An empirical study on the effects of oxytocin for helping behaviors by marmosets.

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K13159
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: KAWAI Nobuyuki 名古屋大学, 情報学研究科, 准教授 (30335062)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ICHINOHE Noritaka 国立研究開発法人国立精神・神経医療研究センター・神経研究所, 微細構造研究部, 部長 (00250598)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: マーモセット / 社会性 / オキシトシン / モデル動物 / 向社会行動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A preliminary study was conducted to investigate whether marmosets will display helping behavior by obtaining food for other members even if they themselves do not have food, or if their prosocial behavior would be promoted through an oxytocin (OT) injection.
Unlike the previous study, the marmosets did not display helping behavior. Instead, marmosets frequently selected the choice where both the donor and the receiver wouldn’t receive food. As this could constitute as inequality aversion, we investigated whether they display inequality aversion behavior. It was found, for the first time, that both male and female marmosets showed inequality aversion - contrary to conventional studies, while models of autism that were injected with sodium valproate did not show such a behavior.
By measuring OT, cortisol, and other hormones in a non-invasive manner, a method for capturing diurnal variation was securely established, while the models of autism did not display a diurnal variation.

Free Research Field

心理学・実験心理学