ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2016
Effects of oxytocin administration on spirituality and emotional responses to meditation.
Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Illuminating consciousness.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Phase 1 clinical trial on Orgasmic Meditation (OM): Assessing safety and feasibility as a meditation practice for individuals with PTSD.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2025Article
- Genetic Variations in Elements of the Oxytocinergic Pathway are Associated with Attention/Hyperactivity Problems and Anxiety Problems in Childhood.Child psychiatry and human development · 2024Article
- Changes in peripheral oxytocin and vasopressin during a silent month-long Insight meditation retreat.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Symptom Science: Omics and Response to Non-Pharmacological Interventions.Biological research for nursing · 2021Article
- Salivary Oxytocin Is Negatively Associated With Religious Faith in Japanese Non-Abrahamic People.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Activation of the orbitofrontal cortex by both meditation and exercise: A near-infrared spectroscopy study.PloS one · 2021Article
- Infection threat shapes our social instincts.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2021Review
- A new micro-intervention to increase the enjoyment and continued practice of meditation.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2020Article
- "Seat of the soul"? The structure and function of the pineal gland in women with alleged spirit possession-Results of two experimental studies.Brain and behavior · 2020Article
- Article
- Subjective and Oxytocinergic Responses to Mindfulness Are Associated With Subjective and Oxytocinergic Responses to Sexual Arousal.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Mixed support for a causal link between single dose intranasal oxytocin and spiritual experiences: opposing effects depending on individual proclivities for absorption.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2018Article
- Bayesian alternatives for common null-hypothesis significance tests in psychiatry: a non-technical guide using JASP.BMC psychiatry · 2018Article
- Positive affective processes underlie positive health behaviour change.Psychology & health · 2018Article
- Positive Emotion Correlates of Meditation Practice: A Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-kindness Meditation.Mindfulness · 2017Article
- Religiosity and the Motivation for Social Affiliation.Personality and individual differences · 2017Article
- Genetic Correlates of Spirituality/Religion and Depression: A Study in Offspring and Grandchildren at High and Low Familial Risk for Depression.Spirituality in clinical practice (Washington, D.C.) · 2017Article
- Defining 'good health'.Aging · 2016Article
- Common variant in OXTR predicts growth in positive emotions from loving-kindness training.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The oxytocin (OT) system, critically involved in social bonding, may also impinge on spirituality, which is the belief in a meaningful life imbued with a sense of connection to a Higher Power and/or the world. Midlife male participants (N = 83) were randomly assigned to receive intranasal OT or placebo. In exploratory analyses, participants were also genotyped for polymorphisms in two genes critical for OT signaling, the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR rs53576) and CD38 (rs6449182 and rs3796863). Results showed that intranasal OT increased self-reported spirituality on two separate measures and this effect remained significant a week later. It also boosted participants' experience of specific positive emotions during meditation, at both explicit and implicit levels. Furthermore, the effect of OT on spirituality was moderated by OT-related genotypes. These results provide the first experimental evidence that spirituality, endorsed by millions worldwide, appears to be supported by OT.
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