There have been studies claiming that:
"die gegenwärtige Forschung legt nahe, dass das Hormon eine facettenreiche Rolle bei persönlichen und sozialen Prozessen spielt" (IsHak et al., 2011)$^1$
Translation: Recent studies suggest that the hormone plays a diverse role in personal and social processes
Another study was carried out in order to examine the effects of oxytocin on trust. In this half of subjects where given a dose of oxytocin, and the other half not.
Furthermore they carried out fMRT scans to examine the areas on which the oxytocin had an effect on. The study showed that:
die Scans ergaben, dass Oxytozin-Teilnehmer weniger Aktivität in GehirnRegionen aufwiesen, die wie Amygdala mit Furchtreaktionen in Zusammenhang stehen. (Baumgartner et al., 2008)$^2$
Translation: The scans suggested that participants who were given a dose of oxytocin showed less brain brain activities in regions which are, like amygdaloid associated with fear.
Question:
To what extent does oxytocin reduce brain activity (activity in stress situations e.g. fear) amongst healthy individuals, and in what areas of the brain does it occur?
Edit (6/6/16):
I am interested in the impact of a reduction in brain activity in certain regions of the brain, and thus approaching the topic from a biological perspective.
NB: I do not have access to the full paper mentioned in source 2.
1. Tops, M., Huffmeijer, R., Linting, M., Grewen, K. M., Light, K. C., Koole, S. L., … van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2013). The role of oxytocin in familiarization-habituation responses to social novelty. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 761. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00761
2. Baumgartner, T., Heinrichs, M., Vonlanthen, A., Fischbacher, U., & Fehr, E. (2008, May 22). Oxytocin Shapes the Neural Circuitry of Trust and Trust Adaptation in Humans. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627308003279
Disclaimer: The cited paragraphs are extracts from the book which is in German "Psychologie" by Richard J. Gerrig and Philip Zimbardo, and the citations at the end refer to the entire articles which are in English.