Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin and Vasopressin on Social Behavior and Decision Making

What Was Tested

In this not phased trial, researchers set out to test Oxytocin and Vasopressin.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of a one-time intranasal administration of the oxytocin, vasopressin, or placebo on prosocial decision making such as cooperation and competition in a healthy population of student controls.

It had three arms (groups): Intranasal Oxytocin (experimental), Intranasal vasopressin (experimental) and Intranasal placebo (placebo comparator).

The registry classes the interventions as drug.

Who Took Part

The registry lists 432 planned participants were the target.

It was open to people of any sex aged from 21 years up to 35 years.

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

The full record lists 0 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria; among the exclusions: past or present psychiatric, neurological, endocrinological or severe chronic medical illness; history of drug or alcohol addiction.

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.

The Oxytocin group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

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

Those kept unaware of assignments: participant and care provider.

It started in 2015-10 with completion listed for 2017-07.

It ran at 1 site in Israel.

Its stated primary purpose is basic science.

What Was Measured

Researchers chose this as the main measure: Preferences for competitive vs cooperative compensations and monetary allocations as measured by participants monetary allocations and compensation choice (time frame: approximately 45 minutes after intranasal administration of vasopressin, oxytocin, or placebo).

It also tracked 9 secondary outcomes, for example Redistribution preferences as measured by participants' tax rate determination, Willingness to compete as measured by participants compensation choice, Monetary offers in public goods game, Bargaining performance as assessed by participants' earnings in bargaining compensation, Monetary offers in all pay auction and Negative hypothesis test strategy usage on Wason's-rule-discovery-task after exposure to trustworthy/untrustworthy face.

What This Means in Plain Language

Put simply, this is a not phased, randomized trial of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in 432 people.

Its status is unknown; no results are posted to the registry yet, so nothing here describes outcomes.

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