For years, scientists have known that oxytocin is important in facilitating the feeling of love in humans. How do they know? Prairie voles. For years, scientists have relied on the cuddly rodents to help us humans understand how this protein works in our brains. But within the past few years, research has complicated that understanding, prompting the question: Can love prevail without the "love" hormone? (encore)Help shape the future of Short Wave by taking our survey: npr.org/shortwavesurveyListen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
What is the significance of prairie voles in love research?
The wonderful thing about this species is that they're going through some kind of learning process to pick a partner. And that learning process probably is based on the same physiology that human social attachments are.
So they're scrolling through vole Tinder looking for love.
Swipe left or swipe right, you know, man.
When they do, where does oxytocin come in?
Well, so back in the 80s and 90s, Sue Carter helped show that oxytocin levels rise when a prairie vole meets that special someone. She and others did these lab experiments showing that if you give a prairie vole extra oxytocin, it increases their tendency to pair bond. But if you give a drug that blocks oxytocin, they won't pair bond at all.
And oxytocin levels, by the way, also seem to predict a lot of human pair bonding behavior.
Well, decades of research sounds like a slam dunk to me. Oxytocin really is the love hormone.
That is the conventional wisdom in popular culture and everything. There's even a Billie Eilish song called Oxytocin. Key lyric, you know I need you for the oxytocin.
I wasn't expecting Billy to come in.
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