An Early Phase 1 interventional study of Intranasal oxytocin and Intranasal placebo in Social Psychology, sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-08-10.
Sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Basic science
One well-established cognitive theory propose a divide between social and non-social (i.e., cognitive) systems. However, recent work suggests that traditionally social systems can be utilized to enhance cognitive performance. In this study the investigators aim to explore this cooperation between oft-competing systems by instructing participants to learn information because they will be subsequently tested (the nonsocial learning-for-testing condition), or because they will be teaching the information to someone else (the prosocial learning-for-teaching condition). This latter condition relies upon the mentalizing system, which is used to contemplate another person's mental state, rather than traditional memory systems. This implies that the mnemonic powers of the mentalizing system can be leveraged in the learning of a broad array of non-social topics. Furthermore, there is also an emerging literature on the role of oxytocin, a neuropeptide naturally produced in the hypothalamus, in memory that parallels the social/nonsocial split. Oxytocin may benefit the learning-for-teaching group both in terms of enhancing initial social motivation and efficient use of the mentalizing system and then also in terms of memory consolidation for this information learning under socially-motivated conditions.
The investigators expect to replicate the basic learning-for-teaching effect such that those in the teaching condition will remember more than those in the testing conditions. They also expect an interaction between oxytocin administration and learning condition such that oxytocin administration should enhance learning for socially-motivated learning exclusively.
University of California, Los Angeles is the lead sponsor of 1,142 studies on the registry; 192 are open to participants now.
Of its 91 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 66 (73%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will self-administer 24 IU oxytocin (Syntocinon, Novartis Pharmaceuticals). 5 puffs per nostril (1 puff = 2.4 IU oxytocin).
Drug: Intranasal oxytocin
2 mls Glycerine and 3 mls purified water (methylparaben and propylparaben mixed according to purified water formula) for a total of 5 ml, which will be filtered with a 5mu filter. Participants will self-administer 5 puffs per nostril.
Drug: Intranasal placebo
Through the use of 1oz bottles attached with metered nasal pumps (1 puff = .1ml), participants will self-administer 24 IU oxytocin (Syntocinon, Novartis Pharmaceuticals). 5 puffs per nostril (1 puff = 2.4 IU oxytocin).
Also known as: Syntocinon nasal spray
Through the use of 1oz bottles attached with metered nasal pumps (1 puff = .1ml), participants will self-administer 5 puffs per nostril. Placebo consists of: 2 mls Glycerine and 3 mls purified water (methylparaben and propylparaben mixed according to purified water formula) for a total of 5 ml, which will be filtered with a 5mu filter.
Changes in brain neural activity, observed by fMRI, in response to a reading comprehension task
Whole brain and region of interest (ROI) regression analysis will be used to compare the neural activity of participants in the tutor/memorizer and oxytocin/placebo groups. A design matrix will be created for each participant, modeling activity that is greater during reading comprehension compared with the grammar control passage. First level analyses will compare the response during the reading comprehension passages relative to the grammar control passages. Second level group analyses will compare the first level contrasts between the tutor vs. memorizer groups as well as the oxytocin vs. placebo groups. In regression analyses we will enter each participant's comprehension test score in the tutor and then memorizer condition as a regressor in a whole-brain and ROI analysis to determine which brain regions were more active during the encoding of the reading comprehension passage compared to the grammar control passage.
Time frame: Between 40-90 minutes post administration
Performance on a memory test of reading comprehension as measured by percentage of questions answered correctly
Accuracy will be calculated for each participant by dividing the number of correct responses by the total number of questions. We will then conduct a between-subjects 2x2 ANOVA on the accuracy scores for the four groups of interest (i.e., oxytocin-tutor, oxytocin-memorizer, placebo-tutor, placebo-memorizer). A significance level of p\<.05 will be used to determine whether there are significant differences between the groups. We will examine whether there is a main effect of either factor (oxytocin vs. placebo, tutor vs. memorize) as well as an interaction between the factors of interest.
Time frame: Between 40-90 minutes post administration
This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2017. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of California, Los Angeles