The Influence of Oxytocin on Socio-communicative Sensitivity
Condition: Oxytocin
MeSH terms: Hypersensitivity
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 1/Phase 2

Summary: 
      Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide that acts as a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator in the
      brain. Previous studies have shown that intranasal administration of OT improves social
      cognition and behavior (e.g. emotion recognition). In the current study, we want to gain more
      insight into the underlying mechanisms by which OT influences emotion recognition. More
      specifically, we will investigate whether intranasal administration of OT enhances the
      salience of social (compared to non-social) information and whether it increases the neural
      sensitivity for subtle socio-emotional cues, by recording scalp electroencephalography (EEG)
      during Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation (FPVS).
    

Detailed description: 
      The present study is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical
      trial, in which (approximately 30) neurotypical male adults (18 to 30 years old) will
      participate. All participants will perform two sessions (OT and placebo), separated by two
      weeks. For the first session, the participants are randomly assigned to the placebo or the OT
      condition. Syntocinon nasal spray will be used for intranasal administration.

      In each session, we will measure the neural salience/sensitivity for socio-emotional
      information, by recording EEG during FPVS. Participants simply have to press a button when
      the fixation cross turns red, while watching rapidly alternating visual stimuli. Starting 20
      minutes after substance intake, four FPVS paradigms are administered in randomized order:

        1. A frequency-tagging FPVS paradigm, to measure the salience of social versus non-social
           stimuli.

        2. The oddball face detection paradigm, to assess the neural sensitivity to faces embedded
           in a series of objects.

        3. The oddball identity discrimination task, to examine the ability to discriminate between
           faces with a different identity.

        4. The oddball expression generalization task, to investigate the sensitivity for facial
           emotional expressions embedded within neutral faces with varying identities.

      After two FPVS paradigms, a four minutes resting state EEG measure will be performed. At the
      end of the session, emotion recognition will be measures with the Palermo matching task (65
      items).

      The primary aim is to investigate whether the performance on each of these paradigms/tasks
      differs between the OT and the placebo condition. Furthermore, we want to explore whether the
      effect of OT is influenced by the participant's attachment style, social responsiveness,
      social phobia, or mood, which will be assessed via self-reported questionnaires.
    

Intervention name(s): Oxytocin; Placebo
Intervention type(s): Drug; Other
Intervention description(s): Syntocinon nasal spray: single dose of 24IU (3 puffs of 4IU per nostril); Placebo spray: single dose (3 puffs per nostril).
Intervention MeSH terms: Oxytocin
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Crossover Assignment
Masking: Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: oxytocin; emotion recognition; emotion processing; social salience; face processing; Electroencephalography (EEG)