The Effects of Vasopressin on Attention Control

The Effects of Vasopressin on Attention Control: An Eye-tracking Study

The main aim of the present study is to investigate whether intranasal vasopressin (20IU) could influence attention control in a social-emotional saccade/antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Vasopressin; Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

A number of previous studies have reported vasopressin's effect on human social behavior and social cognition, although it remains unclear whether vasopressin could modulate attention allocation including stimulus-driven bottom-up control and goal-directed top-down control. In the current randomized, between-subject, placebo controlled study, 89 healthy male subjects will be recruited and receive either vasopressin (20 IU) or placebo control administered intranasally. 45 minutes after treatment subjects will be required to complete a social-emotional saccade /antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm. The 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 vasopressin.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 89
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Sichuan
    • Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 611731
      • University of Electronic Science and Technology of China(UESTC)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 30 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 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 vasopressin
• Contra-indications for eye-tracking data acquisition

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Vasopressin; Vasopressin (20 IU) intranasally	Drug: Vasopressin; Administration of vasopressin (20 IU) intranasally
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; Placebo intranasally	Drug: Placebo; Administration of placebo intranasally

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

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

Secondary Outcome Measures

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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Keith Kendrick, PhD, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 28, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 30, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 27, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): July 30, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 7, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 5, 2021
• Last Verified: January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Natriuretic Agents; Hemostatics; Coagulants; Vasoconstrictor Agents; Antidiuretic Agents; Vasopressins; Arginine Vasopressin
• Other Study ID Numbers: UESTC-neuSCAN-70

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No