Sexual dimorphism in oxytocin responses to health perception and disgust, with implications for theories on pathogen detection.
Horm Behav
; 65(5): 521-6, 2014 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24780143
ABSTRACT
In response to a recent hypothesis that the neuropeptide oxytocin might be involved in human pathogen avoidance mechanisms, we report the results of a study in which we investigate the effect of intranasal oxytocin on two behaviors serving as proxies for pathogen detection. Participants received either oxytocin or a placebo and were asked to evaluate (1) the health of Caucasian male computer-generated pictures that varied in facial redness (an indicator of hemoglobin perfusion) and (2) a series of pictures depicting disgusting scenarios. Men, but not women, evaluated all faces, regardless of color, as less healthy when given oxytocin compared to a placebo. Women, on the other hand, expressed decreased disgust when given oxytocin compared to a placebo. These results suggest that intranasal oxytocin administration does not facilitate pathogen detection based on visual cues, but instead reveal clear sex differences in the perception of health and sickness cues.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Social Perception
/
Oxytocin
/
Health Status
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Patient_preference
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Horm Behav
Year:
2014
Document type:
Article