The Effect of Intranasal Administration of Oxytocin on Empathic Abilities.
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2010-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Empathy constitutes one prominent ability of social cognition, which represents the human
capability of understanding mental state of the other, and responding in sympathetic way. Two
sets of theoretical mechanisms were designed in order to explain how empathy is possible.
Theory of Mind (ToM)and Simulation.People who suffer from schizophrenia frequently exhibit
social dysfunction, preventing them of a normal integration in healthy human environments.
Recently it had been discovered that impairment in empathy and a specific impairment in
effective TOM are mostly associated with the social malfunctioning of people who suffer from
schizophrenia. One of the biological substances most connected to social cognition is the
neuromodulator Oxytocin. Among its known involvement in uterine contractions and lactating
females, numerous recent studies have found an indispensable role for Oxytocin in various
complex prosocial behaviors such as maternal behavior, attachment, partner preference and
trust. In the proposed study, we plan to examine the influence of a single dose of intranasal
Oxytocin on the two primary mechanisms of empathy, namely mentalizing (Theory of Mind) and
Simulation, both in healthy people and in people who suffer from schizophrenia.