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Oxytocin and vasopressin modulation of prisoner's dilemma strategies
Plain-language guide to PMID 32207359 (2020): double-blind randomized controlled trial study of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in 153 men.
Key Facts
- PMID
- 32207359
- Journal
- Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
- Year
- 2020
- Study type
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Authors
- Neto ML et al. (6 authors)
- DOI
- 10.1177/0269881120913145
What This Study Did, in Plain Language
What Was Tested
Researchers studied Oxytocin and Vasopressin in this randomized controlled trial publication.
The researchers aimed to characterise the role of PD players' sex, game partner type (computer vs. human) and oxytocin or vasopressin inhalation on the player's strategy preference.
Why It Was Studied
The neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin have been repeatedly implicated in social decision making by enhancing social salience and, generally, cooperation.
The iterated and sequential version of the prisoner's dilemma (PD) game is a social dilemma paradigm eliciting strategies of cooperation versus competition.
Who Took Part
According to the abstract, 153 men were involved.
The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, young adults and adults, both men and women.
How the Study Was Run
In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled 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.
Neither the men nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Oxytocin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.
Some men received a placebo instead of Oxytocin, giving a reference point.
The researchers examined main and interactive effects of sex, drug and partner type on strategy preference.
What Was Measured
The subject headings attached to it are Choice Behavior, Competitive Behavior, Cooperative Behavior, Mentalization, Oxytocin, Prisoner Dilemma and Sex Factors.
Author keywords: Neuropeptides, cognitive empathy, competition, cooperation, game theory and mentalising.
What This Means in Plain Language
The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in 153 men.
Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.
The publication is from 2020 (Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)), a journal based in United States.
More context: the Oxytocin compound page and the Vasopressin compound page, all human trials.
Our Notes on the Compounds
Oxytocin: A peptide hormone with established obstetric medical uses and a less settled role in research on behavior, sexual function and appetite.
Vasopressin: A 9-amino-acid hormone (antidiuretic hormone) that controls water balance and blood vessel tone; used in septic shock.
Related Pages
Source: PubMed record. This explanation is written by PeptideWhiz from the public record. For research and education only. Not medical advice; no dosing information is given.