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From Animals to Humans, How Does Social Buffering Effect Facilitate Mental Health?
Qi Yanyan, Yang Yinghui, Zhang Zheng, Liu Huiying, Wu Haiyan
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (3) : 736-746.
PDF(540 KB)
PDF(540 KB)
From Animals to Humans, How Does Social Buffering Effect Facilitate Mental Health?
Throughout human evolution, individuals have developed a tendency to form connections with others in order to counter external threats and ensure their survival. These social connections provide individuals with social support, and the phenomenon in which social support buffers the effects of stress and promotes physical and mental well-being is referred to as the social buffering effect. In this study, we systematically reviewed relevant animal and human studies, exploring how individuals perceive or receive social support through social relationships to mitigate stress.
Most animal studies on social buffering are conducted in laboratories, mainly using rodents and non-human primates, with common stressors such as novel environments, restraint, and electric shocks. These studies often employ two main paradigms: (a) exposure-type, in which both the subject and a partner experience the stressor together, and (b) housing-type, in which the subject receives support from a partner after exposure to stress. Social buffering can be maternal, mate, or conspecific. Maternal buffering is most effective early in life, primarily by inhibiting the release of norepinephrine to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, thereby suppressing the HPA axis. As the offspring mature, the social buffering effect of the mother diminishes, and partners and peers become important sources of buffering, which is mainly associated with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Recent research suggests that the effects of social buffering can persist, with findings indicating that neural mechanisms in the hypothalamus and amygdala contribute to this prolonged effect. Social buffering has also been observed in various other social species, including fish, birds, pigs, and cattle, highlighting its broad applicability.
In human studies on social buffering, common stressors include pain (e.g., electric, heat, or cold) and social stress (e.g., the Trier Social Stress Test or social exclusion). Social support, whether provided by real or virtual figures, has been shown to reduce pain perception and alleviate fear responses. The sources of social buffering vary by life stage. In infancy and childhood, parents provide the main buffering effect. As individuals reach adolescence, peer relationships, including friendships, become more significant, though sometimes these relationships can increase stress due to peer pressure. In adulthood, social buffering in romantic relationships is studied, with support provided either actively (e.g., physical touch, visual or auditory support) or passively (e.g., partner presence or imagined support). Interestingly, social buffering extends beyond romantic relationships, with friends, siblings, and even strangers offering support. The type of social support and gender differences play a role in buffering. While strangers can provide social support, support from close relationships tends to be more effective. Moreover, women benefit more from same-gender stranger touch, while men respond better to opposite-gender touch. However, these gender differences diminish when support is passive or indirect.
Social buffering effects are primarily mediated by reducing the activity of stress systems like the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and HPA axis. The HPA axis involves the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands, with cortisol (or corticosterone in rodents) being released in response to stress. Social buffering modulates this system by regulating neuropeptides (e.g., oxytocin, vasopressin) and activating or inhibiting brain regions related to stress (e.g., amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus), thus reducing stress responses. Oxytocin plays a key role by downregulating HPA activity and affecting regions related to fear and attachment. In contrast, vasopressin, which antagonizes oxytocin, may contribute to stress responses, though its precise role in social buffering is less clear. The prefrontal cortex is involved in regulating stress responses, with social support activating this region and reducing fear-related activity. The amygdala, crucial for processing threat and fear, is also influenced by social buffering, where oxytocin release inhibits its activation, reducing threat responses. Lastly, the hippocampus, involved in memory and stress recovery, helps regulate the HPA axis and is protected from stress effects through social support. These neurobiological mechanisms illustrate how social buffering operates to mitigate stress and maintain physiological balance. In summary, the social buffering effect relies on the coordinated interaction between neuropeptides and key brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system, with oxytocin (OT) playing a central role.
Future research should further explore the physiological mechanisms of social buffering, such as olfactory cues, and employ more dynamic, real-world experimental designs. Additionally, the impact of parasocial relationships with virtual or AI companions on stress relief needs further exploration, while cross-species buffering, particularly between humans and pets, could reveal shared neurobiological responses. Finally, the social buffering effect plays a role in the intervention and treatment of psychological disorders. It may be incorporated into systematic desensitization therapy, integrated into standard cognitive behavioral therapy protocols, or combined with physical interventions, such as non-invasive.
social buffering effect / social support / stress / hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis / neurophysiological mechanism
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邢小莉, 赵俊峰, 赵国祥. (2016). 神经及内分泌系统对社会支持缓冲应激的调节机制. 心理科学进展, 24(4), 517.
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Women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with anxiety and mood disorders. One potential underlying mechanism is sex differences in physiological and psychological responses to stress; however, no studies to date have investigated this proposed mechanism experimentally. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled design, pharmacological challenges were administered to individually suppress the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, or the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) prior to stress exposure, to investigate sex differences in the resulting cross talk among the physiological and psychological stress responses. Sex-specific compensatory patterns and psychological effects emerged when the stress systems were manipulated. Men demonstrated heightened SNS reactivity to stress when the HPA axis was suppressed, and greater HPA reactivity after SNS suppression. This ability to react appropriately to the stressor, even with one system, did not lead to significant negative mood effects. In women, higher baseline activation (but dampened reactivity to stress) of SNS or HPA was observed when the other system was suppressed. This was coupled with worsened mood in response to stress when either stress system was compromised. Our results indicate that men and women may be differentially sensitive to fluctuations of their stress systems. This might be a potential link that underlies the sexual dimorphism in vulnerability for psychopathology.
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In animal models, corticosterone elevations are associated with hippocampal changes that can be prevented with phenytoin. In humans, Cushing's syndrome and long-term prescription corticosteroid use are associated with a reduction in the hippocampal volume. However, little is known about the effects of short-term corticosteroid administration on the hippocampus. The current report examines changes in the hippocampal volume during a brief hydrocortisone exposure and whether volumetric changes can be blocked by phenytoin. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject crossover study was conducted in healthy adults (n=17). Participants received hydrocortisone (160 mg/day)/placebo, phenytoin/placebo, both medications together, or placebo/placebo, with 21-day washouts between the conditions. Structural MRI scans and cortisol levels were obtained following each medication condition. No significant difference in the total brain volume was observed with hydrocortisone. However, hydrocortisone was associated with a significant 1.69% reduction in the total hippocampal volume compared with placebo. Phenytoin blocked the volume reduction associated with hydrocortisone. Reduction in hippocampal volume correlated with the change in cortisol levels (r=-0.58, P=0.03). To our knowledge, this is the first report of structural hippocampal changes with brief corticosteroid exposure. The correlation between the change in hippocampal volume and cortisol level suggests that the volume changes are related to cortisol elevation. Although the findings from this pilot study need replication, they suggest that the reductions in hippocampal volume occur even during brief exposure to corticosteroids, and that hippocampal changes can, as in animal models, be blocked by phenytoin. The results may have implications both for understanding the response of the hippocampus to stress as well as for patients receiving prescription corticosteroids.
