Individual differences in endogenous oxytocin govern social cognition

催产素是一种激素，在许多社会行为中起着关键作用。先前的研究表明，催产素系统的自然变异会影响参与社会认知的神经系统。这项提案研究是否更有效的催产素利用增加敏感性的社会信息。当社会信息是相关的时，增加的敏感性可以赋予优势，但在其他情况下可能是不利的。该项目的发现有望提供新的信息，说明神经系统如何被这种激素敏感化的人如何对社会信息做出反应。 研究结果将广泛适用于分子、神经和行为研究的多个学科，并可能激发这些学科的新研究。预计进行的实验将为对心理学，认知科学和神经科学感兴趣的学生提供有价值的研究机会和结合分子遗传学和功能性神经成像的独特培训。催产素受体（OXTR）允许身体对催产素做出反应，但其表达在人与人之间存在差异。这些受体受表观遗传控制，特别是通过DNA甲基化，这至少部分地导致了这些个体差异。OXTR甲基化与支持社会认知的脑活动以及健康和疾病人群中的各种社会表型相关。将这种可靠的内源性表观遗传标记与功能磁成像和行为测试相结合，该提议测试了内源性催产素系统影响个体对社会信息敏感程度的假设。其主要目的是（1）测试OXTR甲基化的变异性是否与社会信息处理过程中知觉和注意系统的不同参与有关;（2）评估OXTR甲基化低的个体是否依赖于前额叶脑系统来抑制无关的社会信息;以及（3）评估OXTR甲基化和支持对社会信息的注意的神经系统之间的关系是否预测自我-报告的社会性和独立评定的社会技能。

Oxytocin is a hormone that plays a critical role in many social behaviors. Prior research suggests that natural variability in the oxytocin system affects neural systems involved in social cognition. This proposal examines whether more efficient oxytocin utilization increases sensitivity to social information. Increased sensitivity may confer an advantage when social information is relevant but may be disadvantageous in other contexts. Findings from this project are expected to provide new information about how people who differ in the way their neural systems are sensitized by this hormone respond to social information. The results will be broadly applicable to multiple disciplines spanning molecular, neural, and behavioral investigations, and may inspire new research in these disciplines. The experiments conducted are expected to provide valuable research opportunities and unique training combining molecular genetics and functional neuroimaging for students interested in psychology, cognitive science, and neurosciences. Oxytocin receptors (OXTR) allow the body to respond to oxytocin, but its expression differs between people. These receptors are under epigenetic control, specifically through DNA methylation, which is at least in part responsible for these individual differences. OXTR methylation has been associated with brain activity supporting social cognition and with various social phenotypes in both healthy and disordered populations. Combing this reliable, endogenous epigenetic marker with functional magnetic imaging and behavioral testing, this proposal tests the hypothesis that the endogenous oxytocin system influences the degree to which an individual is sensitive to social information. Its main aims are (1) to test whether variability in OXTR methylation is associated with differential engagement of perceptual and attentional systems during social information processing; (2) to evaluate whether individuals low in OXTR methylation depend on prefrontal brain systems to suppress irrelevant social information; and (3) to assess whether the relationship between OXTR methylation and neural systems supporting attention to social information predicts self-reported sociality and independently rated social skill.