Oxytocin differentially modulates pavlovian cue and context fear acquisition
Fear acquisition and extinction have been demonstrated as core mechanisms for the development and maintenance of mental disorders, with different contributions of processing cues vs contexts. The hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) may have a prominent role in this context, as it has been shown to a...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
11 April 2017
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| In: |
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
Year: 2017, Volume: 12, Issue: 6, Pages: 976-983 |
| ISSN: | 1749-5024 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/scan/nsx028 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx028 Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/6/976/3574845 
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| Author Notes: | Juliana Cavalli, Michaela Ruttorf, Mario Rosero Pahi, Francesca Zidda, Herta Flor, and Frauke Nees |
| Summary: | Fear acquisition and extinction have been demonstrated as core mechanisms for the development and maintenance of mental disorders, with different contributions of processing cues vs contexts. The hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) may have a prominent role in this context, as it has been shown to affect fear learning. However, investigations have focused on cue conditioning, and fear extinction. Its differential role for cue and context fear acquisition is still not known. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo (PLC)-controlled design, we administered an intranasal dose of OXT or PLC before the acquisition of cue and context fear conditioning in healthy individuals (n = 52), and assessed brain responses, skin conductance responses and self-reports (valence/arousal/contingency). OXT compared with PLC significantly induced decreased responses in the nucleus accumbens during early cue and context acquisition, and decreased responses of the anterior cingulate cortex and insula during early as well as increased hippocampal response during late context, but not cue acquisition. The OXT group additionally showed significantly higher arousal in late cue and context acquisition. OXT modulates various aspects of cue and context conditioning, which is relevant from a mechanism-based perspective and might have implications for the treatment of fear and anxiety. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 07.05.2018 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1749-5024 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/scan/nsx028 |