ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO
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ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO
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maspes@udd.cl
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57115502100

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2023 2023 2022 2022 2021 2021 2020 2020 2019 2019 2018 2018 2017 2017 2016 2016 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.5 2.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 3.0 3.0

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Human reciprocity: behavioural components and neurocognitive signatures discriminating outcomes and intentions in trust-repayment behaviour – and some evolutionary considerations

2020 , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO

Oxytocin (OXT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) are two phylogenetically conserved neuropeptides that have been implicated in a wide range of social behaviors. Although a large body of research, ranging from rodents to humans, has reported on the effects of OXT and AVP administration on affiliative and trust behaviors, and has highlighted the genetic contributions of OXT and AVP receptor polymorphisms to both social behaviors and to diseases related to social deficits, the consequences of peptide administration on psychiatric symptoms, and the impact of receptor polymorphisms on receptor function, are still unclear. Despite the exciting advances that these reports have brought to social neuroscience, they remain preliminary and suffer from the problems that are inherent to monogenetic linkage and association studies. As an alternative, some studies are using polygenic approaches, and consider the contributions of other genes and pathways, including those involving DA, 5-HT, and reelin, in addition to OXT and AVP; a handful of report are also using genome-wide association studies. This review summarizes findings on the associations between OXT and AVP receptor polymorphism, social behavior, and psychiatric diseases. In addition, we discuss reports on the interactions of OXT and AVP receptor genes and genes involved in other pathways (like those of dopamine, serotonin, and reelin), as well as research that has shed some light on the impact of gene polymorphisms on the volume, connectivity, and activation of specific neural structures, differential receptor expression, and plasma levels of the OXT and AVP peptides. We hope that this effort will be helpful for understanding the studies performed so far, and for encouraging the inclusion of other candidate genes not explored to date.

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Late Frontal Negativity Discriminates Outcomes and Intentions in Trust-Repayment Behavior

2020 , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO , Paola Mengotti , Raffaella Rumiati , RODRÍGUEZ SICKERT, CARLOS ANDRÉS , John Ewer , BILLEKE BOBADILLA, PABLO ERNESTO

Altruism (a costly action that benefits others) and reciprocity (the repayment of acts in kind) differ in that the former expresses preferences about the outcome of a social interaction, whereas the latter requires, in addition, ascribing intentions to others. Interestingly, an individual’s behavior and neurophysiological activity under outcome- versus intention-based interactions has not been compared directly using different endowments in the same subject and during the same session. Here, we used a mixed version of the Dictator and the Investment games, together with electroencephalography, to uncover a subject’s behavior and brain activity when challenged with endowments of different sizes in contexts that call for an altruistic (outcome-based) versus a reciprocal (intention-based) response. We found that subjects displayed positive or negative reciprocity (reciprocal responses greater or smaller than that for altruism, respectively) depending on the amount of trust they received. Furthermore, a subject’s late frontal negativity differed between conditions, predicting responses to trust in intentions-based trials. Finally, brain regions related with mentalizing and cognitive control were the cortical sources of this activity. Thus, our work disentangles the behavioral components present in the repayment of trust, and sheds light on the neural activity underlying the integration of outcomes and perceived intentions in human economic interactions.

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Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Gene Polymorphisms: Role in Social and Psychiatric Traits

2016 , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO , Macarena Moreno , RIVERA HECHEN, MARÍA IGNACIA , Alejandra Rossi , John Ewer

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No association between genetic variants in MAOA, OXTR, and AVPR1a and cooperative strategies

2020 , María I. Rivera-Hechem , RODRÍGUEZ SICKERT, CARLOS ANDRÉS , GUZMÁN PRICE, RICARDO , Tadeo Ramírez-Parada , BENAVIDES GONZALEZ, FELIPE ORLANDO , REPETTO LISBOA, MARIA GABRIELA , LANDAETA TORRES, VÍCTOR MANUEL , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO , Valerio Capraro

The effort to understand the genetic basis of human sociality has been encouraged by the diversity and heritability of social traits like cooperation. This task has remained elusive largely because most studies of sociality and genetics use sample sizes that are often unable to detect the small effects that single genes may have on complex social behaviors. The lack of robust findings could also be a consequence of a poor characterization of social phenotypes. Here, we explore the latter possibility by testing whether refining measures of cooperative phenotypes can increase the replication of previously reported associations between genetic variants and cooperation in small samples. Unlike most previous studies of sociality and genetics, we characterize cooperative phenotypes based on strategies rather than actions. Measuring strategies help differentiate between similar actions with different underlaying social motivations while controlling for expectations and learning. In an admixed Latino sample (n = 188), we tested whether cooperative strategies were associated with three genetic variants thought to influence sociality in humans—MAOA-uVNTR, OXTR rs53576, and AVPR1 RS3. We found no association between cooperative strategies and any of the candidate genetic variants. Since we were unable to replicate previous observations our results suggest that refining measurements of cooperative phenotypes as strategies is not enough to overcome the inherent statistical power problem of candidate gene studies.

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Default Mode Network, Meditation, and Age-Associated Brain Changes: What Can We Learn from the Impact of Mental Training on Well-Being as a Psychotherapeutic Approach?

2019 , Ricardo Ramírez-Barrantes , Marcelo Arancibia , Jana Stojanova , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO , Claudio Córdova , Rodrigo A. Henríquez-Ch

Aging is a physiological process accompanied by cognitive decline, principally in memory and executive functions. Alterations in the connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) have been found to participate in cognitive decline, as well as in several neurocognitive disorders. The DMN has antisynchronic activity with attentional networks (task-positive networks (TPN)), which are critical to executive function and memory. Findings pointing to the regulation of the DMN via activation of TPN suggest that it can be used as a strategy for neuroprotection. Meditation is a noninvasive and nonpharmacological technique proven to increase meta-awareness, a cognitive ability which involves the control of both networks. In this review, we discuss the possibility of facilitating healthy aging through the regulation of networks through meditation. We propose that by practicing specific types of meditation, cognitive decline could be slowed, promoting a healthy lifestyle, which may enhance the quality of life for the elderly.

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Valuing Others: Evidence from Economics, Developmental Psychology, and Neurobiology

2017 , BILLEKE BOBADILLA, PABLO ERNESTO , SOTO ICAZA, PATRICIA , Villarroel, Verónica , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO , RODRÍGUEZ SICKERT, CARLOS ANDRÉS

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Efectividad de la terapia vincular familiar apoyada con psicomotricidad clínica infantil para el incremento de la autorregulación en niños y niñas con trastorno por déficit atencional e hiperactividad: un estudio piloto

2023 , Josefina Larraín Valenzuela , ASPÉ SÁNCHEZ, MAURICIO ALEJANDRO , Patricia Nieto , Rodrigo C. Vergara , Andrea María Palma Contreras

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