Oxytocin and socioemotional aging: Current knowledge and future trends

Abstract

The oxytocin (OT) system is involved in various aspects of social cognition and prosocial behavior. Specifically, OT has been examined in the context of social memory, emotion recognition, cooperation, trust, empathy, and bonding, and-though evidence is somewhat mixed-intranasal OT appears to benefit aspects of socioemotional functioning. However, most of the extant data on aging and OT is from animal research and human OT research has focused largely on young adults. As such, though we know that various socioemotional capacities change with age, we know little about whether age-related changes in the OT system may underlie age-related differences in socioemotional functioning. In this review, we take a genetic-neuro-behavioral approach and evaluate current evidence on age-related changes in the OT system as well as the putative effects of these alterations on age-related socioemotional functioning. Looking forward, we identify informational gaps and propose an Age-Related Genetic, Neurobiological, Sociobehavioral Model of Oxytocin (AGeNeS-OT model) which may structure and inform investigations into aging-related genetic, neural, and sociocognitive processes related to OT. As an exemplar of the use of the model, we report exploratory data suggesting differences in socioemotional processing associated with genetic variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) in samples of young and older adults. Information gained from this arena has translational potential in depression, social stress, and anxiety-all of which have high relevance in aging-and may contribute to reducing social isolation and improving well-being of individuals across the lifespan.

Keywords: aging; amygdala; anterior cingulate; oxytocin; socioemotional functioning.

Figure 1

(A) Emotion identification (Ebner et al., 2010); (B) Face memory (Ebner and Johnson, 2009); (C) Emotion identification: dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (Ebner et al., 2012). YA, Young adults; OA, Older adults.

Figure 2

Age-related Genetic, Neurobiological, Sociobehavioral Model of Oxytocin (AGeNeS-OT model).

Figure 3

(A) Main effect for Age; (B) Main effect for Oxytocin; (C) Oxytocin X Age interaction effect. Schematic representation of guiding working hypotheses. YA, Young adults, OA, Older adults; OT, Oxytocin, P, Placebo.

Figure 4

Area of Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) showing Happy Faces > Angry Faces (T-contrast). (A) Left ACC (BA 32, 10; MNI: x = −3, y = 51, z = 0; cluster size: 26 voxels; maximum T-value for cluster: 4.19). The region of activation represents the T-map of the contrast; it is displayed on the standard reference brain in SPM. The crosshair indicates the peak voxel (local maximum) within the region of activation. (B) Bar graphs show the mean left ACC parameter estimates (beta values) separately for OXTR rs237887 AA and GA/GG carriers. (C) Bar graphs show the mean left ACC parameter estimates (beta values) separately for OXTR rs237887 AA and GA/GG carriers and young and older participants, respectively; betas depicted were extracted for each individual from a 5-mm sphere around the local maximum within the region of activation and averaged to produce a single value for each condition of interest, respectively. Note. ^*p < 0.05. Error bars represent standard errors of the between-group differences.