ArticleScientific reports2020
Gentle stroking stimuli induce affiliative responsiveness to humans in male rats.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Oxytocin facilitates human touch-induced play behavior in rats.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Limited Short-Term Effects of Tactile Stimulation on the Welfare of Newborn Nellore Calves.Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Conspecific presence facilitates 22-kHz ultrasonic calls in male rats exposed to cat odor.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Dorsal column pathway is involved in tactile reward-induced affective 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in rats.PloS one · 2025Article
- Examining personality dimensions in rats using a caregiver questionnaire.Applied animal behaviour science · 2024Article
- Higher oxytocin concentrations occur in subjects who build affiliative relationships with companion robots.iScience · 2023Article
- Neural mechanisms of comforting: Prosocial touch and stress buffering.Hormones and behavior · 2023Review
- Novel 31-kHz calls emitted by female Lewis rats during social isolation and social inequality conditions.iScience · 2023Article
- Induced Stress and Tactile Stimulation Applied to Primiparous does and their Consequences on Maternal Behavior, Human-Animal Relationships, and Future Offspring's Sexual Disorders.Veterinary research communications · 2022Article
- Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Stress Response and Resilience.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Robot touch with speech boosts positive emotions.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Roles of Oxytocin in Stress Responses, Allostasis and Resilience.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Hypothalamic Regulation of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor under Stress and Stress Resilience.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- The oxytocin system and early-life experience-dependent plastic changes.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2021Review
- Life experience rather than domestication accounts for dogs' increased oxytocin release during social contact with humans.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Biological Functions of Rat Ultrasonic Vocalizations, Arousal Mechanisms, and Call Initiation.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- Post-weaning stroking stimuli induce affiliative behavior toward humans and influence brain activity in female rats.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Effect of Stroking on Serotonin, Noradrenaline, and Cortisol Levels in the Blood of Right- and Left-Pawed Dogs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Gentle tactile stimuli have been shown to play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of affiliative social interactions. Oxytocin has also been shown to have similar actions. We investigated the effects of gentle stroking on affiliative relationships between humans and rats and the effects of gentle stroking on activation of oxytocin neurons. Male rats received 5-min stroking stimuli from an experimenter every other day for 4 weeks between 3 and 6 weeks of age (S3-6 group), for 4 weeks between 7 and 10 weeks of age (S7-10 group), or for 8 weeks between 3 and 10 weeks of age (S3-10 group). Control rats did not receive stroking stimuli. Rats in the S7-10 and S3-10 groups emitted 50-kHz calls, an index of positive emotion, more frequently during stroking stimuli. Rats in the S3-6, S7-10, and S3-10 groups showed affiliative behaviors toward the experimenter. Oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus of rats in the S3-6, S7-10, and S3-10 groups were activated following stroking stimuli. These findings revealed that post-weaning repeated stroking stimuli induce an affiliative relationship between rats and humans and activation of oxytocin neurons.
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