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Consolation behavior toward distressed others is common in humans and great apes, yet our ability to explore the biological mechanisms underlying this behavior is limited by its apparent absence in laboratory animals. Here, we provide empirical evidence that a rodent species, the highly social and monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), greatly increases partner-directed grooming toward familiar conspecifics (but not strangers) that have experienced an unobserved stressor, providing social buffering. Prairie voles also match the fear response, anxiety-related behaviors, and corticosterone increase of the stressed cagemate, suggesting an empathy mechanism. Exposure to the stressed cagemate increases activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, and oxytocin receptor antagonist infused into this region abolishes the partner-directed response, showing conserved neural mechanisms between prairie vole and human. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Oxytocin is a pleiotropic, peptide hormone with broad implications for general health, adaptation, development, reproduction, and social behavior. Endogenous oxytocin and stimulation of the oxytocin receptor support patterns of growth, resilience, and healing. Oxytocin can function as a stress-coping molecule, an anti-inflammatory, and an antioxidant, with protective effects especially in the face of adversity or trauma. Oxytocin influences the autonomic nervous system and the immune system. These properties of oxytocin may help explain the benefits of positive social experiences and have drawn attention to this molecule as a possible therapeutic in a host of disorders. However, as detailed here, the unique chemical properties of oxytocin, including active disulfide bonds, and its capacity to shift chemical forms and bind to other molecules make this molecule difficult to work with and to measure. The effects of oxytocin also are context-dependent, sexually dimorphic, and altered by experience. In part, this is because many of the actions of oxytocin rely on its capacity to interact with the more ancient peptide molecule, vasopressin, and the vasopressin receptors. In addition, oxytocin receptor(s) are epigenetically tuned by experience, especially in early life. Stimulation of G-protein-coupled receptors triggers subcellular cascades allowing these neuropeptides to have multiple functions. The adaptive properties of oxytocin make this ancient molecule of special importance to human evolution as well as modern medicine and health; these same characteristics also present challenges to the use of oxytocin-like molecules as drugs that are only now being recognized. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Oxytocin is an ancient molecule with a major role in mammalian behavior and health. Although oxytocin has the capacity to act as a "natural medicine" protecting against stress and illness, the unique characteristics of the oxytocin molecule and its receptors and its relationship to a related hormone, vasopressin, have created challenges for its use as a therapeutic drug.Copyright © 2020 by The Author(s).
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Social isolation is a major source of stress and can lead to activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The presence of a close social partner can reduce the magnitude of the HPA-axis response during a stressor, a phenomenon known as social buffering. The oxytocin (OXT) system has been identified as one candidate for mediating social buffering due to its role in the facilitation of social bonding and the expression of prosocial behavior. The goal of the present study was to determine whether the OXT system contributes to social buffering of HPA-axis activity in response to stressor exposure in marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Male and female marmosets experienced a standardized psychogenic stressor with and without their long-term mate under OXT-treatments (Pro(8)-OXT, Leu(8)-OXT, OXT antagonist, and saline); we assessed HPA-axis activity by measuring urinary cortisol across the stressor. We found that blocking, but not augmenting, the OXT system altered patterns of cortisol and proximity behavior in response to a stressor. We demonstrated that (1) the presence of a mate during a stressor significantly attenuated HPA-axis activity in female, but not male, marmosets; (2) male, but not female, marmosets treated with an OXT antagonist had significantly higher HPA-axis activity across the stressor than when they were treated with saline, suggesting that the OXT system may reduce the stressor-induced rise in cortisol levels; (3) male and female marmosets treated with an OXT antagonist spent significantly less time in close proximity to their mate during the first 30 min of the stressor than when they were treated with saline, suggesting that the OXT system may be important for the expression of partner-seeking behavior during a stressor. Thus, the OXT system and social context differentially influenced how the HPA-axis responded to a stressor in male and female marmosets, and may modulate HPA-axis activity by promoting the expression of proximity behavior with a close social partner.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Anxiety disorders are characterized by hyperactivity in both the amygdala and the anterior insula. Interventions that normalize activity in these areas may therefore be effective in treating anxiety disorders. Recently, there has been significant interest in the potential use of oxytocin (OT), as well as vasopressin (AVP) antagonists, as treatments for anxiety disorders. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, pharmaco- fMRI study, 153 men and 151 women were randomized to treatment with either 24 IU intranasal OT, 20 IU intranasal AVP, or placebo and imaged with fMRI as they played the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma game with same-sex human and computer partners. In men, OT attenuated the fMRI response to unreciprocated cooperation (CD), a negative social interaction, within the amygdala and anterior insula. This effect was specific to interactions with human partners. In contrast, among women, OT unexpectedly attenuated the amygdala and anterior insula response to unreciprocated cooperation from computer but not human partners. Among women, AVP did not significantly modulate the response to unreciprocated cooperation in either the amygdala or the anterior insula. However, among men, AVP attenuated the BOLD response to CD outcomes with human partners across a relatively large cluster including the amygdala and the anterior insula, which was contrary to expectations. Our results suggest that OT may decrease the stress of negative social interactions among men, whereas these effects were not found in women interacting with human partners. These findings support continued investigation into the possible efficacy of OT as a treatment for anxiety disorders.
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Positive interpersonal interactions such as affection are central to well-being. Sex is associated with greater individual well-being, but little is known about why this occurs. We predicted that experienced affection would account for the association between sex and well-being. Cross-sectional results indicated that affection mediated the association between sex and both life satisfaction (Study 1) and positive emotions (however, among men only in Study 2). In Study 3, an experience sampling study with 106 dual-earner couples with children, affection mediated the association between sex and increased positive affect in daily life. Cross-lagged analyses in Study 3 to 4 supported the predicted direction of the associations. Moreover, the strength of the daily association between sex and positive affect predicted both partners' relationship satisfaction 6 months later. Our findings underscore the importance of affection and positive affect for understanding how sex promotes well-being and has long-term relational benefits.
