scholarly journals Oxytocin facilitates empathic- and self-embarrassment ratings by attenuating amygdala and anterior insula responses

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
YaYuan Geng ◽  
Weihua Zhao ◽  
Feng Zhou ◽  
Xiaole Ma ◽  
Shuxia Yao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
High Trait Anxiety ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin has been reported to enhance emotional empathy in association with reduced amygdala activation, although to date studies have not investigated empathy for individuals expressing self-conscious, moral emotions which engage mentalizing as well as emotion processing networks. In the current randomized, double-blind placebo controlled functional MRI experiment on 70 male and female subjects we have therefore investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin (40 IU) on behavioral and neural responses to embarrassment experienced by others or by self. Results showed that oxytocin significantly increased ratings of both empathic and self-embarrassment and concomitantly decreased skin conductance response and activation in the right amygdala and insula but not in the medial prefrontal cortex. The amygdala effects of oxytocin were associated with the magnitude of the skin conductance response and trait anxiety scores. Overall our results demonstrate that oxytocin increases ratings of self- and other embarrassment and that this is associated with reduced physiological arousal and activity in neural circuitry involved in emotional arousal. The neural effects of oxytocin are also stronger in individuals with high trait anxiety suggesting that it may particularly reduce their anxiety in embarrassing situations.

scholarly journals I doubt it is safe: A meta-analysis of self-reported intolerance of uncertainty and threat extinction training

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Shannon Jade Wake ◽  
Charlotte Elizabeth ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Extinction Training ◽  
The Self ◽  
Target Uncertainty ◽  
Health Disorders

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), the tendency to find uncertainty distressing, is an important transdiagnostic dimension in mental health disorders. Higher self-reported IU has been linked to poorer threat extinction training (i.e., the updating of threat to safe associations), a key process that is targeted in exposure-based therapies. However, it remains to be seen whether IU-related effects during threat extinction training are reliably and specifically driven by the IU construct or a particular subcomponent of the IU construct over other self-reported measures of anxiety. A meta-analysis of studies from different laboratories (experiment n = 18; sample n = 1006) was conducted on associations between different variants of self-reported IU (i.e., 27-item, 12-item, inhibitory and prospective subscales), trait anxiety and threat extinction training via skin conductance response. The specificity of IU and threat extinction training was assessed against measures of trait anxiety. All of the self-reported variants of IU, but not trait anxiety, were associated with threat extinction training via skin conductance response (i.e., continued responding to the old threat cue). Specificity was observed for the majority of self-reported variants of IU over of trait anxiety. The findings suggest that the IU construct broadly accounts for difficulties in threat extinction training and is specific over other measures of self-reported anxiety. These findings demonstrate the robustness and specificity of IU-related effects during threat extinction training and highlight potential opportunities for translational work to target uncertainty in therapies that rely on threat extinction principles such as exposure therapy.

scholarly journals Oxytocin enhancement of emotional empathy: generalization across cultures and effects on amygdala activity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
YaYuan Geng ◽  
Weihua Zhao ◽  
Feng Zhou ◽  
Xiaole Ma ◽  
Shuxia Yao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Independent Experiment ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Emotional Empathy ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Amygdala Activity ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
The Right

AbstractAccumulating evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin can enhance empathy although it is unclear which specific behavioral and neural aspects are influenced, and whether the effects are modulated by culture, sex and trait autism. Based on previous findings in Caucasian men, we hypothesized that a single intranasal dose of oxytocin would specifically enhance emotional empathy via modulatory effects on the amygdala in an Asian (Chinese) population and explored the modulatory role of sex and trait autism on the effects. We first conducted a double-blind, randomized between-subject design experiment using a modified version of the multifaceted empathy task (MET) to determine whether oxytocin’s facilitation of emotional empathy can be replicated in Chinese men (n = 60). To further explore neural mechanisms behind and potential sex differences, functional MRI and skin conductance measures were acquired in an independent experiment incorporating men and women (n = 72). Oxytocin enhanced emotional empathy across experiments and sex, an effect that was accompanied by reduced amygdala activity and increased skin conductance responses. On the network level oxytocin enhanced functional coupling of the right amygdala with the insula and posterior cingulate cortex for positive valence stimuli but attenuated coupling for negative valence stimuli. The effect of oxytocin on amygdala functional connectivity with the insula was modulated by trait autism. Overall, our findings provide further support for the role of oxytocin in facilitating emotional empathy and demonstrate that effects are independent of culture and sex and involve modulatory effects on the amygdala and its interactions with other key empathy regions.

