Oxytocin increases eye contact during a real-time, naturalistic social interaction in males with and without autism.

ABSTRACT: Autism spectrum conditions (autism) affect ~1% of the population and are characterized by deficits in social communication. Oxytocin has been widely reported to affect social-communicative function and its neural underpinnings. Here we report the first evidence that intranasal oxytocin administration improves a core problem that individuals with autism have in using eye contact appropriately in real-world social settings. A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects design is used to examine how intranasal administration of 24 IU of oxytocin affects gaze behavior for 32 adult males with autism and 34 controls in a real-time interaction with a researcher. This interactive paradigm bypasses many of the limitations encountered with conventional static or computer-based stimu

SUBMITTER: Auyeung B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4445747 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature