Oxytocin Improves Social Cognition In Schizophrenia
Researcher Josh Woolley and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco have found that intranasal oxytocin (at doses of 40 IU) improved social cognition in patients with schizophrenia when compared with placebo. Oxytocin is a hormone that facilitates social bonding. Social cognition refers to the way we understand what emotions other people are communicating through facial expression, voice, etc.
Interestingly, less complicated aspects of social cognition like recognizing affect and distinguishing between sincerity and sarcasm were not affected by the oxytocin treatment. However, more complex types of social inference (such as decoding whether an actor intended sarcasm versus telling a white lie) were substantially improved. These tasks evaluate “theory of mind”—the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, and to recognize that another person’s mental state may be different from one’s own. These abilities are sometimes lacking in those with schizophrenia and other disorders, such as autism. Given that these abilities have been related to real world social functioning, Woolley and colleagues suggest that oxytocin could, for example, help these individuals to make more friends.