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The importance of recovery from stress is evident in times of high prevalence of stress-related diseases. Intimacy has been found to buffer psychobiological stress reactivity, suggesting that emotional and physical closeness might trigger biological mechanisms that underlie the health-beneficial effects of couple relationships. Here, we investigated whether couples' spontaneous expression of intimacy before and after psychosocial stress exposure in the laboratory reduced cortisol reactivity and accelerated recovery.Data from 183 couples (366 individuals) were analyzed. Couples were randomly assigned to one of the following three experimental conditions: only the female partner (n = 62), only the male partner (n = 61), or both partners were stressed in parallel (n = 60) with the Trier Social Stress Test. Couples' behavior was videotaped and coded for expressions of intimacy, and saliva samples were taken repeatedly (nine times) to analyze cortisol levels before and after stress. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.Observed partner intimacy reduced cortisol responses to stress in women (B = -0.016, SE = 0.006, p =.008), although this effect was eliminated among women using oral contraceptives. Observed partner intimacy also reliably accelerated cortisol recovery in men (B = -0.002, SE = 0.001, p =.023) and women (B = -0.002, SE = 0.001, p =.016).Spontaneous nonverbal expressions of intimacy seem to regulate the effects of acute environmental demands on established biological indices of stress response.
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Strong social support can negate negative health outcomes - an effect defined as 'social buffering'. In the present study, using the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), we examined whether the presence of a bonded partner during a stressful event can reduce stress responses. Adult, pair-bonded female and male voles were assigned into experimental groups that were either handled (Control), experienced a 1-h immobilization (IMO) stress alone (IMO-Alone), or experienced IMO with their partner (IMO-Partner). Thereafter, subjects were tested for anxiety-like behavior, and brain sections were subsequently processed for oxytocin receptor (OTR) and vasopressin V1a-type receptor (V1aR) binding. Our data indicate that while IMO stress significantly decreased the time that subjects spent in the open arms of an elevated plus maze, partner's presence prevented this behavioral change - this social buffering on anxiety-like behavior was the same for both male and female subjects. Further, IMO stress decreased OTR binding in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), but a partner's presence dampened this effect. No effects were found in V1aR binding. These data suggest that the neuropeptide- and brain region-specific OTR alterations in the NAcc may be involved in both the mediation and social buffering of stress responses. Some sex differences in the OTR and V1aR binding were also found in selected brain regions, offering new insights into the sexually dimorphic roles of the two neuropeptides. Overall, our results suggest a potential preventative approach in which the presence of social interactions during a stressor may buffer typical negative outcomes.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Previous research has demonstrated that before puberty, parents are able to buffer, and often completely block, cortisol responses to social evaluative stressors (e.g., Trier Social Stress Test; TSST). However, after puberty, parents no longer provide a powerful buffer of the HPA axis from a social-evaluative stressor. The current study investigates whether friends can buffer the HPA axis in both children and adolescents compared to parents and whether similar stress-ameliorating patterns can also be observed in oxytocin activity. A total of 109 participants (54 children aged 9-10 and 55 adolescents aged 15-16; half of each sex) completed the TSST and were randomly assigned to prepare for their speech with their parent or friend for 5 minutes beforehand. Salivary cortisol and urinary oxytocin were measured before and after the TSST. For children, cortisol responses were comparable regardless of who helped the child prepare the speech. For adolescents, however, friends actually amplified the cortisol response compared to parents. In addition, adolescents produced less oxytocin than children, as did males compared to females. Notably, for boys, oxytocin levels decreased across the session if participants prepared with a friend rather than their parent. The mean change was in the same direction but not significant for girls. These results indicate that friends do not take over the social buffering role by age 15-16, which may inform interventions in at-risk children and adolescents.
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Background and aims While social interactions like verbal support and physical touch have repeatedly been shown to reduce experimental pain, analgesic effects of passive social support, i.e. the sole physical presence of a supportive other, remain unclear. Moreover, little is known about individual factors influencing the extent of pain attenuation during social support. This study investigated analgesic effects of passive support by a romantic partner and the role of partner empathy therein. Methods In 48 heterosexual couples, sensitivity to pressure pain was assessed; each participant was tested alone and in the passive presence of his/her partner. Dispositional empathy was quantified by a questionnaire. Results In the presence, as compared to absence, of their partners men and women exhibited higher pain threshold and tolerance, as well as lower sensory and affective pain ratings on constant pressure stimuli. Partner empathy was positively associated with pain tolerance and inversely associated with sensory pain experience. Conclusions The results confirm the analgesic effects of social support, which may even occur without verbal or physical contact. Partner empathy may buffer affective distress during pain exposure, thereby reducing pain sensitivity and promoting pain coping. These processes may occur solely due to a partner's physical presence and do not necessarily require direct empathetic feedback.
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There is growing interest in non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) as a novel treatment option for substance-use disorders (SUDs). Recent momentum stems from a foundation of preclinical neuroscience demonstrating links between neural circuits and drug consuming behavior, as well as recent FDA-approval of NIBS treatments for mental health disorders that share overlapping pathology with SUDs. As with any emerging field, enthusiasm must be tempered by reason; lessons learned from the past should be prudently applied to future therapies. Here, an international ensemble of experts provides an overview of the state of transcranial-electrical (tES) and transcranial-magnetic (TMS) stimulation applied in SUDs. This consensus paper provides a systematic literature review on published data - emphasizing the heterogeneity of methods and outcome measures while suggesting strategies to help bridge knowledge gaps. The goal of this effort is to provide the community with guidelines for best practices in tES/TMS SUD research. We hope this will accelerate the speed at which the community translates basic neuroscience into advanced neuromodulation tools for clinical practice in addiction medicine.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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In social mammals, the presence of an affiliative conspecific reduces stress responses, a phenomenon referred to as "social buffering."In a previous study, we found that the presence of a conspecific animal ameliorated a variety of stress responses to an aversive conditioned stimulus (CS), including freezing and Fos expression in the lateral amygdala (LA) of male rats. Although these findings suggest that the presence of a conspecific animal suppresses neural activity in the LA, direct neurophysiological evidence of suppressed activity in the LA during social buffering is still lacking. In the present study, we analyzed freezing behavior and local field potentials in the LA of fear-conditioned rats in response to the CS, in the presence or absence of a conspecific. After auditory aversive conditioning, the CS was presented to the conditioned rats in the presence or absence of a conspecific animal, on 2 successive days. The presence of a conspecific animal significantly decreased the mean peak amplitudes of auditory evoked field potentials, gamma oscillations (25-75 Hz) and high frequency oscillations (100-300 Hz) in the LA. Furthermore, magnitudes of these neural responses positively correlated with freezing duration of the fear-conditioned rats. The results provide the first electrophysiological evidence that social buffering suppresses CS-induced activation in the LA, which consequently reduces conditioned fear responses.
