The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 42 of the 62 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Statistical and Methodological Considerations for the Interpretation of Intranasal Oxytocin Studies
Open accessAbstract
Over the last decade, oxytocin (OT) has received focus in numerous studies associating intranasal administration of this peptide with various aspects of human social behavior. These studies in humans are inspired by animal research, especially in rodents, showing that central manipulations of the OT system affect behavioral phenotypes related to social cognition, including parental behavior, social bonding, and individual recognition. Taken together, these studies in humans appear to provide compelling, but sometimes bewildering, evidence for the role of OT in influencing a vast array of complex social cognitive processes in humans. In this article, we investigate to what extent the human intranasal OT literature lends support to the hypothesis that intranasal OT consistently influences a wide spectrum of social behavior in humans. We do this by considering statistical features of studies within this field, including factors like statistical power, prestudy odds, and bias. Our conclusion is that intranasal OT studies are generally underpowered and that there is a high probability that most of the published intranasal OT findings do not represent true effects. Thus, the remarkable reports that intranasal OT influences a large number of human social behaviors should be viewed with healthy skepticism, and we make recommendations to improve the reliability of human OT studies in the future.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
This paper argues that human intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) studies are generally underpowered and that many published positive findings likely do not represent true effects. The authors use meta-analytic effect sizes, power calculations, positive predictive value estimates, and a survey of 2014 IN-OT papers to recommend larger, more transparent, and better-replicated studies.
Key findings
- Across three published meta-analyses, the weighted mean effect size for healthy subjects was d=0.28 with median N=49, yielding average statistical power of 16%; clinical trials had median N=26, d=0.32, and power of 12%. To achieve 80% power, 352 healthy subjects or 310 clinical-trial participants would be needed.
- Even with the largest observed effect size (d=0.48) and largest sample size in the meta-analyses (N=112), power was no higher than 70%; sample sizes of 49 and 26 could reliably detect only large effects (d=0.81 to d=1.14) at 80% power.
- If pre-study odds R=0.10 and power is 16%, the positive predictive value (PPV) was no higher than 24%; with 10 independent tests and only one reported, PPV dropped to 17%.
- In 33 IN-OT papers from 2014, 29 (88%) reported at least one positive finding, but only 62 of 357 tested effects (17%) were significant; only 3 papers mentioned multiple-comparison correction, and the average number of tests was 11. Vole studies using central OT/vasopressin manipulation had a summarized effect size of d=0.76 (30 experiments, 668 individuals), though median n=22 and power=0.43.
Methods
- Reanalyzed data from three published meta-analyses of IN-OT effects, calculating sample-size-weighted average effect sizes for healthy subjects and clinical trials, then estimating power with G*Power and R simulations.
- Examined 33 behavioral IN-OT papers published in 2014, recording positive findings, total tested effects, multiple-comparison correction, and number of tests, as described in supplemental information.
- Estimated effect sizes from 30 independent vole partner-preference experiments (668 individuals total) to compare central OT/vasopressin manipulation with intranasal administration.
Limitations
- The authors state that the true pre-study odds (R) for IN-OT studies cannot be determined with much certainty, and their PPV estimates assume no influence of bias, so actual PPV could be considerably lower.
- They note that publication-bias tests in the IN-OT meta-analyses gave mixed results and may be unreliable because small sample sizes provide insufficient power and sample-size variability; they also state they cannot assess the independence of tests in the 2014 survey.
- The vole effect-size analysis was underpowered (median n=22, 1−β=0.43), and the larger autism effect size (d=0.57) came from only four studies and should be interpreted cautiously. Evident from the text: the 2014 paper survey is treated as representative only conditionally, and the field-wide conclusions depend on that assumption.
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Claims the paper makes
25 Own interpretation · 21 Own result · 12 Partly supported · 12 No full text of the sources · 10 Supported · 7 No basis given · 4 Supported so far · 1 Mixed support · 1 Sources not found · accuracy not yet measured
Some cited sources support this claim and some don’t — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“These studies yielded summarized effect sizes ranging from d=0.21 to d=0.48.”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [9] Van IJzendoorn, 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 source
The Results report combined effect sizes of d = 0.21 for face recognition and out-group trust, and d = 0.48 for in-group trust. Table 1 lists the same values for the three total sets, confirming the stated range. (LLM, conf=0.94)
- Partly supportedcites [10] Shahrestani, 2013, The impact of a single administration of intranasal oxytocin on the recognition of basic emotions in humans: A meta-analysis, Neuropsychopharmacology sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Moderation by Emotion Type section reports an effect size of Hedges’ g=0.210 for angry faces, close to the stated lower bound. It does not establish 0.48 as the upper bound: the same section reports g=0.591 for fearful faces, and the paper reports Hedges’ g rather than Cohen’s d (Statistical Analyses). No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
- Disputedcites [11] Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013, Sniffing around oxytocin: Review and meta-analyses of trials in healthy and clinical groups with implications for pharmacotherapy, Transl Psychiatry sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Meta-analysis section reports a combined effect size of d=0.32 for 19 clinical experiments and d=0.57 for the autism-spectrum subset. The latter exceeds the claimed upper bound of d=0.48; the reported range is therefore not supported by this paper. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“To date three meta-analyses of the effects of IN-OT on human behavior have been published.”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [9] Van IJzendoorn, 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 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Method section (page unavailable) says this paper reports three meta-analyses of intranasal oxytocin’s effects on face recognition, in-group trust, and out-group trust. It does not establish that these were the only three meta-analyses published to date; the three analyses are reported in this one paper. (LLM, conf=0.82)
- Partly supportedcites [10] Shahrestani, 2013, The impact of a single administration of intranasal oxytocin on the recognition of basic emotions in humans: A meta-analysis, Neuropsychopharmacology sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The title and Criteria for Considering Studies for this Review identify this paper as a meta-analysis of intranasal oxytocin’s effects on human emotion recognition. The Introduction also discusses another oxytocin meta-analysis. Our copy does not establish that exactly three meta-analyses of intranasal oxytocin’s effects on human behavior had been published to date. (LLM, conf=0.84)
- Supportedcites [11] Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013, Sniffing around oxytocin: Review and meta-analyses of trials in healthy and clinical groups with implications for pharmacotherapy, Transl Psychiatry source
The ‘Meta-analytic evidence’ section (page unavailable) identifies three meta-analyses of intranasal oxytocin’s effects in healthy participants: face recognition, in-group trust, and out-group distrust. It refers readers to the published work for details, supporting the claim that three such analyses had been published. (LLM, conf=0.88)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Although the idea that manipulating OT in humans could influence social behavior is supported by rigorous animal research, we argue that the pre-study odds of studies investigating the effect of IN-OT still would be low, primarily due to limitations in deep brain penetration of OT when administered intranasally (2, 19).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [2] Churchland, 2012, Modulating social behavior with oxytocin: How does it work? What does it mean?, Horm Behav sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
Section 2B questions whether intranasal oxytocin reaches brain receptor sites in sufficient amounts and notes its poor penetration across the blood–brain barrier. It does not establish that intranasal delivery has limited deep-brain penetration or assess the pre-study odds of such studies; those are stronger claims than the paper makes. (LLM, conf=0.84)
- Supportedcites [19] Leng, 2016, Intranasal oxytocin: Myths and delusions, Biol Psychiatry source
The section ‘Oxytocin penetration of the brain after intranasal administration’ reports that at most 0.005% of an intranasal dose reached the CSF within an hour. ‘Peripheral targets for oxytocin’ cautions that the CSF measurements show minimal penetration at best, while allowing that oxytocin might reach some brain regions without entering the CSF. The claim about low pre-study odds is the citing authors’ own inference; the source supports the penetration limitation they give as its basis. (LLM, conf=0.88)
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“As Ioannidis (16) showed by statistical modeling this is not the case.”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [16] Ioannidis, 2005, Why most published research findings are false, PLoS Med source
In “Modeling the Framework for False Positive Findings,” Ioannidis shows that at α = 0.05, whether a significant finding is more likely true than false also depends on statistical power and pre-study odds. The same section cautions against treating a single result below p = 0.05 as conclusive, supporting the claim that the threshold alone does not reliably avoid false positives. (LLM, conf=0.92)
