Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 1, Issue 4, Pages 471-493Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.07.007
Keywords
Motivation; Dyadic social interactions; Parenting; Sexual behavior; Oxytocin; Vasopressin; Salience; Reward; Dopamine; Estrogen; Testosterone; Stress; Cortisol; Epigenetics
Categories
Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [K05 MH076273, T32 MH018268-26, T32 MH018268, K05 MH076273-05, K05MH076273, R25 MH077823, R25MH077823] Funding Source: Medline
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Humans are fundamentally social creatures who are 'motivated' to be with others. In this review we examine the role of oxytocin (OT) as it relates to social motivation. OT is synthesized in the brain and throughout the body, including in the heart, thymus, gastrointestinal tract, as well as reproductive organs. The distribution of the OT receptor (OTR) system in both the brain and periphery is even more far-reaching and its expression is subject to changes over the course of development. OTR expression is also sensitive to changes in the external environment and the internal somatic world. The OT system functions as an important element within a complex, developmentally sensitive biobehavioral system. Other elements include sensory inputs, the salience, reward, and threat detection pathways, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress response axis. Despite an ever expanding scientific literature, key unresolved questions remain concerning the interplay of the central and peripheral components of this complex biobehavioral system that dynamically engages the brain and the body as humans interact with social partners over the course of development (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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