Oxytocin facilitates socially directed attention

doi:10.1111/psyp.13852

Randomized Controlled Trial

. 2021 Sep;58(9):e13852.

doi: 10.1111/psyp.13852. Epub 2021 May 25.

Oxytocin facilitates socially directed attention

Jiao Le¹, Weihua Zhao¹, Juan Kou¹, Meina Fu¹, Yingying Zhang¹, Benjamin Becker¹, Keith M Kendrick¹

Affiliations

Affiliation

¹ The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.

PMID: 34032304
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13852

Randomized Controlled Trial

Oxytocin facilitates socially directed attention

Jiao Le et al. Psychophysiology. 2021 Sep.

. 2021 Sep;58(9):e13852.

doi: 10.1111/psyp.13852. Epub 2021 May 25.

Authors

Jiao Le¹, Weihua Zhao¹, Juan Kou¹, Meina Fu¹, Yingying Zhang¹, Benjamin Becker¹, Keith M Kendrick¹

Affiliation

¹ The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.

PMID: 34032304
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13852

Abstract

Socially directed gaze following is an important component of social interaction and communication, allowing us to attend mutually with others to objects or people so that we can share their experience and also learn from them. This type of joint social attention is impaired in disorders such as autism. Previous research has demonstrated that the neuropeptide oxytocin can facilitate attention toward social cues, although to date no study in humans has investigated its influence on socially directed gaze or on associations of the latter with autistic and empathic traits. In a within-subject, randomized, placebo-controlled trial we used eye-tracking to investigate the effects of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) on socially directed gaze toward one of two objects in 40 adult male subjects. Subjects viewed videos of an actor and actress directing their gaze toward one of two objects by either moving only their eyes, moving both their eyes and head, or moving their eyes and head and pointing with a finger. Results showed that OXT increased the proportion of time subjects viewed the object the actor or actress were looking/pointing at across all three conditions, although unexpectedly we found no associations with trait autism or empathy under either placebo or OXT treatments. These findings demonstrate that OXT can facilitate socially directed gaze following to promote mutual attention toward objects which may be potentially beneficial therapeutically in disorders with impaired social communication and interaction.

Keywords: attention; gaze directed; oxytocin.

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References

REFERENCES

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1. Baron-Cohen, S., Baldwin, D. A., & Crowson, M. (1997). Do children with autism use the speaker's direction of gaze strategy to crack the code of language? Child Development, 68, 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360641798351837
1. Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., Stokes, J., Handelsman, L., Medrano, M., Desmond, D., & Zule, W. (2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27(2), 169-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00541-0
1. Charman, T. (2003). Why is joint attention a pivotal skill in autism? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 315-324. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2002.1199
1. Chen, Y., Li, Q., Zhang, Q., Kou, J., Zhang, Y., Cui, H., Wernicke, J., Montag, C., Becker, B., Kendrick, K. M., & Yao, S. (2020). The effects of intranasal oxytocin on neural and behavioral responses to social touch in the form of massage. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 589878. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.589878

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[1] Auyeung, B., Lombardo, M. V., Heinrichs, M., Chakrabarti, B., Sule, A., Deakin, J. B., Bethlehem, R. A. I., Dickens, L., Mooney, N., Sipple, J. A. N., Thiemann, P., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015). Oxytocin increases eye contact during a real-time, naturalistic social interaction in males with and without autism. Translational Psychiatry, 5(2), e507. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2014.146

[2] Auyeung, B., Lombardo, M. V., Heinrichs, M., Chakrabarti, B., Sule, A., Deakin, J. B., Bethlehem, R. A. I., Dickens, L., Mooney, N., Sipple, J. A. N., Thiemann, P., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015). Oxytocin increases eye contact during a real-time, naturalistic social interaction in males with and without autism. Translational Psychiatry, 5(2), e507. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2014.146

[3] Baron-Cohen, S., Baldwin, D. A., & Crowson, M. (1997). Do children with autism use the speaker's direction of gaze strategy to crack the code of language? Child Development, 68, 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360641798351837

[4] Baron-Cohen, S., Baldwin, D. A., & Crowson, M. (1997). Do children with autism use the speaker's direction of gaze strategy to crack the code of language? Child Development, 68, 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360641798351837

[5] Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., Stokes, J., Handelsman, L., Medrano, M., Desmond, D., & Zule, W. (2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27(2), 169-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00541-0

[6] Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., Stokes, J., Handelsman, L., Medrano, M., Desmond, D., & Zule, W. (2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27(2), 169-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00541-0

[7] Charman, T. (2003). Why is joint attention a pivotal skill in autism? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 315-324. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2002.1199

[8] Charman, T. (2003). Why is joint attention a pivotal skill in autism? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 315-324. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2002.1199

[9] Chen, Y., Li, Q., Zhang, Q., Kou, J., Zhang, Y., Cui, H., Wernicke, J., Montag, C., Becker, B., Kendrick, K. M., & Yao, S. (2020). The effects of intranasal oxytocin on neural and behavioral responses to social touch in the form of massage. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 589878. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.589878

[10] Chen, Y., Li, Q., Zhang, Q., Kou, J., Zhang, Y., Cui, H., Wernicke, J., Montag, C., Becker, B., Kendrick, K. M., & Yao, S. (2020). The effects of intranasal oxytocin on neural and behavioral responses to social touch in the form of massage. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 589878. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.589878

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Oxytocin facilitates socially directed attention

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Oxytocin facilitates socially directed attention

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