Mesotocin influences pinyon jay prosociality.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Ecology
• Neuroendocrinology
• Comparative Psychology

Background:

• Prosocial behavior, benefiting others without immediate self-gain, is observed across species.
• Oxytocin is a key hormone regulating mammalian prosociality.
• The role of the avian homologue, mesotocin, in bird prosociality remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally investigate prosocial behavior in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus).
• To determine if mesotocin administration influences prosocial preferences in this species.
• To compare the functional role of mesotocin in birds to oxytocin in mammals.

Main Methods:

• Pinyon jays were tested using a prosocial choice task with varying payoff distributions.
• Experiment 1 assessed baseline prosocial preferences in different trial types (Prosocial vs. Altruism).
• Experiment 2 examined the effects of mesotocin administration on these prosocial choices.

Main Results:

• Pinyon jays exhibited prosocial food sharing, but only when they also received a reward (Prosocial trials).
• No prosocial behavior was observed when the subject received no food (Altruism trials).
• Administration of high-dose mesotocin significantly increased prosocial food delivery to partners.

Conclusions:

• Mesotocin facilitates prosocial behavior in pinyon jays, mirroring oxytocin's role in mammals.
• This suggests an evolutionarily conserved hormonal mechanism underlying prosociality.
• Pinyon jays serve as a valuable model for studying the neurobiology of social behavior in birds.