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This review provides a broad overview of my research group's work on social buffering in human development in the context of the field. Much of the focus is on social buffering of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, one of the two major arms of the mammalian stress system. This focus reflects the centrality of the HPA system in research on social buffering in the fields of developmental psychobiology and developmental science. However, buffering of the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous system is also discussed. The central developmental question in this area derives from attachment theory, which argues that the infant's experience of stress and arousal regulation in the context of her early attachment relationships is not an immature form of social buffering experienced in adulthood but rather the foundation out of which individual differences in the capacity to gain stress relief from social partners emerges. The emergence of social buffering in infancy, changes in social buffering throughout childhood and adolescence, the influence of early experience on later individual differences in social buffering, and critical gaps in our knowledge are described.
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Social buffering, a subset of social support, is the process through which the availability of a conspecific reduces the activity of stress-mediating neurobiological systems. While its role in coping and resilience is significant, we know little about its developmental history in humans. This brief review presents an integrative developmental account of the social buffering of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) stress reactivity in humans, from infancy to adulthood. During infancy, parents are powerful stress-regulators for children, but child temperament also plays a role and interacts with parenting quality to predict the magnitude of stress responses to fear or pain stimuli. Recent work indicates that parental support remains a potent stress buffer into late childhood, but that it loses its effectiveness as a buffer of the HPA axis by adolescence. Puberty may be the switch that alters the potency of parental buffering. Beginning in middle childhood, friends may serve as stress buffers, particularly when other peers are the source of stress. By adulthood, romantic partners assume this protective role, though studies often reveal sex differences that are currently not well understood. Translational research across species will be critical for developing a mechanistic understanding of social buffering and the processes involved in developmental changes noted in this review.
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The presence of a companion can reduce fear, but the neural mechanisms underlying this social buffering of fear are incompletely known. We studied social buffering of fear in male and female, and its encoding in the amygdala of male, auditory fear-conditioned rats. Pharmacological, opto,- and/or chemogenetic interventions showed that oxytocin signaling from hypothalamus-to-central amygdala projections underlied fear reduction acutely with a companion and social buffering retention 24 h later without a companion. Single-unit recordings with optetrodes in the central amygdala revealed fear-encoding neurons (showing increased conditioned stimulus-responses after fear conditioning) inhibited by social buffering and blue light-stimulated oxytocinergic hypothalamic projections. Other central amygdala neurons showed baseline activity enhanced by blue light and companion exposure, with increased conditioned stimulus responses that persisted without the companion. Social buffering of fear thus switches the conditioned stimulus from encoding "fear" to "safety" by oxytocin-mediated recruitment of a distinct group of central amygdala "buffer neurons".© 2024. The Author(s).
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The ability of specific adult females to moderate plasma cortisol responses throughout the life span was examined in male guinea pigs maintained in large mixed age/sex groups. At four critical life stages of social development (preweaning, periadolescent, sexually but not socially mature, and sexually and socially mature), the same male guinea pigs were exposed to the stressor of exposure to a novel environment for 4 h while either alone, with an unfamiliar adult female, or with a favored adult female, as based on objective criteria from behavioral observation at that life stage. In preweaning males (9-19 days of age), the favored female (biological mother), but not an unfamiliar female, reduced the cortisol response in the novel environment. In periadolescents (49-61 days), an unfamiliar female, but not the favored female, buffered the cortisol response. At the sexually but not socially mature stage (114-126 days), the cortisol response to novelty was depressed in all conditions, and not affected by either female. At the sexually and socially mature stage (270-330 days), the favored female, but not the unfamiliar female, moderated cortisol levels. These results corroborate previous findings in infants and full adults, demonstrate marked age-specific changes in the ability of females to buffer hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses, and identify a heretofore undescribed period of cortisol response suppression in maturing male guinea pigs. The changing pattern of social buffering during the life span described here for the guinea pig might represent a more general pattern for males of other group-living mammals.
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| [37] |
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| [38] |
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| [39] |
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Although fear-conditioning research has demonstrated that certain survival-threatening stimuli, namely prepared fear stimuli, are readily associated with fearful events, little research has explored whether a parallel category exists for safety stimuli. We examined whether social-support figures, who have typically benefited survival, can serve as prepared safety stimuli, a category that has not been explored previously. Across three experiments, we uncovered three key findings. First, social-support figures were less readily associated with fear than were strangers or neutral stimuli (in a retardation-of-acquisition test). Second, social-support stimuli inhibited conditional fear responses to other cues (in a summation test), and this inhibition continued even after the support stimulus was removed. Finally, these effects were not simply due to familiarity or reward because both familiar and rewarding stimuli were readily associated with fear, whereas social-support stimuli were not. These findings suggest that social-support figures are one category of prepared safety stimuli that may have long-lasting effects on fear-learning processes.© The Author(s) 2016.
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The goal of the present study was to investigate developmental differences in the effectiveness of parent support to alleviate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress responses of children (ages 9-10, N = 40) and adolescents (ages 15-16, N = 41). We experimentally manipulated the provision of parent support during the speech preparation period before a modified Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and examined its effect on levels of salivary cortisol secreted in response to this laboratory stressor. Analyses revealed a significant interaction of condition and age group such that social support from the parent (versus a stranger) significantly eliminated the cortisol stress response in children, but had no effect on the response among adolescents. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Vasopressin and oxytocin strongly modulate autonomic fear responses, through mechanisms that are still unclear. We describe how these neuropeptides excite distinct neuronal populations in the central amygdala, which provides the major output of the amygdaloid complex to the autonomic nervous system. We identified these two neuronal populations as part of an inhibitory network, through which vasopressin and oxytocin modulate the integration of excitatory information from the basolateral amygdala and cerebral cortex in opposite manners. Through this network, the expression and endogenous activation of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors may regulate the autonomic expression of fear.