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“However, publication bias tests might be problematic for IN-OT studies due to small sample sizes resulting in insufficient statistical power and sample size variability for the tests to yield reliable and significant results (26).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [26] Ioannidis, 2007, The appropriateness of asymmetry tests for publication bias in meta-analyses: A large survey, CMAJ sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Abstract says asymmetry tests have low power when a meta-analysis includes few studies and are not meaningful when studies have similar precision. The Interpretation likewise identifies too few studies and too little difference between study sizes as problems. The paper does not examine intranasal oxytocin studies or establish that their sample sizes have these characteristics; it also distinguishes few studies from small samples within studies. (LLM, conf=0.84)
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“facilitate OT-dependent partner preferences in prairie voles (35, 37, 39, 40)”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [35] Modi, 2012, The oxytocin system in drug discovery for autism: Animal models and novel therapeutic strategies, Horm Behav sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
In “Enhancing endogenous OT release” (page unavailable), the paper says preliminary, unpublished studies suggest a melanocortin receptor agonist promotes partner preference in prairie voles. It proposes that MC4R agonists increase central OT release, drawing on evidence from rats, but does not establish that the vole partner-preference effect is OT-dependent. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Supportedcites [37] Modi, 2015, Melanocortin receptor agonists facilitate oxytocin-dependent partner preference formation in the Prairie Vole, Neuropsychopharmacology source
The Abstract reports that two melanocortin receptor agonists enhanced partner preference formation in prairie voles and that an oxytocin receptor antagonist prevented MTII-induced preferences. The Discussion likewise reports that blocking oxytocin receptors inhibited MTII’s effect, supporting the OT-dependent characterization. (LLM, conf=0.94)
- Supportedcites [39] Barrett, 2015, The oxytocin system promotes resilience to the effects of neonatal isolation on adult social attachment in female prairie voles, Transl Psychiatry source
The Introduction reports that the melanocortin receptor agonist MTII facilitates adult partner-preference formation in prairie voles through an oxytocin-receptor-dependent mechanism. The paper cites earlier work for that mechanism; its Discussion cautions that its own neonatal-treatment experiment does not prove oxytocin dependence. (LLM, conf=0.91)
- Supportedcites [40] Barrett, 2014, Neonatal melanocortin receptor agonist treatment reduces play fighting and promotes adult attachment in prairie voles in a sex-dependent manner, Neuropharmacology source
The Abstract explicitly states that acute melanotan-II, a melanocortin receptor agonist, facilitates oxytocin-dependent partner preference formation in prairie voles. The Introduction also reports that melanocortin agonists promote partner preference formation, while attributing the acute finding to Modi et al. (LLM, conf=0.93)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“If the value of R for IN-OT studies is approximately 0.10, comparable to what has suggested for experimental psychology (21) and exploratory epidemiology (16), the PPV is no higher than 24%, given a statistical power of 16%.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [21] Pashler, 2012, Is the replicability crisis overblown? Three arguments examined, Perspect Psychol Sci source
- Supportedcites [16] Ioannidis, 2005, Why most published research findings are false, PLoS Med source
In “Most Research Findings Are False for Most Research Designs and for Most Fields,” the paper uses R = 1:10 for exploratory epidemiology. In “Modeling the Framework for False Positive Findings,” its PPV formula yields approximately 24% when R = 0.10, power = 0.16, and α = 0.05. The paper does not estimate R or power for intranasal oxytocin studies; the citing sentence uses those as conditional inputs. (LLM, conf=0.90)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“and there are also reasons to believe that publication bias is more likely to affect low powered studies (25).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [25] Dwan, 2008, Systematic review of the empirical evidence of study publication bias and outcome reporting bias, PloS One sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results (Publication and trial findings; page unavailable) report that studies with statistically significant results were more likely to be published, which provides a reason for the citing sentence's concern. But the review does not compare publication bias by statistical power or state that low-powered studies are more affected; its mentions of power concern discrepancies in reported power calculations. (LLM, conf=0.78)
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“In addition, it has been shown that the more popular or “trendy” a scientific field is the less likely it is to generate true findings (16) and the extent to which a study overestimates true effects is positively correlated with the impact factor of a journal (30).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [16] Ioannidis, 2005, Why most published research findings are false, PLoS Med source
Corollary 6 states that the hotter a scientific field, with more teams involved, the less likely its research findings are to be true. This directly supports the cited part of the sentence; the separate journal-impact-factor claim is attributed to another source. (LLM, conf=0.94)
boostedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“we believe the behavioral effects of OT are indeed evolutionary conserved (6, 32)”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [6] Young, 2015, Oxytocin, social cognition and psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology source
The opening passage (p. 243) says OT has an ancient role in modulating sensing and responding to social stimuli “from nematodes to man.” The discussion (pp. 243–244) also describes analogous roles in rodent and human social information processing, supporting the claim of evolutionary conservation in social behavior. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [32] Insel, 2000, Neuropeptides and the evolution of social behavior, Curr Opin Neurobiol source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
- Probably not a substantial claim. 25
- It may state two separate claims as one. 16
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Van IJzendoorn and Bakersmans-Kranenburg investigated the effect of IN-OT on facial emotion recognition (13 effect sizes, total N = 408), trust to in-group (8 effect sizes, total N = 317) and trust to out-group (10 effect sizes, total N = 505) (9).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [9] Van IJzendoorn, 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 source
The Method section states that the authors conducted three meta-analyses of intranasal oxytocin’s effects on face recognition (13 effect sizes, N = 408), in-group trust (8, N = 317), and out-group trust (10, N = 505). These match the topics and figures in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.95)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Supported
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“More recently, attention has turned to its role in regulating complex social behavior, including parental care, social bonding and social cognition in general (1–6).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [1] Bartz, 2011, Social effects of oxytocin in humans: Context and person matter, Trends Cogn Sci source
- Supportedcites [2] Churchland, 2012, Modulating social behavior with oxytocin: How does it work? What does it mean?, Horm Behav source
The Introduction describes growing research attention to oxytocin’s role in social behavior, citing maternal behavior, mate attachment, and social recognition. The Abstract discusses research on oxytocin’s effects on human social cognition, while cautioning that the precise mechanism remains unsettled. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Supportedcites [3] Evans, 2014, Intranasal oxytocin effects on social cognition: A critique, Brain Res source
The section “Intranasal oxytocin: effects on social cognition” describes oxytocin’s effects on maternal behavior and pair bonding, then reports findings that it can affect social-stimulus processing and regulate social behaviors. These correspond to parental care, social bonding, and social cognition in the claim; the supplied passage has no page number. (LLM, conf=0.93)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [4] Guastella, 2013, Recommendations for the standardisation of oxytocin nasal administration and guidelines for its reporting in human research, Psychoneuroendocrinology source
- Supportedcites [5] Ross, 2009, Oxytocin and the neural mechanisms regulating social cognition and affiliative behavior, Front Neuroendocrin source
The Introduction (section 1.1) states that oxytocin modulates social cognition and affiliative behavior and describes its role in maternal nurturing and social bond formation. The Abstract also identifies maternal care, mother-infant bonding, pair bonding, and aspects of human social cognition as roles of oxytocin. (LLM, conf=0.94)
- Supportedcites [6] Young, 2015, Oxytocin, social cognition and psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology source
The opening passage (pp. 243–244) says oxytocin regulates maternal behavior and contributes to social bonding. Later passages discuss its role in social information processing and cognition, supporting the cited sentence’s broader description. (LLM, conf=0.93)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Data suggest that the R for phase III clinical trials is approximately 1, meaning that in about 50% of the time the drugs that make it to these trials are more effective than the current “gold standard” treatment (18).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [18] Djulbegovic, 2013, Medical research: Trial unpredictability yields predictable therapy gains, Nature source
In “Genuine Uncertainty” (page unavailable), the paper reports an analysis of 860 phase III randomized trials in which new treatments were better than standard treatments about 50–60% of the time; it also says the rate has converged around 50%. That supports the citing sentence’s approximate one-in-two odds, although the paper describes treatments broadly rather than drugs alone. (LLM, conf=0.87)