scholarly journals Out with the old and in with the new: The role of intolerance of uncertainty in reversal of threat and safety

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 204380871983445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Francesco Saldarini ◽  
Catherine Chapman ◽  
Miriam Pollard ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Anxiety State ◽  
Extinction Learning ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
Direct Threat

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is associated with difficulty in updating contingencies from threatening to safe during extinction learning. However, it is unknown whether high IU individuals have difficulty (1) generally with updating threat to safe associations when contingencies change or (2) specifically with updating threat to safe associations during extinction learning, where direct threat is omitted. To address this question, we recorded IU, expectancy ratings, and skin conductance in 44 healthy participants during an associative learning paradigm, where threat and safety contingencies were reversed. During acquisition and reversal, we observed larger skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude and expectancy ratings for threat versus safety cues. However, during reversal, higher IU was associated with larger SCR magnitude to new threat versus new safety cues, compared with lower IU. These results were specific to IU-related variance, over shared variance with trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Trait Version). Overall, these findings suggest that individuals high in IU are able to reverse threat and safety associations in the presence of direct threat. Such findings help us understand the recently revealed link between IU and threat extinction, where direct threat is absent. Moreover, these findings highlight the potential relevance of IU in clinical intervention and treatment for anxiety disorders.

Multiple measures of hemispheric dysfunction in schizophrenia and depression

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sid J. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenics ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conductance Level

SYNOPSISElectrodermal, electroencephalographic and perceptual measures of lateral hemispheric function were obtained from groups of chronic schizophrenics, depressives and normals on 2 occasions, separated by 4 weeks. The measures of hemispheric function were derived from previous research. About half of the schizophrenics were medicated on both occasions; the other schizophrenics underwent drug ‘washout’ before the first session. Results revealed that the measures of laterality were not strongly intercorrelated. In the perceptual task, the schizophrenics and normals displayed different laterality effects. Unlike the normals, the schizophrenics' left hemisphere function appeared to be inferior to the right hemisphere function in the perceptual task. The laterality effects of the depressives and normals differed on two electrodermal measures: skin conductance level and skin conductance response amplitude. The depressives' electrodermal activity from the right hand was diminished as compared with the left hand; the normals did not show this effect. Medication decreased electrodermal activity in the schizophrenics, but had no significant effect on laterality. These results suggest that the various measures of laterality used singly in previous research in psychopathology may not all assess the same phenomenon.

Beyond Self-Interest

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua May
Keyword(s):  
Moral Development ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conceptual Difficulties

This chapter introduces the long-standing idea that inappropriate motives, such as self-interest, can militate against virtuous motivation (acting for the right reasons). Some theorists have tried to show that we are universally egoistic by appeal to empirical research, particularly evolutionary theory, moral development, and the neuroscience of learning. However, these efforts fail and instead decades of experiments on helping behavior provide powerful evidence that we are capable of genuine altruism. We can be motivated ultimately by a concern for others for their own sake, especially when empathizing with them. The evidence does not show that empathy blurs the distinction between self and other in a way that makes helping behavior truly egoistic or non-altruistic. Whether grounded in Christian love (agape) or the Buddhist notion of no-self (anātman), such self-other merging proposals run into empirical and conceptual difficulties.

Emotional Experiences in Moral Contexts

2020 ◽  
pp. 243-263
Author(s):  
Tina Malti ◽  
Joanna Peplak ◽  
Erinn Acland
Keyword(s):  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Antisocial Behaviors ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Responsible Behaviors

Moral deeds often require sacrificing time, effort, and resources, yet we are still motivated to engage in such behaviors. What drives us to enact these positive, prosocial behaviors and to leave our selfish desires behind? Developmental scientists consider emotions in contexts of morality (i.e., moral emotions) important drivers behind other-oriented, fair, and responsible behaviors. In this chapter, the authors outline the core moral emotions, how they develop, and how they link to prosocial and antisocial behaviors across development. They begin by discussing their integrative theoretical framework for conceptualizing moral emotions. Afterwards, they introduce a taxonomy that distinguishes four key moral emotions based on two dimensions: valence (positive and negative) and orientation (self and other). Next, current cross-cultural research on the development of these emotions is discussed, followed by a review of research on how the four emotions are associated with prosocial and antisocial behaviors from infancy to adolescence. The authors then outline the fundamental components that are involved in emotional experiences and conclude by highlighting promising future directions for developmental research.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document