scholarly journals Oxytocin enhances neural approach towards social and non-social stimuli of high personal relevance

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaat Alaerts ◽  
Aymara Taillieu ◽  
Nicky Daniels ◽  
Javier R. Soriano ◽  
Jellina Prinsen
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Personal Relevance ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Viewing Time ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Alpha Asymmetry ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Motivational Salience ◽  
Approach Avoidance

AbstractOxytocin (OT) plays a pivotal role in a variety of complex social behaviors by modulating approach-avoidance motivational tendencies, but recently, its social specificity has been challenged. Here, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with forty young adult men, investigating the effect of a single-dose of OT (24 IU) on behavioral and neural approach-avoidance. Frontal alpha asymmetry, indexing neurophysiological approach-avoidance, was obtained from electroencephalographic recordings while participants were presented with a series of pictures, individually rated in terms of personal relevance (i.e., high versus low positive/negative emotional evocativeness) and categorized as social or non-social. Additionally, participants could prolong (approach) or shorten (avoid) the viewing-time of each picture, providing a measure of behavioral approach-avoidance. Intranasal OT enhanced both behavioral and neural approach (increased viewing-time), particularly towards negatively valenced pictures of both social and non-social nature, thus challenging the notion that OT’s effects are specific to social stimuli. Neurally, OT specifically amplified approach-related motivational salience of stimuli that were self-rated to have high personal relevance, but irrespective of their social nature or rated affective valence (positive/negative). Together, these findings provide support to the General Approach-Avoidance Hypothesis of OT, suggesting a role of OT in amplifying the motivational salience of environmental stimuli with high (personal) relevance, but irrespective of their social/non-social nature.Clinical Trial Number: The study design was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04443647; 23/06/2020; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04443647).

scholarly journals Intranasal oxytocin enhances approach-related EEG frontal alpha asymmetry during engagement of direct eye contact

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier R. Soriano ◽  
Nicky Daniels ◽  
Jellina Prinsen ◽  
Kaat Alaerts
Keyword(s):  
Eye Contact ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Social Responsiveness ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Alpha Asymmetry ◽  
Live Model ◽  
Frontal Alpha Asymmetry ◽  
Approach Avoidance

AbstractThe neuropeptide oxytocin is suggested to exert a pivotal role in a variety of complex human behaviors, including interpersonal bonding, trust, and attachment. Recent theories have suggested that the role oxytocin plays in these complex social behaviors involves a modulation of motivational tendencies of approach/avoidance-related behaviors. However, to date, direct neurophysiological evidence supporting this notion is limited. In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study with parallel design, we assessed the effects of administered intranasal oxytocin in 40 adult men on gaze behavior and a neural marker of approach/avoidance motivational tendencies. Specifically, electroencephalography recordings were performed during the engagement of eye contact with a live model in a naturalistic two-person social context and electroencephalographic frontal alpha asymmetry, an established neurophysiological index of motivational tendencies for approach/avoidance-related behaviors, was assessed. Compared to placebo, a single dose of oxytocin (24 international units) was shown to increase relative left-sided frontal asymmetry upon direct eye contact with a live model, which is indicative of an increase in approach-related motivational tendencies toward the presented eye contact stimulus. Notably, the treatment effect was most prominently observed in participants with lower self-reported social motivation (higher Motivation subscale scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale), indicating that participants with lower social motivation benefitted the most from the administered oxytocin. No treatment-specific changes were identified in terms of gaze behavior toward the eye region of the live model. Together, these observations add neurophysiological evidence to the hypothesized role of oxytocin in modulating approach/avoidance related tendencies and suggest that inter-individual variance in person-dependent factors need to be considered in order to evaluate the potential benefit of intranasal oxytocin as a treatment. This notion is of particular relevance to the variety of neuropsychiatric populations such as autism spectrum disorder, social anxiety disorder and depression, for which intranasal oxytocin is increasingly considered a potential treatment.

scholarly journals Intranasal oxytocin enhances approach-related EEG frontal alpha asymmetry during engagement of direct eye contact

