Technische Universität Dresden, Bamberger Straße 7, 01187, Dresden, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Transl Psychiatry. 2020 Jul 7;10(1):221. doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-00903-5.
Faces and voices are prominent cues for person-identity recognition. Face recognition behavior and associated brain responses can be enhanced by intranasal administration of oxytocin. It is unknown whether oxytocin can also augment voice-identity recognition mechanisms. To find it out is particularly relevant for individuals who have difficulties recognizing voice identity such as individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We conducted a combined behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to investigate voice-identity recognition following intranasal administration of oxytocin or placebo in a group of adults diagnosed with ASD (full-scale intelligence quotient > 85) and pairwise-matched typically developing (TD) controls. A single dose of 24 IU oxytocin was administered in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and cross-over design. In the control group, but not in the ASD group, administration of oxytocin compared to placebo increased responses to recognition of voice identity in contrast to speech in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus/gyrus (pSTS/G) - a region implicated in the perceptual analysis of voice-identity information. In the ASD group, the right pSTS/G responses were positively correlated with voice-identity recognition accuracy in the oxytocin condition, but not in the placebo condition. Oxytocin did not improve voice-identity recognition performance at the group level. The ASD compared to the control group had lower right pSTS/G responses to voice-identity recognition. Since ASD is known to have atypical pSTS/G, the results indicate that the potential of intranasal oxytocin to enhance mechanisms for voice-identity recognition might be variable and dependent on the functional integrity of this brain region.
面孔和声音是识别个人身份的重要线索。鼻内给予催产素可以增强人脸识别行为和相关的大脑反应。目前尚不清楚催产素是否也能增强声音识别机制。对于那些难以识别声音身份的人，如被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的人，找出这一点尤为重要。我们进行了一项联合行为和功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究，以调查在一组被诊断为 ASD（全量表智商> 85）的成年人和配对的典型发育（TD）对照者中，鼻内给予催产素或安慰剂后对声音身份识别的影响。采用随机、双盲、安慰剂对照和交叉设计给予 24IU 的单剂量催产素。在对照组中，但在 ASD 组中，与安慰剂相比，催产素给药增加了对声音身份识别而不是言语的右后颞上回/回（pSTS/G）的反应 - 该区域参与声音身份信息的感知分析。在 ASD 组中，右 pSTS/G 反应与催产素条件下的声音身份识别准确性呈正相关，但在安慰剂条件下则不然。催产素并未改善群体水平的声音身份识别表现。与对照组相比，ASD 对声音身份识别的右 pSTS/G 反应较低。由于 ASD 被认为具有非典型的 pSTS/G，因此这些结果表明，鼻内给予催产素增强声音身份识别机制的潜力可能是可变的，并取决于该大脑区域的功能完整性。
