The effects of nasally administered oxytocin on neurophysiological responses to empathy-evoking pictures in male adults with ASD and healthy male adults

Jong, N. de (Nynke) (2015) The effects of nasally administered oxytocin on neurophysiological responses to empathy-evoking pictures in male adults with ASD and healthy male adults. thesis, Medicine.

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Abstract

Autism is a in its core symptoms so far untreatable developmental disorder that is characterized among others by a lack of empathy. The hormone oxytocin is presumed to influence empathy positively when administered nasally, though little is known about the way it works and its effects appear to be subject to moderators, among which possibly personality traits. On the workings of oxytocin, three hypotheses exist: through anxiety reduction, affiliative motivation or social salience. (Affective) empathy can be measured with the Late Positive Potential (LPP), an Event Related Potential (ERP) in an EEG. A group of 31 individuals with ASD and a group of 30 healthy controls were administered oxytocin in this double-blind placebo study. In two sessions in which they were administered either oxytocin or a placebo, they were shown 414 emotion-evoking (negative, neutral or positive) pictures with and without humans, while an EEG was performed. Contrary to expectations, no difference in LPP response between the ASD group and the control group in the placebo condition was found, nor a treatment effect of oxytocin. Several personality characteristics as measured with the IRI, BISBAS and AVL appeared to moderate the oxytocin effect. These effects support the affiliative motivation hypothesis and the social salience hypothesis. The effects were different for the ASD and the control group, and there are also indications that within the ASD group different responses to oxytocin exist, depending on their personality characteristics.

Item Type:	Thesis (Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Althaus, Mrs. Dr. M.
Faculty:	Medical Sciences
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2020 11:05
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2020 11:05
URI:	https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2505

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