Meta-analysis of the effects of intranasal oxytocin on interpretation and expression of emotions

Abstract

Highlights-Single dose of intranasal oxytocin has little to no effect on emotional theory of mind or emotion expression among healthy or clinical adult populations -Intranasal oxytocin improved recognition of basic emotions, particularly fear, but only among healthy populations -Intranasal oxytocin improves sensitivity to recognise anger, but only among healthy populations -Effect of oxytocin may be dependent on social boundaries 1 Abstract Accurate interpretation and appropriate expression of emotions are key aspects of social-cognition. Several mental disorders are characterised by transdiagnostic difficulties in these areas and, recently, there has been increasing interest in exploring the effects of oxytocin on social-emotional functioning. This review consists of 33 studies. Fifteen of the studies included people with autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, frontotemporal dementia, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and opioid and alcohol dependence. We conducted ten meta-analyses examining the effects of intranasal oxytocin on expression of emotions, emotional theory of mind, sensitivity to recognise basic emotions, and recognition of basic emotions. A single dose of intranasal oxytocin significantly improved the recognition of basic emotions, particularly fear, and increased the expression of positive emotions among the healthy individuals. Oxytocin did not significantly influence theory of mind or the expression of negative emotions among the healthy individuals. Finally, intranasal oxytocin did not significantly influence interpretation or expression of emotions among the clinical populations.

Embodied precision: Intranasal oxytocin modulates multisensory integration

“…Additionally, the fact that IN-OT influences explicit and implicit measures of the malleability of body representation is in line with previous findings showing that oxytocin sharpens the recognition of basic emotions as well as hidden/implicit emotional facial expressions (Leknes et al, 2013;Leppanen et al, 2017 for a meta-analysis). This explanation supports the idea that oxytocin might play an important evolutionary role, by promoting social affiliation and bonding and by downregulating pain perception associated with reproduction (Insel, 1992;Paloyelis et al, 2015).…”

Systematic review and meta‐analysis of reported adverse events of long‐term intranasal oxytocin treatment for autism spectrum disorder

“…In total, the search process yielded 80 unique studies. Based on the titles and abstracts, 68 studies were rejected . Based on full text review of the remaining 12 studies, five were rejected for being short‐term studies (less than a month), while one was rejected for not being a randomized controlled trial .…”

Low oxytocin levels are related to alexithymia in anorexia nervosa

“…Our data linking low serum oxytocin levels to higher alexithymia scores in women with AN are consistent with these findings and support the hypothesis that low oxytocin might contribute to these symptoms. A study investigating the impact of single‐dose intranasal oxytocin (40 IU) did not find evidence for an improvement of social‐emotional functioning in AN (Leppanen, Cardi, et al, ), and a recent meta‐analysis showed improvements of social‐emotional functioning following intranasal oxytocin administration in healthy individuals but not in clinical populations (Leppanen, Ng, Tchanturia, & Treasure, ). However, it is important to note that these studies used supraphysiologic levels of oxytocin, while our study investigated the link between physiologic levels of oxytocin and social‐emotional functioning.…”