The Effects Of Oxytocin On Facial Recognition

Besides its important role in childbirth and breastfeeding, the hormone Oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in complex emotional and social behaviors. Previous research shows that intra-nasal doses of OT prior to encoding leads to improved recognition of faces over non-social stimuli. Because there is a tendency to have improved recognition for members within one’s own race (in-group) and impaired recognition for members outside of one’s own race (out-group), a phenomenon known as the cross race effect, the current study sought to investigate the effects of OT on facial recognition for in-group and out-group members. The objective was to examine if OT improves encoding or consolidation for facial memories. First, to examine the effects of OT on encoding, 40 male African American and Caucasian participants were given 24 intra-nasal units of OT before studying facial stimuli. Second, to examine the effects of OT on consolidation, 33 male African American and Caucasian participants were given 24 intra-nasal units of OT after they studied facial stimuli; they were then given a recognition test. Preliminary results show that OT negatively affects recognition memory for out-group members, but not for in-group members. These results suggest that OT may have differential effects in faces of in-group vs. out-group members. The findings of this research have implications for shedding light on the role that OT plays in the Cross Race Effect and facial recognition, as well as adding to the theoretical account of the cross race effect by confirming theories that have been previously proposed.