AUTHOR=Geng Yayuan , Zhao Weihua , Zhou Feng , Ma Xiaole , Yao Shuxia , Hurlemann Rene , Becker Benjamin , Kendrick Keith M. TITLE=Oxytocin Enhancement of Emotional Empathy: Generalization Across Cultures and Effects on Amygdala Activity JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience VOLUME=12 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2018.00512 DOI=10.3389/fnins.2018.00512 ISSN=1662-453X ABSTRACT=
Accumulating evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) can enhance empathy although it is unclear which specific behavioral and neural aspects are influenced, and whether the effects are modulated by culture, sex, and trait autism. Based on previous findings in Caucasian men, we hypothesized that a single intranasal dose of OXT would specifically enhance emotional empathy (EE) via modulatory effects on the amygdala in an Asian (Chinese) population and explored the modulatory role of sex and trait autism on the effects. We first conducted a double-blind, randomized between-subject design experiment using a modified version of the multifaceted empathy task to determine whether OXT’s facilitation of EE can be replicated in Chinese men (