Oxytocin promotes action prediction.

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been suggested to facilitate social cognition and behavior. As predicting others' behavior is at the core of human social-cognitive abilities and is indispensable for successful social interaction, we hypothesized that OT would increase action prediction. To test this hypothesis, 61 male and female healthy participants self-administered OT or placebo intranasally and their anticipatory eye-movements were recorded using eye-tracking techniques. We found that the ability to predict others' future actions was enhanced following OT treatment. This effect was mediated by the time to the first anticipatory eye-movement suggesting that improved action prediction might operate by increased attention to social cues. These findings provide direct evidence for the role of OT in promoting perception and processing of social cues.