Oxytocin facilitates reciprocity in social communication

Synchrony in social groups may confer significant evolutionary advantages by improving group cohesion and social interaction. However, the neurobiological mechanisms translating social synchrony into refined social information transmission between interacting individuals are still elusive. In two su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 2017-08, Vol.12 (8), p.1325-1333
Main Authors: Spengler, Franny B., Scheele, Dirk, Marsh, Nina, Kofferath, Charlotte, Flach, Aileen, Schwarz, Sarah, Stoffel-Wagner, Birgit, Maier, Wolfgang, Hurlemann, René
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administration, Intranasal
Adult
Communication
Emotions - physiology
Facial Expression
Female
Hormones
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Original
Oxytocin - administration & dosage
Oxytocin - pharmacology
Oxytocin - secretion
Social interaction
Verbal Behavior - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary:Synchrony in social groups may confer significant evolutionary advantages by improving group cohesion and social interaction. However, the neurobiological mechanisms translating social synchrony into refined social information transmission between interacting individuals are still elusive. In two successively conducted experiments involving a total of 306 healthy volunteers, we explored the involvement of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) in reciprocal social interaction. First, we show that synchronous social interactions evoke heightened endogenous OXT release in dyadic partners. In a second step, we examined the consequences of elevated OXT concentrations on emotion transmission by intranasally administering synthetic OXT before recording emotional expressions. Intriguingly, our data demonstrate that the subjects’ facial and vocal expressiveness of fear and happiness is enhanced after OXT compared with placebo administration. Collectively, our findings point to a central role of social synchrony in facilitating reciprocal communication between individuals via heightened OXT signaling. Elevated OXT concentrations among synchronized individuals seem to augment the partners’ emotional expressiveness, thereby contributing to improved transmission of emotional information in social communication.
ISSN:1749-5016
1749-5024
DOI:10.1093/scan/nsx061