Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Study of Intranasal Oxytocin’s Effect on Emotion Recognition and Visual Attention in Outpatients with Emotional Disorders

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Cognitive Therapy and Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The current study used double-blind, placebo-controlled design to examine the effect of intranasal oxytocin (OT) on emotion recognition (ER) and visual attention in 60 outpatients presenting for assessment and treatment of emotional disorders. Our primary hypothesis was that OT would improve recognition of happy faces in depressed participants. The main effect of OT on ER accuracy, speed, and proportion of fixations in the eye region was not significant. Diagnostic group (i.e., presence/absence of a depressive disorder) moderated the effect of OT on ER, but not as expected: OT significantly slowed ER speed for all emotions in participants with anxiety disorders, but did not affect performance in participants with depressive disorders. Depressed participants fixated significantly less in the eye region of sad faces than anxious participants. Before OT can be used to target ER biases, additional research is needed to explicate the differential impact of OT on ER speed in patients with anxiety versus mood disorders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armstrong, T., & Olatunji, B. O. (2012). Eye tracking of attention in the affective disorders: A meta-analytic review and synthesis. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 704–723.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bartz, J. A., Zaki, J., Bolger, N., & Ochsner, K. N. (2011). Social effects of oxytocin in humans: Context and person matter. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15, 301–309.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bouhuys, A. L., Geerts, E., & Gordijn, M. C. M. (1999). Depressed patients’ perceptions of facial emotions in depressed and remitted states are associated with relapse: A longitudinal study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 187, 595–602.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bouhuys, A. L., Geerts, E., & Gordijn, M. C. M. (1999). Gender specific mechanisms associated with outcome of depression: Perception of emotions, coping and interpersonal functioning. Psychiatry Research, 85, 247–261.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T. A., & Barlow, D. H. (2014). Anxiety and related disorders interview schedule for DSM-5—adult and lifetime version: Clinician manual. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carton, J. S., Kessler, E. A., & Pape, C. L. (1999). Nonverbal decoding skills and relationship well-being in adults. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 23, 91–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillside: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Simplicio, M., Massey-Chase, R., Cowen, P. J., & Harmer, C. J. (2009). Oxytocin enhances processing of positive versus negative emotional information in healthy male volunteers. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 23, 241–248.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Domes, G., Normann, C., & Heinrichs, M. (2016). The effect of oxytocin on attention to angry and happy faces in chronic depression. BMC Psychiatry, 16, 92.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Domes, G., Steiner, A., Porges, S. W., & Heinrichs, M. (2013). Oxytocin differentially modulates eye gaze to naturalistic social signals of happiness and anger. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 1198–1202.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durand, A. C., & Gould, G. M. (1910). A method of determining ocular dominance. Journal of the American Medical Association, 55, 369–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1976). Pictures of facial affect. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., O’Sullivan, M., Chan, A., Diacoyanni-Tarlatzis, I., Heider, K.,.. . Tzavaras, A. (1987). Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(4), 712–717.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellenbogen, M. A., Linnen, A., Cardoso, C., & Joober, R. (2013). Intranasal oxytocin impedes the ability to ignore task-irrelevant facial expressions of sadness in students with depressive symptoms. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 387–398.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Emery, N. J. (2000). The eyes have it: the neuroethology, function and evolution of social gaze. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 581–604.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer-Shofty, M., Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Harari, H., & Levkovitz, Y. (2010). The effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on fear recognition. Neuropsychologia, 48, 179–184.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guastella, A. J., Hickie, I. B., McGuinness, M. M., Otis, M., Woods, E. A., Disinger, H. M., &… Banati, R. B. (2013). Recommendations for the standardization of oxytocin nasal administration and guidelines for its reporting in human research. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 612–625.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guastella, A. J., & MacLeod, C. (2012). A critical review of the influence of oxytocin nasal spray on social cognition in humans: Evidence and future directions. Hormones And Behavior, 61, 410–418.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guastella, A. J., Mitchell, P. B., & Dadds, M. R. (2008). Oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region of human faces. Biological Psychiatry, 63, 3–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gur, R. C., Erwin, R. J., Gur, R. E., Zwil, A. S., Heimberg, C., & Kraemer, H. C. (1992). Facial emotion discrimination: II. Behavioral findings in depression. Psychiatry Research, 42, 241–251.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hale, W. W., III (1998). Judgment of facial expressions and depression persistence. Psychiatry Research, 80, 265–274.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrichs, M., von Dawans, B., & Domes, G. (2009). Oxytocin, vasopressin, and human social behavior. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 30, 548–557.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hubble, K., Daughters, K., Manstead, A. S. R., Rees, A., Thapar, & van Goozen, S. H. M. (2017). Oxytocin reduces face proecssing time but leaves recognition accuracy and eye-gaze unaffected. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 23, 23–33.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2006). Is this happiness I see?: Biases in the identification of emotional facial expressions in depression and social phobia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 705–714.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leppanen, J., Ng, K. W., Tchanturia, K., & Treasure, J. (2017). Meta-analysis of the effects of intranasal oxytocin on interpretation and expression of emotions. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 78, 125–144.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lischke, A., Berger, C., Prehn, K., Heinrichs, M., Herpertz, S. C., & Domes, G. (2012). Intranasal oxytocin enhances emotion recognition from dynamic facial expressions and leaves eye-gaze unaffected. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 475–481.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald, K., MacDonald, T. M., Brüne, M., Lamb, K., Wilson, M. P., Golshan, S., & Feifel, D. (2013). Oxytocin and psychotherapy: A pilot study of its physiological, behavioral and subjective effects in males with depression. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 2831–2843.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, A. A., & Blair, R. J. R. (2008). Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: A meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 454–465.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, A. A., Yu, H. H., Pine, D. S., & Blair, R. J. R. (2010). Oxytocin improves specific recognition of positive facial expressions. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 209, 225–232.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McClure, E. B., & Nowicki, S. J. (2001). Associations between social anxiety and nonverbal processing skill in preadolescent boys and girls. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25, 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McQuaid, R. J., McInnis, O. A., Abizaid, A., & Anisman, H. (2014). Making room for oxytocin in understanding depression. Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews, 45, 305–322.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olff, M., Frijling, J. L., Kubzansky, L. D., Bradley, B., Ellenbogen, M. A., Cardoso, C., & … van Zuiden, M. (2013). The role of oxytocin in social bonding, stress regulation and mental health: An update on the moderating effects of context and interindividual differences. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 1883–1894.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Persad, S. M., & Polivy, J. (1993). Differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals in the recognition of and response to facial emotional cues. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 358–368.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Quintana, D. S., Guastella, A. J., Westlye, L. T., & Andreassen, O. A. (2016). The promise and pitfalls of intranasally administered psychopharmacological agents for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Molecular Psychiatry, 21, 29–38.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rilling, J. K., Demarco, A. C., Hackett, P. D., Chen, X., Gautam, P., Stair, S., &. Pagnoni, G. (2014). Sex differences in the neural and behavioral response to intranasal oxytocin and vasopressin during human social interaction. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 39, 237–248.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schulze, L., Lischke, A., Greif, J., Herpertz, S. C., Heinrichs, M., & Domes, G. (2011). Oxytocin increases recognition of masked emotional faces. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36, 1378–1382.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shahrestani, S., Kemp, A. H., & Guastella, A. J. (2013). The impact of a single administration of intranasal oxytocin on the recognition of basic emotions in humans: A meta-analysis. Neuropsychopharmacology, 38, 1929–1936.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shultz, S., & Dunbar, R. M. (2012). The social brain hypothesis: An evolutionary perspective on the neurobiology of social behaviour. In S. Richmond, G. Rees, S. L. Edwards, S. Richmond, G. Rees & S. L. Edwards (Eds.), I know what you’re thinking: Brain imaging and mental privacy (pp. 13–28). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tollenaar, M. S., Chatzimanoli, M., van der Wee, N. A., & Putman, P. (2013). Enhanced orienting of attention in response to emotional gaze cues after oxytocin administration in healthy young men. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 1797–1802.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2012). A sniff of trust: Meta-analysis of the effects of intranasal oxytocin administration on face recognition, trust to in-group, and trust to out-group. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 438–443.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walum, H., Waldman, I. D., & Young, L. J. (2016). Statistical and methodological considerations for the interpretation of intranasal oxytocin studies. Biological Psychiatry, 79, 251–257.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon, K. L., Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2009). Judging the intensity of facial expressions of emotion: Depression-related biases in the processing of positive affect. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 223–228.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Alice Cronin-Golomb and Kristin Long for their assistance with this study. This research was supported by Grant MH039096 awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Brown) and the Boston University Clara Mayo Fellowship (Rutter).

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH039096.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Lauren A. Rutter

    Present address: McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Oaks Building, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Lauren A. Rutter, Bonnie S. Brown & Timothy A. Brown

  2. Williams College, 880 Main Street, Williamstown, MA, 01267, USA

    Daniel J. Norton

Authors
  1. Lauren A. Rutter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel J. Norton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bonnie S. Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Timothy A. Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lauren A. Rutter.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

Lauren A. Rutter, Daniel J. Norton, Bonnie S. Brown and Timothy A. Brown declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rutter, L.A., Norton, D.J., Brown, B.S. et al. A Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Study of Intranasal Oxytocin’s Effect on Emotion Recognition and Visual Attention in Outpatients with Emotional Disorders. Cogn Ther Res 43, 523–534 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9974-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9974-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation