Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40090565›Full record

ReviewBiological psychiatry2025

Prosocial Helping Behavior: Conceptual Issues and Neural Mechanisms.

Nicole Rigney, Weizhe Hong

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Biological psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. The Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Prosocial Behavior toward Others in Negative State.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Nicole RigneyDepartment of Neurobiology and Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
Weizhe HongDepartment of Neurobiology and Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California. Electronic address: whong@ucla.edu.

Funding

Neural Circuit Mechanisms of Allogrooming BehaviorR01MH130941 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Weizhe Hong · 2022 to 2026
$3.4M
Neural circuits for social modulation of a persistent negative emotional stateRF1NS132912 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI HONG, WEIZHE, ZHANG, LI I · 2023 to 2023
$3.2M
Unstable nucleus accumbens social representations in models of social behavioral dysfunction.R01MH132736 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Peyman Golshani, Weizhe Hong · 2023 to 2026
$3.1M
Functional Dissection of Neural Circuitry Underlying Parenting BehaviorR01NS113124 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI HONG, WEIZHE · 2019 to 2023
$2.6M
NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH130941NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH132736NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS113124NINDS NIH HHS RF1 NS132912
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Prosocial helping behavior, characterized by voluntary actions taken to benefit others, plays a vital role in promoting cooperation and maintaining social bonds across human and animal social groups. In this review, we examine key conceptual issues surrounding prosocial behavior, focusing specifically on targeted helping and comforting actions. We outline the behavioral paradigms used to study these two types of prosocial behaviors and summarize recent insights into their underlying neural mechanisms. Drawing on findings across species and with an emphasis on rodent models, we discuss how these behaviors are regulated by molecularly and anatomically defined neural systems and how distinct neuronal populations and circuits may differentially regulate targeted helping and comforting behaviors. Lastly, we discuss the clinical relevance of this research by addressing the implications of prosocial deficits in psychiatric disorders.

Indexed as

BrainHelping BehaviorSocial BehaviorAnimalsHumansComfortingEmpathyHelpingMechanismNeural CircuitProsocial behaviorSocial behavior

Identifiers

PMID40090565
PMCPMC12358107

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.