Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Sep 7;277(1694):2661-6.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0567. Epub 2010 May 12.

Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans

Leslie J Seltzer  1 , Toni E Ziegler, Seth D Pollak
Affiliations

Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans

Leslie J Seltzer et al. Proc Biol Sci. .

Abstract

Vocalizations are important components of social behaviour in many vertebrate species, including our own. Less well-understood are the hormonal mechanisms involved in response to vocal cues, and how these systems may influence the course of behavioural evolution. The neurohormone oxytocin (OT) partly governs a number of biological and social processes critical to fitness, such as attachment between mothers and their young, and suppression of the stress response after contact with trusted conspecfics. Rodent studies suggest that OT's release is contingent upon direct tactile contact with such individuals, but we hypothesized that vocalizations might be capable of producing the same effect. To test our hypothesis, we chose human mother-daughter dyads and applied a social stressor to the children, following which we randomly assigned participants into complete contact, speech-only or no-contact conditions. Children receiving a full complement of comfort including physical, vocal and non-verbal contact showed the highest levels of OT and the swiftest return to baseline of a biological marker of stress (salivary cortisol), but a strikingly similar hormonal profile emerged in children comforted solely by their mother's voice. Our results suggest that vocalizations may be as important as touch to the neuroendocrine regulation of social bonding in our species.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Salivary cortisol levels across experimental time, by maternal contact type. The green arrow represents the onset of the stressor, and the pink arrow the onset of maternal contact (if any). Both speech and direct contact facilitate a more rapid return to baseline values than simply resting alone. Diamonds and black line, no contact; triangles and red line, direct contact; squares and blue line, speech-only.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Maternal speech releases oxytocin in girls, in much the same way as direct interpersonal interaction including comforting touch. Diamonds and black line, no contact; triangles and red line, direct contact; squares and blue line, speech-only.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Acher R., Chauvet J., Chauvet M. T.1995Man and the chimera: selective versus neutral OT evolution. In OT: cellular and molecular approaches to medicine and research (eds Ivell R., Russell J. A.), pp. 615–627 New York, NY: Plenum Press
    1. Amico J. A., Challinor S. M., Cameron J. L.1990Pattern of oxytocin concentrations in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of lactating rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): evidence for functionally independent oxytocinergic pathways in primates. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 71, 1531–1535 (doi:10.1210/jcem-71-6-1531) - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arnold W., Whiten A.2001Post-conflict behaviour of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Budongo Forest, Uganda. Behaviour 138, 649–690 (doi:10.1163/156853901316924520) - DOI
    1. Bales K. L., Van Westerhuyzen J. A., Lewis-Reese A. D., Grotte N. D., Lanter J. A., Carter C. S.2007Oxytocin has dose-dependent developmental effects on pair-bonding and alloparental care in female prairie voles. Horm. Behav. 52, 274–279 (doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.05.004) - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bass A. H., Gilland E. H., Baker R.2008Evolutionary origins for social vocalization in a vertebrate hindbrain–spinal compartment. Science 321, 417–421 (doi:10.1126/science.1157632) - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types