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Study · Randomized controlled trial · n = 60 · 2026

9 results

Oxytocin facilitates top-down and bottom-up attention to emotional faces in a general and temporal-dependent manner.

Zhou M, Wang X, Zhang Y, Zeng Z, Zhang Q, Kendrick KM, Yao S

Psychological medicine4 Mar 2026

PMID41776858 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC12973246 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1017/s0033291726103602 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-41776858
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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-ND. Results still quote short attributed sentences.

Results from this study9

9 results from studies that gave the peptide. 9 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin shortened response time to target faces in the cue-target visual search task versus placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin made responses to target faces faster than placebo in a visual search task.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseResponse time to target faces (CTVS task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In the CTVS task, OT accelerated participants' response time to target faces, which was paralleled by a larger N170 and stronger theta power, suggesting that OT promoted early top-down attentional processing of social cues.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin increased N170 amplitude in the cue-target visual search task versus placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin raised a brain-wave signal of early face processing (N170) more than placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseN170 amplitude (CTVS task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In the CTVS task, OT accelerated participants' response time to target faces, which was paralleled by a larger N170 and stronger theta power, suggesting that OT promoted early top-down attentional processing of social cues.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  3. 03HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin increased theta power in the cue-target visual search task versus placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin raised theta brain-wave power during a visual search task more than placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseTheta power (CTVS task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In the CTVS task, OT accelerated participants' response time to target faces, which was paralleled by a larger N170 and stronger theta power, suggesting that OT promoted early top-down attentional processing of social cues.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  4. 04HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin reduced the distractive effect of task-irrelevant emotional faces in the first half of the face distractor interference task.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin reduced distraction by emotional faces in the first half of a task, compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseDistractive effect of emotional faces, first half (FDI task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In the FDI task, OT inhibited the distractive effect of task-irrelevant emotional faces in the first half of the task via facilitating top-down attentional control to targets as reflected by enhanced attentional selection (increased N2pc) and more efficient attentional processing (decreased P300).
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  5. 05HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin increased N2pc in the first half of the face distractor interference task.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin raised a brain-wave signal of attentional selection (N2pc) in the first half of a task.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseN2pc amplitude, first half (FDI task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In the FDI task, OT inhibited the distractive effect of task-irrelevant emotional faces in the first half of the task via facilitating top-down attentional control to targets as reflected by enhanced attentional selection (increased N2pc) and more efficient attentional processing (decreased P300).
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  6. 06HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin decreased P300 in the first half of the face distractor interference task.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin lowered a brain-wave signal (P300) in the first half of a task, a sign of more efficient processing.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseP300 amplitude, first half (FDI task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    In the FDI task, OT inhibited the distractive effect of task-irrelevant emotional faces in the first half of the task via facilitating top-down attentional control to targets as reflected by enhanced attentional selection (increased N2pc) and more efficient attentional processing (decreased P300).
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  7. 07HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin reduced response accuracy in the second half of the face distractor interference task.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin lowered accuracy in the second half of a task with emotional face distractors.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseResponse accuracy, second half (FDI task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    However, in the second half, OT switched from facilitating top-down attentional control to potentiating bottom-up attentional capture by emotional face distractors, as evidenced by OT reducing response accuracy but having no effects on the N2pc and P300.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  8. 08HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin had no effect on N2pc in the second half of the face distractor interference task.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin did not change the N2pc brain-wave signal in the second half of a task.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeN2pc amplitude, second half (FDI task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    as evidenced by OT reducing response accuracy but having no effects on the N2pc and P300.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.
  9. 09HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism

    In healthy men, intranasal oxytocin had no effect on P300 in the second half of the face distractor interference task.

    In plain wordsIn healthy men, oxytocin did not change the P300 brain-wave signal in the second half of a task.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeP300 amplitude, second half (FDI task)
    Study

    n = 60

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

    Source sentences

    Summary
    as evidenced by OT reducing response accuracy but having no effects on the N2pc and P300.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, 60 healthy male participants were recruited.
    Summary · context
    We combined pharmaco-electroencephalography with two modified tasks (a cue-target visual search [CTVS] task and a face distractor interference [FDI] task) to investigate whether intranasal OT can modulate attentional processing of social cues in top-down versus bottom-up task sets.

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, 00:50 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:47 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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