title: The effect of oxytocin on attention to angry and happy faces in chronic depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic depression is characterized by a high degree of early life trauma, psychosocial impairment, and deficits in social cognition. Undisturbed recognition and processing of facial emotions are basic prerequisites for smooth social interactions. Intranasal application of the neuropeptide oxytocin has been reported to enhance emotion recognition in neuropsychiatric disorders and healthy individuals. We therefore investigated whether oxytocin modulates attention to emotional faces in patients with chronic depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this double-blind, randomized, controlled study, 43 patients received a single dose of oxytocin or placebo nasal spray and were tested while fulfilling a facial dot probe task. We assessed reaction times to neutral probes presented at the location of one of two faces depicting happy, angry, or neutral expressions as a prime.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When comparing reaction times to the congruent (prime and probe at the same location) with incongruent presentation of facial emotions, neither the placebo nor oxytocin group showed an attentional preference for emotional facial expressions in terms of a threat bias. However, oxytocin treatment did reveal two specific effects: it generally reduced the allocation of attention towards angry facial expressions, and it increased sustained attention towards happy faces, specifically under conditions of heightened awareness, i.e. trials with longer primes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We investigated a heterogeneous group of medicated male and female patients. We conclude that oxytocin does modulate basic factors of facial emotion processing in chronic depression. Our findings encourage further investigations assessing the therapeutic potential of oxytocin in chronic depression.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  EUDRA-CT 2010-020956-69 . Date registered: 23 February 2011.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Strasse 8, D-79104, Freiburg, Germany. domes@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de.|Freiburg Brain Imaging, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. domes@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Domes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Normann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Strasse 8, D-79104, Freiburg, Germany.|Freiburg Brain Imaging, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinrichs
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000786:Anger; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010120:Oxytocics / Q000494:pharmacology; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D010120:Oxytocics; D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Attention; Chronic depression; Dot probe; Facial emotions; Oxytocin; Social perception