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Cited by 26Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorInfant Health and DevelopmentBreastfeeding Practices and Influences

Breastfeeding dynamically changes endogenous oxytocin levels and emotion recognition in mothers

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Matsunaga, Michiko, Kikusui, Takefumi, Mogi, Kazutaka, Nagasawa, Miho, Ooyama, Rumi, Myowa, Masako·2020·Biology Letters
DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0139PMC PMC7336852
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Abstract

Breastfeeding behaviours can significantly change mothers' physiological and psychological states. The hormone oxytocin may mediate breastfeeding and mothers' emotion recognition. This study examined the effects of endogenous oxytocin fluctuation via breastfeeding on emotion recognition in 51 primiparous mothers. Saliva oxytocin was assessed before and after the manipulation (breastfeeding or holding an infant), and emotion recognition tasks were conducted. Among mothers who breastfed daily, mothers with more increased levels of oxytocin after breastfeeding showed more reduced negative recognition and enhanced positive recognition of adult facial expressions. These oxytocin functions accompanying breastfeeding may support continued nurturing behaviours and also affect the general social cognition of other adults beyond any specific effect on infants.

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  • Breastfeeding mothers demonstrate enhanced emotion cue detection.

    “Breastfeeding mothers also demonstrate enhanced emotion cue detection (Krol et al., 2014; Matsunaga et al., 2020).”

    From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Matsunaga et al., 2020

    The Discussion reports improved detection of happy adult facial expressions in mothers whose oxytocin rose more after breastfeeding. It also reports reduced accuracy for angry expressions, so the unqualified claim that breastfeeding mothers have enhanced emotion-cue detection overstates the finding. Page numbers are not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 26

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Matsunaga, M., Kikusui, T., Mogi, K., Nagasawa, M., Ooyama, R., & Myowa, M.
Affiliations
  • Kyoto University (JP)
  • Azabu University (JP)
Corresponding author
Matsunaga, Michiko
ORCID
Venue
Biology Letters
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2020-06-03
Volume
16
Issue
6
Pages
20200139-20200139
ISSN
  • 1744-9561 (ISSN-L)
  • 1744-957X
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2020.0139
PMC
PMC7336852
OpenAlex
W3032122114
Cited by
26
References
6
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1
FWCI
5.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Biology Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Kyoto University Research Information Repository (Kyoto University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • The Maekawa Houonkai Foundation ((2015-2017) to M. Myo.)
  • Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Scienc (17H01016 to M. Myo., 19K21813 to M. Myo.)
  • Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows from Japan Society for the Promotion of Scienc (19J15173 to M. M.)
  • Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (24119005 to M. Myo.)
  • The Center of Innovation Program (COI) from Japan Science and Technology Agency (JPMJCE1307 to M. Myo.)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Breastfeeding Practices and Influences
Keywords
breastfeeding, oxytocin, emotion recognition, facial expressions, primiparous women, infant holding
MeSH terms
Adult, Emotions, Facial Expression, Female, Humans, Infant, Mothers, Oxytocin, Recognition, Psychology

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