The main aim of the study is to investigate whether intranasal oxytocin (24IU) influences reward sensitivity and performance monitoring during reinforcement learning.
A double-blind, within-subject, placebo-controlled pharmacological EEG design will be employed. A total of 35 healthy male subjects will be recruited which will receive either intranasal placebo or oxytocin (24IU) on two separate study days (order counter-balanced, washout period at least 2 weeks). 45 minutes after treatment subjects will undergo a probabilistic feedback reinforcement learning paradigm with concurrent EEG acquisition. During the paradigm subjects will learn the reward probabilities of two different visual stimuli from probabilistic feedback provided by social stimuli (positive, negative emoticon). The paradigm includes an initial acquisition phase and a subsequent test phase.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
40
24 IU of oxytocin nasal spray will be applied to each subject.
an identical amount of placebo nasal spray will be applied to each subject.
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China(UESTC)
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
RECRUITINGNeural index: Event-related potential: Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) during acquisition phase
Feedback Related Negativity (FRN): a negative ERP component evoked by negative feedback relative to positive feedback during the acquisition phase will be compared between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions.
Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration
Neural index: Event-related potential: Error Related Negativity (ERN) during the test phase
Error Related Negativity (ERN): a negative ERP component evoked by incorrect responses relative to correct responses during the test phase will be compared between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions.
Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration
Behavioral index: Response accuracy to superior stimuli during the acquisition phase
Correct responses are defined as choices of the stimulus associated with higher probability positive feedback during the acquisition phase. Effects of treatment will be analyzed by comparing the performance between the two treatment conditions.
Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration
Behavioral index: Response accuracy to stimuli associated with highest probability positive feedback during the test phase
Correct responses are defined as choices of the stimulus associated with highest probability positive feedback as learned in the acquisition phase. Effects of treatment will be analyzed by comparing the performance between the two treatment conditions.
Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration
Response accuracy avoiding stimuli associated with highest probability negative feedback in the test phase.
Correct responses are defined as avoidance choices of stimuli associated with highest probability negative feedback as learned in the acquisition phase. Effects of treatment will be analyzed by comparing the performance between the two treatment conditions.
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Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration
Response accuracy in response to superior stimuli associated with relative higher probability positive feedback in the test phase.
Correct responses are defined as choices of the stimulus associated with higher probability positive feedback. Note that stimuli pairs in this measurement are all associated with positive feedback. Effects of treatment will be analyzed by comparing the performance between the two treatment conditions.
Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration
Response accuracy avoiding stimuli associated with higher probability negative feedback in the test phase.
Correct responses are defined as avoidance choices of stimuli associated with higher probability negative feedback. Note that stimuli pairs in this measurement are all associated with negative feedback. Effects of treatment will be analyzed by comparing the performance between the two treatment conditions.
Time frame: 45-105 minutes after treatment administration