Oxytocin selectively modulates brain response to stimuli probing social synchrony.

The capacity to act collectively within groups has led to the survival and thriving of Homo sapiens. A central group collaboration mechanism is "social synchrony," the coordination of behavior during joint action among affiliative members, which intensifies under threat. Here, we tested brain response to vignettes depicting social synchrony among combat veterans trained for coordinated action and following life-threatening group experience, versus controls, as modulated by oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide supporting social synchrony. Using a randomized, double-blind, within-subject design, 40 combat-trained and control male veterans underwent magnetoencephalography (MEG) twice following OT/placebo administration while viewing two social vignettes rated as highly synchronous: pleasant male social gathering and coordinated unit during combat. Both vignettes activated a wide response across the social brain in the alpha band; the combat scene triggered stronger activations. Importantly, OT effects were modulated by prior experience. Among combat veterans, OT attenuated the increased response to combat stimuli in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) - a hub of social perception, action observation, and mentalizing - and enhanced activation in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) to the pleasant social scene. Among controls, OT enhanced inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) response to combat cues, demonstrating selective OT effects on mirror-neuron and mentalizing networks. OT-enhanced mirror network activity was dampened in veterans reporting higher posttraumatic symptoms. Results demonstrate that the social brain responds online, via modulation of alpha rhythms, to stimuli probing social synchrony, particularly those involving threat to survival, and OT's enhancing versus anxiolytic effects are sensitive to salient experiences within social groups.

Neurodevelopmental investigation of the mirror neurone system in children of women receiving opioid maintenance therapy during pregnancy.

AIMS: Opioid maintenance therapy (OMT) is generally recommended for pregnant opioid-dependent women. Previous studies investigating the long-term effects of OMT on children's cognitive development found that children of women in OMT have an increased risk of developing deficits in motor and visual perceptual skills, which are important aspects of the mirror neurone system (MNS), a complex neural circuit involved in learning and social interactions. The aim of the current study was to investigate aspects of the MNS in children of women in OMT. DESIGN: A 2 (control group versus OMT group) × 2 (human versus mechanic) mixed factorial design. SETTING: The Cognitive Developmental Research Unit at the University of Oslo, Norway. PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen children of women in OMT and 15 non-exposed children participated. MEASUREMENTS: Goal-directed eye movements were recorded using a Tobii 1750 eye tracker. Neurocognitive tests were employed to map children's cognitive development. FINDINGS: The OMT group made fewer proactive goal-directed eye movements [mean = -37.73, standard deviation (SD) = 208.56] compared to the control group (mean = 181.47, SD = 228.65), F((1,28)) = 7.53, P = 0.01, η(2) = 0.21. No differences were found on tests of visual perception or goal understanding. CONCLUSIONS: Use of opioid maintenance therapy during pregnancy appears to be associated with impaired goal-directed eye movements in the 4-year-old infant which may affect later social adjustment adversely.

Magnetoencephalography study of right parietal lobe dysfunction of the evoked mirror neuron system in antipsychotic-free schizophrenia.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with schizophrenia commonly exhibit deficits of non-verbal communication in social contexts, which may be related to cognitive dysfunction that impairs recognition of biological motion. Although perception of biological motion is known to be mediated by the mirror neuron system, there have been few empirical studies of this system in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Using magnetoencephalography, we examined whether antipsychotic-free schizophrenia patients displayed mirror neuron system dysfunction during observation of biological motion (jaw movement of another individual). RESULTS: Compared with normal controls, the patients with schizophrenia had fewer components of both the waveform and equivalent current dipole, suggesting aberrant brain activity resulting from dysfunction of the right inferior parietal cortex. They also lacked the changes of alpha band and gamma band oscillation seen in normal controls, and had weaker phase-locking factors and gamma-synchronization predominantly in right parietal cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that untreated patients with schizophrenia exhibit aberrant mirror neuron system function based on the right inferior parietal cortex, which is characterized by dysfunction of gamma-synchronization in the right parietal lobe during observation of biological motion.