Learning the value of stimuli and actions from others—social learning—adaptively
contributes to individual survival and plays a key role in cultural evolution. We review …

The ability to behave in ways that benefit other individuals' well-being is among the most
celebrated human characteristics crucial for social cohesiveness. Across mammalian …

The ability to help and care for others fosters social cohesiveness and is vital to the physical
and emotional well-being of social species, including humans,–. Affiliative social touch, such …

Observational learning is a powerful survival tool allowing individuals to learn about threat-
predictive stimuli without directly experiencing the pairing of the predictive cue and …

Genome-wide analyses of common and rare genetic variations have documented the
heritability of major psychiatric disorders, established their highly polygenic genetic …

Observers learn to fear the context in which they witnessed a demonstrator's aversive
experience, called observational contextual fear conditioning (CFC). The neural …

Recognition of other's emotions influences the way social animals interact and adapt to the
environment. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been implicated in different aspects of …

The empathic ability to vicariously experience the other's fearful situation, a process called
observational fear (OF), is critical to survive in nature and function in society. OF can be …

The medial amygdala (MeA) is critical for the expression of a broad range of social
behaviors, and is also connected to many other brain regions that mediate those same …

Maternal care, including by non-biological parents, is important for offspring survival,,,,,,–.
Oxytocin,,,,,,,–, which is released by the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), is a …