Oxytocin promotes social affiliation across various species, in part by altering social cognition to facilitate approach behaviour. However, the effects of intranasal oxytocin on human social cognition are mixed, perhaps because its effects are context dependent and subject to inter-individual differences. Few studies have included explicit manipulations of social context to test this supposition. We examined oxytocin’s effects on autobiographical memory recall in two contexts, with and without social contact, and evaluated whether these effects were moderated by depressive symptoms. Two non-clinical samples (Study 1, n = 48; Study 2, n = 63) completed randomised, placebo-controlled, within-subject experiments. We assessed autobiographical memory recall across two sessions (intranasal oxytocin or placebo) and two contexts (memories elicited by an experimenter or by computer). Overall, intranasal oxytocin increased ratings of the vividness of recalled memories during the social context only. Individuals with elevated depressive symptoms also recalled memories that were more negative following oxytocin relative to placebo only in the non-social context across the two studies. Findings highlight the negative consequences of increasing oxytocin bioavailability in vulnerable persons in the absence of social contact. Contextual factors such as social isolation among depressed populations may complicate the clinical use of oxytocin.

中文翻译：

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抑郁症状和社会环境调节催产素对负面记忆回忆的影响


催产素促进不同物种的社会归属感，部分是通过改变社会认知来促进接近行为。然而，鼻内催产素对人类社会认知的影响是复杂的，也许是因为它的影响依赖于环境并且受到个体间差异的影响。很少有研究通过对社会背景的明确操纵来检验这一假设。我们在有和没有社交接触的两种情况下检查了催产素对自传体记忆回忆的影响，并评估了这些影响是否受到抑郁症状的调节。两个非临床样本（研究 1，n = 48；研究 2，n = 63）完成了随机、安慰剂对照、受试者内实验。我们评估了两个疗程（鼻内催产素或安慰剂）和两个情境（由实验者或计算机引发的记忆）的自传体记忆回忆。总体而言，鼻内催产素仅在社交背景下提高了回忆记忆的生动程度。在这两项研究中，仅在非社交背景下，抑郁症状加重的个体在使用催产素后也回忆起比安慰剂更消极的记忆。研究结果强调了在缺乏社会接触的情况下，弱势人群催产素生物利用度增加的负面后果。抑郁人群中的社会隔离等背景因素可能会使催产素的临床使用复杂化。