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The stress experienced by an animal is ameliorated when the animal is exposed to distressing stimuli along with a conspecific animal(s). This is known as social buffering. Previously, we found that the presence of an unfamiliar male rat induced social buffering and ameliorated conditioned fear responses of a male rat subjected to an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS). However, because our knowledge of social buffering is highly biased towards findings in male subjects, analyses using female subjects are crucial for comprehensively understanding the social buffering phenomenon. In the present studies, we assessed social buffering of conditioned fear responses in female rats. We found that the estrus cycle did not affect the intensity of the rats' fear responses to the CS or their degree of vigilance due to the presence of a conspecific animal. Based on these findings, we then assessed whether social buffering ameliorated conditioned fear responses in female rats without taking into account their estrus cycles. When fear conditioned female rats were exposed to the CS without the presence of a conspecific, they exhibited behavioral responses, including freezing, and elevated corticosterone levels. By contrast, the presence of an unfamiliar female rat suppressed these responses. Based on these findings, we conclude that social buffering can ameliorate conditioned fear responses in female rats.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Fear plays a central role in attachment theory and disorganization in adulthood. Fear associated with traumatic memories interferes with resolution of trauma resulting in disorganized mental states, captured as unresolved/disorganized speech surrounding loss and/or abuse in the Adult Attachment Interview. Mothers who are unresolved experience fear stemming from traumatic memories and display frightening behavior towards their infants. Disorganization can predispose individuals to dissociative mental processes, including altered states (absorption), PTSD, and depersonalization. Social psychologists have conceptualized adult disorganization as fear of the romantic partner. Studies examining stability of adult disorganization indicate unresolved loss is more readily resolved than unresolved abuse. Understanding disorganization in adulthood, including experiences that support reparation and reorganization, is important for developing effective interventions.Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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This investigation examined the extent to which receiving touch during discussions of stressors predicts subsequent personal and relational well-being. Married couples were unobtrusively videotaped as couple-members took turns discussing their personal stressors with one another. We assessed the degree to which couple-members received touch from their spouses during the discussions and investigated whether touch receipt predicted beneficial personal and relational outcomes after the discussions. Results indicated that disclosers who received greater (higher frequency and higher intensity) touch while they discussed their stressors perceived that they were more able to overcome their stressors, experienced greater decreases in self-reported stress, reported greater increases in self-esteem, and viewed their partners more positively than disclosers who received less touch. Additionally, helpers (spouses in the listening role) who received greater touch during their partner’s stressor discussion also viewed their partners more positively than helpers who received less touch. Implications and potential future directions are discussed.
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Species have evolved diverse social behavior and mating strategies in response to selective forces in their environments. While promiscuity is the predominant mating strategy across most vertebrate taxa, convergent evolution of monogamous mating systems has occurred multiple times across distant lineages. Monogamous behavior is thought to be facilitated by a neurobiological capacity to form and maintain selective social attachments, or pair bonds, with a mating partner. The neural mechanisms of pair bonding behavior have been investigated most rigorously in rodents, which exhibit diverse social organizations. These studies have highlighted mesolimbic dopamine pathways, social neuropeptides (oxytocin and vasopressin), and other neural systems as integral factors in the formation, maintenance, and expression of pair bonds.
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Social anxiety is a form of anxiety characterized by continuous fear of one or more social or performance situations. Although multiple treatment modalities (cognitive behavioral therapy, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors/selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, benzodiazepines) exist for social anxiety, they are effective for only 60% to 70% of patients. Thus, researchers have looked for other candidates for social anxiety treatment. Our review focuses on the peptide oxytocin as a potential therapeutic option for individuals with social anxiety. Animal research both in nonprimates and primates supports oxytocin's role in facilitation of prosocial behaviors and its anxiolytic effects. Human studies indicate significant associations between social anxiety and oxytocin receptor gene alleles, as well as social anxiety and oxytocin plasma levels. In addition, intranasal administration of oxytocin in humans has favorable effects on social anxiety symptomology. Other disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, and anorexia, have components of social anxiety in their pathophysiology. The therapeutic role of oxytocin for social dysfunction in these disorders is discussed.
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| [51] |
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| [52] |
The major regulator of the neuroendocrine stress response in the brain is corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), whose transcription is controlled by CREB and its cofactors CRTC2/3 (TORC2/3). Phosphorylated CRTCs are sequestered in the cytoplasm, but rapidly dephosphorylated and translocated into the nucleus following a stressful stimulus. As the stress response is attenuated by oxytocin (OT), we tested whether OT interferes with CRTC translocation and, thereby, Crf expression. OT (1 nmol, i.c.v.) delayed the stress-induced increase of nuclear CRTC3 and Crf hnRNA levels in the paraventricular nucleus of male rats and mice, but did not affect either parameter in the absence of the stressor. The increase in Crf hnRNA levels at later time points was parallel to elevated nuclear CRTC2/3 levels. A direct effect of Thr(4) Gly(7)-OT (TGOT) on CRTC3 translocation and Crf expression was found in rat primary hypothalamic neurons, amygdaloid (Ar-5), hypothalamic (H32), and human neuroblastoma (Be(2)M17) cell lines. CRTC3, but not CRCT2, knockdown using siRNA in Be(2)M17 cells prevented the effect of TGOT on Crf hnRNA levels. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation demonstrated that TGOT reduced CRTC3, but not CRTC2, binding to the Crf promoter after 10 min of forskolin stimulation. Together, the results indicate that OT modulates CRTC3 translocation, the binding of CRTC3 to the Crf promoter and, ultimately, transcription of the Crf gene.The neuropeptide oxytocin has been proposed to reduce hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation during stress. The underlying mechanisms are, however, elusive. In this study we show that activation of the oxytocin receptor in the paraventricular nucleus delays transcription of the gene encoding corticotropin releasing factor (Crf), the main regulator of the stress response. It does so by sequestering the coactivator of the transcription factor CREB, CRTC3, in the cytosol, resulting in reduced binding of CRTC3 to the Crf gene promoter and subsequent Crf gene expression. This novel oxytocin receptor-mediated intracellular mechanism might provide a basis for the treatment of exaggerated stress responses in the future.Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3512248-13$15.00/0.
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| [53] |
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| [54] |
The amygdala reveals enhanced reactivity to fearful eye whites, even when they are backwardly masked by a neutral face and therefore processed with limited visual awareness. In our fMRI study, we investigated whether this effect is indeed associated with fear detection within the eyes of the neutral face mask, or more generally, with reactivity to any salient increase in eye white area. In addition, we examined whether a single dose of intranasal oxytocin would modulate amygdala responses to masked fearful eye whites via a double-blind, placebo-controlled pharmacological protocol. We found that increased amygdala responses to salient changes within a face's eye region occurred specifically for masked fearful eyes but not for similar increases in white area as induced by nonsocial control stimuli. Administration of oxytocin attenuated amygdala responses to masked fearful eye whites. Our results suggest that the amygdala is particularly tuned to potential threat signals from the eye region. The dampening effects of oxytocin on early amygdala reactivity may reflect reduced vigilance for facial threat cues at a preconscious level. Future studies may investigate whether this early modulation accounts for the beneficial effects of oxytocin on social cognition in anxiety-related disorders, as suggested by previous studies.