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Bakermans-Kranenburg and Van IJzendoorn studied the effect of IN-OT in clinical trials (19 effect sizes, total N=304)(11).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [11] Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013, Sniffing around oxytocin: Review and meta-analyses of trials in healthy and clinical groups with implications for pharmacotherapy, Transl Psychiatry source
The Meta-analysis section says the authors analyzed 19 randomized experiments of oxytocin administration in clinical samples, with a combined sample of N=304. The source studied those trials through a meta-analysis; the claim does not say the authors conducted the trials themselves. (LLM, conf=0.94)
plainn = 304- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Much of the excitement regarding OT over the past decade has been driven by a remarkable proliferation of research suggesting that intranasal OT (IN-OT) administration influences various aspects of human social behavior (7).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [7] Young, 2012, Editorial comment: Oxytocin, vasopressin and social behavior, Horm Behav source
The editorial comment says that dozens of intranasal oxytocin papers suggest the peptide modulates many aspects of human social cognition, including eye gaze and in-group behavior. This directly supports the citing sentence’s hedged claim. (LLM, conf=0.94)
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Shahrestani et al. conducted a meta-analysis of studies examining the effect of OT on recognition of basic emotions (7 effect sizes, total N = 381)(10).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [10] Shahrestani, 2013, The impact of a single administration of intranasal oxytocin on the recognition of basic emotions in humans: A meta-analysis, Neuropsychopharmacology sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Introduction says the meta-analysis examined oxytocin’s effect on recognition of basic facial emotions, and Study Characteristics reports seven independent studies comprising 381 participants. The citing sentence calls these “7 effect sizes,” but the source says seven studies; its Results report a heterogeneity statistic with 13 degrees of freedom, so the effect-size count is not supported. (LLM, conf=0.86)
plainn = 381- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“but not very different from studies in neuroscience in general (average power = 21%) (14).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [14] Button, 2013, Power failure: Why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience, Nat Rev Neurosci sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results section reports 21% as the median statistical power across the studies analyzed, not the arithmetic average. The paper discusses this estimate in relation to neuroscience generally, but the cited figure is mislabeled as an average. (LLM, conf=0.88)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“which is in line with a study by Fanelli showing that more than 80% of scientific publications in various sciences report positive results (22).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [22] Fanelli, 2010, “Positive” results increase down the Hierarchy of the Sciences, PloS One sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results report that 2045 of 2434 papers (84%) across 20 disciplines gave positive or partial support for a tested hypothesis. But the study included only papers that explicitly tested a hypothesis, and the Discussion notes its focus on English-language scientific journals; it does not establish that more than 80% of scientific publications generally report positive results. (LLM, conf=0.85)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Partly supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“mimic the prosocial effects of OT in a mouse model of autism (41)”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [41] Penagarikano, 2015, Exogenous and evoked oxytocin restores social behavior in the Cntnap2 mouse model of autism, Sci Transl Med source
The Results section reports that the selective melanocortin-4 receptor agonist Ro27-3225 improved social behavior in Cntnap2 mice, and that blocking the oxytocin receptor eliminated this effect. The Discussion likewise states that MC4R stimulation improved social behavior in this autism model. This supports the claim that the agonist mimicked oxytocin’s prosocial effect. (LLM, conf=0.92)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“The meta-analyses mentioned in this paper all tested for evidence of publication bias in the IN-OT literature, with mixed results (9–11).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [9] Van IJzendoorn, 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 source
The Method section says the authors used trim-and-fill to assess potential publication bias in their intranasal oxytocin meta-analyses. The Results section reports mixed findings: no indication of bias for face recognition, but indications of bias for in-group and out-group trust. This verifies the cited paper’s contribution to the collective claim, not the findings of the other cited papers. (LLM, conf=0.91)
- Supportedcites [10] Shahrestani, 2013, The impact of a single administration of intranasal oxytocin on the recognition of basic emotions in humans: A meta-analysis, Neuropsychopharmacology source
The Statistical Analyses section says the authors inspected a funnel plot to test for publication bias. The Results section reports no evidence of significant publication bias. The cited paper therefore supports its part of the collective statement; the 'mixed results' characterize the meta-analyses together, not this paper alone. (LLM, conf=0.91)
- Partly supportedcites [11] Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013, Sniffing around oxytocin: Review and meta-analyses of trials in healthy and clinical groups with implications for pharmacotherapy, Transl Psychiatry sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Meta-analysis section reports using trim-and-fill to assess potential publication bias in the clinical-trial meta-analysis and finding no bias against small studies with small effects. The Meta-analytic evidence section also describes analyses of healthy participants, but does not report publication-bias tests for them. This source therefore supports that a bias test was conducted, not that all the meta-analyses mentioned were tested or that their bias results were mixed. (LLM, conf=0.83)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Only four studies of autism were included in the analysis and should therefore be interpreted cautiously.”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [11] Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013, Sniffing around oxytocin: Review and meta-analyses of trials in healthy and clinical groups with implications for pharmacotherapy, Transl Psychiatry source
The Meta-analysis section identifies a set of four studies on individuals with autism spectrum disorder, including one Prader–Willi syndrome study. It cautions that the number of studies per syndrome is small, and the Conclusions likewise describe the meta-analytic database as modest. (LLM, conf=0.93)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“These alternate means of manipulating the OT system, if used in humans, could potentially increase the effect size to levels similar to central injections of OT (36).”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [36] Young, 2015, Can oxytocin treat autism?, Science sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
In “Can oxytocin treat autism?” (page unavailable), Young suggests that alternative approaches to the oxytocin system may overcome limitations of current therapies and improve social cognition; a DREADD approach might one day be feasible in humans. The paper does not discuss effect sizes or predict effects comparable to central oxytocin injections. (LLM, conf=0.86)
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Partly supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Understanding the precise neural and cognitive effects of OT manipulation on the processing of social information can be used to increase the efficacy of OT-based therapies to improve social function in psychiatric disorders (36).”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [36] Young, 2015, Can oxytocin treat autism?, Science source
In “Can oxytocin treat autism?” (page not provided), Young calls for studies of oxytocin’s effects on brain responses to social stimuli and says that understanding mechanisms and optimizing treatment will hopefully improve social function in ASD and other psychiatric disorders. The claim reflects that prospective argument, rather than asserting a demonstrated increase in treatment efficacy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Finally, in the meta-analysis by Bakermans-Kranenburg and Van IJzendoorn (11) IN-OT seems to have the largest effect size in individuals with autism. Only four studies of autism were included in the analysis and should therefore be interpreted cautiously. However, the larger effect size for autism (d=0.57) compared to all clinical studies (d=0.32)”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [11] Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2013, Sniffing around oxytocin: Review and meta-analyses of trials in healthy and clinical groups with implications for pharmacotherapy, Transl Psychiatry sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Meta-analysis reports d=0.57 for four studies grouped under autism spectrum disorder, compared with d=0.32 across 19 clinical experiments, and cautions that the syndrome-specific evidence is small. But the autism grouping includes Prader–Willi syndrome, and the paper’s Autism spectrum disorders section describes an intravenous OT trial; these figures are not presented as estimates exclusively for intranasal OT in individuals with autism. (LLM, conf=0.85)
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In cases where the sample size is below 40 individuals the inflation is very large, but even when N=100, the overestimation of the effect is by no means negligible.”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“since the IN-OT studies are underpowered”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“For example, out of the 33 IN-OT papers we investigated, only 3 mention that any correction for multiple comparisons was performed, and in these cases it is unclear how corrections were applied.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Effect sizes were estimated for 30 independent experiments comprising 668 individuals in total, weighted by the sample size of the individual experiments. This yielded a summarized effect size of d = 0.76.”
