This page collects some of the research on the neurobiology/neuroendocrinology of pair bonding and love.

The Role of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in Attachment

Adult attachment and the brain

Toward a Neuroscience of Attachment

Neurobiological mechanisms of social attachment and pair bonding

Dopamine and opioid systems interact within the nucleus accumbens to maintain monogamous pair bonds

The Monogamy Paradox: What Do Love and Sex Have to Do With It?

Romantic Love vs. Drug Addiction May Inspire a New Treatment for Addiction

Gating of social reward by oxytocin in the ventral tegmental area

Dynamic corticostriatal activity biases social bonding in monogamous female prairie voles

Variation in Prolactin Is Related to Variation in Sexual Behavior and Contact Affiliation

Neural correlates of pair-bonding in a monogamous primate

Kisspeptin modulates sexual and emotional brain processing in humans

The neuroendocrinology of love

The neurobiological link between compassion and love

Partner preference development in female prairie voles is facilitated by mating or the central infusion of oxytocin

Affective properties of intra-medial preoptic area injections of testosterone in male rats

Variation in oxytocin is related to variation in affiliative behavior in monogamous, pairbonded tamarins

Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals Between Us

The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love

Activation of oxytocin receptors, but not arginine-vasopressin V1a receptors, in the ventral tegmental area of male Syrian hamsters is essential for the reward-like properties of social interactions

The neural basis of romantic love

The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love

The neurobiology of pair bonding

The CRF system mediates increased passive stress-coping behavior following the loss of a bonded partner in a monogamous rodent

Is social attachment an addictive disorder?

A neuronal signature for monogamous reunion

But see: Neural correlates of mating system diversity: oxytocin and vasopressin receptor distributions in monogamous and non-monogamous Eulemur  (primate pair bonds may have a different basis than rodent pair bonds)

And Oxytocin receptor is not required for social attachment in prairie voles (Our studies unexpectedly reveal that social attachment, parturition, and parental behavior can occur in the absence of [oxytocin receptor] signaling in prairie voles.)