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Study · Randomized controlled trial · 2012

6 results

Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males.

Striepens N, Scheele D, Kendrick KM, Becker B, Schäfer L, Schwalba K, Reul J, Maier W, Hurlemann R

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America16 Oct 2012Cited by 194 (Europe PMC)

PMID23074247 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC3497762 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1073/pnas.1208852109 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-23074247
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Summary

The text of this summary is not shown here, because the article license does not allow reuse. Read it at the source (opens in a new tab)

Text rights: Publisher copyright. Results still quote short attributed sentences.

Results from this study6

6 results from studies that gave the peptide. 6 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin potentiated acoustic startle responses to negative stimuli compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin nose spray made startle reactions to negative images stronger than placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseAcoustic startle response to negative stimuli
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Anxiety and mood · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Intranasal OXT potentiated acoustic startle responses to negative stimuli
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin did not affect behavioral valence or arousal judgments compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin nose spray did not change how they rated the images compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeValence and arousal judgments of negative stimuli
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Anxiety and mood · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    without affecting behavioral valence or arousal judgments
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them.
  3. 03HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin biased subsequent memory toward negative rather than neutral items compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin nose spray shifted memory toward negative items more than placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseSubsequent memory for negative versus neutral items
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Cognition and memory · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    biased subsequent memory toward negative rather than neutral items.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them.
  4. 04HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin inhibited amygdala responses to negative stimuli on functional MRI.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin nose spray lowered amygdala brain activity in response to negative images.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseAmygdala response to negative stimuli
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    whereas OXT inhibited amygdala responses to negative stimuli
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them.
  5. 05HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin facilitated left insula responses for subsequently remembered items on functional MRI.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin nose spray raised left insula brain activity for items they later remembered.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseLeft insula response for subsequently remembered items
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    it facilitated left insula responses for subsequently remembered items
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them.
  6. 06HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin increased functional coupling between the left amygdala, left anterior insula and left inferior frontal gyrus.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin nose spray increased communication between three brain regions involved in emotion and memory.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseFunctional coupling of left amygdala, anterior insula and inferior frontal gyrus
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    increased functional coupling between the left amygdala, left anterior insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them.

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

  1. Version 2Current

    11 Oct 2026, 01:30 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:50 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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