ReviewFrontiers in physiology2019
Why Do Birds Flock? A Role for Opioids in the Reinforcement of Gregarious Social Interactions.
Review in Frontiers in physiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mu or delta opioid receptor antagonists increase the expression of social conditioned place preference in early adolescent mice.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Article
- Opioid receptor signaling throughout ontogeny: Shaping neural and behavioral trajectories.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Evidence that flocking behavior is rewarded by singing, flock mates, and mu opioid receptors in the nucleus accumbens.PloS one · 2025Article
- Female zebra finches are more vulnerable to social isolation stress than males: Involvement of the nonapeptide system.Zoological research · 2024Article
- Distinct patterns of activity within columns of the periaqueductal gray are associated with functionally distinct birdsongs.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2023Article
- The medial preoptic area and its projections to the ventral tegmental area and the periaqueductal gray are activated in response to social play behavior in juvenile rats.Behavioral neuroscience · 2023Article
- The motivation to flock correlates with vocal-social behaviors and dopamine-related gene expression in male European starlings.Hormones and behavior · 2023Article
- The origins and function of musical performance.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Using seasonality and birdsong to understand mechanisms underlying context-appropriate shifts in social motivation and reward.Hormones and behavior · 2022Review
- Mu opioid receptor stimulation in the medial preoptic area or nucleus accumbens facilitates song and reward in flocking European starlings.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Birdsong and the Neural Regulation of Positive Emotion.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- The expression of delta opioid receptor mRNA in adult male zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata).PloS one · 2021Article
- Mu opioid receptors in the medial preoptic area govern social play behavior in adolescent male rats.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2020Article
- Endogenous opioids facilitate intrinsically-rewarded birdsong.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The formation of social groups provides safety and opportunities for individuals to develop and practice important social skills. However, joining a social group does not result in any form of obvious, immediate reinforcement (e.g., it does not result in immediate copulation or a food reward), and individuals often remain in social groups despite agonistic responses from conspecifics. Much is known about neural and endocrine mechanisms underlying the motivation to perform mate- or offspring-directed behaviors. In contrast, relatively little is known about mechanisms underlying affiliative behaviors outside of these primary reproductive contexts. Studies on flocking behavior in songbirds are beginning to fill this knowledge gap. Here we review behavioral evidence that supports the hypothesis that non-sexual affiliative, flocking behaviors are both (1) rewarded by positive social interactions with conspecifics, and (2) reinforced because affiliative contact reduces a negative affective state caused by social isolation. We provide evidence from studies in European starlings,
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.