Maternal dopamine encodes affective signals of human infants
Open accessAbstract
Mothers are highly responsive to their offspring. In non-human mammals, mothers secrete dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in response to their pups. Yet, it is still unknown which aspect of the offspring behavior elicits dopaminergic responses in mothers. Here, we tested whether infants’ affective signals elicit dopaminergic responses in the NAcc of human mothers. First, we conducted a behavioral analysis on videos of infants’ free play and quantified the affective signals infants spontaneously communicated. Then, we presented the same videos to mothers during a magnetic resonance-positron emission tomography scan. We traced the binding of [11C]raclopride to free D2/3-type receptors to assess maternal dopaminergic responses during the infant videos. When mothers observed videos with many infant signals during the scan, they had less [11C]raclopride binding in the right NAcc. Less [11C]raclopride binding indicates that less D2/3 receptors were free, possibly due to increased endogenous dopamine responses to infants’ affective signals. We conclude that NAcc D2/3 receptors are involved in maternal responsiveness to affective signals of human infants. D2/3 receptors have been associated with maternal responsiveness in nonhuman animals. This evidence supports a similar mechanism in humans and specifies infant-behaviors that activate the maternal dopaminergic system, with implications for social neuroscience, development and psychopathology.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In human mothers, behavioral synchrony between mother and infant is related to changes in endogenous dopamine and the functional connectivity of the nucleus accumbens, medial amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex.
“In human mothers, behavioral synchrony between mother and infant is related to changes in endogenous DA and the functional connectivity of the NAc, MeA, and the medial (mPFC), together comprising the MeA network implicated in social functioning [43,44].”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [44]
The Method (Participants; page unavailable) says this paper follows up on a study in the same mothers that linked maternal attunement to dopamine responses. Its Conclusion (page unavailable) reports that mothers’ nucleus accumbens D2/3 receptor occupancy was sensitive to infants’ affective signals. The cited paper does not establish the claimed relationship with mother–infant behavioral synchrony or functional connectivity among the nucleus accumbens, medial amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A neural substrate of prediction and reward
Schultz, W., Dayan, P., & Montague, P. R. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.275.5306.1593 · Cited by 9,388 · see citing works
What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience?
Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (1998) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0165-0173(98)00019-8 · Cited by 4,127 · see citing works
Consensus Nomenclature for <i>in vivo</i> Imaging of Reversibly Binding Radioligands
Innis, R. B., Cunningham, V. J., Delforge, J., Fujita, M., Gjedde, A., Gunn, R. N., Holden, J., Houle, S., Huang, S.-C., Ichise, M., et al. (2007) · Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism · doi:10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600493 · Cited by 1,955 · see citing works
Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music
Salimpoor, V. N., Benovoy, M., Larcher, K. M.-H., Dagher, A., & Zatorre, R. J. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2726 · Cited by 1,842 · see citing works
Emotions and emotional communication in infants.
Tronick, E. Z. (1989) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.44.2.112 · Cited by 1,819 · see citing works
Distribution Volume Ratios without Blood Sampling from Graphical Analysis of PET Data
Logan, J., Fowler, J. S., Volkow, N. D., Wang, G., Ding, Y., & Alexoff, D. L. (1996) · Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism · doi:10.1097/00004647-199609000-00008 · Cited by 1,515 · see citing works
Emotions and emotional communication in infants.
Tronick, E. Z. (1989) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.44.2.112 · Cited by 1,359 · see citing works
Effort-related functions of nucleus accumbens dopamine and associated forebrain circuits
Salamone, J. D., Correa, M., Farrar, A., & Mingote, S. M. (2007) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0668-9 · Cited by 1,000 · see citing works
Mesolimbocortical and nigrostriatal dopamine responses to salient non-reward events
Horvitz, J. C. (2000) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/s0306-4522(00)00019-1 · Cited by 967 · see citing works
Computational roles for dopamine in behavioural control
Montague, P. R., Hyman, S. E., & Cohen, J. D. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03015 · Cited by 966 · see citing works
Laruelle, M. (2000) · Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism · doi:10.1097/00004647-200003000-00001 · Cited by 944 · see citing works
Dopaminergic modulation of neuronal excitability in the striatum and nucleus accumbens
Nicola, S. M., Surmeier, D. J., & Malenka, R. C. (2000) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.185 · Cited by 931 · see citing works
Adult attachment predicts maternal brain and oxytocin response to infant cues.