hedgeddirectn = 668- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
In the paper
“Button et al. have argued that large-scale phase III clinical trials represent the case when the value of R will be the highest (17).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [17] Button, 2013, Empirical evidence for low reproducibility indicates low pre-study odds, Nat Rev Neurosci source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“For verification, power calculations were also performed using simulation in R (3.1.1) (13) (Figure 1), and yielded very similar results compared to G*Power.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [13] Core Team, 2014
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Also, the publication culture promotes novel, and often surprising, findings and this will motivate researchers to postulate improbable hypotheses (20).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [20] Bakker, 2012, The rules of the game called psychological science, Perspect Psychol Sci source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Use of multiple analyses on the same data set and selective reports of statistical methods used, or insufficient correction for multiple comparisons, can cause inflation in effects (29).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [29] Nieuwenhuis, 2011, Erroneous analyses of interactions in neuroscience: A problem of significance, Nat Neurosci source
plainconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The problem here is not the underlying hypothesis that OT could be a modulator of human behavior, it is in the certainty in which we can have faith that any particular reported finding represents a true effect.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: unclear — It is unclear whether it could be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Also, since the IN-OT studies are underpowered it does not make sense to try to replicate findings in samples of the same size as the original study. This will lead to many unsuccessful replication attempts due to insufficient power, undermining the original true finding.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Also, underpowered studies are prone to other types of biases, such as the use of questionable research practices.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Such questionable practices are common in psychology (28), and likely pervasive in other disciplines as well.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [28] John, 2012, Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth telling, Psychol Sci source
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our calculations are focused on human studies, but we see no reason to expect that these results would differ for other species given OT intranasally, like non-human primates, as long as the dose is adjusted for body weight.”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Changes in research practices could increase the trustworthiness of the data.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Within the field of behavioral IN-OT studies in humans, there are several other examples of questionable practices including the use of statistical methods, such as unjustified use of one-tailed tests and unexplained exclusion of outliers.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However discouraging these estimated values might seem they assume no influence of bias, meaning that the actual PPV values could be considerably lower.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Reporting bias and multiple comparisons issues seem to be problems for studies of IN-OT.”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Increased confidence in data from clinical trials involving IN-OT would entice funding agencies and pharmaceutical companies to support more research in the field.”
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If this number represents the true proportion of successful experiments, this would mean that almost all investigated hypotheses within these studies are true.”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“When a research field is, to a large degree, exploratory, the pre-study odds decrease.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Central injections will for obvious reasons never be a common way to administer drugs in humans.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“From a statistical point of view this problem might not be any more serious for this field than other domains of psychology (20, 21, 31) or neuroscience in general (14).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [20] Bakker, 2012, The rules of the game called psychological science, Perspect Psychol Sci source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [21] Pashler, 2012, Is the replicability crisis overblown? Three arguments examined, Perspect Psychol Sci source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [31] Bertamini, 2012, Bite-size science and its undesired side effects, Perspect Psychol Sci source
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, the larger effect size for autism (d=0.57) compared to all clinical studies (d=0.32) could indicate that focusing on disorders characterized by deficits in social-communicative skills could produce reliable results.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
The authors state this as an assumption.
The pre-study odds (R) for behavioral intranasal oxytocin studies in humans is considerably lower than for phase III clinical trials.
“It seems reasonable however to assume that it is considerably lower than for phase III clinical trials.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The studies included in the meta-analyses are representative of the field of intranasal oxytocin studies.
“If the studies included in the meta-analyses are representative of the field, statistical power values of 16% for studies investigating IN-OT effects in healthy subjects and 12% in clinical trials are certainly very low, but not very different from studies in neuroscience in general (average power = 21%) (14).”
The paper relies on this without support.
Studying behavioral effects of oxytocin is at the moment a hot research topic, attracting many new research groups, and studies within this field have been published in very high impact journals such as Science and Nature.
“Studying behavioral effects of OT is at the moment a hot research topic, attracting many new research groups, and studies within this field have been published in very high impact journals such as Science and Nature.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Nasal sprays purportedly containing oxytocin are available on the internet for a variety of indications.
“Nasal sprays purportedly containing OT are available on the internet for a variety of indications”
The paper relies on this without support.
Parents are increasingly seeking intranasal oxytocin as a therapy for their children with autism.
“parents are increasingly seeking IN-OT as a therapy for their children with autism.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The 33 intranasal oxytocin papers published in 2014 are representative of the field of behavioral intranasal oxytocin studies.
“We investigated to what extent low power is reflected in behavioral IN-OT studies by examining the proportion of positive effects published in 2014 (described in Supplemental information).”
The paper relies on this without support.
OT enhances the salience and reinforcing value of social stimuli in animals.
“Research in animals suggest that OT enhances the salience and reinforcing value of social stimuli”
The paper relies on this without support.
The vole partner preference test results with central OT/vasopressin manipulation are informative about human IN-OT effect sizes.
“Specifically, we focused on vole studies using the partner preference test to assess behavior, a literature well known by the authors.”
“these results indicate that larger effect sizes can be achieved by more efficient routes of administration.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“A recent meta-analysis of published studies involving IN-OT in humans (21) demonstrated that most studies are dramatically underpowered 1 and report overestimated effects.”
From Is there a Publication Bias in Behavioural Intranasal Oxytocin Research on Humans? Opening the File Drawer of One Laboratory (2016) · cites this paper as [21]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The lack of a convincing theoretical framework that allows to predict which moderators exert their effects and when, has raised healthy skepticism regarding the robustness of human behavioral IN-OT research (20,21).”
From Is there a Publication Bias in Behavioural Intranasal Oxytocin Research on Humans? Opening the File Drawer of One Laboratory (2016) · cites this paper as [21]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The meta-analysts estimated (using information on power, pre-study odds and the alpha level) that the false discovery rate in the IN-OT literature is over 80%.”
From Is there a Publication Bias in Behavioural Intranasal Oxytocin Research on Humans? Opening the File Drawer of One Laboratory (2016) · cites this paper as [21]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“our studies, like most published studies on IN-OT, might be underpowered (21).”
From Is there a Publication Bias in Behavioural Intranasal Oxytocin Research on Humans? Opening the File Drawer of One Laboratory (2016) · cites this paper as [21]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“the use of too small samples (21) and the vast amount of candidate factors that could potentially moderate IN-OT's behavioral effects (19, 20) might inflate the false discovery rate unless direct replication efforts and correction for multiple hypotheses are applied.”
From Is there a Publication Bias in Behavioural Intranasal Oxytocin Research on Humans? Opening the File Drawer of One Laboratory (2016) · cites this paper as [21]
In the citing paper
“The efficacy of oxytocin (OT) in improving social abilities is under debate, largely due to frequently observed weak effect sizes and problems with replicability (1–3).”
From Oxytocin under opioid antagonism leads to supralinear enhancement of social attention (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“Specifically, there has been a significant gap in the understanding of the neural systems responsive to OT and AVP in primates, and the use of intranasal OT (IN-OT) in humans, in particular, has advanced rapidly despite a lack of knowledge of the mechanism or neurological targets engaged by this manipulation (11-13).”
From Comparative Perspectives on Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Research in Rodents and Primates: Translational Implications (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“IN-OT studies even in humans are often underpowered given the modest effect sizes, making the interpretation of studies with few subjects unreliable (11).”
From Comparative Perspectives on Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Research in Rodents and Primates: Translational Implications (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“In response to recent reviews that are critical of the quality and rigor of OXT research (Churchland & Winkielman, 2012;Leng & Ludwig, 2016;Walum, Waldman, & Young, 2016)”
From Oxytocin increases attention to the eyes and selectively enhances self-reported affective empathy for fear (2017) · cites this paper as Walum, Waldman, & Young, 2016
In the citing paper
“Walum et al. (2016) also raised concerns about the power of OXT studies, suggesting that a sample size of more than 300 participants is needed to achieve sufficient power, compared to the average of 49 participants (between-subjects) used in previous studies.”
From Oxytocin increases attention to the eyes and selectively enhances self-reported affective empathy for fear (2017) · cites this paper as Walum et al. (2016)
In the citing paper
“given the small sample size, it is possible that the observed treatment effect is overestimated 89.”
