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Author Notes:
Zachary V Johnson: zjohnso2@gmail.com; Larry J Young: lyoun03@emory.edu
Authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Subjects:
Research Funding:
The authors would like to acknowledge support from National Institutes of Health grants R01MH096983 and 1P50MH100023 to LJY; and OD P51OD11132 to YNPRC.
Neurobiological mechanisms of social attachment and pair bonding
Abstract:
Species have evolved diverse social behavior and mating strategies in response to selective forces in their environments. While promiscuity is the predominant mating strategy across most vertebrate taxa, convergent evolution of monogamous mating systems has occurred multiple times across distant lineages. Monogamous behavior is thought to be facilitated by a neurobiological capacity to form and maintain selective social attachments, or pair bonds, with a mating partner. The neural mechanisms of pair bonding behavior have been investigated most rigorously in Microtine rodents, which exhibit diverse social organizations. These studies have highlighted mesolimbic dopamine pathways, social neuropeptides (oxytocin and vasopressin), and other neural systems as integral factors in the formation, maintenance, and expression of pair bonds.
Copyright information:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