Strathearn, L., Fonagy, P., Amico, J., & Montague, P. R. (2009) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2009.103 · Cited by 773 · see citing works
Evidence for a large-scale brain system supporting allostasis and interoception in humans
Kleckner, I. R., Zhang, J., Touroutoglou, A., Chanes, L., Xia, C., Simmons, W. K., Quigley, K. S., Dickerson, B. C., & Feldman Barrett, L. (2017) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0069 · Cited by 641 · see citing works
Small, D. M., Jones-Gotman, M., & Dagher, A. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00253-2 · Cited by 632 · see citing works
Liu, Y., & Wang, Z. X. (2003) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/s0306-4522(03)00555-4 · Cited by 580 · cited 1× · see citing works
“In a different context of social bonding, D2 receptors in theNAcc— but not D1—are necessary for the selectivity of partner preference in pair bonds in prairie voles (Wang et al., 1999; Gingrich et al., 2000; Liu and Wang, 2003).”
BackgroundSwain, J. E., Lorberbaum, J. P., Kose, S., & Strathearn, L. (2007) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01731.x · Cited by 499 · see citing works
Simultaneous MR/PET Imaging of the Human Brain: Feasibility Study
Schlemmer, H.-P., Pichler, B. J., Schmand, M. J., Burbar, Z., Michel, C. J., Ladebeck, R., Jattke, K., Townsend, D. W., Nahmias, C., Jacob, P. K., et al. (2008) · Radiology · doi:10.1148/radiol.2483071927 · Cited by 473 · see citing works
The Effects of Postpartum Depression on Maternal-Infant Interaction: A Meta-Analysis
BECK, C. T. (1995) · Nursing Research · doi:10.1097/00006199-199509000-00007 · Cited by 467 · see citing works
Dopaminergic and Glutamatergic Regulation of Effort- and Delay-Based Decision Making
Floresco, S., Tse, M., & Ghods-Sharifi, S. (2007) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301565 · Cited by 433 · see citing works
Human Striatal Responses to Monetary Reward Depend On Saliency
Zink, C. F., Pagnoni, G., Martin-Skurski, M. E., Chappelow, J., & Berns, G. S. (2004) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(04)00183-7 · Cited by 432 · see citing works
Atzil, S., Gao, W., Fradkin, I., & Barrett, L. F. (2018) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0384-6 · Cited by 415 · see citing works
Self-citationAtzil, S., Hendler, T., & Feldman, R. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2011.172 · Cited by 399 · see citing works
Self-citationChampagne, F. A., Chretien, P., Stevenson, C. W., Zhang, T. Y., Gratton, A., & Meaney, M. J. (2004) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5322-03.2004 · Cited by 398 · see citing works
Breastfeeding, brain activation to own infant cry, and maternal sensitivity
Kim, P., Feldman, R., Mayes, L. C., Eicher, V., Thompson, N., Leckman, J. F., & Swain, J. E. (2011) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02406.x · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Seifritz, E., Esposito, F., Neuhoff, J. G., Lüthi, A., Mustovic, H., Dammann, G., von Bardeleben, U., Radue, E. W., Cirillo, S., Tedeschi, G., et al. (2003) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00697-8 · Cited by 373 · see citing works
Oxytocin–dopamine interactions mediate variations in maternal behavior in the rat
Shahrokh, D. K., Zhang, T.-Y., Diorio, J., Gratton, A., & Meaney, M. J. (2010) · Endocrinology · doi:10.1210/en.2009-1271 · Cited by 366 · see citing works
Baby schema modulates the brain reward system in nulliparous women
Glocker, M. L., Langleben, D. D., Ruparel, K., Loughead, J. W., Valdez, J. N., Griffin, M. D., Sachser, N., & Gur, R. C. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0811620106 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
Numan, M., & Stolzenberg, D. S. (2008) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2008.10.002 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
Numan, M., & Young, L. J. (2016) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.05.015 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
Autism and attachment: a meta-analytic review
Rutgers, A. H., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & van Berckelaer‐Onnes, I. A. (2004) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.t01-1-00305.x · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Gingrich, B., Liu, Y., Cascio, C., Wang, Z., & Insel, T. R. (2000) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.114.1.173 · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Farde, L., Ehrin, E., Eriksson, L., Greitz, T. V. B., Hall, H., Hedström, C.-G., Litton, J., & Sedvall, G. (1985) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.82.11.3863 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
