The Influence of Oxytocin on the Processing of Social Contact

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2013-08-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: Male

Summary

Social touch can convey the most potent and salient of socio-emotional signals. While the hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been identified as a key neurochemical mediator of grooming in some other social species, its modulatory influence on human interpersonal touch is unknown. The investigators expect that OXT augments the hedonic value of touch and that this behavioral effect is paralleled at the neural level by an increased response in brain areas mediating rewarding aspects of social touch.

• Phase: Phase 1
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital, Bonn
• Treatments: Oxytocin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Healthy male volunteers

Exclusion Criteria:

Current or past psychiatric disease Current or past physical illness Psychoactive medication Tobacco smokers