Intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face processing in developmental prosopagnosia

• Published in: Cortex Vol. 50; pp. 55 - 63
• Main Authors: Bate, Sarah, Cook, Sarah J., Duchaine, Bradley, Tree, Jeremy J., Burns, Edwin J., Hodgson, Timothy L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Administration, Inhalation; Administration, Intranasal; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Developmental prosopagnosia; Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes; Double-Blind Method; Face; Face processing; Face recognition; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Memory - physiology; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Oxytocin; Oxytocin - administration & dosage; Oxytocin - adverse effects; Oxytocin - therapeutic use; Prosopagnosia - drug therapy; Prosopagnosia - psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Visual Perception - drug effects; Wechsler Scales; Developmental prosopagnosia; Oxytocin; Face recognition; Face processing; Human; Nervous system diseases; Vision disorder; Visual agnosia; Cognition; Developmental disorder; Experimental study; Cerebral disorder; Eye disease; Central nervous system disease; Information processing; Prosopagnosia; Face; Recognition
• ISSN: 0010-9452; 1973-8102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.08.006

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is characterised by a severe lifelong impairment in face recognition. In recent years it has become clear that DP affects a substantial number of people, yet little work has attempted to improve face processing in these individuals. Intriguingly, recent evidence suggests that intranasal inhalation of the hormone oxytocin can improve face processing in unimpaired participants, and we investigated whether similar findings might be noted in DP. Ten adults with DP and 10 matched controls were tested using a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind within-subject experimental design (AB-BA). Each participant took part in two testing sessions separated by a 14–25 day interval. In each session, participants inhaled 24 IU of oxytocin or placebo spray, followed by a 45 min resting period to allow central oxytocin levels to plateau. Participants then completed two face processing tests: one assessing memory for a set of newly encoded faces, and one measuring the ability to match simultaneously presented faces according to identity. Participants completed the Multidimensional Mood Questionnaire (MMQ) at three points in each testing session to assess the possible mood-altering effects of oxytocin and to control for attention and wakefulness. Statistical comparisons revealed an improvement for DP but not control participants on both tests in the oxytocin condition, and analysis of scores on the MMQ indicated that the effect cannot be attributed to changes in mood, attention or wakefulness. This investigation provides the first evidence that oxytocin can improve face processing in DP, and the potential neural underpinnings of the findings are discussed alongside their implications for the treatment of face processing disorders.