From The Analgesic Effect of Oxytocin in Humans: A Double‐Blind, Placebo‐Controlled Cross‐Over Study Using Laser‐Evoked Potentials (2016) · cites this paper as [89]
In the citing paper
“This has been suggested to be a particularly big problem in oxytocin research and the potential source of the wide range of different and sometimes contradictory findings arising from different studies (Walum et al., 2016).”
From Meta-analysis of the effects of intranasal oxytocin on interpretation and expression of emotions (2017) · cites this paper as Walum et al., 2016
In the citing paper
“Based on an estimated average small-to-medium effect size of oxytocin effect on social behaviors (d = 0.28, Walum et al., 2016), 80 6-person groups were needed to detect a significant effect (α = 0.05, β = 0.85, ANOVA: repeated measures, within-between interaction, G-Power, Faul et al., 2009).”
From Oxytocin promotes coordinated out-group attack during intergroup conflict in humans (2019) · cites this paper as Walum et al., 2016
In the citing paper
“the effect sizes in most IN-OT studies are small [46]”
From Translational opportunities for circuit-based social neuroscience: advancing 21st century psychiatry (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
In the citing paper
“It has been criticized that most studies examining oxytocin effects have too small sample sizes to even detect medium effects and are therefore substantially underpowered98.”
From Randomized clinical trial shows no substantial modulation of empathy-related neural activation by intranasal oxytocin in autism (2021) · cites this paper as [98]
In the citing paper
“However, the mounting popularity of studying OT in the social sciences is currently associated with waves of criticism, because papers often have suffered from small sample size, low statistical power, inflated effect sizes, inconsistent experimental procedures , and publication bias 18,19 .”
From A registered replication study on oxytocin and trust (2020) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“recruiting and testing 79 individuals with ASD in a within-participants trial—the number of participants needed to achieve 80% power for the small-to-medium average effect size of d=0.32—would be difficult for many research groups”
In the citing paper
“Many oxytocin studies are statistically underpowered, with clinical studies having an average of 12% statistical power to detect the median Cohen’s d of 0.32.28”
In the citing paper
“Therefore, the corresponding average false-negative rate is large (88%), which probably contributes to poor replication rates.”
In the citing paper
“On average, tests from these unpublished studies were only sufficiently powered to detect an effect of d = 0.78, which is much larger than the average effect of intranasal oxytocin on social cognition of d = 0.28 (Walum et al., 2016).”
From Revisiting non-significant effects of intranasal oxytocin using equivalence testing (2018) · cites this paper as Walum et al., 2016
In the citing paper
“Intranasal oxytocin studies have come under increasing scrutiny, particularly regarding statistical power (Walum et al., 2016).”
From Revisiting non-significant effects of intranasal oxytocin using equivalence testing (2018) · cites this paper as Walum et al., 2016
In the citing paper
“A related issue is that intranasal oxytocin studies reported in the literature contain tests that are generally statistically underpowered (Walum et al., 2016).”
From Revisiting non-significant effects of intranasal oxytocin using equivalence testing (2018) · cites this paper as Walum et al., 2016
In the citing paper
“It is possible that these findings were driven by the fact that smaller studies can sometimes overestimate effect sizes even when no true effect is present (Walum et al., 2016;Zhang et al., 2013).”
From Meta-analytic review of the effects of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin on threat processing in humans (2018) · cites this paper as Walum et al., 2016
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Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Introduction
“Three values, 12%, 16% and 80%, are used for power, representing the average power of studies of IN-OT in healthy subjects, in clinical trials and the standard for adequacy, respectively.”
§ Introduction
“If the studies included in the meta-analyses are representative of the field, statistical power values of 16% for studies investigating IN-OT effects in healthy subjects and 12% in clinical trials are certainly very low”
Citations
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“Using the effect size estimates and median sample size from these studies we calculated the average power, assuming an alpha level of 5%, using G*Power software (12).”
MethodWhy Most Published Research Findings Are False
Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 · Cited by 10,505
The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results.
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“An alternative, perhaps more plausible, explanation is that there could be a significant amount of unpublished negative or inconclusive results, a phenomenon referred to as the “file-drawer effect” or publication bias (23).”
BackgroundPower failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience
Button, K. S., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Mokrysz, C., Nosek, B. A., Flint, J., Robinson, E. S. J., & Munafò, M. R. (2013) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3475 · Cited by 7,641 · cited 3×
“From a statistical point of view this problem might not be any more serious for this field than other domains of psychology (20, 21, 31) or neuroscience in general (14).”
BackgroundSimmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D., & Simonsohn, U. (2011) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797611417632 · Cited by 6,567 · cited 2×
“As shown by Simmons et al. (2011), Type I errors are easily inflated when researchers allow themselves to employ undisclosed analytic flexibility regarding choice of statistical model, definition of variables, and the rationale for exclusion of outliers (27).”
BackgroundWhy Most Published Research Findings Are False
Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005) · CHANCE · doi:10.1080/09332480.2005.10722754 · Cited by 4,702 · cited 21×
“For example, if data from 10 independent tests are collected and only reported for one of these, the statistical power is 16% for all tests and the R-value is 0.10, then the PPV goes down from 24% to 17%.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialVisscher, P. M., Brown, M. A., McCarthy, M. I., & Yang, J. (2012) · The American Journal of Human Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.11.029 · Cited by 2,425 · cited 1×
“Large-scale collaboration efforts have been successful within fields like human genetics (33) and psychology (34) and replicated findings from these consortia can be considered more reliable.”
BackgroundMeasuring the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices With Incentives for Truth Telling
John, L. K., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2012) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797611430953 · Cited by 2,239 · cited 1×
“psychology (28), and likely pervasive in other disciplines as well.”
BackgroundBelieve it or not: how much can we rely on published data on potential drug targets?
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“Bias of this kind could have serious consequences such as failure to replicate findings (24), and there are also reasons to believe that publication bias is more likely to affect low powered studies (25).”
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Items 101–200 of 343
Intranasal oxytocin modulates neural functional connectivity during human social interaction
Rilling, J. K., Chen, X., Chen, X., & Haroon, E. (2018) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.22740 · Cited by 40
Reuter, M., Montag, C., Altmann, S., Bendlow, F., Elger, C. E., Kirsch, P., Becker, A. J., Schoch, S., Simon, M., Weber, B., et al. (2016) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470919.2016.1214174 · Cited by 38
Tully, J., Gabay, A. S., Brown, D., Murphy, D., & Blackwood, N. (2017) · Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.11.017 · Cited by 39
“It should also be noted that recent reviews of the oxytocin literature (Quintana, 2018; Walum et al., 2016) have highlighted that many studies of behavioural effects are underpowered, and have made recommendations to improve the reliability of oxytocin research and identify more promising avenues for future work.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialGiovanna, G., Damiani, S., Fusar‐Poli, L., Rocchetti, M., Brondino, N., Cagna, F. D., Mori, A., & Politi, P. (2020) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104605 · Cited by 41
Understanding the Oxytocin System and Its Relevance to Psychiatry
Shamay‐Tsoory, S., & Young, L. J. (2015) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.10.014 · Cited by 39
“(24) extend the arguments presented by Leng and Ludwig regarding the”
BackgroundSelf-citationOxytocin and emotion processing
Simplicio, M. C. D., & Harmer, C. J. (2016) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881116641872 · Cited by 38
“Leaving aside the debate on if and how exogenous intranasal oxytocin reaches brain sites of action (Leng and Ludwig, 2016), some inconsistencies are probably the result of methodological shortcomings and small sample sizes (Guastella and MacLeod, 2012; Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundOxytocin increases eye-gaze towards novel social and non-social stimuli
Eckstein, M., Bamert, V., Stephens, S. B. Z., Wallen, K., Young, L. J., Ehlert, U., & Ditzen, B. (2018) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470919.2018.1542341 · Cited by 36
“Therefore, our results should be interpreted with caution given the small effect sizes and small to moderate effects (Walum et al., 2016).”
