Neurobiology of human affiliative behaviour: implications for psychiatric disorders

Most of our previous knowledge about neurobiology of affiliation is based on animal research. However, during the last couple of years, there has been a surge of research investigating the neurobiological underpinnings of human affiliative behaviour. This article aims to review recent brain imaging and neuropeptide studies that investigated human affiliation.

Findings from brain-imaging studies have increased our knowledge of the neural networks critical for sensitivity to social reward, social cooperation and empathy. Some of the inter-individual and between-sex differences in personality and temperament appear to be driven by structural and functional variations in the brain regions processing social rewards. Furthermore, oxytocin exerts its effects by modulating affiliation-related neural networks. Impairments in affiliation-related brain networks and neuropeptides seem to be potentially important for pathophysiology of a range of mental disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and psychopathy.

Human research investigating the neurobiology of affiliation has potentially important implications for the understanding and management of mental disorders. One example is the potential role of oxytocin as a therapeutic agent; however, these preliminary findings need to be rigorously tested with further studies. Multimethod studies that evaluate brain imaging, genetics and neurochemistry within the same sample will be important to further advance our understanding of human affiliation.