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Status unknownNCT03122067Updated Feb 7, 2018

Oxytocin's Effect on Social Pain Empathy

An interventional study of oxytocin treatment and placebo treatment in Healthy, sponsored by University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Status unknown at 1 site in China. Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-02-07.

Sponsored by University of Electronic Science and Technology of China · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Feb 2018), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 3 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2017, registered Apr 2017).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 30 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

The aim of the present experiment is to examine oxytocin's behavioral and neural effects on social pain empathy

Read the detailed description

In the current study, the investigators plan to examine whether oxytocin modulates behavior and neural activity during observing another person being excluded in an online ball-tossing game (a modified cyberball paradigm).

02

Conditions studied

  • Healthy

Keywords

  • oxytocin
  • social cognition
  • fMRI
  • empathy
03

In context

Lead sponsor

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China is the lead sponsor of 109 studies on the registry; 35 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 30 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • healthy participants without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • history of head injury
  • medical or psychiatric illness
  • smoking or drinking 24 hours before experiment
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    oxytocin group

    male participants with oxytocin treatment

    Drug: oxytocin treatment

  • Placebo comparator
    placebo group

    male participants with placebo treatment

    Drug: placebo treatment

Interventions

  • Drugoxytocin treatment

    intranasal administration of oxytocin

  • Drugplacebo treatment

    intranasal administration of placebo

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Neural activity changes associated with oxytocin administration

    fMRI-assessed brain activity during observing other being socially excluded

    Time frame: 45-60 minutes after drug administration

Secondary outcomes

  1. Behavioral changes associated with oxytocin administration: ball-tossing

    Number of tosses to the other players (the excluder, new player, or previously excluded player)

    Time frame: 45-60 minutes after drug administration

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
    Chendu, Sichuan 611731, China
    Recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 7, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03122067
Lead sponsor
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Responsible party
Keith Kendrick (Professor, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 20, 2017
Start date
Jan 10, 2017
Primary completion
Oct 30, 2018 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 30, 2018 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 7, 2018

Study contacts

Keith Kendrick, Dr.
Contact
k.kendrick.uestc@gmail.com
Keith Kendrick, Dr.
principal investigator · School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Feb 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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