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| [55] |
The presence of an affiliative conspecific may alleviate an individual's stress response in threatening conditions. However, the mechanisms and neural circuitry underlying the process of social buffering have not yet been elucidated. Using the domestic pig as an animal model, we examined the effect of a 4-h maternal and littermate deprivation on stress hormones and on mRNA expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11ß-HSD) types 1 and 2 and the immediate early gene c-fos in various brain regions of 7-, 21- and 35-day old piglets. The deprivation occurred either alone or with a familiar or unfamiliar age-matched piglet. Compared to piglets deprived alone, the presence of a conspecific animal significantly reduced free plasma cortisol concentrations and altered the MR/GR balance and 11ß-HSD2 and c-fos mRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala and hypothalamus, but not in the hippocampus. The alterations in brain mRNA expression were particularly found in 21- or 35-day old piglets, which may reflect the species-specific postnatal ontogeny of the investigated brain regions. The buffering effects of social support were most pronounced in the amygdala, indicating its significance both for the assessment of social conspecifics as biologically relevant stimuli and for the processing of emotional states. In conclusion, the present findings provide further evidence for the importance of the cortico-limbic network underlying the abilities of individuals to cope with social stress and strongly emphasize the benefits of social partners in livestock with respect to positive welfare and health.
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| [56] |
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| [57] |
KIYOKAWA, Y. and HENNESSY, M.B. Comparative studies of social buffering: A consideration of approaches, terminology, and pitfalls…NEUROSCI BIOBEHAV REV XXX-XXX,.- Over the past decades, there has been an increasing number of investigations of the impact of social variables on neural, endocrine, and immune outcomes. Among these are studies of "social buffering"-or the phenomenon by which affiliative social partners mitigate the response to stressors. Yet, as social buffering studies have become more commonplace, the variety of approaches taken, definitions employed, and divergent results obtained in different species can lead to confusion and miscommunication. The aim of the present paper, therefore, is to address terminology and approaches and to highlight potential pitfalls to the study of social buffering across nonhuman species. We review and categorize variables currently being employed in social buffering studies and provide an overview of responses measured, mediating sensory modalities and underlying mechanisms. It is our hope that the paper will be useful to those contemplating examination of social buffering in the context of their own research.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| [58] |
In social animals, the presence of an affiliative conspecific alleviates acute stress responses, and this is called social buffering. We previously reported in male rats that the presence of a conspecific mitigates conditioned fear responses to auditory conditioned stimulus paired with foot shocks. Subsequent studies revealed that we could observe this social buffering when rats were tested in a box odorized by a conspecific. Because we previously used an unfamiliar conspecific, the effects of familiarity with a conspecific on the intensity of social buffering remain unclear. Here, we examine this question by preparing a familiar conspecific that had been housed with a subject for 3 weeks in the same cage. We exposed fear-conditioned subjects to a conditioned stimulus in either a clean control box or a box odorized beforehand by either an unfamiliar or a familiar conspecific. When the subjects were tested in the control box, they showed freezing and Fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus. These responses were suppressed when we placed rats in the box odorized by a conspecific. However, the suppression was greater when the box was odorized by a familiar conspecific rather than by an unfamiliar conspecific. Fos expression in the lateral amygdala was also suppressed in the same manner. These results suggest that a familiar conspecific is more effective for social buffering of conditioned fear responses. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| [59] |
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| [60] |
We previously reported that the presence of a conspecific animal blocked freezing of a male rat in response to an auditory conditioned stimulus that had been paired with foot shocks, as well as associated Fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus. Here we investigated how this 'social buffering' is mediated by examining the contributions of both physical contact and the main olfactory system. Fear-conditioned rats exposed to the conditioned stimulus alone responded by freezing and increased Fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus. However, the presence of another rat, but not a guinea pig, dramatically mitigated these responses, even if the dyad was separated by a wire mesh or a pair of wire meshes 5 cm apart. In contrast, social buffering was absent when a transparent acrylic board was inserted between the double wire mesh. Lesioning of the main olfactory epithelium by injection of ZnSO(4) intranasally also abolished social buffering. Thus, we conclude that the main olfactory system is essential for the social buffering but does not require physical contact between the dyad.
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| [61] |
In social animals, the presence of an affiliative conspecific alleviates acute stress responses, and this is termed social buffering. However, the neural mechanisms underlying social buffering have not been elucidated. We have reported that the main olfactory system mediates social buffering of conditioned fear responses in male rats, and this is accompanied by suppression of the lateral and central amygdala. Therefore, olfactory signals are probably transmitted from the main olfactory system to the amygdala. Because the lateral and central amygdala do not receive projections from the main olfactory bulb, the site that links the main olfactory bulb and amygdala was presumed to be located within the main olfactory system. To find the linkage site, we generated lesions within the main olfactory system, and found that a bilateral lesion in the posteromedial region of the olfactory peduncle (pmOP) blocked social buffering. Next, we determined that the pmOP receives direct projections from the main olfactory bulb. Finally, we demonstrated that the connection between the pmOP and ipsilateral amygdala is important for social buffering, and that the pmOP projects directly to the ipsilateral amygdala, including the lateral and central amygdala. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the pmOP links the main olfactory blub to the amygdala and enables social buffering of conditioned fear responses. These results provide the first comprehensive picture of the neural pathway underlying the social buffering phenomenon.© 2012 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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| [62] |
Face-to-face and text-based social support have been shown to attenuate stress responses in past studies. Yet as social interactions increasingly take place online by means of virtual humans, our objective was to examine whether different forms of social support (virtual vs. real) prior to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) would also decrease stress. Additionally, the effect on subsequent real-life social behaviors (helping and approach) was evaluated while controlling for affective states and social presence.56 participants were either supported by an avatar, an agent, a real human or received no support before completing the TSST and two subsequent social behavior tasks (pen task and seating task).Results show no difference in agency regarding social presence. Yet, participants with agent support and no support had significantly higher heart rates during the TSST and reported to be more worried. Also, they were more irritated and showed significantly slower helping reactions (picking up pens).A limitation to this study is that only emotional verbal and non-verbal support were provided by a stranger. Different forms of support as well as a different source (i.e., a friend) may have a more pronounced effect on stress buffering.Virtual social support is as effective as face-to-face support in terms of stress buffering, as long as the recipient has the impression that it is provided by another human (via an avatar). This has wide ranging implications not only for health-related application in prevention and treatment but also for further research.Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| [63] |
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| [64] |
Social support is crucial for psychological and physical well-being. Yet, in experimental and clinical pain research, the presence of others has been found to both attenuate and intensify pain. To investigate the factors underlying these mixed effects, we administered noxious laser stimuli to 39 healthy women while their romantic partner was present or absent, and measured pain ratings and laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) to assess the effects of partner presence on subjective pain experience and underlying neural processes. Further, we examined whether individual differences in adult attachment style (AAS), alone or in interaction with the partner's level of attentional focus (manipulated to be either on or away from the participant) might modulate these effects. We found that the effects of partner presence vs absence on pain-related measures depended on AAS but not partner attentional focus. The higher participants' attachment avoidance, the higher pain ratings and N2 and P2 local peak amplitudes were in the presence compared with the absence of the romantic partner. As LEPs are thought to reflect activity relating to the salience of events, our data suggest that partner presence may influence the perceived salience of events threatening the body, particularly in individuals who tend to mistrust others. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press.
