Relationship between Salivary Oxytocin Levels and Generosity in Preschoolers

This study examined the association between salivary oxytocin (sOT) levels and generosity in preschoolers. Fifty preschoolers played two dictator games (DG) by deciding how to allocate 10 chocolates between themselves and another child, who was either from the same class as the participant (ingroup member), or an unknown child from another class (outgroup member). sOT levels were assessed in saliva collected from the children immediately prior to the DG tasks. While sOT levels were negatively associated with allocations made to both ingroup and outgroup members by boys, among girl sOT levels were positively related to allocations made to ingroup members, and unrelated to allocations made to outgroup members. These results suggest sex differences in the association between salivary oxytocin and generosity

Neuroimaging Research on Empathy and Shared Neural Networks

Understanding other people’s feelings and perspectives is an important part of effective social communication and interaction. Empathy is the phenomenon that enables us to infer the feelings of others and understand their mental states. It aids in social learning and bonding and is thought to be impaired in individuals with social deficits like schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Advances in neuroimaging technology have allowed social neuroscientists to study brain activity during this complex social process. A growing body of empathy literature demonstrates that multiple brain regions are involved in empathy. Current theories propose that empathy is enabled through the activation of various dynamic neural networks, each made up of several different regions. These networks respond differently depending on specific contexts and available information. This chapter reviews the networks involved in empathy and highlights the current theories and limitations of empathy research

Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Gene Polymorphisms: Role in Social and Psychiatric Traits

Oxytocin (OXT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) are two phylogenetically conserved neuropeptides that have been implicated in a wide range of social behaviors. Although a large body of research, ranging from rodents to humans, has reported on the effects of OXT and AVP administration on affiliative and trust behaviors, and has highlighted the genetic contributions of OXT and AVP receptor polymorphisms to both social behaviors and to diseases related to social deficits, the consequences of peptide administration on psychiatric symptoms, and the impact of receptor polymorphisms on receptor function, are still unclear. Despite the exciting advances that these reports have brought to social neuroscience, they remain preliminary and suffer from the problems that are inherent to monogenetic linkage and association studies. As an alternative, some studies are using polygenic approaches, and consider the contributions of other genes and pathways, including those involving DA, 5-HT, and reelin, in addition to OXT and AVP; a handful of report are also using genome-wide association studies. This review summarizes findings on the associations between OXT and AVP receptor polymorphism, social behavior, and psychiatric diseases. In addition, we discuss reports on the interactions of OXT and AVP receptor genes and genes involved in other pathways (such as those of dopamine, serotonin, and reelin), as well as research that has shed some light on the impact of gene polymorphisms on the volume, connectivity, and activation of specific neural structures, differential receptor expression, and plasma levels of the OXT and AVP peptides. We hope that this effort will be helpful for understanding the studies performed so far, and for encouraging the inclusion of other candidate genes not explored to date

The influence of rs53576 polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene on empathy in healthy adults by subtype and ethnicity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Empathy is essential for navigating complex social environments. Prior work has shown associations between rs53576, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR), and generalized empathy. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effects of rs53576 on subdomains of empathy, specifically cognitive empathy (CE) and affective empathy (AE), in healthy adults. Twenty cohorts of 8933 participants aged 18-98 were identified, including data from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study, a cohort of older community adults. Meta-analyses found G homozygotes had greater generalized empathic abilities only in young to middle-aged adults. While meta-analyses of empathy subdomains yielded no significant overall effects, there were differential effects based on ethnicity. G homozygotes were associated with greater CE abilities in Asian cohorts (standardized mean difference; SMD: 0.09 [2.8·10-3-0.18]), and greater AE performance in European cohorts [SMD: 0.12 (0.04-0.21)]. The current literature highlights a need for further work that distinguishes between genetic and ethnocultural effects and explores effects of advanced age on this relationship

Increasing self–other similarity modulates ethnic bias in sensorimotor resonance to others’ pain

The tendency to simulate the pain of others within our own sensorimotor systems is a vital component of empathy. However, this sensorimotor resonance is modulated by a multitude of social factors including similarity in bodily appearance, e.g. skin colour. The current study investigated whether increasing self–other similarity via virtual transfer to another colour body reduced ingroup bias in sensorimotor resonance. A sample of 58 white participants was momentarily transferred to either a black or a white body using virtual reality technology. We then employed electroencephalography to examine event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the sensorimotor beta (13–23 Hz) oscillations while they viewed black, white and violet photorealistic virtual agents being touched with a noxious or soft object. While the noxious treatment of a violet agent did not increase beta ERD, amplified beta ERD in response to black agent’s noxious vs soft treatment was found in perceivers transferred to a black body. Transfer to the white body dismissed the effect. Further exploratory analysis implied that the pain-related beta ERD occurred only when the agent and the participant were of the same colour. The results suggest that even short-lasting changes in bodily resemblance can modulate sensorimotor resonance to others’ perceived pain.Peer reviewe

Origins and structure of social and political attitudes: insights from personality system theory and behavioural genetics

People differ, often strikingly, in their views on desired social structures and processes. For example, while some value ethnic diversity in their society, others believe non -indigenous individuals (whatever that might mean) should be repatriated to their land of origin. Similarly, whereas some believe religion should play no role in determining social policy, others strongly advocate the importance of living according to religious scripture, including at a social level. This variation in attitudes, and its implication for societal cohesion, has made research on the origins of social and political attitudes of enduring interest to psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, among many others.The goal of the current thesis was to extend work in this literature in two key ways: Firstly, I examined whether political attitudes can be understood within a personality system model. This work addresses previous mixed results on the links of basic personality traits to political conservatism. In Chapter 3, I test predictions from this model; namely, that direct influences on political behaviour flow from moral values, with personality mostly acting indirectly via these moral values, rather than directly affecting political attitudes. Findings from two studies (published as Lewis & Bates, 2011a) supported these predictions suggesting that the new model helps explain inconsistencies in previous research attempting to link personality to political orientation that have not included the intermediary level of values.Secondly, I examined the genetic architecture of social attitudes constructs in three separate studies. Chapter 4 addressed whether in -group favouritism reflects heritable effects, and, secondly, whether race -favouritism was accounted for broad or specific genetic effects. Results indicated that a common biological mechanism exists facilitating generalised favouritism, with evidence for additional genetic effects specific to each form of group favouritism. These findings (published as Lewis & Bates, 2010) suggest that (at least) at the genetic level, race favouritism is multiply determined.In Chapter 5, I examined whether prosocial obligations across the domains of welfare, work, and civic obligation share a common genetic basis, or reflect specific heritable components (published as Lewis & Bates, 2011b). In females, results indicated the existence of a common heritable factor underlying each of these prosocial obligations. In males, a prosocial factor was also observed; familial effects (genetic and shared -environment effects were indistinguishable) influenced this general mechanism. At the domain -specific level, modest genetic effects were observed in females for civic and work obligations, with shared - environment effects influencing welfare obligations. In males, genetic influences were observed for welfare obligation, with unique -environments affecting work and civic duty.Finally, in Chapter 6, I present work examining the genetic architecture of religious belief. Although genetic factors are known to influence strength of religious belief, the psychological mechanism(s) through which this biological influence is manifest are presently unknown. Two non -theological constructs - 1) need for community integration and 2) need for existential certainty - were hypothesised to account for the genetic effects on religiosity. The results supported this hypothesis, with genetic influences on these traits wholly accounting for the heritable basis of religiosity, suggesting that religion "re- uses" systems involved in meeting both social and existential needs

Functional neuroanatomy of racial categorization from visual perception: A meta-analytic study

open8noThis work was supported by PRIN 2017 grant from the Ministero dell’istruzione, dell’università e della ricerca (MIUR, Italy) (Prot. 2017TBA4KS) and by a European Research Council (ERC), Consolidator Grant 2017 (772953) to MT.We effortlessly sort people into different racial groups from their visual appearance and implicitly generate racial bias affecting cognition and behavior. As these mental activities provide the proximate mechanisms for social behaviours, it becomes essential to understand the neural activity underlying differences between own-race and other-race visual categorization. Yet intrinsic limitations of individual neuroimaging studies, owing to reduced sample size, inclusion of multiple races, and interactions between races in the participants and in the displayed visual stimuli, dampens generalizability of results. In the present meta-analytic study, we applied multimodal techniques to partly overcome these hurdles, and we investigated the entire functional neuroimaging literature on race categorization, therefore including more than 2000 Black, White and Asian participants. Our data-driven approach shows that own- and other-race visual categorization involves partly segregated neural networks, with distinct connectivity and functional profiles, and defined hierarchical organization. Categorization of own-race mainly engages areas related to cognitive components of empathy and mentalizing, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus. These areas are functionally co-activated with cortical structures involved in auto-biographical memories and social knowledge. Conversely, other-race categorization recruits areas implicated in, and functionally connected with, visuo-attentive processing, like the fusiform gyrus and the inferior parietal lobule, and areas engaged in affective functions, like the amygdala. These results contribute to a better definition of the neural networks involved in the visual parcelling of social categories based on race, and help to situate these processes within a common neural space.openBagnis A.; Celeghin A.; Diano M.; Mendez C.A.; Spadaro G.; Mosso C.O.; Avenanti A.; Tamietto M.Bagnis A.; Celeghin A.; Diano M.; Mendez C.A.; Spadaro G.; Mosso C.O.; Avenanti A.; Tamietto M