Keer, S. E., & Stern, J. M. (1999) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0031-9384(99)00116-x · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Hypothalamic Neural Circuits Regulating Maternal Responsiveness Toward Infants
Numan, M. (2006) · Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews · doi:10.1177/1534582306288790 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Hansen, S., Bergvall, Å. H., & Nyiredi, S. (1993) · Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior · doi:10.1016/0091-3057(93)90523-v · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Wang, Z., Yu, G., Cascio, C., Liu, Y., Gingrich, B., & Insel, T. R. (1999) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.113.3.602 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Dopamine in the medial amygdala network mediates human bonding
Atzil, S., Touroutoglou, A., Rudy, T., Salcedo, S., Feldman, R., Hooker, J. M., Dickerson, B. C., Catana, C., & Barrett, L. F. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1612233114 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Self-citationA top-down perspective on dopamine, motivation and memory
Phillips, A. G., Vacca, G., & Ahn, S. (2007) · Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.pbb.2007.10.014 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Primary parental preoccupation: circuits, genes, and the crucial role of the environment
Leckman, J. F., Feldman, R., Swain, J. E., Eicher, V. W., Thompson, N., & Mayes, L. C. (2004) · Journal of Neural Transmission · doi:10.1007/s00702-003-0067-x · Cited by 168 · see citing works
PET and MR Imaging: The Odd Couple or a Match Made in Heaven?
Catana, C., Guimarães, A. R., & Rosen, B. R. (2013) · Journal of Nuclear Medicine · doi:10.2967/jnumed.112.112771 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Self-citationAlakurtti, K., Johansson, J. J., Joutsa, J., Laine, M., Bäckman, L., Nyberg, L. H., & Rinne, J. O. (2015) · Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism · doi:10.1038/jcbfm.2015.53 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
COMKAT: compartment model kinetic analysis tool.
Muzic, R. F., & Cornelius, S. (2001) · PubMed · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Afonso, V. M., King, S., Chatterjee, D., & Fleming, A. S. (2009) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2009.02.003 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Miller, S. M., & Lonstein, J. S. (2005) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.119.4.1072 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Hoekzema, E. A., Tamnes, C. K., Berns, P., Barba‐Müller, E., Pozzobon, C., Picado, M., Lucco, F., Martínez‐Garcia, M., Desco, M., Ballesteros, A., et al. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104507 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Walker, C., Deschamps, S., Proulx, K., Tu, M. T., Salzman, C., Woodside, B. C., LUPIEN, S. J., Gallo‐Payet, N., & Richard, D. (2004) · Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience · doi:10.1139/jpn.0436 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
The brain basis of social synchrony
Atzil, S., Hendler, T., & Feldman, R. (2013) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nst105 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Self-citationInterpretation of infant facial expression in the context of maternal postnatal depression
Stein, A. L., Arteche, A. X., Lehtonen, A., Craske, M. G., Harvey, A. G., Counsell, N., & Murray, L. (2010) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2010.03.002 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Byrnes, E. M., Rigero, B. A., & Bridges, R. S. (2002) · Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0091-3057(02)00941-3 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Previous maternal experience affects accumbal dopaminergic responses to pup-stimuli
Afonso, V. M., Grella, S. L., Chatterjee, D., & Fleming, A. S. (2008) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2007.12.042 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Parents Mimic and Influence Their Infant’s Autonomic State through Dynamic Affective State Matching
Wass, S. V., Smith, C. G., Clackson, K., Gibb, C., Eitzenberger, J., & Mirza, F. U. (2019) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.016 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
The roles of accumbal dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in maternal memory in rats.
Parada, M., King, S., Li, M., & Fleming, A. S. (2008) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.122.2.368 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Behavior-related activity of primate dopamine neurons.
