Oxytocin and Emotion Recognition

Status

Completed

Phases

Phase 4

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01216605

Enrollment

Registered

2010-10-07

Start date

2009-11-30

Completion date

2010-01-31

Last updated

2010-10-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Health

Brief summary

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of a single dose of synthetic oxytocin on facial emotion recognition in healthy adult man. Pictures of emotional faces are presented very briefly for a few milliseconds in a backward-masking paradigm in order to vary the level of awareness. In a randomized placebo-controlled between-subject design, recognition performance is compared between a drug (24 IU oxytocin) and a placebo condition. We hypothesize that oxytocin enhances emotion recognition even for facial stimuli processed with limited awareness.

Interventions

DRUGSyntocinon 24 IU

DRUGPlacebo

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

MALE

Age

18 Years to 40 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Males * 18 to 40 years of age

Exclusion criteria

* Any psychiatric diagnosis life-time * Somatic disease * IQ \< 85 * Smoker * Psychoactive medication

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Performance on a facial emotion recognition task	45 min. following drug administration

Countries

Germany

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026