Oxytocin and Non-verbal Communication

Yale-NUS College

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2

Conditions: Social Interaction

Treatments: Drug: Oxytocin; Drug: Placebos

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03228901

IG15-B052

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this protocol registration, the investigators plan a secondary data analysis of a dataset to explore the effects of intra-nasal oxytocin on the non-verbal expression of affiliation.

Full description

Using Liu et al.'s (2012) dataset, the investigators seek to observe whether the administration of oxytocin modifies non-verbal communication with a stranger.

This dataset involves a conversation between two strangers that took place 45 minutes after drug administration. While Liu et al. coded the video for markers of interpersonal distance (physical distance, eye contact, conversational intimacy), the investigators seek to analyse oxytocin's effects on non-verbal communication of affiliative and sexual cues (e.g., smiles, lip puckers). Based on findings that oxytocin's effects depend on context, the investigators will explore these relationships as a function of the conversational context (where participants converse with each other using low-, medium-, and high-intimacy topics, or in an unstructured conversation).

Enrollment: 104 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• healthy

Exclusion criteria

• pregnant;
• history of epilepsy, severe depression, severe anxiety, or psychosis;
• smoking more than 15 cigarettes a day;
• addicted to illegal substances.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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104 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Oxytocin

Experimental group

Description:

24IU Syntocinon, delivered in a single nose via a nasal spray

Treatment:

Drug: Oxytocin

Placebo

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Matched nasal spray

Treatment:

Drug: Placebos