Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
11-15-2016
Journal
Scientific Reports
Volume
6
Inclusive Pages
35054
DOI
10.1038/srep35054
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) has become a focus in investigations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The social deficits that characterize ASD may relate to reduced connectivity between brain sites on the mesolimbic reward pathway (nucleus accumbens; amygdala) that receive OT projections and contribute to social motivation, and cortical sites involved in social perception. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, we show that OT administration in ASD increases activity in brain regions important for perceiving social-emotional information. Further, OT enhances connectivity between nodes of the brain's reward and socioemotional processing systems, and does so preferentially for social (versus nonsocial) stimuli. This effect is observed both while viewing coherent versus scrambled biological motion, and while listening to happy versus angry voices. Our findings suggest a mechanism by which intranasal OT may bolster social motivation-one that could, in future, be harnessed to augment behavioral treatments for ASD.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
APA Citation
Gordon, I., Jack, A., Pretzsch, C., Vander Wyk, B., Leckman, J., Feldman, R., & Pelphrey, K. A. (2016). Intranasal Oxytocin Enhances Connectivity in the Neural Circuitry Supporting Social Motivation and Social Perception in Children with Autism.. Scientific Reports, 6 (). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep35054
Peer Reviewed
1
Open Access
1
Included in
Medical Pharmacology Commons, Medical Physiology Commons, Nervous System Diseases Commons, Pharmacology Commons, Physiology Commons
Comments
Reproduced with permission of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Scientific Reports