modulates social behaviors, especially in social interaction involving mentalizing.
催产素（OT）对人类行为和大脑具有调节作用，不仅限于特定的大脑区域，还可能对与其他大脑区域的连接产生影响。有证据表明，OT 对人类行为的影响是多方面的，如信任行为、降低焦虑、同理心和联系行为。鉴于心理化在理解他人方面的重要作用，我们在这里研究 OT 是否对与相关社会行为和个性特征的影响相关的心理化脑网络具有普遍影响。使用随机、双盲、安慰剂对照的分组设计，我们在鼻内给予 OT 或安慰剂后进行静息状态功能磁共振成像。以左侧/右侧颞顶联合（lTPJ/rTPJ）为种子的功能连接（FC）图谱显示，OT 显著增加了 rTPJ 与默认注意网络（DAN）之间的连接，但降低了 lTPJ 与内侧前额叶网络（MPN）之间的 FC。通过机器学习方法，我们报告了识别出的 TPJ 改变的 FC 可以将 OT 和安慰剂（PL）组分类。此外，个体的同理心特质可以调节左 TPJ 和右 rectus（RECT）之间的 FC，在 PL 组中与同理心关怀呈正相关，而在 OT 组中呈负相关。这些结果表明，OT 对 lTPJ 和 rTPJ 的 FC 有显著影响，这两个区域对于心理化至关重要，同理心关怀可以调节 FC。这些发现增进了我们对 OT 调节社会行为的神经机制的理解，尤其是在涉及心理化的社交互动中。
