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Study · Randomized controlled trial · n = 60 · 2015

4 results

Oxytocin increases bias, but not accuracy, in face recognition line-ups.

Bate S, Bennetts R, Parris BA, Bindemann M, Udale R, Bussunt A

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience29 Nov 2014Cited by 19 (Europe PMC)

PMID25433464 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC4483572 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1093/scan/nsu150 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-25433464
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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: CC BY-NC. Results still quote short attributed sentences.

Results from this study4

4 results from studies that gave the peptide. 4 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In 60 participants doing a face recognition line-up task, oxytocin outperformed placebo on target-present trials.

    In plain wordsIn healthy people, oxytocin spray gave better results than placebo when the target face was in the line-up.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseCorrect identification on target-present trials
    Study

    n = 60

    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
    Participants in the oxytocin condition outperformed those in the placebo condition on target-present trials
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In 60 participants doing a face recognition line-up task, oxytocin increased the likelihood of false-positive errors on target-absent trials compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy people, oxytocin spray made wrong picks more likely when the target face was missing, compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseFalse-positive errors on target-absent trials
    Study

    n = 60

    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
    yet were more likely to make false-positive errors on target-absent trials.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups.
  3. 03HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In 60 participants doing a face recognition line-up task, oxytocin induced a more liberal response bias.

    In plain wordsIn healthy people, oxytocin made them more willing to pick a face, compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseResponse bias in signal detection analysis
    Study

    n = 60

    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
    oxytocin induced a more liberal response bias, rather than increasing accuracy per se.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups.
  4. 04HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In 60 participants doing a face recognition line-up task, signal detection analyses indicated that oxytocin did not increase accuracy per se.

    In plain wordsIn healthy people, oxytocin did not make them truly more accurate at recognizing faces, compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeFace recognition accuracy in signal detection analysis
    Study

    n = 60

    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
    Signal detection analyses indicated that oxytocin induced a more liberal response bias, rather than increasing accuracy per se.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups.

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, 02:49 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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