ArticleNature neuroscience2020
Acute social isolation evokes midbrain craving responses similar to hunger.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 137 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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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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.
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Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 283 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Self-Harm: A Meta-Analysis.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Endogenous mu-opioid modulation of social connection in humans: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Emotions in Times of Pandemic Crisis among Italian Children: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Revealing the self in a digital world: a systematic review of adolescent online and offline self-disclosure.Current opinion in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Neurobiology of loneliness: a systematic review.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Chronic pain patients low in social connectedness report higher pain and need deeper pressure for pain relief.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2023Trial
- Age and loneliness relate to reduced trust learning and alterations in amygdala function.iScience · 2026Article
- Extended amygdala orchestrates social motivation in socially isolated mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Social Anxiety and Peer Relationships Predict Weight Recovery in Adolescent Onset Anorexia Nervosa.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Article
- Internal Migration, Mealtime Social Disconnection, and Alcohol Use Are Linked to Poor Dietary Habits Among Peruvian Medical Students.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sensory Deprivation and the Brain: Neurobiological Mechanisms, Psychological Effects, and Clinical Implications.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Asymmetric loneliness response to social connectedness around individual set points.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Estradiol and social withdrawal in addiction: a sex-specific neuroendocrine perspective.Oxford open neuroscience · 2026Article
- Structural stressors, neurocognition in reward-related decision making and substance use risk in Puerto Rican early adolescents at two sites: study design.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Shared and Individual Tuning Curves for Social Perception.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2026Article
- Craving as a transdiagnostic marker of addiction? A perspective for behavioral addictions.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- A Preliminary Examination of Reward Processing and Loneliness in Cigarette Smokers.Substance use & misuse · 2026Article
- Article
- When tasty becomes threatening: a neurobehavioral perspective on subjective food preferences in eating disorders.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Social bonds and health: exploring the impact of social relations on oxytocin and brain-gut communication in shaping obesity.Gut microbes · 2025Article
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
When people are forced to be isolated from each other, do they crave social interactions? To address this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural responses evoked by food and social cues after participants (n = 40) experienced 10 h of mandated fasting or total social isolation. After isolation, people felt lonely and craved social interaction. Midbrain regions showed selective activation to food cues after fasting and to social cues after isolation; these responses were correlated with self-reported craving. By contrast, striatal and cortical regions differentiated between craving food and craving social interaction. Across deprivation sessions, we found that deprivation narrows and focuses the brain's motivational responses to the deprived target. Our results support the intuitive idea that acute isolation causes social craving, similar to the way fasting causes hunger.
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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.