ReviewThe Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry2021
Oxytocin and the Neurobiology of Prosocial Behavior.
Review in The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- The influence of attachment and relational quality on developmental outcomes across the lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analytic insights (2014-2024).Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Oxytocin in old age psychiatry: A systematic review of the safety of using intranasal oxytocin in older adults.Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists · 2025Pooled it
- Maternal care is associated with neural and behavioral effects of oxytocin administration during empathic accuracy in schizophrenia and controls.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Trial
- Eye-Tracking Reveals a Role of Oxytocin in Attention Allocation Towards Familiar Faces.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Trial
- Oxytocin as regulator of stress and inflammation in aging.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Early life adversity shapes neural and behavioural responses to oxytocin during altruistic decision-making.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Famine, plague, and slaughters: The fleeing famine hypothesis of anorexia nervosa reconsidered.Psychological review · 2026Article
- Experiences in close relationships, interpersonal trust and OXTR expression in individuals with childhood maltreatment.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- Oxytocin, Weight Loss and Ketosis in Response to a Very-Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet: An Exploratory Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Reduced plasma oxytocin levels in patients with open-angle glaucoma.Japanese journal of ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Therapeutic modulation of empathy: pharmacological, neurostimulation, and behavioral approaches.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Three-dimensional quantification of oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus reveals sex- and subregion-specific differences in two genetic mouse models of autism.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Central neuropeptides as key modulators of astrocyte function in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.Psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Cell-to-cell communication: from physical calling to remote emotional touching.Discover nano · 2025Article
- Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin Across Various Depressive Disorders.Psychiatry investigation · 2025Article
- Early positive tactile stimulation reverses the increase of anxiety and decrease of sociality induced by early chronic mechanical pain in mandarin voles.Integrative zoology · 2025Article
- Navigating Central Oxytocin Transport: Known Realms and Uncharted Territories.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2025Review
- Effects of systemic oxytocin receptor activation and blockade on risky decision making in female and male rats.Behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Cell Type-Specific Expression of Purinergic P2X Receptors in the Hypothalamus.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Prosocial Helping Behavior: Conceptual Issues and Neural Mechanisms.Biological psychiatry · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans are an unusually prosocial species, who engage in social behaviors that include altruism-whereby an individual engages in costly or risky acts to improve the welfare of another person-care, and cooperation. Current perspectives on the neurobiology of human prosociality suggest that it is deeply rooted in the neuroendocrine architecture of the social brain and emphasize the modulatory role of the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin. In this review, we provide a conceptual overview of the neurobiology of prosocial behavior with a focus on oxytocin's modulatory role in human prosociality. Specifically, we aim to encourage a better understanding of the peptide's susceptibility to diverse factors that produce heterogeneity in outcomes and the resulting methodological implications for measuring the behavioral effects of oxytocin in humans. After providing an overview of the state-of-the-art research on oxytocin's exogenous use, we elaborate on the peptide's modulatory role in the context of care-based altruism, cooperation, and conflict and discuss its potential for therapeutic interventions in psychiatric disorders characterized by social dysfunction.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.