Oral Oxytocin's Effects on Attention Control

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The main aim of the study is to investigate whether orally administered oxytocin (24IU) could modulate attention control using a social-emotional saccade/antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm.

Detailed Description
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Numerous studies have reported the effect of intranasally administered oxytocin on attentional processing including stimulus-driven bottom-up processing and top-down goal-directed inhibitory control. However, it is unclear whether the functional effects are mediated by the peptide directly entering the brain or indirectly via raising peripheral concentrations. One possible method of producing a similar pattern of increased peripheral oxytocin concentrations but without the possibility of direct entry into the brain would be to administer the peptide lingually. In the present double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled study, 80 healthy male subjects will be recruited and receive either oxytocin (24IU) or placebo control administered orally (lingual). 45 minutes after treatment subjects are required to complete a social-emotional saccade/antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm. This paradigm uses social (happy, sad, angry, fear, and neutral faces) as well as non-social (oval shapes) stimuli to explore social- and emotion-specific effects of orally administered oxytocin.

Official Title
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Oral Oxytocin's Effects on Attention Control: An Eye-tracking Study

Conditions
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Healthy

Intervention / Treatment
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* Drug: Oral Oxytocin
* Drug: Oral Placebo


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Male, healthy participants Non smokers Exclusion Criteria: Previous or current medical, psychiatric, neurological disorder Regular medication Use of any psychoactive substances in the 24 hours before experiment Contra-indications for oxytocin Contra-indications for eye-tracking data acquisition

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 30 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Male

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Between-subject randomized placebo-controlled double-blind pharmacological eye-tracking design
Masking: Triple


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Oral Oxytocin<br>Oxytocin orally (24 IU) | Drug: Oral Oxytocin<br>* Administration of oxytocin orally (24 IU)<br>|
| Placebo Comparator: Oral Placebo<br>Placebo orally (24 IU, identical ingredients, except the active agent) | Drug: Oral Placebo<br>* Administration of placebo orally (24 IU)<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Effect of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli | Comparison between social-specific saccade/antisaccade latencies (in milliseconds) between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions | 45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment | 
| Effect of oral oxytocin administration on error rates of saccade/antisaccade for social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli | Comparison between social-specific error rates of saccade/antisaccade between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions. | 45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Emotion-specific effects of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards the separate facial emotions | Comparison between emotion-specific saccade/antisaccade latencies (in milliseconds) between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions | 45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment | 
| Emotion-specific effects of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade error rates for the separate facial emotions | Comparison between emotion-specific saccade/antisaccade error rates between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions | 45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment |