Personality-dependent effects of oxytocin: Greater social benefits for high alexithymia scorers

Originally known for its role in labor and lactation, oxytocin (OT) has recently been shown to facilitate social behaviour by improving socio-emotional abilities. However, whether OT is equally beneficial to all people, or whether is it particularly beneficial to less emotionally/socially competent (i.e., high alexithymia) individuals it is not yet known. We investigated the effects of OT on individuals of varying socio-emotional ability by randomly assigning sixty male students to receive either oxytocin (OT) or a placebo (PL), and had them perform the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET). Results showed that whereas the performance of lower alexithymia individuals was equally good in both OT and PL conditions, the performance of higher alexithymia people was better under OT than PL. These results suggest that the effects of OT are not only context-dependent—as recently shown—but also personality dependent. They also provide new insights into the remediation of socio-emotional deficits.

► Oxytocin effects are personality-dependent. ► High alexithymia have higher emotional performances under OT than PL. ► OT increases recognition rates for others’emotional states only for high alexithymia.