August 14, 2025
A newstudy from the labs of HWNI members Annaliese Beery and Markita Landry and collaborators has found that oxytocin — often thought of as the “love hormone” — is important for the formation and maintenance of friendships. They found that prairie voles lacking oxytocin receptors formed friendships more slowly than voles with functional oxytocin receptors, and also spent less time with their friend in a group setting once they did form a friendship. Voles lacking oxytocin receptors were also less aggressive to unfamiliar peers, indicating that oxytocin may play a role in the selectivity of peer relationships.
The study was published in Current Biology on August 8. Read more from UC Berkeley News.