Oxytocin and Emotion Recognition

University Hospital Freiburg56 enrolled

Overview

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of a single dose of synthetic oxytocin on facial emotion recognition in healthy adult man. Pictures of emotional faces are presented very briefly for a few milliseconds in a backward-masking paradigm in order to vary the level of awareness. In a randomized placebo-controlled between-subject design, recognition performance is compared between a drug (24 IU oxytocin) and a placebo condition. We hypothesize that oxytocin enhances emotion recognition even for facial stimuli processed with limited awareness.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Health

Interventions

Syntocinon 24 IUDRUG

PlaceboDRUG

Eligibility

Sex: MALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 40 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Males * 18 to 40 years of age Exclusion Criteria: * Any psychiatric diagnosis life-time * Somatic disease * IQ \< 85 * Smoker * Psychoactive medication

Locations (1)

Department of PSychiatry University of Rostock

Rostock, D, Germany

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Performance on a facial emotion recognition task

Time frame: 45 min. following drug administration

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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