{
  "id": 19364469,
  "title": "Oxytocin alters how the brain learns and remembers social hierarchies",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/10/oxytocin-alters-how-the-brain-learns-and-remembers-social-hierarchies",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-11-10T17:00:11.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/oxytocin-alters-how-the-brain-learns-and-remembers-social-hierarchies/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has uncovered how the hormone oxytocin influences the brain's ability to learn and remember social hierarchies. Researchers from South China Normal University, along with colleagues in China and France, explored how oxytocin alters neural activity related to understanding social ranks and enhances memory for social networks that do not directly involve the observer.\n\nThe study involved 58 healthy young men who were randomly assigned to receive either an oxytocin nasal spray or a placebo. Participants engaged in a computer game designed to learn the ranks of individuals in two fictional corporate departments. One department centered on the participant, while the other focused on a stranger. As the training progressed, participants became more accurate in identifying rank relationships, particularly within their own department and those involving high and low status individuals compared to intermediate ranks.\n\nFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed that oxytocin heightened activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, brain regions responsible for processing social information and rewards. These areas showed increased activation when participants correctly identified rank relationships, suggesting that oxytocin enhances the brain's ability to map social networks.\n\nDuring a test phase to measure transitive inference—deducing relationships between items not explicitly linked—oxytocin improved participants' accuracy in inferring rank relationships within the stranger's department but not in their own. This effect was linked to increased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which helps process social interactions, and heightened emotional processing in the amygdala and parahippocampal region. The findings suggest that oxytocin promotes a less self-centered approach to social memory, enhancing the recall of relationships that are relevant to others, thus aligning with oxytocin's known role in fostering prosocial behaviors.",
  "summary": "A new study reveals how the hormone oxytocin alters the brain's ability to learn and remember social hierarchies, boosting memory for networks that do not directly involve the observer.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}