Effect of Oxytocin on Masked Facial Expressions: an fMRI Study

March 4, 2017 updated by: Keith Kendrick, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
The purpose is to test whether oxytocin has an effect on masked facial expressions

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to modulate several aspects of human social cognition. Although the exact mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear, recent research suggests that OXT modulates the perception of cues that are important for interpersonal processing, particularly emotional facial expressions. Using a backward masking procedure and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the modulatory effects of intranasal OXT on the processing of sub-liminally presented emotional faces. In a double-blind placebo-controlled between-subject pharmaco-fMRI experiment healthy volunteers received either 24IU of intranasal oxytocin or placebo 45mins before they were presented emotional (happy, angry, fearful, sad, disgusting) faces and mirror-reversed neutral faces masked by neutral faces of the same individual. To ensure attentional processing of the faces subjects were required to perform a simple gender decision task in the scanner and a recognition memory task afterwards. All subjects were additionally assessed for their state and trait anxiety and depression as well as empathy. For the analysis, we will use matlab, SPM and SPSS to conduct structural ROI analysis and two Sample t test.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

86

Phase

  • Early Phase 1

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 29 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Healthy subjects, no smoke or drink alcohol, coffee or other stimulants during the day before Experiment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • history of head injury; pregnancy; uterine cavity operations were took within one year; medical or psychiatric illness; rhinitis in case they may not fully absorb the spray.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: oxytocin
nasal spray
Drug: Oxytocin
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
nasal spray
Drug: Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of participants with neuro activity to facial expressions
Time Frame: one week
one week

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 30, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 7, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

July 8, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 7, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 4, 2017

Last Verified

March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UESTC-SCAN-01 (Other Grant/Funding Number: NSFC)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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