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier R Soriano ◽  
Nicky Daniels ◽  
Jellina Prinsen ◽  
Kaat Alaerts
Keyword(s):  
Eye Contact ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Social Responsiveness ◽  
Alpha Asymmetry ◽  
Live Model ◽  
Frontal Alpha Asymmetry ◽  
Gaze Behaviour ◽  
Approach Avoidance

Abstract The neuropeptide oxytocin is suggested to play a major role in a variety of complex human behaviours, including interpersonal bonding, trust and attachment. Recent theories have suggested that the role oxytocin plays in these complex social behaviours involves a modulation of motivational tendencies of approach-/avoidance-related behaviours. However, to date, direct neurophysiological evidence supporting this notion is limited. In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study with parallel design, we assessed the effects of administered intranasal oxytocin in 40 adult men on gaze behaviour and a neural marker of approach/avoidance motivational tendencies. Specifically, electroencephalography recordings were performed during the engagement of eye contact with a live model in a naturalistic two-person social context and electroencephalographic frontal alpha asymmetry, an established neurophysiological index of motivational tendencies for approach-/avoidance-related behaviours, was assessed. Compared to placebo, a single dose of oxytocin (24 international units) was shown to increase relative left-sided frontal asymmetry upon direct eye contact with a live model, which is indicative of an increase in approach-related motivational tendencies towards the presented eye contact stimulus. Notably, the treatment effect was most prominently observed in participants with lower self-reported social motivation (higher Motivation subscale scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale), indicating that participants with lower social motivation benefitted the most from the administered oxytocin. No treatment-specific changes were identified in terms of gaze behaviour towards the eye region of the live model. Together, these observations add neurophysiological evidence to the hypothesized role of oxytocin in modulating approach-/avoidance-related tendencies and suggest that inter-subject variability in person-dependent factors need to be considered to evaluate the potential benefit of intranasal oxytocin as a treatment. This notion is of particular relevance to the variety of neuropsychiatric populations such as autism spectrum disorder, social anxiety disorder and depression, for which intranasal oxytocin is increasingly considered a potential treatment.

Behavioral Approach–Avoidance and Distress Scale

1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy C. Hubert ◽  
Susan M. Jay ◽  
Myra Saltoun ◽  
Marci Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Distress Scale

Aff_Faces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz G Gawryszewski ◽  
Mikael Cavallet
Keyword(s):  
Compatibility Effect ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Positive Stimulus ◽  
Spatial Compatibility ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Avoidance Reactions

Conde et al (2011) reported a modulation of the spatial compatibility effect by the affective valence of soccer team figures. For Favorite team, it was faster to respond by pressing the key located on the stimulus side than the opposite key (ipsi- and contralateral keys, respectively). For Rival team, this pattern was reversed. These findings were interpreted as being due to approach and avoidance reactions which facilitate both the ipsilateral response to a positive stimulus and the contralateral response to a negative one and vice-versa. This hypothesis was challenged by arguing that there is no spatial compatibility effect when a mixed-rule task was used and that approach/avoidance reactions are not elicited when a keyboard was employed to execute the responses. Alternatively, it was proposed that Conde et al. (2011) results were due to task-set effects. Here, emotional faces (Happy, Angry and Fearful) faces were used to test the generality of effects elicited by affective stimuli and to disentangle task-set and approach/avoidance reactions hypotheses. We found that there is no task-set effect when the Happiness-Anger pair was used. Moreover, for the Happiness/Fear pair, there was an interaction between valence and spatial compatibility within a block of trials. These results suggest that: (i) the interaction between valence and spatial compatibility in the Affective SC task modulates the spatial compatibility effect; (ii) this modulation elicits a task-set effect that varies according to the pair of affective stimuli and (iv) the task-set effect may be due to an automatic orientation of the visual attention to the positive stimulus which facilitates the ipsilateral response conjoined with an inhibition of the ipsilateral response to the aversive stimulus, simulating a reversed compatibility effect to the negative stimulus.

scholarly journals Evaluating the role of Approach-Avoidance Training on action-tendencies in individuals with skin-picking disorder: A preliminary randomized experiment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel S. Mathew ◽  
Madeline A. Rech ◽  
Han-Joo Lee
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Training ◽  
Cognitive Intervention ◽  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Skin Picking ◽  
Assessment Task ◽  
Approach Training ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Excoriation Disorder ◽  
Skin Picking Disorder ◽  
Action Tendencies

