Oxytocin and Human Defensive Responses in a Dynamic Situation
- Registration Number
- NCT07162584
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Brief Summary
The presnet study is to investigate the effect of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) treatment on modulating how human responsd to threat in a dynamic situation.
- Detailed Description
Predator-prey interactions are inherently dynamic, requiring adaptive responses from prey to survive. Altough there is eviedence for oxytocin modulating anxiety and fear responses to threats, it remains unclear whether oxytocin (OT) would modulate how humans respond to threats along the predatory imminence continuum to facilitate escape during such interactions. Our study therefore focuses on this question by combining behavioralmeasures, skin conductance response, and fMRI in a dynamic predator-prey interaction paradigm. In this double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled study, participants are instructed to escape by evaluating the relative distance between themselves (i.e., the prey), the predator (slow, medium and high attacking speed) and the refuge. The MRI and Biopac electrophysiological acquisition systems are used in the study to collect subjects' brain activity and skin conductance response. Participants are also asked to rate their confidence and anxiety levels during performing the task. We will aslo examine the resulted patterns of flight initiation distance (FID) and distance to refuge (DTR) when the prey fled from different predators. Scores of questionnaires including Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-Ⅱ, Autism Spectrum Quotient, Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, General Risk Propensity Scale are also collected before the experiment.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 80
- Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders
- History of head injury; pregnant, menstruating, taking oral contraceptives; medical or psychiatric illness,
- The presence of metal in the body or claustrophobia.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description oxytocin group Oxytocin nasal spray male and female subjects with oxytocin treatment placebo group Placebo male and female subjects with placebo treatment
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Escape sucess rates when confronting different predators 1 hour Escape sucess rates in successfully entering the refuge when confronting the fast, medium and slow predators.
Brain activity patterns in response to threats along the predatory imminence continuum 1 hour Brain activity patterns in response to different predators along the predatory imminence continuum. We will examine these brain response patterns via both the conventional univariate analysis and the machine learning-based multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) approaches. Based on previous studies, the medium predator is a priori used as an anchor for fast and slow predators for a more sensitive measure of brain activity differences and contrasts with the medium predator would be reported in the suplemental files for completeness (if there were significant effects).
Flight initiation distance 1 hour It is the prey-predator distance when a prey flees from a threat, a key index quantifying escape decisions.
The distance to refuge 1 hour The distance to refuge when a prey flees from a threat.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Confidence rating scores 1 hour Participants are asked to rate their confidence levels in successfully escaping from the predator before each block.
Anxiety rating scores 1 hour Particioants are asked to rate how anxious they felt during the escape decision-making process.
SCR during task 1 hour Skin Conductance Response (SCR) data are recorded in the task during scanning.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
🇨🇳Chengdu, Sichuan, China
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China🇨🇳Chengdu, Sichuan, China