Oxytocin's impact on likeability and brain activity after social feedback is under investigation

Oxytocin, often dubbed the "love hormone," plays a crucial role in regulating social behaviors, bonding, and emotional responses. While its involvement in prosocial behaviors like trust and empathy is well-established, the precise mechanisms by which it modulates reactions to specific social feedback, such as being liked or disliked, remain less clear. Understanding this pathway could offer insights into conditions characterized by impaired social processing, such as autism spectrum disorder or social anxiety, where individuals may struggle with interpreting or responding to social cues. Current interventions often focus on behavioral therapies, but pharmacological approaches targeting specific neurochemical pathways like oxytocin could provide complementary strategies.

This study aims to explore oral oxytocin treatment's effects on social behavior and brain activity. Participants will receive oxytocin dose-dependently, with investigators hypothesizing enhanced interest in social stimuli. Various visual attention paradigms will assess behavioral responses. Brain activity will be precisely monitored using electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP) techniques, leveraging their high temporal specificity. Changes in oxytocin concentrations will also be measured, correlating with behavioral and neural outcomes after participants experience being liked or disliked.