Self-citationChen, X., Nishitani, S., Haroon, E., Smith, A. K., & Rilling, J. K. (2019) · Genes Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1111/gbb.12555 · Cited by 39
“are underpowered, which is expected to increase the rate of false positive results in the literature.(12) OT effects on brain function and behavior are mediated by the”
BackgroundRevisiting non-significant effects of intranasal oxytocin using equivalence testing
Quintana, D. S. (2018) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.10.010 · Cited by 38
Quintana, D. S. (2020) · Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2020.100014 · Cited by 36
“[11]), there has not been any considerable change over an eight-year period.”
BackgroundVaht, M., Kurrikoff, T., Laas, K., Veidebaum, T., & Harro, J. (2016) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.09.018 · Cited by 39
Oxytocin: A citation network analysis of 10 000 papers
Leng, G., & Leng, R. (2021) · Journal of Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1111/jne.13014 · Cited by 34
Quintana, D. S., Westlye, L. T., Alnæs, D., Kaufmann, T., Mahmoud, R. A., Smerud, K. T., Djupesland, P. G., & Andreassen, O. A. (2018) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/s41386-018-0241-3 · Cited by 32
“Underpowered studies are a considerable issue in biobehavioral oxytocin research as they are less likely to replicate [76].”
Quintana, D. S., & Williams, D. R. (2017) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/wun5v · Cited by 35
Melby, K., Gråwe, R. W., Aamo, T. O., Salvesen, Ø., & Spigset, O. (2019) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.01.003 · Cited by 33
van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J. (2015) · Journal of Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1111/jne.12355 · Cited by 33
Intertwined associations between oxytocin, immune system and major depressive disorder
Jiang, J., Yang, M., Tian, M., Chen, Z., Xiao, L., & Gong, Y. (2023) · Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy · doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2023.114852 · Cited by 40
The Detrimental Effects of Oxytocin-Induced Conformity on Dishonesty in Competition
Aydogan, G., Jobst, A., D’Ardenne, K., Müller, N., & Kocher, M. G. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797617695100 · Cited by 31
Williams, D. R., Carlsson, R., & Bürkner, P. (2017) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2017.08.003 · Cited by 33
“Small samples often produce noisy estimates, so effect needs to be very large to reach statistical significance (Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundIntranasal oxytocin reduces reactive aggression in men but not in women: A computational approach
Zhu, R., Liu, C., Li, T., Xu, Z., Fung, B. J., Feng, C., Wu, H., Luo, Y., & Wang, L. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.06.016 · Cited by 30
“Larger samples are conductive to test whether there are small but solid effects of oxytocin (Walum et al., 2016).”
Interplay between the oxytocin and opioid systems in regulating social behaviour
Putnam, P. T., & Chang, S. W. C. (2022) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2021.0050 · Cited by 33
“This individual variability is compounded by methodological or statistical shortcomings in existing research, leading tomany results being either underpowered [70] or biased [71,72].”
BackgroundRomano, A., Friuli, M., Cifani, C., & Gaetani, S. (2020) · Neuropharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2020.108082 · Cited by 31
Sadino, J. M., & Donaldson, Z. R. (2018) · ACS Chemical Neuroscience · doi:10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00475 · Cited by 30
Fair, D. A., Dosenbach, N. U. F., Moore, A. H., Satterthwaite, T. D., & Milham, M. P. (2021) · Annual Review of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-085124 · Cited by 32
Neuroimaging and behavioral evidence of sex-specific effects of oxytocin on human sociality
Procyshyn, T. L., Dupertuys, J., & Bartz, J. A. (2024) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2024.06.010 · Cited by 30
Lischke, A., Herpertz, S. C., Berger, C., Domes, G., & Gamer, M. (2017) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsx134 · Cited by 29
Quantitative facial expression analysis revealed the efficacy and time course of oxytocin in autism
Owada, K., Okada, T., Munesue, T., Kuroda, M., Fujioka, T., Uno, Y., Matsumoto, K., Kuwabara, H., Mori, D., Okamoto, Y., et al. (2019) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awz126 · Cited by 29
Bridging the gap between rodents and humans: The role of non‐human primates in oxytocin research
Putnam, P. T., Young, L. J., & Gothard, K. M. (2018) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.22756 · Cited by 28
“…al., 2012), promoted trust (Kosfeld, Heinrichs, Zak, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2005), and improved socially reinforced learning (Hurlemann et al., 2010), although the robustness of these pharmacological studies in healthy subjects has recently been called into question (Walum, Waldman, & Young, 2015).”
BackgroundSelf-citationReijnen, A., Geuze, E., & Vermetten, E. H. G. J. M. (2017) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.06.010 · Cited by 30
Cao, Y. H., Yan, B., & Teng, Y. (2023) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.jhtm.2023.10.012 · Cited by 29
Oxytocin for Autism Spectrum Disorder — Down, but Not Out
Geschwind, D. H. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejme2110158 · Cited by 25
Intranasal oxytocin does not reduce age-related difficulties in social cognition
Grainger, S. A., Henry, J. D., Steinvik, H. R., Vanman, E. J., Rendell, P. G., & Labuschagne, I. (2018) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.01.009 · Cited by 27
“However, another important consideration in this literature is that although there have been several promising findings with iOT, concerns have been recently raised about the reliability of iOT studies (Lane et al., 2016; Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundInfluentialOxytocin amplifies sex differences in human mate choice
Xu, L., Becker, B., Luo, R., Zheng, X., Zhao, W., Zhang, Q., & Kendrick, K. M. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104483 · Cited by 27
The Oxytocin System and Implications for Oxytocin Deficiency in Hypothalamic-Pituitary Disease
Aulinas, A., & Lawson, E. A. (2025) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/endrev/bnaf008 · Cited by 31
Oxytocin has sex-specific effects on trust and underlying neurophysiological processes
Schiller, B., Brustkern, J., Walker, M., Hamm, A. O., & Heinrichs, M. (2023) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106076 · Cited by 27
“…analysis using an effect-size of Cohen ’ s d = 0.28 from a study that re-analyzed data from three meta-analyses on intra-nasal OT effects in humans (Walum et al., 2016) yielded a required sample size of 156 participants (ANOVA: Repeated measures, within-between interactions, alpha = 0.05 and…”
MethodInfluentialRío, R. T.-D., van den Burg, E. H., Stoop, R., & Hegoburu, C. (2018) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-018-5030-5 · Cited by 26
Berends, Y. R., Tulen, J. H. M., Wierdsma, A. I., PELT, J. V., Feldman, R., Zagoory‐Sharon, O., de Rijke, Y. B., Kushner, S. A., & Marle, H. J. C. V. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.03.027 · Cited by 28
Fifty Years of Advances in Neuroendocrinology
Russell, J. A. (2018) · Brain and Neuroscience Advances · doi:10.1177/2398212818812014 · Cited by 26
“…receptor expression on bonding in voles, an inference was made that in humans actions of oxytocin in the brain on differentially expressed oxytocin receptors might be important in social function, through regulating rewarding aspects of social stimuli (King et al., 2016; Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundOxytocin Reduces Cigarette Consumption in Daily Smokers
Hedger, K. V., Kushner, M. J., Lee, R., & de Wit, H. (2018) · Nicotine & Tobacco Research · doi:10.1093/ntr/nty080 · Cited by 26
Oxytocin promotes altruistic punishment
Aydogan, G., Furtner, N. C., Kern, B., Jobst, A., Müller, N., & Kocher, M. G. (2017) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsx101 · Cited by 25
“However, several recent reviews identified relatively poor replicability within the OT literature (Nave et al., 2015; Leng and Ludwig, 2016; Walum et al., 2016), which partly arises from small sample sizes.”
Straccia, M. A., Teed, A. R., Katzman, P. L., Tan, K. M., Parrish, M. H., Irwin, M. R., Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Tabak, B. A. (2021) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291721004104 · Cited by 25
“…2015), a publication bias against null results (Lane, Luminet, Nave, & Mikolajczak, 2016; Tabak et al., 2019), and issues of statistical power have promoted uncertainty regarding all but the most consistent findings in the OT literature (Mierop et al., 2020; Walum, Waldman, & Young, 2016).”
