Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30152573›Full record

Trial reportHuman brain mapping2019

Oxytocin enhances the pain-relieving effects of social support in romantic couples.

Ann-Kathrin Kreuder, Lea Wassermann, Michael Wollseifer, Beate Ditzen, Monika Eckstein, Birgit Stoffel-Wagner, Juergen Hennig, René Hurlemann, Dirk Scheele

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Human brain mapping, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed
6.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Common and dissociable effects of oxytocin and lorazepam on the neurocircuitry of fear.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020
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  7. Psychoneuroendocrine Associations with Momentary Pelvic Pain in Endometriosis.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Ann-Kathrin KreuderDivision of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Lea WassermannDivision of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Michael WollseiferDivision of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Beate DitzenCenter for Psychosocial Medicine, Institute of Medical Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Monika EcksteinCenter for Psychosocial Medicine, Institute of Medical Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Birgit Stoffel-WagnerDepartment of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Juergen HennigDivision of Personality Psychology and Individual Differences, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
René HurlemannDivision of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Dirk ScheeleDivision of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7613-0376
University of Bonn · DEHeidelberg University · DEJustus-Liebig-Universität Gießen · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Social support plays a vital role in physical and mental well-being. The neuropeptide hormone oxytocin (OXT) has been implicated in modulating pair-bonding and affiliative behaviors, but whether OXT contributes to the analgesic effects of a romantic partner's touch remains elusive. In the present randomized placebo-controlled, between-group, functional magnetic resonance imaging study involving 194 healthy volunteers (97 heterosexual couples), we tested the effects of intranasal OXT (24 IU) on handholding as a common mode of expressing emotional support in romantic couples. We scanned the subjects while brief electric shocks were administered. The subjects assumed that they received social support from either their romantic partner or an unfamiliar person. Unbeknown to the subject, in the partner and stranger support conditions, the same male experimenter always held the subject's left hand. Partner support was most effective in reducing the unpleasantness of electric shocks, and OXT further attenuated the unpleasantness across conditions. On the neural level, OXT significantly augmented the beneficial effects of partner support, as evidenced by a stronger decrease of neural responses to shocks in the anterior insula (AI), a stronger activity increase in the middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and a strengthened functional coupling between the AI and MFG. Our results support the notion that OXT specifically modulates the beneficial effects of social support in romantic couples by concomitantly reducing pain-associated activity and increasing activity linked to cognitive control and pain inhibition. We hypothesize that impaired OXT signaling may contribute to the experience of a lack of partner support.

Indexed as

Interpersonal RelationsObject AttachmentSocial SupportAdultAnalgesiaCerebral CortexFemaleFunctional NeuroimagingHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleOxytocinSexual PartnersTouch PerceptionYoung AdultOxytocinfMRIoxytocinpainpair bondingsocial support

Identifiers

PMID30152573
PMCPMC6865468
OpenAlexW2889339269

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.