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Pain Expectation in Individuals With High Autistic Traits: Decision-Evaluation Processes and Oxytocin Modulation
Jiafeng Zhu1, Shihao Chen1, Wenting Zhang1
1School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|August 12, 2026
Summary
Individuals with high autistic traits (HATs) show altered pain anticipation, with distinct decision-making and emotional responses. Oxytocin partially normalizes decision processes but not emotional evaluations in HATs.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Autism Research
Background:
- Pain perception involves sensory input and predictive processing influenced by expectations.
- Individuals with high autistic traits (HATs) often display atypical pain responses, possibly due to altered anticipatory mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate pain anticipation in HAT individuals.
- Examine the modulatory effects of oxytocin on pain anticipation processes in HATs.
Main Methods:
- Utilized behavioral, computational, and pharmacological approaches.
- Conducted a cue-based pain anticipation task in HAT and low autistic trait (LAT) individuals.
- Administered intranasal oxytocin or placebo to HAT participants.
Main Results:
- HAT individuals exhibited altered decision-making (increased caution, reduced efficiency) and more negative evaluative responses.
- Oxytocin selectively improved decision-related processes under uncertainty in HATs, increasing evidence accumulation and reducing non-decision time.
- Oxytocin increased the tendency to choose high-pain outcomes under ambiguity in HATs, with limited impact on evaluative measures.
Conclusions:
- Pain anticipation in HAT individuals comprises distinct decision-related and evaluative components.
- Oxytocin demonstrates process-specific effects on anticipatory processing, influencing decision-making more than evaluative responses in HATs.
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