Endogenous testosterone and exogenous oxytocin influence the response to baby schema in the female brain

Scientific Reports
Sarah K C HoltfrerichEsther K Diekhof

Abstract

Nurturing behavior may be critically influenced by the interplay of different hormones. The neuropeptide oxytocin is known to promote maternal behavior and its reduction has been associated with postpartum depression risk and child neglect. Contrariwise, the observed decrease in testosterone level during early parenthood may benefit caretaking behavior, whereas increased testosterone may reduce attention to infants. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the interactive influence of testosterone and oxytocin on selective attention to and neural processing of the baby schema (BS). 57 nulliparous women performed a target detection task with human faces with varying degree of BS following double-blinded placebo-controlled oxytocin administration in a between-subjects design. Our results support the idea that oxytocin enhances attention to the BS. Oxytocin had a positive effect on activation of the inferior frontal junction during identification of infant targets with a high degree of BS that were presented among adult distractors. Further, activation of the putamen was positively correlated with selective attention to the BS, but only in women with high endogenous testosterone who received oxytocin. Thes...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 20, 2020·Molecular Autism·Tanya L ProcyshynRichard A I Bethlehem
Oct 28, 2019·Hormones and Behavior·Tanya L ProcyshynBernard J Crespi
Jul 24, 2021·Psychoneuroendocrinology·Boaz R CherkiSalomon Israel
Nov 6, 2021·Human Nature : an Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective·Melvin Konner
Jul 1, 2020·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology·Lizhu LuoShan Gao

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
contraception
pregnancy test

Software Mentioned

SPM
SPM8
SPSS statistics

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