Universität zu Köln

Feeser, Melanie, Fan, Yan ORCID: 0000-0002-4864-859X, Weigand, Anne, Hahn, Adam ORCID: 0000-0002-2232-4976, Gaertner, Matti, Boeker, Heinz, Grimm, Simone and Bajbouj, Malek ORCID: 0000-0002-0073-3322 (2015). Oxytocin improves mentatizing - Pronounced effects for individuals with attenuated ability to empathize. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 53. S. 223 - 233. OXFORD: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. ISSN 0306-4530

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Abstract

The ability to predict the behavior of others based on their mental states is crucial for social functioning. Previous studies have provided evidence for the role of Oxytocin (OXT) in enhancing the ability to mentalize. It has also been demonstrated that the effect of OXT seems to strongly depend on socio-cognitive skills with more pronounced effects in individuals with lower socio-cognitive skills. Although recent studies indicate that mentalizing is related to empathy, no study has yet examined whether the effects of OXT on mentalizing depend on the ability to empathize. 71 mate participants participated in a double-blind, between-subjects, placebo-controlled experiment. The Reading the Mind in the Eye Test (RMET) was used to investigate mentalizing abilities. We analyzed the effect of OXT on easy and difficult items of the RMET depending on differential empathy scores of the participants as assessed with the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Our results showed that OXT improves mentalizing for difficult but not for easy items. We generally observed increased mentalizing accuracy in participants with higher empathy scores. Importantly, however, whereas the performance in participants with higher empathy scores was comparable in both OXT and placebo condition, OXT specifically enhanced mentalizing accuracy in participants with lower empathy scores. Our findings suggest that OXT enhances mentalizing abilities. However, we also demonstrate that not all participants benefited from OXT application. It seems that the effects of OXT strongly depend on baseline social-cognitive skills such as empathy. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Feeser, Melanie UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Fan, Yan UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-4864-859X UNSPECIFIED Weigand, Anne UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hahn, Adam UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-2232-4976 UNSPECIFIED Gaertner, Matti UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Boeker, Heinz UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Grimm, Simone UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Bajbouj, Malek UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-0073-3322 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-412004
DOI:	10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.12.015
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume:	53
Page Range:	S. 223 - 233
Date:	2015
Publisher:	PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Place of Publication:	OXFORD
ISSN:	0306-4530
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language HIGH-FUNCTIONING AUTISM; VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREA; INTRANASAL OXYTOCIN; EMOTION RECOGNITION; SPECTRUM DISORDERS; FACIAL EXPRESSIONS; ASPERGER-SYNDROME; SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR; HUMAN BRAIN; EYE REGION Multiple languages Endocrinology & Metabolism; Neurosciences; Psychiatry Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/41200