Evaluating the neuropeptide-social cognition link in ageing: the mediating role of basic cognitive skills.

ABSTRACT: The roles of oxytocin (OT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) as crucial modulators of social cognition and related behaviours have been extensively addressed in the literature. The involvement of these neuropeptides in social cognition in ageing, however, and a potential mediating effect of basic cognitive capacities on this link, are not well understood. To fill these research gaps, this study assessed associations of plasma OT and AVP levels with dynamic emotion identification accuracy in generally healthy older men (aged 55-95 years) and probed the underlying roles of crystallized and fluid cognition in these associations. Higher plasma OT levels were associated with lower accuracy in dynamic emotion identification, with this negative relationship fully mediated by cognition. For plasma AV

SUBMITTER: Polk R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9274329 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature