Resting-state brain network properties mediate the association between the oxytocin receptor gene and interdependence

ABSTRACT

While an increasing number of behavioral findings have provided gene-culture coevolution accounts of human development, whether and how the brain mediates gene-culture associations remain unresolved. Based on the Culture-Behavior-Brain-Loop Model and the recent finding of associations between the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR, rs53576) and a cultural trait (i.e., interdependence) across populations, we tested the hypothesis that resting-state brain network properties mediate the relationship between OXTR rs53576 and interdependence. G and A allele carriers of OXTR rs53576 were scanned during a resting state using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and completed questionnaires to estimate their interdependence cultural values. We identified significant genotype effects on the local network metrics of the right hippocampus and its functional connectivity with the medial prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, basal ganglia and thalamus. The local network metrics of the right hippocampus and its functional connectivity with the basal ganglia and thalamus were correlated with interdependence. Moreover, both the degree of the right hippocampus and its functional connectivity with the basal ganglia and thalamus mediated the relationship between OXTR and interdependence. Our results provide brain imaging evidence for a key function of the brain in mediating the relationship between genes and culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture
• interdependence
• oxytocin receptor gene
• hippocampus
• network topological property

Code availability

The custom computer code and questionnaire that was used in the main analysis of this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Data availability

The deidentified data that support the main findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Projects 31421003, 31661143039, 31470986 (S. H.), 31800916 (S. L.)), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Project 2017A030310553) (S. L.) and the Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (Project 17YJCZH121) (S. L.).