Oxytocin and Learning for Teaching

What Was Tested

This registered early phase 1 trial tested Oxytocin.

One well-established cognitive theory propose a divide between social and non-social (i.e., cognitive) systems.

In this study the investigators aim to explore this cooperation between oft-competing systems by instructing participants to learn information because they will be subsequently tested (the nonsocial learning-for-testing condition), or because they will be teaching the information to someone else (the prosocial learning-for-teaching condition).

It had two arms (groups): Intranasal oxytocin (experimental) and Intranasal placebo (placebo comparator).

The registry classes the interventions as drug.

Who Took Part

The registry lists 161 actual participants took part.

It was open to people of any sex aged from 18 years up to 30 years.

Healthy volunteers could join, not only people with the condition.

Examples of who could join: 18-30 years of age. Healthy (see below). Fluent in English.

The full record lists 4 inclusion and 31 exclusion criteria; among the exclusions: 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.

How the Study Was Run

It was run as a randomized, parallel-group and double-blind study.

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the participants stayed in one arm throughout.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Oxytocin.

Those kept unaware of assignments: participant and investigator.

It started in 2015-01 with completion listed for 2016-07.

It ran at 1 site in United States.

Its stated primary purpose is basic science.

What Was Measured

Primary outcome: Changes in brain neural activity, observed by fMRI, in response to a reading comprehension task (time frame: Between 40-90 minutes post administration).

It also tracked 1 secondary outcome, for example Performance on a memory test of reading comprehension as measured by percentage of questions answered correctly.

What This Means in Plain Language

Put simply, this is a early phase 1, randomized trial of Oxytocin in 161 people.

The trial is marked completed; no results are posted to the registry yet, so nothing here describes outcomes.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.