Schultz, W. (1995) · PubMed · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Accumbal dopamine function in postpartum rats that were raised without their mothers
Afonso, V. M., King, S. J., Novakov, M., Burton, C. L., & Fleming, A. S. (2011) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.08.016 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Afonso, V. M., Shams, W. M., Jin, D. H. S., & Fleming, A. S. (2013) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2081-12.2013 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Dopamine receptors D1 and D2 are related to observed maternal behavior
Mileva‐Seitz, V. R., Fleming, A. S., Meaney, M. J., Mastroianni, A., Sinnwell, J. P., Steiner, M. S., Atkinson, L. R., Levitan, R. D., Matthews, S. G., Kennedy, J. L., et al. (2012) · Genes Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1111/j.1601-183x.2012.00804.x · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The reward system and maternal behavior in an animal model of depression: a microdialysis study
Lavi‐Avnon, Y., Weller, A., Finberg, J. P. M., Gispan-Herman, I., Kinor, N., Stern, Y., Schroeder, M., Gelber, V., Bergman, S. Y., Overstreet, D. H., et al. (2007) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-007-0961-2 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Svensson, J. E., Schain, M., Plavén‐Sigray, P., Červenka, S., Tiger, M., Nord, M., Halldin, C., Farde, L., & Lundberg, J. (2019) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116143 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Dopamine release in nucleus accumbens during rewarded task switching measured by [¹¹C]raclopride
Jonasson, L. S., Axelsson, J., Riklund, K., Braver, T. S., Ögren, M., Bäckman, L., & Nyberg, L. (2014) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.047 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Yoder, K. K., Kareken, D. A., & Morris, E. D. (2007) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2007.10.017 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 62 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives
Blumenthal, S. A., & Young, L. J. (2023) · Biology · doi:10.3390/biology12060844 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“In human mothers, behavioral synchrony between mother and infant is related to changes in endogenous DA and the functional connectivity of the NAc, MeA, and the medial (mPFC), together comprising the MeA network implicated in social functioning [43,44].”
BackgroundEvidence for cultural differences in affect during mother–infant interactions
Salih, M. A., Abargil, M., Badarneh, S., Selle, N. K., Irani, M., & Atzil, S. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-31907-y · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Self-citationStress-induced modulation of maternal behavior and mesolimbic dopamine function
Rincón‐Cortés, M. (2024) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2024.101445 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Breastfeeding at Any Cost? Adverse Effects of Breastfeeding Pain on Mother–Infant Behavior
Abargil, M., Irani, M., Selle, N. K., & Atzil, S. (2023) · Biology · doi:10.3390/biology12050636 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationA metabolic framework for reward: Redefining dopamine and opioids as physiological agents
Cohen, M. T., & Atzil, S. (2026) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2026.106608 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationUnderexplored Connections Between Diabetes, Hypomanic States and Insecure Attachment
Bogdanova, D., Maes, M. H. J., & Stoyanov, D. (2025) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s524823 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Ukoh, I. E., Bisong, S. A., & Antai, A. B. (2024) · Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences · doi:10.4314/jaaps.v12i1.3
Social Behavior: Rituals and Social Bonding
Charles, S. J., & van Mulukom, V. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-38971-9_1176-1
Salience and executive network connectivity analyses in schizophrenia during emotional memory tasks
Schollaert, L. (2025) · Cortica · doi:10.26034/cortica.2025.8569
Seraphin, S. B., & Sánchez, M. M. (2026) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2026.02.28.708755
Lactation increases food seeking and palatable feeding through mesolimbic dopamine signaling in mice
Pattnaik, T., Patel, V., Butts, J., Wang, B., Zheng, Q., Borrowman, E., Congdon, S., Villano, L., & Sweeney, P. R. (2026) · Cell Reports · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117720
Social Physiology: Human homeostasis is more efficient in social proximity
Masalha, M., Cohen, M. T., Aloni, M., Toledo, E., Stahl, E., Shachar, D., Eliav, O., Fuchs, S., & Atzil, S. (2026) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeg4937
Self-citation
- Authors
- Zeevi, L., Irani, M., Catana, C., Feldman Barrett, L., & Atzil, S.
- Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Harvard University (US)
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Corresponding author
- Atzil, Shir
- Venue
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2021-11-09
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 503-509
- ISSN
- 1749-5016 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-5024
- PMC
- PMC9071406
- OpenAlex
- W3212923205
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 1.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21HD076164)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- nucleus accumbens, maternal responsiveness, [11C]raclopride PET, mother-infant interaction, social neuroscience
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Dopamine, Humans, Mammals, Nucleus Accumbens, Receptors, Dopamine D2, Raclopride, Positron-Emission Tomography
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