ResultKumar, J., Iwabuchi, S. J., Vӧllm, B., & Palaniyappan, L. K. (2019) · European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.1007/s00406-019-00989-z · Cited by 25
Bowen, M. T. (2019) · Pharmacological Research · doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2019.104325 · Cited by 24
Quintana, D. S. (2021) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105642 · Cited by 22
Hall, K., Smith, M. F., Russell, J. L., Lambeth, S. P., Schapiro, S. J., & Brosnan, S. F. (2019) · Animal Behavior and Cognition · doi:10.26451/abc.06.01.04.2019 · Cited by 23
Schiller, B., Domes, G., & Heinrichs, M. (2019) · European Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2019.12.109 · Cited by 24
A test of the stress-buffering hypothesis of social support among bariatric surgery patients.
Ahlich, E., Herr, J. B., Thomas, K. M., Segarra, D., & Rancourt, D. (2019) · Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases · doi:10.1016/j.soard.2019.10.020 · Cited by 18
Sex-Specific Differences in Oxytocin Receptor Expression and Function for Parental Behavior
Mitre, M., Kranz, T. M., Marlin, B. J., Schiavo, J. K., Erdjument‐Bromage, H., Zhang, X., Minder, J. L., Neubert, T. A., Hackett, T. A., Chao, M. V., et al. (2017) · Gender and the Genome · doi:10.1089/gg.2017.0017 · Cited by 22
Schultebraucks, K., Maslahati, T., Wingenfeld, K., Hellmann‐Regen, J., Kraft, J., Kownatzki, M., Behnia, B., Ripke, S., Otte, C., & Roepke, S. (2021) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/s41386-021-01247-4 · Cited by 23
Leng, G., & Leng, R. (2020) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/12228.001.0001 · Cited by 25
An affective social tie mechanism: Theory, evidence, and implications
Bault, N., Fahrenfort, J. J., Pelloux, B., Ridderinkhof, K. R., & van Winden, F. A. A. M. (2017) · Journal of Economic Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.joep.2017.04.004 · Cited by 22
Electrophysiological correlates of oxytocin-induced enhancement of social performance monitoring
de Bruijn, E. R. A., Ruissen, M. I., & Radke, S. (2017) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsx094 · Cited by 21
“However, we would like to emphasize that the present findings are in need of replication preferably in a larger sample size that also includes female participants (see Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundTracy, L. M., Gibson, S. J., Labuschagne, I., Georgiou‐Karistianis, N., & Giummarra, M. J. (2017) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.08.016 · Cited by 21
Mayer, A. V., Wermter, A.-K., Stroth, S., Alter, P., Haberhausen, M., Stehr, T., Paulus, F. M., Krach, S., & Kamp-Becker, I. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94407-x · Cited by 23
Prior exposure to extreme pain alters neural response to pain in others
Eidelman-Rothman, M., Goldstein, A., Weisman, O., Schneiderman, I., Zagoory‐Sharon, O., Jean Decety, A., & Feldman, R. (2016) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-016-0422-7 · Cited by 21
Tracy, L. M., Labuschagne, I., Georgiou‐Karistianis, N., Gibson, S. J., & Giummarra, M. J. (2017) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.05.028 · Cited by 23
Oxytocin strengthens the link between provocation and aggression among low anxiety people
Pfundmair, M., Reinelt, A., DeWall, C. N., & Feldmann, L. (2018) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.04.025 · Cited by 19
“Many OT studies are underpowered (Walum et al., 2016) and our Study 1 also lacked a sufficiently high number of participants with regard to the complex design.”
Melanotan-II reverses autistic features in a maternal immune activation mouse model of autism
Minakova, E., Lang, J., Medel‐Matus, J., Gould, G. G., Reynolds, A., Shin, D. H., Mazarati, A. M., & Sankar, R. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0210389 · Cited by 19
Zhao, W., Luo, R., Sindermann, C., Li, J., Wei, Z., Zhang, Y., Liu, C., Le, J., Quintana, D. S., Montag, C., et al. (2019) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2019.109734 · Cited by 20
Oxytocin effects on self-referential processing: behavioral and neuroimaging evidence
Liu, Y., Wu, B., Wang, X., Li, W., Zhang, T., Wu, X., & Han, S. (2017) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsx116 · Cited by 15
“Finally, although the OT effects on memory performances in Experiment 1 and brain activities in Experiments 2 and 3 appeared to be consistent, the statistical power is always an important issue for studies of intranasal manipulation of OT due to small sample sizes in behavioral and brain imaging research (Walum et al.…”
BackgroundEndogenous Oxytocin Release Eliminates In-Group Bias in Monetary Transfers With Perspective-Taking
Terris, E. T., Beavin, L. E., Barraza, J. A., Schloss, J., & Zak, P. J. (2018) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00035 · Cited by 19
“Moreover, emerging research reveals a concern with the reliability and replicability OT infusion studies (Nave et al., 2015; Lane et al., 2016) and disagreements regarding how intranasal OT research should be interpreted (Churchland and Winkielman, 2012; Leng and Ludwig, 2016; Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundOxytocin conditions trait-based rule adherence
Gross, J., & Dreu, C. K. W. D. (2016) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsw138 · Cited by 19
“…variable and correcting results for multiple comparisons, we hope to at least partly address current concerns in the literature about a potentially high rate of false positive findings of intranasal oxytocin on human social behaviour (McCullough et al., 2013; Nave et al., 2015; Walum et al., 2016).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialEllenbogen, M. A., Cardoso, C., Serravalle, L., Vadaga, K. K., & Joober, R. (2024) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291724000217 · Cited by 20
“…that provides appropriate outlets for such behavior (Ditzen et al., 2009; Kosfeld et al., 2005; Van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2012; Yang et al., 2021), although there is still controversy over the replicability of these findings (Declerck et al., 2020; Walum, Waldman, & Young, 2016).”
Localization of oxytocin receptors in the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) neocortex
Duchemin, A., Seelke, A. M. H., Simmons, T. C., Freeman, S. M., & Bales, K. L. (2017) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.02.017 · Cited by 19
Boada, M. D., Gutierrez, S., & Eisenach, J. C. (2019) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001495 · Cited by 19
“Nearly all these studies used intranasal administration and small sample sizes and have been criticized for extremely low positive predictive value.(52) The current study predicts that systemic or locally administered oxytocin is most likely to affect sensation in the presence of injury, and that it would increase per…”
The Routledge International Handbook of Psychobiology
Walburn, J., Vedhara, K., & Weinman, J. (2018) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315642765 · Cited by 19
Post-retrieval oxytocin facilitates next day extinction of threat memory in humans
Hu, J., Wang, Z., Feng, X., Long, C., & Schiller, D. (2018) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-018-5074-6 · Cited by 18
Wang, F., Yin, X.-S., Lu, J., Cen, C., & Wang, Y. (2022) · Science Signaling · doi:10.1126/scisignal.abd0033 · Cited by 15
Grainger, S. A., Henry, J. D., Steinvik, H. R., & Vanman, E. J. (2018) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881118806303 · Cited by 17
Zheng, X., Xu, X., Xu, L., Kou, J., Luo, L., Ma, X., & Kendrick, K. M. (2021) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881121991576 · Cited by 17
“…(140 subjects) the study had achieved >80% power for mixed analyses of variance (ANOVAs) (using an alpha value of p 0.05 for an expected medium effect size partial eta squared=0.06), based on an estimated average small-to-medium effect size of OXT effect on social behaviors (Walum et al., 2016).”
MethodInfluentialNance, M. G., Sullivan, K. M., & Puglia, M. H. (2024) · Pediatric Research · doi:10.1038/s41390-024-03563-z · Cited by 18
“98 Incorporating OXTR epigenetics into therapeutic research may enhance outcomes .”
