Intranasal oxytocin decreases self-oriented learning
- PDF / 2,203,564 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 54 Downloads / 223 Views
ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION
Intranasal oxytocin decreases self-oriented learning Zhijun Liao 1 & Liqin Huang 1 & Siyang Luo 1 Received: 31 March 2020 / Accepted: 23 October 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Rationale Oxytocin has been found to play an important role in human social cognition and social interaction. Over the last two decades, surge studies have been conducted to investigate how oxytocin impacts other-oriented processes, such as trust and generosity (Zak et al. in PLoS ONE 2(11):e1128, 2007); however, the examination of the effect of oxytocin on self-related processes was relatively inadequate. Appropriate and efficient social interactions require both self- and other-related information processing. Recent studies have found that intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) influences the self-related process, although the results have been mixed. The computational process underlying the effects of IN-OT on self-processing remains unknown. Objectives We aim to investigate the effect of IN-OT on self-oriented learning across different contexts (self-other independent vs. self-other dependent) and uncover the process by which IN-OT affects dynamic behavior changes. Methods We performed two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies and used reinforcement learning theory to integrate action and related feedback for participants’ behaviors. Results In study 1, IN-OT decreased self-oriented reward learning when self-oriented learning and prosocial (other-oriented) learning were assessed separately. These effects were partially due to the OT-related increase in choice variability during selforiented learning. In study 2, IN-OT also decreased learning performance during self-oriented reward learning when self-related and other-related rewards were present together. These effects occurred at an early stage of the learning process and could be moderated by the participants’ social value orientation. Our findings show that OT attenuates the process of self-oriented learning and provides an underlying computational process. Conclusions Our findings shed new light on the dynamics of IN-OT’s effects on human self-oriented learning processes. For future studies on OT effects on self-oriented learning, individual factors such as social value orientation should be taken into consideration in research development and analysis. Keywords Oxytocin . Self-oriented learning . Reinforcement learning . Choice variability
Introduction Self-related information and other-related information processing represent two important aspects of social cognition (Fiske and Taylor 2017; Sedikides and Skowronski 2009). Zhijun Liao and Liqin Huang contributed equally to this work. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-020-05694-7. * Siyang Luo [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of
Data Loading...
