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      Oxytocin Receptor ( OXTR) Polymorphisms and Attachment in Human Infants

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          Abstract

          Ordinary variations in human infants’ attachment behaviors – their proclivity to seek and accept comfort from caregivers – are associated with a wide range of individual differences in psychological functioning in adults. The current investigation examined variation in the oxytocin receptor ( OXTR) gene as one possible source of these variations in infant attachment. One hundred seventy-six infants (77 Caucasian, 99 non-Caucasian) were classified as securely or insecurely attached based on their behavior in the Strange Situation (Ainsworth et al., 1978). The A allele of OXTR rs2254298 was associated with attachment security in the non-Caucasian infants ( p < 0.005). These findings underscore the importance of oxytocin in the development of human social behavior and support its role in social stress-regulation and the development of trust.

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          Most cited references29

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          Oxytocin modulates neural circuitry for social cognition and fear in humans.

          In non-human mammals, the neuropeptide oxytocin is a key mediator of complex emotional and social behaviors, including attachment, social recognition, and aggression. Oxytocin reduces anxiety and impacts on fear conditioning and extinction. Recently, oxytocin administration in humans was shown to increase trust, suggesting involvement of the amygdala, a central component of the neurocircuitry of fear and social cognition that has been linked to trust and highly expresses oxytocin receptors in many mammals. However, no human data on the effects of this peptide on brain function were available. Here, we show that human amygdala function is strongly modulated by oxytocin. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to image amygdala activation by fear-inducing visual stimuli in 15 healthy males after double-blind crossover intranasal application of placebo or oxytocin. Compared with placebo, oxytocin potently reduced activation of the amygdala and reduced coupling of the amygdala to brainstem regions implicated in autonomic and behavioral manifestations of fear. Our results indicate a neural mechanism for the effects of oxytocin in social cognition in the human brain and provide a methodology and rationale for exploring therapeutic strategies in disorders in which abnormal amygdala function has been implicated, such as social phobia or autism.
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            Oxytocin improves "mind-reading" in humans.

            The ability to "read the mind" of other individuals, that is, to infer their mental state by interpreting subtle social cues, is indispensable in human social interaction. The neuropeptide oxytocin plays a central role in social approach behavior in nonhuman mammals. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design, 30 healthy male volunteers were tested for their ability to infer the affective mental state of others using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) after intranasal administration of 24 IU oxytocin. Oxytocin improved performance on the RMET compared with placebo. This effect was pronounced for difficult compared with easy items. Our data suggest that oxytocin improves the ability to infer the mental state of others from social cues of the eye region. Oxytocin might play a role in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by severe social impairment.
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              Oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region of human faces.

              In nonhuman mammals, oxytocin has a critical role in peer recognition and social approach behavior. In humans, oxytocin has been found to enhance trust and the ability to interpret the emotions of others. It has been suggested that oxytocin may enhance facial processing by increasing focus on the eye region of human faces. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, we tracked the eye movements of 52 healthy male volunteers who were presented with 24 neutral human faces after intranasal administration of 24 IU oxytocin or placebo. Participants given oxytocin showed an increased number of fixations and total gaze time toward the eye region compared with placebo participants. Oxytocin increases gaze specifically toward the eye region of human faces. This may be one mechanism by which oxytocin enhances emotion recognition, interpersonal communication, and social approach behavior in humans. Findings suggest a possible role for oxytocin in the treatment of disorders characterized by eye-gaze avoidance and facial processing deficits.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Front Psychol
                Front. Psychology
                Frontiers in Psychology
                Frontiers Research Foundation
                1664-1078
                25 August 2011
                2011
                : 2
                : 200
                Affiliations
                [1] 1simpleDepartment of Psychology, University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany
                [2] 2simpleDepartment of Psychology, Tufts University Boston, MA, USA
                [3] 3simpleDepartment of Genetics, Washington University Medical School St. Louis, MO, USA
                [4] 4simpleDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University Stanford, CA, USA
                [5] 5simpleDepartment of Psychology, Ohio State University Columbus, OH, USA
                Author notes

                Edited by: Daniel Richardson, University College London, UK

                Reviewed by: Angelica Ronald, Birkbeck College, UK; Emma Meaburn, Birkbeck, University of London, UK

                *Correspondence: Frances S. Chen, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Strasse 8, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany. e-mail: frances.chen@ 123456psychologie.uni-freiburg.de ; Susan S. Johnson, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 614-292-8964, USA. e-mail: johnson.4369@ 123456osu.edu

                This article was submitted to Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, a specialty of Frontiers in Psychology.

                Article
                10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00200
                3161247
                21904531
                f1e997c3-ce66-4d92-b2fc-4c20f828c83c
                Copyright © 2011 Chen, Barth, Johnson, Gotlib and Johnson.

                This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.

                History
                : 07 July 2010
                : 08 August 2011
                Page count
                Figures: 1, Tables: 2, Equations: 0, References: 51, Pages: 6, Words: 5867
                Categories
                Psychology
                Original Research

                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                oxytocin,trust,development,attachment,polymorphisms
                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                oxytocin, trust, development, attachment, polymorphisms

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