Oral Oxytocin's Effects on Attention Control: An Eye-tracking Study
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Oral Placebo
- Conditions
- Healthy
- Sponsor
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Enrollment
- 80
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Effect of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli
- Last Updated
- 5 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The main aim of the study is to investigate whether orally administered oxytocin (24IU) could modulate attention control using a social-emotional saccade/antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm.
Detailed Description
Numerous studies have reported the effect of intranasally administered oxytocin on attentional processing including stimulus-driven bottom-up processing and top-down goal-directed inhibitory control. However, it is unclear whether the functional effects are mediated by the peptide directly entering the brain or indirectly via raising peripheral concentrations. One possible method of producing a similar pattern of increased peripheral oxytocin concentrations but without the possibility of direct entry into the brain would be to administer the peptide lingually. In the present double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled study, 80 healthy male subjects will be recruited and receive either oxytocin (24IU) or placebo control administered orally (lingual). 45 minutes after treatment subjects are required to complete a social-emotional saccade/antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm. This 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 orally administered oxytocin.
Investigators
Keith Kendrick
Professor
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Male, 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 oxytocin
- •Contra-indications for eye-tracking data acquisition
Arms & Interventions
Oral Placebo
Placebo orally (24 IU, identical ingredients, except the active agent)
Intervention: Oral Placebo
Oral Oxytocin
Oxytocin orally (24 IU)
Intervention: Oral Oxytocin
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Effect of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli
Time Frame: 45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment
Comparison between social-specific saccade/antisaccade latencies (in milliseconds) between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions
Effect of oral oxytocin administration on error rates of saccade/antisaccade for social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli
Time Frame: 45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment
Comparison between social-specific error rates of saccade/antisaccade between the oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions.
Secondary Outcomes
- Emotion-specific effects of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards the separate facial emotions(45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment)
- Emotion-specific effects of oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade error rates for the separate facial emotions(45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment)