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The biology of mammalian parenting and its effect on offspring social development
Open accessAbstract
Parents know the transformative nature of having and caring for a child. Among many mammals, giving birth leads from an aversion to infant stimuli to irresistible attraction. Here, we review the biological mechanisms governing this shift in parental motivation in mammals. Estrogen and progesterone prepare the uterus for embryo implantation and placental development. Prolactin stimulates milk production, whereas oxytocin initiates labor and triggers milk ejection during nursing. These same molecules, interacting with dopamine, also activate specific neural pathways to motivate parents to nurture, bond with, and protect their offspring. Parenting in turn shapes the neural development of the infant social brain. Recent work suggests that many of the principles governing parental behavior and its effect on infant development are conserved from rodent to humans.
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In the citing paper
“Ewes form selective bonds based on olfactory recognition of their offspring within 30 min of birth and will reject foreign lambs from nursing.”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [5]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Mother–infant bonding enables the ongoing maternal drive to care for one’s young, thus improving long-term outcomes for offspring [5,20].”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [5]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Considerable insights have been gained into the neural mechanisms driving the evolutionary antecedents of love by studies in animal models of pair bonding, particularly in monogamous species such as prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [5]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Parental behaviors generally involve oxytocin (Rilling & Young 2014), although some aspects such as nest building instead require vasopressin”
From Oxytocin, Neural Plasticity, and Social Behavior (2021) · cites this paper as Rilling & Young 2014
In the citing paper
“Social synchrony is an evolutionary-ancient mechanism that binds members into a social group; rodents15 and primates16,17 exhibit behavioral mimicking, a precursor of human social synchrony, and in both, familiarity with conspecific bolsters behavioral matching18.”
From Brain-to-Brain Synchrony during Naturalistic Social Interactions (2017) · cites this paper as [15]
In the citing paper
“Work in rats has demonstrated that central OT signalling is crucial for the onset of maternal nurturing behaviour (1,2).”
From Comparative Perspectives on Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Research in Rodents and Primates: Translational Implications (2016) · cites this paper as [1]
In the citing paper
“OXTR affects a range of social behaviors in animals including maternal nurturing and bonding (1, 2), social reward and gregariousness (3, 4), social recognition (5), and pair bonding in monogamous species (6–8).”
From Variation in the Oxytocin Receptor Gene Predicts Brain Region–Specific Expression and Social Attachment (2016) · cites this paper as [1]
In the citing paper
“Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in noncoding regions of the human OXTR have been associated with pair bonding behaviors (19), parenting (1), face recognition skills (20), and autism (21).”
From Variation in the Oxytocin Receptor Gene Predicts Brain Region–Specific Expression and Social Attachment (2016) · cites this paper as [1]
In the citing paper
“early-life OT signaling, which is likely influenced by parental nurturing and attachment behaviors, can help establish the neural networks needed later in life to form adult social bonds”
From Oxytocin and Social Relationships: From Attachment to Bond Disruption (2017) · cites this paper as Rilling and Young 2014
In the citing paper
“Some of the behavioral effects of OXT and AVP are functionally linked to their peripheral function, as OXT promotes birth and nursing but also parental nurturing, while AVP modulates urine production and also territorial behavior, which often involves urine and scent marking (17,18).”
From Oxytocin, Vasopressin, and Social Behavior: From Neural Circuits to Clinical Opportunities (2022) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“OXT is well known for its influence on social bonding and maternal behavior (9,18), and its role in parental behavior highlights the putative function of OXT as an attentional modulator (122).”
From Oxytocin, Vasopressin, and Social Behavior: From Neural Circuits to Clinical Opportunities (2022) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“For instance, hypothalamic lesions block the initiation, but not the maintenance, of maternal behaviors in rats (18), suggesting that OXT may specifically facilitate the transition from avoidance of pups to caring for them (19,20).”
From Dissecting the Role of Oxytocin in the Formation and Loss of Social Relationships (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“Maternal care is critical for child survival and health (Rilling and Young, 2014).”
From Neuromodulation of maternal circuits by oxytocin (2019) · cites this paper as Rilling and Young, 2014
In the citing paper
“OT has been shown to be critical in the formation and maintenance of mother-infant bonds in mammals (Rilling and Young, 2014)”
From Neuropeptide diversity and the regulation of social behavior in New World primates (2016) · cites this paper as Rilling and Young, 2014
In the citing paper
“OT mediates mother-infant attachments via both physiological mechanisms (e.g., uterine contraction, milk-let down) and also behavioral mechanisms (e.g., mother-infant bonding; (Rilling and Young, 2014).”
From Neuropeptide diversity and the regulation of social behavior in New World primates (2016) · cites this paper as Rilling and Young, 2014
In the citing paper
“Systemic loss of either oxytocin or oxytocin receptors (Oxt−/− and Oxtr−/−) disrupts maternal nurturing behaviours in mice7,8.”
From Vascular RAGE transports oxytocin into the brain to elicit its maternal bonding behaviour in mice (2019) · cites this paper as [8]
In the citing paper
“Clinical studies have linked autism and Asperger’s disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders to oxytocin deficiency7,8,54, and the potential use of exogenous oxytocin to treat these conditions is being assessed in clinical trials10,11,54–57.”
From Vascular RAGE transports oxytocin into the brain to elicit its maternal bonding behaviour in mice (2019) · cites this paper as [8]
In the citing paper
“affiliative behaviors (Hurlemann and Scheele, 2015;Rilling and Young, 2014)”
From Oxytocin Facilitates Pavlovian Fear Learning in Males (2016) · cites this paper as Rilling and Young, 2014
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Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Rilling, J. K., & Young, L. J.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Young, Larry J.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2014-08-15
- Volume
- 345
- Issue
- 6198
- Pages
- 771-776
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- PMC
- PMC4306567
- OpenAlex
- W2119333871
- Cited by
- 452
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 7.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- John Templeton Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000454, P51OD011132)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH096983, P50MH100023)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Health and Development
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- parental motivation, maternal behavior, estrogen, progesterone, prolactin, oxytocin, dopamine, maternal-infant bonding, social brain development, lactation, placental development
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Child Development, Dopamine, Female, Hormones, Humans, Infant, Male, Mammals, Maternal Behavior, Oxytocin, Paternal Behavior, Social Change, Parenting
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