TY - JOUR

T1 - Unchanged food approach-avoidance behaviour of healthy men after oxytocin administration

AU - Melkonyan, Anna

AU - Liu, Lu

AU - Brown, Elliot C

AU - Meyer, Willi

AU - Madipakkam, Apoorva Rajiv

AU - Kalon, Lina

AU - Lange, Franziska

AU - Schmid, Sebastian M

AU - Münte, Thomas F

AU - Park, Soyoung Q

N1 - Funding Information: The present study was funded by the grant from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the State of Brandenburg (to SQP; DZD, FKZ grant 82DZD00302). German Research Foundation Grants: INST 392/125‐1, PA 2682/1‐1 (to SQP), and SFB TR134 C1 (to TFM). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Neuroendocrinology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Society for Neuroendocrinology

PY - 2020/12/1

Y1 - 2020/12/1

N2 - The oxytocinergic system has been assumed to contribute to food intake, possibly via interactions with dopamine. However, so far, it is unknown whether oxytocin influences the underlying motivational behaviour towards food. In the present study, we used a food-based approach-avoidance task (AAT) in a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over design to compare intranasal oxytocin with a placebo. In the AAT, participants pushed or pulled a joystick when images of foods with a high or low craving rating were presented, where differences in response times typically reflect approach and avoidance motivational biases towards positively and negatively valence stimuli, respectively. Thirty-three healthy male participants (age = 25.12 ± 3.51 years; body mass index = 24.25 ± 2.48 kg/m2 ) completed the two-session study, one with placebo and the other with oxytocin. We used mixed-effects models to investigate effects of treatment (oxytocin, placebo), response type (approach, avoid) and stimulus (high, low craving). The results showed that both approach and avoid responses tended to be faster for foods higher in craving compared to foods lower in craving. Most importantly, we did not observe any significant effects of oxytocin compared to placebo in motivational behaviour towards food. Our study demonstrates a general response bias towards foods with different craving values, which could have implications for future studies investigating food-related behaviour. We discuss possible explanations for the null effects of oxytocin and suggest further investigation of the relationship between oxytocin, dopamine and food-reward processing.

AB - The oxytocinergic system has been assumed to contribute to food intake, possibly via interactions with dopamine. However, so far, it is unknown whether oxytocin influences the underlying motivational behaviour towards food. In the present study, we used a food-based approach-avoidance task (AAT) in a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over design to compare intranasal oxytocin with a placebo. In the AAT, participants pushed or pulled a joystick when images of foods with a high or low craving rating were presented, where differences in response times typically reflect approach and avoidance motivational biases towards positively and negatively valence stimuli, respectively. Thirty-three healthy male participants (age = 25.12 ± 3.51 years; body mass index = 24.25 ± 2.48 kg/m2 ) completed the two-session study, one with placebo and the other with oxytocin. We used mixed-effects models to investigate effects of treatment (oxytocin, placebo), response type (approach, avoid) and stimulus (high, low craving). The results showed that both approach and avoid responses tended to be faster for foods higher in craving compared to foods lower in craving. Most importantly, we did not observe any significant effects of oxytocin compared to placebo in motivational behaviour towards food. Our study demonstrates a general response bias towards foods with different craving values, which could have implications for future studies investigating food-related behaviour. We discuss possible explanations for the null effects of oxytocin and suggest further investigation of the relationship between oxytocin, dopamine and food-reward processing.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Algorithms

KW - Avoidance Learning

KW - Craving/drug effects

KW - Cross-Over Studies

KW - Cues

KW - Double-Blind Method

KW - Feeding Behavior/drug effects

KW - Humans

KW - Individuality

KW - Male

KW - Motivation/drug effects

KW - Oxytocin/pharmacology

KW - Reaction Time/drug effects

KW - Young Adult

KW - Health sciences

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097497018&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jne.12923

DO - 10.1111/jne.12923

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 33314397

VL - 32

JO - Journal of Neuroendocrinology

JF - Journal of Neuroendocrinology

SN - 0953-8194

IS - 12

M1 - e12923

ER -