Social Psychology Clinical Trial
Official title:
Oxytocin's Effects on Behavior and Neural Activity During Social Cognition Tasks
Verified date | August 2017 |
Source | University of California, Los Angeles |
Contact | n/a |
Is FDA regulated | No |
Health authority | |
Study type | Interventional |
It has long been established that interpersonal relationships can have a profound impact on
health and well-being. Yet, the investigators are still learning about the complex biological
processes that contribute to positive social interactions and the ability to develop and
maintain social relationships. Recent research has begun to focus on oxytocin, a neuropeptide
that is naturally produced in the hypothalamus, because administration of this neuropeptide
has been associated with increased trust, generosity, empathy, cooperation, memory of social
stimuli (e.g., faces), and brain activity in neural regions associated with social and
emotional processes. To date, several aspects of oxytocin's effects on social behavior have
been unexplored. As such, the overarching goal of this project is to examine the effects of
intranasal oxytocin on several tasks involving social processes. In addition, the
investigators will explore associated neural activity through functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI). Understanding how oxytocin influences these aspects of social functioning
will help to inform research that has begun to establish the potential for use of this
neuropeptide in education as well as psychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorders
and schizophrenia that are characterized by social deficits.
The investigators hypothesize that compared to placebo, oxytocin will improve deception
detection, increase empathy and altruism, and enhance responses to photo stimuli of primary
caregivers. These effects will manifest in behavioral and neural activity. It is also
hypothesized that main effects will not be found for oxytocin, but rather, analyses of
relevant moderators will elucidate these findings.
Status | Completed |
Enrollment | 161 |
Est. completion date | July 2016 |
Est. primary completion date | July 2016 |
Accepts healthy volunteers | Accepts Healthy Volunteers |
Gender | All |
Age group | 18 Years to 30 Years |
Eligibility |
Inclusion Criteria: - 18-30 years of age - Healthy (see below) - Fluent in English - Right-handed Exclusion Criteria: - Women who gave birth in the last six months, are currently pregnant, planning to become pregnant in the next 6 months, or currently breastfeeding women - Symptoms of runny nose due to allergies/cold or other reason - Current restricted fluid intake for any reason - Heart disease - Hypertension - History of myocardial infarction - History of cardiac arrhythmia - Kidney or liver disease - Vascular disease - Epilepsy - Migraine - Asthma - Nephritis - Diabetes and other endocrine diseases - Frequent or unexplained fainting - History of stroke - Aneurysm or brain hemorrhage - Active psychiatric diagnosis - Current psychopharmacologic treatment - Drug or alcohol abuse - Medical or neurological illness - Regular use of medication (e.g., vasoconstrictive medications) - Medication intake less than 2 weeks prior to study (5 weeks for fluoxetine) including daily non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - Smoking more than 15 cigarettes a day - Consumption of any alcoholic beverages in the past 24 hours will be excluded - Elevated blood pressure (>135/90) - Low blood pressure (<90/55) - Body temperature >100.1 F - Left-handed - Claustrophobia - Presence of metal in their body |
Country | Name | City | State |
---|---|---|---|
United States | UCLA Department of Psychology | Los Angeles | California |
Lead Sponsor | Collaborator |
---|---|
University of California, Los Angeles |
United States,
Type | Measure | Description | Time frame | Safety issue |
---|---|---|---|---|
Primary | Changes in neural brain activity, as observed by fMRI, when observing others during social inclusion vs. exclusion | Whole brain and region of interest (ROI) regression analysis will be used to compare the neural activity of participants in the oxytocin/placebo groups. A design matrix will be created for each participant, modeling activity that is greater during the exclusion portion of the cyberball task versus the inclusion portion. A first-level analysis will compare [(friend exclusion>friend inclusion)>(stranger exclusion>stranger inclusion)] for each participant. A second-level group analysis will compare these first-level contrasts between the oxytocin and placebo groups. | Between 40-115 minutes post administration | |
Secondary | Ratings of empathic concern after witnessing social exclusion in a friend or a stranger | Ratings of empathic concern will be calculated for each participant by deriving a composite from self-report ratings of sympathy and compassion. Using a mixed 2 (friend, stranger) x 2 (oxytocin, placebo) factorial design, comparisons of these ratings will then be made for those in the oxytocin vs. placebo groups. Main effects of drug condition (oxytocin, placebo) as well as the interaction between drug condition and target (friend, stranger) will be analyzed at a significance level of p<.05. | Between 40-115 minutes post administration | |
Secondary | Altruism and punishment as measured by number of points given to excluders and those excluded | Ratings of altruism and punishment will be calculated by examining how many point (1-10) participants decide to allocate towards the friend-excluder, stranger-excluder, excluded friend, and excluded stranger after watching each social exclusion game. Using a mixed 2 (friend, stranger) x 2 (oxytocin, placebo) factorial design, comparisons of these ratings will then be made for those in the oxytocin vs. placebo groups. Main effects of drug condition (oxytocin, placebo) and target (friend, stranger), as well as an interaction between drug condition and target will be analyzed at a significance level of p<.05. | Between 40-115 minutes post administration | |
Secondary | Changes in neural brain activity, as observed by fMRI, while attempting to detect deception | Whole brain and region of interest (ROI) regression analysis will be used to compare the neural activity of participants in the oxytocin/placebo groups. A design matrix will be created for each participant, modeling activity that is greater during the deception detection task versus a control task. A first-level analysis will compare deception-detection>control for each participant. A second-level group analysis will compare this first-level contrast between the oxytocin and placebo groups. | Between 40-115 minutes post administration | |
Secondary | Accuracy of deception detection as measured by self-report | We will compare the percentage of correct deception detection trials for participants in the oxytocin group to those in the placebo group by running a two-tailed t-test with a statistical cutoff of p<.05 to determine significance. | Between 40-115 minutes post administration | |
Secondary | Changes in neural brain activity, as observed by fMRI, when viewing images of primary caregivers versus strangers | Whole brain and region of interest (ROI) regression analysis will be used to compare the neural activity of participants in the oxytocin/placebo groups. A design matrix will be created for each participant, modeling activity that is greater while viewing photo stimuli of ones primary caregivers versus viewing photo stimuli of matched strangers. A first-level analysis will compare primary-caregiver-viewing>stranger-viewing for each participant. A second-level group analysis will compare this first-level contrast between the oxytocin and placebo groups. | Between 40-115 minutes post administration |
Status | Clinical Trial | Phase | |
---|---|---|---|
Completed |
NCT02472379 -
Writing About Experiences and Health in Older Adults
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT01680718 -
Neuropeptides and Social Behavior
|
Phase 0 | |
Recruiting |
NCT05524597 -
Writing About Experiences and Health in Older Adults II
|
Phase 1 | |
Active, not recruiting |
NCT05208723 -
Addressing Stress Amongst Female Entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a Pilot Study
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT02393443 -
Oxytocin and Learning for Teaching
|
Early Phase 1 | |
Completed |
NCT02394054 -
Vasopressin and the Social Brain
|
Early Phase 1 | |
Completed |
NCT04064775 -
The Influence of Fictitious Peers in a Social Media Intervention for Downsizing Portions: The Smart Snacking Studies
|
N/A |