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Study · Randomized controlled trial · 2019

6 results

Neural modulation of social reinforcement learning by intranasal oxytocin in male adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: a randomized trial.

Kruppa JA, Gossen A, Oberwelland Weiß E, Kohls G, Großheinrich N, Cholemkery H, Freitag CM, Karges W, Wölfle E, Sinzig J, Fink GR, Herpertz-Dahlmann B, Konrad K, Schulte-Rüther M

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2 Nov 2018Cited by 60 (Europe PMC)

PMID30390065 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC6372686 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1038/s41386-018-0258-7 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-30390065
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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 men with autism spectrum disorder, learning under intranasal oxytocin was enhanced when the learning target was social compared with non-social (87.09% vs 71.29%).

    In plain wordsIn men with autism, under oxytocin, learning was better when the target was social than when it was non-social.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseReinforcement learning, social versus non-social target (ASD, oxytocin)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Non-social target under oxytocin
    Outcome group
    Cognition and memory · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    20 IU · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Measurements

    Learning, social target
    87.09%
    ASD, oxytocin
    Learning, non-social target
    71.29%
    ASD, oxytocin

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Behaviorally, individuals with ASD showed enhanced learning under oxytocin when the learning target as well as feedback was social as compared to non-social (social vs. non-social target: 87.09% vs. 71.29%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.28-24.33, p = .003; social vs. non-social feedback: 81.00% vs…
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Male adults with a childhood diagnosis of ASD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 24; aged 18-26 years) performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in a single-center (research center in Germany), randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial.
    Summary · context
    The interventions were intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon®, Novartis; 10 puffs = 20 international units (IUs) per treatment) and placebo spray.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In men with autism spectrum disorder, learning under intranasal oxytocin was enhanced when the feedback was social compared with non-social (81.00% vs 71.29%).

    In plain wordsIn men with autism, under oxytocin, learning was better with social feedback than with non-social feedback.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseReinforcement learning, social versus non-social feedback (ASD, oxytocin)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Non-social feedback under oxytocin
    Outcome group
    Cognition and memory · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    20 IU · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Measurements

    Learning, social feedback
    81%
    ASD, oxytocin
    Learning, non-social feedback
    71.29%
    ASD, oxytocin

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Behaviorally, individuals with ASD showed enhanced learning under oxytocin when the learning target as well as feedback was social as compared to non-social (social vs. non-social target: 87.09% vs. 71.29%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.28-24.33, p = .003; social vs. non-social feedback: 81.00% vs…
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Male adults with a childhood diagnosis of ASD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 24; aged 18-26 years) performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in a single-center (research center in Germany), randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial.
    Summary · context
    The interventions were intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon®, Novartis; 10 puffs = 20 international units (IUs) per treatment) and placebo spray.
  3. 03HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In men with autism spectrum disorder, oxytocin enhanced the correlation of the reward prediction error signal with nucleus accumbens activation during social compared with non-social feedback (3.48 vs -1.12).

    In plain wordsIn men with autism, oxytocin strengthened the link between a reward-learning signal and brain activity in a reward area during social feedback.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseRPE signal and NAcc activation, social feedback (ASD)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Non-social feedback under oxytocin
    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    20 IU · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Measurements

    RPE-NAcc correlation, social feedback
    3.48
    ASD, oxytocin
    RPE-NAcc correlation, non-social feedback
    −1.12
    ASD, oxytocin

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Correspondingly, oxytocin enhanced the correlation of the RPE signal with NAcc activation during social (vs. non-social) feedback in ASD (3.48 vs. -1.12, respectively, 95% CI: 2.98-6.22, p = .000)
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Male adults with a childhood diagnosis of ASD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 24; aged 18-26 years) performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in a single-center (research center in Germany), randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial.
    Summary · context
    The interventions were intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon®, Novartis; 10 puffs = 20 international units (IUs) per treatment) and placebo spray.
  4. 04HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy controls, the higher correlation of the reward prediction error signal with nucleus accumbens activation during social feedback was found in the placebo condition (2.90 vs -1.14), not under oxytocin.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, the stronger reward-learning signal during social feedback appeared under placebo, not under oxytocin.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeRPE signal and NAcc activation, social feedback (controls)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    20 IU · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Measurements

    RPE-NAcc correlation, social feedback
    2.9
    controls, placebo
    RPE-NAcc correlation, non-social feedback
    −1.14
    controls, placebo

    Source sentences

    Summary
    whereas in controls, this effect was found in the placebo condition (2.90 vs. -1.14, respectively, 95% CI: 1.07-7.01, p = .010).
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Male adults with a childhood diagnosis of ASD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 24; aged 18-26 years) performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in a single-center (research center in Germany), randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial.
    Summary · context
    The interventions were intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon®, Novartis; 10 puffs = 20 international units (IUs) per treatment) and placebo spray.
  5. 05HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In men with autism spectrum disorder, a similar pattern for social learning targets (3.00 vs -0.64) did not reach significance (p = .057).

    In plain wordsIn men with autism, a similar oxytocin pattern for social learning targets was not statistically significant.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeRPE signal and NAcc activation, social learning target (ASD)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Non-social target under oxytocin
    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    20 IU · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Measurements

    RPE-NAcc correlation, social target
    3
    ASD, oxytocin
    RPE-NAcc correlation, non-social target
    −0.64
    ASD, oxytocin

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In ASD, a similar pattern emerged when the learning target was social (3.00 vs. -0.64, respectively, 95% CI: -0.13 to 7.41, p = .057
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Male adults with a childhood diagnosis of ASD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 24; aged 18-26 years) performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in a single-center (research center in Germany), randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial.
    Summary · context
    The interventions were intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon®, Novartis; 10 puffs = 20 international units (IUs) per treatment) and placebo spray.
  6. 06HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy controls, oxytocin was associated with a reduced correlation of the reward prediction error signal with nucleus accumbens activation for social learning targets (-0.70 vs 2.72).

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin was linked to a weaker reward-learning signal in a reward brain area for social learning targets.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseRPE signal and NAcc activation, social learning target (controls)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Non-social target under oxytocin
    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    20 IU · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Measurements

    RPE-NAcc correlation, oxytocin
    −0.7
    controls, social target
    RPE-NAcc correlation, placebo
    2.72
    controls, social target

    Source sentences

    Summary
    whereas controls showed a reduced correlation for social learning targets under oxytocin (-0.70 vs. 2.72, respectively, 95% CI: -5.86 to 0.98, p = .008).
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    Male adults with a childhood diagnosis of ASD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 24; aged 18-26 years) performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in a single-center (research center in Germany), randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial.
    Summary · context
    The interventions were intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon®, Novartis; 10 puffs = 20 international units (IUs) per treatment) and placebo spray.

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, 02:48 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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