AbstractBackground and aimsPathological skin-picking (PSP) or excoriation disorder is a destructive behavior that affects 1-2% of the general population. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of a computerized behavior modification task on action-tendencies (i.e., approach or avoidance) in adults with PSP. We aimed to modify these action-tendencies by having participants with PSP complete the Approach-Avoidance Training (AAT) task, using a joystick to simulate an approach (=pull) or avoidance (=push) response.MethodForty-five participants diagnosed with PSP were randomized to one of three training conditions: (1) Avoidance Training (AvT; n = 15), (2) Approach Training (ApT; n = 15), or (3) Placebo Training (PT; n = 15). We hypothesized that after training, those in the AvT would have the greatest reduction in behavioral approach (i.e., their overall reaction time [RT] to approach pictures of irregular skin stimuli).ResultsResults of the pre-training assessment task revealed a positive correlation between behavioral approach to irregular skin stimuli and skin-picking severity as assessed by the Skin Picking Scale-Revised (SPS-R). After training, a lower behavioral approach and urges to pick were found in the AvT and PT groups, while those in the ApT reported higher behavioral approach and urges to pick. At two-week follow-up, no significant changes on the SPS-R were reported between groups.DiscussionOur preliminary data suggest that the AAT is a promising avenue of research to develop as a cognitive intervention to address an excessive behavioral approach tendency that characterizes skin-picking problems.

The Effect of Personal Relevance and Approach-Related Action Expectation on Relative Left Frontal Cortical Activity

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Harmon-Jones ◽  
Lacey Lueck ◽  
Meghan Fearn ◽  
Cindy Harmon-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Frontal Region ◽  
Personal Relevance ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Motivational Intensity ◽  
Negative Affects ◽  
The Right

Past research using a variety of methods has suggested that the frontal cortex is asymmetrically involved in the experience and expression of positive (or approach motivational) and negative (or withdrawal motivational) affects, with the left frontal region being involved in positive affects (or approach) and the right frontal region being involved in negative affects (or withdrawal). However, some studies have failed to replicate these effects, leaving many scientists questioning the meaning of the past supportive findings. To examine these inconsistencies in results, we tested the hypothesis that increasing the personal relevance of the stimuli and approach motivational intensity would increase relative left frontal activation. Results supported the predictions. Moreover, by showing the predicted effects with anger-inducing stimuli, the results demonstrated that motivational direction, rather than affective valence, accounts for asymmetrical frontal cortical activity.

Approach-avoidance modification as an add-on in smoking cessation: A randomized-controlled study

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte E. Wittekind ◽  
Evelyne Reibert ◽  
Keisuke Takano ◽  
Thomas Ehring ◽  
Oliver Pogarell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Randomized Controlled Study ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals Valence and Intensity of Video Stimuli of Dogs and Conspecifics in Sheep: Approach-Avoidance, Operant Response, and Attention

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Raoult ◽  
Lorenz Gygax
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Operant Response ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Video Images ◽  
Avoidance Paradigm ◽  
Differential Attention ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Automatically Tracking

Stimuli are often presumed to be either negative or positive. However, animals’ judgement of their negativity or positivity cannot generally be assumed. A possibility to assess emotional states in animals elicited by stimuli is to investigate animal preferences and their motivation to gain access to these stimuli. This study’s aim was to assess the valence of social stimuli in sheep. We used silent videos of varying intensity of dogs as negative versus conspecifics as positive stimuli in three approaches: (1) an approach–avoidance paradigm; (2) operant conditioning using the video stimuli as reinforcers; and (3) an attention test. In the latter, we assessed differential attention of sheep to simultaneous projections by automatically tracking sheep head and ear postures and recording brain activity. With these approaches, it was difficult to support that the sheep’s reactions varied according to the stimuli’s presumed valence and intensity. The approach–avoidance paradigm and attention test did not support the assumption that dog videos were more negative than sheep videos, though sheep reacted to the stimuli presented. Results from the operant conditioning indicated that sheep were more prone to avoid videos of moving dogs. Overall, we found that standard video images may not be ideal to represent valence characteristics of stimuli to sheep.

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