How can intranasal oxytocin research be trusted? A systematic review of the interactive effects of intranasal oxytocin on psychosocial outcomes
(2020) Perspectives on Psychological Science — Vol. 15, n° 5, p. 1228-1242 (2020)
Files
MieropPerspOnPsychSc2020.pdf
Preprint
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 797.79 KB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- Over the past two decades, research about the role of Oxytocin (i.e., OT) in human behavior has grown exponentially. However, research efforts have not yet allowed developing a unified theory of OT effects. Relatedly, growing concerns about the robustness of conclusions drawn in the field have been raised. The present article contributes to this debate by reporting and discussing key conclusions from a systematic review of published studies addressing interactive effects of intranasal-OT (i.e., IN-OT) administration on psycho-social outcomes in a healthy population. The review indicated that (1) tested interactive IN-OT effects were highly heterogeneous; (2) for a majority of published interactions, no replication was attempted; (3) when attempted, replications were largely unsuccessful; (4) significance was unrelated to sample size; (5) statistical power was critically low and unrelated to the rate of significant results; (6) research practices were characteristic of an exploratory approach. This concerning state of affairs makes it virtually impossible to tease apart true from false interactive IN-OT effects. Based on this observation and Positive Predictive Value simulations, we provide constructive directions for future research that should help extract true effects from noise and move the IN-OT field forward.
- Affiliations
Citations
Mierop, A., Mikolajczak, M., Stahl, C., Béna, J., Luminet, O., Lane, A., & Corneille, O. (2020). How can intranasal oxytocin research be trusted? A systematic review of the interactive effects of intranasal oxytocin on psychosocial outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(5), 1228-1242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620921525 (Original work published 2020)