The structurally similar neuropeptides and hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) play significant and complex roles in modulating a range of social behaviours, including social recognition and bond formation. Although OT has well-known roles in facilitating prosocial behaviors and enhancing emotion recognition, AVP has received increasing interest for diverging effects on social cognition behaviour most notably in males. The current study aimed to determine whether AVP also modulates the ability to understand emotion. Using a randomised double blind procedure, 45 healthy young males received either an AVP or placebo nasal spray and completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). In contrast to previous findings, there were no significant differences observed in performance on the RMET between AVP and placebo groups, even after examining items separated by task difficulty, emotional valence, and gender. This study provides diverging evidence from previous findings and adds to the growing body of research exploring the influence of neuropeptide hormones in social behaviour. It demonstrates that in this sample of participants, AVP does not enhance the ability to understand higher order emotion from others. Implications and suggestions for future AVP administration studies are discussed. 1. Introduction A burgeoning amount of research in the field of social neuroscience has highlighted the importance of the neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the control of mammalian social behaviour [1]. Both peptides are structurally similar, differing by only two amino acids, are synthesised in the hypothalamus, and stored via the posterior pituitary for peripheral and central release [2]. The single OT receptor and three AVP receptors (AVP1a, AVP1b, and AVP2) are widely distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous system [3], particularly in limbic regions. They can additionally act as neuromodulators, influencing neurotransmission. For example, AVP acts on the AVPR1b receptor in the anterior pituitary to enhance cortisol secretion. Although much research has exclusively focused on the role of OT in social cognition and behavior (for review see [1]), studies in animal models utilising AVP have demonstrated more specific effects on enhancing effects on social memory, or recognition, and bond formation [4–6]. In humans, we previously demonstrated that AVP nasal spray administration enhances recognition of previously seen emotional faces [7] and words [8] in healthy males. Thompson and colleagues showed that
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