Flanagan, J. C., Nietert, P. J., Sippel, L., Jarnecke, A. M., Kirby, C., Hogan, J. N., Massa, A. A., Brower, J., Back, S. E., & Parrott, D. (2022) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.06.011 · Cited by 16
The (Null) Effect of Affective Touch on Betrayal Aversion, Altruism, and Risk Taking
Koppel, L., Andersson, D., Morrison, I., Västfjäll, D., & Tinghög, G. (2017) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00251 · Cited by 16
“Several issues have been pointed out in the oxytocin literature, including publication bias (Lane et al., 2016), low statistical power (Walum et al., 2016), lack of evidence that intranasal oxytocin reaches target brain areas (Leng and Ludwig, 2016), and unreliable measures of plasma oxytocin…”
BackgroundHenderson, A., Thoelen, G., Nadler, A., Barraza, J. A., & Nave, G. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29928-z · Cited by 14
Leu8 and Pro8 oxytocin agonism differs across human, macaque, and marmoset vasopressin 1a receptors
Mustoe, A. C., Schulte, N. A., Taylor, J. H., French, J. A., & Toews, M. L. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52024-9 · Cited by 15
Acetaminophen Reduces Distrust in Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder Features
Roberts, I. D., Krajbich, I., Cheavens, J., Campo, J., & Way, B. M. (2018) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702617731374 · Cited by 13
The role of oxytocin in the facial mimicry of affiliative vs. non-affiliative emotions
Pavarini, G., Sun, R., Mahmoud, M., Cross, I. R. M., Schnall, S., Fischer, A. H., Deakin, J., Ziauddeen, H., Kogan, A., & Vuillier, L. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104377 · Cited by 18
“However, given the recent statistical and methodological considerations for the interpretation of intranasal oxytocin studies on humans, suggesting that intranasal OT studies are generally underpowered (Walum et al., 2016), we decided to collect a larger sample size.”
BackgroundTaubert, J., Flessert, M., Liu, N., & Ungerleider, L. G. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51422-3 · Cited by 17
Oxytocin modulates human communication by enhancing cognitive exploration
de Boer, M., Kokal, I., Blokpoel, M., Liu, R., Stolk, A., Karin Roelofs, A., van Rooij, I., & Toni, I. (2017) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.010 · Cited by 14
“Furthermore, given the raising concerns on limited statistical power and effect size inflation of oxytocin studies (Walum et al., 2016), the statistical inferences of this study were verified by bootstrapping the parameter estimates of the relevant statistics, thus providing statistical inferences…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialThe effect of oxytocin on pupil response to naturalistic dynamic facial expressions
Burley, D. T., & Daughters, K. (2020) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104837 · Cited by 13
“Indeed, although significant findings are often questioned with respect to Type 1 error (Lane et al., 2016; Walum et al., 2016), questioning null findings with respect to Type 2 error is less common.”
BackgroundIntranasal oxytocin modulates the salience network in aging
Liu, P., Lin, T., Feifel, D., & Ebner, N. C. (2022) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119045 · Cited by 13
“Future research with larger sample sizes will also be able to address key issues regarding low statistical power and unsuccessful replication in research on the effects of intranasal oxytocin (Mierop et al., 2020; Walum et al., 2016).”
Intranasal Oxytocin Failed to Affect Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Social Behavior
Proctor, D. P., Calcutt, S. E., Burke, K., & de Waal, F. Β. Μ. (2016) · Animal Behavior and Cognition · doi:10.12966/abc.04.08.2016 · Cited by 14
“Walum et al. (2016) conducted a meta-analysis of published intranasal oxytocin studies in humans and found that due to the low power of these studies, the false-positive rate is between 84 – 88%.”
Melby, K., Fasmer, O. B., Henriksen, T. E. G., Gråwe, R. W., Aamo, T. O., & Spigset, O. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228700 · Cited by 15
Putnam, P. T., & Chang, S. W. C. (2022) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2021.0047 · Cited by 13
“Indeed, the field is already successfully moving in the direction of examining oxytocin function under more naturalistic contexts and more holistically, aided by advancements in technology [46,47] and decades of critical introspection in the literature [14,15,17,48].”
BackgroundIntranasal oxytocin modulates higher order social cognition in body dysmorphic disorder
Fang, A., Lawson, E. A., & Wilhelm, S. (2019) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22876 · Cited by 14
Oxytocin: Control of Secretion by the Brain and Central Roles☆
Russell, J. A., & Brunton, P. J. (2016) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.02246-x · Cited by 15
An Allostatic Theory of OxytocinPreprint
Quintana, D. S., & Guastella, A. J. (2019) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/j7tnf · Cited by 14
Pfaus, J. G., Safron, A., & Zakreski, E. (2023) · Sexual Medicine Reviews · doi:10.1093/sxmrev/qead034 · Cited by 14
A review and preview of developments in the measurement of sociability
Boswell, N., Cao, J. R., Torres, W. J., Beier, M. E., Sabharwal, A., & Moukaddam, N. J. (2020) · Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic · doi:10.1521/bumc_2020_84_05 · Cited by 10
Leng, G., & Russell, J. A. (2015) · Journal of Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1111/jne.12331 · Cited by 13
Moral Enhancement, Self-Governance, and Resistance
Huang, P. (2018) · The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine · doi:10.1093/jmp/jhy023 · Cited by 13
Whillans, A. V., Aknin, L. B., Ross, C. J., Chen, L., & Chen, F. S. (2019) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000589 · Cited by 13
Awake Canine fMRI Predicts Dogs’ Preference for Praise Versus FoodPreprint
Cook, P. F., Prichard, A., Spivak, M., & Berns, G. S. (2016) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/062703 · Cited by 14
Oxytocin as an allostatic agent in the social bonding effects of music
Hansen, N. C., & Keller, P. E. (2021) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x20001235 · Cited by 11
Acupuncture and oxytocinergic system: The promising treatment for autism
Su, T., & Pei, L. (2021) · Translational Neuroscience · doi:10.1515/tnsci-2021-0011 · Cited by 13
“Although human intranasal OT studies illustrate a new hope for ASD, it should be noted that these studies had small sample sizes and some research identified relatively poor replicability, suggesting that intranasal OT studies are generally low statistical power [26].”
BackgroundBoyle, A., Johnson, A. P., & Ellenbogen, M. A. (2022) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105796 · Cited by 12
The effect of oxytocin on group formation and strategic thinking in men
Aydogan, G., Jobst, A., Loy, F., Dehning, S., Zill, P., Müller, N., & Kocher, M. G. (2018) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.02.003 · Cited by 13
“…the relatively poor replicability within the OT literature, partly caused by too small sample sizes (Leng and Ludwig, 2016; Nave et al., 2015; Walum et al., 2016).9 Accordingly, we used a double-blind, placebo-controlled study design to compare behavior in a group of subjects that received a…”
BackgroundMethodResultFreeman, H., Scholl, J. L., AnisAbdellatif, M., Gnimpiéba, E. Z., Forster, G. L., & Jacob, S. (2021) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105415 · Cited by 11
Kunitake, Y., Mizoguchi, Y., Imamura, Y., Kunitake, H., Orihashi, R., Matsushima, J., Tateishi, H., Murakawa‐Hirachi, T., Yamada, S., & Monji, A. (2022) · Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100166 · Cited by 11
“However, the robustness of conclusions in this field has been recently questioned because of problems with low statistical power in IN-OT studies [4], heterogeneity of IN-OT effects, poor reproducibility, and significance inconsistent with the sample size [5].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Walum, H., Waldman, I. D., & Young, L. J.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Walum, Hasse
- Venue
- Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-02
- Volume
- 79
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 251-257
- ISSN
- 0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4690817
- OpenAlex
- W983974319
- Cited by
- 347
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 53 · 2016: 40
- FWCI
- 5.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH (R01MH096983, 1P50MH100023)
- NIH OD (P51OD11132)
- Swedish Brain Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychology Research and Bibliometrics
- Keywords
- intranasal oxytocin, social behavior, social cognition, statistical power, publication bias, reproducibility, research reliability, social bonding, parental behavior, individual recognition
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Animals, Brain, Humans, Oxytocin, Research Design, Social Behavior, Statistics as Topic, Reproducibility of Results
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