The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been associated with a broad range of human behaviors, particularly in the domain of social cognition, and is being discussed to play a role in a range of psychiatric disorders. Studies using the Reading The Mind In The Eyes Test (RMET) to investigate the role of OT in mental state recognition reported inconsistent outcomes. The present study applied a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design, and included measures of serum OT. Twenty healthy males received intranasal placebo or OT (24 IU) before performing the RMET. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses showed that contrary to previous studies (Domes et al., 2007; Radke & de Bruijn, 2015), individuals performed worse in the OT condition compared to the placebo condition (p = 0.023, Cohen’s d = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.08, 1.02], BF₁₀ = 6.93). OT effects did not depend on item characteristics (difficulty, valence, intensity, sex) of the RMET. Furthermore, OT serum levels did not change after intranasal OT administration. Given that similar study designs lead to heterogeneous outcomes, our results highlight the complexity of OT effects and support evidence that OT might even interfere with social cognitive abilities. However, the Bayesian analysis approach shows that there is only moderate evidence that OT influences mind-reading, highlighting the need for larger-scale studies considering the discussed aspects that might have led to divergent study results.

神经肽催产素 (OT) 与广泛的人类行为有关，特别是在社会认知领域，并且正在讨论在一系列精神疾病中发挥作用。使用阅读眼睛测试 (RMET) 来调查 OT 在精神状态识别中的作用的研究报告了不一致的结果。本研究采用随机、双盲、交叉设计，并包括血清 OT 的测量。20 名健康男性在进行 RMET 之前接受了鼻内安慰剂或 OT (24 IU)。频率论和贝叶斯分析表明，与之前的研究（Domes 等，2007；Radke & de Bruijn，2015）相反，与安慰剂条件相比，个体在 OT 条件下的表现更差（p = 0.023，Cohen's d= 0.55, 95% 置信区间 [CI] [0.08, 1.02], BF ₁₀ = 6.93)。OT 效果不依赖于 RMET 的项目特征（难度、效价、强度、性别）。此外，鼻内OT给药后OT血清水平没有变化。鉴于类似的研究设计会导致不同的结果，我们的结果突出了 OT 效应的复杂性，并支持了 OT 甚至可能干扰社会认知能力的证据。然而，贝叶斯分析方法表明，只有中等证据表明 OT 会影响读心术，这突出了考虑到可能导致不同研究结果的讨论方面进行更大规模研究的必要性。