Age-Related Differences in Amygdala Activation Associated With Face Trustworthiness but No Evidence of Oxytocin ModulationShow others and affiliations
2022 (English)In: Frontiers in Psychology, E-ISSN 1664-1078, Vol. 13, article id 838642Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The amygdala has been shown to be responsive to face trustworthiness. While older adults typically give higher face trustworthiness ratings than young adults, a direct link between amygdala response and age-related differences in face trustworthiness evaluation has not yet been confirmed. Additionally, there is a possible modulatory role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in face trustworthiness evaluation, but the results are mixed and effects unexplored in aging. To address these research gaps, young, and older adults were randomly assigned to oxytocin or placebo self-administration via a nasal spray before rating faces on trustworthiness while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. There was no overall age-group difference in face trustworthiness ratings, but older compared to young participants gave higher trustworthiness ratings to ambivalently untrustworthy-looking faces. In both age groups, lower face trustworthiness ratings were associated with higher left amygdala activity. A comparable negative linear association was observed in right amygdala but only among young participants. Also, in the right amygdala, lower and higher, compared to moderate, face trustworthiness ratings were associated with greater right amygdala activity (i.e., positive quadratic (U-shaped) association) for both age groups. Neither the behavioral nor the brain effects were modulated by a single dose of intranasal oxytocin administration, however. These results suggest dampened response to faces with lower trustworthiness among older compared to young adults, supporting the notion of reduced sensitivity to cues of untrustworthiness in aging. The findings also extend evidence of an age-related positivity effect to the evaluation of face trustworthiness.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022. Vol. 13, article id 838642
Keywords [en]
face trustworthiness, aging, amygdala, fMRI, oxytocin
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-206783DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.838642ISI: 000821892300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85134075420OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-206783DiVA, id: diva2:1676676
Note
This work was supported by the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science pilot award (NIH/NCATS, UL1 TR000064), the Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging pilot award (NIH/NIA, R24 AG039350), the National Institute on Aging grants R01AG059809, R01AG057764, and R01AG072658, the Florida Department of Health Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program grant 22A12, as well as the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Department of Psychology, the Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, and the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at the University of Florida. A portion of this work was performed in the McKnight Brain Institute at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory’s AMRIS Facility, supported by the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1157490 and the State of Florida.
2022-06-272022-06-272022-08-24Bibliographically approved