The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin
Schizophrenia is often a severe and debilitating mental illness, frequently associated with impairments in social cognition that hinder individuals' abilities to relate to others and integrate effectively in society. Oxytocin has emerged as a putative therapeutic agent for treating social defic...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Schizophrenia Research: Cognition |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215001321000287 |
| _version_ | 1818855459137781760 |
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| author | Rebekah Wigton Derek K. Tracy Tess M. Verneuil Michaela Johns Thomas White Panayiota G. Michalopoulou Bruno Averbeck Sukhwinder Shergill |
| author_facet | Rebekah Wigton Derek K. Tracy Tess M. Verneuil Michaela Johns Thomas White Panayiota G. Michalopoulou Bruno Averbeck Sukhwinder Shergill |
| author_sort | Rebekah Wigton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Schizophrenia is often a severe and debilitating mental illness, frequently associated with impairments in social cognition that hinder individuals' abilities to relate to others and integrate effectively in society. Oxytocin has emerged as a putative therapeutic agent for treating social deficits in schizophrenia, but the mode of action remains unclear. This placebo-controlled crossover study aimed to elucidate the neural underpinnings of oxytocin administration in patients with schizophrenia. 20 patients with schizophrenia were examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging under oxytocin (40 IU) or placebo nasal spray. Participants performed a stochastically rewarded decision-making task that incorporated elements of social valence provided by different facial expressions, i.e. happy, angry and neutral. Oxytocin attenuated the normal bias in selecting the happy face accompanied by reduced activation in a network of brain regions that support mentalising, processing of facial emotion, salience, aversion, uncertainty and ambiguity in social stimuli, including amygdala, temporo-parietal junction, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and insula. These pro-social effects may contribute to the facilitation of social engagement and social interactions in patients with schizophrenia and warrant further investigation in future clinical trials for social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T08:08:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5893b97866af49deae0a2fb4c16c9abe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2215-0013 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T08:08:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Schizophrenia Research: Cognition |
| spelling | doaj.art-5893b97866af49deae0a2fb4c16c9abe2022-12-21T20:29:41ZengElsevierSchizophrenia Research: Cognition2215-00132022-03-0127100221The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocinRebekah Wigton0Derek K. Tracy1Tess M. Verneuil2Michaela Johns3Thomas White4Panayiota G. Michalopoulou5Bruno Averbeck6Sukhwinder Shergill7Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UK; Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA, USAKing's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UK; West London NHS Trust, London, UK.; Corresponding author at: West London NHS Trust, 1 Armstrong Way, Southall, London UB2 4SD, UK.King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UKKing's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UKKing's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UK; Computational Cognitive Neuroimaging Group, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UKKing's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UK; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UKUnit on Learning and Decision Making, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USAKing's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognition and Schizophrenia Imaging Lab, De Crespigny Park Rd., Denmark Hill SE5 8AF, UK; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UKSchizophrenia is often a severe and debilitating mental illness, frequently associated with impairments in social cognition that hinder individuals' abilities to relate to others and integrate effectively in society. Oxytocin has emerged as a putative therapeutic agent for treating social deficits in schizophrenia, but the mode of action remains unclear. This placebo-controlled crossover study aimed to elucidate the neural underpinnings of oxytocin administration in patients with schizophrenia. 20 patients with schizophrenia were examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging under oxytocin (40 IU) or placebo nasal spray. Participants performed a stochastically rewarded decision-making task that incorporated elements of social valence provided by different facial expressions, i.e. happy, angry and neutral. Oxytocin attenuated the normal bias in selecting the happy face accompanied by reduced activation in a network of brain regions that support mentalising, processing of facial emotion, salience, aversion, uncertainty and ambiguity in social stimuli, including amygdala, temporo-parietal junction, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and insula. These pro-social effects may contribute to the facilitation of social engagement and social interactions in patients with schizophrenia and warrant further investigation in future clinical trials for social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215001321000287OxytocinSchizophreniaSocial cognitionfMRI |
| spellingShingle | Rebekah Wigton Derek K. Tracy Tess M. Verneuil Michaela Johns Thomas White Panayiota G. Michalopoulou Bruno Averbeck Sukhwinder Shergill The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin Schizophrenia Research: Cognition Oxytocin Schizophrenia Social cognition fMRI |
| title | The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin |
| title_full | The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin |
| title_fullStr | The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin |
| title_full_unstemmed | The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin |
| title_short | The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin |
| title_sort | importance of pro social processing and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia an fmri study of oxytocin |
| topic | Oxytocin Schizophrenia Social cognition fMRI |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215001321000287 |
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