Oxytocin Promotes Social Bonding in Dogs
Romero T, Nagasawa M, Mogi K, Hasegawa T, Kikusui T. 2014. Oxytocin promotes social bonding in dogs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111(25):9085–9090. doi:10.1073/pnas.1322868111.
Introduction
Sociability help individual to locate and protect food
Those who have strong bonds with others tend to live longer and have higher offspring survival rates
Little is known about the brain chemisty that leads to social bonds
It likely that social bonding began as a way to care for offsprings
Oxytocin is believed to be linked to sociability
Results
Behavior measures
social proximity
social approach
affiliation
social orientation
dog who were given oxytocin originated affiliation towards humans more often than those who were given saline
those given oxytocin also increases there social orrentation towards human
Oxytocin was administered during the study via intranasal delivery to dogs
The test for dogs social proximity to humans did not reach statistical significance
Social approach was also higher in the dogs given oxytocin compared to the placebo
Some studies suggest that endogenous oxytocin rises after positive interaction
To measure this a they did a pre and post study urine test on dogs who received only saline
change in oxytocin = post test oxytocin levels / pretest oxytocin levels
No change seen in social proximity
There was a change in proportion of affiliation indicating there was triggered release of oxytocin
These results suggest that there is a correlation between oxytocin and greater instances of social motivation
Social motivation leads to strong bonds
Natural selection is thought to favor strong bonds in animal
Studies results are in line with other studies in humans
Further studies could ask the question is there any other hormones that simultaneously affect social motivation. Also if oxytocin helps to promote social motivation can it be used as a treatment for social anxiety
Oxytocin is believed to be what regulates social motivation between species
Results suggest that when oxytocin in administered through the nasal canal it can activate through the nervous system the release of more oxytocin