Psychoneuroendocrinology
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Nov 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialStress-induced negative mood moderates the relation between oxytocin administration and trust: evidence for the tend-and-befriend response to stress?
Recent evidence suggests that oxytocin, a nonapeptide posited to underlie the affiliation-related "tend-and-befriend" behavioral response to stress (Taylor et al., 2000), may improve interpersonal functioning by facilitating the acquisition of social support during times of distress. The assertion, however, has not been explicitly tested in humans. Thus, we examined whether the effect of oxytocin on self-perceived trust is magnified in individuals who experienced higher ratings of negative mood following social rejection. ⋯ These results demonstrate that oxytocin may promote the acquisition of social support in times of distress by increasing self-perceived trust. The findings provide empirical support that oxytocin promotes an affiliation-related behavioral response to stress, consistent with the tend-and-befriend theory.
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Social play activities among juveniles are thought to contribute to the development of social and emotional skills in humans and animals. Conversely, social play deficits are observed in developmental neuropsychiatric disorders. Importantly, many of these disorders show sex differences in incidence, course of the disease, and severity of symptoms. ⋯ To locate the effects of V1aR blockade on social play, we targeted the lateral septum, a sexually dimorphic brain region showing denser vasopressin fibers in males than in females and an abundant expression of V1aR in both sexes. Surprisingly, blockade of V1aR in the lateral septum increased social play behaviors in males, but decreased them in females. These findings suggest sex- and brain region-specific roles for vasopressin in the regulation of social play behavior in juvenile rats.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Nov 2013
Stress differentially affects fear conditioning in men and women.
Stress and fear conditioning processes are both important vulnerability factors in the development of psychiatric disorders. In behavioral studies considerable sex differences in fear learning have been observed after increases of the stress hormone cortisol. But neuroimaging experiments, which give insights into the neurobiological correlates of stress × sex interactions in fear conditioning, are lacking so far. ⋯ In late acquisition, the same pattern (reduction in men, enhancement in OC women) was found in the amygdala as well as in the anterior cingulate. Thus, psychosocial stress impaired the neuronal correlates of fear learning and expression in men, but facilitated them in OC women. A sex-specific modulation of fear conditioning after stress might contribute to the divergent prevalence of men and women in developing psychiatric disorders.