Biological Psychiatry
Volume 61, Issue 6 , Pages 731-733, 15 March 2007

Oxytocin Improves “Mind-Reading” in Humans

  • Gregor Domes

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University, Rostock, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Gregor Domes, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University, Gehlsheimer Strasse 20, 18147 Rostock, Germany
    • ,
  • Markus Heinrichs

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
    • ,
  • Andre Michel

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University, Rostock, Germany
    • ,
  • Christoph Berger

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University, Rostock, Germany
    • ,
  • Sabine C. Herpertz

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University, Rostock, Germany

Received 14 March 2006; received in revised form 28 June 2006; accepted 6 July 2006. published online 30 November 2006.

Background

The ability to “read the mind” of other individuals, that is, to infer their mental state by interpreting subtle social cues, is indispensable in human social interaction. The neuropeptide oxytocin plays a central role in social approach behavior in nonhuman mammals.

Methods

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design, 30 healthy male volunteers were tested for their ability to infer the affective mental state of others using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) after intranasal administration of 24 IU oxytocin.

Results

Oxytocin improved performance on the RMET compared with placebo. This effect was pronounced for difficult compared with easy items.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that oxytocin improves the ability to infer the mental state of others from social cues of the eye region. Oxytocin might play a role in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by severe social impairment.

Key Words: Emotion, oxytocin, peptide, social cognition, theory of mind

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PII: S0006-3223(06)00939-5

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.015

Biological Psychiatry
Volume 61, Issue 6 , Pages 731-733, 15 March 2007

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