Oxytocin (OT) is known as a neuropeptide that promotes social adaptation. Individuating racial in-group members and viewing racial out-groups in categories is an adaptive strategy that evolved to aid effective social interaction. Nevertheless, whether OT modulates the neural individuation/categorization processing of racial in-group and out-group faces remain unknown. After intranasal OT or placebo administration, 46 male participants (OT: 24, placebo: 22) were presented with face pairs with the same or different identities or races in rapid succession. The neural repetition suppression (RS) effects to identity and race were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as indices of individuation/categorization face-processing. The results showed that while OT increased the RS effect to race, it decreased the RS effect to identity in the right fusiform face area. As for the left occipital face area, OT enlarged the differential RS effects to identities of in-group and out-group faces. Additionally, OT modulated the association of interdependence self-construal and the RS effects on identity and race. These findings bring to light preliminary evidence that OT can regulate neuronal specificity of identity and race in early face-selective regions and benefit adaptive individuation/categorization face-processing.

中文翻译：

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催产素调节早期面部选择区域面部的神经个体化/分类处理

催产素 (OT) 被称为促进社会适应的神经肽。将种族内群体成员个体化并按类别查看种族外群体是一种适应性策略，旨在帮助进行有效的社会互动。然而，OT 是否调节种族内群体和外群体面孔的神经个体化/分类处理仍然未知。在鼻内 OT 或安慰剂给药后，46 名男性参与者（OT：24，安慰剂：22）快速连续呈现具有相同或不同身份或种族的面孔对。使用功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 作为个体化/分类面部处理的指标来测量对身份和种族的神经重复抑制 (RS) 影响。结果表明，虽然 OT 增加了 RS 对比赛的影响，它降低了右侧梭形面部区域对身份的 RS 效应。至于左侧枕面区域，OT 将差分 RS 效应扩大到组内和组外人脸的身份。此外，OT 调节了相互依存自我解释和 RS 对身份和种族的影响之间的关联。这些发现揭示了初步证据表明 OT 可以调节早期面部选择区域中身份和种族的神经元特异性，并有利于自适应个性化/分类面部处理。