Effects of intranasal oxytocin on pupil dilation indicate increased salience of socioaffective stimuli
Abstract
To investigate the mechanisms by which oxytocin improves socioaffective processing, we measured behavioral and pupillometric data during a dynamic facial emotion recognition task. In a double-blind between-subjects design, 47 men received either 24 IU intranasal oxytocin (OXT) or a placebo (PLC). Participants in the OXT group recognized all facial expressions at lower intensity levels than did participants in the PLC group. Improved performance was accompanied by increased task-related pupil dilation, indicating an increased recruitment of attentional resources. We also found increased pupil dilation during the processing of female compared with male faces. This gender-specific stimulus effect diminished in the OXT group, in which pupil size specifically increased for male faces. Results suggest that improved emotion recognition after OXT treatment might be due to an intensified processing of stimuli that usually do not recruit much attention.
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Other work found facial emotion recognition improvements related to pupil dilation.
“but instead are related to pupil dilation (Prehn et al., 2013).”
From Oxytocin increases attention to the eyes and selectively enhances self-reported affective empathy for fear (2017) · cites this paper as Prehn et al., 2013
Four studies investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin on the physiological response to generally threatening stimuli, including angry faces, images of threatening scenes, and predictable and unpredictable electric shocks.
“Four studies investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin on the physiological response to generally threatening stimuli, including angry faces, images of threatening scenes, and predictable and unpredictable electric shocks (Grillon et al., 2013;Leknes et al., 2013;Prehn et al., 2013;Striepens et al., 2012).”
From Meta-analytic review of the effects of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin on threat processing in humans (2018) · cites this paper as Prehn et al., 2013
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- Authors
- Prehn, K., Kazzer, P., Lischke, A., Heinrichs, M., Herpertz, S. C., & Domes, G.
- Affiliations
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Prehn, Kristin
- Domes, Gregor
- Venue
- Psychophysiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-04-03
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 528-537
- ISSN
- 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8986
- OpenAlex
- W1952411795
- Cited by
- 81
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 17.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
- FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Keywords
- intranasal oxytocin, pupil dilation, facial emotion recognition, attentional resources, salience, placebo effect
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Adult, Affect, Double-Blind Method, Emotions, Facial Expression, Female, Humans, Male, Oxytocin, Psychomotor Performance, Pupil, Social Environment, Recognition, Psychology
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