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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 Oct;21(10):1426-8.
doi: 10.1177/0956797610383439. Epub 2010 Sep 20.

Oxytocin selectively improves empathic accuracy

Jennifer A Bartz  1 , Jamil Zaki, Niall Bolger, Eric Hollander, Natasha N Ludwig, Alexander Kolevzon, Kevin N Ochsner
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Oxytocin selectively improves empathic accuracy

Jennifer A Bartz et al. Psychol Sci. 2010 Oct.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Jennifer A. Bartz is principal investigator on a grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the effects of oxytocin on complex social cognition in autism spectrum disorders (NIH 1R21HD065276-01). Eric Hollander has applied for a patent to use oxytocin as a treatment for social deficits and repetitive behaviors in autism. Jamil Zaki, Niall Bolger, Natasha N. Ludwig, Alexander Kolevzon, and Kevin N. Ochsner declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Results of the regression analysis: predicted empathic accuracy as a function of Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) raw score for the oxytocin condition (dashed line) and placebo condition (solid line). The dotted curves indicate 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Lower numbers on the AQ reflect greater social-cognitive proficiency. Higher numbers on the empathic accuracy index reflect superior performance. Predicted values are shown only for observed levels of the AQ; the predictive equation is as follows: empathic accuracy = 0.44 + 0.048(drug condition) − 0.018(AQ) + 0.018(Drug Condition × AQ).
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