Individual differences in endogenous oxytocin govern social cognition

催产素是一种在许多社会行为中起关键作用的激素。先前的研究表明，催产素系统的自然变异会影响与社会认知有关的神经系统。这一提议检验了是否更有效地利用催产素会增加对社会信息的敏感性。在社会信息相关的情况下，提高敏感度可能会带来好处，但在其他情况下则可能是不利的。这个项目的研究结果有望提供新的信息，说明不同的人对这种激素的神经系统是如何对社会信息做出反应的。结果将广泛适用于跨越分子、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。所进行的实验有望为对心理学、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神经影像学的独特训练。催产素受体（OXTR）允许身体对催产素做出反应，但它的表达因人而异。这些受体受表观遗传控制，特别是通过DNA甲基化，这至少是造成这些个体差异的部分原因。在健康和疾病人群中，OXTR甲基化与支持社会认知的大脑活动以及各种社会表型有关。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，本研究验证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)测试在社会信息加工过程中，OXTR甲基化的可变性是否与感知和注意系统的不同参与有关；(2)评估OXTR甲基化水平低的个体是否依赖前额叶脑系统抑制不相关的社会信息；(3)评估OXTR甲基化与支持社会信息注意的神经系统之间的关系是否能预测自我报告的社会性和独立评定的社交技能。

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.