It has long been established that interpersonal relationships can have a profound impact on
health and well-being. Yet, the investigators are still learning about the complex biological
processes that contribute to positive social interactions and the ability to develop and
maintain social relationships. Recent research has begun to focus on oxytocin, a neuropeptide
that is naturally produced in the hypothalamus, because administration of this neuropeptide
has been associated with increased trust, generosity, empathy, cooperation, memory of social
stimuli (e.g., faces), and brain activity in neural regions associated with social and
emotional processes. To date, several aspects of oxytocin's effects on social behavior have
been unexplored. As such, the overarching goal of this project is to examine the effects of
intranasal oxytocin on several tasks involving social processes. In addition, the
investigators will explore associated neural activity through functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI). Understanding how oxytocin influences these aspects of social functioning
will help to inform research that has begun to establish the potential for use of this
neuropeptide in education as well as psychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorders
and schizophrenia that are characterized by social deficits.
The investigators hypothesize that compared to placebo, oxytocin will improve deception
detection, increase empathy and altruism, and enhance responses to photo stimuli of primary
caregivers. These effects will manifest in behavioral and neural activity. It is also
hypothesized that main effects will not be found for oxytocin, but rather, analyses of
relevant moderators will elucidate these findings.