Neuropeptides and Social Behavior
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01680718. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
It has long been established that interpersonal relationships can have a profound impact on health and well-being. Yet, we are still learning about the complex biological processes that contribute to positive social interactions and the ability to develop and maintain social relationships. Recent research has begun to focus on oxytocin and vasopressin, neuropeptides that are naturally produced in the hypothalamus, because administration of these neuropeptides has been associated with increased trust, generosity, empathy, cooperation, memory of social stimuli (e.g., faces), and brain activity in neural regions associated with social and emotional processes. To date, several aspects of oxytocin and vasopressin's effects on social behavior have been unexplored. As such, the overarching goal of this project is to examine the effects of intranasal oxytocin and vasopressin on social working memory, deception detection, sensitivity to interpersonal distance, empathy, and altruistic behavior. Understanding how oxytocin and vasopressin influence these aspects of social functioning will help to inform research that has begun to establish the potential for use of these neuropeptides in psychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia that are characterized by social deficits. For this study, we will recruit 150 healthy adults without a history of medical or psychiatric illness to come to the laboratory. In the first session, participants will complete several questionnaires. In the second session, participants will be randomly assigned to receive oxytocin, vasopressin, or placebo. The study nurses will measure temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure (female participants will also be asked to undergo a pregnancy test) before drug administration. Participants will then complete computer tasks. During the second session, we will also collect a saliva sample for genetic analysis and participants will be asked to complete several additional questionnaires. At the end of the experimental session, participants will be fully debriefed. The investigators hypothesize that compared to placebo, oxytocin and/or vasopressin will improve social working memory and deception detection, and increase empathy and altruism. It is also hypothesized that main effects will not be found for oxytocin or vasopressin, but rather, analyses of relevant moderators will elucidate these findings.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT01680718
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Early Phase 1
- Enrollment
- 160 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 50 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Sep 30, 2012
- Primary completion
- Aug 31, 2013
- Completion
- Aug 31, 2013
- Last update posted
- May 27, 2015
2012 – 2013
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA Department of Psychology | Los Angeles | California | 90095-1563 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01680718, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted May 27, 2015 · Synced Sep 12, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT01680718 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.