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| [65] |
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| [66] |
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| [67] |
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| [68] |
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| [69] |
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| [70] |
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| [71] |
This study examined how and when a chatbot’s emotional support was effective in reducing people’s stress and worry. It compared emotional support from chatbot versus human partners in terms of its process and conditional effects on stress/worry reduction. In an online experiment, participants discussed a personal stressor with a chatbot or a human partner who provided none, or either one or both of emotional support and reciprocal self-disclosure. The results showed that emotional support from a conversational partner was mediated through perceived supportiveness of the partner to reduce stress and worry among participants, and the link from emotional support to perceived supportiveness was stronger for a human than for a chatbot. A conversational partner’s reciprocal self-disclosure enhanced the positive effect of emotional support on worry reduction. However, when emotional support was absent, a solely self-disclosing chatbot reduced even less stress than a chatbot not providing any response to participants’ stress.
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| [72] |
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| [73] |
The reduction of aversive emotions by a conspecific's presence-called social buffering-is a universal phenomenon in the mammalian world and a powerful form of human social emotion regulation. Animal and human studies on neural pathways underlying social buffering typically examined physiological reactions or regional brain activations. However, direct links between emotional and social stimuli, distinct neural processes and behavioural outcomes are still missing. Using data of 27 female participants, the current study delineated a large-scale process model of social buffering's neural underpinnings, connecting changes in neural activity to emotional behaviour by means of voxel-wise multilevel mediation analysis. Our results confirmed that three processes underlie human social buffering: (i) social support-related reduction of activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, anterior and mid-cingulate; (ii) downregulation of aversive emotion-induced brain activity in the superficial cortex-like amygdala and mediodorsal thalamus; and (iii) downregulation of reported aversive feelings. Results of the current study provide evidence for a distinct neural process model of aversive emotion regulation in humans by social buffering.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.
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| [74] |
Social buffering is a phenomenon in which stress in an animal is ameliorated when the subject is accompanied by a conspecific animal(s) during exposure to distressing stimuli. We previously reported that in male Wistar rats, the presence of another Wistar rat mitigates conditioned fear responses to an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS). Subsequent analyses revealed several characteristics of this social buffering of conditioned fear responses. However, information regarding the specificity of accompanying conspecifics is still limited. In the present study, we assessed whether rats of other strains could induce social buffering in Wistar rats. When a fear-conditioned Wistar subject was re-exposed to the CS alone, we observed increased freezing and decreased investigation and walking, as well as elevated corticosterone levels. The presence of a Wistar, Sprague-Dawley, or Long-Evans rat blocked these responses, suggesting that social buffering was induced by these strains of rats. In contrast, a Fischer 344 rat did not induce social buffering in the Wistar subject. We further found that an inbred Lewis rat induced social buffering whereas a Brown Norway rat, a strain that has been established independently from Wistar rats, did not. These results suggest that the difference in origin, rather than the inbred or outbred status of the associate rat, seemed to account for the lack of social buffering induced by the F344 rats. Based on these findings, we conclude that strains of an accompanying conspecific can affect the efficacy of social buffering in rats.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| [75] |
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| [76] |
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| [77] |
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| [78] |
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| [79] |
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| [80] |
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| [81] |
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| [82] |
Interpersonal touch and social support can influence physical health, mental well-being and pain. However, the mechanisms by which supportive touch promotes analgesia are not well understood. In Study 1, we tested how three kinds of social support from a romantic partner (passive presence, gentle stroking and handholding) affect pain ratings and skin conductance responses (SCRs). Overall, support reduced pain ratings in women, but not men, relative to baseline. Support decreased pain-related SCRs in both women and men. Though there were no significant differences across the three support conditions, effects were largest during handholding. Handholding also reduced SCRs in the supportive partner. Additionally, synchronicity in couples' SCR was correlated with reductions in self-reported pain, and individual differences in synchrony were correlated with the partner's trait empathy. In Study 2, we re-analyzed an existing dataset to explore fMRI activity related to individual differences in handholding analgesia effects in women. Increased activity in a distributed set of brain regions, including valuation-encoding frontostriatal areas, was correlated with lower pain ratings. These results may suggest that social support can reduce pain by changing the value of nociceptive signals. This reduction may be moderated by interpersonal synchrony and relationship dynamics.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.
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| [83] |
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| [84] |
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| [85] |
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| [86] |
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| [87] |
Social buffering, the phenomenon by which the presence of a familiar individual reduces or even eliminates stress- and fear-induced responses, exists in different animal species and has been examined in the context of the mother-infant relationship, in addition to adults. Although it is a well-known effect, the biological mechanisms that underlie it as well as its developmental impact are not well understood. Here, we provide a review of evidence of social and maternal buffering of stress reactivity in nonhuman primates, and some data from our group suggesting that when the mother-infant relationship is disrupted, maternal buffering is impaired. This evidence underscores the critical role that maternal care plays for proper regulation and development of emotional and stress responses of primate infants. Disruptions of the parent-infant bond constitute early adverse experiences associated with increased risk for psychopathology. We will focus on infant maltreatment, a devastating experience not only for humans, but for nonhuman primates as well. Taking advantage of this naturalistic animal model of adverse maternal caregiving, we have shown that competent maternal care is critical for the development of healthy attachment, social behavior, and emotional and stress regulation, as well as of the neural circuits underlying these functions.
