Wang Tianyu, Tang Qingting, Wu Xin, Chen Xu
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400175, China.
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400175, China.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2020 Nov;198:173015. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2020.173015. Epub 2020 Aug 21.
Valence-specific effects of oxytocin have been revealed in a selection of preceding studies, while others report that oxytocin could improve facial recognition, regardless of emotion valence. The reported effect was mediated by increased eye gaze during face processing, and attachment style proved to moderate the effect of oxytocin administration on social behavior and cognition. In this study, we used eye tracking to test whether attachment style moderates the effect of oxytocin on negative emotion recognition, which is crucial for social cognition. We employed a placebo-controlled, double-blind, within-participants design. The participants were 73 healthy individuals (41 men) who received a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) on one occasion and a placebo dose on another occasion. Visual attention to the eye region was assessed on both occasions, through the completion of an emotion recognition task. Our results showed that oxytocin increased participants' eye gaze towards facial expressions. Among participants who received oxytocin, as opposed to a placebo, only individuals with high attachment anxiety displayed more eye gaze and less mouth gaze towards facial expression, regardless of emotion valence. Our findings confirmed that oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region, thus improving facial recognition, regardless of emotion valence, this relationship was moderated by attachment anxiety. Further, our results highlighted the importance of considering individual differences when evaluating the effects of oxytocin on emotion recognition.
在之前的一系列研究中已经揭示了催产素的效价特异性效应，而其他研究报告称，催产素可以改善面部识别，无论情绪效价如何。所报告的效应是由面部处理过程中目光注视的增加介导的，并且依恋风格被证明可以调节催产素给药对社会行为和认知的影响。在本研究中，我们使用眼动追踪来测试依恋风格是否调节催产素对负面情绪识别的影响，这对社会认知至关重要。我们采用了安慰剂对照、双盲、被试内设计。参与者为73名健康个体（41名男性），他们在一次实验中接受单剂量鼻内催产素（24国际单位），在另一次实验中接受安慰剂剂量。在两次实验中，通过完成情绪识别任务来评估对眼睛区域的视觉注意力。我们的结果表明，催产素增加了参与者对面部表情的目光注视。在接受催产素而非安慰剂的参与者中，只有高依恋焦虑的个体对面部表情表现出更多的目光注视和更少的对嘴部的目光注视，无论情绪效价如何。我们的研究结果证实，催产素增加了对眼睛区域的注视，从而改善了面部识别，无论情绪效价如何，这种关系受到依恋焦虑的调节。此外，我们的结果强调了在评估催产素对情绪识别的影响时考虑个体差异的重要性。
