Deciphering the Role of Oxytocin in Motivation: an fMRI Study

Oxytocin is a well-known social and reproductive hormone demonstrated to have a variety of prosocial effects in humans including enhancing trust and generosity, improving positive communication, increasing eye gaze, and reducing anxiety. Oxytocin is hypothesized to facilitate social behaviors via its modulation of motivational networks. With this study, we will characterize oxytocin's effects on the neural processing of salient stimuli. We will utilize a noninvasive brain imaging technique, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to assess brain activity while participants perform tests designed to engage neural circuits associated with the processing of social and non-social stimuli.