Social touch can convey the most potent and salient of socio-emotional signals. While the hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been identified as a key neurochemical mediator of grooming in some other social species, its modulatory influence on human interpersonal touch is unknown. The investigators expect that OXT augments the hedonic value of touch and that this behavioral effect is paralleled at the neural level by an increased response in brain areas mediating rewarding aspects of social touch.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
40
Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn
Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Pleasantness ratings of social touch
After each trial, subjects are asked to use a visual analog scale to rate the pleasantness of the administered touch.
Time frame: 30 minutes after the nasal spray administration
Blood-oxygen-level dependent signal in response to social touch
By using functional magnetic resonance imaging we want to examine oxytocin's effects on the neural correlates (BOLD signal) of social touch.
Time frame: 30 minutes after the nasal spray administration
Questionnaire measurement of mood (PANAS) and anxiety (STAI).
Time frame: 15 minutes before the nasal spray administration and (on average) 10 minutes after the fMRI experiment
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