The Effect of Oral Oxytocin and Atosiban on Social Attention

What Was Tested

The trial (early phase 1) is built around Oxytocin.

It had five arms (groups): one (experimental), atosiban group (experimental), placebo group (placebo comparator), one (experimental) and one (experimental).

Interventions are placebo followed after 15 minutes by another placebo.

The registry classes the interventions as drug.

More on the Plan

Participants complete questionnaires in Chinese versions before treatment administration, including Trait Anxiety Inventory, State Anxiety Inventory, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Autism Spectrum Quotient.

After a 15-minute interval, the second medication is administered, with a second blood sample collected immediately afterwards.

Participants then remain in the lab for 30 minutes (mobile phone use and conversation with experimenters prohibited during this period).

Behavioral experiments commence after the third blood collection.

Who Took Part

The registry lists 250 planned participants were the target.

It was open to men only aged from 18 years up to 35 years.

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

Examples of who could join: Healthy male subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders.

The full record lists 1 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria; among the exclusions: history of or current neurological/psychiatric disorders;; use of psychotropic medications (including nicotine); visual impairments.

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 2025-06-09 with completion listed for 2025-11-30.

It ran at 1 site in China.

Its stated primary purpose is basic science.

What Was Measured

Researchers chose this as the main measure: Fixation duration. Fixation counts.

It also tracked 3 secondary outcomes, for example Oxytocin concentration, Pupil size and State anxiety.

What This Means in Plain Language

Put simply, this is a early phase 1, randomized trial of Oxytocin in 250 people.

It is still recruiting; no results are posted to the registry yet, so nothing here describes outcomes.

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