Abstract

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been associated with a broad range of human behaviors, particularly in the domain of social cognition, and is being discussed to play a role in a range of psychiatric disorders. Studies using the Reading The Mind In The Eyes Test (RMET) to investigate the role of OT in mental state recognition reported inconsistent outcomes. The present study applied a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design, and included measures of serum OT. Twenty healthy males received intranasal placebo or OT (24 IU) before performing the RMET. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses showed that contrary to previous studies (Domes et al., 2007; Radke & de Bruijn, 2015), individuals performed worse in the OT condition compared to the placebo condition (p = 0.023, Cohen’s d = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.08, 1.02], BF10 = 6.93). OT effects did not depend on item characteristics (difficulty, valence, intensity, sex) of the RMET. Furthermore, OT serum levels did not change after intranasal OT administration. Given that similar study designs lead to heterogeneous outcomes, our results highlight the complexity of OT effects and support evidence that OT might even interfere with social cognitive abilities. However, the Bayesian analysis approach shows that there is only moderate evidence that OT influences mind-reading, highlighting the need for larger-scale studies considering the discussed aspects that might have led to divergent study results.

Highlights

  • The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been associated with a broad range of human behaviors, in the domain of social cognition, and is being discussed to play a role in a range of psychiatric disorders

  • Total Reading The Mind In The Eyes Test (RMET) scores were significantly reduced after OT administration compared with PLC administration, indicated by a medium effect, t(19) = 2.47, p = 0.023, d = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.08, 1.02] (Table 2; Figure 2)

  • Domes’ et al (2007) study shows that it is 3.29 times more plausible that there is a positive effect of OT on “mind-reading” than a null-effect, which coincides with the frequentist analysis

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Summary

Introduction

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been associated with a broad range of human behaviors, in the domain of social cognition, and is being discussed to play a role in a range of psychiatric disorders. A plethora of studies have investigated effects of OT administration in healthy subjects and different psychiatric conditions on behavior, including ToM and emotional processing. The authors investigated healthy males in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study, 20 out of 30 individuals performed better on the RMET after intranasal OT administration, with a mean increase of approximately 3% of correct responses. These findings were corroborated in a between-subject design, but in this study enhancing effects of OT became only apparent in participants with lower baseline empathy and in more difficult items (Feeser et al, 2015). The study indicated that individuals with lower baseline empathy showed larger improvement in RMET-performance after OT administration

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