ArticleeNeuro
μ-Opioid Receptor Stimulation in the Nucleus Accumbens Increases Vocal-Social Interactions in Flocking European Starlings,
Article in eNeuro. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sexually-motivated song correlates with opioid- and dopamine-related gene expression in the rostral nucleus accumbens of male European starlings.Behavioural brain research · 2026Article
- A review of the effects of different types of social behaviors on the recruitment of neuropeptides and neurotransmitters in the nucleus accumbens.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- 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
- 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
- Distinct patterns of gene expression in the medial preoptic area are related to gregarious singing behavior in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).BMC neuroscience · 2023Article
- The motivation to flock correlates with vocal-social behaviors and dopamine-related gene expression in male European starlings.Hormones and behavior · 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
- Immunolabeling Provides Evidence for Subregions in the Songbird Nucleus Accumbens and Suggests a Context-Dependent Role in Song in Male European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).Brain, behavior and evolution · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Social connections in gregarious species are vital for safety and survival. For these reasons, many bird species form large flocks outside the breeding season. It has been proposed that such large social groups may be maintained via reward induced by positive interactions with conspecifics and via the reduction of a negative affective state caused by social separation. Moreover, within a flock optimal social spacing between conspecifics is important, indicating that individuals may optimize spacing to be close but not too close to conspecifics. The μ-opioid receptors (MORs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are well known for their role in both reward and the reduction of negative affective states, suggesting that MOR stimulation in NAc may play a critical role in flock cohesion. To begin to test this hypothesis, social and nonsocial behaviors were examined in male and female 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.