The Role of Oxytocin in the Perception of Faces

April 22, 2023 updated by: Rodrigo Cardenas

The Role of Oxytocin in the Perception of Infant Faces

The main objective of this project is to study whether intranasal oxytocin (OT) affects how young adults perceive and attend to infant and adult faces. Based on existing research the investigators predict that oxytocin will facilitate the allocation of attentional resources on infant faces (compared to adult faces). The investigators also predict that oxytocin will enhance the activity of reward neural-networks associated with the perception of infant faces. The behavioral effects of OT (visual attention and face recognition) will be measured with eye-tracking while participants look at photographs of adult and infant faces. Neurological effects (the activity of emotion and reward networks) will be measured with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while participants look at infant faces on a computer screen.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

71

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 25 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Healthy Volunteers
  • Norma or corrected to norma vision
  • Participants are non parents
  • Able to provide written informed consent and to comply with all study procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Dementia or severe cognitive disorders
  • Endocrine disease or malignancy
  • Nasal obstruction or upper-respiratory tract infection
  • Current or previous psychiatric disorder
  • Current or previous use of psychoactive drugs
  • Alcoholism or substance abuse
  • History of seizures
  • Neurological Disorder
  • Previous head trauma
  • Hypertension
  • Cardiovascular Disease
  • Claustrophobia
  • ferrous metal in any part of the body

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: Intranasal oxytocin group
Participants will self-administer a single dose of 24 IU oxytocin (Syntocinon, Novartis; three puffs per nostril, each with 4 IU oxytocin, 6 puffs total).
Drug: Syntocinon (synthetic oxytocin)
Dosage and details described in arm.
Other Names:
  • OT
Placebo Comparator: Placebo group

The placebo is identical to the oxytocin formulation with the exception of the active compound.

Participants will self-administer three puffs per nostril of placebo (6 puffs total).
Other: Placebo
Dosage and details described in arm.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Data
Time Frame: 45 minutes after OT manipulation
The effect of OT will be assessed by determining changes in brain activation between treatment and placebo groups.
45 minutes after OT manipulation
Eye movements data
Time Frame: 45 minutes after OT manipulation
The effect of OT will be assessed by determining changes in eye movements between treatment and placebo groups.
45 minutes after OT manipulation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Implicit Attitudes toward infants
Time Frame: 45 minutes after OT manipulation
Implicit attitudes toward infants as measured by the Implicit Association Test
45 minutes after OT manipulation
Theory of mind
Time Frame: 45 minutes after OT manipulation
Theory of mind as measured by the Reading the mind in the eyes test
45 minutes after OT manipulation

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Rodrigo Cardenas

Collaborators

U.S. National Science Foundation

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Rodrigo A Cardenas, PhD, Penn State University

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 (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 5, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 13, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 14, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 25, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 22, 2023

Last Verified

April 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00001225

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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