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| [88] |
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| [89] |
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| [90] |
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| [91] |
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| [92] |
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| [93] |
Comforting touch involves contact distress-alleviating behaviors of an observer towards the suffering of a target. A growing number of studies have investigated the effects of touch on pain attenuation, focusing on the (toucher), the target (comforted) or both. Here we synthesize findings of brain mechanisms underlying comforting touch in the target and toucher to propose an integrative brain model for understanding how touch attenuates distress. Building on evidence from the pain and distress literatures, our model applies interchangeably to pain and distress regulation. We describe comforting touch as a feedback-loop that begins with distress experienced by the target, triggering an empathic response in the toucher which in turn reduces distress in the target. This cycle is mediated by interactions between the neural circuits associated with touch perception, shared distress, emotion regulation and reward as well as brain-to-brain coupling in the observation-execution system. We conclude that formulating a model of comforting touch offers a mechanistic framework for understanding the effects of touch as well as other social interactions involving social support.Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| [94] |
Social relationships are a crucial determinant of both mental and physical health. This effect is partly due to social buffering of stress. Animal studies suggest that social buffering is mediated via the oxytocin system, while studies in humans are sparse and limited by the low ecological validity of laboratory settings. In the present study, participants (N = 326) completed smartphone questionnaires four times a day over 4 to 5 days, measuring stressors, negative affect, and social context to assess social buffering. We found that under stress, participants reported a higher need for social company. Further, the impact of prior stressful events on momentary negative affect was attenuated by the perceived pleasantness of current social company. This social buffering effect was moderated by haplotypes of the oxytocin receptor gene, based on two well-described single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs2268498, rs53576). Effects were robust when controlling for gender and age, applying different data quality criteria, and even apparent in genotype-based analyses. Our findings demonstrate that social buffering and its modulation by oxytocin system characteristics have implications for life as lived outside the laboratory.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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| [95] |
Social buffering, which is the attenuation of stress hormone release by a social partner, occurs in many species throughout the lifespan. Social buffering of the infant by the caregiver is particularly robust, and animal models using infant rodents are uncovering the mechanisms and neural circuitry supporting social buffering. At birth, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress system is functional but is suppressed via extended social buffering by the mother: the profound social buffering effects of the mother can last for 1-2 hours when pups are removed from the mother. At 10 days of age, pups begin to mount a stress response immediately when separated from the mother. The stimuli from the mother supporting social buffering are broad, for tactile stimulation, milk, and an anesthetized mother (no maternal behavior) all sufficiently support social buffering. The mother appears to produce social buffering by blocking norepinephrine (NE) release into the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), which blocks HPA activation. Since the infant amygdala relies on the presence of corticosterone (CORT), this suggests that social buffering of pups by the mother attenuates the neurobehavioral stress response in infancy and prevents pups from learning about threat within mother-infant interactions.
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| [96] |
During parturition and the immediate post-partum period there are two opposite, yet interdependent and intertwined systems that are highly active and play a role in determining lifelong health and behaviour in both the mother and her infant: the stress and the anti-stress (oxytocin) system. Before attempting to understand how the environment around birth determines long-term health trajectories, it is essential to understand how these two systems operate and how they interact. Here, we discuss together the hormonal and neuronal arms of both the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the oxytocinergic systems and how they interact. Although the HPA axis and glucocorticoid stress axis are well studied, the role of oxytocin as an extremely powerful anti-stress hormone deserves more attention. It is clear that these anti-stress effects depend on oxytocinergic nerves emanating from the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN), and project to multiple sites at which the stress system is regulated. These, include projections to corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) neurons within the PVN, to the anterior pituitary, to areas involved in sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous control, to NA neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC), and to CRH neurons in the amygdala. In the context of the interaction between the HPA axis and the oxytocin system birth is a particularly interesting period as, for both the mother and the infant, both systems are very strongly activated within the same narrow time window. Data suggest that the HPA axis and the oxytocin system appear to interact in this early-life period, with effects lasting many years. If mother-child skin-to-skin contact occurs almost immediately postpartum, the effects of the anti-stress (oxytocin) system become more prominent, moderating lifelong health trajectories. There is clear evidence that HPA axis activity during this time is dependent on the balance between the HPA axis and the oxytocin system, the latter being reinforced by specific somatosensory inputs, and this has long-term consequences for stress reactivity.
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| [97] |
Signaling through the Ror2 receptor tyrosine kinase promotes invadopodia formation for tumor invasion. Here, we identify intraflagellar transport 20 (IFT20) as a new target of this signaling in tumors that lack primary cilia, and find that IFT20 mediates the ability of Ror2 signaling to induce the invasiveness of these tumors. We also find that IFT20 regulates the nucleation of Golgi-derived microtubules by affecting the GM130-AKAP450 complex, which promotes Golgi ribbon formation in achieving polarized secretion for cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, IFT20 promotes the efficiency of transport through the Golgi complex. These findings shed new insights into how Ror2 signaling promotes tumor invasiveness, and also advance the understanding of how Golgi structure and transport can be regulated.
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| [98] |
Pain is modulated by social context. Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that romantic partners can provide a potent form of social support during pain. However, such studies have only focused on passive support, finding a relatively late-onset modulation of pain-related neural processing. In this study, we examined for the first time dynamic touch by one's romantic partner as an active form of social support. Specifically, 32 couples provided social, active, affective (vs active but neutral) touch according to the properties of a specific C-tactile afferent pathway to their romantic partners, who then received laser-induced pain. We measured subjective pain ratings and early N1 and later N2-P2 laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) to noxious stimulation, as well as individual differences in adult attachment style. We found that affective touch from one's partner reduces subjective pain ratings and similarly attenuates LEPs both at earlier (N1) and later (N2-P2) stages of cortical processing. Adult attachment style did not affect LEPs, but attachment anxiety had a moderating role on pain ratings. This is the first study to show early neural modulation of pain by active, partner touch, and we discuss these findings in relation to the affective and social modulation of sensory salience.
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| [99] |
Low intensity, non-noxious, stimulation of cutaneous somatosensory nerves has been shown to trigger oxytocin release and is associated with increased social motivation, plus reduced physiological and behavioural reactivity to stressors. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the specific nature of the mechanosensory nerves which mediate these effects. In recent years, the neuroscientific study of human skin nerves (microneurography studies on single peripheral nerve fibres) has led to the identification and characterisation of a class of touch sensitive nerve fibres named C-tactile afferents. Neither itch nor pain receptive, these unmyelinated, low threshold mechanoreceptors, found only in hairy skin, respond optimally to low force/velocity stroking touch. Notably, the speed of stroking which C-tactile afferents fire most strongly to is also that which people perceive to be most pleasant. The social touch hypothesis posits that this system of nerves has evolved in mammals to signal the rewarding value of physical contact in nurturing and social interactions. In support of this hypothesis, we review the evidence that cutaneous stimulation directly targeted to optimally activate C-tactile afferents reduces physiological arousal, carries a positive affective value and, under healthy conditions, inhibits responses to painful stimuli. These effects mirror those, we also review, which have been reported following endogenous release and exogenous administration of oxytocin. Taken together this suggests C-tactile afferent stimulation may mediate oxytocin release during affiliative tactile interactions.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| [100] |
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