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Pharmacopsychiatry 2019; 52(03): 148-154
DOI: 10.1055/a-0590-4850
Original Paper
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Peripheral Oxytocin Predicts Higher-Level Social Cognition in Men Regardless of Empathy Quotient

Lisa Deuse
1   Universitatsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Psychiatry, Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Aachen, Germany
,
Olga Wudarczyk
1   Universitatsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Psychiatry, Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Aachen, Germany
,
Lena Rademacher
2   Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Social Neuroscience Lab, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
,
Peter Kaleta
1   Universitatsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Psychiatry, Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Aachen, Germany
,
Wolfram Karges
3   Universitatsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Clinic for Gastroenterology, Metabolic Disorders and Internal Intensive Medicine, Aachen, Germany
,
Stella Kacheva
3   Universitatsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Clinic for Gastroenterology, Metabolic Disorders and Internal Intensive Medicine, Aachen, Germany
,
Gerhard Gründer
4   Department of Molecular Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Clinical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
,
Sarah E. Lammertz
1   Universitatsklinikum RWTH Aachen, Psychiatry, Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Aachen, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received 05 February 2018
revised 28 February 2018

accepted 05 March 2018

Publication Date:
28 March 2018 (online)

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Abstract

Introduction Pharmaceutical oxytocin (OT) administration is being tested as a novel treatment for social deficits in various psychiatric populations. However, little is known about how naturally occurring variation in peripheral OT relates to differences in social cognition. This study investigates whether healthy individuals with very high or very low levels of empathy differ in endogenous OT and whether OT plasma levels can predict performance in a mentalizing task.

Methods 40 healthy men were included based upon their score above the 85th or below the 15th percentile of the empathy quotient inventory [1]. Participants’ abilities to interpret social information was assessed via the Social Detection Task [2]. Plasma OT levels were analyzed using enzyme immunoassay.

Results OT plasma levels predicted mentalizing performance for more ambiguous social scenes (i. e., difficult items) for all participants. We found no group differences in OT plasma levels between subjects with high and low empathy.

Discussion These findings confirm a link between peripheral OT and the ability to read subtle nonverbal social cues in healthy individuals, which is independent of self-reported empathy.

Key words

social cognition - empathy - oxytocin
 

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