ArticleAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences2026
Pain Expectation in Individuals With High Autistic Traits: Decision-Evaluation Processes and Oxytocin Modulation.
Article in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Pain reflects both sensory input and predictive processes shaped by expectations. Individuals with high autistic traits (HATs) often exhibit atypical pain responses, potentially due to alterations in anticipatory processing. This study investigated pain anticipation in HAT individuals and examined the modulatory effects of oxytocin using behavioral, computational, and pharmacological approaches. In experiment 1, HAT and low autistic trait (LAT) individuals completed a cue-based pain anticipation task. Anticipatory processing was characterized through two components: decision-related processes and evaluative responses. HAT individuals showed altered decision-making, characterized by greater caution under uncertainty and reduced processing efficiency under certain high-pain conditions. They also exhibited more negative evaluative responses, which were associated with poorer psychological health. In experiment 2, HAT participants received intranasal oxytocin or placebo. Oxytocin selectively influenced decision-related processes under uncertainty, increasing evidence accumulation and reducing nondecision time while also increasing the tendency to choose high-pain outcomes under ambiguous conditions. In contrast, oxytocin showed limited effects on evaluative measures. These findings suggest that pain anticipation in HAT individuals involves partially distinct decision-related and evaluative components and that oxytocin exerts process-specific effects on anticipatory processing.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.